as none of us were near enough to see and hear. It was followed by the shouts of the assembled multitude, and tremendous discharges of artillery, which I thought would never cease. The regular troops, four or five thousand, together with the disciplined militia about the same number, had been drawn out, and at the close of the ceremony, fired vollies of musquetry. At sun down, the firing of cannon was renewed, first from the different forts in succession, and then from the ships of war; and as the sound was repeated by the echoes of the mountains, a tremendous roaring continued even for some time after the firing had ceased. It was no sooner dark, than the illuminations, whose splendor eclipsed the starry vault above us, displayed them selves along the whole front of the city, and also from the different forts, from the detached buildings on the heights, and around the harbor. All the vessels, except the Congress, which seemed to mourn the event, were also illuminated in the most curious and tasteful manner. Nothing could have a finer effect than the glittering of so many lights, and their brilliant reflection upon the water. The ingenuity displayed in the arrangement of the illuminations, was very great. By the aid of small glass lamps of various colors, a great variety of curious and beautiful figures were formed, representing triumphal arches, temples, and a number of other objects. Columns and pyramids, were erected for the purpose of enabling them to display curious festoons and other figures. Large sums were said to have been expended by individuals, who vied with each other, in the taste and splendor of their illuminations; and in particular, the owner of a country seat fronting the har

J

bor, is said to have expended twenty thousand dollars; a number of large arches were raised on high columns, so contrived as to represent a crown, its base more than a hundred feet, and beautifully proportioned, displaying near the top the arms of Portugal. The person who was thus distinguished in the display of his loyalty, we were informed had in view a title of nobility, being only a rich plebeian.

The two succeeding days passed in the same way, until eyes and ears could no longer bear this dazzling and astounding manifestation. It was natural for us to draw a comparison between the simple and unaffected ceremony, of installing the chief magistrate chosen by a free people to guide their affairs, when the appeal is made to reason and good sense, and all this noise and glitter calculated to intoxicate, astound, and stupify the human intellect. I could not but reflect how small the number among this wretched rabble, that could reason justly and wisely, on the scene before them! Their sensations were not the joyous emotions of the soul, but were stupifying amazement, produced by external objects. How different is the enthusiasm of the free, from the outward noisy acclamation of a people, who, without these artifices and contrivances, would continue in unchangeable dullness. The enthusiasm of a freeman, stands in no need of these aids; he has within himself, "that which passeth show" he has thought, sensations, recollections, interests, and feelings, capable of elevating his mind without the aid of trifles like these.

The day after the coronation, I went on shore in company with some gentlemen of the ship. The city

as may be supposed was let loose; all was noise, uproar and confusion. Seeing people going in and coming out, of a long temporary building on one side of the chapel, we approached, and were informed we might enter. It was splendidly fitted up, propably for the performance of some ceremony, as the regalia were displayed on a table covered with rich purple; the arms of Portugal were also seen, and the whole was fitted up in a style of extraordinary magnificence. At the door there were four or five priests, who had fallen fast asleep, having, as I supposed, set up all the preceding night, and it was now in the afternoon.*

The palace is a long row of buildings, no way remarkable in point of architecture, but sufficient to lodge comfortably thirty or forty families. I saw a great number of ladies seated on the balconies, dressed in a very splendid attire, and their heads adorned with a profusion of feathers; at first we took them all for princesses, but afterwards supposed there might be some maids of honor among them. In front of the palace, there stood at least a dozen coaches, beside other carriages, waiting for some thirty or forty of the family, who were going to the country palace, where the king had already gone. The coaches were splendid things, very heavy, with much gilding about them, and apparently not less than a hundred years old; from which I conjectured, that these vehicles were only used on great occasions. The dresses of the coachmen, the postillions, of whom there was one on almost every mule, the footmen, and out-riders, were

*It was humorously said, that numbers of the common people gazed on the illumination with such blank amazement, as to fall asleep with their eyes and mouths open.

the most outré imaginable; their appearance carried me back a couple of centuries, at least, and led me to reflect how much importance, in monarchies, is attached to antiquities. Kings are very slow in adopting the improvements of the age in which they live; they are almost as hard to civilize, as our North American Indians. I saw a great many of the nobility running to and fro, and from the richness of their decorations, I judged of very high orders, such as gentlemen of the bed chamber, grooms of the stole, royal rat-killers, &c. &c. I wish I could speak with some respect of these things, but for my soul I cannot; and I think it my duty to give to my countrymen, a true copy of the impressions left by them on my mind. Such is the first coronation of a king in America-will it be the last? Leaving the reader to make his own reflections on the sovereign, I shall proceed to make some general observations on the country, whose future destinies are to be so much affected by the ceremonies I have described.

We have in general, very inadequate conceptions of the importance of the Brazilian empire. The books of geography give extremely meagre and imperfect accounts, of this wonderful country. While in its colonial state, the Portuguese pursued nearly the same policy with the Spaniards, in the zealous exclusion of enlightened strangers; and they were rather fearful of exciting the cupidity of other nations, by permitting descriptions of it to be published. But since the transfer of the throne, this policy has ceased; and therefore, it is natural to expect, the prevailing wish or inclination, is to make a display of the greatness and riches of the seat of empire. Within a few years, we

have had several travellers, especially Mawee and Koster, who have shed considerable light on the Brazils. Much information is collected in Southey and Beauchamp, on the civil and political history. I made diligent search after new works published in the country, but I found that printing and publishing here, are still at a very low ebb. There are but two book-stores at Rio, most indifferently supplied; and the only periodical works published in the whole of the Brazils, are two weekly newspapers, each about the size of a man's hand. The only work I could meet with, is one published in 1847, entitled the Corografia Brazilica. It is a kind of gazetteer, containing a mass of curious local information, but singularly deficient in those particulars, which we are in the habit of regarding as indispensable in geographical works. It does not, in a single instance, give the population of provinces, or cities; the writer contenting himself with some general expressions, that the population is large, moderate, or small. It is, notwithstanding, the most important work issued from the Brazilian press, since the arrival of the royal family. The work gives a very vague and unsatisfactory account of the statistics; it says not a word of the amount of shipping, of exports, or imports; the produce of the mines, or royal revenues. The account, however, of the navigation of rivers, the descriptions of towns and settlements, which are very minute, add very considerably to the information already possessed. No country except New Holland, opens so magnificent a field to the enlightened and scientific traveller. The men of science now engaged in exploring this interesting country, may be expected before long