dure; and the extensive plains are covered with the richest pasture imaginable, and are enlivened by herds of horses, mules, and cattle, and extensive flocks of sheep. The lands of this country produce wheat, rice, Indian corn, cotton, sugar, and all kinds of fruit. But its most remarkable production is a shrub belonging to the Linnæan genus ilex, the leaves of which are dried and used for tea. A considerable trade in this article is carried on with other countries; and it has been estimated, that the annual value of this kind of tea, sent to Peru, exceeds a hundred thousand pounds. The inhabitants of Paraguay also carry on a considerable trade in wax and honey. The population of this province is estimated at thirty or forty thousand families.

In different parts of it there are extensive forests, long ridges of mountains, morasses, stagnant pools, and low lands, which are covered with water during a considerable part of the year. In the level and open tracts, the air is serene in summer and the heat is excessive; but in winter, rain, storms, and thunder are frequent.

The capital of this province is Assumption, a small and irregularly built town, situated in about twentyfour degrees forty-seven minutes of south latitude. This place is the residence of a governor and the see of a bishop. Its houses are dispersed in the midst of gardens and plantations, along the bank of the river Paraguay; and it contains about seven hundred inhabitants. The environs are fertile, and produce, in the highest perfection, a great variety of native and exotic fruits. Near this city is a lake, which is remarkable for having, in the middle of it, a rock, that rises to a prodigious height, like an obelisk.

Some of the southern parts of Paraguay are inhabited by a warlike tribe of Indians, called Abipons. These are about five thousand in number; and occupy much of their time in breeding horses, and in catching and taming such of these animals as are wild. Their

The

weapons are arrows and lances, three or four yards long, which are sometimes pointed with iron. warlike spirit of the Abipons has rendered them formidable to the Spaniards, and the missionaries have had little success in endeavouring to convert them to the Christian faith.

The women of this nation are not much browner than the Spanish females. The features of the men are regular, and their noses are prominent: some of them have even aquiline noses. The men have a custom of tearing away the hair from their forehead, so as to render themselves bald. They also tear out their beard; and mark their forehead and temples with scars, by way of ornament.

The Abipons do not appear to have a plurality of wives. When they marry, the men purchase the females from their parents, at the price of four or five horses, or a few clothes made of pieces of cloth of different colours, and, in appearance, somewhat resembling turkey carpet. The women are said sometimes to adopt the barbarous custom of murdering their children.

It is asserted that the Abipons believe in the existence of a demon or evil spirit; and that they have a kind of priests, or magicians, to whom they attribute the power of appeasing this imaginary enemy of the human race. It is probable that this evil spirit is considered by them as the Supreme Being, to whom they only pay a sort of worship when they think him angry.

The Abipons generally bury their dead under the shade of a tree; and, when a chief or warrior dies, they kill his horses on his grave. Some time afterwards they dig up his remains, and convey them to a more secret and distant place. It is evident that they have some notion of a future life; for, on burying their dead, they inter with them provisions and a bow and arrows, in order that they may procure for themselves a subsistence in the other world; and that they may

not be induced, by hunger, to return to this world, for the purpose of tormenting the living.

Another of the tribes of Paraguay are called Manacicas. This people are industrious. They live under a government, the customs of which have a singular resemblance to those of the islanders of the Pacific Ocean. Their cacique, or chief, possesses sovereign authority. His lands are cultivated and his houses are built at the public expense. The table of the cacique is always covered with the best produce of the country, and is supplied with every thing free of expense. No important undertaking can be commenced without his permission. He punishes severely all those who are guilty of any offence, and his subjects cannot call him to account for any of his actions. The women are subject to the control and submit to the authority of the principal wife of the cacique. All the individuals under his government, pay him a tithe of the produce of their hunting and fishing; and they can neither catch animals nor fish without his permission. The authority of the Manacican cacique is hereditary. As soon as the eldest son is of age to command, his father makes over his authority to him without ceremony; and this- voluntary renunciation of his right, increases the love and respect of the people for their former master.

The mythology of the Manacicas differs from that of most other Americans. They believe in three Supreme Beings, who are said to show themselves, at times, in dreadful forms, to such of the Indians as, on certain occasions, assemble in the hall of the cacique to drink and dance. Their arrival is announced by a great noise, and, as soon as they appear, the people cease their diversions, and put forth shouts of joy. The deities are said then to address them with an exhortation to eat and drink well; and they promise them an abundance of fish, game, and other valuable property. Then, to do honour to the feast, they demand

something to drink, and empty the goblet that is presented to them, with a quickness which astonishes all the beholders. It may easily be believed that all this is the contrivance of the priests, or maponos, as they are here called.

The priests of the Manacicas occasionally act as oracles. They announce scarcity or abundance, storms or fine weather. They often excite the people to war, and never fail to demand for their gods a portion of the spoil. This people believe that the soul is immortal, and that, on leaving the body, it is conveyed to heaven by the maponos, to live eternally in happiness. As soon as an Indian dies, the neighbouring mapono disappears for a certain time; and, at his return, he states, that, during his absence, he has been employed in conducting the soul of the deceased to the regions of bliss. His journey is imagined to be a very difficult one; through thick forests, over rude and steep mountains, and across a great river, on which is a wooden bridge, guarded, night and day, by a god called Tatutiso. This divinity is supposed to be employed in purifying the souls from all the impurities they had contracted while alive. At length the soul is represented to arrive in paradise, but the paradise of the Manacicas is not a very enviable one; its pleasures are not peculiarly attractive. There is nothing to be found in it, as these people imagine, but a kind of gum, with honey and fish, on which the souls are fed. The mapono, at his return, relates a thousand other absurdities, concerning his journey, and never fails to get well paid for his trouble.

Twenty-second Bay's Instruction.

BRASIL.

THE name of Brasil, which was originally understood to apply to a small portion of the American coast, from the mouth of the Amazon southward, now comprehends all the Portuguese territories in South America. This vast region extends from the equator to the thirty-third degree of south latitude. It is bounded on the north by Portuguese Guiana and the Amazon; on the south by the Spanish settlement of Buenos Ayres; on the west by the Spanish back settlements of Peru and Paraguay; and on the east by the Atlantic ocean. Its whole length is not less than two thousand three hundred miles, and its greatest breadth about fifteen hundred.

When viewed from the sea, Brasil, at the first aspect, appears mountainous, rough, and unequal; but, on a nearer approach, its scenery is extremely picturesque and beautiful its eminences are covered with magnificent woods, and its valleys with perpetual verdure. A con

siderable portion of its interior forms one vast forest. But in the centre there is a plain called Campos Parexis, which extends, from east to west, several hundred miles; and is covered with a light earth, and with a surface of sand so light, that by its continual shifting and undulation, it resembles, at a distance, the agitated waves of the ocean. This immense desert rises towards the centre into chains of mountains, which are generally considered the highest in Brasil, and which are extended over a space of more than two hundred leagues. From this mountainous country numerous rivers proceed, some of which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, and others into the river Amazon.

Many parts of Brasil are endowed with the most exuberant fertility, and are capable of yielding every