Description of S. Paulo.—System of Farming prevalent in its Neighbourhood.—Excursion to the Gold Mines of JaraguÁ.—Mode of working them.—Return to Santos.

S. PAULO is situated on a pleasing eminence of about two miles in extent, surrounded on three sides by low meadow land, and washed at the base by rivulets, which almost insulate it in rainy weather; it is connected with the high-land by a narrow ridge. The rivulets flow into a pretty large stream called the TietÉ, which runs within a mile of the town, in a south-west direction. Over them there are several bridges, some of stone and others of wood, built by the late governor. The streets of S. Paulo, owing to its elevation (about 50 feet above the plain), and the water which almost surrounds it, are in general remarkably clean; the material with which they are paved, is grit-stone, cemented by oxide of iron, and containing large pebbles of rounded quartz, approximating to the conglomerate. This pavement is an alluvial formation containing gold, many particles of which metal are found in the clinks and hollows after heavy rains, and at such seasons are diligently sought for by the poorer sort of people.

The city was founded by the Jesuits, who were probably tempted by the gold mines in the vicinity, more than by the salubrity of its air, which, however, is not excelled by any on the whole continent of South America. The medium of the thermometer here is between 50 and 80 degrees; in a morning I have observed it at 48, and even lower, though I was not there in the winter months. The rains are by no means heavy or of long continuance, and the thunder-storms are far from being violent. The cold in the evenings was frequently so considerable, that I was obliged to shut my doors and windows, put on more clothes, and have a pan of embers in the room, there being no chimneys.

Here are several squares, and about thirteen places of religious worship, namely, two convents, three monasteries, and eight churches, the greater part of which, as well as of the whole town, is built of earth. The mode of erecting the walls is as follows: a frame is constructed of six moveable planks placed edge-wise, opposite each other, and secured in this position by cross pieces bolted with moveable pins. Earth is put in by small quantities, which the workmen beat with rammers, and occasionally moisten with water to give it consistency. Having filled the frame or trough, they remove it and continue the same operation till the whole shell of the house is completed, taking care to leave vacancies, and put in the window-frames, door-frames, and beams as they proceed. The mass, in course of time, becomes indurated, the walls are pared perfectly smooth inside, and take any color the owner chooses to give them; they are generally enriched with very ingenious devices. This species of structure is durable; I have seen some houses thus built that have lasted two hundred years, and most of them have several stories. The roofs are made to project two or three feet beyond the wall, in order to throw off the rain to a distance from the base; spouts might be a more effectual preservative against wet, but their use is little known here. They cover their houses with gutter-tiles, but though the country affords excellent clay and plenty of wood, very few bricks are burnt.

The population of this place amounts to full fifteen thousand souls: perhaps nearer twenty thousand[15]; the clergy, including all ranks of religious orders, may be reckoned at five hundred. They are in general good members of society, free from that excessive bigotry and illiberality which is the reproach of the neighbouring colonies, and their example has so beneficial an effect on the rest of the inhabitants, that I may presume to say, no stranger will be molested while he acts as a gentleman, and does not insult the established religion. His Excellency the Bishop is a most worthy prelate, and were the inferior orders in his diocese to follow his steps in cultivating the sciences and diffusing useful information, they would command greater respect from their flocks, and by that means further the interests of the religion they profess. Priests, so ignorant, can hardly escape contempt.

No endemial diseases at present prevail here. The small-pox formerly, and indeed of late, made great havoc among the inhabitants, but its progress has been checked by the introduction of vaccine inoculation. Surgeons attended at a large hall belonging to the governor, to which the public were invited, and the operation was performed gratis. It is to be hoped that the credit of this preventative will make its way among the people here, for they are not competent to enter into the merits of that controversy which injured it in Europe.

