above two hundred, and the light they gave was so great, that the people who saw it from the cabin windows thought the town had been on fire.

The inhabitants, however, may pay their devotions at the shrine of any saint in the calendar, without waiting till there is a procession; for before almost every house there is a little cupboard, furnished with a glass window, in which one of these tutelary powers is waiting to be gracious; and to prevent his being out of mind, by being out of sight, a lamp is kept constantly burning before the window of his tabernacle in the night. The people, indeed, are by no means remiss in their devotions, for before these saints they pray and sing hymns with such vehemence, that in the night they were very distinctly heard on board the ship, though she lay at the distance of at least half a mile from the town.

The government here, as to its form, is mixed; it is notwithstanding very despotic in fact. It consists of the viceroy, the governor of the town, and a council, the number of which I could not learn: without the consent of this council, in which the viceroy has a casting vote, no judicial act should be performed; yet both the viceroy and governor frequently commit persons to prison at their own pleasure, and sometimes send them to Lisbon, without acquainting their friends or family with what is laid to their charge, or where they may be found.

To restrain the people from travelling into the country, and getting into any district where gold or diamonds may be found, of both which there is much more than the government can otherwise secure, certain bounds are prescribed them, at the discretion of the viceroy, sometimes at a few, and sometimes at many miles' distance from the city, On the verge of these limits a guard constantly patroles, and whoever is found beyond it is immediately seized and thrown into prison; and if a man is, upon any pretence, taken up by the guard without the limits, he will be sent to prison, though it should appear that he did not know their extent.

The inhabitants, who are very numerous, consist of Portuguese, negroes, and Indians, the original natives of the country. The township of Rio, which, as I was told, is but a small part of the Capitanea, or province, is said to contain 37,000 white persons, and 629,000 blacks, many of whom are free; making together 666,000, in the proportion of seventeen to one. The Indians, who are employed to do the king's work in this neighbourhood, can scarcely be considered as inhabitants; their residence is at a distance, from whence they come by turns to their task, which they are obliged to perform for a small pay. The guardboat was constantly rowed by these people, who are of a light copper colour, and have long black hair.

The military establishment here consists of twelve regiments of regular troops, six of which are Portuguese and six Creoles; and twelve other regiments of provincial militia. To the regulars the inhabitants behave with the utmost humility and submission; and I was told, that if any of them should neglect to take off his hat upon meeting an officer, he would immediately be knocked down. These haughty severities render the people extremely civil to any stranger who has the appearance of a gentleman. But the subordination of the officers themselves to the viceroy is enforced with circumstances equally mortifying, for they are obliged to attend in his hall three times every day to ask his commands; the answer constantly is, "There is nothing new." I have been told, that this servile attendance is exacted to prevent their going into the country; and if so, it effectually answers the purpose.

It is, I believe, universally allowed, that the women, both of the Spanish and Portuguese settlements in South America, make less difficulty of granting personal favours than those of any other civilized country in the world. Of the ladies of this town some have formed so unfavourable an opinion as to declare, that they did not believe there was a modest one among them. This censure is certainly too general; but what Dr. Solander saw of them when he was on shore, gave him no very exalted idea of their chastity: he told me, that as soon as it was dark, one or more of them appeared in every window, and distinguished those whom they liked, among the gentlemen that walked past them, by giving them nosegays; that he, and two gentlemen who were with him, received so many of these favours, that, at the end of their walk, which was not a long one, they threw whole hatfuls of them away.

Great allowance must certainly be made for local customs; that which in one country would be an indecent familiarity, is a mere act of general courtesy in another; of the fact, therefore, which I have related, I shall say nothing, but that I am confident it is true.

Neither will I take upon me to affirm, that murders are frequently committed here; but the churches afford an asylum to the criminal and as our cockswain was one day looking at two men, who appeared to be talking together in a friendly manner, one of them suddenly drew a knife, and stabbed the other; who not instantly falling, the murderer withdrew the weapon, and stabbed him a second time. He then ran away, and was pursued by some negroes who were also witnesses of the fact; but whether he escaped or was taken I never

heard.

