122 THE BRAZILS. 
pitiful a sum, thousands of cattle are suffered to perish, the 
carcases of such as are slaughtered, for the sake of the hides 
only, to be thrown away, the fisheiies on the coast are 
checked, and in a great degree rendered useless, and one 
great source of commerce and navigation entirely dried up. 
At Rio the price of a moderate sized ox is not more than 
twent}^ shillings, and in the interior only from five to- ten 
shillings. In fact, the hide is considered as the only valuable 
part, and the carcase is left to the tyger or the panther, the 
eagle, the condor, and such other birds and beasts of prey as 
abound in the country. The condition of the graziers in the 
Brazils appears to be pretty much the same as that of the 
Dutch boors at the Cape of Good Hope. Rich in the 
possession of thousands of cattle, they are deficient in 
every comfort of life ; without society, without clothing, 
and without decent habitations. They are even worse 
than the Dutch boors, for these can move about in their 
covered waggons over their barren heaths, but in the fer- 
tile and well-wooded regions of South America there are 
yet no roads that will admit the convenience of a wheel 
carriage. 
In all the measures adopted by the Portugueze govern- 
jnent, with regard to its colonies, there seems to be a system 
of discouragement which cannot be explained on any prin- 
ciple of policy, except that which is founded on an appre- 
hension lest, by too much prosperity, they might feel dis- 
posed to make an attempt at independence, which sooner or 
later will certainly be the case with the Brazihans. The 
Court of Lisbon, for instance, no sooner discovered that 
sugars could be raised in any quantitv, and afforded in the 
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