NAMES OF THE DIFFERENT GOVERNMENTS IN BRAZIL, WITH THEIR Boundaries, Population, and Commerce.

I. PARA.

The most northern government in Brazil, comprising that part of Guiana which belongs to Portugal, together with that course of the river of the Amazons from confluence of the two rivers Madera and Mamora; it also contains to the east the whole of the country which extends to the river Tocantin. This province is the most barren and the most unwholesome of any in that part of the world.

Population.

4,108 Whites;—9,919 Blacks and Mulattoes:—34,844 Indians.

Principal Towns.

Belem, on the banks of the Amazon, is twenty leagues from the main ocean. The port is called Para, and is of difficult access. The vessels, on entering the harbour, anchor in a muddy bottom, where the water is four, five, or six fathoms deep. This town is situated thirteen feet above the level of the sea; and was founded by Caldeira in 1615: it is defended by a strong fort, named Notre Dame de las Merces, erected at the mouth of the Muja river. The town contains near ten thousand inhabitants, besides the garrison, consisting of about eight hundred men. On descending the river of the Amazones, at forty leagues from Para, there is a large neck of land, which advances into the water and forms several islands, the most considerable of which is Joannes; it is defended by a small fort, and is very populous. The town of St. Georges dos Alamos is situated in the same government, and has a regular fortress.

Commerce.

In 1755, thirteen or fourteen vessels arrived in this government from Lisbon, but since that time their number has been diminished to four or five. The usual exportation from Para does not consist of articles amounting to more than six hundred thousand French livres (25,000l. sterling), such as wild cocoa, vinilla, tortoise and crab-shells, sarsaparilla, different kinds of balsams, cotton, &c. The district of Para, properly so called, produces but a very small quantity of cotton, and some sugar canes, but so few in number that they are converted into brandy. The inhabitants cultivate rice, cocoa, and coffee, for exportation.

The cattle bred in the island of Marajo used formerly to be exported; but at present the quantity of these animals is scarcely sufficient for home consumption.

II. MARANHAO.

This government is separated from Para towards the north by the river Tocantin; from Gojas towards the south by the cordillera called Guacucaguia; and from Fernambuca towards the east by the Ypiapaba mountains.

Population.

8,993 Whites;—17,843 Blacks and Mulattoes, freedmen and slaves;—38,937 Indians, either dispersed about the country or inhabiting the ten different hamlets.

Principal Towns.

St. Louis is the principal town in Maranhao; all commercial business is transacted in this place, which is situated in an island of the same name, and was built by the French in 1612. It is defended by a citadel and several forts, and has an excellent port.

The island of St. Louis is very fertile, and is twenty-six leagues in circumference.

The captainship of Siara is annexed to the government of Maranhao; the principal town bears the same name as the captainship, and contains about ten thousand inhabitants. It is defended by a small fort, and the port, which is likewise small, will only admit very little vessels.

Commerce.

The exportation of this government is not answerable to the number of its inhabitants, amounting only on an average to six or seven hundred thousand French livres (25,000 or 29,166l. 13s. 4d.) The finest Brazil amotto grows in Maranhao, which also produces the best cotton in America. Rice succeeds very well in this soil; but all endeavours have been fruitless to naturalize silk-worms.

There is a great breed of horses and horned cattle in Pauchy, a country annexed to this government, in which, however, the sheep degenerate as well as in the rest of Brazil, except, indeed, in the Coritibe. Mines of sulphur, alum, copperas, iron, lead, and antimony are very common in the mountains; but though they are not deep, they have never yet been opened. There are likewise silvermines, which, in 1752 the court had given permission to be worked; this permission was, however, soon after retracted, but for what reason was never yet known.

III. FERNAMBUCA,

Is at this present bounded by the river St. Francesco, and different chains of cordilleras. The coast of this government towards the sea extends sixty-five leagues.

Population.

19,665 Whites;—39,132 Negroes and Mulattoes;—83,728 Indians.

The island of Fernando de Norronha is in the dependance of the above-mentioned government.

Principal Towns.

