Excerpt from A Popular Description of Brazil, &C. &C, Vol. 1 of 2: Geographical, Historical, and Topographical

Acquisition. The gold and diamond mines were not dis covered till nearly two hundred years after the country had been in their possession. In 1699, some enter prising individuals first began to work several gold mines in the back settlements. The attention of the government being attracted by this circumstance, it was ordained that, on the discovery of a mine, immediate notice should be given to the public authorities, and that a fifth of the produce should go to the king. Other mines were soon discovered; and from the year 1728 to 1734, the king's fifth amounted, on the average, to yearly, the whole annual produce amounting to upwards of two millions sterling. It then began to diminish, till the whole produce sank to about one-half, and the royal fifth to which was raised, how ever, by a duty Of 2 per cent. On its exportation, and the seignorage on the coinage, to The dia mond mines were first discovered about thirty years after. These, too, paid a fifth to the government, which has amounted, on the average, to In order to secure to the crown the ample revenues arising from these sources, it was found necessary to carry to the most oppressive and injurious extent the restrictions of the colonial system. Not only diamonds, but ivory, brazil-wood, and all ship-timber, tobacco, snufl, and gunpowder, were royal monopolies. The periodical fleets were limited to Lisbon and Oporto in the mother country, and to Pernambuco, St. Salvador, Paraiba, and Rio Janeiro, in Brazil. All goods imported from the mother country, paid a duty of 12 per cent. The system of exclusive companies prevailed in connexion with the most absurd regulations. The taxes, alike impolitic and oppressive, were, in many parts, farmed out to the highest bidders. Salt, as well as iron, was taxed 100 per cent. Every article passing into the gold or diamond districts, paid a duty of two - pence per lb. In passing.

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