( 358 ) 



where sugar and cotton are taken in tythe, the amount must be enormous. Tht 

 contractors derive great emoluments from these imposts ; in one of the smallest dis- 

 tricts, Canta Gallo, the population of which is less than any other in proportion 

 to its extent, the profits were calculated to yield above 600I. per annum. 



5. Indulgences, which are disposed of under the same regulations as the tythesj 

 the contractor of the district appointing agents in every parish to sell them for 

 liim. 



V .6. A duty upon every thing that enters the mining district, which is paid on passing 

 the register of Matthias Barbosa, or on crossing the Paraibuna. This tax is about 

 six shillings the arroba, or somewhat more than twopence per lb. for all commo- 

 dities indiscriminately. New negroes pay ten milreis each. Oxen going to Rio 

 de Janeiro pay two milreis per head. 



/ A considerable sum arises from the tolls paid on passing the various rivers. 

 Two milreis for each mule, unless with cargo. 



A new tax of five reis per lb. has been imposed on all butcher's meat sold in 

 the principal towns. 



Spirituous liquors transported to Rio de Janeiro pay ten dollars per pipe. 



A new tax has been laid upon the rents of houses, which is levied very fa-* 

 vourably. 



The gold dust that was permitted to circulate in the mines has been called in, 

 and paper-money peculiar to the district has been issued, to the amount of a hun.. 

 dred thousand pounds sterling. 



A considerable sum has been produced by the stamping of dollars, which were 

 received at seven hundred and fifty reis, and re-issued, after being stamped, at 

 nine hundred. 



View of the State of Society among the Middling Classes^ employed in Mining and 



Agriculture. 



We are naturally led to imagine, that, in a country where mines of gold and 

 diamonds are found, the riches of the inhabitants must be immense, and their 

 condition most enviable ; the Portugueze themselves, who reside in the mining 

 districts, encourage this supposition ; and whenever they go to Rio de Janeiro, do 

 not fail to make all possible shew and parade. But let us view them in the centre 

 of their wealth ; and as a fair criterion of the middling classes of society, let us 

 select a man possessing a property of fifty or sixty negroes, with datas of gold 

 mines, and the necessary utensils for working them. The negroes alone are worthy 



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