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THE BRAGANZA. 139
dous Braganza which is persistently sneered at and doubted by many writers.
Mawe
describes at great length the diamond diggings of his day, and as human
nature varies little, it is probable that his picture would be
recognized even now as a truthful likeness of those localities and
their inhabitants. He says that, notwithstanding the rich produce of
the ground the inhabitants are mostly poor and wretched. Many of them
drag out their lives in misery and idleness in the hope, which is never
realized, of one day finding a great diamond which shall make them
rich and happy forever. The actual work is done by slaves under the eye
of overseers, who are supposed to be of unimpeachable integrity and
sleepless vigilance. The traveler gives some astonishing details by
which the measure of the former quality may be taken. He observes that
as the produce of the mines was all Government property and there
being the severest laws against smuggling, he expected to see (at
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