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B E AZIL 
 
 ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS 
 
 BT 
 
 C. C. ANDREWS 
 
 EX-CONSUL-GENERAL TO BRAZIL, AND FORMERLY U^^TED STATES MINISTER TO 
 SWEDEN AND NORWAY 
 
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 ' J J 3 '" j'. e^i i, i I 
 
 1 9i 
 
 NEW YOEK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 1887 
 
TRESERVATiOl^l 'f^^, 
 
 COPY ADDED /\(£) 
 
 oraGiNALToee 'on 
 
 RETAINED \q,% I 
 JAN I 1 1993 
 
 COPTBIGHT, 1887, 
 
 Bt d. appleton and company. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 : •• ••• ,•, ••« 
 
 •»• • v« • • •! r • •• ! 
 
PREFATOEY. 
 
 Theee have been so many political revolutions in 
 some of the Sonth American states, accompanied by cruel 
 acts of military despots, that I fear our busy people in 
 the United States have acquired an unfavorable impres- 
 sion of almost the whole of South America. It is desir- 
 able, however, as satisfying the demands of a high order 
 of intelligence, that they should have discriminating and 
 correct views of the different races and countries on their 
 own continent. Especially a country like Brazil, nearly 
 as large in territory as the United States, peopled by de- 
 scendants of the high-spirited and industrious Portuguese, 
 and containing thirteen million inhabitants, is well worth 
 knowing by Americans. Our young Americans in par- 
 ticular ought to be encouraged to cultivate a better knowl- 
 edge of such foreign countries, both in the interests of 
 trade and of peace. For a people who can have great 
 influence in maintaining peace there is scarcely any de- 
 partment of knowledge that is more elevated. Richard 
 Cobden wrote a book to disabuse the minds of his coun- 
 trymen of their delusions and prejudices in regard to 
 
 227707 
 
4: PREFATORY. 
 
 Kussia. Although I lack the ability of that most clear and 
 eloquent writer, still I hope I may be able to present 
 some facts in respect to the present situation of Brazil 
 which will be both instructive and entertaining to general 
 readers. My object is to answer such questions as an 
 intelligent American would be likely to ask in regard to 
 Brazil. 
 
 My means of acquaintance with that empire are prin- 
 cipally derived from a residence of three years at Bio de 
 Janeiro, its capital, while employed in the service of the 
 United States Government, during which period I made 
 a few journeys into the interior. My consular office was 
 situated in the busiest part of the great commercial city 
 of Rio de Janeiro, and its duties brought me into frequent 
 personal intercourse with the leading business houses and 
 with many of the best-informed people of the country. 
 
OOFTENTS. 
 
 chapter page 
 
 Prefatory 3 
 
 I. — Voyage to Brazil 7 
 
 II. — Getting to Housekeeping 14 
 
 III.— Rio and its People 22 
 
 IV. — Life and Manners 52 
 
 v.— The Emperor of Brazil 82 
 
 VI. — TiJUCA — Pedra Bonita 87 
 
 VII. — Situation, Resources, and Climate . . . .93 
 
 VIIL— American-Brazilian Relations 116 
 
 IX. — A Trip into the Interior 126 
 
 X. — ^VisiT to a Coffee- Plantation 137 
 
 XL — Public Instruction 171 
 
 XII. — Local Administration 185 
 
 XIIL— Parliamentary Government 194 
 
 XIV. — Brazilian Literature 216 
 
 XV. — Agriculture and Stock-raising 241 
 
 \XVI.— The Amazon Valley 262 
 
 XVII.— Beasts of Prey 294 
 
 XVIII. — Slavery and Emancipation 308 
 
 XIX.— The Religious Orders . 330 
 
 XX.— Public Lands and Immigration 341 
 
BRAZIL: 
 
 ITS CONDITIO]^ Al^U PKOSPEOTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 VOYAGE TO BEAZIL. 
 
 At the time I left the United States for Brazil, in 
 the summer of 1882, there was no regular line of passen- 
 ger-steamers running between I^ew York and Kio de 
 Janeiro. The old American line had ceased, and the 
 present one had not commenced. The consequence was, 
 that our voyage to Brazil was by the way of Europe, 
 while the voyage home was from Bio to New York on 
 one of the new American steamers. I embarked with 
 my wife and daughter on the ]S"orth-German Lloyd's 
 steamship Oder, and, after a pleasant passage, landed at 
 Southampton, whence we went by steamer to Havre, and 
 thence overland to Lisbon, stopping a few days at Paris, 
 Madrid, and Lisbon. It was particularly interesting to 
 visit Portugal before going to the empire which it had 
 planted. "We had been so well pleased with the German 
 steamer, that we took one of the same company's ships 
 for the passage from Lisbon to Bio, the Graf Bismarck, 
 Captain Thallenhorst commanding, on which we em- 
 
8 '''''if6ij2iLV'm'o6N*6rao]sr and prospects. 
 
 barked out in the calm waters of the Tagus the lovely 
 afternoon of August 5th. We made the voyage to Kio in 
 twenty-one days, and were favored with pleasant weather 
 and a comparatively smooth sea all the way. There 
 were only three or four cabin - passengers besides our- 
 selves, and we were favored with an abundance of room. 
 The fourth day out we landed at one of the Canary Isl- 
 ands, upon which there is very grand mountain scenery. 
 "We spent a short time in its capital city, Santa Cruz, 
 where the steamer took upward of a hundred immigrant 
 passengers bound for one of the Kiver Plate countries. 
 August 22d, we landed and spent about half a day at 
 Bahia, Brazil's capital in early colonial times, and now 
 her second city. It has a striking situation on red land, 
 which rises abruptly a hundred feet or more above the 
 water. A small park overlooking the sea, and fiUed with 
 tall palms and large shade- trees, is one of the first objects 
 that arrest attention in approaching the city from the 
 north. As we proceeded down the Brazilian coast, a range 
 of green mountains some distance inland could frequently 
 be seen. From time to time, as we got a little nearer land, 
 cultivated plantations were visible. Nearer the sea were 
 low hills, with a strip of white sand always bordering 
 the shore. We arrived off Kio de Janeiro before sun- 
 rise, Saturday, August 26th, and, being awakened for the 
 purpose, arose and went to the captain's bridge to observe 
 the scenery on entering the port. It was very picturesque 
 and pleasing, though the more distant mountains were 
 somewhat obscured by clouds. The granite cone, called 
 the Sugar-Loaf, was among the nearest prominent objects. 
 A chain of irregular mountains seemed to inclose the har- 
 bor of Eio, and from one point of view the captain pointed 
 out how the summits formed the figure of a man repos- 
 
VOYAGE TO BRAZIL. 9 
 
 iiig, of wliicli, if I recoEect right, the Sugar-Loaf was the 
 feet. The scenery, though not of the sublime cast of 
 towering mountains, was, nevertheless, striking. On en- 
 tering the ample harbor the scene continually increased 
 in interest until the anchor was dropped. An extensive 
 city, sparkling in the morning sun, lay stretched at great 
 length along the scalloped shore of the bay, covering sev- 
 eral hills in its limits, and extending to the very slopes 
 of the tree-covered mountains. Botaf ogo Bay, the Gloria 
 Hill, and the church on its top, Santa Theresa Hill, the 
 Public Garden, the towers of the Cathedral — these were 
 some of the objects that were first pointed out to us. 
 There, sure enough, was Kio de Janeiro, the greatest city 
 of South America, an interesting and attractive place, no 
 doubt, yet still a city frequently scourged with the dreaded 
 yellow fever ; there was the city which was to be our new 
 home — for how long 'I 
 
 It was about nine o'clock when we went ashore. We 
 first walked to the office of the steamship company, and 
 from there took a carriage to our hotel, feeling, of course, 
 grateful for having accomplished so long a journey in 
 safety. 
 
 There had been nothing of special interest in our 
 passage from Lisbon. I was usually awakened before 
 sunrise every morning by the seamen washing off the 
 deck, and hearing the pigs, which were carried for sub- 
 sistence, scampering about on deck at the same time, a 
 freedom they had while their pens were being washed. 
 Our meals were not taken down-stairs in the cabin, but in 
 a pleasant room forward opening from the deck. Break- y^ 
 fast was at eight o'clock, consisting of a good beefsteak, 
 fried potatoes, good coffee or tea, and bread and fresh 
 eggs ; dinner at 2 p. m. and tea at about dark. The after- 
 
10 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 deck was ample for walking, or pitcMng quoits, and was 
 protected from the sun by an awning. Over the room 
 where we ate was also a small deck, with awning, near 
 to and about on a level with the officers' bridge, and 
 which was a favorite place for sitting and reading or 
 lounging, as the prospect from it was extensive and the 
 atmosphere agreeable. There were a few nights or parts 
 of nights when the heat was oppressive in our state-rooms. 
 We could generally, however, keep the round small win- 
 dow in each state-room open or partly open, but it v/as 
 sometimes hazardous to do so. One night, when I had 
 left the window open in my room, a wave came against 
 the ship, dashing fully two buckets of water in upon me 
 as I was lying in my berth sound asleep. Another night 
 one of our Em-opean fellow-passengers had a similar ex- 
 perience. 
 
 The crew was composed of steady, sensible Germans, 
 including some boys who have very good prospects, as, by 
 sticking to their profession, and taking pains to acquire 
 theoretical as well as practical knowledge of navigation, 
 they may look forward some day to become masters of 
 just such a steamship as the Bismarck. In crossing the 
 equator a part of an afternoon is devoted to a bit of frolic 
 to initiate such seamen as are crossing the line for the 
 first time. On this occasion on our steamer there was a 
 grotesque procession, after which the candidates were 
 subjected to a mock operation of shaving, and, by some 
 slip of their seat, found themselves sprawling in a tub of 
 water. The whole concluded by the captain treating all 
 hands to beer. The only dispute or quarrel, and that 
 not serious, which occurred on the voyage, was between a 
 couple of the seamen after this hour or so of fun. 
 
 Competent ship-masters agree that the voyage between 
 
VOYAGE TO BRAZIL. H 
 
 the United States and Brazil is easy and pleasant as com- 
 pared with that across the Korth Atlantic. As Captain 
 Beers says, "it is a yacht-excursion." In coming from 
 ^ew York to Kio de Janeiro and returning, the weather 
 and sea as a rule are favorable, a fact important both to 
 merchants and to those who travel for recreation and in- 
 stiniction. 
 
 The United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Com- 
 pany began running their line of new passenger-steam- 
 ships between Kew York and Kio de Janeiro in 1883; 
 and in October, 1886, commenced the extension of 
 their line to Montevideo with their new steamship AUi- 
 anca. Leaving their dock at Brooklyn, these steamers 
 proceed on every voyage to Newport News, Virginia, 
 where they take on their supply of coal and a cargo of 
 flour, and leave the latter place the evening of the third 
 day after starting from Brooklyn. They pass about one 
 hundred and fifty miles west of the Bermudas, and in the 
 course of five days arrive in the fine harbor of the green 
 mountain-island of St. Thomas — an island which Presi- 
 dent Lincoln bought of Denmark by a treaty which the 
 Senate refused to ratify. There, a hundred black people, 
 young and old, male and female, bring coal aboard the 
 ship in baskets, which they carry on their heads, working 
 almost on the jump. Peddlers of coral hover about the 
 ship in their boats; also, youthful swimmers, who, to 
 make a little money and divert the passengers, will dive 
 and bring up any small silver coin that the latter may be 
 wilUng to throw into the water. 
 
