of a sick child, in order to try the effect of the fresher and purer air of the more elevated region. The honors of the house were very gracefully performed by the daughter of the minister, a young lady of sixteen or seventeen years of age. Mr. Sumpter has a numerous and amiable family, who all speak the Portuguese, and the younger hardly any thing else. He has been six or seven years at this court, and is extremely anxious to return home. He speaks highly of the climate, and of the vast resources of the country; thinks favorably of the king, but expresses great dislike to the state of society, as well as disapprobation of the thousand vexations and abuses practised on the people in the name of the government. He said that there was a sincere wish on the part of the king to cultivate a good understanding and friendship with the people of the United States, and in this he was much more liberal than his courtiers. On the subject of the insurrectional movements, he seemed to think, that the spirit of revolt was by no means extensive through Brazil, and he gave no credit to the assertions that similar designs to those of Pernambuco, had been formed at St. Salvador and Rio. On the subject of the mission, probably mistaking its objects, he thought it premature. He professed to be well acquainted with the state of things at Buenos Ayres, and expressed a very unfavorable opinion of the kind of spirit by which they were generally actuated. He appeared to think that selfish rivalry and false ambition, actuated a greater part of those who aspired to authority; there was hardly a major, he said, who did not think himself qualified to be supreme director! With respect to men at present in power, Pueyrredon and others, he said they were the rational and moderate men of the country, who were aiming at something like a settled order of things, but that the people were of a restless and inconstant character, and fit subjects to be acted upon by turbulent demagogues. Upon the whole, his opinions as to the state of things in the country to which we were going, was rather unfavorable. He gave us to understand that a very considerable Spanish force from Peru had taken possession of Talcahuana in Chili, and that a second struggle would ensue between St. Martin and the much more powerful force, than that which he had subdued the year before. He gave us to understand, that the Portuguese were unable to make any progress in the subjugation of Artigas, while the war was carried on by them at great expense. Buenos Ayres seemed to be determined to maintain a neutral attitude as long as possible, on account of the important warfare she was carrying on with the Spaniards in Chili and Peru. He related to us a curious anecdote respecting some agents of Buenos Ayres, who had outwitted the court of Brazil, and he seemed to think, that a depth of diplomacy was displayed by them, hardly to be expected or admired in so young a state.* * I have seen some of these anecdotes in our newspapers, but these are not to be believed merely because they are told. It is well to receive such stories with distrust, until we can ascertain their original source, and then we may judge of the degree of credit they are entitled to. Buenos Ayres had an agent at Rio at this time, of the name of Garcia, who I have understood held communications with the government. Some dexterity was no doubt necessary, and it is equally certain that no pains would be spared I shall not stop to describe the dinner, which was partly American, and partly in the style of the country. The fish of Rio are equal to any in the world, the poultry is good, and the beef very indifferent. The vegetables are uncommonly fine, but the potatoes are imported from Great Britain. The desert was composed of a great variety of fruits and sweetmeats; the fruits were melons, bananas, mangoes, oranges, and a number of others peculiar to the climate; to the natives, all no doubt exquisite; but by a stranger, even some of those that are most esteemed, are not relished at first. In the immediate vicinity of this place, our northern fruits do not succeed so well; but in the high mountains, to the south-west, I am informed they do. Among the guests at table, were two young men, one a Portuguese, and the other a Frenchman by birth; they were both addressed, Segnior Conde, or Count, and wore small slips of ribbon in the buttonhole. What rank of nobility they held I did not know; they were plain and modest in their demeanor, and but for the designation before mentioned, I should have taken one of them, who had been touching the piano, for a music master, and the other for a teacher of the French language. The Frenchman was the more communicative of the two; and in a conversation with him, he gave me to understand that he was in some kind of public employment. I put a great many questions to him respecting the country, but found that by the Spanish minister to counteract their plans; and among the means resorted to for this purpose, the reader need not be surprised to find, that of rendering their agents suspected in their fidelity to their country, in order to sow dissentions in the republic, and embarrass its affairs. he knew very little on the subjects I was desirous of being informed. He contented himself with declamation on the magnificence of the Brazilian empire, and spoke with some warmth, of the endeavors of the British government to persuade the royal family to return to Lisbon. He declared, that they would never be able to prevail on the king to exchange his present high and independent situation, in order to place himself once more under the wing of English protection. The English had been greatly disappointed and chagrined by this resolution, but had not yet abandoned the hope of prevailing on him to change it. There may be a more powerful reason than the mere pride of royalty, for not taking this step; it is the uncertainty of his being able to retain this immense country by any other mode than a permanent transfer of his residence. It would be utterly impossible to reduce the Brazils once more to the colonial state, after having once enjoyed an exemption from the colonial restrictions. It is as difficult as it is disagreeable, to contract one's self after having filled a considerable space. One might as well expect to see a youth who had escaped the restraint of his tutor, return to his pupilage without a struggle. The Portuguese royal family never will, nor ever can, quit the Brazils, unless driven away by the inhabitants. The numerous restraints that have been taken off since they ceased to be a colony, and their rapid expansion, each day increases the difficulty of putting them back to the colonial state. After dinner we strolled into the garden, shaded with a great many beautiful trees, and adorned with all the rich luxuriance of tropical vegetation. The country seats along the road on each side, reminded me a good deal of the vicinity of New-Orleans. The day was extremely fine, though rather hot, but not more so than a warm day in June or July in the northern parts of the United States. In front of the house, at the distance of a few hundred yards, the mountain rose in bold and rude masses, in some places presenting nothing but a naked precipice of granite; in others, covered with a great variety of beautiful shrubs and trees. A naked peak, called the Parrot Head, intercepted the clouds above us. Its height is 2500 feet; there is a path which leads to the top, but so winding, that the ascent is at least five or six miles. The whole district of Rio Janeiro is exceedingly mountainous, and its vallies are in general deep and narrow. The mountains are not as lofty as those of Switzerland, but resemble them more than our Alleghanies. Though not covered with snow, they sometimes let loose upon the vallies, what is even more dreadful than the Avalanche; huge masses of earth loosening from the rock, by the moisture insinuated between them in the rainy seasons, slip down, and overwhelm every thing below. It is not long since an instance of this kind occurred, when more than a hundred families were buried alive. In the afternoon, the sun having disappeared behind the mountain, its broad shade was now spread over us, and we seated ourselves on the terrace, in order to enjoy the cool air. It was not long before we discovered a cavalcade coming along the road. Mr. Sumpter informed us, it was some of the royal family taking an airing, and that they very frequently passed this way. A couple of Indian looking dragoons gallop up, their swords rattling by their sides. They were followed at a very |