PARAGUAY, OR LA PLATA, Miles. SITUATION AND EXTENT. S12° and 37° S. latitude. Length 1500 between {500 and 35° W. longitude. Breadth 1000 Boundaries.] B north; by Brazil, caft; by Pata OUNDED by Amazonia, on the gonia, fouth; and by Peru and Chili, west. It contains the following provinces; Paraguay, Parana, Guira, Tucuman, Rio de la Plata. Rivers.] Befides a vaft number of small rivers which water this country, there is the grand river La Plata, which deferves a particular defcription. A Modenefe® Jefuit, by the name of P. Cattanco, who failed up this river, fpeaks in the following language concerning it: While I refided in Europe, and read in books of hiftory or geography, that the river La Plata was 150 miles in breadth, I confidered it as an exaggeration, be caufe in this hemifphere we have no example of fuch vaft rivers. When I approached its mouth, I had the most vehement defire to afcertain the breadth with my own eyes, and I have found the matter to be exactly as it was reprefented. This I deduce particularly from one circumftance. When we took our departure from Monte Viedo, a fort fituated more than 100 miles from the mouth of the river, and where its breadth is confid erably diminished, we failed a complete day before we difcovered the land on the oppofite bank of the river; and when we were in the middle of the channel we could not discover land on either fide, and faw nothing but the sky and water, as if we had been in fome great ocean.. Indeed we fhould have taken it to be fea, if the fresh water of the river which was turbid like the Po, had not satisfied us that it was a river." Climate, Soil and Produce.] From the fituation of this country, fome parts of it must be extremely hot, from the' almoft vertical influence of the rays of the fun; while other parts must be pleasant and delightful. But the heat is in fome measure abated by the gentle breezes, which generally begin about nine or ten o'clock in the Z 2 morning, 4 morning, and continue the greatest part of the day. Some parts of the country are very mountainous; but, in many others, you find extenfive and beautiful plains, where the foil is very rich, producing cotton, tobacco, and the valuable herb called Paraguay, together with a variety of fruits. There are alfo prodigionfly rich paftures, in which are bred fuch herds of cattle, that it is faid, the hides are the only part exported; while the flesh is left to be devoured by the ravenous beafts of the wilderness. Commerce and Chief City.] Paraguay fends annually into the kingdom of Peru as many as 1,500 or 2,000 mules. They travel over dreary defarts for the distance of 8 or 900 leagues. The province of Tucuman furnishes to Potoli annually, 16 or 18,000 oxen, and 4 or 5,000 horfes, brought forth and reared upon its own territory BUENNOS AYRES is the capital of this country. Its fituation, on the river La Plata, is healthy and pleafant, and the air temperate. It is regularly built. The number of inhabitants is about 30,000. One fide of the town is defended by a fortrefs, with a garrison of 6 or 700 men. The town ftands 180 miles from the fea. The access to the town, up the river, is very difficult. Inhabitants. From the beft information that can be obtained, there are not more than 100,000 fouls in this country, including Spaniards, Indians, Negroes, and the mixed blood, or Creoles. The Spaniards exhibit much the fame character here as in the other kingdoms already defcribed. Hiflory and Religion.] The Spaniards firft difcovered this country in the year 1515, and founded the town of Buennos Ayres in 1535. Most of the country is still inhabited by the native Americans. The Jefuits have been indefatigable in their endeavours to convert the Indians to the belief of their religion, and to introduce among them the arts of civilized life, and have met with furpri ing fuccefs. It is faid that above 340,000 families, feveral years ago, were fubject to the Jefuits, living in obedience, and an awe bordering on adoration, yet procured without any violence or constraint. In 1767, the Jef uits were fent out of America, by royal authority, and their fubjects were put upon the fame footing with the reft of the country. Portuguese Portuguese America. BRAZIL. Miles. SITUATION AND Extent. Length 2500 between Sthe Equator and 35° S. lat. 135° and 60° W. longitude. OUNDED north, by the mouth of Boundaries.] B the river Amazon and the Atlantic Ocean; eaft, by the fame ocean; fouth, by the river La Piata; weit, by moraffes, lakes, torrents, rivers, and mountains, which separate it from Amazonia, and the Spanish poffetions. On the coaft are three fmall islands, where fhips touch for provifions on their voyage to the South Seas, viz. Ferdinando, St. Barbaro, and St. Catharine's. Bays, Harbours and Rivers.] Thefe are, the harbours of Penambuco, All Saints, Rio Janeiro, the port of St. Vincent, the