Olinda, the capital of Fernambuca is built upon an eminence on the sea-shore; it contains several fine fountains, and is situated in a beautiful country. The inhabitants are computed at twelve thousand. There is a manufactory of sword blades in this town, which, equally with St. Antoine de Receif, has a good port, and is defended by several fortresses. The island of Fernando de Norronha has two good open harbours, in which ships of the greatest burthen may ride in safety, unless the wind blows from the north or west.

Commerce.

The coast of Fernambuca, in an extent of sixty-five leagues, produces a small quantity of cotton. The plains are filled with plantations of fine sugar canes, and the mountains are covered with broods of horned cattle, the hides of which are very productive. The principal branch of commerce in this government is that fine sort of Brazil wood employed in dyeing red. This wood is of so superior a quality that it is not necessary to employ half the quantity which would be required of campeche wood for the same purpose. The annual consumption of this excellent wood in Europe, amounted during a long time to from twenty to thirty thousand quintals. In 1783, two English merchants contracted with the Portugueze government for the exclusive sale of this wood, on condition that the said government was at the expence of felling it. These merchants purchased the wood for eight hundred thousand French livres (33,333l. 6s. 8d.), sold it at Lisbon for a million (41,666l. 13s. 4d.); their expenses amounted to a hundred and twenty-eight thousand livres (5,333l. 6s. 8d.); consequently they made a profit of seventy-two thousand French livres (3,000l.).

IV. BAHIA, or TODOS SANTOS,

Is bounded on the north by the river St. Francesco, on the south by the river Dolce, and on the east by the river Preto, one of the branches of the river Verde.

Population.

39,784 Whites;—49,693 Indians;—68,024 Negroes.

Principal Town.

The capital of Bahia is St. Salvador; the entrance to which is through the bay of Todos Santos: this bay is two leagues and a half wide. There is a fort on each side of the entrance, intended rather to prevent landing on the coast, than to impede the passage through the bay, which is thirteen or fourteen leagues in length, and full of little islands, containing cotton-trees. The bay is narrow towards the town, which overlooks it, and is built on the side of a steep hill; it is, however, a very good port, safe, and capable of containing a great fleet. St. Salvador contains more than two thousand houses, the greatest part of which are magnificent buildings.

Commerce.

Sugar and cotton make but a small part of the Bahia trade. Tobacco and the whale-fishery are the principal. The annual product of the latter amounted, twenty years since, to 3,530 pipes of oil; which, at the price of a hundred and seventy-five French livres each (7l. 5s. 6d.), amounted to six hundred and seventeen thousand seven hundred and fifty French livres (25,739l. 11s. 8d.); and two thousand and ninety quintals of whalebone, which, at a hundred and fifty livres (6l. 5s.) a quintal, make three hundred and thirteen thousand five hundred livres (13,062l. 10s.). Total of the two sums, nine hundred and thirty-one thousand two hundred and fifty French livres (38,802l. 1s. 8d.), of which the persons employed in this commerce paid three hundred thousand livres (12,500l.) to the government; the expenses did not exceed two hundred and sixty-eight thousand seven hundred and fifty livres (11,197l. 18s. 4d.), consequently they had a profit of three hundred and sixty-two thousand five hundred livres (15,104l. 3s. 4d.). Tobacco, though cultivated throughout the whole of Brazil, makes but a very unimportant object of commerce any where but in Bahia. It succeeds extremely well in a spot of ground extending 90 leagues, and is particularly fine in the district of Cachoeira. Ten thousand quintals of an inferior kind of tobacco are sent every year from Brazil to the coasts of Africa, which being sold for eighteen French livres the hundred weight, amount to a hundred and eighty thousand livres (7,500l.); fifty-eight thousand five hundred quintals are also sent annually to Portugal, and sold, on entering that country, at forty livres (1l. 13s. 4d.) the hundred weight, which amount to two millions three hundred and forty thousand French livres (97,500l.). Total of the two sums, two millions five hundred and twenty thousand livres (105,000l.). The finest tobacco is exported to Genoa, that of the second quality to Spain and Portugal, and a still inferior sort to France and Hamburgh. The consumption of this Article at Madeira and the Azores does not exceed 740,000 cwt. for smoaking; and 528,000 cwt. when made into snuff. The sale of these different kinds of tobacco does not bring in more than five millions four hundred and eighty-one thousand two hundred and fifty livres (228,383l. 18s. 4d.) to government. The profit arising from the sale of snuff in the East Indies and in Africa, belongs to the queen of Portugal. The quantity usually sent to the abovementioned countries amounts to about a hundred and fifty quintals, bringing in four hundred and fifty thousand livres (18,750l.). The golden mines of Jacobina and Rio-das-Contas have been worked, and are situated in Bahia.

