The want of similar blessings in the Brazil has greatly paralysed industry in the pursuits of husbandry and commerce, engendered apathy, and an almost total depression of any desire to emerge from a state of profound ignorance in literature and the arts. Education, partially derived from Royal professors, whose pompous denominations are a mockery upon learning, will now surely soar to excellence, by means of the establishment of seminaries of learning, with professors of real talent. The diffusion of knowledge, and the interest which a share in a popular constitution will give the people in their government, will change their listless character into one of life and energy. The amelioration of the laws respecting property in land, the adoption of new regulations in favour of commerce, and the curtailing the mind-degrading and extortionate influence of a numerous and slothful priesthood, will give the Brazilians the desire and the power of giving effect to the immense physical means of felicity and glory afforded by a country so extraordinarily favoured by nature.
When so barren, so foggy, so unproductive, and so small a country as Holland, has rendered itself so rich and distinguished among European states, infinitely more blessed by nature, what may not be anticipated of a land so immense, so luxuriant in soil, and so favourable in climate as the Brazil, capable as it is of largely producing almost whatever nature has bestowed upon other countries. What may not be anticipated now that such a land has exchanged slavery for freedom.
The philosopher, the man of business, and the philanthropist, already exult in the change, and are felicitated by the prospect so richly and grandly opening before them. To the first, improved facilities will be afforded, in one of the most magnificent and varied fields in the world, for his delightful pursuits in Natural History. To the British merchant particularly an immense augmentation of his commercial dealings will be opened, by a wiser administration of the Brazilian government relative to the exchange of commodities with other countries, and by the increased industry and prosperity of the Brazilian people. The well-wisher to the happiness of his fellow men will be cheered with the prospect of the gradual if not speedy abolition of the hateful slave-trade; thus conferring the enjoyment of freedom not only upon their sable brethren in South America, but cutting off one of the main sources of the wars, slavery, and misery of the people of Africa. The revered names of Clarkson and Wilberforce will then sound as gratefully as they now do odiously to the Brazilian planter and dealer, who at present, from a prejudiced and narrow conception of what best contributes to the prosperity of individuals and of nations, and from an ignorant and ill-founded notion of the faculties of the negro, misconceive the labours of those excellent men. The picture which we have drawn of the future advancement of this country permits us also to indulge the hope that the blessings of civilization will be carried with Jesuitical earnestness among the numerous untamed Indians, and that the envenomed dart, rudely-painted skin, and distorted features, will give place to the customs of social life, thereby converting their native wilds into scenes of fertility, such as formerly beautified the missions of Paraguay, where groves of fruit trees, where sweetest plants and flowers, plantations of roots, of rice, and Indian corn, numerous useful animals, together with a mild paternal government, ensured plenty and prosperity to the inhabitants.
The king sailed from Rio de Janeiro for Lisbon on the 26th of April, 1821, and arrived at the latter city the beginning of July, accompanied by upwards of four thousand persons, which will tend to produce a temporary depression of the commercial spirit and consequence of the Brazilian capital. When it is known, however, that a considerable portion of those individuals were hangers-on upon the royal bounty, and that a great many others were not permanent residents, but merely drawn thither from Portugal, for a certain period, to obtain some object with the government, (and from the known partiality of the king in detaining European Portuguese in the Brazil, the number under those circumstances were always considerable,) the impression will be diminished of any lengthened or serious check upon the prosperity of this city by their removal. It will be gratifying to the Brazilians to have still amongst them the Conde dos Arcos, who fulfilled the duties of viceroy, on the arrival of the royal family at the Brazil, to the general satisfaction of the people, and who is appointed prime-minister to His Royal Highness Don Pedro.
APPENDIX.
ZOOLOGY.
All the Species of Domestic Animals of the South of Europe here become more Prolific than in their native Country.
WILD QUADRUPEDS.
The Anta, which the Aborigines call Tapira, and Tapijerete, is the largest of the Brazilian quadrupeds, and does not belong to any known species, constituting of itself a distinct one in the history of animals. It is the size of a small heifer, and very similar to a hog in the figure of its body as well as in the shape of the ears, which are proportioned to its size. The hair is short and sleek; the legs are very thick and short; the hind feet have three hoofs and the front feet four; the tail is of a tapering form, with little more than three inches in length; the head is large and long; the eyes small; the upper lip is a musculous appendage, which the animal extends four inches beyond the lower one, or draws it in to the same length; the mouth is furnished with eight pointed teeth in each jaw, ten grinders in the lower, and fourteen in the upper. It pastures like a horse; and, although heavy, has considerable velocity in its career. It is timid and harmless, doing no injury even to the dog which pursues it. Being amphibious, it swims and dives in an extraordinary manner, and proceeds along the bottom of deep pools for a great distance, remaining for a long time under water without respiring. Its flesh differs from that of the ox only in taste and smell, and is eaten generally. It is of all colours.
There are three sorts of Mountain Boars; some are entirely black, some have the under jaw white, others, of a small size and gray, are call Caitetus: these become domesticated so as to accompany their master through the streets, without ever leaving him. Their flesh is not of such good flavour as that of the wild boar in Europe.