376 
SOUTH A 
not, however, admitted these councillors, nor published Don 
Pedro’s manifesto. 
To return to Brazil.—The clergy of this country are paid 
by the government which collects the tithes on all articles 
exposed to sale, and disburses such salaries as may be deemed 
proper. No priest has less than 200/. per annum, except 
the conventual clergy, who, being maintained by old grants 
of land, are some very poor, others (as the Benedictines) 
very rich. 
The chief sources of revenue are the customs, inward and 
outward; the fifth on gold; duties on negroes, on importa¬ 
tion, paid by. the seller, and another duty on farther sale 
paid by the purchaser. The amounts of English imports 
in 1821 was about 2,300,000/., which would pay fifteen 
per cent. From the other European powers to the ex¬ 
tent of a million sterling, at twenty-four per cent. 
From the United States, under 350,000/. From the 
River Plate and Pacific, and from Portugal, India and China, 
it would amount together to a sum of 800,000/. To this 
must be added the one-fifth on gold, which, taken on 
600,000/. gives 120,000/. Duty on 40,000 slaves imported, 
at a dobloon each, 120,000/. The produce of the diamond 
mines, after deducting 50,000/. expenses, will scarcely 
amount to as much more. The duty on exports to all 
quarters, 260,000/.; to this must be added duty on goods 
brought from the interior, tobacco and whale farms, taxes on 
the mintage, and other taxes, as equal to 1,200,000/. more; 
forming a grand sum total of 2,500,000/. of annua! revenue. 
This is, however, merely an approximation. 
A regiment of foreigners, a battalion of artillery, formed of 
free blacks, 600 cavalry from the province of Minas Geraes, 
and about 1000 native infantry, the whole amounting to 
above 2,500 effective men, constitute all the standing army 
of Brazil. But as every citizen who votes is liable to be 
called on for the defence of his country, a very formidable 
militia will soon be framed. 
The navy (under the dominion of the Portuguese, in 
so enviable a condition), amounted in 1823 only to one 
line-of-battle ship, three frigates, three corvettes and some 
brigs and schooners. The government were, however, at 
that time engaged in constructing six frigates and otherwise 
improving their navy. 
With regard to the society at Brazil there is of course 
nothing worth the name except at Rio de Janeiro; and here 
the old Portuguese and the Brazilians seem to be on very 
cold terms of acquaintance. The former wishing to retain 
a superiority from their old hereditary habits, and the latter, 
as well educated and richer, not being at all inclined to cede 
it. Literature is at a low ebb, but enough exists to keep up 
a taste for it, and some feeble attempts are made from time 
to time to interest the people in the study of botany, natural 
history and the sciences in general. The whole population 
of the empire no one is accurately informed about. Cald- 
cleugh, a very intelligent writer, reckons it at three millions 
thus divided :—blacks 1,800,000 ; whites 600,000; Indians 
600,000. 
Land is, about the metropolis, valuable, but further in the 
country may be had for clearing, which is an operation of 
very little trouble. The trees are felled and their boughs set on 
fire; soon after the coarsest Indian corn is sown in the ashes. 
So universally is gold disseminated over the central parts 
of the Brazils, that even in the streets of Rio, children may 
be seen, after heavy rains, picking up pieces of this metal. 
In the mountains gold is found in a red heavy loam, in beds 
of clay-slate, quartzy mica-slate or in veins of quartz and 
red ironstone. It usually assumes its most beautiful form in 
the large foliated iron mica-slate; it is also found in arsenical 
iron pyrites. All the numerous streams that trickle down 
the sides of the mountains, but more especially those at their 
feet which assume a slow and muddy character, are aurife¬ 
rous, not only in their beds but their banks also. Nor is gold 
the only treasure that the Minas Geraes possesses. We are 
assured by Von Spix and Martius, that almost every kind of 
metal is to be found here, with the exception of silver; iron- 
M £ R I C A. 
stone, which may be considered to form the chief compo¬ 
nent part of the long chain, is so rich as to produce ninety 
per cent, of metal; lead is found beyond the Rio de S. 
Francisco; copper in S. Domingos; manganese in Parao- 
peba; platina in several of the mountain streams ; quick¬ 
silver, arsenic, bismuth, antimony and red-led ore, about' 
Villa Rica; diamonds in Tejuco and Abaite; yellow, blue 
and white topazes, grass and bluish green aqua-marines, red 
and green tourmalins, chrysoberyls, garnets and amethysts, 
in Minas Novas. To which may be added that which is, or 
ought to be, the greatest of all treasures, yet the most neg¬ 
lected, a very fertile soil covered with a luxuriant vegetation, 
capable of producing every luxury and necessary of life, 
under a climate which, from the elevation of the surface, is 
temperate and agreeable. But here, as elsewhere, the auri 
sacra fames has exerted a baleful influence over the in¬ 
fatuated inhabitants. Neglecting agricultural pursuits, their 
whole attention has till very lately been drawn to the mines,' 
a lottery in which the great prize generally remains in the 
wheel. It is*a curious circumstance, stated by the Bavarian 
travellers, that at the first place they entered in the gold 
district, the only currency was a-depreciated paper-money, 
with a large number of forged notes. 
The English have long enjoyed a monopoly, first established 
by the Portuguese government, in supplying Brazil with 
cotton manufactures. The restriction that first gave us this 
monopoly will shortly expire, but it is said that without it we 
shall still be enabled to undersell other competitors. In 1S2-0 
the extents of British manufactures amounted to 1,860,000/.; 
in 1821 to 2,230,000/. The imports of 1820, were 
950,000/.; in 1821, 1,300,000/. Thus, then, the trade with 
England is very great. Every thing is supplied to Brazil 
from this country except wine from Portugal, a few articles 
of dress and fashions from France, a little iron from Sweden, 
and flour and fish from the United States. Nearly the only 
trade kept in the hands of the Brazilians is that of Slaves. 
This is carried on with the usual horrid sacrifice of life. 
For example—see the following table: 
An Account of the Number of Slaves imported into Rio de 
Janeiro in the Year 1823. 
In fifty-two vessels.20,610 landed. 
Died at sea.1,437 
22,047 shipped. 
In 1824, to the 6th March. 
In seventeen vessels. 5,626 landed. 
Died at sea. 840 
6,466 shipped. 
Though much has been done for Brazil by its emperor, 
and though her finances, long distressed by the expenses of' 
war, are last recovering, and her trade of mining in a state 
of improvement, this country cannot be considered either 
flourishing or tranquil. The contiguity and example of the 
republican states, tends to excite in the minds of the people 
an impatience of the sovereign rule by no means favourable 
to the present state of things, and it is to be feared that from 
the immense distance between the cities and the difficulty of 
communication, the self consequence that all insulated bodies 
of men are prone to feel, will cause a multitude of indepen¬ 
dent states to spring- up. The existence of this feeling in the 
governed must necessarily excite asperity in the governors; but 
the clergy, a class likely to aid these dissensions by exciting, 
as they have generally done, the ruling powers to despotic 
measures, are fortunately so vicious and debased, that they are 
utterly contemned by all ranks of people. 
The climate of Brazil is fine,, and the formidable diseases 
found in parallel latitudes are nearly unknown. The situa¬ 
tion of the capital is peculiarly healthy. Of vegetable pro¬ 
ductions Brazil has to boast the banana or plaintain, which 
grows almost every where with little cultivation and bears a 
fruit extremely nutritious and wholesome; the finest oranges 
in the world; abundance of pine apples (though unfortu¬ 
nately 