The country, at a small distance round the town, which is all that any of us saw, is beautiful in the highest degree; the wildest spots being varied with a greater luxuriance of flowers, both as to number and beauty, than the best gardens in England.

Upon the trees and bushes sat an almost endless variety of birds, especially small ones, many of them covered with the most elegant plumage; among which were the hummingbird. Of insects, too, there was a great variety, and some of them very beautiful; but they were much more nimble than those of Europe, especially the butterflies, most of which flew near the tops of the trees, and were, therefore, very difficult to be caught, except when the sea-breeze blew fresh, which kept them nearer to the ground.

The banks of the sea, and of the small brooks which water this part of the country, are almost covered with the small crabs called Cancer vocans; some of these had one of the claws, called by naturalists the hand, very large; others had them both remarkably small, and of equal size: a difference which is said to distinguish the sexes, that with the large claw being the male.

There is the appearance of but little cultivation; the greater part of the land is wholly uncultivated, and very little care and labour seem to have been bestowed upon the rest; there are, indeed, little patches or gardens, in which many kinds of European garden-stuff are produced, particularly cabbages, peas, beans, kidney-beans, turnips, and white radishes, but all much inferior to our own: water-melons and pine-apples are also produced in these spots, and they are the only fruits that we saw cultivated, though the country produces musk melons, oranges, limes, lemons, sweet lemons, citrons, plantains, bananas, mangos, mamane apples, acajou or cashou apples and nuts; jamboira of two kinds, one of which bears a small black fruit; cocoa-nuts, mangos, palm-nuts of two kinds, one long, the other round; and palm-berries; all which were in season while we were there.

Of these fruits the water-melons and oranges are the best in their kind; the pine apples are much inferior to those that I have eaten in England; they are indeed more juicy and sweet, but have no flavour: I believe them to be natives of this country, though we heard of none that at this time grow wild; they have, however, very little care bestowed upon them, the plants being set between beds of any kind of garden-stuff, and suffered to take the chance of the season. The melons are still worse-at least those that we tasted, which were mealy and insipid; but the water-melons are excellent; they have a flavour-at least a degree of acidity-which ours have not. We saw also several species of the prickle-pear, and some European fruits, particularly the apple and peach, both which were very mealy and insipid. In these gardens also grow yams and mandihoca, which in the West Indies is called Cassada or Cassava, and to the flower of which the people here, as I have before observed, give the name of Farinha de Pao, which may not improperly be translated, "Powder of Post." The soil, though it produces tobacco and sugar, will not produce. bread-corn; so that the people here have no wheat-flour but what is brought from Portugal, and sold at the rate of a shilling a pound, though it is generally spoiled by being heated in its passage. Mr. Banks is of opinion that all the products of our West Indian islands would grow here; notwithstanding which, the inhabitants import their coffee and chocolate from Lisbon.

Most of the land, as far as we saw of the country, is laid down in grass, upon which cattle are pastured in great 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 conse

quently 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 pareira 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 dyeing 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 expense 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 immediately put to death.

The jewels found here are diamonds, topazes of several kinds, and amethysts. We did not see any of the diamonds, but were informed that the viceroy had a large quantity by him, which he would sell on the king of Portugal's account, but not at a less price than they are sold for in Europe. Mr. Banks bought a few topazes and amethysts as specimens: of the topazes there are three sorts, of very different value, which are distinguished here by the names of Pinga d'agua qualidade primeiro, Pinga d'agua qualidade secundo, and Chrystallos armerillos: they are sold, large and small, good and bad together, by octavos, or the eighth part of an ounce; the best at 4s. 9d. All dealing, however, in these stones is prohibited to the subject under the severest penalties: there were jewellers here formerly, who purchased and worked them on their own account; but about fourteen months before our arrival, orders came from the court of Portugal that no more stones should be wrought here, except on the king's account: the jewellers were ordered to bring all their tools to the viceroy, and left without any means of subsistence. The persons employed here to work stones for the king are slaves.

