settlement on the coast of Brazil, was made in 1503. Rio de Janeiro, the present capital, was not colonized till 1560. Its gold and diamond mines, which constituted the chief importance of the colony in the estimation of the mother country, were not discovered till the close of the next century, after the country had been for two hundred years in the possession of Portugal. At the beginning of the present century, this immense territory, extending over thirty-eight degrees of latitude, and thirty-seven of longitude, and comprising three millions of square miles, contained only twelve cities, sixty-six towns, and not one million of inhabitants. A hundred millions might, it is calculated, derive the means of subsistence from the soil. The whole extent of the cultivated lands does not as yet exceed 20,000 square miles, not a hundred and fiftieth part of the surface. So mighty, however, has been the impetus given to the progress of civilization in this country, by the transfer of the seat of government from Lisbon to Rio, and the subsequent political events, that the population has, within twenty years, risen to four millions, chiefly in consequence of the extensive emigrations which have taken place from Europe and North America. The rising greatness of this country, which is only beginning to attract its due share of attention, forms one of the most interesting objects of political speculation. The travels of Mr. Mawe*, Mr. Lindley, Mr. Kostert, and Mr. Luccock, had made us partially acquainted with some portions of this vast territory, more particularly with the northern coast in the neighbourhood of Pernambuco and Porto Seguro, with Minas Geraes and Rio de Janeiro, the sandy shores of Rio Grande do Sul, and the vast grazing-lands of southern Brazil. The present works supply a very interest. ing addition to our information with regard to the capital and its vicinity, and the adjoining provinces of St. Paulo and Espiritu Santo. Prince Maximilian of Wied Neuwied, the first of these travellers in order of time, sailed from London in May 1815. His object in crossing the Atlantic appears to have been purely scientific, and his pursuits those of the Naturalist. He staid a very short time in the capital. However agreeable,' he says, ' a more protracted stay in the capital might have proved, it was not consistent with my plan to remain there long, as the riches of nature are only to be found in fields and Eclectic Review, Old Series, Vol. VIII. Part. II. P. 940. forests. Through the aid of government, whose wishes were carried into effect in the most obliging manner by the Count Da Barca, I was enabled to make my preparations for my departure without any loss of time. My passports and letters of recommendation to the several captains-general were more favourable than had probably ever been given to any preceding traveller. The magistrates were enjoined to give us every assistance in forwarding our collections to Rio, to provide beasts of burden, soldiers, and other persons, if necessary. Two scientific Germans, Messrs. Sellow and Freyreiss, well acquainted with the language and customs of the country, joined me for the purpose of our making an exploratory tour along the east coast to Caravellas. We had purchased sixteen mules, each of which carried two wooden chests, covered with raw ox-hides to preserve them from rain and damp: we also engaged ten men to take care of the animals, and act as hunters. All were armed, and thus we set out, provided with a sufficient stock of ammunition, and all the requisites for collecting subjects of natural history, part of which I had very unnecessarily brought with me from Europe.' This will be thought botanizing in grand style; but the truth is, that when a naturalist takes the field in the uncleared forests, swamps, or mountain districts of Brazil, he has no easy campaign before him. He will find his gun his best companion, for he must live by it; and though it will not keep off the mosquitoes, it may be of service in defending him from the ounce, the more formidable reptile, and the Indian. Prince Maximilian selected the eastern coast for his route, on account of its being hitherto quite unknown or at least undescribed; and it was one of his main objects, to satisfy his curiosity respecting the remains of the aboriginal tribes, who are still to be found there in their primitive barbarism. The tract, though abounding with objects interesting to the naturalist, presented, in other respects, few attractions. We are indebted, however, to his praiseworthy determination to break new ground, for very material corrections of the map, and additions to our geographical knowledge respecting the line of coast between the fifteenth and twenty-third parallels of south latitude. We know not for what reason only half of the work is laid before the public in the English translation, or why this expensive mode of publication has been adopted. The French Translator has given the whole work in three octavo volumes*, accompanied, indeed, or enrichi, with a superb atlas,' but the plates might have been reduced to the dimensions of an octavo page * "Voyage au Brésil dans les Années 1815, 1816, and 1817. Par S. A. S. Maximilien, Prince de Wied Neuwied. Traduit de l'Allemand, par J. B. B. Eyries." 