side of the area is a flooring of planks, from four to five yards long, embedded in clay, extending the whole length of the shed, and having a slope from the canal, of three or four inches to a yard. This flooring is divided into about twenty compartments or troughs, each about three feet wide, by means of planks placed upon their edge. The upper ends of all these troughs (here called canoes) communicate with the canal, and are so formed that water is admitted into them between two planks that are about an inch separate. Through this opening the current falls about six inches into the trough, and may be directed to any part of it, or stopped at pleasure by means of a small quantity of clay. For instance, sometimes water is required only from one corner of the aperture, then the remaining part is stopped; sometimes it is wanted from the centre, then the extremes are stopped; and sometimes only a gentle rill is wanted, then the clay is applied accordingly. Along the lower ends of the trough, a small channel is dug to carry off the water. On the heap of cascalhao, at equal distances, are placed three high chairs for the officers or overseers. After they are seated, the negroes enter the troughs, each provided with a rake of a peculiar form and short handle, with which he rakes into the trough about fifty or eighty lbs. weight of cascalhao. The water being then let in upon it, the cascalhao is spread abroad, and continually raked up to the head of the trough, 30 as to be kept in constant motion. This operation is performed for the space of a quarter of an hour; the water then begins to run clearer, having washed the earthy particles away, the gravellike matter is raked up to the end of the trough: after the current flows away quite clear, the largest stones are thrown out, and afterwards those of inferior size, then the whole is examined with great care for diamonds. When a negro finds one, he immediately stands upright and claps his hands, then extends them, holding the gem between his fore-finger and thumb; an overseer receives it from him, and deposits it in a gamella or bowl, suspended from the centre of the structure half full of water. In this vessel all the diamonds found in the course of the day are placed, and at the close of work are taken out and delivered to the principal officer, who, after they have been weighed, registers the particulars in a book kept for that purpose.

When a negro is so fortunate as to find a diamond of the weight of an octavo (seventeen carats and a half), much ceremony takes place; he is crowned with a wreath of flowers, and carried in procession to the administrator, who gives him his freedom, by paying his owner for it. He also receives a present of new clothes, and is permitted to work on his own account. When a stone of eight or ten carats is found, the negro receives two new shirts, a complete new suit, with a hat and a handsome knife. For smaller stones of trivial amount, proportionate premiums are given. During my stay at Tejuco, a stone of sixteen carats and a half was found; it was pleasing to see the anxious desire manifested by the officers that it might prove heavy enough to entitle the poor negro to his freedom, and when, on being delivered and weighed, it proved only a

carat short of the requisite weight, all seemed to sympathise in his disappointment.

Precautions are adopted to prevent the negroes from embezzling diamonds. Although they work in a bent position, and cannot therefore observe whether they are watched by the overseers, they may nevertheless omit gathering some of the diamonds which they may see, and placing them in a corner of the trough, afterwards contrive to secrete them. To prevent this, they are frequently changed while the operations are going on, and at the word of command given by the overseers, they must instantly move into each other's troughs, so as to prevent the possibility of collusion. If a negro be suspected of swallowing a diamond, he is confined within the bare walls of a strong room, where strong purgative doses are administered to him, in order to ascertain the fact. If he proves guilty, he is liable to personal chastisement, or to imprisonment, a much lighter punishment than would be inflicted on any white man for the same offence. The officers of the establishment are liberally paid, and they live in a style of elegance which no one would expect to find in so remote a place.

The diamonds are generally found in the flat pieces of ground on the margin of the rivers, and these generally prove equally rich throughout their whole extent; so that the superintendents of the works are enabled to estimate, with the utmost accuracy, the value of an unwashed place, from the produce which they have derived from the adjoining ground. The intendant frequently made such an observation as the following :'That piece of ground (speaking of an unworked flat by the side of the river), will yield me 10,000 carats of diamonds whenever we shall be required to get them in the regular course of working, or when, on any particular occasion, an order from government arrives, demanding an extraordinary and immediate supply.'

The surest indications of diamonds are bright bean-like iron ore, a slaty flint-like substance, approaching Lydian stone, of fine texture, black oxide of iron in great quantities, rounded bits of blue quartz, yellow crystal, and other materials, entirely different from any thing known to be produced in the adjacent mountains. On the banks of the Rio Pardo, the accompanying substances are somewhat different. No bean-like iron ore is found with diamonds; but a considerable quantity of flinty slate-like Lydian stone, in various shapes and sizes, and a very small black oxide of iron. The earthy matter is also much finer.