The coin that is current here is either that of Portugal, consisting chiefly of thirty-six shillings pieces, or pieces both of gold and silver, which are struck at this place: the pieces of silver which are very much debased, are called petacks, and are of different value, and easily distinguished by the number of rees that is marked on the outside. Here is also a copper coin, like that in Portugal, of five and ten ree pieces. A ree is a nominal coin of Portugal, ten of which are equal in value to about three farthings sterling.

The harbour of Rio de Janeiro is situated W. by N. 18 leagues from Cape Frio, and may be known by a remarkable hill, in the form of a sugar-loaf, at the west point of the bay; but as all the coast is very high, and rises in many peaks, the entrance of this harbour may be more certainly distinguished by the islands that lie before it; one of which, called Rodonda, is high and round, like a hay stack, and lies at the distance of two leagues and a half from the entrance of the bay, in the direction of S. by W.; but the first islands which

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are met with, coming from the east, or Cape Frio, are two that have a rocky appearance, lying near to each other, and at the distance of about four miles from the shore: there are also at the distance of three leagues to the westward of these two other islands, which lie near to each other, a little without the bay on the east side, and very near the shore. This harbour is certainly a good one; the entrance, indeed, is not wide, but the sea-breeze, which blows every day from ten or twelve o'clock till sunset, makes it easy for any ship to go in before the wind; and it grows wider as the town is approached, so that abreast of it there is room for the largest fleet, in five or six fathom water, with an oozy bottom. At the narrow part, the entrance is defended by two forts. The principal is Santa Cruz, which stands on the east point of the bay, and has been mentioned before; that on the west side is called fort Lozia, and is built upon a rock that lies close to the main; the distance between them is about three quarters of a mile, but the channel is not quite so broad, because there are sunken rocks which lie off each fort, and in this part alone there is danger: the narrowness of the channel causes the tides, both flood and ebb, to run with considerable strength, so that they cannot be stemmed without a fresh breeze. The rockiness of the bottom makes it also unsafe to anchor here; but all danger may be avoided by keeping in the middle of the channel. Within the entrance the course up the bay is first N. by W. half W. and N.N.W., something more than a league; this will bring the vessel the length of the great road; and N.W. and W.N.W. one league more will carry her to the Isle dos Cobras, which lies before the city: she should then keep the north side of this island close on board, and anchor above it, before a monastery of Benedictines, which stands upon a hill at the N.W. end of the city.

The river, and indeed the whole coast, abounds with a greater variety of fish than we had ever seen; a day seldom passed in which one or more of a new species were not brought to Mr. Banks: the bay also is as well adapted for catching these fish as can be conceived; for it is full of small islands, between which there is shallow water, and proper beaches for drawing the seine. The sea, without the bay, abounds with dolphins, and large mackarel of different kinds, which readily bite at a hook, and the inhabitants always tow one after their boats for that purpose.

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Though the climate is hot, the situation of this place is certainly wholesome while we stayed here the thermometer never rose higher than 83 degrees. We had frequent rains, and once a very hard gale of wind.

Ships water here at the fountain in the great square, though, as I have observed, the water is not good: they land their casks upon a smooth, sandy beach, which is not more than a hundred yards distant from the fountain; and upon application to the viceroy, a sentinel will be appointed to look after them, and clear the way to the fountain where they are to be filled.

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Upon the whole, Rio de Janeiro is a very good place for ships to put in at that want refreshment the harbour is safe and commodious; and provisions, except wheaten bread and flour, may be easily procured: as a succedaneum for bread, there are yams and cassada in plenty; beef, both fresh and jerked, may be bought at about two-pence farthing a pound; though, as I have before remarked, it is very lean. The people here jerk their beef by taking out the bones, cutting it into large but thin slices, then curing it with salt, and drying it in the shade it eats very well, and, if kept dry, will remain good a long time at

sea.