3 vols. 8vo. with Atlas. Paris, 1822. without any disadvantage. The present volume (which is insinuated, on the fly-leaf, to be Part I., though the circumstance does not appear on the title-page) contains the narrative of his Highness's journey from Rio to the plains of Goytacazes; his visit to the Indian village of St. Fidelis, and to the wild Puries on the other bank of the Parahyba; his journey to the Rio Doce and voyage up that river to the small settlement which bears the name of the enterprising and unfortunate Conde de Linhares; and his travels still further northward to the Rio Grande de Belmonte in lat. 15°. 30'. S., and visit to the Botucudoes in the neighbourhood of that river. The next chapter of the original contains an interesting and minute notice of this savage tribe, the sum of his observations during his stay in that part: it ought, therefore, to have been given in the present volume. His Highness thence proceeded northward as far as the Rio Itahype in the province of Bahia: striking into the interior, he traversed the forests to the confines of Minas Geraes, and then returned to Bahia, from which port he sailed for Europe. London could detain him but a few days. He had been absent three years, and we like to notice his impatience till he gets to Aix-la-Chapelle. It was in this town,' he says, that I began again to hear German spoken, and I soon after arrived in my country on the banks of the Rhine.' The expedition of the two other learned German travellers, was undertaken, as is duly set forth, by command of the king of Bavaria. Attachment to his majesty and the sciences, was, they say, the guardian genius' that guided them amid the dangers and fatigues of so extensive a journey through a part of the world so imperfectly known, and brought them back in safety to their native land. Their loyalty seems either to have stood to them instead of Providence, or to have secured the Divine protection; and penetrated with feelings of the profoundest gratitude,' they venture respectfully to offer the first fruits of their mission to the best of kings.' The present volumes contain the first part only of their travels, comprising their voyage to Rio, their journey thence to St. Paulo, and from St. Paulo to Villa Rica in Minas Geraes. following is given by the Translator, who has performed his task with unusual care and ability, as the outline of the latter part of their travels, the personal narrative of which is in the press. The The fatigues that they had to endure in the sequel of their expe dition having brought on severe illness, they rested for a time in the capitania of Maranham, whence, as soon as they were sufficiently recovered, they proceeded to the island of St. Louis, and after a six days' voyage by sea, from that place, landed at Para. Having at 390 length reached the banks of the majestic and immense river of the Amazons, bounded by a lofty and evergreen forest, they had attained the chief object of their wishes; and setting out on the 21st of August 1819, proceeded along the bank of the stream, (amidst a chaos of floating islands, falling masses of the banks, immense trunks of trees carried down by the current, the cries and screams of countless multitudes of monkeys and birds, shoals of turtles, crocodiles, and fish, gloomy forests full of parasite plants and palms, with tribes of wandering Indians on the banks, marked and disfigured in various manners, according to their fancies,) till they reached the settlement of Panxis, where, at the distance of 500 miles up the country, the tide of the sea is still visible, and the river, confined to the breadth of a quarter of a league, of unfathomable depth. They then journeyed to the mouth of the Rio Negro. From this place every thing becomes more wild, and the river of the Amazons resumes its ancient name of Solimoës, which it had from a nation now extinct. The travellers had chosen the most favourable season of the year, when the numerous sandy islands, which are at other times covered, rising above the now low water, invited the inhabitants of the surrounding tracts, who piled up in heaps the new-laid turtles' eggs, out of which, by the aid of water and rum, they prepared the finest oil. 