[Illustration: _On Stone by C. Shoosmith from a Sketch by Ja^s. Henderson._ _Printed by Rowney & Forster._ DON JOHN VI. KING OF PORTUGAL & BRAZIL, & HIS ATTENDANTS AT RIO DE JANEIRO.] A HISTORY OF THE BRAZIL; COMPRISING ITS GEOGRAPHY, COMMERCE, COLONIZATION, ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS, &c. &c. &c. BY JAMES HENDERSON, RECENTLY FROM SOUTH AMERICA. ILLUSTRATED WITH TWENTY-EIGHT PLATES AND TWO MAPS. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, AND PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1821. MARCHANT, Printer, Ingram-Court, Fenchurch-Street, London. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORD VISCOUNT LOWTHER. MY LORD, Were the writer of the following Work a well-known and admired member of the Literary Community he would still be fortunate in the permission of having it dedicated to your Lordship, as your Lordship’s literary, scientific, and commercial knowledge, correct judgement, and amiable qualities, more than the influence of elevated birth and rank, would confer upon it increased recommendation. But coming forward as I do, an unknown contributor to the stock of general knowledge, I am peculiarly happy in having so high a passport to the notice of the Public, in a Work which professes to communicate new information respecting a portion of South America, now more than ever interesting to the commercial, political, and scientific worlds. Whatever faults it possesses, the pains I have taken to obtain authentic information will, I trust, render it not unworthy of their and your Lordship’s notice. If the style in which I present the new fruit, gathered from the branches of the tree of knowledge that are spread in a far country, is not considered interesting, the fruit itself will be found, I hope, acceptable and useful. I have the honour to subscribe myself, MY LORD, Your Lordship’s most faithful and devoted Servant, JAMES HENDERSON. _London, August 1, 1821._ NOTICE TO THE READER.