Mutton is scarcely to be procured, and hogs and poultry are dear: of garden-stuff and fruit-trees there is abundance-of which, however, none can be preserved at sea but the pumpkin; rum, sugar, and molasses, all excellent in their kind, may be had at a reasonable price; tobacco also is cheap, but it is not good. Here is a yard for building shipping, and a small hulk to heave down by; for as the tide never rises above six or seven feet, there is no other way of coming at a ship's bottom.

When the boat which had been sent on shore returned, we hoisted her on board, and stood out to sea.

CHAPTER III.-THE PASSAGE FROM RIO DE JANEIRO TO THE ENTRANCE OF THE STRAIT OF LE MAIRE, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE INHABITANTS OF TERRA DEL FUEGO. On the 9th of December we observed the sea to be covered with broad streaks of a yellowish colour, several of them a mile long, and three or four hundred yards wide; some of the water thus coloured was taken up, and found to be full of innumerable atoms pointed at the end, of a yellowish colour, and none more than a quarter of a line, or the fortieth part of an inch long; in the microscope they appeared to be fasciculi of small fibres interwoven with each other, not unlike the nidus of some of the Phyganeas called Caddices; but whether they were animal or vegetable substances, whence they came, or for what they were designed, neither Mr. Banks nor Dr. Solander could guess. The same appearance had been observed before, when we first discovered the continent of South America.

On the 11th we hooked a shark, and while we were playing it under the cabin window it threw out and drew in again, several times, what appeared to be its stomach; it proved to be a female, and upon being opened six young ones were taken out of it; five of them were alive and swam briskly in a tub of water, but the sixth appeared to have been dead some time.

Nothing remarkable happened till the 30th, except that we prepared for the bad weather which we were shortly to expect, by bending a new suit of sails; but on this day we rau a course of one hundred and sixty miles by the log, through innumerable land insects of various kinds, some upon the wing and more upon the water, many of which were alive; they appeared to be exactly the same with the Carabi, the Grylli, the Phalana, Aranea, and other flies that are seen in England, though at this time we could not be less than thirty leagues from land; and some of these insects, particularly the Grylli Aranea, never voluntarily leave it at a greater distance than twenty yards. We judged ourselves to be now nearly opposite to Baye sans fond, where Mr. Dalrymple supposes there is a passage quite through the continent of America; and we thought from the insects that there might be at least a very large river, and that it had overflowed its banks.

On the 3d of January, 1769, being in latitude 47° 17′ S. and longitude 61° 29′ 45′′ W., we were all looking out for Pepys' island, and for some time an appearance was seen in the east which so much resembled land, that we bore away for it, and it was more than two hours and a half before we were convinced that it was nothing but what sailors call a fog-bank.

The people now beginning to complain of cold, each of them received what is called a Magellanic jacket and a pair of trousers. The jacket is made of a thick woollen stuff called Fearnought, which is provided by the government. We saw, from time to time, a great number of penguins, albatrosses, and sheerwaters, seals, whales, and porpoises; and on the 11th, having passed Falkland's islands, we discovered the coast of Terra del Fuego, at the distance of about four leagues, extending from the W. to S.E. by S. We had here five-andthirty fathom, the ground soft, small slate stones. As we ranged along the shore to the S.E., at the distance of two or three leagues, we perceived smoke in several places, which was made by the natives, probably as a signal, for they did not continue it after we had passed by. This day we discovered that the ship had got near a degree of longitude to the westward of the log, which, in this latitude, is 35 minutes of a degree on the equator : probably there is a small current setting to the westward, which may be caused by the westerly current coming round Cape Horn, and through the strait of Le Maire, and the indraught of the strait of Magellan*.

The celebrated navigator who discovered this strait was a native of Portugal, and his name, in the language of his country, was Fernando de Magalhaens ; the Spaniards call him Hernando Magalhanes, and the French Magellan, which is the orthography that has

been generally adopted: a gentleman, the fifth in descent from this great adventurer, is now living in or near Loudon, and communicated the true name of his ancestor to Mr. Banks, with a request that it might be inserted in this work.