'At the town of Ega on the Rio Teffe the two travellers separated. Dr. Martius proceeded up the collateral stream, the Japura, overcame, by the most painful exertions, the cataracts and the rocks on the river, and at length arrived at the foot of the mountain Arascoara, in the middle of the southern continent, separated from Quito only by the Cordilleras. Dr. Spix proceeded up the main stream, crossed the broad rivers Jurua and Jurahy, and the Spanish river Iça, and penetrated at length, through clouds of poisoned arrows discharged by the Indians, and of venomous insects, through contagious diseases, and threatening mountain torrents, to the mouth of the river Jupary, at the last Portuguese settlement of Tabatiaga, on the frontiers of Peru, where he heard the language of the Incas. Had the two travellers prosecuted their enterprise a few weeks longer, they would have reached the opposite shores of the South American continent. But to effect this, they needed the permission of the viceroy of Peru, and the time allowed them for their journey, would not permit them to extend it further. They again turned to the east, and the stream carried them down so rapidly that they arrived in five days at the place, from which it had cost a full month's exertion to work their way up the river. After several lateral excursions, which amply repaid their labour, they again reached Para on the 16th of April 1820. The object of their mission was completed; the continent had been traversed from 24° south latitude to the Equator, and under the line, from Para to the eastern frontier of Peru; an incredible store of natural treasures, and of curious information had been acquired. It is a most gratifying circumstance, that all their collections, without a single exception, have arrived safe, and in perfect preservation at Munich, where His Majesty the King of Bavaria has had them all scientifically arranged, according to the several divisions of the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, in a noble building fitted up expressly for their reception, under the appropriate name of the Brazilian Museum, of which the indefatigable travellers, to whom it owes its existence, are most deservedly appointed conservators.' Vol. I. pp. xi-xiv. The present portion of the work will, however, be found very interesting. The reader must not, indeed, expect to find in Dr. Von Spix or his colleague, another Humboldt: they are two sober naturalists, a very respectable and useful order of persons, though not always the most enlarged in their views, or the most amusing in their communications. The work is more learned, but less lively, better written, but has less adventure and novelty, than the performance of his Serene Highness of Wied Neuwied; they took wholly different routes, however, and their reports serve to illustrate each other. Perhaps we cannot give a better specimen of the performance of the Bavarian professors, than the following striking description of a Brazilian forest. The primeval forests, which stand as testimonies of the creative energy of the new continent, in all their original wildness, and still unprofaned by human hands, are called, in Brazil, virgin forests. In them, European coolness refreshes the wanderer, and at the same time the image of the most luxuriant profusion. The never-ceasing power of vegetation makes the trees shoot up to a majestic height; and, not contented with these gigantic primeval monuments, nature calls forth upon every stem, a new creation of numerous verdant, flowering, parasite plants. Instead of the uniform poverty of species in the forests of Europe, especially in the north, there is here an infinite diversity in the forms of stems, leaves, and blossoms. Almost every one of these sovereigns of the forest is distinguished, in the total effect of the picture, from its neighbour. While the silk-cotton tree (bombax pentandrum), partly armed with strong thorns, begins at a considerable height from the ground to spread out its thick arms, and its digitated leaves are grouped in light and airy masses, the luxuriant lecythis, and the Brazilian anda shoot out at a less height, many branches profusely covered with leaves, which unite to form a verdant arcade. The jacaranda (rose-wood tree) attracts the eye by the lightness of its double-feathered leaves; the large gold-coloured flowers of this tree and the ipe (bignonia chrysantha), dazzle by their splendour, contrasted with the dark green of the foliage. The spondias arches its pennated leaves into light oblong forms. A very peculiar and most striking effect in the picture is that produced by the trumpet tree (cecropia peltata) among the other lofty forms of the forest: the smooth ash-grey stems rise, slightly bending, to a considerable height, and spread out at the top into verticillate branches, which have at the extremities large tufts of deeply lobated white leaves. The flowering casalpinia; the airy laurel; the lofty geoffreea; the soap-trees with their shining leaves; the slender Barbadoes cedar; |