On account of the vast sum of money which is thus every year drawn from Brasil, for the sole purpose of enriching the individual to whom the salt trade has been farmed out, all the rest of the inhabitants of those coun tries are made losers; at least their gain is materially prejudiced by the monopoly.—The whole commerce of i Portugal, indeed, is made to forfeit, by this abuse, n finite emoluments and advantages which would other wise accrue to it, from a greater abundance of salt fish, butcher's, meat, bacon, cheese, and butter, that would be preserved and brought to market. Thus the royal treasury, for the sake of the comparatively paltry con sideration of forty-eight millions of rcis a year, robs itself of much larger sums, which the duties on these products would fetch, but for the factitious dearness of salt." There seems strong reason to believe, that wine might be produced abundantly in Brasil. At Bahia, the most delicious grapes are reared in the gardens of individuals; but the want of industry prevents their cultivation from becoming general, and the extreme heat presents even an obstacle to their being made into wine. About Rio Janeiro, however, which is nine leagues farther south, and above all in the mountainous districts, there seems no doubt that this important arti cle might be produced in perfection. The government, however, adhering to their mean spirit of monopoly, have discouraged and even prohibited its production, in orch r that it may not interfere with the commercial interests of the mother country.
No situation can be better adapted for the whale fishery, than this coast, which every where abounds in these animals. Some are killed by large boats from the shore ; but there is no proper provision, either for taking the whales, or for extracting the oil. If there were, this might be rendered an important branch of commerce.
It is mentioned in a curious manuscript, written in 1578, and recently published by Mr Southey, that tea was found wild in the neighbourhood of Bahia, of similar and equal quality to that of China. We have not found this mentioned by any of the modern relations, and the observation seems to have sunk into oblivion. If cor rect, however, the cultivation of a plant for which the demand in Europe is so ample, would open a copious source of wealth to Brasil.
Besides the productions we have mentioned, the part of Brasil called Amazonia, produces vanilla, coffee, cot ton, and great quantities of cacao nuts, which, till lately, were the current money of the country.
The mineral productions of Brasil arc even superior to those of its soil. The country, according to Andrada,* is divided into four mineral comarcas or districts, which, going from north to south, arc, 1. St Joao del Rey ; 2. Villa Rica ; 3. Sabara; 4. Scrro do Frio, or the Cold Mountains. This last district not only produces dia
monds, but abounds in mines of iron, antimony, zinc, tin, silver, and gold. These mines were discovered by Antonio Soary, a Paulist, who first found out those of gold. The diamonds were afterwards discovered in the Riacho Fundo, in the Rio da Peixe, in the Saguitin honlia, and in the Guarapara in St Pauls. These pre cious stones were supposed originally to exist in the mountains, but they are more easily found in a bed under the vegetable mould, disseminated and attached to a gangart, more or less compact and ferruginous. They are likewise often found in the soil of the moun tains. in beds of ferruginous sand and pebbles, forming an ochraceous pudding stone, of the decomposition of emery and boggy iron ore. Beneath the pudding stone, or caschalo as it is called, there is a schistus, somewhat sandy, and sometimes there is an indurated ore of iron. The mines are farmed to individuals, and employ from seven to eight thousand negroes. They are near the little river of Millhoverde,not far from Villa Nova do Princi pe, in 7° of South Latitude, and of West Longitude. Diamonds have also been found in Cayaba, and in St Pauls, but the mines have not been 'explored. The other mines arc situated in the mountains, and among the sources of the numerous streams that flow into the river Tocantin on one side, and the Parana on the other. There are mines of gold as far in the interior as the river Cayaba, which runs into the Paraguay, and even near the river Itenas. According to M. Pau,t the mines of Brasil have produced, from the time of their discovery till the year 1756, being 60 years, nearly 2,400,000,000 livres tournois, which at an average is about 40,000,000 livres tournois in a year.
In the neighbourhood of Bahia, in the direction of west south west, there are great mines of nitre, which have not yet been wrought.
As we are indebted to Bougainville for the most com plete account of the diamond and gold mines of Brasil, we shall conclude this article with an extract from the voyage of that celebrated navigator.
4‘ Rio Janeiro is the staple and principal outlet of the riches of Brasil. The mines called general, are the nearest to the city, at the distance of about seventy-five leagues. They yield to the king, every year, for his right of fifths, at least a hundred and twelve arobas of gold ; in 1762 they yielded a hundred and nineteen. Under the captaincy of the general mines, are compre hended those of Rio do Morte, of Sabara, and of Serro frio. The last, besides gold, produces all the diamonds that come from Brasil. They are found at the bottom of a river, of which they turn the course, in order to separate from the pebbles in its bed, the diamonds, topazes, chrysolites, and other stones of inferior quality.