178 A VOYAGE TO 



by the extensive grants of land to the nobility, or per- 

 sons of distinction. These grants must throw great 

 obstacles in the way of improvement of some of the 

 most valuable districts. Should the king, however, 

 pursue a different policy, and select certain tracts of 

 country to be laid off in the same manner as the pub- 

 lic lands in the United States, and to be sold to in- 

 dividuals on advantageous terms, it would not be 

 long before he would reap the advantages of such a 

 system. 



The military force of Brazil, is composed of be- 

 tween twenty and thirty thousand regulars, distribu- 

 ted over an immense extent of country, and the militia 

 not very well armed or disciplined. The regulars are 

 composed of native Brazilians, Indians, and negroes, 

 the two latter forming a considerable proportion. 

 Where men are wanted for an emergency, or when it 

 is necessary to fill up the ranks, impressment is re- 

 sorted to from among the lower classes of people, in 

 the same manner as the British impress their sea- 

 men. Their pay is trifling, and term of service in^ 

 definite. 



The navy consists of several ships of the line, eight 

 or ten frigates, and a number of light vessels of war, 



The emigrant from almost any country in Europe, 

 in moderate circumstances, would better his fortune by 

 removing to Brazil. But the American, educated in 

 the ideas of a government so different from those 

 which fit a man to live under a monarchy, would find 

 himself exposed to many vexations. An American 

 who has been accustomed to a liberty apparently with* 

 out control, who knows not what it is to be eternally 

 hedged with bayonets, or to meet at every step with the 