Here are few manufactures of any consequence; a little coarse cotton is spun by the hand, and woven into cloth, which serves for a variety of wearing apparel, sheets, &c. They make a beautiful kind of net-work for hammocks, which are fringed with lace, and form an elegant piece of furniture, being slung low, so as to answer the purpose of sofas. The ladies are particularly fond of using them, especially when the heat of the weather disposes them to ease and indolence. The making of lace is a general employment for females, some of whom excel in it. The shopkeepers here are a numerous class, who, as in most colonial towns, deal in almost every thing, and sometimes make great fortunes. Here are few doctors, but many apothecaries; some silversmiths, whose articles are equally indifferent both in metal and workmanship; tailors and shoe-makers in great numbers; and joiners, who manufacture very beautiful wood, but are not so moderate in their charges as the former classes of tradesmen. In the out-skirts of the city live a number of Creolian Indians, who make earthenware for culinary purposes, large water-jars, and a variety of other utensils ornamented with some taste. The greatest proportion of the inhabitants consists in farmers and inferior husbandmen, who cultivate small portions of land, on which they breed large stocks of pigs and poultry for sale. With these the market is generally well supplied, and in the fruit-season is also stored with pines, grapes, peaches, guavas, bananas, a few apples, and an enormous quantity of quinces.

Esculent plants are grown in great profusion and variety. Here is a favorite bulbous root called the CarÁ, which is equal to the best potatoe, and even more farinaceous than many varieties of that plant; it grows to about seven inches in diameter, and affords excellent food, either boiled or roasted. Fine cabbages, sallad-herbs, turnips, cauliflowers, artichokes, and potatoes are in abundance; the latter, though very good, are little used: the sweet potatoe is in greater request among the natives. Maize, beans, green-peas, and every species of pulse florish amazingly. Fowls are cheap, we bought some at three-pence and sixpence each; small pigs from one to two shillings; and flitches of bacon, cured after the mode of the country, at about two-pence per pound. Turkies, geese, and ducks are abundant, and reasonable in price; the latter are of the Muscovy breed, enormously large, some weighing ten or fourteen pounds. Here is a singular breed of cocks; they resemble the common English in plumage and shape, but they crow very loud, and continue their last note for 15 or 20 seconds. When their voice is good, they are much esteemed, and are sent for as curiosities from all parts of Brazil. The cattle are in general good, considering that so little attention is paid to feeding them; when their pastures are full of grass, they are tolerably fat, but when otherwise they become lean. A drove may be bought at 24s. or 30s. a head; beef at about a penny or three-halfpence per pound. The curriers have a singular method of blackening cow-hides and calf-skins: when they have prepared them for that operation, they search for some mud-hole at the bottom of a ferruginous stratum, a ditch for instance; with the mud they cover that side of the skin required to be stained; and they prefer this material to the solution of copperas, probably with reason, as the sulphate of iron formed by the decomposed pyrites acts more mildly in this state than when applied in the common way.

The horses are very fine, and in general docile; when well trained they make excellent chargers. Their size is from twelve and a half to fourteen and a half hands, and they vary in price from three to twelve pounds. Mules, as we have before observed, are considered more useful beasts of burden. The breed of sheep is quite unattended to, and mutton is rarely or never eaten. Here is a very fine and large breed of goats, whose milk is generally used for domestic purposes. The dogs are very indifferent, and of no distinct race.

In my walks round the city, I had frequent opportunities of examining the singular succession of horizontal strata, that form the eminence on which it stands. They lie in the following order: first, one of red vegetable earth of variable depth, impregnated with oxide of iron; below that, sand and adventitious matter of different shades of color, as ochre-red, brown, and dusky yellow, together with many rounded pebbles, which indicate it to be of rather recent formation; it varies in depth from three to six feet, or perhaps to seven, and its lower part is uniformly yellow: under this is a bed of exceedingly fine clay of various colors, but for the most part purple; the white and yellow is the purest in quality; it is interveined with thin layers of sand in various directions. Then succeeds a stratum of alluvial matter, which is highly ferruginous; it rests on a variety of decomposed granite, containing hornblende, the proportion of feldspar apparently exceeding that of the other constituents[16]. The whole is incumbent on fine grained granite. The sides of the mount are steep, and in some places nearly perpendicular[17].

