Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0161

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[Page 161]

Rio de Janeiro

Copper coin like that in Portugal 5 and 10 rey peices two of the latter are worth 3 halfpence 40 petacks are worth 36 shillings

The harbour of Rio de Janeiro is certainly a very good one the Entrance is not wide but the Sea breeze which blows every morning makes it easy for any ship to go in before the wind & when you get abreast the town it increases in breadth prodigiously so that almost any number of ships might lay in 5 or 6 fathom water oozey bottom it is defended by many works especialy the entrance where it is narrow there is their strongest fortification calld Sta Cruz & another opposite it there is also a platform mounting about 22 gunns without that just under the Sugar Loaf on the sea side but that seems intirely calculated to hinder the Landing of an Enemy in a sandy bay from whence there is a passage to the back part

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