T^he DISCO FE R T and CON^UESE Book I. 
184 
“ their own *, which is certainly a very laudable Cha- 
‘‘ rity ; but is, in fome Cafes, attended with great In- 
“ conveniencies. The City of St. Salvador is the Seat 
“ of an Aixhbifhopric, which is ufually filled by fome 
Ecclefiaftic of the beft Family in Portugal, as well on 
“ Account of its large Revenue, as becaufe of the Share 
“ that Prelate has of the Government. The City is 
“ much longer than it is broad, and, if we fpeak of it 
“ only within the Walls, it is but fmall •, but if we take 
“ in the Suburbs, it may pafs for a pretty large Place ; 
“ the Number of Houfes having been computed at two 
“ thoufand, and that Computation is, perhaps, rather 
“ below than above their real Number. 
The Viceroy has two Councils, one of Criminal, the 
‘‘ other of Civil Affairs, in which he prefides •, but 
“ Juffice goes on very flowly, and there is not a Coun- 
“ try in the World where fo much Paper is blotted by 
“ the Lawyers as here, before any final Judgment is 
“ obtained. In former times it was here as in xh&Spanijh 
“ Governments, the Captain-General durft not punifh, 
much lefs put to Death, any Native of his Mailer’s 
“ Dominions in Europe j but the prefent Viceroy has 
“ broke through this, and ventures to condemn Mur- 
“ derers and fuch like Criminals, to fuffer the Punifh- 
rjients they deferye ^ but the Proceedings are ftill fo 
flow, and the Precautions taken fo many, that there 
“ is no fort of Danger of any Man’s being fent to the 
“ Gallows there, before he very richly deferves it ; and 
“ the only Scandal to the Government is, that the Road 
“ thither is not quite fo much beaten as it ought to be •, 
“ for it would be certainly much better that five were 
“ hanged every Year, than ten murdered with Impunity. 
“ The Commerce of Brazil is very confiderable, and 
“ the Luxury of the Inhabitants as great as can well be 
“ imagined. There is an annual Fleet comes from Por- 
‘‘ tugal with European Goods, configned by the Mer- 
chants of Lijhon to their Fadlors here, where they 
“ never wait long for their Cargoes, which confift of 
“ Sugar, Tobacco, and Gold Dull, all of which are 
“ commonly laid up in their Magazines ready againft 
‘‘ the Arrival of the Fleet, with the Contents of which 
“ they are alfo perfedtly well acquainted •, fo that to 
land the Commodities of Europe, and to fhip thofe 
of the Country, is almoft all they have to do. The 
Inhabitants may be divided properly enough into three 
‘‘ Sorts of Peo.ple, viz. Planters, Fadlors, and Mari- 
ners. The fofmer buy as many Slaves as they can 
‘‘ employ in their Sugar and Tobacco Works, or in the 
“ Mines ; and when the Lijbon Fleet comes they fhip 
“ their Commodities on board it, and receive an Equi- 
‘‘ valent in European Goods and Manufadlures by the 
next Year’s Fleet. The Fadlors keep Magazines of 
V all Sorts, of Goods that come from Portugal, with 
“ which they purchafe Sugar, Tobacco, and Gold, of 
fuch Planters as want an immediate Supply of the 
Things they dpal in, without waiting for next Year’s 
“ Fleet. As. for the fea-faring People, the chief of tlieir 
“ Bufinefs confifts in making frequent Trips to the 
V Coafl of Guinea to purchafe Slaves. I do not fpeak 
here either of the Lawyers or the Soldiers •, and my 
Reafon for it is, they, being generally, either Planters 
“ or Merchants. 
The Guinea Trade is very confiderable •, thofe em- 
ployed in it from this City or Bay, bringing over 
ufually twenty, or five and twenty thoufand Negroes 
‘.t every Year ; and of thefe, fifteen thoufand, at leaft, 
are difpofed of amongft the Inhabitants of St. Salva- 
“ dor. There is not a Portugueze there, who has not, 
at leaft, a dozen Blacks in his Service, and they very 
“ often employ them in fuch Offices as are equally con- 
“ trary to. the Intereft of Religion, and of the State. They 
arm, for Inftance, fuch of them as are clean-limbed 
well-made Fellows, each with his Sword and Dagger j 
and as they have a Sort of brutal Fiercenefs, which 
fome mifcall Courage, they are capable of doing any 
“ thing they are commanded, of what Kind foever ; 
« and, by this Means, they acquire fuch a Habit of 
doing Mifchief, that they. very frequently do it with- 
' “ out any Commands at all. . There are alfo Abundance 
“ of thefe Fellows that are free j that is to fay, have 
“ either obtained their Liberty, as a Reward of their 
“ Services, or, have purchafed it with Money. It is 
“ really aftoniffiing, all Things confidered, that fome 
“ dreadful Revolution has not happened to the- Portu- 
gueze in this Country, from their weak and ill-judged 
“ Indulgence for thefe Negroes, who are much more nu- 
“ merous, as well armed, and, if it be poffible, more 
“ wicked than themfelves. , 
“ It may feem ftrange that I fay this, but it will 
“ furely appear ftranger, when I affirm, that in faying 
this, I do not at all exceed the Truth. In fhort, the 
“ far greater Part of the Portugueze fettled here, are 
Hypocrites in Points of Religion, and totally defti- 
“ tute of Morals •, Thieves and Sharpers by Profeffion ; 
“ and very frequently Murderers from Refentment. 
