RIO DE JANEIRO, the name of one of the provinces into which Brazil, the Portuguese portion of South America, is divided, and by far the most important, in consequence of the discovery and improvement of the gold and diamond mines about 300 miles to the north-west. The diamond mines are the exclusive property of the crown, as well as a fifth part of the gold. The people have of late begun to manufacture many necessary articles for their own consumption. The soil is luxuriant, producing spontaneously most kinds of fruit; and the ground is covered with one continued forest of trees of perpetual verdure, which, from the exuberance of the soil, are so entangled with briars, thorns, and underwood, as to form a thicket absolutely impenetrable, except by some narrow foot-paths, which the inhabitants have made for their own convenience. The woods are extremely fragrant, from the many aromatic trees and shrubs with which they abound; and the fruits and vegetables of every climate thrive here almost without culture, and are to be procured in great abundance. The water is excellent; and among the ordinary productions of this richest province of Brazil may be ranked cotton, sugar, coffee, cocoa, wheat, rice, pepper, and abundance of tobacco. Vines are here met with in great perfection, but the grapes are not pressed for the purpose of obtaining wine. Gold, silver, and precious stones, are annually exported by the Portuguese, whose indolence, especially with respect to investigation and research, has prevented them from giving to the world any satisfactory accounts concerning those remote regions which are subject to their authority.