The washings on the river Jijitonhonha, and on the other rivers, have been established for many years, and great quantities of diamonds have been procured, some of them of the finest quality. They vary in size. Some are so small that four or five are required to weigh one grain, and sixteen or twenty are consequently necessary to make a carat. It is seldom that, in the course of a year, more than two or three stones of from seventeen to twenty carats are found, and not once in two years do the whole washings produce a stone of thirty carats. During the five days in which Mr. Mawe remained at the works, the whole quantity found amounted to only forty

carats; the largest of which was only four carats, and of a light green color. The diamond works in this district have been established for nearly forty years, and in time they must be completely explored. In this event, however, it is calculated that the country in the neighbourhood, and many parts also of that inhabited by the Indians will be found to yield this precious produce in equal abundance. Mr. Mawe estimated the average produce of the diamond district at 20,000 to 25,000 carats annually. The expenses of these works,' he says, 'during a period of five years, from 1801 to 1806 inclusive, amounted to £204,000, and the diamonds sent to the treasury of Rio Janeiro, during the same period, weighed 115,675 carats. The value of the gold found in the same time amounted to £17,300 sterling; from which it appears that the diamonds actually cost government 33s. 9d. per carat. These years were esteemed singularly productive. The mines in general do not yield to government more than 20,000 carats annually.'

The brilliant accounts of the gold and diamonds of Brasil, would naturally induce us to expect that the appearance and comforts of the people must correspond. Those who reside in the mining districts are said also to maintain this delusion, by assuming all possible state when they visit Rio de Janeiro. Viewed however at home, and in the centre of their riches, society assumes a different aspect. Their property consists simply of slaves, and the rude instruments necessary for working the mines. Mr. Mawe gives us a faithful transcript of the impressions made upon his mind in these scenes. Their dwellings he described as scarcely deserving the name of houses, for they are, in fact, the most wretched wicker and mud hovels that can be conceived, consisting of a few apartments joined together without regularity. A hole left for a frame, or a miserable door, serves for a window. The cracks in the walls are frequent, and rarely or never repaired. The floors, composed of clay, are rendered filthy by the habits of the inhabitants, with whom the pigs not unfrequently divide the right of possession. Some of their dwellings built upon posts, have stables underneath. These are superior to the former, but the disagreeable effects produced by the want of cleanliness, are, in this case, increased by the effluvia of the animals, which Mr. M. says he has frequently found to be intolerable.

Their furniture corresponds with their houses. The beds are merely coarse cotton cases filled with dry grass, or the leaves of Indian corn; there are seldom more than two in a house; many of the family sleeping on mats or hides laid on the floor. One or two tables, with a couple of chairs, and a few stools or benches, supply the place of all other furniture; add to these a few coffeecups, a coffee-pot, and a drinking-cup (generally of silver), and in some instances a wash-hand basin of the same materials, and you have a catalogue of the household goods. Nothing can be more frugal than the whole economy of their tables, and their dress. The children generally go naked, and the youths have merely a jacket and cotton trowsers. The men, when at home, wear a capote or mantle wrapped about them,

and wooden clogs; but when they go abroad they appear in all their splendor, which forms as great a contrast to their domestic attire, as the gaudy butterfly to the chrysalis from which it springs. Nor is more attention paid to the dress of the females. " In short,' says Mr. Mawe, in all those departments of domestic economy, which to the middle classes of other civilised nations are objects of expense, the Brasilians exercise the most rigid parsimony. At first I was inclined to attribute this disposition to a love of money, which prompted them to avoid all extravagance; but, on closer observation, I was surprised to find that it originated in necessity. They generally run in debt for the few articles they have to purchase, and thus find it difficult to maintain their negroes. If they purchase a mule, it is at one or two year's credit, and, of course, at double its ordinary price.

Few of the numerous miners, it seems, are wealthy, or even comfortable, and a still greater number are wretchedly poor. Many of the mercantile classes enjoy superior comforts; but the indolence of the farmers, and the wretched state of cultivation, render the condition of most of those who spend their time in that pursuit equally miserable with that of the miners.

Of the inhabitants of what are called fazendas, or cattle estates, M. Koster observes, Unlike the Peones of the country in the vicinity of the River Plate, the Sertanejo has about him his wife and family, and lives in comparative comfort. The cottages are small, and built of mud, but afford quite sufficient shelter in so fine a climate; they are covered with tiles, where these are to be had, or, as is more general, with the leaves of the carnauba. Hammocks usually supply the place of beds, and are by far more comfortable, and these are likewise frequently used as chairs. Most of the better sort of cottages contain a table, but the usual practice is for the family to squat down upon a mat in a circle, with the bowls, dishes, or gourds in the centre, thus to eat their meals on the floor. Knives and forks are not much known, and are not at all made use of by the lower orders. It is the custom in every house, from the highest to the lowest, as in former times; and, indeed, the same practice prevailed over all the parts of the country which I visited; for a silver basin, or one of earthenware, or a cuia, and a fringed cambric towel, or one that is made of the coarse cotton-cloth of the country, to be handed round, that all who are going to sit down to eat, may wash their hands; and the same ceremony, or rather necessary piece of cleanliness, takes place after the meal is finished. Of the gourds, great use is made in domestic arrangements; they are cut in two, and the pulp is scooped out, then the rind is dried, and these rude vessels serve almost every purpose of earthenware; water is carried in them, &c. and they are likewise used as mexsures. They vary from six inches in circumference to about three feet, and are usually rather of an oval shape. The gourd, when whole, is called cubaça, and the half of the rind is called cuia. It is a creeping plant, and grows spou taneously in many parts, but in others, the people plaut it among the mandioc.

