Unhappily, However,
For The Cause Of Science, These Gentleman Have Not Hitherto Been Able
To Coincide In Their Accounts, So That Very Little Information On This Head,
To Be Depended Upon, Could Be Gained.
How far political motives may have
caused this disagreement, I do not presume to decide; though it deserves
notice,
That the Portuguese accuse the Abbee de la Caille, who observed here
by order of the King of France, of having laid down the longitude of this place
forty-five miles too much to the eastward.
Until the year 1770, all the flour in the settlement was brought from Europe;
but since that time the inhabitants have made so rapid a progress in raising
grain, as to be able to supply themselves with it abundantly.
The principal corn country lies around Rio Grande, in the latitude of
32 deg south, where wheat flourishes so luxuriantly, as to yield from
seventy to eighty bushels for one. Coffee also, which they formerly received
from Portugal, now grows in such plenty as to enable them to export
considerable quantities of it. But the staple commodity of the country
is sugar. That they have not, however, learnt the art of making palatable rum,
the English troops in New South Wales can bear testimony; a large quantity,
very ill flavoured, having been bought and shipped here for the use of
the garrison of Port Jackson.
It was in 1771 that St. Salvador, which had for more than a century
been the capital of Brazil, ceased to be so; and that the seat of Government
was removed to St. Sebastian.
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