The fertility of the country around S. Paulo may be inferred from the quantities of produce, with which, as I have stated, its market is supplied. About a century ago, this tract abounded with gold; and it was not until they had exhausted it by washing, that the inhabitants thought of employing themselves in husbandry. As they did so more from necessity than from choice, they were tardy in pursuing those improvements which other nations have made in this noble art, and, pining at the disappearance of the precious mineral, considered their new occupation as vile and degrading. Indeed throughout the whole of Brazil, the husbandmen have ever been considered as forming a class greatly inferior in point of respectability to the miners; and this prejudice will in all likelihood subsist until the country shall have been drained of its gold and diamonds, when the people will be compelled to seek in agriculture a constant and inexhaustible source of wealth.

I shall attempt to describe the system of farming which at present prevails in the neighbourhood of S. Paulo. It has been elsewhere observed that, in this extensive empire, land is granted in large tracts, on proper application; and we may naturally suppose that the value of these tracts depends more or less on their situation. It therefore becomes the first object of a cultivator, to look out for unoccupied lands as near as possible to a large town; good roads and navigable rivers are the desiderata next in point of consequence which he attends to. When he has made choice of a situation, he applies to the governor of the district, who orders the proper officers to mark out the extent required, generally a league or a league and a half square, sometimes more. The cultivator then purchases as many negroes as he can, and commences his operations by erecting habitations for them and himself, which are generally miserable sheds, supported by four posts, and commonly called ranchos. His negroes are then directed to cut down the trees and brushwood growing on the land, to such an extent as he thinks they will be able to manage. This done, they set fire to all they have cut, as it lies on the ground. Much of the success of his harvest depends on this burning; if the whole be reduced to ashes he expects a great crop; if, through wet weather, the felled trees remain only half burnt, he prognosticates a bad one. When the ground is cleared, the negroes dibble it with their hoes, and sow their maize, beans, or other pulse; during the operation they cut down any thing very much in the way, but never think of working the soil. After sowing as much seed as is thought requisite, they prepare other ground for planting cassada, here called mandioca, the root of which is generally eaten as bread by all ranks in Brazil. The soil[18] for this purpose is rather better prepared; it is raked up in little round hillocks, not unlike mole-hills, about four feet asunder; into which are stuck cuttings from branches of the plant, about an inch thick and six or eight long; these soon take root, and put forth leaves, shoots, and buds. When enough has been planted for the entire consumption of the farm, the owner, if he is rich enough, prepares means for growing and manufacturing sugar. He first employs a carpenter to cut wood, and build a mill with wooden rollers for crushing the canes, by means of water, if a stream is at hand, if not, by the help of mules or oxen. While some of the negroes are assisting the carpenter, others are employed in preparing ground in the same way as for mandioca. Pieces of cane containing three or four joints, and in length about six inches, cut from the growing stem, are laid in the earth nearly horizontally, and covered with soil to the depth of about four inches. They shoot up rapidly, and in three months have a bushy appearance not unlike flags; in twelve or fifteen months more they are ready for cutting. In rich virgin soil it is not uncommon to see canes twelve feet high and astonishingly thick.

The Indian corn and pulse are in general ripe in four months or eighteen weeks. The average return is two hundred for one; it is a bad harvest when it falls short of one hundred and fifty.

The mandioca is rarely ready to take up in less than eighteen or twenty months; if the land be suitable, it then produces from six to twelve pounds weight per plant[19]. They grow very little indigo in this neighbourhood, and what they have is of indifferent quality. Their pumpkins are of enormous size, and small ones are sometimes served up as table-vegetables, but more frequently given as food to the horses. Melons here are scarcely palatable.

In no branch of husbandry are the farmers so defective as in the management of cattle. No artificial grasses are cultivated, no enclosures are made, nor is any fodder laid up against the season of scarcity. The cows are never milked regularly; they seem to be considered rather as an incumbrance to a farm than a valuable part of the stock. They constantly require salt, which is given them once in fifteen or twenty days, in small proportions. The dairies, if such they may be called, are managed in so slovenly a manner, that the little butter which is made becomes rancid in a few days, and the cheese is good for nothing. In this essential department the Paulistas are deplorably deficient; rarely indeed is there to be seen a farm with one convenience belonging to it. For want of proper places in which to store their produce, they are obliged to lay it in promiscuous heaps; and it is not uncommon to see coffee, cotton, maize, and beans, thrown into the corners of a damp shed, and covered with a green hide. One half is invariably spoiled by mould and putridity, and the remainder is much deteriorated, through this idle and stupid negligence.

