at plenty; but they are so
lean, that an Englishman will scarcely eat of their flesh: The herbage
of these pastures consists principally of cresses, and consequently is
so short, that though it may afford a bite for horses and sheep, it can
scarcely be grazed by horned cattle in a sufficient quantity to keep
them alive.

This country may possibly produce many valuable drugs; but we could not
find any in the apothecaries shops, except pariera brava, and balsam
capivi; both of which were excellent in their kind, and sold at a very
low price. The drug trade is probably carried on to the northward, as
well as that of the dying woods, for we could get no intelligence of
either of them here.

As to manufactures, we neither saw nor heard of any except that of
cotton hammocks, in which people are carried about here, as they are
with us in sedan chairs; and these are principally, if not wholly,
fabricated by the Indians.

The riches of the place consist chiefly in the mines which we supposed
to lie far up the country, though we could never learn where, or at what
distance; for the situation is concealed as much as possible, and troops
are continually employed in guarding the roads that lead to them: It is
almost impossible for any man to get a sight of them, except those who
are employed there; and indeed the strongest curiosity would scarcely
induce any man to attempt it, for whoever is found upon the road to
them, if he cannot give undeniable evidence of his having business
there, is immediately hanged up upon the next tree.

Much gold is certainly brought from these mines, but at an expence of
life that must strike every man, to whom custom has not made it
familiar, with horror. No less than forty thousand negroes are annually
imported, on the king's account, to dig the mines; and we were credibly
informed, that, the last year but one before we arrived here, this
number fell so short, probably from some epidemic disease, that twenty
thousand more were draughted from the town of Rio.

Precious stones are also found here in such plenty, that a certain
quantity only is allowed to be collected in a year; to collect this
quantity, a number of people are sent into the country where they are
found, and when it is got together, which sometimes happens in a month,
sometimes in less and sometimes in more, they return; and after that,
whoever is found in these precious districts, on any pretence, before
the next year, is immediate