 From St. Thomas the steamer is a little less than two 
 days in reaching Barbadoes, a beautiful undulating and 
 exceedingly fertile island, covered with plantations of 
 sugar-cane and numerously dotted with dwellings. It is 
 
12 BEAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 a favorite resort for visitors, has a good modern hotel, 
 and living on the island is very cheap. From Barbadoes 
 to Pard, Brazil's rising city of the Amazon Yalley, occu- 
 pies from four to five days. Passengers will generally 
 wish to visit this and the other Brazilian cities at which 
 the steamer calls, but before doing so it may be best to 
 consult the surgeon on board. The steamer usually runs 
 from Para to Maranham in a day and a half ; from Ma- 
 ranham to Pernambuco, an important city and center of 
 the sugar-trade, in three and a half days ; from Pernambuco 
 to Bahia, in two and a half days ; and from Bahia to Eio 
 de Janeiro, in three days. If you are fond of oranges, 
 always lay in a supply at Bahia. 'No good ones are to be 
 had at the ports north of Bahia. From Kio to Kew York 
 there are British steamships leaving weekly, some of 
 which have good passenger accommodations. A person 
 of leisure, or traveling for health, would find a passage 
 pleasant on some of the saihng-packets which run regu- 
 larly between Baltimore and Eio, a few of which some- 
 times make four round voyages in the course of the year. 
 A sailing-vessel leaving one of our Atlantic ports, 
 bound for Brazil, usually steers east a great distance to get 
 into the trade-winds blowing from the northeast to the 
 southwest. She goes east for this purpose nearly half- 
 way across the Atlantic, then southeasterly to about the 
 twenty-eighth degree of latitude ; from there slie is car- 
 ried along by the northeast trade-wind to the tenth or fifth 
 degree of latitude north of the equator, according to the 
 season, after which there are light, variable winds till 
 about the second degree north of the equator, when the 
 southeast trade-winds may be expected, and which take 
 the vessel to about the nineteenth degree of latitude south 
 of the equator ; after which there are variable winds to 
 
VOYAGE TO BRAZIL. 13 
 
 Rio de Janeiro. The average crossing of the equator is 
 at longitude 32° west. 
 
 As the " torrid zone " extends some twenty-three de- 
 grees on each side of the equator, and as the common un- 
 derstanding of the word ^' torrid " is violent heat, it is no 
 wonder that people have a wrong impression of the char- 
 acter of the weather at sea in the neighborhood of and 
 even under the equator. It is not oppressively hot. On 
 the contrary, there is generally a refreshing breeze, and 
 the nights are often cool enough for passengers to re- 
 quire a blanket for cover in their berths while sleeping. 
 
 I believe there is nothing particularly noteworthy as 
 to the phenomena in the vicinity of the equator and 
 through the '' torrid " zone, except that the weather may 
 toward evening be habitually cloudy and look threatening, 
 and soon clear up and become bright starlight. The 
 water when agitated displays at night much brilliant phos- 
 phorescent light. During the day the sight of one or 
 two sailing-vessels at a distance, also the frequently seen 
 " flying-lish/' are about all that would interrupt the mo- 
 notony. Going south from the equator, say in August, one 
 soon misses the " Great Dipper." The Southern Cross, a 
 constellation of but four stars, is then seen in the southern 
 heavens early in the evening. The Scorpion is directly 
 overhead, and at two or three o'clock in the morning 
 Orion is visible just above the eastern horizon. The dis- 
 tance from New York to Kio de Janeiro direct is five 
 thousand miles; consequently steamships that average 
 twelve miles an hour, a reasonable speed, would make the 
 voyage in seventeen days ; but, calling as they usually do 
 at several intermediate ports, the time is extended five or 
 six days. 
 
CHAPTEK II. 
 
 GETTING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 
 
 Caeson's English Hotel, at whicli we stopped, is 
 handily located on the Eua Catete, the street-cars pass- 
 ing it every five minutes. In size and architecture it is 
 unpretentious, but has a large lawn and garden in the 
 rear, entirely secluded from the street by one of those 
 high walls which still inclose many old dwelling-sites. It 
 is an orderly and popular family hotel. If there are 
 lady guests, a maid taps at the chamber-door about eight 
 in the morning and hands in a pot of black coffee, a 
 pitcher of hot milk, some rolls and butter. This is ex- 
 pected to sustain nature till you are dressed and come to 
 the ordinary eating-room, where breakfast is served from 
 nine, or a little before, till twelve. The earthen water- 
 bottle, which I shall further along describe, set on its 
 own little platter and placed at convenient distances along 
 the center of the table, forms a part of what is usually 
 on every dining-table. There are dishes of oranges and 
 bananas. The steak, or chop, is broiled after you give 
 your order. You may need to wait fifteen minutes for 
 your breakfast ; but be patient, and you will be treated 
 all the better. The sei-vants have been long in the house, 
 and have been accustomed to wait on Brazilian magnates 
 and their families, who are usually very polite ; and if 
 
GETTING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 15 
 
 transient guests are irritable, they are themselves the 
 losers. 
 
 It being our purpose to go to housekeeping as soon as 
 convenient after reaching Rio, one of the first things to 
 occupy our attention was to search for a suitable house. 
 We had got the impression that, to be secure against yel- 
 low fever, one should reside on elevated ground — say on 
 either the Gloria or the Santa Theresa Hill. We first 
 looked, therefore, at houses on both these hills, making 
 the ascent on foot, in very warm weather, several times to 
 do so, and saw some very fair houses, commanding a splen- 
 did view of the harbor and the mountain scenery on the 
 opposite side, but they were so difficult of access that we 
 were reluctant to take either one ; and finally learning, 
 what I have since become satisfied is the truth, that those 
 localities are no more exempt from the fever than some 
 other parts of the city less elevated, we began to look 
 elsewhere. We visited houses in the favorite districts 
 of Sao Christovao, Botaf ogo, and Larangeiras ; and, finally, 
 a desirable new house was pointed out to me by Mr. 
 Eainsford, an old resident and former United States 
 vice-consul, at No. 143 Rua das Larangeiras, which I 
 hired (of course, unfurnished) at one thousand dollars per 
 year. 
 
 We had visited over a dozen vacant houses altogether, 
 and in this way had obtained information about the inside 
 of Brazilian houses that we otherwise would not have had. 
 What I saw in this regard impressed me that sleeping- 
 rooms in the older houses frequently lack windows — mere 
 dark alcoves being used for that purpose ; that the kitch- 
 ens are very small ; and that the quarters for servants are 
 either dark basement-rooms under the principal rooms, or 
 else are in small, detached buildings without windows. 
 
16 BRAZIL: ITS COITDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 There were things, sometimes, in sanitary regards that 
 were shocking. 
 
 We had got into our new house and settled at house- 
 keeping inside of three weeks after our arrival at Rio. 
 Neither carpets nor furniture with woolen or upholstered 
 covers are common in Brazilian houses, though there is 
 nothing in the climate to prevent their use — for moths 
 are no more troublesome in Brazil than in the United 
 States ; but not uncommonly a large rug is used to cover 
 the middle part of the parlor-floor. For the most part, 
 the house furniture is cane-seated, with wood-work of rose- 
 wood, mahogany, or some other reddish-colored wood of 
 the country. The sofa has a high back, and is a neat and 
 substantial piece of furniture. Two rows of about three 
 chairs each, facing, are placed at right angles to the sofa, 
 forming a little avenue to it. The sofa, about a dozen 
 chairs, including two arm-chairs, and two cabinets, or 
 " dunkerquerks," with marble tops and mirrored doors, 
 will cost about five hundred dollars. This will answer as 
 a specimen for a part of the furniture in houses of the 
 middle class. Of course, rich upholstered furniture is 
 found in the dwellings of the wealthy. In damp and hot 
 weather, clothing and books gather mold, and should be 
 frequently looked after and exposed to the sun. 
 
 There is no trouble about stoves or furnaces. I know 
 only one house in Rio provided with heating accommo- 
 dations. The stoves for cooking are put in as a part of 
 the house. The fuel consists of wood obtained in the vi- 
 cinity, and comes in small bundles of slender split sticks, 
 three feet long, each bundle being about a foot in diame- 
 ter. The numerous grocery-shops, or " venders," furnish 
 and deliver them; but they can generally be obtained 
 more economically by the cart-load from wood-dealers. 
 
GETTING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 17 
 
 The majority of the people live from hand to mouth, 
 and buy their supplies from day to day at the handiest 
 'shop; others buy a month's supply of groceries from 
 some dealer down town. The bread made by the bakers 
 in Eio is so good that no family thinks of baking its own 
 bread. Beef is bought fresh every morning, and is gener- 
 ally good. The slaughter of beef-creatures takes place 
 several miles out of the city, under government super- 
 vision. The meat is brought into the city on the railroad 
 before evening, and, just before dark, great, heavy, closed 
 wagons, drawn by four mules, go rumbling through the 
 city and deliver the beef in quarters at the numerous 
 meat shops. By ten o'clock in the morning the retailer 
 has generally sold out all of his stock, though after that 
 a few pieces may be seen hanging up at his door. Ice is 
 rather a dear luxury, though it is now manufactured ex- 
 tensively at Rio. Families get along, however, very well 
 without ice, by cooking their meat the day it is bought, 
 and keeping the food in perforated zinc-paneled, movable 
 cupboards — a most useful article of pantry furniture, 
 which I have only seen in Brazil. 
 
 Fresh pork is regarded in Rio as a luxury. The salt 
 pork of the countiy is good, and comes in a dry condition 
 in heavy rolls. Poultry is sold alive through fear of dis- 
 ease. Turkeys are driven in flocks and peddled at a high 
 price ; the drivers, at a slow pace and in a singing tone, ad- 
 vertising as they go. There are numerous cow-stables all 
 through the city, and milk is delivered in bottles by men 
 afoot, though a few carts are making a beginning. It is 
 also common to drive cows around singly in the morning, 
 and to milk at the door the quantity a family may require. 
 In such cases the calf is allowed to accompany the cow, 
 but is subjected to a muzzle. This dairy business appears 
 
18 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 to be in the hands of the Portuguese ; and the frequent 
 sight of these cows led about through the streets by in- 
 nocent, country-looking youths, in some cases quite fresh 
 from the valleys of Portugal, gives Kio a rustic feature 
 which is pleasant. 
 
 Of family subsistence, more things are of foreign pro- 
 duction than would, at first thought, be supposed. Butter 
 comes in tin cans from Denmark, or some other foreign 
 country ; lard from the United States ; potatoes and on- 
 ions from Portugal. Neither green corn, green peas, nor 
 tomatoes to any extent, are found in the Eio market. 
 There is a fair supply of several kinds of dehcate sea-fish, 
 and the best way to procure them is to go direct to the 
 principal market, rather than depend on fish-peddlers, 
 whose presence can often be known by the sense of smell. 
 The mero, one of the best, is a thick fish with black skin, 
 without scales, costing forty cents a pound, and grows 
 to the size of two hundred pounds. The badejo is an- 
 other dark-skinned fish, without scales, and attains a 
 weight of sixty pounds. The roballo has scales of the 
 color of the shad, a black stripe on each side, and looks 
 like our salt-water striped bass; its ordinary weight is 
 about seven pounds. The curvina is reddish-colored, has 
 thick, hard scales, which have to be shaved oif, with an 
 outer skin, and weighs about six pounds. This, and the 
 vermelho, are similar to the red snapper of the Gulf of 
 Mexico in appearance, and in the dehcacy and firmness of 
 their flesh. Nearly all the fish are caught in the Bay of Rio 
 de Janeiro, into which they come from the sea, though 
 some are taken outside as far as Cape Frio, eighteen hours 
 distant by sail. The mero and badejo are caught only 
 with the hook. 
 
 The metric system of weights and measures is in use, 
 
GETTING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 19 
 
 and meat, fish, and groceries are bought by the kilogramme 
 of two and twenty hundredths pounds. The unit for the 
 measure of money is the milreis — thousand reis — on the 
 same principle as if we in the United States were to indi- 
 cate our money in mills, and in writing a dollar should 
 say one thousand mills. In figures the Brazilians write a 
 milreis thus, 1$000. Five hundred reis, or half a milreis, 
 they write $500, and a conto — one thousand milreis — 
 l,000fD00. There are nickel one hundred and two hun- 
 dred reis-pieces, the first worth about four cents and the 
 latter eight cents. There are also copper pieces of which 
 five are equal to a hundred reis. The Brazilian milreis in 
 gold has the value of fifty-four and six tenths cents. But 
 neither gold nor silver is in circulation. All of the money 
 consists of irredeemable legal-tender Government notes 
 which have for years been continually depreciating in 
 value till in 1885 the milreis, in paper, was worth only 
 about thirty-six cents. It rose to the value of forty cents 
 the first half of 1886. This sort of money in a country 
 affects business just on the same principle as if the length 
 of the yardstick were to change from week to week. 
 