They feed their pigs on Indian corn in a crude state; the time for confining them to fatten is at eight or ten months old; and the quantity consumed for the purpose is eight or ten Winchester bushels each. When killed, the lean is cut off the sides as clean as possible, the fat is cured with very little salt, and in a few days is ready for market. The ribs, chine-bone, and lean parts are dried for home consumption.

The farm-houses are miserable hovels of one story, the floor neither paved nor boarded, and the walls and partitions formed of wicker-work, plastered with mud, and never under-drawn. For an idea of the kitchen, which ought to be the cleanest and most comfortable part of the dwelling, the reader may figure to himself a filthy room, with an uneven muddy floor, interspersed with pools of slop-water, and in different parts fire-places formed by three round stones to hold the earthen pots that are used for boiling meat; as green wood is the chief fuel, the place is almost always filled with smoke, which, finding no chimney, vents itself through the doors and other apertures, and leaves all within as black as soot. I regret to say that the kitchens of many opulent people are not in much better condition.

It may well be imagined that, in a country like this, a stranger finds the greatest comfort and enjoyment out of doors. The gardens in S. Paulo, and its vicinity, are laid out with great taste, and many of them with curious elegance. The jasmine is every where a favorite tree, and in this fine climate bears flowers perennially, as does the rose. Carnations, pinks, passion-flowers, cockscombs, &c. grow in great plenty; one of their most estimable shrubs is the Palma Christi, which gives fruit the first year, and yields abundance of castor-oil, which all families possess in such quantity, that no other sort is burnt.

Bees are by no means uncommon; they are easily domesticated, and, I believe, are perfectly harmless. Their honey is pleasant; the wax, particularly that generally sold, which is taken from their nests in old forest-trees, is very foul, but might be purified by a very simple process. The woods contain a great variety of animals of the monkey kind, and also beasts of prey, some of which have tolerably good fur. Among the latter may be classed a peculiar species of the otter. Insects are numerous, but the musquitos are not so offensively so as in the Rio de la Plata. The animalculum, called the niagua or jigger, is troublesome; it beds itself under the nails of the toes, and sometimes of the fingers, but it may easily be banished by extracting it and its bag of eggs with a needle, and filling the cavity with calomel or snuff, for fear any should have remained. Reptiles, I was told, were very numerous, but I saw few, except toads, which, in the evenings, crawl upon the foot-paths, and even infest the streets of the city. The sorocucu or jararaca (serpents) are said to be very dangerous.

The woods produce large and durable timber, well calculated for building. Of their trees, all of which retain their Indian names, some yield very fine gums. The jacarandÁ, called in England rose-wood, is here very common. Many of their shrubs bear beautiful flowers, and are very aromatic. Among the innumerable creeping plants which clothe the soil of their uncleared lands, there are some distinguished as infallible antidotes to the bite of venomous reptiles; one in particular, called the coraÇÃo de Jesus[20], is universally esteemed.

Beyond the plain which nearly encircles S. Paulo, the country is hilly, or rather mountainous. Had the period of my stay been longer, I should have devoted some time to a geological tour in that district; but having urgent reasons to hasten my departure for Rio de Janeiro, I had leisure to make only one excursion of this kind. The governor invited me to visit the old gold-mines of JaraguÁ, the first discovered in Brazil, which were now his property, together with a farm in their vicinity, distant about twenty-four miles from the city. We travelled along a tolerable, and in some places, fine road, in a southerly direction, for twelve miles, and crossed the Tieti. This river is here considerably larger and deeper than in the neighbourhood of S. Paulo; it has an excellent wooden bridge, free from toll. On its banks there are some situations truly enviable; fine rich virgin lands covered with timber, and capable of producing, not only the necessaries, but the luxuries of life, in a hundred-fold degree, if properly cultivated. It was melancholy to behold a territory, which, for its teeming soil and genial climate, deserves to be called a paradise, neglected and solitary, like that of Eden after the fall; while its infatuated possessors, like the offspring of Cain, hungering for gold, kept aloof from the rich feast which nature here spread before them.

