No

【OTWITHSTANDING all the advantages of a residence in this country, it has also its disadvantages. The living in the capital and its immediate vicinity is expensive, the necessaries of life are even scarce, and a thousand unexpected inconveniences will be found."

There is a want of hands; the population of the country, and the wants of the capital, bear no proportion to the mechanics, tradesmen, and farmers, and the size of the kingdom and its daily increasing trade. The government has paid too little regard to benefiting internal trade by means of roads, &c. In the whole country there is scarcely a regular high road; the caravans of mules, that bring the cotton upon their backs from Minas Novas to the capital, a distance of more than 200 leagues, have to encounter the greatest difficulties of the road almost before its very gates. Goods that have from this distance successfully arrived within seven leagues of the metropolis, have to cross through marshes, morasses, and rivers; and not unfrequently the goods, mules, and drivers, perish in sight of the royal residence. As long, therefore, as government in this respect remains inactive, so long as the farmer cannot easily bring his produce to market, and the merchant can only send his goods with the risk of lives, the cultivator will labour in vain to profit by the land that government has allotted to him. The poor farmer will hardly grow more than is necessary for his support. He neglects his plantations so much, that at last he will suffer want with his family. Thence it is that the lower classes lead such a wretched life; and that, in a country of abundance, many thousands of its inhabitants fall a prey to poverty.

Europeans, especially those who from their infancy have been accus

tomed to bread, will find themselves often disappointed. Except in the southern province of Rio Grande, St. Paul and Minasgeraes, people in general eat but little bread; instead of which, they use the mendioca or maize flower, dried beans and bacon. Both maize and beans are usually sown and reaped twice a-year; the bread-root, or mendioca, may indeed be planted every month, but must remain in the ground from at least twelve to fifteen months, before it will yield the proper flour. The preparation itself, however, is easy, and the flour both pleasant and wholesome. Beef dried in the air, and sprinkled with a little salt, with dry beans, bacon and flour of bread root, or maize, constitute the usual food of the negroes and country people.

Although there are no infectious diseases in Brazil, yet many persons are seen suffering under various casualties, among which swelled legs are the most prevalent. This particular disease is of a scorbutic nature, and only attacks the poorer classes, negroes as well as whites, and arises from neglect, filth, and poor living.

Wens are as common in some of the inland provinces, as in some mountainous districts of Europe. The earth, or sand, flea, which is likewise found in the West India islands, as all over South America, is also here very troublesome. They are a kind of small flea, which chiefly keep in the sand and dust of dirty and unfrequented rooms, and in sandy districts, This insect fixes itself on the toes, or any other naked part of the body, and eats itself into the skin, under the nails, &c. As the negroes always work barefooted in the field, they are naturally most exposed to them. It is therefore the duty of every master to have the feet of newly purchased negroes frequently examined, particularly as they have no knowledge of this plague in Africa. When the insect is picked out in time it produces no bad consequences; but there are people who, partly from ignorance, partly from idleness, do not anticipate the evil, and who then suffer from long sores. The best means of getting rid of the breed altogether is by the application of calomel ointment.

In the metropolis strangers may feel themselves rather annoyed by musquitos and gnats, but I have never seen any in the country.

It

It seems, then, that any person who can put up with the plain food described above, and can wait till the roads are made, if in this hot climate he will observe cleanliness by frequent washing and bathing, and in short if he will employ himself in labour, he may very soon have a fine kitchen garden, with all kinds of fruit and vegetables. He will then find it easy to breed pigs and fowls, and to keep oxen and cows; in short, he will within a few years see his labour rewarded, and be able to support his family in plenty. But any one who would seek here an idle life, may stay in his own country, since, instead of the expected paradise, he would soon find his grave.

Every emigrant, whether rich or poor, should have an object in view, corresponding with his knowledge and means. The man of property, without assistance, can do nothing; he must bring mechanics, artizans, and peasants with him, or hire them there for high wages, or buy slaves. The poor man can still less adventure into a foreign country; he must have the support either of a patron, or of government. It is true that the Portuguese government gives the European emigrant, provided he be a Roman Catholic, large uncultivated tracts of land gratis, which in time may acquire a very great value; but the farther use of such a gift will still depend on the assistance he may receive: till these wilds are brought into cultivation, the peasant must support himself and his family, build a cottage, purchase cattle and implements of husbandry, and all that in a foreign country, the language of which he does not understand, and where he will not readily be understood. The mechanic, from the same cause, will find neither a situation nor employ: his means will soon be exhausted; and, instead of the imaginary wealth and abundance, he will meet with want and misery, and ultimately he will not even find wherewith to return to his native country.

