GOLD WASHING IN BRAZIL. 11 distance from the coast, are thus compelled to flow through several degrees of latitude, in a northern or southern direction, before they can reach one of the two great channels, the Amazon and the Plata, whose basins comprise almost all the streams whose sources lie between the Serra do Mar and the Andes. These mountain-chains greatly influence the varieties of plants and animals found in Brazil. The tropical primæval forests (the sight of which has called forth the universal admiration of travellers) which cover the coast far to the south, and extend uninterruptedly in the northern lowland, from the mouths of the Amazons to the spurs of the Andes, yield in the interior highlands to light woods, the growth and botanical character of which are specifically different, and some extensive levels (Campos) dwindle into a bush-vegetation. In some of the dry and sandy districts, between these mountains, the vegetation is so scanty, or suffers so much during the dry season, that the breeding of cattle is the only, and often little profitable, occupation of the scattered inhabitants. Really barren districts are however rare, except in the northern provinces, for even in the less promising soils, the rainy season works wonders, and the country is nowhere scourged with uninhabitable deserts, like those of Africa. As Brazil extends, in one direction, over a surface of perhaps two thousand miles, its climate must necessarily exhibit many varieties, but these by no means resemble those of equal extent, as from the north of Lapland to Egypt, inasmuch as the greater part lies within the region of the equator, and is devoid of mountains covered with perpetual snow. Throughout Brazil there are but two seasons, the rainy and the dry, which do not, however, commence everywhere at the same time. Single provinces, particularly Cearà, suffer at times from drought, here there have been years in which no rain has fallen; the loss of the harvest and the flocks was the inevitable consequence. The temperature is everywhere high; even in the highest districts of the province Minas slight night frosts are rare. In the treeless Campos a rougher climate prevails; but even this is more perceptible to the traveller from the coast, or unaccustomed to cold, by bodily sensation, than by any considerable change in the barometer. Heat prevails in the provinces on the coast, but not to the same degree as in many districts of the coast of Mexico, Panama, or Acapulco. The air is considerably cooled by regular trade winds. The equatorial climate prevails in its glory in the lowlands of the Amazon, which has called forth the most enthusiastic eulogies, and found a most eloquent describer in the traveller Martius. Brazil possesses the great advantage that its beauties can be enjoyed without the danger or delay of acclimalisation; it is generally a wholesome country, and free from the yellow fever, that dreadful scourge of the West Indies and the adjacent lands. The population, in 1835, was somewhat more than four millions. As in all the tropical countries of South America, it consists of the original inhabitants (Indians), negroes, whites, and the many gradations of caste from the admixture of these different races. The aboriginals have mostly disappeared from the coast provinces, more from their having been driven back, than because they were forced to the hard compulsive servitude that depopulated the colonies of the Spaniards in their mining districts. A considerable number of these Indians live in a half-civilized state in the villages of the interior; in the northern provinces, particularly near the Amazon, they form nearly the whole of the population, living peaceably, without many wants, but likewise passing their lives without advantage to the state. Independent tribes occupy many of the districts which have not yet been taken possession of by the whites in the north and west; these carry on a kind of bartertrade in some parts, frequently living in a state of constant hostility, and opposing, as long as they can, the entrance of strangers. The original inhabitants of America are divided into a vast number of tribes, of whom it is supposed that one hundred live on the soil of Brazil, who consider themselves as different nations, speaking their own language. Of these, however, some are now extinct. The negroes are for the most part slaves. As everywhere else, this great servile population is the curse of the country. Although the danger of increasing their number has been distinctly perceived in the provinces of Pernambuco, Bahia, &c., and numerous rebellions have given them warning to mitigate this perilous state of things, the love of lucre has been found too powerful; and, in spite of the treaties with England, negroes are smuggled into the country in such numbers that it is computed that, since the year 1831, three hundred thousand slaves have been imported. The mulattoes prevail in the coast provinces, the mestizoes in those of the interior. Both these castes are in a very low state of civilization; and the former, particularly, threaten great danger to the state, as is proved by the terrible rebellions of recent years. The whites are, with few exceptions, the descendants of Portuguese emigrants, but the influence of a change of life and habits in a foreign country has not operated to their advantage; and, in general, they must rank low in the scale of civilization, although in the higher ranks are to be found many possessed of considerable knowledge. Their morals are not severe, nowhere does fanaticism or intolerance prevail, but more frequently infidelity and a contempt of religion, in consequence of the acquaintance of this class of the inhabitants with French literature, which has, beyond a doubt, exercised a more pernicious influence in the New World than in Europe. Education is neglected, and the custom of sending their sons to be educated in France has introduced into this formerly peaceful country a number of young men, who, from want of better occupation, become GOLD WASHING IN BRAZIL. 