After travelling onward four leagues, we arrived at the ancient mines of JaraguÁ, famed for the immense treasures they produced nearly two centuries ago, when at the ports of Santos and S, Vicente, whence the gold was shipped for Europe, this district was regarded as the Peru of Brazil. The face of the country is uneven and rather mountainous. The rock, where it appeared exposed, I found to be granite, and sometimes gneiss, containing a portion of hornblende, with mica. The soil is red, and remarkably ferruginous, in many places apparently of great depth. The gold lies, for the most part, in a stratum of rounded pebbles and gravel, called cascalho, immediately incumbent on the solid rock. In the valleys, where there is water, occur frequent excavations, made by the gold-washers, to a considerable extent, some of them fifty or a hundred feet wide, and eighteen or twenty deep. On many of the hills, where water can be collected for washing, particles of gold are found in the soil, scarcely deeper than the roots of the grass.

The mode of working these mines, more fitly to be denominated washings, is simple, and may be easily explained:

Suppose a loose gravel-like stratum of rounded quartzose pebbles and adventitious matter, incumbent on granite, and covered by earthy matter of variable thickness. Where water of sufficiently high level can be commanded, the ground is cut in steps, each twenty or thirty feet wide, two or three broad, and about one deep. Near the bottom a trench is cut to the depth of two or three feet. On each step stand six or eight negroes, who, as the water flows gently from above, keep the earth continually in motion with shovels, until the whole is reduced to liquid mud and washed below. The particles of gold contained in this earth descend to the trench, where, by reason of their specific gravity, they quickly precipitate. Workmen are continually employed at the trench to remove the stones, and clear away the surface, which operation is much assisted by the current of water which falls into it. After five days’ washing, the precipitation in the trench is carried to some convenient stream, to undergo a second clearance. For this purpose wooden bowls are provided, of a funnel shape, about two feet wide at the mouth, and five or six inches deep, called gamellas. Each workman standing in the stream, takes into his bowl five or six pounds weight of the sediment, which generally consists of heavy matter, such as granular oxide of iron, pyrites, ferruginous quartz, &c. and often precious stones. They admit certain quantities of water into the bowls, which they move about so dexterously, that the precious metal, separating from the inferior and lighter substances, settles to the bottom and sides of the vessel. They then rinse their bowls in a larger vessel of clean water, leaving the gold in it, and begin again. The washing of each bowlful occupies from five to eight or nine minutes; the gold produced is extremely variable in quantity, and in the size of its particles, some of which are so minute, that they float, while others are found as large as peas, and not unfrequently much larger. This operation is superintended by overseers, as the result is of considerable importance. When the whole is finished, the gold is placed upon a brass pan, over a slow fire, to be dried, and at a convenient time is taken to the permutation office, where it is weighed, and a fifth is reserved for the Prince. The remainder is smelted with muriate of mercury, then cast into ingots, assayed, and stamped according to its intrinsic value, a certificate of which is given with it; after a copy of that instrument has been duly entered at the mint-office, the ingots circulate as specie.

My attention was strongly engaged by the immense debris or refuse of old washings, which lay in numberless heaps, and contained various substances that gave me strong hope of finding some interesting and valuable specimens of tourmalines, topazes, and other crystallizations, and also a rich series of rocks, which form the geognostics of the country. So strongly was I prepossessed with this hope, that I really fancied I had within my reach some of the finest mineral products of Brazil. Early one morning, before the sun became too hot for work, I set out accompanied by two or three men, with iron crows and hammers, whom I had engaged to assist me. We broke up immense quantities of quartzose and granite-like matter in various stages of decomposition, and others of a ferruginous kind, but after pursuing the operation for three whole days, until my hands could no longer wield the hammer, I was obliged to give up the search as fruitless; not a grain of gold did I find, nor anything of the nature of crystallization, except some miserable quartz, a little cubic and octahedral pyrites, and some very poor maganese! In short the substances presented so little novelty, and were in themselves so ordinary, that I hesitated whether I should carry them with me to S. Paulo. This disappointment at the first gold mines I had seen, not a little dejected me.