 The average wages of servants in good families are 
 about forty-five milreis, say sixteen dollars, per month. 
 Some of the best servants are slaves, who are owned and 
 have been trained by people of the upper class. The 
 wages of such servants all go to the owner. The Portu- 
 guese generally make industrious and reliable servants, and 
 are very commonly employed in such capacity. They do 
 not expect to make or receive many visits ; and they are 
 usually bright, cheerful, and respectful. As the halls, 
 stairs, and floors, especially in dining-rooms, are uncar- 
 peted, there is considerable scrubbing to be done, and that 
 is done by men on their knees. A man-servant of some 
 
20 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 of the wealthier families will rise daily as early as five 
 and go to the market, two miles distant, to buy what is 
 needed for the table in the way of fish, meat, vegetables, 
 and fruit. But, ordinarily, your man-servant rises at six, 
 and in a pair of slip-shod sHppers goes to the nearest meat- 
 shop for the day's supply ; while the meat is being cut, he 
 steps into the shop of the adjoining grocer and buys a 
 morning journal, the columns of which he enjoys reading 
 as much as any one. If he feels like it, he indulges in a 
 small glass of the spirits of the country. On his return 
 to the house, in the course of ten or fifteen minutes, he 
 blacks your boots, sweeps the dining-room and hall, per- 
 haps washes off the steps and sidewalk in front, sets the 
 table for breakfast, cleans the parrot-cage, and generally 
 continues occupied through the day, taking a few whiffs 
 from a cigarette at intervals. 
 
 There is in common use in Brazil, as well as in Span- 
 ish America and in Portugal and Spain, an earthen bottle 
 (called in Brazil moringue) for holding drinking-water, 
 which is very serviceable, and would form a most useful 
 addition to American household utensils in warm weather, 
 as it keeps water fresh and cool a long time. It is like- 
 wise a very picturesque object, being in the form of an 
 ancient Greek pattern, of which a specimen, all but the 
 stopper, is given in Plate XXYIII, page 234, of Eastlake's 
 " Household Taste," under the head of " Greek toilet- 
 ware." The lower part of this bottle is bulbous in form, 
 about eight inches in diameter, the neck four or five 
 inches long, so as to be conveniently grasped by the hand, 
 and one and a half inch in diameter at the mouth. The 
 stopper is hollow, with a neat circular cap top. The bot- 
 tom is fiat, and it is usually set on a small plate of the 
 same material — the whole of a deep Indian-red color. 
 
GETTING TO HOUSEKEEPING. 21 
 
 The quality of being unglazed gives it the power to keep 
 water cool. Being used also with a stopper, as it always 
 should be, it prevents the water from absorbing the im- 
 purities of the atmosphere ; it also excludes insects ; and 
 for these reasons, and because it keeps the water cool, it 
 would be a vast improvement on our open pitchers. In 
 the sick-chamber at night it would prove especially valu- 
 able. Its introduction into our country would also tend 
 to do away with the use of ice-water. These bottles are 
 aU made by hand, and beautifully shaped by the eye, from 
 a lump of moist and prepared clay, while revolving rap- 
 idly on a little table which the workman keeps in motion 
 by a crank worked with his foot. They are retailed singly, 
 with the plate, at less than fifty cents. Glazed and fancy 
 painted bottles are often to be seen on the tables of res- 
 taurants and hotels, but they do not keep the water cool, 
 nor are they as picturesque as the unglazed bottles. Ko 
 family undertakes to do without the latter. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 EIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 
 
 "While the first rude liuts were being built where 
 !N'ew York now stands, Rio de Janeiro, the commercial 
 and political capital of Brazil, had been settled over fifty 
 years. It is situated as far south as Havana is north of 
 the equator, and has now a population of nearly half a 
 million, it being the largest city, outside of the United 
 States, on the American Continent. It is the seat of haK 
 the foreign commerce of the empire, has a navy-yard, 
 arsenal, several ship-yards, cotton - mills, foundries, and 
 other manufactures. If one of our larger ships of war 
 needed repairs while in the South Atlantic, it could find 
 only at Rio a sufficiently large dry-dock. The glory of 
 the city is its splendid harbor, four miles wide by twelve 
 miles long, and into which the largest ships can enter with 
 ease and He in safety. The city is built on one side of 
 the bay which forms this harbor, with wooded and peaked 
 mountains in the immediate background, whose spurs 
 and foot-hills, in places, press down almost to the water's 
 edge, forming headlands between which are smaller, cres- 
 cent-shaped bays. The older part of the city is on low, flat 
 land, where the streets are straight and narrow. Within 
 the present city limits are twenty hills, some of which are 
 quite prominent and covered with buildings. The prin- 
 cipal hill is Santa Theresa. On the Gloria are a white 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 23 
 
 church of the same name, and a few villas amid scattered 
 royal palms ; on the Castle Hill are the observatory and 
 shipping telegraph station, while the Saude Hill is covered 
 with old and cheap dwellings. Two or three other hills 
 are noticeable as the sites of old and rather dingy- looking 
 convents. Others, again, are about in their natural state, 
 clothed with bushes and trees, though here and there are 
 considerable areas of green grass. Granite-quarrying is 
 going on extensively at the base and sides of several hills. 
 
 From the Botanical Garden, situated at the foot of the 
 Corcovado Mountain, around to the foot of the Tijuca 
 Mountains, the distance is about ten miles, all of which is 
 built up. The whole of this distance can be traveled in 
 street-cars, and the trip would give one many interesting 
 views and a fair idea of the city. Another interesting 
 ride on the street-cars would be to Ponte Caju, and past 
 the cemetery of that name. It is a promontory, at the end 
 of which the Emperor has his hunting-park, but which, 
 I imagine, he seldom visits. A still more interesting trip 
 on the street-cars is up the inclined plane in cars pulled 
 by a cable and stationary engine on the Santa Theresa Hill, 
 and to the new reservoir, the view from which is fine. 
 
 The best view of Eio and its surroundings is obtained 
 from the top of the Corcovado Mountain, two thousand 
 feet high, situated about five miles from the custom- 
 house. Though connected with the Tijuca group of 
 mountains, among which are some higher peaks, it is easily 
 distinguished by its peculiar form. The side toward the 
 sea is a precipitous column of rock for half the distance 
 down from the top — the Botanical Garden lying at the 
 foot. The opposite side is gradually sloping, clothed 
 with forest, and from some points of view is thought to 
 look like the stooping shoulders of an old man — a fancy 
 
24: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 whicli suggested its name. The view from the summit, 
 taking in as it does almost the whole extended and irreg- 
 ular area of the city, with many interesting natural ob- 
 jects, is highly pleasing. Like ^N'aples, as seen from the 
 hill of St. Elmo, the level part of the city resembles a 
 plane of tiled roofs, with steeples and domes interspersed, 
 yet studded with several bright-green hills dotted with 
 buildings and trees. In the direction of the Emperor's 
 residence, some six miles distant, and which seems to 
 stand amid an undulating, verdant park, are large tracts 
 of vacant, level, and grass-covered land, showing what an 
 extensive area remains for the city to be built upon far- 
 ther up the bay. Beyond these in the distance are to be 
 seen the Organ and Petropolis Mountains, though they 
 are frequently obscured by the clouds. The blue Atlan- 
 tic, visible as far as the eye can reach, the surf rolling 
 over white beaches near the foot of the mountain, the few 
 scattered islands near the shore, the Sugar-Loaf and other 
 prominent heights near the entrance of the harbor, the 
 capacious harbor itself with its numerous vessels, the old 
 city of Nictheroy on the opposite side — these are some of 
 the many objects upon which the eye lingers. A rail- 
 way for most of the way up was opened in the latter part 
 of 1884, and completed to the top the next year ; so that 
 now, by taking the Larangeiras street-car and the new 
 railway connecting therewith, one can get from the heart 
 of the city to the summit in an hour. The area on the 
 summit is about a fifth of an acre, all granite, and is 
 inclosed by a firm concrete wall. At Paineiras, two 
 thu'ds of the way up, is a fashionable restaurant hotel. 
 
 Is Kio built of wood, of brick, or of marble ? Keither. 
 It is, however, massively built. The walls of the build- 
 ings are concrete, formed of small pieces of split stone, 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 25 
 
 mortar, and an occasional layer of brick, are usually two 
 feet thick, and in some of the older public buildings even 
 thicker. The color of the walls is frequently wliite, some- 
 times a brilliant blue, oHve-green, or a light red. The 
 roofs, four-sided, of the hip style, are all covered with 
 thick, red, oval tiles, and, there being no chimneys, their 
 aspect is dull. To relieve this, the more genteel houses 
 have either a balustrade or stuccoed wall around the 
 roofs, with statues, vases, or other figures on the corners. 
 The stories and windows are high. Balconies are common, 
 with smooth granite bottoms, sculptured underneath, be- 
 ing composed of large blocks extending through the thick- 
 ness of the wall, and lending strength as well as ornament 
 to the edifice. The windows in the modern buildings 
 open door-fashion, and are well adapted to the climate. 
 They are very securely fastened at top and bottom by 
 simply one tmTi of the handle of an iron bolt. Windows 
 in the lower stories have strong wooden folding shutters 
 inside. In chamber-windows the glass part opens inward 
 on hinges, with blinds opening outward. The trimmings, 
 such as window-caps, door and window facings, are of 
 smooth granite — the handsome black and white granite so 
 abundant at Kio — often perfectly arched, and lend an as- 
 pect of durability as well as of ornament to the building. 
 The foundation-walls, to the height of two feet or more, 
 are of granite. In some of the stuccoed buildings almost 
 too much expense seems to have been devoted to outside 
 show. Many houses are in imitation of reddish marble 
 and very handsome. Some of the inside shutters, of 
 black walnut, or those painted white with gilt borders, 
 show to advantage through windows of plate-glass. There 
 is not much display of curtains. The front sides of some 
 of the older buildings are wholly or partly covered with 
 
26 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 flat porcelain tiles, generally of blue color, like what may 
 be seen in Lisbon. There is but one marble building in 
 Kio, and that is a sumptuous private mansion of reddish 
 Italian marble, with splendid grounds extending down to 
 the water, and singularly called the " Palace of Tears." The 
 Library building of the Portuguese colony, now in course 
 of erection, is of white stone from Portugal and of elabo- 
 rate Gothic architecture. The new Merchants' Exchange 
 is of granite only in the first story, the upper part being 
 of stucco. The fronts of some of the churches are of 
 light-colored imported stone. The Mint is a neat build- 
 ing, with Doric granite pillars ; the Marine Hospital (Mise- 
 ricordia) is a stately edifice, with a colonnade of imposing 
 granite pillars, fronting on the water. The Bank of 
 Brazil is a fine granite structure ; likewise the new Medi- 
 cal School. So, also, the Cathedral has a high and hand- 
 some dome. But generally the public buildings and 
 churches are plain. The Imperial Palace is simply re- 
 spectable, yet has a lovely situation. 
 
 The fashionable private residences are in those parts 
 of the city known as Larangeiras and Botafogo, also to 
 some extent in Sao Christovao, each about three miles 
 from the business center, and reached by street-cars. Of 
 these localities Larangeiras is the more elevated. The 
 houses of the wealthy are mostly separate, standing in 
 delightful grounds, amid neatly kept lawns, flower-beds, 
 shrubbery of various colors, different varieties of trees, 
 including often some species of dwarf palm, and groups 
 of the clustered, small-stemmed palm of Para. Some- 
 times there is a row of royal palms in front of the house, 
 or there may be an avenue of these palms leading to the 
 house. They are seventy to eighty feet high, but seem 
 much taller, with tops like gigantic ostrich-plumes and 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 27 
 
 stems perfectly smootli and symmetrical — the most strik- 
 ing tree of the tropics. The grounds of these houses are 
 inclosed by an iron fence consisting of perpendicular ar- 
 row- or spear-pointed rods set upon a substantial wall of 
 smooth granite, the whole about twelve feet high. But 
 the most characteristic, and, I think, one of the most at- 
 tractive features of the surroundings are the gate-piUars 
 at the main driveway or entrance from the street. The 
 gates themselves are of iron rods, but the pillars are often 
 beautifully proportioned shafts of sculptured granite, sur- 
 mounted by graceful capitals, on which rests a ball of the 
 same material. More commonly the gate-pillars are of 
 masonry, two or three feet thick and twelve to fifteen 
 feet high, and sometimes surmounted by a vase contain- 
 ing the gilt-bordered cactus, or by a figure of a Hon, a 
 big pineapple, or a small statue. ]S"ot unusually they, as 
 well as the fence, are covered with a thick mat of closely 
 trimmed myrtle, or with vines bearing brilliant flowers. 
 The hollyhock, the begonia, the oleander, the red-flow- 
 ered eusibius of Mexico, and many other plants, in their 
 seasons of bloom attract attention in these various inclos- 
 ures. Often the entrance to the house is at the side, and, 
 instead of there being much gTound in front, there will be 
 a narrow strip extending on one side of the house a long 
 distance to the rear and well stocked with orange-trees and 
 shrubbery. One may ride in the open street-cars by some 
 of the finer of these private residences and grounds daily 
 the year round, and look upon their bright and cheerful 
 aspect with undiminished pleasure. 
 
