no 
THE BRAZILS. 
barge. These were the only real natives we had an oppoir 
tuiiity of seeing during our stay of three weeks. Their fea- 
tures w^ere not much different from those of tlie Malays, 
Tartars and Chinese. Their stature was short. They ap- 
peared to be of a grave and serious disposition, seldom speak- 
ing to each other, and indicating an aversion to communicate 
^vith strangers. They:;! had long black hair, and the beard 
was visible only on the upper lip and under the chin. Those 
who engage in this service are said to be so much detested by 
their countrymen, as to prevent them from ever returning 
to their horde, apprehensive that if once in their possession 
they would certainly be put to death. 
When the Portugueze were sufficiently convinced of the 
inefficacy of the attempt to reduce the Brazilians to slavery, 
or to compel them to submit to the labours of agriculture, 
their next I'ecourse was to the settlements they had already 
acquired on the coast of Africa for a supply of negroes. 
Whole cargoes of these ill-fated people were annually trans- 
ported from their native country and their connections, cut 
off from every hope of returning, and doomed to toil for the 
remainder of their days in the foreign fields of South America. 
The number which at present is said to be annually imported 
amounts, on an average, to twenty thousand ; and as this 
demand is constant, whilst the quantity of produce is sup- 
posed to be little if at all increased for several years past, 
there are strong grounds to suspect that at least an equal 
number to those imported must be destroyed every year. 
Yet these people make a boast of treating their slaves better 
than any other nation. The French and the Dutch do the 
