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here is shipped to all the ports on the coast where bread is used. 

 Farming, however, is carried on in so slovenly a manner, that the 

 grain is always rough, bad skinned, and extremely foul. It is packed 

 in raw hides, which are sewed up like sacks : it swells, and heats fre- 

 quently on the passage from Rio Grande to the more northerly ports ; 

 and often, after landing in Rio de Janeiro, it is left on the quay ex- 

 posed for days to the rain. 



The vicinity of Rio Grande is extremely populous ; in a circuit of 

 twenty leagues, the inhabitants, including the troops, are estimated 

 at 100,000. Their principal occupations are, the breeding of cattle, 

 for which the immense tract of pasture-land is so well calculated ; 

 the drying and preparing of hides, and the making of charque, or 

 what is called, in the river Plata, jug- beef. It is prepared in the fol- 

 lowing manner : — After the ox is skinned, the flesh is stripped from 

 the bones in as large flakes as possible, in some degree resembling 

 sides of bacon: it is put into hot brine, where it remains from twelve 

 to forty hours, according to the thickness. It is then taken out, 

 drained, and dried in the sun, afterwards made up into packages that 

 weigh about 150lbs., and shipped from this port to all parts of 

 Brazil. It is a general article of consumption among the lower 

 classes and negroes, and is not unfrequently seen at respectable 

 tables, being in taste somewhat similar to hung beef. It constitutes 

 the general food for the sailors, and forms part of almost every 

 cargo sent out from this port. It has found its way to the West 

 Indies, where it is in great request, and has been frequently sold, 

 during the war, at nine-pence or a shilling per pound. The charque 

 prepared at Rio Grande is much superior to that brought from the 

 river Plata. During the time that the English troops were in pos- 

 session of Monte Video, in consequence of an apprehension that 

 the cattle might be driven away, and they be in want of supplies, 

 large quantities were contracted for at St. Pedro, which arrived at 

 Monte Video, though not wanted. They were afterwards shipped 

 for the West India market. 



