Chapter 31

_17th_.--Lat. 5° N., long. 25° W. For several days the thermometer at 80°; the temperature of the sea at noon 82°. We spoke the Pambinha, 60 days from Maranham. She says Lord Cochrane had gone himself to Para, whence he meant to proceed directly for Rio; so that he would probably be there by this time, as the Pedro Primeiro sails well. I had no opportunity of learning more, as the vessel passed hastily.

We have, generally speaking, had hot winds from Africa, and there is a sultry feel in the air which the state of the thermometer hardly accounts for. I perceive that the sails are all tinged with a reddish colour; and wherever a rope has chafed upon them, they appear almost as if iron-moulded. This the captain and officers attribute to the wind from Africa. They were certainly perfectly white long after we left Rio; they have not been either furled or unbent. What may be the nature of the dust or sand that thus on the wings of the wind crosses so many miles of ocean, and stains the canvass? Can it be this minute dust affecting the lungs which makes us breathe as if in the sultry hours preceding a thunder-storm?

_Dec. 3d_.--We came in sight of St. Mary's, the eastern island of the Azores. I much wished to have touched at some of these isles; but this is not a good season for doing so, and the winds we have had have been unfavourable for the purpose. This afternoon, though near enough to have seen at least the face of the land, the weather was thick and rainy, so that we saw nothing.

_18th_.--After passing the Azores, a long succession of gales from the north-east kept us off the land. These were succeeded by three fine days; and the sea, which had been heavy, became smooth. Early the day before yesterday, however, it began to blow very hard from the northwest; and yesterday morning it changed to a gale from the south and south-west, and we lay-to under storm stay-sails, in a tremendous sea. About one o'clock the captain called to me, and desired me to come on deck and see what could not last ten minutes, and I might never see again. I ran up, as did Mrs. and Miss K----. A sudden shift of wind had taken place: we saw it before it came up, driving the sea along furiously before it; and the meeting of the two winds broke the sea as high as any ship's mast-head in a long line, like the breakers on a reef of rocks. It was the most beautiful yet fearful sight I ever beheld; and the sea was surging over our little vessel so as to threaten to fill her: but the hatches were battoned down; we were lying-to on a right tack, and a hawser had been passed round the bits in order to sustain the foremast, in case we lost our bowsprit, as we expected to do every instant. But in twenty minutes the gale moderated, and we bore up for Falmouth, which we reached this morning, having passed the cabin deck of a ship that doubtless had foundered in the storm of yesterday.--Once more I am in England; and, to use the words of a venerable though apocryphal writer, "Here will I make an end. And if I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desired; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto."[130]

M.G.

[Note 130: 2 Maccabees, chap. XV. ver. 37, 38.]

APPENDIX.

It will appear from the following TABLES of the Imports and Exports of the Province of Maranham, from 1812 to 1821, of how much importance the acquisition of that Province is to the Empire of Brazil. Some other Tables are added, which may serve to give a clearer idea of the state of the country. The amount of the duties on the importation of Slaves, paid by Maranham to the treasury at Rio de Janeiro during those ten years, was 30,239 milrees.

Nothing is wanting to the prosperity of that fine Province but a steady government, and a regular administration of justice. Without these two things, it will be in vain to expect either prosperity or tranquillity. The people are multiplying too fast to be managed by the former clumsy administration; and their intercourse with the rest of the world has taught them to wish for something better.

Although there are veins of metal in Maranham, they have never been worked; but some saltpetre-works have been established there. There are mineral and medicinal waters in some districts; but I believe they have not been analyzed: in short, little attention has hitherto been paid to any thing but the woods, and the growth of coffee, cotton, and sugar; in all of which Maranham is abundantly rich.

GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE IMPORTS TO MARANHAM, FROM THE YEAR 1812 TO 1820. (Continued below) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| COUNTRIES WHENCE IMPORTED.| 1812 | 1813 | 1814 | 1815 | 1816 | --------------------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------| | Rees. | Rees. | Rees. | Rees. | Rees. | Brazil | 244,506,690 | 284,211,812 | 416,508,747 | 284,418,270 | 271,326,160 | Portuguese ports in Africa| 146,817,000 | 181,610,811 | 221,219,843 | 371,238,250 | 408,590,000 | Lisbon | 167,431,350 | 256,407,277 | 417,018,290 | 458,595,340 | 752,051,810 | Oporte | 69,103,210 | 74,842,710 | 70,429,900 | 98,399,750 | 173,794,080 | England | 581,682,700 | 654,891,057 | 696,425,620 | 465,997,240 | 550,217,190 | Gibraltar | 13,848,800 | ------------ | 3,246,400 | ------------ | ----------- | United States | 49,729,600 | ------------ | ------------ | 12,250,600 | 32,906,840 | Western Isles | ------------ | 2,964,400 | ------------ | ------------ | ------------ | France | ------------ | ------------ | ------------ | 60,662,700 | 55,459,000 | Holland | ------------ | ------------ | ------------ | ------------ | ------------ | Spain | ------------ | ------------ | ------------ | ------------ | ------------ | Annual amount |1,273,119,340 |1,454,927,667 |1,824,848,800 |1,751,563,150 |2,244,245,080 | Silk Goods Portuguese | 8,694,300 | 9,836,200 | 8,880,920 | 11,622,780 | 22,217,900 | Do. foreign | 6,601,600 | 6,447,500 | 15,647,400 | 22,720,600 | 18,863,200 | Linen Goods Portuguese | 26,832,100 | 22,170,300 | 19,476,800 | 29,872,200 | 50,266,000 | Do. foreign | 69,031,100 | 125,357,220 | 172,292,860 | 74,989,100 | 162,170,280 | Cotton Goods Portuguese | 3,085,640 | 10,375,730 | 10,859,000 | 21,273,380 | 54,732,250 | Do. foreign | 349,295,440 | 324,792,020 | 316,213,050 | 377,886,820 | 444,593,640 | Woolen Cloths Portuguese | ------------ | ------------ | 198,720 | 272,000 | 774,000 | Do. foreign | 33,487,300 | 39,377,950 | 43,725,900 | 17,259,300 | 50,546,900 | Fine Hats Portuguese | 946 | 2,292 | 4,400 | 3,402 | 5,419 | Do. foreign | 4,228 | 5,140 | 8,795 | 3,193 | 7,422 | Coarse Hats Portuguese | 11,689 | 9,623 | 6,225 | 9,424 | 16,380 | Do. foreign | 3,774 | 2,735 | 4,976 | 17,836 | 14,555 | Clothes and Shoes | | | | | | Portuguese | 2,465,600 | 1,817,600 | 3,054,600 | 3,346,880 | 2,389,100 | Do. foreign | 1,232,000 | 500,000 | 2,200,000 | 1,729,200 | 1,080,800 | Movables Portuguese | 4,494,600 | 3,360,000 | 8,700,000 | 10,600,000 | 18,600,000 | Do. foreign | 1,244,700 | 2,734,000 | 1,120,000 | 1,400,000 | 5,000,000 | Portuguese brandy Pipes | 45 | 48 | 139 | 104 | 220 | Do. and Gin, foreign | 46 | 11 | 20 | 21 | 38 | Portuguese Wines | 745 | 645 | 1,427 | 1,320 | 761 | Do. foreign | 247 | ------------ | 81 | 4 | 55 | Wheaten Flour, arrobas | 10,228 | 26,524 | 18,538 | 25,872 | 21,838 | Salt Fish, quintals | 401 | 252 | 296 | 818 | 938 | Butter, arrobas | 5,785 | 4,628 | 4,220 | 5,198 | 4,625 | Cheese, arrobas | 1,179 | 642 | 1,243 | 1,750 | 2,229 | Balance in favour of } | ------------ | 190,867,692 | ------------ | 325,175,700 |1,090,305,135 | Maranham } | | | | | | Do. against | 203,167,456 | ------------ | 30,586,797 | ------------ | ------------ | Proceeds of the Customs | 74,648,957 | 83,963,025 | 83,429,147 | 81,317,345 | 112,633,410 | Portuguese Ships arrived | 52 | 64 | 70 | 69 | 80 | Do. foreign | 34 | 29 | 12 | 43 | 58 | Total Ships | 86 | 93 | 82 | 112 | 138 | New Slaves from Africa | 992 | 1,221 | 1,592 | 2,692 | 2,615 | Do. from Brazil | 680 | 508 | 394 | 684 | 762 | Total Slaves imported } | 1,672 | 1,729 | 1,986 | 3,376 | 3,377 | in the Year } | | | | | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Total Number of Slaves imported, from 1812 to 1821, - - - 45,477.

GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE IMPORTS TO MARANHAM, FROM THE YEAR 1812 TO 1820. (Continued) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 1817. | 1818. | 1819. | 1820. |Mean of first five| Mean of second | 1821. | | | | | Years. | Five Years. | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------|--------------| Rees. | Rees. | Rees. | Rees. | Rees. | Rees. | Rees. | 635,642,720 | 687,505,720 | 616,297,520 | 271,501,280 | 300,194,336 | 496,454,680 | 293,618,720 | 988,100,000 | 759,320,000 | 934,069,500 | 326,230,200 | 265,895,180 | 685,061,940 | 193,583,790 | 743,334,230 | 569,961,450 | 527,062,435 | 474,282,020 | 410,380,813 | 613,338,389 | 331,483,280 | 255,289,960 | 149,862,520 | 144,499,960 | 149,927,240 | 97,313,930 | 175,674,752 | 112,652,710 | 878,979,730 | 908,004,920 | 562,534,950 | 435,639,960 | 589,842,761 | 667,075,350 | 442,757,290 | --------------|--------------|--------------| 9,491,000 |------------------|----------------|--------------| 77,940,200 | 108,261,640 | 92,154,390 | 66,430,800 |------------------| 75,538,774 | 116,099,750 | --------------| 20,076,200 | 14,947,260 | 7,374,460 |------------------|----------------| 2,325,600 | 102,164,290 | 178,041,520 | 75,136,180 | 132,282,730 |------------------| 108,616,744 | 40,091,590 | --------------| 13,625,600 | 2,320,000 | 12,091,000 |------------------|----------------|--------------| --------------| 17,169,400 |--------------|--------------|------------------|----------------|--------------| 3,681,451,130 |3,411,828,970 |2,983,022,195 |1,885,250,690 |1,709,760,809 |2,841,179,613 |1,532,612,730 | 27,706,200 | 11,797,100 | 6,059,565 | 5,392,360 | 12,250,420 | 14,634,625 |--------------| 33,375,120 | 33,161,620 | 13,619,060 | 13,838,600 | 14,056,060 | 22,571,520 |--------------| 57,456,520 | 49,855,700 | 23,041,480 | 28,261,380 | 29,723,480 | 41,776,216 |--------------| 307,923,950 | 175,888,560 | 111,670,680 | 83,702,900 | 120,768,112 | 168,261,274 |--------------| 89,924,400 | 44,665,120 | 49,258,310 | 33,272,580 | 20,065,200 | 54,370,532 |--------------| 506,977,320 | 579,338,910 | 359,983,900 | 212,115,710 | 362,556,194 | 420,601,896 |--------------| 1,746,000 | 672,000 | 490,000 | 240,000 |------------------| 784,400 |--------------| 103,453,400 | 96,565,780 | 55,042,700 | 46,099,960 | 36,879,470 | 70,341,748 |--------------| 3,663 | 3,966 | 4,579 | 5,263 | 3,292 | 4,578 |--------------| 12,826 | 21,868 | 10,196 | 9,219 | 5,755 | 12,186 |--------------| 27,552 | 12,180 | 9,324 | 2,876 | 10,668 | 13,662 |--------------| 22,686 | 25,224 | 4,961 | 5,122 | 8,775 | 14,509 |--------------| 1,254,440 | 3,347,040 | 7,002,920 | 7,312,400 | 2,614,756 | 4,261,180 |--------------| 4,886,400 | 6,934,300 | 3,305,000 | 1,477,000 | 1,348,400 | 3,536,700 |--------------| 22,220,000 | 24,240,000 | 23,590,000 | 4,020,000 | 9,150,920 | 18,534,000 |--------------| 10,800,000 | 17,400,000 | 6,600,000 | 9,800,000 | 2,298,400 | 9,920,000 |--------------| 288 | 265 | 303 | 221 | 111 | 259 | 657 | 76 | 109 | 132 | 269 | 27 | 124 |--------------| 2,047 | 694 | 1,879 | 2,226 | 1,179 | 1,921 | 1,620 | 382 | 442 | 54 | 204 | 77 | 227 | 260 | 40,080 | 53,082 | 52,689 | 45,687 | 20,600 | 42,675 | 82,221 | 2,237 | 5,786 | 1,799 | 1,669 | 541 | 2,485 |--------------| 9,624 | 10,453 | 8,187 | 8,751 | 4,891 | 8,328 |--------------| 3,398 | 3,621 | 2,717 | 3,541 | 1,427 | 99 |--------------| --------------| 257,858,230 |--------------| 352,145,615 |------------------|1,379,412,568 |--------------| 132,588,568 |--------------| 470,596,983 |--------------|------------------|----------------|--------------| 150,145,175 | 247,213,751 | 219,786,377 | 158,517,700 | 87,198,376 | 167,659,282 | 115,686,300 | 89 | 79 | 80 | 61 | 67 | 77 | 48 | 63 | 100 | 57 | 80 | 35 | 71 | 56 | 152 | 179 | 137 | 141 | 102 | 149 | 104 | 5,797 | 3,377 | 4,784 | 2,381 | 1,822 | 3,790 | 1,718 | 2,325 | 3,259 | 1,269 | 483 | 713 | 1,619 |--------------| 8,122 | 6,636 | 6,053 | 2,864 | 2,535 | 5,409 | 1,718 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|