13 democratical writers, and produce no small confusion. In the national character of the single provinces great diversity prevails. The extreme south (Rio Grande do Sul) is inhabited by a rough people, devoted to breeding of cattle, and resembling the notorious Gauchos of the Pampos, who, infected by the ideas of their neighbours, after a long struggle, were at last (1843) reduced to obedience. The inhabitants of San Paulo are an active and courageous tribe, fond of adventures; those of Minas are distinguished above all the other Brazilians for mild seriousness, strictness of morals, culture, and love of knowledge. The natives of the province Bahia betray indifference to intellectual progress, but display a great zeal in the pursuit of common interest, and trade and industry have here made great progress. The Pernambucan has but little respect for the law, and has suffered the most for character, from living in a population of slaves, whose increase he favours. Amidst such a variety of conflicting elements, it will require knowledge, energy, and wisdom to guide the state, and to save it from the natural inclination to a revolution, arising from the ambition of some, and the cupidity of the many. Although Brazil does not exhibit the same variety of climates as Peru and Quito, it enjoys a still more ample abundance of natural products. The vegetation is so luxuriant, in many provinces, that it throws considerable difficulties in the way of the colonist, but it presents, at the same time, the richest resources for all the objects of life, and inexhaustible, and for the most part, unapplied sources of national wealth. The distinguished traveller, Martius, assures us that he has seen fifteen thousand species of plants in this country, many of them scarcely known to botanists. From the period of its discovery, Brazil has been celebrated for its valuable species of wood, the variety of its palm trees, and its various nutritious plants; many other vegetable substances and spices have, at a comparatively recent period, become of general use in medicine and domestic economy. The animal corresponds in riches to the vegetable kingdom; although South America does not possess the colossal animals of Africa, it surpasses that continent in variety of forms and beauty of colour. Brazil is the country of apes, parrots, colibris, and brilliant golden insects, and abounds in wild, but seldom dangerous animals, wherever man has not completed his conquest over the animal creation. Single provinces are celebrated for their mineral wealth, and owe their original colonization partly to this cause. Of gold we shall speak presently. The province of Minas possesses abundance of iron ore, but unfortunately is devoid of fuel. The province San Paulo possesses a particular magnet-iron (martit), a source of considerable profit. Goyaz is rich in diamonds. After this slight sketch of some of the physical peculiarities of this interesting VOL. III. E country, we turn to the more immediate subject of the plate before us. Gold is found in many parts of Brazil, both in the mountains and rivers, but most abundantly in the province Minas, near the capital, Villa Rica, surrounded by mountains abounding in the precious ore. Gold mining is in a neglected state, having made little progress during the centuries which have elapsed since the discovery of the country. One of the principal means of obtaining the gold is by bringing streams of water to bear upon the beds in the mountain slopes. The water rushing down with great rapidity carries with it, or loosens, a great portion of the soil. The latter masses, which still adhere to the mountain, are loosened by the staves, with levers and other instruments, and hurled down into the streams which, at a convenient distance, form a reservoir, where the soil is still further beaten and carried off in smaller channels, the rocky portions being detained by grates. The bottom of these channels is covered with hides, or other hairy or woolly substances, to which the gold adheres as it is precipitated from the portions of the soil which are still stirred and beaten by the slaves. The hides are then taken out and dried, and the gold carefully collected. BAHIA; or, ST. SALVADOR. BAHIA DE TODOS SANTOS; or, All Saints' Bay, is one of those noble harbours with which nature has formed Brazil. It is between twenty and thirty miles broad, and thirty and forty in length, can be entered by day or by night, at any period of thetide, and ships of the largest size can anchor close to the town, in six or seven fathoms water. The bay can afford secure anchorage for all the ships in the world. This beautiful bay was discovered by the Portuguese, at the beginning of the sixteenth century; the first attempt at its colonization, under King John III. of Portugal, was defeated by an attack of the Indians; the surviving Europeans were shipwrecked upon an island in the bay, and massacred by the inhabitants. A later expedition was more fortunate, and Portugal derived considerable profit from the numerous mineral and vegetable treasures with which this province abounds. Within the bay, on the eastern side, stands the city of San Salvador, more generally known by the name of Bahia; it was founded by Thomas de Souza, first |