The object of this Work is to describe the state of the Brazil, from
its first discovery down to the present time;--to trace distinctly
the boundaries of the twenty-two provinces which it comprises, their
sub-divisions into comarcas or districts, and their rivers; to
enumerate the povoaçoes or establishments in each province, consisting
of cities, towns, (and the dates they were so erected by his present
Majesty, or previously,) _freguezias_, (parishes,) _arraials_,
_aldeias_, (villages,) _presidios_, (garrisons,) hermitages, &c.
with the nature of their agricultural productions, the composition
of their inhabitants, whether whites, mulattos, mamalucos, mesticos,
Christianized Indians, or Africans.
The numerous tribes of savage Indians, still existing in this region
are also described; with the mountains, minerals, and leading objects
in the animal and vegetable worlds. The state of the government,
revenue, society, and minor subjects are investigated, and more
particularly the present commercial relations between Great Britain and
the Brazil. The friendly assistance I experienced from many persons
in South America, as well as from some governors and ex-governors of
provinces, has furnished a portion of the authentic materials of the
Work.
My first intention in undertaking it was to have adhered to a
geographical and commercial account of the country, but as the recent
publication of Padre Manoel Ayres de Cazal, (in producing which he
had been many years engaged,) furnishing me, not only with copious
information upon the first subject, but also upon its history, civil
and natural, I conceived that it would not be unacceptable to the
British reader to give an abridged account of each province, from
their first colonization, combined with their geography, productions,
commerce, &c.
Upon the history of this country, however, the work of Mr. Southey is
complete, and does as much honour to the talent of that gentleman as
to his unwearied research. The labour, even with all his facilities,
which such an undertaking must have required, cannot but have been very
considerable.
Padre Cazal, who is a man of some talent, enjoyed decided advantages,
it will be allowed, from his ecclesiastical situation, in arriving at
full and authentic intelligence, as to the present condition of the
towns, productions, &c. derived from Government documents, his own
personal research, the diaries of Certanistas, (persons traversing
the interior,) and from numerous individuals, who might not have
been disposed to grant the same privileges to any one differently
circumstanced. In the many instances wherein I have had opportunities
of putting the veracity of his statements to the test I have found them
correct and impartial. No doubt can fairly exist as to the perfect
authenticity of the whole, additionally confirmed as it is, by Mr.
Southey’s having had recourse to the same authority in the latter part
of his third volume.
The general reader may not be peculiarly interested with that portion
of this publication which details the towns and their productions, and
in which monotony is unavoidable, although they will be valuable as
references for the merchant and many others, as, with the evidently
growing commerce of this fine country, already taking off annually
three million of British manufactures, each of those places will
progressively become more and more important.
The plates, which are amongst the best in their style, are executed, by
an able artist, upon stone, from sketches taken on the spot; and the
map is formed by myself from the materials of the Work. The Appendix
is explanatory of the objects in Zoology and Phytology, which would
not have been generally understood by their native designations; and I
must here apologize to the reader for not presenting them in scientific
nomenclature.