ions. M. Von Kielchen procured me for this
purpose a convenient country-house, situated on the romantic little bay
of Botafogo, of which I took possession on the following day,
accompanied by our astronomer, M. Preus; leaving the care of the ship to
my officers.

In the supposition that the history of Brazil may not be familiar to
every reader, male and female,--for I hope to have many of the
latter,--I will preface the narration of my residence here with the
following notices.

This great empire in South America, called Brazil, from a wood which
grows there in great abundance, resembling in colour a red-hot coal, (in
the Portuguese "_Brasa_,") is one of the richest and most fertile
countries in the world. It was accidentally discovered in the year 1500,
by a Portuguese named Cabral, who with a fleet bound for the East
Indies, was thrown on these shores.

The riches of the country being at first unknown, it was used as a place
of banishment for criminals; but subsequently, when the convicts began
to cultivate the sugar-cane, and the gold and diamond mines were
discovered, Brazil acquired a higher value in the eyes of the Portuguese
government.

A Viceroy was therefore sent out, with the strongest injunctions to
close the Brazilian ports against all foreign powers, in order to
preserve to Portugal the exclusive trade in the diamonds and other
precious stones with which it was now found that the country abounded.
For a long time, this beautiful land, rich in all the gifts of nature,
languished under the rule of Portuguese Viceroys, with a
thinly-scattered population, poor, oppressed, and destitute of all
mental culture. At length, the year 1807 opened to it a brighter
prospect. Napoleon's ambitious views extending even to Portugal, forced
the Royal Family to take refuge in the colonies. They were followed by
fourteen thousand soldiers, and about twelve thousand other adherents.
The presence of a court and government in the capital, Rio Janeiro, had
the most beneficial influence on all the interests of the country. The
ports were opened to all European ships, and commerce, wealth, and
civilization advanced rapidly.

Napoleon's victories having found a final termination, in his banishment
to St. Helena, the King of Portugal returned, in 1821, to his European
dominions, leaving the Regency of Brazil to his son, the Crown Prince,
Pedro, already married to an Austrian princess.

But the example of the newly-established