our charts by the name of Abrothos, on which Lord Anson struck soundings in his passage outwards: At four the next morning we had no ground with 100 fathom.

As several articles of our stock and provisions now began to fall short, I determined to put into Rio de Janeiro, rather than at any port in Brazil or Falkland's Islands, knowing that it could better supply us with what we wanted, and making no doubt but that we should be well received.

On the 8th, at day-break, we saw the coast of Brazil, and about ten o'clock we brought-to, and spoke with a fishingboat; the people on board told us that the land which we saw, lay to the southward of Santo Espirito, but belonged to the captainship of that place.

Mr Banks and Dr Solander went on board this vessel, in which they found eleven men, nine of whom were blacks; they all fished with lines, and their fresh cargo, the chief part of which Mr Banks bought, consisted of dolphins, large pelagic scombers of two kinds, sea-bream, and some of the fish which in the West Indies are called Welshmen. Mr Banks had taken Spanish silver with him, which he imagined to be the currency of the continent, but to his great surprise the people asked him for English shillings; he gave them two, which he happened to have about him, and it was not without some dispute that they took the rest of the money in pistereens. Their business seemed to be to catch large fish at a good distance from the shore, which they salted in bulk, in a place made for that purpose in the middle of their boat: Of this merchandise they had about two quintals on board, which they offered for about fifteen shillings, and would probably have sold for half the money. The fresh fish, which was bought for about nineteen shillings and sixpence, served the whole ship's company; the salt was not wanted.

The sea-provision of these fishermen consisted of nothing more than a cask of water, and a bag of Cassada flour, which they called Farinha de Pao, or wooden flour, which indeed is a name which very well suits its taste and appear ance. Their water-cask was large, as wide as their boat, and exactly fitted a place that was made for it in the ballast; it was impossible therefore to draw out any of its contents by a tap, the sides being, from the bottom to the top, wholly inaccessible; neither could any be taken out

by

by dipping a vessel in at the head, for an opening sufficiently wide for that purppse would have endangered the loss of great part of it by the rolling of the vessel: Their expedient to get at their water, so situated, was curious; when one of them wanted to drink, he applied to his neighbour, who accompanied him to the water-cask with a hollow cane about three feet long, which was open at both ends; this he thrust into the cask through a small hole in the top, and then, stopping the upper end with the palm of his hand, drew it out; the pressure of the air against the other end keeping in the water which it contained; to this end the person who wanted to drink applied his mouth, and the assistant then taking his hand from the other, and admitting the air above, the cane immediately parted with its contents, which the drinker drew off till he was satisfied.*

We stood off and on along the shore till the 12th, and successively saw a remarkable hill near Santo Espirito, then Cape St Thomas, and then an island just without Cape Frio, which in some maps is called the island of Frio, and which being high, with a hollow in the middle, has the appearance of two islands when seen at a distance. On this day we stood along the shore for Rio de Janeiro, and at nine the next morning made sail for the harbour. I then sent Mr Hicks, my first lieutenant, before us in the pinnace, up to the city, to acquaint the governor, that we put in there to procure water and refreshments; and to desire the assistance of a pilot to bring us into proper anchoringground. I continued to stand up the river, trusting to Mr Bellisle's draught, published in the Petit Atlas Maritime, vol. ii. N°. 54, which we found very good, till five o'clock in the evening, expecting the return of my lieutenant; and

just

* It seems pretty obvious that the form and position of the water-cask, were accommodated to this known practicability of getting conveniently at its contents. But how such a method should have become familiar to these fishermen, it is difficult to conjecture. Some accidental observation of a reed or similar body containing water when one of its ends was pressed close, had, in all probability, furnished them or their ancestors with the hint. Man, when necessitated to exertion, is essentially a philosopher; but when his natural wants are by any means supplied, he dwindles into a fool. Hence his discoveries are often invaluable in their consequences, whilst his reasonings in explanation of them are absurd and childish. A contrasted collection of both would be a most amusing, and at the same time a humiliating picture of the inconsistency of human nature.-E.

just as I was about to anchor, above the island of Cobras, which lies before the city, the pinnace came back without him, having on board a Portuguese officer, but no pilot. The people in the boat told me, that my lieutenant was detained by the viceroy till I should go on shore. We came immediately to an anchor; and, almost at the same time, a ten-oared boat, full of soldiers, came up, and kept rowing round the ship, without exchanging a word: In less than a quarter of an hour, another boat came on board with several of the viceroy's officers, who asked, whence we came; what was our cargo; the number of men and guns on board; the object of our voyage, and several other questions, which we directly and truly answered: They then told me, as a kind of apology for detaining my lieutenant, and putting an officer on board my pinnace, that it was the invariable custom of the place, to detain the first officer who came on shore from any ship on her arrival, till a boat from the viceroy had visited her, and to suffer no boat to go either from or to a ship, while she lay there, without having a soldier on board. They said that I might go on shore when I pleased; but wished that every other person might remain on board till the paper which they should