A Roman Catholic, possessed of a sufficient capital to profit by the advantages offered by the government, will do best to go to Brazil on his own account. But the peasant and mechanic, whose funds are not sufficient, must be satisfied for the first few years with less advantage, by attaching themselves to a capitalist, and becoming acquainted with the language,

customs, and habits, and agriculture of the country, and then chuse that branch of industry for which they feel the best qualified.

From all this it will result that it is more advantageous for the capitalist than for the poor man to emigrate to Brazil. But let us now calculate the advantages that offer themselves to a man of moderate fortune, compared to what he might earn with it in Europe.

We will suppose a man, whose estates in Europe are worth 10,000 pounds, and who tries to make the most of them. What can he gain? After he has paid all his taxes, tithes, and other duties, he will make, under the happiest circumstances, and in the best years, from three to four per cent.; that is, between three to four hundred pounds clear profit: he must live with his family in a plain and retired manner; and, if by some misfortune, encumbered with extra expences, he may be glad if, at the end of the year he is free from debt.

But, if such a man with 100,000 florins emigrates to Brazil, his profits will increase considerably. He may purchase (or now receive from the government without expense,) a large uncultivated estate, or district, which may stand him in about

He purchases forty slaves at 200 Spanish dollars,

about

1,000 pounds.

2,000

2,000

360

360

360

6,080 pounds.

With these forty negroes, he may, in the first year, sow coffee, form a nursery, plant between 20 or 30,000 coffee-trees, mandioca-root, maize, beans, cabbage, and other nourishing plants and roots, banana-trees, &c. in such abundance, that, at the end of six months, he may almost be able to keep his people; but, after eighteen months, when the bread-root is ripe, he already possesses the principal staff of life. In the mean time he continues planting coffee-trees, and extending his nursery, according to his leisure and number of slaves. After eighteen

months

months he may reap bread-roots to the value of about 1,000 pounds. After three years his coffee-trees will begin to bear; and, in the fourth year, they will at least yield him one pound of coffee per tree, which is worth about half a florin a pound, so that he will then begin to draw a revenue of 1,500 pounds. In the fifth year, if he has continued to add about 20,000 coffee-trees a-year, he may calculate that, within five or six years, his coffeeplantation will yield to him from 25 to 3 or 4,000l. clear profit; and thus in a few years double his capital, and become a rich and independent man. Many have objected that persons, advanced to the age of forty or fifty years, would be too old for such an undertaking; to such an assertion I answer by the following fact:

Dr. Lezesne, one of the few who escaped the fury of the revolution at St. Domingo, with the wrecks of his fortune settled with his family in Rio Janeiro. Here, instead of purchasing land, he took the copyhold (fief) of an uncultivated track of land in the vicinity of the metropolis, for which he pays an annual ground-rent of about a hundred dollars.

His first step was to buy forty
slaves, who, at about 200 dol-
lars each, cost him about.
With these, and some labourers, he
cleared the ground, and, pro-
fiting by the timber, he erect-
ed dwelling-houses, outhouses,
&c. for about
He then immediately began sowing
coffee and planting as many
young coffee-trees as he could
procure from the vicinity. Be-
sides these, he planted only a
few banana-trees, sending for
the necessary provisions totown.
The keeping of the forty slaves at
five pence a day amounted
per annum to abont

Clothing for do. about

For the purchase of tools, mules,

£1800

1300

300

40

100

60

Keeping of his family, about

1900

Thus, within a few years, with thirty-eight slaves, two of the number having died, this gentleman planted above 100,000 coffee-trees; which now, in the fourth year after the first plantation, yield, in the average, at least one pound of coffee each. These 100,000 pounds sold at about 10d. a pound; now produce about 41667. annually, being a clear profit from a capital of about 5000 guineas.

Dr. Lezesne was the first who introduced the cultivation of this article in the Brazils, the demand for which has kept pace with the increase of the produce. And this gentleman has proved, by his example, that it is the most pro fitable article for cultivation in that country.