 Rio has gathered a variety of beautiful flowering trees 
 from different parts of the tropical world. There are 
 several large and tall ones, some bearing purple flowers, 
 others yellow flowers, whose names I do not know ; and 
 
28 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITIO JT AND PEOSPECTS. 
 
 I presume one reason why so few people at Rio know tlie 
 names of tlie trees is because the species are not native. 
 Tlie flambeau, or torch-tree, bearing scarlet blossoms in 
 December, is becoming common as a shade-tree. The 
 large - leaf ed chajpeo do sul, or umbrella-tree, has been 
 planted for shade in many of the streets. A splendid 
 tall tree, with small and very dark green leaves, bearing 
 large red flowers in August and September — the Espar- 
 todia excelsa of Australia — may be seen in a few private 
 grounds and in the Public Garden. The mango is a large 
 native tree, very common, and at a distance resembles a 
 spreading oak ; it puts forth russet-colored flowers in July. 
 The tall, thick, yet graceful clusters of bamboo, with 
 plume-like tops and always dark green, are a characteristic 
 feature of the vegetation. A large and tall shade-tree, 
 bearing nuts, with leaves like those of the lilac, and which 
 small birds love to haunt, is rather common. In the out- 
 skirts of the city around the cabins of the poor are plen- 
 tiful thickets of the broad-leaved banana. As a whole, it 
 is a vegetation that craves and is favored by an abundance 
 of sunshine. 
 
 The Public Garden, containing about eight acres ; the 
 Park of the Constitution, still larger, and containing a 
 fine bronze statue of the Emperor's father, surrounded by 
 groups of aborigines of heroic size ; and the Park of Accla- 
 mation, containing about forty acres, are in the middle part 
 of the city, and well laid out. In the older and lower por- 
 tions of Eio the streets are very narrow ; and the sidewalks, 
 which are scarcely wide enough for two to go abreast, are 
 raised but an inch or two above the street pavement. The 
 foot-boards on the sides of some of the street-cars overlap 
 these sidewalks a little, and frequently the wheels of heavy 
 teams driving at a rapid pace invade them, compelling 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 29 
 
 people on foot to dodge into a sliop-door to escape being 
 run over. Tliese narrow streets are the only thorough- 
 fares of commerce ; and when the export trade is active, 
 and great cargoes of coffee destined to Europe and the 
 United States are being moved through them at reckless 
 speed, the noise and din of the long trains of loaded wagons 
 and of street freight-cars, drawn by mules, with the yell- 
 ing of excited drivers, are intense. These narrow streets 
 are behind the times, and altogether unsuitable for the 
 great traffic that is done in them. Could Eio be remodeled 
 as Paris was by Napoleon III, it would become one of the 
 finest cities in the world. The city throughout is well 
 paved with granite blocks, and is generously lighted by 
 gas, the lamps for which are kept scrupulously clean. Elec- 
 tric light is used in some places. Great improvement has 
 been made in the past fifteen years, especially in drainage 
 and cleanliness ; and improvement is still the order of the 
 day, though it is not so rapid nor systematic as it could be 
 if there were some leading business men's organization that 
 could influence public opinion. An English corporation, 
 called the City Improvement Company, has for several 
 years had a contract for making drains, and an extensive 
 system of drainage is in operation and continually increas- 
 ing. The pavement of some of the older streets still 
 slopes a little to the center, through which, during a heavy 
 shower, there will run quite a brook. Several of these 
 streets, including the much-traveled Ouvidor, may, during 
 a heavy rain, be impassable by foot-people for an hour. 
 There will be times when the only way to get across them 
 will be by a temporary foot-bridge, fixed by some street- 
 porter. A too confident jumper will now and then land 
 in the water, much to the amusement of the by-standers. 
 Though not subject to snow blockades, Eio is liable to 
 
30 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 blockades of sand and earth, washed down from the hills 
 during an unusually heavy fall of rain. In 1883 some of 
 the street-cars were stopped two days by such obstruction. 
 The principal means of communication are street-cars, 
 drawn by mules over very smoothly laid steel rails. The 
 pioneer street-railway was to the Botanical Garden, estab- 
 lished several years ago by American enterprise. It ac- 
 commodates the Botafogo and Larangeiras districts. IS^atu- 
 rally the money for the undertaking was raised by the 
 sale of the company's bonds, and from that fact the street- 
 cars in Kio are universally called " bondes." " Are you 
 going to take the * bond ' ? " means in Eio, " xlre you 
 going to take the street-car ? " The street-railways are 
 weU managed, comfortable, and popular. The first-class 
 cars are open, yet provided with leather or oil-cloth cur- 
 tains, to exclude rain or sun. The seats of polished Bra- 
 zil-wood or mahogany face to the front, and the backs can 
 be swung over when the direction is reversed. Each seat 
 accommodates four persons, who can sit very comfortably. 
 It is only on the cheaper, or second-class cars, that more 
 than the regular number of passengers are allowed to 
 crowd in. A conductor passes along outside on a foot- 
 board to take the fare. For a distance of two miles, or 
 less, the fare is a nickel of two hundred reis, equivalent to 
 eight cents. These first-class cars are habitually used by 
 the wealthy, yet the humblest person is admitted without 
 distinction of color, unless barefooted. So comfortable 
 are they, that people, of an evening, often take a ride in 
 them for pleasure. They afford opportunity for noticing 
 the manners of the people, who, as a rule, are quiet and 
 well-bred. Of course, smoking is universally allowed. 
 Perhaps half the gentlemen on a street-car in the morn- 
 ing will be smoking cigars or cigarettes. Soon after the 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 31 
 
 Brazilian has taken liis seat, he proceeds with great de- 
 liberation to prepare to smoke. He takes from his pocket 
 a neat pouch of tobacco, from a pocket-book a readj-cut 
 cigarette-wrapper, generally of corn-husk, into which he 
 puts a few small pinches of tobacco, at the same time dis- 
 tributing it along, and pressing and rolling it into proper 
 form; he folds the wrapper around it with care, then 
 takes from another pocket a little box of explosive match- 
 es, lights his cigarette, and proceeds to smoke. He is in 
 no hurry about anything. Perhaps, seated next to him, 
 is one of the many devout Sisters of Charity, in her uni- 
 form of white bonnet and gray, woolen dress, and who, 
 by the movement of her lips, her downcast expression, and 
 slow telling of her beads, is saying prayers. 
 
 For public carriages there is the one-horse chaise (til- 
 bury) and hacks drawn by two mules. Distances being 
 long, the pavements rather rough, and the main streets 
 much intersected by railways, there is little inducement for 
 private equipages, of which there are but few. Besides, 
 there is not in Eio, nor in its suburbs nearer than the 
 mountains of Tijuca, any pleasure driveway — a great lack, 
 indeed, in respect of recreation for the wealthy. Proba- 
 bly the Copacabana Beach, which is right along the ocean 
 and favored with mountain views, is not too distant for 
 this purpose. "Were a macadamized road built there, and 
 nicely shaded with trees, it would afford a driveway as 
 fine as that at Marseilles. Such things will come in their 
 time — say a hundred years from now, when the city will 
 be much richer than it is at present. The general absence 
 of elegant private carriages, and the habit of genteel peo- 
 ple riding in the " bondes," give Rio a democratic char- 
 acteristic that few other cities possess. Pich and poor 
 travel in the pleasant, open street-cars. The exceptions 
 
32 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 are tlie imperial family and the cabinet ministers. Each 
 of the latter, bj fashion's edict, maintains a two-horse 
 coupe, which is generally driven very fast, and closely fol- 
 lowed by a couple of mounted guards. 
 
 The street most frequented is the Rua do Ouvidor, 
 extending from the water about half a mile to the Largo, 
 or Square of Sao Francisco, and its locality should be well 
 fixed in the mind of the stranger, because eight or ten 
 street-railway lines for the direction of Sao Christovao 
 start from the Square of Sao Francisco, where it ends, and 
 the Botanical Garden and Larangeiras lines leave it at the 
 foot of Rua Gongalves Dias. In the vicinity of where it 
 leaves the water are the custom-house, post-oifice. Mer- 
 chants' Exchange, public market, the principal banks, and 
 the shops of the money-changers. It is not much more 
 than twenty feet wide, contains some of the best shops, in 
 whose plate-glass windows are displayed costly jewelry or 
 silks, and is so much occupied by pedestrians that car- 
 riages are not allowed in it from early in the morning till 
 late at night ; though the big one-mule garbage-carts, with 
 their dust and smells, detained by late risers, are often not 
 through their daily service till after ten in the morning. 
 About that time squads of business-men, brokers, and 
 clerks, who left their homes from half an hour to an hour 
 before on the street-cars, and have just alighted, are seen 
 hurrying along through this street, with umbrella in hand, 
 to their several places of business. Besides having the 
 best dry-goods, millinery, and jewelry stores, it also has 
 some of the best and most frequented coffee-restaurants. 
 There, about the middle of the day, and especially on 
 Mondays, fashionable ladies, often accompanied by their 
 daughters, are to be seen shopping. The Polytechnic 
 School and College of Dom Pedro II being near one end 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 33 
 
 of this street, it is a convenient place for students to lin- 
 ger a little after the hours of examination. A person 
 walking from the Chamber of Deputies to the Senate 
 would pass there. From these and other circumstances, it 
 happens that, from noon till about two o'clock in the after- 
 noon, the street is generally crowded with people, many 
 of whom are standing in groups conversing. If there is 
 a Cabinet crisis or other poKtical excitement, a crowd will 
 be reading the latest bulletins at the newspaper-offices. 
 Matronly and richly dressed ladies with their handsome 
 children by their side, wealthy planters from the country, 
 senators and deputies — some of the most distinguished- 
 lookiug men of the empire ; groups of students, and often 
 a Kttle party of foreign travelers just stopping off from a 
 steamship for a few hours' stroll — these, together with the 
 hundreds hastening along on business errands, help to 
 make up an animated throng which is numerous enough 
 to impede one's progress. With the temperature at 90° 
 Fahr. in the shade, the heat on such occasions is op- 
 pressive, though the awnings in front of the shops keep 
 off much of the sun. 
 
 The dress of the Rio people differs scarcely any from 
 that of Europeans and Americans. The Brazihan gen- 
 tleman wears the " stove-pipe " or stiff silk hat, a double- 
 breasted frock-coat of black cloth, closely buttoned even 
 in the warmest weather, and trousers of the same mate- 
 rial. Business men generally wear the common stiff felt 
 hat ; and, in hot weather, trousers and vests of white linen 
 are common. Straw hats are less used than in the United 
 States. There are any number of ready-made clothing 
 stores at Rio, and apparently the goods are about the same 
 as supplied in northern chmes. 
 
 The type of countenance is Latin ; complexion dark, 
 
34 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 hair and eyes black, forehead high, nose prominent. The 
 eyes are generally large, and the expression amiable. La- 
 dies, at middle age, are inclined to be fat ; and while one 
 frequently sees tall men at Kio, the stature of the people 
 is lower than that of Americans and the inhabitants of the 
 north of Europe. It is only in the Amazon Yalley that 
 there has been much mixture of races. 
 
 Sea-bathing is very popular, though the water is that 
 of the bay, and not quite as pure as the ocean. Some 
 ladies rise at four in the morning, ride a mile or two in. 
 the street-car to a beach, bathe in the salt water, and then 
 go back home and go to bed again. 
 