draw

5 There is no reason for supposing that this viceroy had any greater dislike to our countrymen than to any other, or that he acted otherwise towards them than he was accustomed to do in similar cases. Bougainville complains of him much, and represents him as a turbulent ill-mannered fellow. "Having," says he, " on one occasion, upon the repeated leave of the viceroy, concluded a bargain for buying a snow, his excellency forbad the seller to deliver it to me. He likewise gave orders, that we should not be allowed the necessary timber out of the royal dock-yards, for which we had already agreed; he then refused me the permission of lodging with my officers (during the time that the frigate underwent some essential repairs) in a house near the town, offered me by its proprietor, and which Commodore Byron had occupied in 1765, when he touched at this port. On this account, and likewise on his refusing me the snow and the timber, I wanted to make some remonstrances to him. He did not give me time to do it : And at the first words I uttered, he rose in a furious passion, and ordered me to go out; and being certainly piqued, that in spite of his anger, I remained sitting with two officers who accompanied me, he called his guards; but they, wiser than himself, did not come, and we retired, so that nobody seemed to have been disturbed. We were hardly gone, when the guards of his palace were doubled, and orders given to arrest all the French that should be found in the streets after sunsetting." According to this writer, it appears that neither the laws of nations, nor the rules of good breeding, were respected by this very important be ing, "vain of his authority."-E.

draw up had been delivered to the viceroy, promising that, immediately upon their return, the lieutenant should be sent on board.

This promise was performed, and on the next morning, the 14th, I went on shore, and obtained leave of the viceroy to purchase provisions and refreshments for the ship, provided I would employ one of their own people as a factor, but not otherwise. I made some objections to this, but he insisted upon it as the custom of the place. I objected also against the putting a soldier into the boat every time she went between the ship and the shore; but he told me, that this was done by the express orders of his court, with which he could in no case dispense. I then requested, that the gentlemen whom I had on board might reside ou shore during our stay, and that Mr Banks might go up the country to gather plants; but this he absolutely refused. I judged from his extreme caution, and the severity of these restrictions, that he suspected we were come to trade; I therefore took some pains to convince him of the contrary. I told him, that we were bound to the southward, by the order of his Britannic majesty, to observe a transit of the planet Venus over the sun, an astronomical phenomenon of great importance to navigation. Of the transit of Venus, however, he could form no other conception, than that it was the passing of the north star through the south pole; for these are the very words of his interpreter, who was a Swede, and spoke English very well. I did not think it necessary to ask permission for the gentlemen to come on shore during the day, or that, when I was on shore myself, I might be at liberty, taking for granted that nothing was intended to the contrary; but in this I was unfortunately mistaken. As soon as I took leave of his excellency, I found an officer who had orders to attend me wherever I went: Of this I desired an explanation, and was told that it was meant as a compliment; I earnestly desired to be excused from accepting such an honour, but the good viceroy would by no means suffer it to be dispensed with."

With

• Mr Barrow notices the extreme jealousy and circumspection of the government, as to strangers. None, he says, is permitted to walk the streets in the day time, unless a soldier attend him. Bad governments are usually fearful, and often expose their weakness by the very means they employ to conceal it. On this principle, admitting its truth, the policy of the Portuguese in general forfeits all claim to admiration. What changes have

With this officer, therefore, I returned on board, about twelve o'clock, where I was impatiently expected by Mr Banks and Dr Solander, who made no doubt but that a fair account of us having been given by the officers who had been on board the evening before in their paper called a Practica, and every scruple of the viceroy removed in my conference with his excellency, they should immediately be at liberty to go on shore, and dispose of themselves as they pleased. Their disappointment at receiving my report may easily be conceived; and it was still increased by an account, that it had been resolved, not only to prevent their residing on shore, and going up the country, but even their leaving the ship; orders having been given, that no person except the captain, and such common sailors as were required to be upon duty, should be permitted to land; and that probably there was a particular view to the passengers in this prohibition, as they were reported to be gentlemen sent abroad to make observations and discoveries, and were uncommonly qualified for that purpose. In the evening, however, Mr Banks and Dr Solander dressed themselves, and attempted to go on shore, in order to make a visit to the viceroy; but they were stopped by the guard-boat which had come off with our pinnace, and which kept hovering round the ship all the while she lay here, for that purpose; the officer on board saying, that he had particular orders, which he could not disobey, to suffer no passenger, nor any officer, except the captain, to pass the boat. After much expostulation to no purpose, they were obliged, with whatever reluctance and mortification, to return on board. I then went on shore myself, but found the viceroy inflexible; he had one answer ready for every thing I could say, That the restrictions under which he had laid were in obedience to the king of Portugal's commands, and therefore indispensable.

us,

In this situation I determined, rather than be made a prisoner in my own boat, to go on shore no more; for the officer who, under pretence of a compliment, attended me when I was ashore, insisted also upon going with me to and from the ship: But still imagining, that the scrupulous vigilance of the viceroy must proceed from some mistaken

notion

been wrought in it, since the transatlantic emigration of the royal family, remain to be elucidated.-E.