said, if they were driven at last, like their brethren in the
northern part of the same continent, to shake off the yoke of
Portugal, and assert .their independence.—But a general view
of the system followed by Portugal with regard to the Brazils
I shall reserve for another chapter.
C H A P . V.
G E N E R A L OB S E RV A T IO N S ON T H E B RA Z IL S .
Discovery of the frazils— Mode of colonizing the Country— Failure in the
Attempt to convert the Natives to Christianity, and to Slavery— Negroes
imported from the Coast of Africa— A Frenchman’s Humanity to a Cargo of
Slaves— Treatment and Condition of Slaves in the Brazils— Advantages of
this Country over the West India Islands— Reflexions on Slavery— Discouraging
System of the Portugueze with regard to the Brazils— Valuable Productions
of— Treaty of Commerce between England and Portugal— Deplorable
State of the Spanish Colonies— Dangerous Doctrine o f revolutionizing South
America— Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and St. Catharine’s, three important
Points on the Coast of Brazil— Strength of Rio, and military Force.
T h e discovery of the American islands seems to have been
the result of a preconcerted enterprise, but that of the coast
of Brazil was merely accidental. The Portugueze Admiral
Cabral, when conducting an expedition round the Cape of
Good Hope, resolved, in consequence of the calms and baffling
winds which his predecessors had invariably experienced
near the coast of Africa, to try a different though circuitous
route, by crossing the equinoctial line many degrees to the
westward of that part of it where hitherto it had been customary.
Having accomplished this point, and keeping his
sails full-with a brisk south-east trade to the southward of the