'The conversation of the Sertanejos usually turns upon the state of their cattle, or of women, and occasionally accounts of adventures which took place at Recife, or some other town. The dress of the men, when at home, is only a shirt and drawers. The women have a more slovenly look, as their only dress is a shift and petticoat, no stockings, and oftentimes no shoes; but when they leave home, which is very seldom, an addition is made of a large piece of white cloth, either of their own, or of European manufacture, and this is thrown over the head and shoulders; a pair of shoes are then likewise put on. They are good horsewomen, and the high Portuguese saddle serves the purpose of a side-saddle very completely. Their employment consists in household arrangements entirely, for the men even milk the cows and goats, the women spin and work with the needle. No females of freebirth are ever seen employed in any kind of labor in the open air, excepting in that of occasionally fetching wood or water, if the men are not at home. The children generally run about naked till a certain age, but this is often seen even in Recife; to the age of six or seven years, boys are allowed to run about without any clothing.'

Mr. Henderson thus describes the devotions of the people within a few miles of Rio de Janeiro. It was Sunday, and the tocsin had already sounded the signal for mass, and was gradually assembling its votaries. Many of the females, as in Scotland, walked without shoes and stockings. A spring amongst some rocks, served as a purifying fountain, whence they issued in silk stockings and embroidered shoes, ascending the hill into the veranda, sat down on the floor, beat their bosoms, and with other brief ceremonies concluded the devotional exercise. The padre sat down to gamble at cards, and some of the females danced not ungracefully with their castanets.'

In all parts of the country which Mr. Mawe visited he observed the same indolent slovenly habits. The people seemed to feel no confidence in anything they possessed, and to be always on themake-shift.'

To counteract the irresistible temptation to smuggling, held out in the mining and diamond districts, the most severe laws are enacted, and the whole country, from the gold washings to the coast, and throughout the diamond district, is subjected to a vexatious military police. On all the roads there are stations at which an officer is placed with twenty horse soldiers under him, who are continually patrolling: and whenever they observe a stray passenger, instantly ride up to him, questioning him strictly as to his business and the purposes of his journey; and to all their questions he must give satisfactory auswers before he is allowed to pass. They are authorised to detain all travellers, without distinction, and to subject them to the strictest search, provided they suspect them of concealing gold or diamonds. Travellers, on the other hand, with their mules, are required to stop at all the military posts, or registers, which are established on the different roads, to deliver their passports to a soldier for the inspection of the commander, who, if he judge the account given of the pro

perty to be correct, suffers them to proceed; but if any ground of suspicion occur, the mules are unloaded, and the contents of all the parcels are scrutinised with the utmost rigor. If diamonds or gold are found among the goods, the travellers, with all their mules, are instantly detained in some of the strong cells with which the registers are provided, until they can be remanded to the proper tribunals, where they are either condemned to perpetual banishment to the African colonies, or to hopeless captivity at home. There is no doubt, however, that a contraband trade is carried on both in gold and diamonds to a great extent; it is impossible on any other principle to account for the eagerness displayed by the inhabitants of Tejuco to hire out their negroes to serve in the diamond works.

The roads in the interior are frequently bad; although there are some which have been made at great expense, and which are tolerably good. The road from the coast to St. Paul's, which passes over lofty mountains, is carried through deep and impassable woods, and frequently a path is cut through the solid rock. Mr. Mawe, who travelled this route, commends the public spirit of those who planned such an undertaking, which must have been executed at vast expence, and in opposition to many difficulties. usual mode of travelling is by mules, by whom the coffee, sugar, cotton and grain of the country are transported to the coast, in exchange for salt, iron, woollens, cottons, common and finer earthenware, and glass. By this means also in the houses of the interior all sorts of English manufacture are to be found.

The

The islands off the coast of Brasil are of small importance. The chief is St. Catherine's, separated from the province of that name by a channel, in some places not above a league in width. The sea breeze, blowing regularly here every afternoon, renders the climate of the island very agreeable. It is mountainous, the hills being separated by pleasant valleys, which are better cultivated than most parts of Brasil, and the oranges grown here are thought superior to any in America. The chief town is Desterro, situated on a small bay on the west coast. St. Francisco, with a town of the same name, is farther north, about six leagues in length, and merely separated from the continent by a narrow channel. St. Vincente, another small island, situated in a bay opposite the city of St. Paul's, is five or six leagues long, and contains the town and port of Santos, which may be considered as the port of St. Paul's.

