haps by indulgence than by example. If the Spaniards in South America be, in regard to morals, as little corrupted as any, and less than several of the other European colonists, it is universally agreed that the Portuguese of Brazil are, in this respect, the most contaminated of all the people beyond the Atlantic. In the country districts they may, in regard to morals, perhaps, be placed in the same degree of the scale as the inhabitants of the West India Islands; but in the greatest cities, the Portuguese and Creoles seem to unite all the most criminal parts of the character of the most vicious nations in the most vicious ages. The dissolute character of the Brazilian towns is, by all travellers and historians, represented in the most frightful colours. The opulent and luxurious cities of St. Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, are regarded as the foci of criminal dissipation, where the scattered vices of all countries are collected.*

History.] The history of Portuguese is less interesting and singular than that of Spanish America, as it was inhabited only by savages, among whom no vestiges of civilization were found. Brazil was discovered in 1498; but no settlement was formed till 1549, when the Portuguese fixed at the bay of All Saints, and founded the city of Bahia, or St. Salvador, which was made an archbishopric, and the seat of the viceroy. Portugal, in the year 1580, lost her independence, and was, with all her flourishing colonies, absorbed into the then enormous empire of Spain.† That fatal revolution, which obscured the glory, and overturned the power of Portugal, deprived her of most of her valuable settlements in the East, and had nearly produced the same effect in the West. The Dutch having thrown off the Spanish yoke, and become rich and powerful at the expense of their former masters, pursued them into the remotest recesses of their extensive empire. Portugal, now annexed to the Spanish monarchy, was exposed to the same enemy. The Dutch having seized her most valuable possessions in the east, turned their arms against her American territories. They reduced the greatest

Hist. Brazil, ap Harris, vol. 2.-Burke's Europ. Settlements, part 4. ch. 5.

† See Hist. View of article Spain.

part of Brazil, and would probably have completed the conquest, had not the courage and conduct of the archbishop, assisted by a few priests and monks, who could fight as well as pray, given a check to their progress. The Dutch made their first (attack on Brazil in 1624, and before the end of 1636 had gained possession of the greatest part of the country. The commerce of this country must have flourished greatly while it remained in their hands, if it be true, that during this period, they had sent thither 1800 vessels for the purpose of war and trade.* The Portuguese, however, after emancipating themselves from the yoke of Spain, gradually gained ground in Brazil; and in 1654, totally expelled the Dutch, about thirty years after they had first obtained a footing in that country. From this epoch the Portuguese have remained in peaceable possession of this exceedingly rich and extensive territory; and the late removal of the Portuguese court to this country, form a new and important æra in its history.

• Voltaire Hist. Gen. ch. 11. This assertion, however, appears to be erroneous, and the number greatly exaggerated.

FRENCH POSSESSIONS,

SOUTH AMERICA.

THE French settlement of Guiana, or Cayenne, so called from a small island in which the chief town is situated, lies between the equator and the sixth degree of north latitude, extending about 300, or, as the limits are not ascertained with precision, perhaps near 350 British miles from north to south, and about 240 from east to west, along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The land near the coast is low, and subject to great inundations during the season of the tropical rains. The soil is in general fertile: but the vast extent of the forests and flooded grounds renders the air unhealthful. The most noted productions are sugar, cocoa, indigo, and Cayenne pepper which derives its name from this country. The chief town' called Cayenne, is situated in a swampy and unhealthful island about thirty miles in circumference. Here is a tolerable harbour, which seems to have determined the choice of the settlers in fixing on this disagreeable situation. The town, how. ever, does not contain above 1200 white inhabitants, exclusive of the garrison.* This dreary spot was the place of exile, to which the celebrated General Pichegru, with his associates, were, in September 1797, doomed by the directory of France. Pichegru and Barthelemi had the good fortune, by some means, to make their escape and return to Europe. The subsequent fate of this famous republican general is universally known.

* This short account of Cayenne is from Morse's Amer. Geog. p. 594.

BATAVIAN POSSESSIONS,*

SOUTH AMERICA.

DUTCH Guiana, frequently called Surinam, from the river of that name, is situated on the north-east of Cayenne, or French Guiana, to which it is somewhat inferior in extent, although possessing a greater length of coast. This colony is situated between five and seven degrees north latitude, having the Atlantic on the north, Cayenne on the cast, Terra Firma on the west, and Amazonia on the south. The length from south-east to north-west, along the shores of the Atlantic, is about 350 English miles; but no more than 160 can be assigned to its extent within land † The face of the country is flat to the distance of about 100 miles from the sea, and sub. ject to inundations. It is watered by several rivers, the chief of which are the Essequebo, the Surinam, the Demarara, the Berbice, and the Conga. The Esequibo is more than 300 miles in length, and 9 miles wide at its mouth. The Surinam is a fine river, three-quarters of a mile in width, naviga ble for the largest ships to the distance of twelve miles within land, and sixty or seventy miles further for smaller vessels. The banks, quite down to the water's edge, are covered with evergreen mangrove trees, which render its navigation extremely pleasant. No country perhaps on the surface of the globe has a richer soil, or displays a more luxuriant vegetation, than Dutch Guiana. The climate, in the autumnal months, is unhealthy. Along the coast the air is damp and sultry, and the waters brackish and unwholesome. The sea breeze from

Although the best part of these settlements are at present in the hands of the English, yet, as they will probably be restored on the conclusion of a peace, I shall describe them in this place.

† Morse's Amer. Geog. p. 596, &c.

The land is in some places higher, but in several lower than the level of high water in the rivers. Morse, p. 596.

north-east, however, contributes to refresh the atmosphere. The water of the lower parts of the river being unfit for drinking, the inhabitants make use of rain water caught in cisterns. The vegetable productions are chiefly sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, indigo, ginger, rice, tobacco, and all the tropical plants and fruits, except such as require a dry and sandy soil. The botany of this country is a copious subject, and has been better illustrated than that of any other part of South America. The plan of this work cannot admit of minute details; but it may not, however, be amiss to mention an herbaceous plant, called troolics, which must be esteemed a singular production of nature. Its leaves lie on the ground, and sometimes attain the almost incredible dimensions of thirty feet in length, and three in breadth. So extraordinary a production is not bestowed on this country in vain: it serves as a general covering for houses, and will last several years without any repair.* Among the vegetable products of Surinam, may be reckoned a variety of drugs of great potency in medicine, as quassia, the castor oil nut, ipecacuanha, and balsam of capivi, and likewise some of the most mortal poisons both of the slow and the rapid kind, but equally fatal in their operation. The zoology exhibits no less variety than the vegetable kingdom. The woods are infested with tigers, but of a different species from those of Africa. There are also abundance of monkeys, and other wild animals, common to the tropical regions, with others, considered as peculiar to the country. The birds of Surinam are remarked for the beauty of their plumage; but few of them are famed for their melody. The rivers abound with fish, and are rendered dangerous by the alligators. The reptiles and insects are numerous, and of an endless variety of species, among which may be reckoned scorpions and tarantulas, of the largest size, and the most venomous nature. Serpents of various kinds also abound. Of these, some are venomous, and others remarkable for their enormous size. One kind of snake is described as attaining the prodigious dimensions of thirty-three feet in length, and three feet in circumference, being, with the exception of the liboya of India, per