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all goods are examined and weighed, paying duty according to their 

 weight, whatever be their kind, quality, or value. This regulation 

 bears very unequally upon different articles ; salt, for instance, pays 

 nearly cent, per cent, iron and lead about the same ; while woollens, 

 cottons, and other light goods do not, on an average, exceed eight 

 or ten per cent. 



The commandant of the Register offered us every assistance, and 

 was kind enough to provide us a fresh mule for our baggage. The 

 short time we staid here did not allow much leisure for observation ; 

 and, indeed, there was little of novelty to observe. The situation 

 of the Register is pleasant; the country around is well wooded 

 and fertile, though mountainous. The river is almost destitute of 

 fish. 



We proceeded about a league and a half further, through thick 

 woods, and arrived at a place named Rosina de Negra, where we 

 halted for the night. Our next day's journey presented the same 

 varieties of hill and ravine as those we had already passed. In one 

 part of the road we observed a kind of barracks, consisting of an 

 astallage and some ranchos or huts, where an officer and about 

 twenty horse-soldiers are stationed ; they patrole the road, and are 

 authorised to stop travellers, and make the strictest search of those 

 whom they suspect of having gold-dust or diamonds concealed. 

 Proceeding two leagues, we arrived at the Register of Matthias 

 Barbosa, situated in the midst of an almost impervious wood. It 

 was built about sixty or seventy years ago, by the gentleman whose 

 name it bears, and who was an ancestor of the noble family of 

 Sousa. 



This register is a large oblong building, with two great doors at 

 each end, through which all travellers, with their mules, are required 

 to pass. On entering, they stop, and deliver their passports to a 

 soldier for examination by the commander, who, if he judges that a 

 correct account is given of the property, suffers them to proceed : 

 but if any grounds of suspicion occur, the mules are unloaded, and 



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