BRASIL WOOD. See CÆSALPINIA.

BRASILETTO, the same with Brasil wood. BRASILIANS, the inhabitants of Brasil. See BRASIL.

BRASILIAN STONE, a species of stone found in Brasil, which is flexible. No quality,' says Dr. Hutton, in his description of one of these stones, is more inconsistent with the character of a stone than flexibility. A flexible stone, therefore, presents an idea, which naturally strikes us with surprise. For though, among mineral bodies, we find flexible substances of the stony kind, such as mica, mountain leather, and amianthus, these minerals owe their flexibility either

A foundry was established at Adrianople; the metal was prepared; and, at the end of three months, Urban produced a piece of brass ordnance of stupenduous and almost incredible magnitude; a measure of twelve palms is assigned to the bore; and

the stone bullet weighed above six hundred pounds. Gibbon.

BRASS, or, as the French call it, yellow copper, is made of copper and zinc, as well as copper and tin. See CHEMISTRY. The first formation of brass, as we are assured by Scripture, was prior to the flood, and discovered in the seventh generation from Adam. (Gen. iv.) But the use of it was not, as is generally believed, and the Arundelian marbles assert, previous to the knowledge of iron. They were both first known in the same generation, and probably wrought by the same discoverer. The knowledge of them must have been equally carried over the world afterwards, with the spreading of the colonies of the Noachida. An acquaintance with the one of them was absolutely necessary to the colonists, in clearing away the wood, and erecting houses for their habitations. The ancient Britons, though acquainted from the remotest periods with the use of both these metals, remained long ignorant that they were to be obtained in the island. Before this discovery they imported all their iron and brass. And when they had at length detected the former in their own hills, they continued to import the latter. In the earliest ages the weapons of warriors were invariably framed of this factitious metal; and the Arundelian marbles, for that reason, mistakenly date the first discovery of iron two centuries below the Trojan war. Every military nation is studious of brightness in its arms; and the Britons, particularly, gloried in that of theirs. For this reason the nations still fabricated their arms of brass, even long after the Arundelian era for the discovery of iron; and the Britons continued to import it, though they had found iron to be a native of the country, and could have supplied themselves with a sufficient quantity. Mr. Whitaker, in his History of Manchester, supposes, that when the Britons derived their iron and brass from the continent, they purchased the latter at an easier expense than the former. The Gauls had many large brass works in Britain, but seem to have had very few iron forges. And this would naturally induce the Belge to be less diligent in their enquiry after the veins of copper and calamine at home, than for the courses of the iron ore; though the one was equally discoverable in the island as the other, and lay equally within the Belgic regions of it. Brass being thus cheaper than iron, they necessarily formed with it some domestic as well as military implements. Such were common among the Gauls; and were familiar to the Britons, either imported, as some actually were, or manufactured at home, as others assuredly were. The Britons had certain brass foundries, and minted money, and fabricated, weapons of brass. In this condition of the works the Romans entered the Island. And seeing so great a demand among the natives for this article, they would speedily instruct them to discover the materials of it among themselves.

This must unavoidably have resulted from the conquest of the Romans. The power of surprising their new subjects with so unexpected a discovery would naturally stimulate the pride of the Roman intellect; and the desire of obliging themselves with so cheap a supply of that useful metal, stationary as they were in that kingdom, would also equally actuate their selfishness. The veins of copper and calamine would be easily found out by an experienced enquirer after them; and the former metal is therefore distinguished among the Welsh only by the Roman appellation of cyprium, koppr, or copper. Many new foundries of brass appear now to have been established. Two have been discovered in the county of Essex, and within a narrow portion of it, at Fifield and Danbury. And a third was placed upon Easterly Moor in Yorkshire, twelve miles to the north-west of York, and in the neighbourhood of Isurium or Aldborough.

The brass of the ancients was generally an alloy of copper and tin; a small portion of the latter gives to copper great hardness, and makes it capable of much greater resistance; but tin in larger quantities produces an increased brittleness: its elasticity is however now very great, and it is called bell-metal. A still greater proportion of tin forms it into an alloy for the mirrors of telescopes. The alloy of copper with zinc is distinguished by the beautiful color it affords. Pinchbeck has but a small proportion of zinc: common brass has more, and prince's metal, as it is called, a still greater proportion of zinc. Copper mixed with a very large proportion of zinc is used for white metal buttons, &c.

If we take the weight of an atom of copper at 8, tin 7.35, and zinc 4; the following Table will exhibit the proportions of the alloys, expressed in atoms, and their proportions by weight, the third column pointing out the color and character of the resulting compound. CZ and T represent the atoms of the metals respectively.

COMPOUNDS OF ZINC WITH COPPER.