In company with the Governor and his lady, I now took a survey of the farm; we walked and rode through extensive plantations, the productions of which, as well as the mode of culture pursued, were similar to those I have already described. Our next recreation was hunting the deer. Let not the reader imagine that I am going to lead him a chase through miles of country with a pack of hounds and a joyous company of horsemen; the mode of hunting in Brazil affords no such diversion. Three or four men go out armed with guns and attended by two or three dogs; the men separate and wait in some open place; meanwhile the dogs quest among the plantations and thickets; if they find, they drive the game out, which the hunters immediately shoot. The deer are small, and of the fallow kind; but their flesh is not esteemed.

The wild animals of this district are chiefly monkeys, sloths, a variety of the porcupine, and opossums. These, and other predatory beasts, make great havoc among the poultry. Of the feathered tribe there are not many varieties; I shot several snipes and beautiful lapwings[21] with red horns on each pinion, about half an inch in length. Here are great numbers of parrots and parroquets.

The vampire-bat, so often described by travellers, is a most formidable foe to the horses and mules. If he gets access to them in the night, he fixes on the neck-vein, above the shoulder, and sucks it to such a degree as to leave the animal almost covered with blood, fanning with his wings all the while he retains his hold, in order (as it should seem) to lull the pain caused by his bite.

The garden has a bed of fine potatoes, which were planted three or four years ago by Mr. Quarten, from Gibraltar. They are suffered to grow and reproduce themselves from season to season, none being taken up unless when wanted for food. Cabbages and other vegetables for the table grow in abundance.

This farm has the advantage of very fine timber in its neighbourhood, and when the improvements, begun by the governor, are completed, it will be well provided with water, brought from a distance of six miles, in sufficient quantities to wash the hills, and to work the machinery of a sugar-mill. On the estate were employed about fifty negroes, and half that number of free Indians; the latter ate at their master’s expense, and earned about sixpence a day; but they appeared far less laborious and handy than the negroes. They were clearing grounds and making walks in a wood, which when finished will render the place a most agreeable summer retreat.

Among the many marks of kindness with which the governor honored me, I must not omit his repeated assurances, that in the event of war between our respective countries, which was then talked of, he would not detain me. After remaining here five days, which were rendered as agreeable as possible by the polite civilities of my host, we set out on our return in the order in which we came: the governor and his lady in a carriage drawn by four mules, his aide-de-camp and myself on horseback, and six dragoons in front, the guard usually attendant on an officer of his rank. We arrived at S. Paulo without any material occurrence.

This city is seldom visited by foreigners. The passes to it from the coast are so singularly situated, that it is almost impossible to avoid the guards who are stationed in them, to inspect all travellers and merchandize passing into the interior. Soldiers of the lowest rank on these stations have a right to examine all strangers who present themselves, and to detain them and their property, unless they can produce passports. I and my friends in our way hither were thrice obliged to exhibit our licence from the governor of Santos, which was attested. Our appearance at S. Paulo excited considerable curiosity among all descriptions of people, who seemed by their manner never to have seen Englishmen before; the very children testified their astonishment, some by running away, others by counting our fingers, and exclaiming, that we had the same number as they. Many of the good citizens invited us to their houses, and sent for their friends to come and look at us. As the dwelling we occupied was very large, we were frequently entertained by crowds of young persons of both sexes, who came to the door to see how we ate and drank. It was gratifying to us to perceive that this general wonder subsided into a more social feeling; we met with civil treatment every where, and were frequently invited to dine with the inhabitants. At the public parties and balls of the governor we found both novelty and pleasure; novelty at being much more liberally received than we were in the Spanish settlements, and pleasure at being in much more refined and polished company.

