146 



A VOYAGE TO 



utterly failed, as the bulls were found good for no- 

 thing, in all probability to the great joy of the bull 

 fighters. 



The cattle of this province is small, and the market 

 is supplied from Rio Grande or St. Catharines; but 

 after being driven several hundred miles in this hot 

 climate, over the worst roads in the world, they are 

 miserably poor by the time they reach this place. 

 The crops of coffee, or cotton, from the interior, are 

 brought on the backs of mules; the former generally 

 put up in raw hides. I could not learn whether the 

 cotton gin has been introduced, but I am inclined to 

 think it has not. While we were here, a cargo of 

 wheat arrived from Chili. The market for this arti- 

 cle, or flour, is extremely uncertain, from the small- 

 ness of the quantity requisite to supply it. The great 

 body of the people use the mandioca, not merely as a 

 substitute, but even in preference. This root is of 

 great importance throughout all South America, and 

 is cultivated with great care. It yields two crops a 

 year, and is prepared by boiling and expressing the 

 juice, which is poisonous; the sediment which re- 

 mains, after pouring off the water, is the tapioca of 

 the shops. There is no doubt but that the use of flour 

 will increase, and of course, the demand from the 

 United States, which can always supply it on better 

 terms and of a better quality, than La Plata or Chili, 

 or the southern provinces of Brazil. Grapes are rais- 

 ed at Rio, but not for the purpose of making wine. It 

 is only in poor lands, and very populous countries, 

 that the vine can be cultivated extensively; the cul- 

 ture of cotton, tobacco, sugar, and indigo, are so much 

 more profitable, that it is not likely that wine will be 



