Forbes, James, 1749-1819, James Forbes letter, Rio de Janeiro, 1765 August 21, copied between 1794 and 1800
- CallNumber:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Rio de Janeiro, 1765 August 21
- Date:
- copied between 1794 and 1800
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series I: A voyage from England to Bombay with descriptions in Asia, Africa, and South America
- ContainerGrouping:
- volume 1, page 55-69
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- AccessRestrict:
- The materials are open for research.
- UseRestrict:
- The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
- ScopeContent:
- Forbes opens his letter with an explanation of his altered circumstances: while he had anticipated heading towards the Cape of Good Hope in his previous letter, a leak forced the ship to alter its course and, rather than continuing its voyage to India, it instead made for the coast of Brazil, where it might repair any damage. Faced with this unfamiliar and unplanned interval, Forbes sets himself the task of describing Rio de Janeiro and its surroundings, beginning with the topography of the harbor and city. Forbes is quite taken with the landscape—it is, to him, a place of breathtaking views and fascinating creatures, one he depicts in both literary and visual detail. He doesn’t, however, manage to dwell on these sights for long: “But sincerely do I wish I had no occasion to add one circumstance, which shocks humanity, and casts a damp on every pleasure; this is the cruel usage of the slaves in the surrounding plantations; where the smack of the whip, and the cry for mercy, are too frequently heard, and distresses a mind of the of the smallest sensibility.” The Brazilian society which Forbes encountered was one at the economic—if not political—center of the Portuguese empire. The discovery of gold and diamonds in the colony had made it central to Portugal’s continued viability as a global power, a status equally indebted to a transnational circuit of slave labor. Forbes links the tragedy of slavery to European avarice: the “insatiable thirst of Europeans” for gold and diamonds. He writes at length on the regime that has subjugated both the indigenous populations throughout South America, and the peoples brought from Africa to labor in the mines and plantations. The roads to the mines “are so well guarded, and so little frequented, that the people here are very ignorant about the; all communication, except to certain privileged persons, is forbidden.” The only hope is that the enslaved, in their few spare moments, might find gold dust in the area’s streams, enough to, at some point, purchase their freedom from their owners. Slave ships arrive daily, bringing cargoes of “our fellow-creatures” to be sold “in the public market, like cattle.” Forbes has, however, little fondness for indigenous Brazilians—they have no god, no belief in an afterlife, and cannibalize the prisoners they capture in war. This last fact, Forbes claims, is established beyond doubt: “they put them to death with great ceremony, and prolong their feast many days.” Nor does he take kindly to the Portuguese. He finds the city’s Catholic architecture and iconography—ornate and luxurious—“not only ridiculous, but painful,” and suspects they “please the multitude, and increase the power of the Romish Clergy.” He visits a convent, discusses the city’s governance, condemns the “pride, indolence, and superstition” of the Portuguese inhabitants, and closes with a good word about the fish, meat, and other available foods. Forbes references his time in Brazil, in a highly condensed form, on pages 6-8 of <title>Oriental Memoirs: selected and abridged from a series of familiar letters written during seventeen years residence in India</title> vol. 1 (London: White, Cochrane, and co., 1813). Much of his comments on slavery under the Portuguese is omitted in the published version. Bibliography: Schultz, Kirsten. “The Crisis of Empire and the Problem of Slavery: Portugal and Brazil, c. 1700-c. 1820.” <title>Common Knowledge</title> vol. 11 no. 2 (Spring 2005): 264-282. Figueirôa, Silvia, and Clarete da Silva. “Enlightened Mineralogists: Mining Knowledge in Colonial Brazil, 1750-1825.” <title>Osiris</title> vol. 15 (2000): 174-189.
- PhysicalDescription:
- 14 pages
- Genre:
- Correspondence , Botanical illustrations, Ornithological illustrations, Travel sketches, Maps, Watercolors (paintings), Drawings (visual works), Engravings (prints), and Portraits
- Subject Terms:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819. Descriptive letters and drawingsForbes, James, 1749-1819. Oriental memoirs
- Associated Places:
- EnglandItalyScotlandWales
- Associated People/Groups:
- East India CompanyForbes, James, 1749-1819
- FindingAidTitle:
- James Forbes archive
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199258
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199258?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1