 There is a good deal of reserve in the female character ; 
 although, as a rule, Brazilians are informal. Especially 
 are the young unmarried ladies of the higher society dig- 
 nified and formal. A single gentleman sittiag near one 
 of them at dinner, even though he had been introduced, 
 would need to be cautious in offering his assistance. If 
 he were attentive, for example, in passing her different 
 things within his reach, a look of surprise on her part 
 would be likely to warn him that he was making himself 
 too free. These young ladies have more color than would 
 perhaps be expected in a tropical country. They have 
 black eyes, an abundance of black hair, and their educa- 
 tion consists principally of a knowledge of the French lan- 
 guage, music, and embroidery. 
 
 Macedo, a popular Brazilian author, wrote in regard 
 to Brazilian women previous to 1873: ''The ancient 
 anachronic and oppressive Portuguese customs which com- 
 pelled the ladies — mothers and daughters — to live se- 
 cluded from society, shut up in the depths of the domes- 
 tic hearth, only visible to relations and intimate friends, 
 and only to be guessed at in the churches and public 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 35 
 
 places of amusement through their rich or simple man- 
 tillas and their thick veils — those rude customs of wom- 
 an's captivity, for whom, as a general rule, the father se- 
 lected a husband, have long since been condemned and 
 banished from Brazil, where, in the capital and in the 
 cities, as regards ladies and families, the same formalities 
 of a good, accessible, and polished society are observable 
 and practiced as in the most civilized cities of the Old 
 World." 
 
 The characteristic thought of Brazil is positivism, or 
 the science of society — belief in the elevation of society 
 mainly by the improvement of morals. The same style 
 of thinking takes the lead at Rio. But a great maritime 
 city, having constant intercourse with the outer world, 
 will always be more enlightened, humane, and liberal than 
 the average of people. Hence, the society of Kio is more 
 refined than that of Brazil in general. Fashionable so- 
 ciety follows the style of the genteel classes in Europe. 
 It is an orderly city, though not exempt from those occa- 
 sional crimes of violence that occur in large cities. Two 
 or three years ago there was something of a riot, and 
 some street-lamps were broken, because the gas company 
 (English) had raised its charges ; but even such disturb- 
 ances are rare. The police are generally young men, and, 
 though slight in appearance, will sometimes hang on to a 
 powerful offender with real grit. Some of the hardest 
 customers they have to deal with are intoxicated foreign 
 seamen. 
 
 A practice which strikes Americans as novel is the 
 carrying of immense burdens on the head. There goes 
 a cooper's fifteen-year-old apprentice-lad bearing on his 
 head six empty ten-gallon hard-wood kegs, bound in one 
 package! There comes a porter, carrying in the same 
 
36 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 way an empty dry-goods box as big as an ox- cart! Tin- 
 peddlers go about with a general assortment of their wares 
 carried in a big basin on tlieir heads ; and, like all ped- 
 dlers at Rio, they endeavor to draw attention by continu- 
 ally beating on some of their implements. Stout colored 
 women, with fine figures, necks and arms like bronze, 
 peddle liver and tripe, which they carry in large trays on 
 their heads. So, a porter will often be seen carrying in 
 this way a wicker coop containing two or three dozen live 
 chickens. But the heaviest burdens borne upon the head 
 are pianos. It is quite common to see six negroes march- 
 ing along in step with a piano on their heads, which they 
 may be carrying a couple of miles. The porters who han- 
 dle coffee, and who carry bags of it on their heads weigh- 
 ing one hundred and thirty-two pounds each, are generally 
 Africans. Some of them are natives of Africa, and be- 
 lievers in the Mohammedan religion. They seem temper- 
 ate and industrious, and, when unoccupied with heavy 
 work, sit in the doorways of the wholesale houses braid- 
 ing straw or palm-leaf hats. If there are a few near to- 
 gether, their voices may frequently be heard in loud but 
 good-humored talk. Their naked feet — and very stubby, 
 queer-looking feet some of them are — occupy a certain 
 part of the narrow sidewalk. These men generally appear 
 to be upward of fifty years old, and sometimes one of them 
 will be seen leaning his head against the side of the door- 
 way enjoying a nap. The presence of so many humble 
 laborers occupying the doorways of many of the impor- 
 tant business houses indicates a humane and free-and-easy 
 feeling. 
 
 There, on the sidewalk, against the wall of a church, 
 sits a cobbler, plying his trade in the open air. He is bare- 
 headed and barefooted. A young apprentice works with 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 37 
 
 him. Scattered through the city are many such who thus 
 get their rent free, as their progenitors did thousands of 
 years ago in old Rome and Tyre. 
 
 The most numerous street-venders are those, of all 
 ages, who sell lottery-tickets. Lotteries are legalized and 
 protected by the Government in all parts of the country, 
 and the purchase and sale of lottery-tickets is one of the 
 chief subjects of popular interest. ^^Andar hoje ! " (" The 
 wheel turns to-day ! ") is a call from the lips of lottery-ticket 
 sellers which greets the passer-by at many street-comers 
 the year round. Rio seems a paradise for newspaper-boys 
 — a jolly and peaceable set — ^the most of whom go bare- 
 footed, wear patched trousers, a shirt, a black felt hat, and 
 smoke cigarettes. They hover at the regular starting and 
 stopping places of the street-cars, and go on a keen run 
 from the newspaper-offices with the latest edition. They 
 shout the papers, and make a great deal of clamor, espe- 
 cially when it has a list of lottery-prizes. The confec- 
 tionary-venders, equally numerous and noisy, sell home- 
 made candies, called hallos^ each done up in a twist of 
 fancy colored paper. These venders are generally black 
 or mulatto slave-boys, who are required to carry home a 
 fixed sum, and are allowed the surplus if there be any. 
 While the fashionable street-car is rapidly filling, or far- 
 tlier on waits a minute for a coming car to pass, the in- 
 dulgent Brazilian parent has just time to buy a handful 
 of these sweets for the children. 
 
 There are several itinerant bands of German musi- 
 cians, who go about the streets of Rio and execute instru- 
 mental music for the pay that the by-standers may choose 
 to give. A few of these bands comprise a dozen mem- 
 bers, and their instruments are what are generally used 
 by an orchestra. They seem to make the round of the 
 
38 BRAZIL; ITS CONDITION" AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 city every ten days or two weeks. All at once, say about 
 eleven o'clock in the forenoon, when the heat is most in- 
 tense, the occupants of a counting-room are liable to hear 
 under their windows the inspiring strains of some fine 
 overture, executed by one of these bands. 
 
 The native, the Portuguese, and the Italian elements, 
 comprise the majority of the laboring classes. Many of 
 the Portuguese are from the Azores, and are usually in- 
 dustrious and saving. Generally laborers are paid every 
 fifteen days; but house-servants, salesmen, and clerks, 
 monthly. At common labor men now earn at Kio about 
 eighty cents a day ; machinists, from seven to thirty dol- 
 lars a week, depending on the degree of skill and kind of 
 trade. Laboring- men at Rio usually live in estalagems 
 or in Gortigos. The former is the name given to a num- 
 ber of small houses, built together and forming a square, 
 or sometimes even occupying the ground-floor of a respect- 
 able dwelling-house. A cortigo (hive) is where these houses 
 are almost limited to one room each, and have to be 
 reached by a common staircase and veranda. Quarters in 
 an estalagem may be rented at from five to eight dollars a 
 month ; and in a cortigo, at from three and a half to four 
 and a half dollars a month. Single men hiring only one 
 room pay two and a half to three and a half dollars a 
 month. These hives are generally very much wanting in 
 sanitary regards. The best quarters never comprise more 
 than three rooms — a sitting-room, a bedroom, and a kitch- 
 en. The sitting-room . and the bedroom are each about 
 ten feet square ; the kitchen much smaller. Some houses 
 do not have a kitchen, in which case the occupants cook 
 out in the common yard. In the sitting-room are gener- 
 ally found a pine-wood table, wooden or sometimes cane- 
 seated chairs, and, more rarely, a cane-seated sofa. In 
 
EIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 39 
 
 the bedroom stand a bedstead, an iron wasli-stand, and, 
 perhaps, a chest of dravv^ers ; and on the walls may be seen 
 some cheap pictm-e of a saint. In the kitchen is an iron 
 stove belonging to the house, an earthen water- jar, and 
 some shelves. Usually the bedroom has no window, but 
 there are openings at the top of the wall for ventiJation. 
 The workman leaves his house for his work, and the wife 
 passes the whole day washing and ironing. The health of 
 these women often breaks down from overwork. It is not 
 usual among the laboring classes for families to lay up 
 money. However, one sometimes sees men, particularly 
 the unmarried, endure all kinds of privations to save 
 money. Many of the yomig, toiling Portuguese look for- 
 ward to returning at some future day to their native island 
 or country, and buying a little patch of ground with all 
 its free appurtenances of sun and sky, and doubly dear 
 from its boyhood associations. In no clime do men work 
 harder than at Kio, and the frugal can rise in the world. 
 A short time ago there died at Hio a baron owning a num- 
 ber of houses, which brought him a monthly revenue of 
 seventeen hundred dollars, and w^ho began life as a ped- 
 dler of liver and tripe. After the day's work is done, the 
 time is frequently passed in card-playing, in a game of 
 quoits, or in singing. The Italians are fond of singing, 
 and amuse themselves thus, and by playing on the accor- 
 dion and banjo. One cotton and woolen factory at Rio 
 employs sixty women and forty-seven children as opera- 
 tives. Some other factories employ female operatives. 
 "Women are also employed in boot and shoe factories. 
 Probably two thousand females are employed in manu- 
 facturing establishments in the city. 
 
 Of laboring-men seen in the streets a majority are 
 barefooted, and wear simply an undershirt, common black 
 
40 BRAZIL: ITS COl^DITIOIT AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 felt hat, and trousers of blue cotton drilling, often mucli 
 faded and patched. Scarcely one in a hundred wears a 
 cravat or anything about the neck. The bone and sinew 
 of Eio are replenished every year by some thousands of 
 temperate, industrious, and hardy people from the Azore 
 Islands and the mountain districts of Portugal. 
 
 Being the capital, Rio is under the jurisdiction of the 
 Cro-svn, which attends to all such matters as the supply of 
 water, Hght, and police. The Municipal Council now have 
 a new and fine chamber ; they are elected for four years, 
 and their president is the acting mayor. They receive 
 no salaries. Licenses for the sale of spirits are not high. 
 About every grocery retails spirits, or may do so ; and 
 there are, besides, many stands, or hiosJcs^ in the more fre- 
 quented squares where spirits are retailed. A good deal 
 of native rum is drunk by the slaves and lower class of la- 
 borers, which is sold at only a cent or two for a small glass. 
 The use of beer is increasing ; but, while much strong 
 drink is consumed, intoxication is not very common. The 
 best business men and the best laboring-men are habitu- 
 ally temperate. Buildings are taxed but vacant land is 
 nowhere taxed in Brazil. One may own acres of land in 
 the city limits without ever having to pay a tax on it. 
 "What a happy place for real-estate dealers! — only that 
 there is a tax of six per cent on the amount of considera- 
 tion in every conveyance. 
 
 The Brazilians are a very patriotic people. Some of 
 the streets in the city bear as names the dates of impor- 
 tant national events. There are several political as well 
 as religious holidays, and they are generally ushered in 
 by the discharge of fire-crackers and rockets, the noise 
 of which sometimes continues with but little cessation 
 through the day. 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 41 
 
 The Carnival seems to be losing sometliing of its 
 l^opularity. The higher classes at that time keep within- 
 doors. The first reminder one has of the approaching 
 festival is the appearance, on the Sunday preceding it, of 
 boys, and especially mulattoes and blacks, in the streets, 
 dressed in tight-fitting suits of red cloth vs^ith long tails 
 and hoods, frequently masked, and who are called didbos, 
 or devils. The real fun begins the afternoon before 
 Carnival-day and continues during the day. People then 
 have a good deal of sport, saluting even strangers with 
 mock politeness, squirting perfumed water at each other, 
 and throwing at whoever they think they can hit light 
 waxen balls of water the size of a hen's Q^g. It is very 
 funny, especially to those who do not get too much of a 
 drenching. On these occasions passengers in the street- 
 cars who are liable to be pelted from balconies, and people 
 in the more crowded streets, do not want to have on their 
 best clothes. Sometimes a cranky individual will resent 
 the sport, and a lively little interchange of fisticuffs will 
 be the result. But for the most part everything passes 
 off in the best of humor, and mankind for a while seem 
 like a happy family. The celebration winds up with a 
 gorgeous torch-light procession of people of both sexes 
 in rich fancy costumes, sometimes masked, drawn in 
 highly decorated carriages. The male portion of the pro- 
 cession is made up principally of the different social clubs 
 whose organization is mostly for balls and other pleasure, 
 and which adopt singular names, such as " Devil's Lieuten- 
 ants," "Fenians," "Democrats." 
 