Considering the great extent of the country, the variety of its soil, fertility, climate, and produce, it is impossible to form a correct scale of the prices of the first necessaries of life. One of the capital can only serve those who wish to settle in it, and will be of no use to the colonist, who should leave the expensive metropolis as soon as possible.

A negro man or woman costs be-. tween 40 and 507.; daily expense for the keeping of a negro, from 5d. to 7d. That of an European, at least from 10d. to 14d. 32 lb. of bacon cost 12s. some. times much more, according to the supply from the interior. A bag of mendioca-flour, 7s. to 8s. A bag of dry beans, of a good quality, 21s. to 24s. according to the season, before or after harvest-time. A bag of maize, 5s. to 78. A bag of maize-flour, or grotts, 7s. to 8s. Beef, and this very bad, about 4d. a-pound. Wheaten flour, which with corn is imported from abroad, varies frequently in price. In the average the pound costs from 3d. to 4d. Rich people only eat bread; in the country it is little known. An egg 2d. to 24d. A fowl 2s. 6d. to 3s. Potatoes, 11s. to 17s. the hundred-weight. Salt butter, which is imported from Holland, Ireland, and France, at an average 1s. 8d. a pound. Beef, salted and dried in the air, which is cured in the southern parts of Brazil, and constitutes the principal food of the labouring classes, from 88. to 11s. the arroba (32 lb.) But, in this article too, the price fluctuates according to the supply and exportation. A head of white cabbage, 4d. to 5d. A bottle of wine, 10d. to 14d. A bottle of English porter, 13d. to 17d. A draught

draught-ox, 31. to 41. A cow with a calf, 51.

Clothing and shirts, &c. which are all made of light cotton, are rather cheap. A shirt will cost about 4s. Daily wages are very high in this province. A good carpenter will earn from between 5s. to 7s. a day, a good mason the same. A negro, as a mere field-labourer, 1s. 8d. a day.

But, if such a man has a family, and wishes to live decently, he will, at the end of the week, have seldom more left than to supply him on Sunday, even should he have earned between 7s. and 8s. Such are the prices in the capital.

In the inland districts every thing is cheaper; but the negro, who costs there half as much again to buy, scarcely earns 10d. and the best artisan scarcely 1s. 8d.

The trades most in request in the metropolis and its vicinity are those of carpenters, joiners, masons, smiths, lock-smiths, wheelwrights, tin-men, and copper-smiths. But also many tailors, shoe-makers, and even hairdressers and milliners, have found good business in the capital. Active book-binders would also, no doubt, be successful, and accumulate fortunes there.

The surrounding districts, particularly those along the coast, offer a thousand opportunities for an enterprizing man to obtain wealth.

Although the best cotton grows in the country, there are as yet no spinning-establishments. Mills of all kinds are much wanting; sawing-mills, cornmills, and stamping-mills, are among those which would succeed best. Near the capital, several brick-kilns might be employed. The lime-stone near Cape Frio, thirty leagues from Rio Janeiro, is not used, for want of an enterprizing individual to embark bis capital and industry in the erection of kilns for burning it. There is plenty of wood, and the finest and purest porcelain earth and clay may be found every where, yet no individual has thought of establishing a pottery, all earthenware being imported from England. With the same advantage manufactories for glass, potash, soap, &c. might be established. The provinces of Rio Grande, St. Paul, and Minasgeraes, are best situated for the European farmer. Vines might be advantageously grown in them, for which the other provinces

2

are too hot. Besides this Rio Grande possesses a great abundance of cattle. Here oxen are frequently killed merely for the hides, which are exported in a raw state to Europe, and afterwards re-imported converted into leather. It would, therefore, be of great importance to establish tanneries in the country, where, besides, the most excellent bark may be procured. The flesh is sometimes dried and exported; but it would be more advantageous if any one undertook to cure it properly, and to smoke the tongues. Butter and cheese might also be abundantly supplied from the above-named provinces.

The provinces of Pernambuco, Maranham, Bahia, and Rio Janeiro, yield very excellent sugar-cane; but there are as yet no good refineries. If the cotton were spun in the country, manufactories for muslins, calicoes, &c. might ultimately be established, which could furnish Europe with a better and cheaper article than England or India.