The dress of the ladies abroad, and especially at church, consists of a garment of black silk, with a long veil of the same material, trimmed with broad lace; in the cooler season black cassimere or baize. In the same veil they almost always appear in the streets, though it has been partially superseded by a long coat of coarse woollen, edged with velvet, gold lace, fustian, or plush, according to the rank of the wearer. This coat is used as a general sort of undress, at home, in their evening walks, and on a journey, and the ladies, whenever they wear it, appear in round hats. The appellation of Paulista is considered by all the females here as a great honor; the Paulistas being celebrated throughout all Brazil for their attractions, and their dignity of character. At table they are extremely abstemious; their favorite amusement is dancing, in which they display much vivacity and grace. At halls and other public festivals they generally appear in elegant white dresses, with a profusion of gold chains about their necks, their hair tastefully disposed and fastened with combs. Their conversation, at all times sprightly, seems to derive additional life from music. Indeed the whole range of their education appears to be confined to superficial accomplishments; they trouble themselves very little with domestic concerns, confiding whatever relates to the inferior departments of the household to the negro or negress cook, and leaving all other matters to the management of servants. Owing to this indifference, they are total strangers to the advantages of that order, neatness, and propriety, which reign in an English family; their time at home is mostly occupied in sewing, embroidery, and lace-making. Another circumstance repugnant to delicacy is, that they have no mantua-makers of their own sex; all articles of female dress here are made by tailors. An almost universal debility prevails among them, which is partly attributable to their abstemious living, but chiefly to want of exercise, and to the frequent warm-bathings in which they indulge. They are extremely attentive to every means of improving the delicacy of their persons, perhaps to the injury of their health.

The men in general, especially those of the higher rank, officers, and others, dress superbly; in company they are very polite and attentive, and shew every disposition to oblige; they are great talkers and prone to conviviality. The lower ranks, compared with those of other colonial towns, are in a very advanced state of civilization. It were to be wished that some reform were instituted in their system of education; the children of slaves are brought up during their early days with those of their masters; they are playmates and companions, and thus a familiar equality is established between them, which has to be forcibly abolished when they arrive at that age, at which one must command and live at his ease, while the other must labor and obey. It has been said, that by thus attaching the slave to his master, in early youth, they ensure his future fidelity, but the custom seems fraught with many disadvantages, and ought at least to be so modified as to render the yoke of bondage less galling by the recollection of former liberty.

The religious processions here are very splendid, grand, and solemn; they have a striking effect, by reason of the profound veneration and enthusiastic zeal manifested by the populace. On particular occasions of this kind, all the inhabitants of the city attend, and the throng is frequently increased by numbers of the neighbouring peasantry for several leagues round. The balconies of those houses, which command the best views of the spectacle, are crowded with ladies in their gala dresses, who consider the day as a kind of festival; the evening is generally concluded by tea and card-parties or dances.

We found very little difficulty in accommodating ourselves to the general mode of living at S. Paulo. The bread is pretty good, and the butter tolerable, but rarely used except with coffee for breakfast, or tea in the evening. A more common breakfast is a very pleasant sort of beans, called feijoens, boiled or mixed with mandioca. Dinner, which is usually served up at noon or before, commonly consists of a quantity of greens boiled with a little fat pork or beef, a root of the potatoe kind, and a stewed fowl, with excellent sallad, to which succeeds a great variety of delicious conserves and sweetmeats. Very little wine is taken at meals; the usual beverage is water. On public occasions, or when a feast is given to a large party, the table is most sumptuously spread; from thirty to fifty dishes are served up at once, by which arrangement a succession of courses is obviated. Wine circulates copiously, and toasts are given during the repast, which usually occupies two or three hours, and is succeeded by sweetmeats, the pride of their tables; after coffee the company pass the evening in dancing, music, or cards.

I may here observe, that neither in S. Paulo, nor in any other place which I visited, did I witness any instance of that levity in the females of Brazil, which some writers allege to be the leading trait in their character. I allude to the custom which has been said to prevail among them, of throwing flowers from the balconies on such of the passers-by, as they take a fancy to, or of presenting a flower or a nosegay to their favorites, as a mark of partiality. The circumstance which seems to have given rise to such an ill-founded conjecture is this: flowers are here considered an indispensable part of the female head-dress, and when a stranger is introduced to a lady, it is nothing more than an act of common courtesy for her to take one from her hair to present to him. This elegant compliment he is expected to return in the course of the visit, by selecting a flower from the profuse variety which adorn the garden, or the balcony, and presenting it to her.

