Volume 1

Travels in Brazil, in the years 1817-1820 : undertaken by command of His Majesty the King of Bavaria / by Joh. Bapt. von Spix and C.F. Phil. von Martius.

  • Johann Baptist von Spix
Date:
1824
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Travels in Brazil, in the years 1817-1820 : undertaken by command of His Majesty the King of Bavaria / by Joh. Bapt. von Spix and C.F. Phil. von Martius. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    17/356
    To the produce of the custom-houses in Brazil, which constitute an important part of the revenue, must be added the duties upon goods which are exported from one pro¬ vince to another. These direitos da entrada are very con¬ siderable, because they are imposed upon all goods without exception, according to the weight, on lead, iron, and other metals, as well as on the lightest stuffs, silk goods? &c. On entering the province of Minas Geraes, the arroba pays 720 rees; salt is the only exception, the duty being but 450 rees upon the arroba.* For every negro slave imported into Minas, 7800 rees are paid at the frontier custom-house (registo); on the river Paraibuna, for each head of horned cattle, mule, or horse, 2 pataccas (640 rees) ; for every person 1 patacca; for the countersigning of the passport 2 pataccas. Similar duties are paid at every frontier custom-house of a capitania. But the wants of the state are farther provided for by imposts and taxes which are collected either immediately by the government, or by farmers (contractadores). These taxes are partly different in the several provinces, each of which has its own financial administration; in general, however, with some local modifications, the following are levied :—Dizimo ; a tenth of all the produce of agriculture, fisheries, and cattle.—Subsidio real or nacional; duties on fresh meat, on raw and tanned hides, on sugar-cane brandy, and coarse woollens, which are manufactured in * Till within these few years, the importation of salt from Portugal and its colonies into Brazil, was let out to a farmer-general for the sum of 48,000 milrees per annum; the inhabitants of the coasts of Per¬ nambuco, Cabo Frio, and Rio Grande were, however, allowed to make salt in their pits for their own consumption, but not to export it. (S. Ensaio economico sobre o commercio de Portugal por D. I. I. da Cunha de Azeredo Coutinho edic. seg. Lisb. 1816, p. 20.) The monopolies and inland duties are said to have been abolished by the Crown Prince Don Pedro, since the departure of the king from the Brazils.