BRAZIL Wood. See DYEING.
Ship-building is diligently pursued at more than one station along the coast. The port of S. Francisco is the most southerly point at which the construction of vessels is carried on to any extent. Vessels of large size, and a number of small craft for coasters, are built here. The demand for ship-carpenters is always brisk. To the north of Bahia, on account of the reef, the ships built are generally of a small tonnage. Laranjeiras, Itapicuru, and Villa do Conde, build vessels capable of holding from 4000 to 8000 arrobas of lading. Pernambuco fits out a great number of small craft. The royal docks at Bahia are small, and few ships of war are built there; but such as are have the character of surpassing even the East Indian vessels in durability. Merchant ships are for the most part built at Tapagipe, about a league and a half to the north-east of the city.
The whale-fishing stations are S. Catharina, Itaparica, and Bahia. It is only pursued in small boats near the shore. The pans in which fishery. The blubber is boiled are small, and heated by common stoves. The receivers are extremely apt to collect dust and dirt of all kinds. Throughout Brazil, not above 100 fish, great and small, are taken in the course of a year. Each yields, on an average, from fourteen to eighteen pips (150 gallons English each) of train oil; and the value of this oil, together with the whalebone, may amount to L.150. On the islands of the Solimoes (Upper Amazon), a considerable quantity of oil is yearly collected from the eggs of the turtle, which are dug up, broken in the boats, and left till the light oil separates and swims on the top. It is boiled and separated from the impurities, when it assumes the colour and consistence of lard. This product is deposited in earthen pots containing fifty or sixty pounds each. Of these more than 8000 are yearly prepared on the Amazon. The Madeira yields 1000. The drying and salting of fish is carried on to a considerable extent along the sea-coast, on the Amazons, and upon a large lake near the salines on the Rio de S. Francisco. A coarse kind of woollen cloth for home consumption is manufactured at S. Paulo. Hats are made at S. João d'el Rey. There is an establishment for the manufacture of arms in the town of S. Paulo; a powder-mill in the neighbourhood of Rio, and one of less importance in Minas. A coarse cotton cloth is woven in Goyaz, Maranhão, and Sergipe d'el Rey, used to clothe the slaves, or form bags for packing cotton. In S. Paulo, Goyaz, and Para, tanning is carried on to a small extent.
The commerce of Brazil, despite the disadvantages against which Commerce. It has had at various times to contend, has been on the whole uniformly progressive. These disadvantages consisted chiefly in the restrictions originally imposed on the young colony by the jealousy of the mother country, which refused to admit the Brazilian products, except at certain stated seasons of the year. The exportation of native productions to the old world was limited to the ports of Rio, Bahia, Olinda, and Paraíba. These restrictions continued in force long after analogous measures had been exploded in the commercial systems of other countries, and were not repealed till the beginning of the present century. In 1810, all the ports of Brazil were thrown open to British goods on the payment of duty at the rate of 15 per cent.; and though this rate has been greatly increased by the tariff of 1844, the average annual value of manufactured goods imported into Brazil from Great Britain alone, during the last ten years has been nearly L.2,500,000. The official value of imports to the United Kingdom in 1852, was L.2,053,160, and the declared value of British produce exported L.3,484,394.
The rapidity with which the trade of Brazil is annually increasing may be inferred by a comparison of the shipping returns for 1846 and 1852. In the former year, there entered the various harbours of Brazil 931 vessels of all countries, with a tonnage of 218,819; cleared out 1034 vessels of 321,722 tons. In 1852, there entered and left the harbour of Rio Janeiro alone 724 vessels (including coasters) of 1,676,974 tons; and as this harbour monopolizes about one-half of traffic of the whole empire, the total number of ships engaged in the Brazilian trade may be estimated in round numbers at about 15,000 ships, of 3,000,000 tons.
For further information concerning the present aspect of Brazilian commerce, see RIO JANEIRO, ST. SALVADOR, PERNAMBUCO, &c. &c. (W.W.—R.)