TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
—Superscript letter “o” has been rendered as text^o.
TRAVELS
IN THE
INTERIOR OF BRAZIL;
WITH NOTICES ON ITS
CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE, POPULATION,
MINES, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS:
AND
_A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT_
OF
THE GOLD AND DIAMOND DISTRICTS.
INCLUDING
_A VOYAGE TO THE RIO DE LA PLATA_.
BY
JOHN MAWE.
SECOND EDITION.
ILLUSTRATED WITH COLORED PLATES.
London:
PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN,
PATERNOSTER ROW;
AND SOLD BY THE AUTHOR, 149, STRAND.
1822.
[Illustration]
_W. M’Dowall Printer, Pemberton Row Gough Square._
[Illustration: PALACE & GREAT SQUARE IN RIO DE JANEIRO.]
PREFACE.
SINCE the first appearance of this work, nine years have elapsed,
during which period translations of it have been published in France,
Sweden, Germany, and Russia, as well as in Portugal and Brazil, and
two editions of it have been given in the United States of America.
Encouraged by these unequivocal proofs of approbation, and by the kind
offers of assistance from several eminent persons in Brazil, and from
others attached to the Portuguese interests in this country, I have
at length, and I trust not prematurely, ventured again to submit it
to the notice of the Public. In its present form, it is divested of
some details, which however interesting at the period of its first
publication, have ceased to be so; and their place has been supplied by
matter of higher and more lasting importance, collected from official
documents relative to Brazil, and from private memoranda communicated
by persons well acquainted with the present state of that interesting
country. For the opportunity of making many of these improvements, I
have to offer my grateful acknowledgments to the Conde de Funchal,
late ambassador from Portugal at the British Court; and I have also
to express my sincerest thanks to A. F. J. Marreco, Esq. for the
access which he has afforded me to various authentic and valuable
sources of information, and for his kind and judicious suggestions to
me while preparing the present edition for the press. How far I have
profited by these estimable advantages, will best appear from the work
itself, which I now submit to the equitable judgment of the Public.
Conciseness, as far as is consistent with fidelity of description, has
been my principal aim; and I trust that the reader will not think that
I have trespassed too much on his time, when he compares this with the
more voluminous productions which have recently been published on the
same subject.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
_Voyage to Cadiz and thence to the Rio de la Plata.—Adventures
at Monte Video.—Character of the Inhabitants.—Trade.—Climate.
—Geological Remarks.—Recent Changes.—Monte Video under the
Portuguese.—Agriculture and Trade of the Rio de la Plata._ 1