NOTICE TO THE READER.
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.