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PRODUCTIONS OF THE COUNTRY.

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of which we had evidence on board during our subsequent passage; so were the pigs; but the sheep, which cost 27. 10s. per head, were the most miserable animals any one can conceive, being no more than skin and bones, without an ounce of fat or flesh upon them. At the steps, on entering the market, sat many mendicants, wretched objects of disease and penury, begging alms from all who passed by to provide for their miserable daily subsistence.

The principal productions of the country are sugar, coffee, a bean upon which the slaves are fed, and cattle. Bananas, pines, citrons, oranges, custard apples, and all fruits belonging to the tropics, are seen exposed for sale.

The population of this execrably dirty place amounts to 260,000. Here the Roman Catholic faith is to be seen in all its supremacy, and exhibits its overweening love of dominion. It is said that money can obtain immunity from anything save an insult or offence against the church. Just as on the continent of Europe, may be seen monks and

256

ROYAL PALACE AND REVENUE.

friars of various orders walking about in the costumes belonging to their different corps. Every natural sentiment is sapped from them to aggrandize their Church. At the head of the great square is a very fine cathedral, most gorgeously adorned inside with gilded roof and a fine altar-piece; it reminded me, by its splendour, of the Houses of Lords and Commons. Adjoining it is the Royal Chapel, which we had not the opportunity of visiting, as the Emperor was in the mountains during the sickly season with the Empress and family, consisting of three children. The palace of the ancient and proud House of Braganza is placed in the midst of filth and poverty, a luxurious court surrounded by squalor and pestilence. The royal revenue is somewhere about 100,000l. a-year, which would be in this country a large sum, but that the Emperor has many loans to liquidate. Here the Prince de Joinville came for his wife in the heyday of King Louis Philippe's prosperity. One thing which will make any visitor remember Rio above all others, is the extortionate price asked for

ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS.

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every article of sale, not only by the natives, but also by foreigners. Your own countrymen are quite as ready and apt in pawning upon you spurious diamonds and pebbles as any Portuguese, and squeezing you as far as you are to be compressed. So keep a good look out after your pockets, and draw your purse's strings extra tight when you have landed, and return to your ship every night; or else, during the sickly season, go some short distance from the town to sleep, as there you escape the contagious and fatal infection of the yellow fever. It is a sad pity to see a country, for which nature has done so much, rendered almost uninhabitable by the neglect and filth of its people. The only man who seems to partake of the spirit of

the age in progress is the President of the

Customs'-house Duty, who is now causing vast and important improvements to be made in the department and buildings over which he has control, and all of which we surveyed. Opposite to the Custom-house, you pass into the street where artificial flowers are made with feathers, very elegant, beautiful, and

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BRAZILIAN CONSTITUTION.

expensive. A bouquet of these makes a very pretty ornament for a plateau. You must take care that the feathers have not been dyed, but are the natural plumage of a bird.

The Government is composed of two Houses of Assembly, as we were informed by an Englishman. The Upper House is self-elective, and the members are chosen for life; the representatives of the Lower House are elected by persons duly qualified, under certain conditions, to vote them into that office.

AUSTRALIA METALLIFEROUS.

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CHAPTER XVIII.

AUSTRALIA METALLIFEROUS-SIR C. FITZROY APPLIES FOR A GEOLOGICAL SURVEYOR -STEEL-GOLD-FIRST NUGGET -HIS EXCELLENCY'S PROJECTED VISIT TO MELBOURNEREV. C. CLARKE-SIR R. MURCHISON-THE SHEPHERD M'GREGOR THE ABORIGINES AS GOLD-FINDERS HARGREAVES

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MR. MACLEAN

MR. WENTWORTH

MR.

GOLD

MR. HARGREAVES' REPLY-MR. HARGREAVES' DECLARA-
TIONS IN SYDNEY- MR. STUCHBURY-COAL-MR. HAR-
GREAVES' STATEMENT WITH REGARD ΤΟ THE
DISCOVERY-MR. HARGREAVES' REPORT TO GOVERNMENT
-THE LOCALITIES IN WHICH HE FOUND GOLD
DEAS THOMPSON'S LETTER TO MR. STUCHBURY
REPLY-AWARD DUE TO MR. HARGREAVES.

MR.

HIS

AUSTRALIA was long known as a metalliferous country. The discovery of copper in the Burra Burra Mines, near Adelaide, together with other information, which the government of the Australian colonies had received, suggested, we may suppose, to his Excellency Sir C. FitzRoy, the advantage the colony

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