By stratagems and intrigues Government was prevailed on to let these invaluable territories to a company, who were under stipulations to work with a limited number of negroes, or to pay a certain sum per day for every negro employed. This opened a door to every species of fraud; double the stipulated number of negroes was admitted; and this imposition was connived at by the agents of Government, who received pay in one hand and bribes in the other. Presents were made to men possessing influence at court, by the contractors, who soon became rich; and they continued (subject to a few regulations) in possession of the diamond mines until about the year 1772, when, Government determining to take them into their own hands, these contracts were ended.
This was the time for reforming abuses, and for placing this rich district under the best regulations, but it was neglected; prejudice prevailed over prudence; and the management was entrusted to men who did not understand the real interests of the concern, or, what is more probable, who were so shackled in their authority, that they could not pursue them. From this time, affairs became worse, and the establishment was in debt to foreigners, who had advanced a considerable sum of money on the security of having all the diamonds which the mines produced. There were other incumbrances, which can be removed only by a total change of system. In its present state the establishment appears to produce much greater wealth than it actually does. During a period of five years, from 1801 to 1806 inclusive, the expenses were £204,000; and the diamonds sent to the treasury at Rio de Janeiro weighed 115,675 carats. The value of gold found in the same period amounted to £17,300 sterling, from which it appears that the diamonds actually cost Government thirty-three shillings and nine-pence per carat. These years were esteemed singularly productive; the mines do not in general yield to Government more than 20,000 carats annually[56].
The town is under the absolute government of the Intendant. The principal officers of the civil and military establishments are, an _ouvidor_ or _fiscal_, a captain of cavalry, and a _capitao mor_. In the Diamond establishment there is a great number of officers, of whom the following are the principal: 1st, the Intendant, who is a judge, and intendant-general of the Diamond district (this office is one of the best in the gift of the crown): 2d. the Treasurer, whose situation is almost a sinecure; he receives 8,000 crusades _per annum_: and 3d. the Administrator-general, who has a salary of 6000. The book-keeper has 4,000; and three clerks, or key-keepers, have from 800 to 1,000 each. These officers are employed in whatever relates to the treasury, or to the general concerns of the establishment; they all reside in Tejuco, and are the most respectable of the inhabitants. The management of the different works is entrusted to eight or ten under-administrators, each having in his care two hundred negroes, called a troop; to which, besides a clergyman and a surgeon, are attached several overseers and subordinate officers, who have salaries of from 400 to 200 crusades. The privilege of employing a certain number of negroes in the works is common to all the officers, to an extent corresponding with their rank; the superior officers let to hire as many as they please, say forty, and sometimes upwards of fifty; the inferior officers are permitted to let out two or three, in preference to other individuals; a decidedly bad practice, as will be shown hereafter.