NOTICES OF BRAZIL. 



67 



expired in 1825. The produce of all other nations, imported 

 into Brazil, pays a duty of twenty-four per cent, on a valuation 

 made by the custom-house of the country. Thus a very con- 

 siderable advantage was secured to the English ; the French 

 -complained (and do still) of the high estimates made of their 

 goods, which frequently paid a hundred per cent., thus de- 

 stroying any profit that might have accrued in their trade. 



Previous to the royal immigration, commerce was much in- 

 jured by exclusive privileges, granted to certain companies. 

 Salt, for example, was a monopoly v\^hich bore heavily upon 

 trade, being indispensable in the preservation of hides, and salt- 

 ed and jerked beef, which were sent from the interior under the 

 name of '^carnas do sertaon." The laboring classes in nearly 

 every part of South America live almost exclusively upon 

 jerked beef, which is prepared by cutting the meat into rib- 

 bon-like pieces and drying them in the sun, with a small addi- 

 tion of salt, or by steeping them in a strong pickle for twenty- 

 four hours. The heat of the climate precludes the salting of 

 beef in large pieces or joints. 



The province of Rio-Grande-do-Sul, which enjoys a most 

 temperate climate, produces a great number of hides, and quan- 

 tities of the ^^carnas do sertaon," or meats from the interior, 

 sufficient for home consumption, and even for exportation ; of 

 these "carnas" the black population consume great quantities 

 — in fact, it is the only animal food they eat. 



The province of St. Paul, celebrated for the courage of its 

 inhabitants and the numerous exploring expeditions which have 

 sallied from it for the interior, yields wheat, rye, maize or 

 Indian corn, manioc, and potato ; and lately the vine begins 

 to flourish in its genial climate. The Palma Christi grows in 

 such abundance, that castor oil is burned in lamps, instead of 

 spermaceti. Coarse cottons are exported ; their manufacture 

 promises to improve. 



Saint Catherine, an island on the coast, near the tropic, yields 

 cofiee and rice of a superior quality ; and Mr. Langsdorf states* 

 that indigo, pepper, vanilla, balsam copaiba, and several other 



* Voyage a Pile Sainte Catherine. 