V. RIO JANEIRO.

This government extends nearly the whole length of the coast from the river Dolce to the river Rio Grande de San Pietro. The inland country is bounded by the enormous chain of mountains which extend from Una to Minas Geraes.

Population.

46,290 Whites;—54,091 Negroes;—32,126 Indians.

Principal Towns.

Rio Janeiro is the capital of Brazil, and the residence of the viceroy. The plan of this city is well engraved in the quarto edition of Gai Trouin’s Memoirs. It is well known that this author captured Rio Janeiro in 1711. Though the fortifications have been since greatly augmented, the city is not more difficult to take, because the approach to it on the other side is easy of access, and a landing soon effected. The greater part of the houses consist of two stories, and are either of free-stone or brick; the roofs are of fine tiles, and each house is ornamented by a balcony, surrounded by a lattice. The streets are wide and straight, and terminated by chapels. The mint, and the great aqueduct which furnishes the city with water, are the only two public edifices worthy of notice. The haven is one of the finest in the world; it is narrow at the mouth, but becomes wider by degrees. Vessels of all sizes enter this safe and spacious harbour without difficulty, from ten or twelve o’clock at noon till the evening, by means of a regular and moderate sea-breeze: they anchor in an excellent muddy bottom five or six fathoms deep.

Cabo-Frio is a rich town, owing to its salt-trade. St. Catherine is an island which is important from its situation: it enjoys a continual spring, and the climate is very pure everywhere but in the port, which being surrounded by hills, the circulation of air is not so free; consequently it is damp and unwholesome.

Commerce.

Rio Janeiro is the great staple for all the riches brought from Brazil to Portugal; and the most considerable fleets charged with supplies for the new world, put into this port. The expenses of the government amount annually to three millions of French livres (125,000l.), except when it is thought a political measure to build men of war, which is a great increase to the expense. Cultivation was for a long time much neglected in this fine province, but it now becomes every day an object of more and more attention. Though tobacco has not succeeded particularly well, sugar canes have been extremely prosperous, especially in the plains of Guatacazes. There were twelve plantations of indigo, of the finest sort, in the year 1783; these are now much increased in number. Coffee succeeds very well. The southern districts, as far as Rio Grande, furnish a great many hides, some flour, and good salt-meat; and the forests contain fourteen or fifteen different kinds of wood for dyeing, with four or five sorts of gum. The commerce of cochineal has been introduced for some years past into the island of St. Catherine’s.

VI. ST. PAUL.

This province is bounded to the north by the river Sapucachy, and by mountains; to the south by the river Parnagua, and by other mountains, which extend to the source of the river Ygassu; to the west by the Parana, Rio Grande, and Rio dans Mortes; and to the east by the sea.

Population.

11,093 Whites;—8,987 Negroes and Mulattoes;—32,126 Indians.

Principal Town.

St. Paul, the capital of the government of that name, is at thirteen miles from the sea, in a delightful climate, and in the midst of country, the soil of which is equally favourable to the productions of both hemispheres.

Commerce.

This government has no other trade with Europe than that of a small quantity of cotton: and its only interior commerce consists in supplying Rio Janeiro with flour and salt-meat. Flax and hemp succeed very well in St. Paul’s, as would also silk-worms, with proper attention. St. Paul contains abundance of iron and tin mines, situated between the rivers Thecte and Mogyassu: and also in the cordillera of Paranan and Piacaba, four leagues from Sorocoba. The golden mines of Parnagua and Tibogy are worked in this government.

