Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/97

Rh pear, which are very insipid, and one peach also proved very bad.

Though this country should produce many and very valuable drugs, we could not find any in the apothecary's shops except Pareira Brava and Balsam Capivi, both of which we bought at excessively cheap prices, and very good of the sort. I fancy the drug trade is chiefly carried on to the northward, as is that of dyeing woods; at least we could hear nothing of them here.

For manufactures, I know of none carried on here except that of cotton hammocks, which are used by the people to be carried about in, as we do sedan-chairs. These hammocks are made chiefly by the Indians. But the chief riches of the country come from the mines, which are situated far up the country; indeed, no one could tell me how far, for even the situation of them is concealed as carefully as possible, and troops are continually employed in guarding the roads that lead to them; so that it is next to impossible for any one to get a sight of them, except those who are employed there. No one at least would attempt it from mere curiosity, for everybody who is found on the road without being able to give a good account of himself is hanged immediately. From these mines a great quantity of gold undoubtedly comes, but it is purchased at a vast cost of lives; 40,000 negroes are annually imported on the king's account for this purpose, and notwithstanding this the year before last they died so fast that 20,000 more were obliged to be drafted from the town of Rio.

Precious stones are also found here in very large quantities, so large that they do not allow more than a certain quantity to be collected in a year. A troop of people is sent into the country where they are found, and ordered to return when they have collected a certain quantity, which they sometimes do in a month, more or less; they then return, and after that it is death for any one to be found in the country on any pretence whatever until the following year. Diamonds, topazes of several different