One singular custom I must not omit to notice, that of throwing artificial fruit, such as lemons or oranges, made very delicately of wax and filled with perfumed water. On the two first days of Lent, which are here celebrated with great festivity, persons of both sexes amuse themselves by throwing these balls at each other; the lady generally begins the game, the gentleman returns it with such spirit that it seldom ceases until several dozens are thrown, and both parties are as wet as if they had been drawn through a river. Sometimes a lady will dexterously drop one into the bosom of a gentleman, which will infallibly oblige him to change his linen, as it usually contains three or four ounces of cold water. On these days of carnival the inhabitants parade the streets in masks, and the diversion of throwing fruit is practised by persons of all ages. It is reckoned improper for men to throw at each other. The manufacture of these missiles, at such periods, affords no inconsiderable occupation to certain classes of the inhabitants; I have been informed, that in the capital of Brazil, many hundreds of people derive a temporary subsistence from the sale of them. The practice (as I can testify) is very annoying to strangers, and not unfrequently engenders quarrels which terminate seriously.

During our stay here an unpleasant report was circulated, that the port of Lisbon was shut against the English, and that war was daily expected to be declared between the two powers. Had it not been for the kindness of the governor in offering to permit our departure before he should receive orders to the contrary, we should have felt ourselves in a very disagreeable predicament. But news soon arrived that his Royal Highness the Prince Regent had left Portugal with all the court, and that they were embarked for the Brazils, under the escort of a British squadron, dispatched by Sir Sidney Smith. This intelligence was most joyfully received by the Brazilians; they considered, indeed, that the occupation of Portugal by the French, was a disaster very likely to ensue, but they consoled themselves with the hope of receiving a Prince, in whose praise every tongue was eloquent, and to whose cause every heart was loyal. The Brazilian empire was considered as established; and the worthy bishop consecrated the auspicious era by ordaining daily prayers in the cathedral, to invoke, from Divine Providence, the safe arrival of the Royal Family. News of their having touched at Bahia arrived in about ten days, and was welcomed by every demonstration of public joy, processions, fire-works, &c. Hoping, every day, to hear of their arrival at Rio de Janeiro, I made all ready for my departure, and devoted the few remaining days to a second excursion to the gold-mines, and to some farewell visits among my friends in the vicinity of S. Paulo. The governor and many of the principal inhabitants gave us parting invitations, and by their urbanity rendered the last hours we passed with them at once delightful and melancholy. Some of the latter accompanied us two leagues on our way, and on separating testified the warmest wishes for our welfare.

I never recal to mind the civilities I received at this city without the most grateful emotions, in which those will best sympathize who have known what it is to visit a remote city in a strange country, where, according to the narratives of preceding travellers, nothing prevailed but barbarism and inhospitality, and where they have been agreeably undeceived. It may easily be supposed that I found it difficult to reconcile the character of the Paulistas, such as I beheld it, with the strange accounts of their spurious origin, quoted by modern geographers. These accounts, founded on the suspicious testimony of the Jesuits of Paraguay, and at variance with the best Portuguese historians, have been of late most ably confuted by an enlightened member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Lisbon[22]. He fully exposes the inconsistencies of Vaissette and Charlevoix, in ascribing the origin of S. Paulo to a band of refugees, composed of Spaniards, Portuguese, MestiÇos, Mulattos, and others, who fled hither from various parts of Brazil, and established a free-booting republic; and he satisfactorily shews that the first settlers were Indians of Piratininga and Jesuits, and that the city, from its first foundation, never acknowledged any other sovereignty than that of Portugal. The veracity of this account is further supported by the predominant character of the Paulistas, who, far from inheriting the obloquy, which an ancestry of rogues and vagabonds would have entailed upon them, have long been famed throughout all Brazil for their probity, their industry, and the mildness of their manners[23].