VII. MINAS GERAES.

This government, and the two following ones, extend from east to west, from the 319th degree of western longitude, to the 334th degree of the same latitude. They occupy, in the centre of Brazil, that immense and elevated surface, from which issue all the rivers which fall into the Paraguay, the river of the Amazons, and the ocean. This is the highest land in Portugueze America.

Population.

35,128 Whites;—103,406 Slaves;—26,075 Indians.

Principal Town.

The capital of Minas Geraes is Villa-Rica.

Commerce.

Minas Geraes is the most important of the three governments in which the mines are situated. Mountains, in different directions intersect the whole of these three districts, which are called the Mine Country, from gold being found in every part of it. The inhabitants of St. Paul first discovered gold mines near the mountain Jaquara, in the year 1577. Other mines of the same metal were also discovered in 1588, on the heights of Jacobina, in the district of Rio del Velhas. Permission was obtained, though with some difficulty, from the king of Spain, in 1603, to work some of them; and in 1699, some enterprising persons found out very great treasure in the province of Minas Geraes. Three years afterwards the court of Lisbon formed the necessary establishments to render them profitable. The names of the place where gold has been found, and where, indeed, it continues at present to be found, are as follows, Sabara, Rio das Mortes, Cachoeira, Paracatu, Do-Carmo, Rio-dal-Velhas, Rio-Dolce, and Ouro-Prato.

VIII. GOJAS.

Population.

8,931 Whites;—34,104 Negroes;—29,622 Indians.

Principal Town.

Villa-Boa is the capital of Gojas.

Commerce.

The mines of the government of Gojas were not discovered till 1726, and are situated in the districts of San-Felix, Meia-Ponta, O-Fanardo, Mocambo and Natividade.

IX. MATOGROSO, or MATTO-GROSSO,

Is the most western part of the Portugueze possessions, and is bounded by the Chiquites and the Moxos. These people are submitted to the Spanish yoke, through the indefatigable labours of the Jesuits acting as missionaries in that part of the world.

Population.

2,035 Whites;—7,351 Slaves;—4,335 Indians.

Principal Town.

The capital of Matogroso, called Villa-Bella, is merely a large village.

Commerce.

In 1735, mines were discovered in the government of Matogroso, in St. Vincent’s Chapada, St. Anne’s Cuiada, and in Araes.

Observations.

It is worthy of remark, that the extraction of gold in the New World is neither dangerous nor laborious, since the purest, finest kind is frequently found near the surface of the earth. They often dig for it three or four fathoms, but seldom, if ever, deeper; since when the miners meet with a bed of sandy earth, they know it to be unnecessary labour to search to a greater depth. The veins which run the most regular, and in the same direction, are the richest; yet, it has been remarked, that those which yielded the greatest quantity of gold are usually in spaces where the surface is the most spangled with crystals. Larger pieces are found in mountains and stony barren rocks than either in vallies or on the banks of rivers; but, from whatever place it be taken, it is of three and twenty carats and a half in its pure state, on coming out of the mine, except indeed, it should happen to be mixed with iron, silver, mercury, or sulphur, which, however, is seldom the case, unless at Araés or Gojas. Every person on discovering a mine is bound to declare it to government. Should the vein be found to be trifling, on being examined by those appointed to estimate its value, it becomes the property of the public; but should it prove a rich one, the revenue officers take care to reserve one share for themselves, whilst another is given to the commandant, a third to the intendant, two more to the original discoverer of the mine, and the remainder to the miners of the district. This latter part is divided according to the different fortunes of these people, which is determined by the number of slaves they possess. The miners are obliged to pay the king of Portugal a fifth part of the net profit arising from the gold extracted, which formerly amounted to a considerable sum; and even now produces on an average 300,000l. sterling, annually. In 1781, the whole of the metals, whether coined or in bars, in circulation at Brazil, were not estimated at quite a million sterling, and what is still more remarkable, there was not more than a third of the above sum in circulation in Portugal in 1752[51] and 1754, and even that was in alloyed silver money.