 The ordinary diversions are such as are found in most 
 large cities. There are several spacious theatres. Horse- 
 racing is becoming frequent on Sundays and holidays, 
 and occasionally there is a bull-fight. But there is among 
 
42 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION" AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 the higher-toned people a growing disposition to encour- 
 age manly sports — rowing, ball-playing, and jumping. 
 The exhibitions of the Athletic Club are attended by the 
 imperial family and families of high social rank. When 
 business is good at Rio, some foreign opera company usu- 
 ally performs at the Dom Pedro Segundo Theatre during 
 the three cooler months — June, July, and August. On 
 such occasions the Emperor and Empress are generally 
 to be seen in the imperial box. Ladies sitting in the first 
 tier of boxes, or dress-circle, are in full evening dress with- 
 out bonnets ; if they sit in the parquet, they may wear 
 bonnets. The performance does not begin till eight 
 o'clock. There are long intermissions between the acts, 
 when most of the men go out and smoke cigarettes — it 
 is a cold day in Brazil when there are no cigarettes — or 
 take a cup of coffee, and the opera or play does not end 
 till after midnight. The Dom Pedro Segundo Theatre is 
 very large. The Beethoven Club, with an Englishman 
 at its head, is a valuable organization which provides sev- 
 eral small and one or two grand concerts every season. 
 With my family I attended two of its grand concerts in 
 the Casino Hall, situated opposite the Public Garden. 
 The music was of the highest order, and there was a 
 large number of performers ; but there also the exercises 
 were spun out to an intolerable length : indeed, between 
 the second and third parts of one concert time was given 
 for some of the performers to sit down to a table in a 
 side-room and partake of an elaborate meal while the 
 audience were hngering about and whiling away the time 
 as best they could. However, during the ordinary inter- 
 missions many of the audience move about through the 
 ample corridors, or partake of refreshments which are for 
 sale at buffets in the palm-bordered side-rooms. The 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 43 
 
 imperial family with tlieir attendants were present, and 
 sat, not with the audience, but in special chairs at one 
 side. The hall of the Casino will hold several thousand 
 people, and is finely proportioned, with a handsome gallery 
 on each side, supported by fluted pillars, and is with its 
 decorations an exceedingly beautiful hall. It is seldom 
 used, and only for grand balls of high society and an oc- 
 casional concert. 
 
 Street begging is illegal and is pretty much suppressed, 
 but there are certain people who are allowed to beg in 
 the streets on Saturdays, making their regular rounds; 
 their numerous visits are inconvenient, and I have ad- 
 mired the patience with which shopkeepers go to the 
 door and hand the poor one a copper. 
 
 Passing one afternoon with a friend along Rua Eva- 
 rista de Veiga, the street on which the English church 
 at Rio is situated, and which runs along the foot of the 
 San Antonio Hill parallel with the front of the Public 
 Garden, we came, when in sight of the high aqueduct 
 arches, to the Foundling Hospital {Casa dos Expostos), 
 into which we were admitted by a Sister of Charity. 
 Annually about four hundred infants of unknown parent- 
 age are secretly conveyed into this humane institution 
 through what is popularly called " the wheel." Since its 
 establishment it has received forty thousand such infants ! 
 They are taken care of eight days, then put into private 
 families for board at about five dollars a month each, 
 until a year and a half old, after which two dollars a 
 month are paid. About six thousand dollars a quarter are 
 thus paid by the asylum for the children's outside board. 
 When old enough to attend school, they are brought back 
 to the institution, where they receive instruction till the 
 age of twelve years, and then are sent to learn trades. A 
 
44 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 little dower is given them when they marry. There are 
 now forty children in the asylum receiving instruction. 
 The building stands even with the sidewalk, and there is 
 nothing in its exterior to mark its character save, perhaps, 
 the place where the infants are deposited ; and this would 
 not attract the notice of a casual passer-by, unacquainted 
 with the building, because the opening in the wall is 
 scarcely apparent. What looks like a narrow and slightly 
 oval vertical panel in the wall set in a stone frame is the 
 outer side of the " wheel," a sort of barrel-shaped revolv- 
 ing dumb-waiter, with three open shelves on the interior 
 side. The outer side fits close, and a firm push is required 
 to make it turn and bring the shelves toward the street. 
 When this is done, a foundling can be laid on one of the 
 shelves ; and, as the wheel is again turned, it in a moment 
 conveys the child within the walls of the asylum into 
 what may be called the foundling reception room, and 
 at the same time rings a very loud alarm-beU, A Sister 
 of Charity or servant immediately comes and takes the 
 foundling ; and in order to preserve its identity for any 
 future purpose, a record is immediately made of the ex- 
 act time it was received, its sex, appearance, and clothing. 
 Sometimes the mother has pinned to its clothing the 
 name she wishes it to bear, and this wish is usually re- 
 spected. Nobody knows or cares to know who left the 
 child. The very contrivance of the wheel is to afford 
 secrecy. 
 
 Many of the foundlings are sick when received, and 
 from thirty to thirty-two per cent die, a smaller percent- 
 age than in former years. The number received in for- 
 mer times was also larger than at present, being from 
 five hundred to six hundred per year, thus showing that, 
 with the social improvement of the age, there is a decrease 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 45 
 
 of illegitimate births, notwithstanding the growth of the 
 city. Many of the foundhngs are mulattoes ; and those 
 which I saw, in a dormitory of thirty-two beds, were qnite 
 diminutive. There seemed scarcely to be a healthy-look- 
 ing child among them. The room they were in had a 
 qniet situation, with two windows, and, though large, the 
 atmosphere was close. The beds were in neat iron cribs, 
 with a muslin mosquito-bar for each. Slave-women are 
 invariably employed as wet-nurses, it being the policy of 
 the asylum not to employ in that capacity any of the 
 mothers of the foundlings. A physician visits the asylum 
 daily. It sometimes happens that parents wish to get their 
 children back, and, under proper circumstances and by 
 furnishing requisite proof of identity, they can do so. I 
 was informed by the Lady Superior, who politely accom- 
 panied us through the building, that there are now sixteen 
 Sisters of Charity of the Order of Sao Yincent de Paulo 
 living there and giving their services. It is a home for 
 them during Hfe, they being well cared for when no 
 longer able for active duty. The institution was founded 
 in 1738 by Eomao de Mattos Duarte, and is so amply 
 endowed that its own income is abundantly sufficient to 
 meet all its expenses. Though plain outwardly, the 
 building is very commodious and well finished ; all its 
 floors are of polished hard wood of dark color, waxed. 
 The room for the meetings of the board of administra- 
 tion is quite large. On one of its walls are full-length 
 portraits in oil of the founder, above mentioned, and of 
 D. Luiza Eoza Avondano Pereira, an important bene- 
 factress of the institution. On another side are full- 
 length portraits of the present Emperor and Empress of 
 Brazil, and on the wall opposite them similar-sized por- 
 traits of the Emperor's father and mother. The edifice 
 
46 BRAZIL: ITS COKDITION AND PKOSPEOTS. 
 
 has a court in the center, with a flower-garden and fount- 
 ain, and there is quite a piece of ground, belonging to 
 the premises, extending up on the Sao Antonio Hill, for 
 the recreation of the children. Indeed, the establishment 
 has in its size, finish, and equipment most of the substan- 
 tial quahties which affluence can provide ; and it can almost 
 be said that the foundling deposited in the "wheel" 
 enters a palace. The president of the board of directors 
 is the present prime minister, being the same individual 
 who is at the head of the administration of the great 
 Santa Casa Hospital. There are foundling asylums also 
 in the cities of Bahia and Pemambuco. 
 ^/ About ten years ago, I visited a prison, in one of the 
 smaller Protestant countries of Europe, where were fifty 
 female convicts undergoing a life-sentence for the mur- 
 der of their offspring. They were quietly and orderly 
 working at spinning and weaving, but I remember dis- 
 tinctly what a fixed expression of melancholy there was 
 on their faces. When I got home and was thinking the 
 matter over, I thought I could not have rightly under- 
 stood the director of the prison, that so many as fifty 
 women were under sentence for child-murder, and wrote 
 him to inquire if I was right. He replied that I had not 
 misunderstood him. I can not but believe that institu- 
 tions like this foundhng hospital tend greatly to prevent 
 crime. They certainly prevent the practice of leaving 
 infants on door-steps. 
 
 In several of the provincial capitals there are asylums 
 for gu'ls, under charge of Sisters of Charity, and which ap- 
 pear to have been founded by private beneficence. The 
 Asylum of Purity, established in 1874, in the province of 
 Sergipe, for the support, protection, and education of neg- 
 lected orphan girls, has a fund of five thousand dollars, 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 47 
 
 and receives anmially, by vote of the provincial legislature, 
 about two thousand dollars. The inmates, of whom there 
 are now twenty-seven, receive instruction in the common 
 branches, as well as sewing and house-work, and remain 
 till they are eighteen years of age, when in case of mar- 
 riage each one receives a dower of one hundred and twenty 
 dollars in money, and an outfit of the value of eighty dollars. 
 Epiphany is one of the days of the Catholic Church 
 kept with as much strictness as a New England Sunday, 
 though it come on a week-day. I took that day to visit, 
 with my family, the immense hospital called Sancta Casa 
 de Misericordia, or Holy House of Mercy. It is the hos- 
 pital into which all sick seamen (if the disease be not con- 
 tagious), of whatever nationality, are received, and treated 
 gratuitously (the port charges, which foreign vessels pay, 
 are ample to cover such expenses), as well as the poor of 
 the city. It is richly endowed, and generally well admin- 
 istered. The nurses, who likewise mix the medicines, 
 are Sisters of Charity, of different nationalities. As I had 
 visited the hospital several times previously, I did not on 
 this occasion enter the sick-wards, though in passing the 
 doors could look in. We were taken into the kitchen and 
 prescription-room, both spacious and neat ; also up-stairs 
 into a chapel, for which large space in every such institu- 
 tion is devoted; also into a council-chamber or hall, on 
 whose walls were many poorly painted portraits. There 
 was also a full-sized plaster statue of the Emperor, though 
 it struck me a statue of the benevolent founder of the in- 
 stitution, and not in plaster either, would have been more 
 appropriate. However, there is in the reception-room a 
 marble bust of the founder. This hospital furnishes quar- 
 ters in a neighboring building for one or two hundred 
 orphan children. It is a splendid establishment, but too 
 
48 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 large to suit modern sanitary ideas, and its beds and pil- 
 lows are very hard. 
 
 Among other institutions which we visited during our 
 residence at Rio was the Blind Asylum, situated in Campa 
 S. Anna. It is a Government institution, the only one 
 in Brazil, with fifty pupils ; occupies rented premises, and 
 receives an appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars 
 a year. A few of the pupils speak, read, and write both 
 Portuguese and French, also play on the piano, and sing. 
 There is a brass band composed of pupils. Some of the 
 needlework of the women is ingenious. 
 
 There is a fairly respectable art-gallery at Rio, which 
 is visited on some holidays by a few hundred people ; but 
 the collection is inferior to what a foreigner would ex- 
 pect in a city so large, and which for a century has been 
 the seat of a royal or imperial dynasty. There is some 
 pretension of imparting free instruction in painting ; but 
 I got the impression that the privileges of instruction 
 there, and at the Conservatory of Music, are not much 
 sought after. 
 
 The principal and most modern supply of water comes 
 a distance of thirty miles from the mountain rivers Sao 
 Antonio and d'Ouro. It was estimated that the minimum 
 supply of the aqueduct from these streams would be thirty 
 million litres in twenty-four hours, but the Minister of 
 Agriculture and Public Works, when he visited the reser- 
 voir Pedregulho on the 21st of August, 1884, found the 
 supply to be only sixteen million litres in twenty-four 
 hours. The oldest aqueduct is the Carioca, which brings 
 water from heights between the Corcovado and Tijuca 
 Mountains, a distance of eight miles. About ten million 
 dollars in all have been expended for Rio's supply of water, 
 which is a small sum to extend over two centuries, and 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 49 
 
 for so large and so rich a city, and one wliicli has been so 
 liable to dangerous epidemics. The water comes from 
 clear mountain-streams, and is good, but is not as abundant 
 as it ought to be. Several fountains have recently been 
 built in some of the squares of the city, but they are dry 
 nearly the year round. Rio ought to be as well supplied 
 with water as Eome, where in scores of fountains one sees 
 water enough to carry a mill, a part of which is brought 
 in aqueducts built in the time of the old republic. Some 
 of the water for Paris is now brought a hundred miles. 
 
