A 



VOYAGE 



TO 



CHAPTER I. 



VOYAGE FROM NORFOLK TO RIO JANEIRO DESCRIPTION OF RIO— - 



CORONATION— GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF BRAZIL. 



The civil war which continues to rage between 

 Spain and the different provinces of South America^ 

 had long attracted the attention of the people of the 

 United States. Whatever our wishes might be, it 

 became us to maintain a perfect neutrality between 

 the contending parties. The ability manifested by 

 the South Americans to maintain the contest, the im- 

 portant successes obtained by them, the declining 

 state of the Spanish resources, and the probable ter- 

 mination of the contest, in the independence of South 

 America, rendered it necessary that preparations 

 should be made for the establishment of peace and 

 amity with the new states, in case their struggle 