If rice-mills were established in the country, the exportation of this produce might be greatly increased. And, with more industry, and a greater population, the precious spices of India might be produced abundantly, and be made a great article of commerce for the country.

The most extensive and valuable fisheries might be established on a coast embracing 35° latitude, with an abundance of fish. These would soon vie with the Newfoundland fisheries, and make every importation of this article useless, besides its being a school for the training of valuable

seamen.

In Para the manufacture of isinglass has been most successfully begun; and in St. Catherina and Rio Grande, as far as Rio Janeiro, the whalefishery and oil manufactories were formerly considerable. The extensive woods along the coasts not only offer an abundance of wood to burn in manufactories, but would also give various opportunities for making of charcoal, the building of ships, and the establishment of sawing-mills.

Mining officers, iron casters, and miners, would be well employed in Minasgeraes, which has an abundance of gold and iron ore, and where every private individual may establish on bis own account gold and iron mines as well as founderies.

In the vicinity of St. Francisco, near
Salgado

Salgado in the same province, are salt springs, which are not used, whilst the salt is brought from Rio Janeiro to that inland province, a distance of between 2 and 300 leagues.

Great quantities of sea-salt are daily imported from Setuval and the Cape Verd islands, yet no one ever yet attempted to make any of this kind along the immense extent of the Brazilian

coast.

Scarcely any good rum, or any other spirituous liquors, are as yet distilled; and brandies, and even wine vinegar, are imported from France, Spain, and Portugal.

In short, in this fertile country, a man of property may make the fortune of hundreds of families, who in Europe are suffering want without any prospect of ever being richer; at the same time he may himself, within a few years, double his own fortune; the poor peasant who follows him may soon become a wealthy and independent proprietor, and the industrious and active artizan may, through the support of his pation, and by his own exertions, soon amass a fortune for himself and his posterity.

In conclusion it should be observed, that the Portuguese government guarantees to the contracting parties to enforce the execution of all the stipulations they may have agreed upon in Europe.

For the Monthly Magazine. THE POLITICAL ECONOMIST.

NO. 11.

On certain Verbal Differences between Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, and Say.

which the most eminent economists are divided. They do not differ about principles, but words: having ascertained how wealth may be best acquired, they quarrel about the nature of wealth itself,-whether it be material or immaterial; whether wealth be value, or value wealth; and fifty other follies, on the relative utility of productive and unproductive consumers.

To a person standing aloof from these disputes,-who has no favourite system at stake, who looks only to the simple truth, regardless of the result,

they appear extremely absurd. But what renders this economical battle most to be lamented is, that the parties themselves appear to be wellmeaning personages, sincere and independant in their opinions, but actuated by a sort of perverse ingenuity, a desire of novelty, or of making too much of their real or imaginary discoveries. Without noticing at present the more important dogmas on which they are divided, we will illustrate one particular error into which they have all fallen, and which seems a fundamental cause of their differences.

The error to which we allude is their attempting to define certain common words, and give to them a meaning different from that in which they are usually received. On definitions generally it may be observed, that the object of them is not to invent new meanings, but to ascertain precisely the sense which usage has sanctioned. Without this limitation, the end of language is perverted, and it ceases to be a common medium for the interchange of ideas. If a writer may

ed lately on Political Economy, who, without adding to the substantial truths of the science, have thrown great obstacles in the way of its successful cultivation; and, by involving it in a mass of verbal distinctions and metaphysical refinements, with which it had no manner of connexion, lessened its utility in public estimation. Already their disputes have been compared to the wranglings of the schoolmen; and a branch of knowledge, which of all others has the most intimate bearing on the social state, has been considered no better than the differences about the origin of evil, or the best possible world. This will not appear surprising to those who have attended to the subjects on MONTHLY MAG. No. 371.

prove what he pleases: with such latitude, there is no paradox, however absurd, which may not be established. But when a proposition is affirmed, of course the words it contains must be understood in their ordinary sense; for it will never do for a person, announcing as a new discovery that one and two make four, to turn round and tell us, that by two he means three.

A neglect of this rule has been the origin of much of the false reasoning, and many of the idle subtleties, which have marked the attention of mankind; and a disregard to it is the chief cause of the differences of the economists. They have all attempted to define certain familiar words, as value