Naval stores, clothing for sailors, arms, &c. may be said to be generally in demand.
The staple articles of trade from Brazil and the river Plate which are most in demand in this country, when its markets are not overstocked, are cotton, sugar, coffee, hides, tallow of good quality, horns, horse and cow hair, fur-skins, and feathers. Brazil is well calculated for growing sugar, having every convenience of situation, and all the materials requisite for machinery. To the above may be added some peculiar woods; that beautiful species, called jacarandá, in England denominated rose-wood, is generally in demand. I do not say any thing of indigo, as it is of inferior quality. Rice is cultivated to great extent. Tobacco, it is to be hoped, will be better cured, to suit the English market; for no where can a soil and climate be found more favorable to the production of that plant than in Brazil.
In offering, by way of conclusion, a more detailed account of the resources of this rich and extensive country, I shall for obvious reasons avoid all speculation on the political changes now operating in the mother country, as well as in her colonies, and direct my remarks solely to commercial matters. According to recent estimates the annual value of British goods imported into Brazil exceeds three millions sterling, one half of which may be assigned to Rio de Janeiro, from whence the returns are made generally in produce, consisting of gold, diamonds, and precious stones, sugars, cottons, hides, tobacco, tallow, wax, indigo, woods, and many other articles.
The commerce of Bahia ranks next in importance to that of Rio, and a considerable proportion of it is conducted by English merchants. The returns are principally made in produce, and this circumstance secures to the native cultivator an eminent advantage over the foreign trader. The main articles of produce are sugar, cotton, and tobacco. The annual exports of the cotton, may be stated at from 30,000 to 36,000 bags. Its quality varies according to the district in which it is produced; that which is brought hither from the southern parts of the province of Pernambuco, is called foras, in contradistinction with the cotton of Bahia, which is denominated dentros. The former is considered of superior staple, being stronger and more silky, but it seldom arrives in a clean state, or free from seeds and other substances negligently left by the planters. The dentros, though neither so strong nor so silky as the foras, are generally much better dressed, and hence they are considered of almost equal value. Much of this cotton is grown in the extensive plantations near Villa Nova do Principe. Eight ninths of the cotton shipped at Bahia is exported to England, and principally to the port of Liverpool.
The quantity of sugar annually exported from hence is very considerable, and in some years has exceeded a million of arrobas[82]. The growth of tobacco varies according to the season; an average crop has been estimated at 600,000 arrobas. One third, and frequently one half of a crop is rejected as unfit for shipment to Europe. The refuse is sent to the Portuguese possessions in Africa, but the demand for it has greatly diminished since the abolition of the slave trade in that continent, north of the equator, that being the quarter in which it was principally consumed. A great quantity is exported to the Plata, and from thence is sent to various parts of the interior.
Upwards of 150 sail of vessels have been dispatched from hence in the course of one year, of which number one third was destined for the ports of the mother country, and little short of one third for those of Great Britain; besides the staple articles of cotton, sugar, and tobacco, the exports include large quantities of hides, molasses, rum, and woods. Many large and most excellent ships have been built at this place, the timber of which is of a superior quality.
Pernambuco is celebrated for producing the best cotton in Brazil, and it owes this distinction to the careful scrutiny which that article undergoes. After inspection it is divided into three qualities; the second quality is allowed to pass with the first, and the purchaser receives for it an allowance of 500 reas per arroba from the planter; the third quality is wholly rejected[83]. The bags are then weighed, and the export duty charged on them. About eighty thousand bags are annually exported, of which sixty thousand may be considered as destined for Great Britain, and the residue principally to Lisbon. The annual export of sugar has been estimated at 25,000 cases, of which nearly one half goes to England, and the rest to the mother country. This product is considerably on the increase.
The principal exports from Maranham are cotton, rice, hides, and Indian corn. Its cotton ranks next in quality to that of Pernambuco, and obtains a price very little inferior. The quantity annually exported has been estimated at sixty thousand bags, of which more than three fourths may be considered as destined for the English market. The annual export of rice exceeds three hundred thousand arrobas. It is calculated that the trade of this port employs yearly upwards of one hundred sail, of which one half are destined for England. Sugar is beginning to form a considerable article of commerce at this port, many extensive plantations having been made. Sweetmeats and confectionery are cured here, and at the above mentioned places in great perfection, and are exported in quantities almost beyond credibility.
The foreign commerce of Para may be considered still in its infancy, as its principal city, Belem, is accessible only to vessels of small burthen. Its cottons are considered little inferior to those of Bahia. Its other exports consist of excellent cocoa, coffee, rice, in great quantities, sarsaparilla, raw and tanned hides, gums, various drugs, some sugar, molasses, timber, and curious woods. The vast territories of this capitania are but little known, and very thinly peopled.
In terminating the present work, the author cannot but express his earnest hope, that the new order of things now instituted in the mother country may tend to the permanent welfare of Brazil, to the developement of its rich and various resources, to the intellectual, moral, and social improvement of its people, to the extension of their commerce, and to the continuance of that connection with Great Britain, which has hitherto contributed, and may henceforth more largely contribute, to the prosperity of both nations.