ST. PAUL'S, or San Paulo, is the south-west captain generalship of Brazil, and follows Rio Janeiro, and Mi nas Geraes, and lying between the Atlantic Ocean and river Parana, having a front on the Atlantic Ocean of 400 miles; greatest length from north-east to south-west 560 miles, with a mean breadth of 300; area 168,000 square miles. With the exception of a narrow strip on the Atlantic Ocean, St. Paul's is an inclined plane slop ing to the north-west, and down which numerous con fluents of the Parana are precipitated, and flow, not towards the contiguous ocean, but directly towards the • central parts of the continent. The dividing ridge be tween the short Atlantic rivers and the sources of the Parana, is part of the Brazilian system of mountains, already noticed, and which, in St. Paul's, rise from the margin of the Atlantic. The city of St. Paul's, though not in a direct line, 40 miles from the ocean, is drained by a tributary of the Parana. The mountains rise ab ruptly from the ocean to about 6000 feet, and slope by gentle ascent inland. The city of St. Paul's, connected with its port Santos by a paved road formed with great labour and expense over the mountain gorges, contains a population of 30,000 souls. Its elevated position, and latitude almost exactly under the southern tropic, give to this city a peculiarly temperate climate.
The whole of the province of St. Paul's, lying between S. lat. and 25° 40', contains a population of about 220,000 souls, engaged in agriculture and mining. Such a population, however, when viewed comparatively, shows a country where civilized settlement is only commenced, though, perhaps of all the original esta blishments in America, the first settlers of St. Paul's were amongst the most active and intelligent.
Rio GRANDE, deriving its name from one of the nu merous rivers of South America bearing that title, is the southern province of Brazil, having the Atlantic Ocean south-east, St. Paul's north, Banda Oriental south, and Uruguay west, with a front of upwards of five hundred miles on the Atlantic Ocean. The south-west ern boundary of Rio Grande is of great political conse quence, as it is the limit between the empire of Brazil, and Banda Oriental. On the map published in London in 1825, and which forms the frontispiece to the "Ac count, I I isiorical, Political, and Statistical, of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, the limit between the Banda Oriental and Rio Grande is thus traced : commencing on the Uruguay river, at its junction with the Ubicui, and lollowing the latter to its source; thence, by a line south-eastward about sixty miles to the source of the Yaguaron river, and thence down the latter to its entrance into the Laguna Merin. From thence to the Atlantic
Ocean, a distance of about 40 miles in a direct course, the boundary is not either etched or coloured, but most probably was intended to follow the Laguna Merin, its outlet, into the Laguna Patos, and thence to the Atlan tic, by the mouth of the Rio Grande river. The boundary thus traced deserves particular attention, as the original of the map was drawn at Buenos Ayres, and of course ac knowledged by the authorities of the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata. On Tanner's map of South America, the limit is drawn across the peninsula, between the Laguna Merin and the Atlantic Ocean, reaching the ocean about 20 miles north of a place named on the map, Marco del Limite.
The physical features of the province of Rio Grande are in a peculiar manner varied and interesting. The southern part is composed of that remarkable basin from which the province derives its name, and which has already been noticed in our general view of South America. The western and north-western sections slope towards the Uruguay and Parana rivers, whilst the north-eastern are composed of a very narrow mountain ous slope along the Atlantic Ocean. The whole pro vince extends from the river Iguacu, flowing into the Parana, 25° 20', to the river Yaguaron, S. lat. 32° 40'; long. 25° E. from Washington City, dividing the pro vince into two very nearly equal sections. Its extent in square miles is about one hundred thousand, having a length from north to south of upwards of five hundred, with a mean breadth of two hundred miles. Rio Grande, the capital, stands on the very singular outlet of the river of that name. It is a seaport, but the shallowness of the water on the entrance, the violence of the currents, and quicksands, render the entrance dangerous for vessels drawing more than ten feet, though within the bar there is a safe anchorage, and depth of water for any ship, of whatever draught. It is along the Rio Grande that the population is chiefly distributed. " A circuit," says Matte Brun, "of twenty leagues, is supposed to contain a hundred thousand inhabitants." The small island of St. Catherine, opposite the north eastern coast of this province, and the adjacent shores around the city of Rosario, have been much celebrated for fertility of soil and picturesque scenery. The centre of the island is in S. lat. 27° 30', but the mountainous elevation of the coast lowers the temperature so much, as to give to the seasons a mean heat suitable to a much higher latitude.