To the want of encouragement and public spirit on the part of the leading inhabitants, and the consequent unwise regulation of the government, may be attributed the present state of the provision-market. The beef is of such a quality, that it is really quite disgusting to the sight. The cattle are certainly driven a great distance, and are in a wretched state on their arrival at the capital; but this difficulty would be remedied by the adoption of a different system. Beef now pays a small duty, and by law is sold at 30 reas (or about 3d.) per lb. and one man has the contract; let it be of the worst quality the price is the same; by the payment of an adequate sum a piece of good beef cannot be obtained. Let this important branch of commerce be thrown open, without any restriction of price; allow it to rest upon the basis of fair competition, and a good quality of this article would be seen in the metropolis, without any great additional price. Mutton is not very generally in use, particularly amongst the Brazilians; I have however seen some very good, which was fed by an Englishman. Veal is rarely if ever seen. Pork is decidedly the best meat obtained here. Vegetables and fruit are very abundant, and at reasonable prices. Potatoes are not produced, except by some of the English; but they degenerate after a year or two, by continuing to plant from the same stock. Poultry of all kinds is dear, and fish is occasionally so, arising more from the indolence of the fishermen, than any scarcity, as the bay and outside of the bar furnish an abundance, and some of a very fine flavour. Upon the whole, living at Rio is as expensive or more so than in London, with none of the comforts of the latter place. A house two stories high, consisting of a store below, and accommodation for a moderate sized family above, will let for two hundred and fifty or three hundred pounds per annum; and houses in the vicinity of the city, with little comparative convenience, will rent at seventy or eighty pounds a year; while those more commodious are proportionably higher. CHAP. IV. PROVINCE OF RIO DE JANEIRO--_continued_. _Population of the Capital--Negroes--Nocturnal Clamour of Reptiles--Vampire Bat--State of Literature--Jealousy--Dead Bodies--Military--Bank--Revenue--Imposts--Diamonds--Visit to Campinha--Tenure of Lands--Proof of Fertility--Swiss Emigrants--Visit to the Cascades of Tejuca--Commerce--Judicial Procedure--Pauta and Convention--New Exchange--Foundation of English Church--Towns, Villages, and Productions of the Comarca of Rio de Janeiro--Boundaries, Productions, Rivers, Lakes, and Povaoçoes of the Comarca of Cape Frio--Boundaries, Indians, Rivers, Lakes, Towns, and Sugar Works of the Comarca of Goytacazes--Boundaries, Coroado Indians, and Povaoçoes of the Comarca of Canta Gallo._