 The scheme of building a bridge across the Bay of Rio 
 de Janeiro to connect the city with Nictheroy has been 
 advocated by capable engineers for several years, and by 
 the president of the province in his annual report, includ- 
 ing the latest. The shortest distance across is from the 
 Benedictine Hill in Rio to the hill of Armacao in 'Nic- 
 theroy — two miles and three quarters ; and the president 
 states that a bridge suitable for tramways, vehicles, and 
 foot-passsengers, and having a draw for big vessels, could 
 be built for six million dollars. 
 
 To see Rio in the glory of its tropical summer, one 
 should go there in our winter months, though perhaps the 
 safest time for Americans to be there would be from May 
 to September. That would be the winter season at Rio, 
 the most of which is like our pleasant summer weather. 
 There are then many nights when three blankets are not 
 too much cover. 
 
 With regard to the yellow fever, I would state that 
 with my family I have passed three continuous hot sea- 
 sons in the city without any of us incurring it. During 
 the first few months of its prevalence I felt a little nerv- 
 ous about it. The consular office was in the level business 
 center, and was sometimes visited by seamen in the incipi- 
 5 
 
50 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 ent stage of the disease ; but as our residence was in one of 
 the most sahibrious parts of the city, we gradually became 
 imconcerned about it, and went and came day and even- 
 ing in any part of the city without apprehension, and, as 
 it proved, without danger. Our diet was the same as it 
 would be in the United States. The yellow fever is not 
 necessarily a fatal disease, unless there be inherent weak- 
 ness of the constitution^ The great preventives are to 
 avoid excess in respect to exposure, fatigue, and diet. The 
 first remedies are important yet simple. As soon as one 
 has the symptoms, which are severe pain in the head and 
 back, the approved practice is to go to bed, take a big 
 dose of castor-oil, and after that has had effect, aconite in 
 water to produce sweat. Good nursing, and especially 
 watching in the night, with frequent ice and milk, and 
 iced Seltzer-water, are important. Most frequently the 
 fatal cases are where single men or others lodge in apart- 
 ments alone, and become very ill before any friend or ac- 
 quaintance laiows their condition. I do not think much 
 confidence is felt at Rio in the system of inoculation 
 against yellow fever, and which is but slightly in vogue 
 there. Usually a few deaths from the disease are reported 
 in December, and the mortality increases till into March 
 and April, which are the worst months. There was a bad 
 epidemic in 1883 ; another, though lighter, in 1884 ; still 
 lighter in 1885 ; but worse, again, in 1886. The deaths 
 from yellow fever for the first half of 1886 were nine 
 hundred and sixty-seven. There is a public yellow-fever 
 hospital, called Jurujuba, situated on the shore of a distant 
 inlet on the opposite side of the bay from Bio. If a sea- 
 man on any vessel is sick with the fever, a yellow flag is 
 hoisted and a public health-boat comes and takes him to 
 the hospital. 
 
RIO AND ITS PEOPLE. 51 
 
 For a few years back a regulation of the port of Eio 
 has required all vessels arriving in the hot season to an- 
 chor, discharge and load cargo at least a mile from shore, 
 which has had a remarkably good effect in keeping the 
 yellow fever from the shipping, but adds greatly to the 
 expense of transportation. 
 
 On account of a certain dampness in the atmosphere 
 of Kio, there is more mortaHty from consumption than 
 from yellow fever. The deaths from consumption in 
 June, 1886, were one hundred and fifty. Dr. James A. 
 Stewart, M. D., Commissioner of Health and Registrar for 
 the city of Baltimore, writing me under date of December 
 15, 1884, said: "The mortuary reports of the city of 
 Rio de Janeiro, which I have had the pleasure to receive 
 from you for some time past, have greatly interested me 
 on account of the surprising prej)onderance of pulmonary 
 consumption over all other causes of death. We have 
 evidently been making a great mistake in sending our 
 consumptive patients to Rio for relief." 
 
CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 LIFE AND MANNEES. 
 
 At our residence up in Rua das Larangeiras, two miles 
 from the busiest part of the city, Sundays, and especially 
 Sunday mornings, seemed as quiet as they are in the Unit- 
 ed States. To me those mornings, so tranquil, so clear 
 and sunny, were generally very charming. Foliage-cov- 
 ered hills behind and in front of the house gave the 
 place a country aspect. The wren, and numerous other 
 small birds, in some tall trees in the door-yard, made the 
 air vocal with their notes. But sometimes, and as if to 
 fehow a certain laxness of affairs, the discordant report of 
 a musket would come from one of the hills, where a mis- 
 chievous boy was hunting birds. As a rule, Sunday is a 
 quiet day at Eio, though many retail shops are kept open, 
 and some kinds of out-door labor carried on. Billiard- 
 rooms and other places of amusement are more frequented 
 then than on week-days. Though Brazil is a Cathohc 
 country, religious liberty is declared in the Constitution, 
 and exists practically in the principal cities. A Protestant 
 at Rio, wishing to attend public religious worship, would 
 find several churches on a respectable footing. The Chapel 
 of the Church of England is a building which will com- 
 fortably seat several hundred people, has a good organ, 
 and is frequented by a fair congregation composed of 
 British subjects and Americans. The preaching is by 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 53 
 
 Rev. Frederick Young, A. M., an able and attentive pas- 
 tor. The Presbyterian chiircb dates back many years, 
 and lias a numerous membersliip among tlie native poorer 
 class. The church building is spacious, the services are 
 in the Portuguese language, and the singing is congrega- 
 tional. It is mainly supported by the American Pres- 
 byterian Missionary Society, and the American pastors 
 are Rev. Messrs. Houston and Kyle. An able Brazilian 
 preaches Sunday evenings. The Presbyterians also have 
 a church at Bahia and at several other places. The 
 Methodists, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
 who for some time held services in their neat chapel 
 about opposite the Strangers' Hotel, have lately built a 
 tine church edifice adjoining the chapel, where religious 
 exercises and Sunday-school are held in Enghsh in the 
 morning, and in Portuguese in the evening. The pastors. 
 Revs. J. J. Ransom (temporarily at Juiz de Pora) and 
 J. L. Kennedy, preach in both languages. The Baptists 
 also have a church, under the charge of Rev. W. B. Bag- 
 by. All these pastors whose names I have mentioned 
 have their families living at Rio, and command respect. 
 Mr. Ransom is a preacher of unusual eloquence. The 
 Methodists are looking forward to have an important 
 young ladies' school established at Rio, under their au- 
 spices. The "Woman's Missionary Society, of the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, South, of which Mrs. Juliana 
 Hayes, of Baltimore, is president, undertook to raise a 
 fund of fifty thousand dollars for a young ladies' school 
 in Brazil, to serve as a centenary monument of the 
 Methodist Church. Over half of the amount had been 
 raised in 1885. I might here say that there are perhaps 
 two hundred Americans residing at Rio ; the proportion 
 of English, French, and Germans is much larger — of 
 
54 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 course the largest separate foreign element is the Portu- 
 guese. 
 
 I should say that a vast majority of the population of 
 Kio are indifferent to religious matters. One effect of 
 the increase of Protestant churches in Brazil will be an 
 awakening of the Catholic Church. There is nothing 
 more beneficial than competition. At present the Catho- 
 lic Church in Brazil is in a feeble state. But there are 
 many of the best Brazilian families who are religious, and 
 who, by a posture of devotion before a meal or other act, 
 manifest a thoughtfulness of religion. Seven days after 
 the death of a near relative, the whole family attends a 
 special mass at church, and another at the anniversary 
 of the death. There is not preaching, however, regularly 
 in the Catholic churches on Sundays. The Catholic 
 priests are poorly paid. As an intellectual force they 
 amount to but very little, and do not have that considera- 
 tion which the Catholic clergy enjoy in Protestant coun- 
 tries. After the Protestant Church gets well established 
 in Brazil, and church-attendance becomes as popular as 
 it is in England and the United States, the Cathohc 
 Church will very likely exert a more elevating influence 
 than it now does. A Brazilian official told Mr. Cham- 
 berlain, the Presbyterian missionary at Sao Paulo, that he 
 wished he would spread his religion, citing the influence 
 of an old Brazilian citizen, of local influence, living in a 
 remote country place in the province of Sao Paulo, who 
 had been converted to the Presbyterian faith and held 
 prayer-meetings in his house, and from whose district no 
 crimes were reported. 
 
 In the larger cities, where there is more than ordi- 
 nary intelligence, the Protestant missionaries are pretty 
 sure of peaceable treatment ; but occasionally, in remote 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 55 
 
 places, they meet at first with rude opposition from the 
 lower classes. However, the men of influence generally 
 have that national pride that leads them to interpose in 
 case of any excess, and guarantee the missionary protec- 
 tion in the exercise of freedom of speech and worship. 
 
 In the truly disciplined Brazilian family are some pe- 
 culiar customs. When evening comes, the members of 
 the family bid each other ^' hoa noite " — literally, " good- 
 night." They may be sitting at dinner, and, on the 
 lights being lit, it is a reminder that evening has come. 
 Then they exchange this salutation, and the children rise 
 and kiss the hands of their parents. This custom is in- 
 herited from the Portuguese, and is more generally ob- 
 served in the country than in the city. If it be the 
 father whom the children address, they say, " A hencao, 
 men paV — "Your blessing, father!" The patriarchal 
 and religious usage of children kissing the hands of their 
 parents at night and morning, and when meeting after an 
 absence, even after they are grown up, is observed in 
 cultured families. And out of the family circle, people 
 sometimes kiss the hands of those much above them in 
 rank and age. I once saw a fashionable Brazilian lady 
 and grown daughter meet and speak with a priest in the 
 street, and the daughter kissed the priest's hand. In 
 passing a church, three or four men out of twenty in a 
 street-car will raise their hats. They do not regard it as 
 superstition, but as a delicate expression of rehgious senti- 
 ment. So, when a funeral is met, men usually lift their 
 hats as the hearse passes them. There are but few re- 
 ligious processions in the street. The Emperor and cabi- 
 net ministers walk in that of Corpus Christi, but it com- 
 mands few marks of reverence from the masses ; on the 
 contrary, it is generally obstnicted by a dense crowd of 
 
56 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 gazers. The attendance at funerals is principally of male 
 friends. Ladies, even nearest relatives, do not accom- 
 pany the remains to the place of burial. Male friends, 
 however, in large numbers, make it a point to attend the 
 funeral with a carriage at their own expense, and to drive 
 to the grave. Many funeral processions comprise forty 
 or more two-mule open carriages, driven at a rapid pace, 
 and containing, often, but one man, who not unlikely 
 will be smoking. 
 
 Thursday and Saturday afternoons are popular times 
 for weddings, which have this peculiarity, that the car- 
 riages are lined with white satin, and arc drawn by 
 beautiful white horses used only on such occasions. Mar- 
 riage is a religious institution, though there is some agita- 
 tion for making the rite valid as a civil contract. 
 
