Journal of a Voyage to Brazil | Page 2

foreign tyrants, than had ever issued from
the arsenals of the greatest nations. But, for a period, Brazil did not
openly join in the struggle for independence. The Royal Family of
Portugal took refuge there; and converted it, by that step, from a colony
into the seat of government, from a state of slavery to one of
sovereignty. Therefore, while the court continued to reside at Rio de
Janeiro, the Brazilians had no inducement to break with the mother
country. But it was very different when the King returned to Lisbon,
and the Cortes, forgetting the change of men's minds produced by
circumstances, endeavoured to force Brazil back to the abject state
from which she had arisen. Then arose the struggle, some part of which
it was the fortune of the writer to witness; and concerning which she
was able to collect some facts which may serve as materials for future
history. She trusts that if the whole truth is not to be found in her pages,
that there will be nothing but the truth.
It is with no small anxiety that the Journal is sent into the world, in the

hope that it may tend to excite interest for the country by making it
better known. Perhaps the writer has over-rated her powers, in
attempting to record the progress of so important an event as the
emancipation of such an empire from the thraldrom of the mother
country. The lighter part of her task, namely, the description of the
country, its inhabitants, and the manners of the different classes, both
of natives and foreigners, should have been fuller; but that want of
health, and sometimes want of spirits, prevented her from making use
of all the means that might have been within her reach of acquiring
knowledge. She trusts, however, that there is no misrepresentation of
importance; and that the Journal, the writing of which has to her
beguiled many a lonely and many a sorrowful hour, will not give a
moment's pain to any human creature.

PLATES.
PLATE I. Val Longo, or Slave Market at Rio to front the Title Page.
II. Represents the Great Dragon Tree of Oratava, of which Humboldt
has given so interesting an account. He saw it in all its greatness; I
drew it after it had lost half its top to face Page 85
III. View of Count Maurice's Gate at Pernambuco, with the Slave
Market 107
IV. Gamella Tree at Bahia 135
V. Larangeiras 163
VI. View from Count Hoggendorp's Cottage 170
VII. View of Rio from the Gloria Hill 169
VIII. Corcovado, from Botofogo 220
IX. Palace of San Cristovaõ 246

X. Dona Maria de Jesus 292
XI. English Burial Ground 307

VIGNETTES.
I. That at the head of the Journal, page 77, represents two young
Dragon Trees; that with a single head is twenty years old, and had not,
when I saw it, been tapped for the Dragon's Blood. The other is about a
century old, and the bark is disfigured by the incisions made in it to
procure the gum to face Page 77
II. Part of Pernambuco, seen from Cocoa-nut Island, within the Reef 97
III. Slaves dragging a Hogshead in the Streets of Pernambuco 131
IV. Cadeira, or Sedan Chair of Bahia 133
V. Church and Convent of Sant Antonio da Barre at Bahia, as seen
from the Roça 157
VI. The Sugar-loaf Rock, at the Entrance to the Harbour of Rio de
Janeiro 158
VII. The End of an Island in the Harbour of Rio de Janeiro, drawn for
the sake of the variety of Vegetation 201
VIII. Convicts carrying Water at Rio de Janeiro 217
IX. Stone Cart at Rio de Janeiro 321

INTRODUCTION.
SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF BRAZIL.
I judged it necessary to prefix the following sketch of the history of

Brazil to the journal of my voyage thither, in order that the political
events to which I was an eye-witness might be the better understood.
The early part of the history is almost entirely taken from Mr. Southey.
It would have been easy for me to have referred to the Portuguese
authors, as I have read nearly all that are to be found in print of Mr.
Southey's authorities, and some that he does not mention; but Mr.
Southey had been so faithful as well as judicious in the use he has made
of his authors, that it would have been absurd, if not impertinent, to
have neglected his guidance. From the time of the King's arrival in
Brazil, or rather of his leaving Lisbon, I am answerable for all I have
stated: it is little, but I hope that little is correct.
The circumstances of Spanish and Portuguese America were very
different in every stage. In Mexico, in Peru, in Chili,