SOUTH AMERICA. 



177 



correctional punishment. It is not each province 

 which has a court of relasgoa^ Rio Janeiro, Bahia, 

 Minas, St, Paul, and Maranham, only, I believe, have 

 these courts, which receive appeals from inferior tri- 

 bunals of other provinces, according as their jurisdic- 

 tion respectively are settled by law. The relascoa of 

 Bahia for instance, has jurisdiction over the province 

 of Pernambuco. The revenues of the king are derived 

 from the following sources, and considering the amount 

 of the population, it is scarce surpassed by any other 

 country. 1. A fifth upon all gold obtained in any 

 part of Brazil, which amounts to seven or eight hun» 

 dred thousand dollars, and the produce of the diamond 

 mines about the same. 2. Duty, fifteen per cent, on 

 all merchandise entered at the custom house. 3. A 

 tax on exports. 4. The tythes which the king of Portu- 

 gal became entitled to, in the same manner as the king 

 of Spain; as also to the proceeds of the sale of indul- 

 gences, under the same grant from the pope. 5. A duty 

 on merchandise entering the mining districts, payable 

 to the different barriers or registers. Besides these> 

 there are other taxes on spirituous liquors, on house 

 rents, and paper money peculiar to the mine districts, 

 which has been issued to the amount of an hundred 

 thousand pounds.* The whole amount is probably be- 

 tween five and six millions of dollars, which together 

 with the surplus revenues of Portugal, scarcely suffices 

 to defray the expenses of the government. The royal 

 domains, like our public lands, will one day or other 

 furnish sources of immense revenue. The government 

 had long been sensible of the great error committed 



* Paper money in the very manufactorieB of gold and silver, 

 singular enough! 



VOL. I. ^3 