“ There is no Order, no Decency, no Obedience known 
“ amongft them ; every Barber, Shoemaker, and Tay- 
lor, ftruts with his Sv/ord and Dagger, and looks 
“ upon himfelf as equal to any Officer in the Colony, 
“ becaufe his Face is of the lame Complexion. The 
“ prefent Viceroy is fenfible of, and detefts, this Con- 
“ du6l. When he firft came over he laboured to reform 
“ it ; but Cuftom has fo ftrongly eftabliflied it, thathi- 
“ therto his Labours have proved vain. 
“ Of late Years, and fmee the Drfeovery of the Mines, 
“ they have formed a kind of new Syftem of living, 
“ which fome Time or other will prove fatal to them •, 
“ for, inftead of cultivating their Plantations, they fend 
“ moft of their Slaves to the Mines, upon thefe Con- 
ditions : Their Mafter finds them a Pound of Meal a 
“ Day, and if they eat any thing elfe they buy it them- 
“ felves •, in return, the Slave is bound to pay his Maf- 
“ ter daily fuch a Quantity of Gold ; if he happens to get 
more, he lays it by, to make up for Dehciencies, or, 
“ by living hard, he faves enough to purchafe his Free- 
“ dom. Thus the Mailers are at a kind of Certainty, 
“ with refpeft to their Eftates j for fo many Slaves pro- 
“ duce fo much Money certain : But, in the mean 
“ Time, their Sugar and Tobacco is decaying ; and, 
“ which is much worfe, they are in Danger of wanting 
“ necefiary Subfiftence j for which they now depend 
“ chiefly upon the Fleets from Portugal ; and perhaps 
“ at Lifion this may be looked upon as an Advan- 
“ tage, becaufe it is a very ftrong Tie upon the Co- 
“ lony •, fince, if they do not continue good Subjedls, 
“ they muft be content not to eat. As it is, indeed, few 
“ People live worfe, fince the greateft Part of their Vic- 
“ tuals is fait Meat, or dried Fiffi, and all the Bread 
“ they have is made of a powdered Root, fo that there 
“ is fcarce a Country in Europe where a.Man cannot live 
« better upon Half a Crown a Day, than he can in Bra- 
“ zil for twenty Shillings. 
“ The Truth of the Matter is, that the People of 
“ Brazil love Shew and Magnificence, fine Cloaths, 
“ Jewels, and a large Train of Servants, better than 
what we call Good-Living. Yet fome Feafts they 
“ have, but Feafts that bring after them a long Train 
‘‘ of Falls j for every Man has his Guardian Saint, 
“ upon v/hofe Anniverfary, perhaps, he fpends his 
‘‘ whole Year’s Revenue, or, at leaft, the beft Part of 
“ it, and never has a good Dinner afterwards, except at 
“ his Neighbour’s, upon the like Occafion. Yet there 
“ are prodigious Sums of Gold pafs through thefe Peo- 
“ pies Hands, though undoubtedly they were much 
“ happier before the Mines were difeovered, and would 
“ be lo again, if there was not a Grain of Gold Duft 
“ in the Colony. The Plate Fleet, this Year, from 
“ Rio Janeiro, v/as faid to be v/orth thirty Millions, 
“ that is, about a MUlion and an half of EngliJhMon&j , 
“ but the Fleet from the Bay carried but' twenty-four 
“ thoufand A robes of Sugar, vffiereas they had formerly 
“ made fixty thoufand, and theirTobacco Trade decays in 
‘‘ Proportion : Yet, I believe, it may be doubted whe- 
“ Portugal much the richer for all this Gold, 
“ fince the EngUfo and Butch fiirniffi all the Manufac- 
“ tures, or, at leaft, the greateft Part of them that are 
“ fent to Brazil-, whereas, when they brought over 
‘f only Sugar,Tobacco, Brazil- Woqd , and otfier fuch-like. 
I " “ Commo- 
C 