harbour of Gabriel, and the port of St. Salvador. There is a great number of noble streams, which unite with the river Amazon and La Plata ; befide others which fall into the Atlantic Ocean. Climate, Soil and Productions.] The climate of Brazil is temperate and mild, when compared with that of Africa; owing chiefly to the refreshing wind, which blows continually from the fea. The air is not only cocl but chilly through the night, fo that the natives kindle a fire every evening in their huts. As the rivers in this country annually overflow their banks, and leave a fort of flime upon the lands, the foil in many places is amazingly rich. The vegetable productions are, Indian corn, fugar canes, tobacco, indigo, hides, ipecacuanha, balfam, brazil wood, the last is of a red colour, hard and dry, and is chiefly used in dying, but not the red of the best kind. Here is alfo the yellow fuftic, of ufe in dying yellow; and a beautiful a beautiful kind of speckled wood, made use of in cabi net work. Here are five different forts of palm trees, foms curious ebony, and a great variety of cotton trees. This country abounds in horned cattle, which are hunted for their hides only, 20,000 being fent annually into Europe. There is alfo peltry of deers, hares, and other game. Amongst the wild beafts found here, are tigers, porcupines, janouveras, and a fierce animal fome. what like the greyhound; monkies, floths, and the topiraffou, a creature between a bull and an ass, but without horns, and entirely harmless; the flesh is very good, and has the flavour of beef. There is a numberless va riety of fowl, wild and tame, in this country. Commerce and Chief Towns.] The trade of Brazil is very great, and increafes every year. They import as many as 40,000 Negroes annually. The exports of Brazil are diamonds, fugar, tobacco, hides, drugs, and medicines; and they receive, in return, woollen goods of all kinds, linens, laces, filks, hats, lead, tin, pewter, copper, iron, beef, and cheese. They alfo receive from Madeira a great quantity of wine, vinegar and brandy; and from the Azores, £25,000 worth of other liquors. ST. SALVADOR is the capital of Brazil. This city, which has a noble, fpacious and commodious harbour, is built on a high and fteep rock, having the fea upont one fide, a lake forming a crefcent on the other. The fituation makes it in a manner impregnable by nature; and they have befides added to it very ftrong fortifica tions. It is populous, magnificent, and, beyond comparifon, the most gay and opulent in all Brazil. Mines. There are gold mines in many parts of this country, which have been wrought with considerable profit to government. There are alfo many diamond mines which have been difcovered in this country; they are of all colours, and almost of every fhade. Natives.] The native Brazilians the Europeans, but not fo ftout. fewer diftempers, and long lived. ing; the women wear their hair men cut their's fhort; the women wear bracelets of bones of a beautiful white; the men necklaces of the are about the fize of They are fubject to They wear no clothextremely long, the fame; fame; the women paint their faces, and the men their bodies. Religion.] Though the king of Portugal, as Grand Mafter of the order of Chrift, be folely in poffeffion of the titles, and though the produce of the crufade belongs entirely to him; yet, in this extenfive country, fix bishoprics have been fucceffively founded, which acknowledge for their fuperior, the archbishopric of Bohia, eftablished in the year 1552. Government.] The government of Brazil is in the Viceroy, who has two councils; one for criminal, the other for civil affairs, in both which he prefides. Only half of the 16 Captainries, into which this country is divided, belong to the crown; the rest being fiefs made over to fome of the nobility, in reward of their extraordinary fervices, who do little more than acknowledge the fovereignty of the king of Portugal.. Hiftory, &c.] The Portuguese discovered this country in the year 1500, but did not plant it till the year 1549, when they took poffeffion of All Saints Bay, and built the city of St. Salvador, which is now the refidence of the Viceroy and Archbishop. The Dutch invaded Brazil in 1623, and fubdued the northern provinces ; but the Portuguefe agreed, 1661, to pay the Dutch eight tons of gold to relinquifh their intereft in this country, which was accepted, and the Portuguese remained in peaceable poffeffion of all Brazil, till about the end of 1762, when the Spanish governor of Buennos Ayres, hearing of a war between Portugal and Spain, took, after a month's fiege, the Portuguefe frontier fortrefs, called St. Sacrament; but by the treaty of peace, it was restored. French America. CAYENNE.. Boundaries.] B Atlantic Ocean; fouth, by Amazo OUNDED north and east, by the nia; and weft, by Guiana, or Surrinam. It extends 240 |