 The Brazilians, though a grave people, have consider- 
 able humor. As an example — though a homely one — the 
 sneezing of a goat, of which there are many at Rio, is re- 
 garded as a sign of fair weather. Sometimes, when a per- 
 son sneezes, the by-stander laughingly says, " We will have 
 good weather." They are, likewise, a benevolent people. 
 It is not very uncommon, when a family of children have 
 been left orphans, for an uncle or some near relative to 
 adopt them all into his house, and provide for and treat 
 them as members of his own family. Although the Brar 
 zilians observe a number of religious holidays, they fortu- 
 nately arc not without some political or national holidays. 
 It is useful for a people to pause, once a year at least, and 
 think of their forefathers. " A people," said Mr. Burke, 
 ''will never look forward to posterity who nev^er look 
 backward to their ancestors." The anniversary of the in- 
 dependence of the empire is the Yth of September, and, 
 though it may occur on Sunday, as did the sixty- third 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 57 
 
 anniversary, in 1884, the Brazilians do not, on that ac- 
 count, postpone the customary commemorative exercises 
 till the next day. Indeed, the official exercises are partly 
 religious and partly secular. The observance of the 
 sixty-third anniversary began as usual at the capital by an 
 artillery salute at daybreak, and the playing of the na- 
 tional hymn by several bands of music around the bronze 
 equestrian statue of the founder of the empii-e, Dom 
 Pedro I, in the park Constitution, which was illumi- 
 nated, decorated with flags and streamers, and which had 
 been thronged with people all night. The forts in the 
 harbor also thundered forth a salute in the morning, at 
 1 p. M., and again at 6 p. m. ; the ships of war, national 
 and foreign, doing the same. The imperial family at- 
 tended the service of Te Deum at the imperial chapel at 
 noon, and at 1 p. isr. held a reception in the old city palace 
 (which is close to the chapel, but three miles from the 
 Emperor's residence), which was attended by a large 
 gathering of civil, military, and naval officers, repre- 
 sentatives of literary, scientific, and benevolent socie- 
 ties, and by private individuals. The diplomatic body, 
 through its ranking member, the Pope's nuncio, pre- 
 sented a congratulatory address. The seventh battalion 
 of infantry served as a guard of honor. On this occasion 
 it was noticed that when the Emperor and Empress ar- 
 rived at the palace, loud cheers were given for the Em- 
 peror and independence, owing partly, probably, to the 
 anti-slavery enthusiasm of the time. The same afternoon 
 the Emperor and Empress, and the Princess Imperial, with 
 her husband, Count d'Eu, were present at a meeting of 
 the Working Union, in the theatre of San Luiz, where a 
 senator presided ; an elaborate discourse was pronounced, 
 several pieces of music executed ; a poem, dedicated to the 
 
58 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 Empress, recited ; also an address delivered bj the foreman 
 of tlie government macliine-sliops. In the evening the 
 imperial family attended an opera performance. During 
 the day a regatta took place, on a small scale, in a newly 
 opened boat-rink, bands of mnsic played in the public 
 parks, and sixteen hundred persons visited the exhibition 
 of the Academy of Fine Arts. Ko oration was deHvered 
 on the memories of the day, yet there was one elaborate 
 political address made by a leading abolitionist, under the 
 auspices of the Abolition Society, his subject being " The 
 Cause of the Decadency of Brazil." There were fewer 
 fireworks than usual on festival-days, and good order 
 prevailed. Flags were displayed very generally. The 
 weather was perfect. 
 
 I suppose that the three countries in which popular 
 government has sho\^Ti the greatest vigor are England, 
 France, and the United States ; and these are about the 
 only countries in which the bar has had free scope, 
 and occupied high rank. Great constitutional prin- 
 ciples have often had their noblest defense in the 
 forum. Although the legal profession is esteemed in 
 Brazil, and there are learned lawyers, there is not that 
 opportunity for the public discussion of legal questions 
 that there is in the countries mentioned. In all civil 
 cases, legal arguments are submitted in writing. There 
 are two largely attended law-schools, one at Pemambuco 
 and the other at Sao Paulo, both being supported by 
 public money. On my visit to the library of the school 
 at Sao Paulo, I took particular notice to see what English 
 or American law-books there were, and was surprised to 
 find that these great founts of jurisprudence were repre- 
 sented by about half a dozen antiquated and unimportant 
 volumes. There is no public law library at Rio. In the 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 59 
 
 National Library, the only edition of Blackstone's " Com- 
 mentaries " is in French. It seems to me the legal pro- 
 fession of Brazil is ignorant of English jurisprudence. 
 It has never felt even the spray of the great fountain of 
 English legal literature, much less quaffed its living 
 waters. However, the higher tribunals command general 
 respect. 
 
 How would American or English physicians be likely 
 to succeed at Rio ? The first part of this question has 
 been addressed to me by a correspondent ; and my an- 
 swer is that, assuming them to be persons of real skill 
 and merit, they would in time meet with fair and possibly 
 brilliant success. They would, however, at first meet 
 with great competition, the medical profession at Rio 
 being crowded. Whatever might have been their pre- 
 vious training and experience, and however distinguished 
 the diplomas they might bring, they would still have to 
 undergo a rigid examination conducted in the Portuguese 
 language, to test their quahfications for practice. ITeither 
 could they expect to receive the slightest degree of favor, 
 but, on the contrary, they would be subjected to treat- 
 ment exacting, jealous, and suspicious. The same will 
 apply to all foreigners who undertake to enter any of the 
 professions, including that of dentistry. 
 
 Yery fev/ physicians drive in a private conveyance to 
 visit their patients, and none support styhsh equipages ; 
 they sometimes go in the street-cars, but generally in a 
 public one-horse chaise. Their usual charge for a day- 
 visit is ten milreis, at present exchange about four dollars, 
 and double that amount for a night- visit. There are two 
 EngKsh physicians at Rio who have a good practice, but 
 there is no American physician. 
 
 The American dentist holds his own in Rio just as he 
 
60 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PEOSPECTS. 
 
 does in all other large foreign cities. There are half a 
 dozen such dentists who have a good practice, clearing 
 twentj-odd dollars a day, but working very hard to do so. 
 One of these dentists, a young man, popular professionally 
 and socially, related to me some funny experience he had 
 at a social visit to one of his genteel patients, and which 
 illustrates the humor and freedom of Brazilian society. 
 It was an evening party given by a young married couple. 
 The gentlemen were out on the garden veranda smoking 
 and drinking healths. Presently the young host proposed 
 the health of the dentist, when, instead of exclaiming 
 " Vwa I " they all put their hands up to their faces and 
 began to scream, as if undergoing a terrible dental opera- 
 tion. 
 
 There are two lai'ge medical schools in Brazil under 
 the control of and supported in part by the Government ; 
 one being in the city of Bahia, and the other at Hio de 
 Janeiro. A new and very fine medical school-building of 
 granite is being erected at Rio, on Botafogo Bay, com- 
 manding a grand view of the harbor. The course of 
 study at the medical schools occupies eight years. The 
 graduation is a gala occasion. The students who graduate 
 wear black silk gowns, white cravats, and black university 
 caps. Accompanied by their near relatives, who, with 
 them, have looked forward for so many years to this their 
 triumphal day, and who now share with them its joys, 
 they drive in fine carnages to church and attend a solemn 
 mass. And for my part I admire to see ceremonies of 
 solemnity accompany the admission of people to this noble 
 and important profession. ISTeither in city nor country is 
 the Brazilian physician allowed to deal out and deliver 
 medicine. He must write a prescription, and the pre- 
 scription must be filled by a licensed druggist, who re- 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 61 
 
 cords the prescription and labels tlie medicine with its 
 name and character. In the country, where a physician 
 often rides horseback twenty miles to visit a patient, this 
 practice may be very inconvenient. The patient can 
 grow much worse or better before obtaining medicine. 
 
 Surgeons, in Brazil, who have performed successful 
 operations have frequently been very hberally paid ; and 
 there are some who accumulate fortunes. There is a 
 small medical periodical at Rio. 
 
 Marriage in Brazil is still regarded as a religious cere- 
 mony and not as a civil contract. To be valid it must, 
 therefore, be performed by a duly authorized clergyman. 
 If one or both of the parties be of a religion other than 
 the Catholic, the mai'riage may be celebrated by a duly 
 authorized pastor or clergyman of such non-Catholic relig- 
 ion, but in every case must be legally registered ; also, 
 prior to celebration, the intention of its being celebrated 
 must be publicly announced in the church on three Sun- 
 days, or published. Those belonging to the Catholic 
 Church are, of course, married by the clergy of that 
 church; but, in the larger cities, and especially in the 
 provinces of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, owing to the 
 presence of American missionaries as well as of clergymen 
 of the Church of England, Protestants would readily ob- 
 tain the services of some minister of that faith. 
 
 Americans abroad sometimes suppose that a diplomatic 
 or consular officer of their country can perform the mar- 
 riage ceremony; but such is not the case. It is usual, 
 however, and in conformity with regulations, for the mar- 
 riage of an American abroad to be performed before and 
 in the presence of the consular officer. In such case he 
 also signs the record of the marriage as a witness. He 
 also, at request of the parties, afterward furnishes a cer- 
 
62 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 tificate of tlie marriage, setting forth the names, ages, 
 places of birth of the parties, who the marriage was per- 
 formed by, where, and when ; a copy of which he delivers 
 to each one of the married couple, and the other he sends 
 to the Department of State, Washington. 
 
 It seems that British consular officers in Brazil have 
 authority to perform the marriage ceremony; and it is 
 not unusual for British subjects to be first married at 
 their consulate and then again by a clergyman. 
 
 Some inconvenience has arisen in the province of Hio 
 Grande do Sul, from notaries pubHc having illegally as- 
 sumed to marry a dozen or twenty couples of non-Catholic 
 German immigrants. As a matter of course, the Brazilian 
 Government, through its Minister of the Empire, had to 
 declare that the marriages were illegal, though the parties 
 who were married were innocent of any wrong intention, 
 had cohabited for some years, and had childi*en born to 
 them. The marriages could be legalized by the Legisla- 
 ture. 
 
 Any foreigner living in Brazil and wishing to make a 
 will must make it, not according to the laws of his own 
 country, but according to the laws of Brazil, so far as re- 
 gards any property, real or personal, of his that may be in 
 Brazil at the time of his death. His will must conform 
 to the Brazilian law of inheritance. According to such 
 law, a testator can dispose of one third of aU his property 
 as he pleases ; but ho is obliged to give one third to his 
 widow and one third to his children. If he leaves no 
 will, one half of the property goes to the wife — in case 
 there had been no previous marriage settlement — and the 
 other half equally to the children. The estate which a 
 deceased foreigner may leave in Brazil, whether real or 
 personal, and whether he leaves a will or not, has to be 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 63 
 
 settled by tlie orphans' court. The consular oflScer of his 
 country is allowed to examine the list of property and 
 watch the proceedings, and that is all. The taxes. and 
 charges to which such property is subjected are regarded 
 as exceedingly exorbitant. A Brazilian in Kio worth four 
 hundred thousand dollars was lately struck by a falling 
 piece of timber and suddenly killed. He had made no 
 will, yet left two illegitimate sons to whom he was much 
 attached, but who received no part of his property. 
 
 Debts due druggists, physicians, and the clergy are 
 privileged. Tradesmen readily extend credit to mechan- 
 ics and laborers to the amount of half their wages. In 
 wholesale trade the cash buyer gains a very considerable 
 advantage. In the dry-goods trade, for example, a credit 
 of twelve months is granted, but if th^ purchaser pays 
 cash he will get twelve to fourteen per cent discount. 
 Generally all products of the countiy are sold for cash or 
 on three months' credit. Coffee is a cash article. Fresh 
 meat, fresh fish, and mechanical work command cash. In 
 imports, salt, lumber, petroleum, copper, lead, and codfish 
 are cash articles. Flour is sold at six months' credit, or 
 cash at six per cent discount. There is a tendency to 
 increase the list of cash articles. There is a system of 
 amicable adjudication in which a plaintiff at the court of 
 first instance or of original jurisdiction obtains judgment 
 for so much of a claim to be paid monthly. If a debtor 
 fails so to pay, appeal can be had to a higher court, which 
 gives judgment for the whole amount. Business is gen- 
 erally conservative, and conducted with that steady and 
 economical spirit which is characteristic of the Portu- 
 guese. The accumulation of great fortunes is not of fre- 
 quent occurrence. There is a permanent and general 
 bankrupt law. Bankruptcy that is settled according to 
 
64 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 legal forms is not frequent; bnt failures attended with 
 private settlement are frequent. The long-credit system 
 of Brazil, though a relic of old and slow business times, 
 has naturally been fostered by the great extent of the 
 country and the difficulties of communication. It is a 
 subject of frequent complaint in all business circles. 
 
 An official Brazilian report made in 1881, treating of 
 the interior of the province of Maranham, says : " Who- 
 ever has seen one of our villages has seen all, because, un- 
 happily, in all is noticed an absolute lack of taste in the 
 construction of the dwellings, showing yet more promi- 
 nently the indolence and misery which everywhere pre- 
 vail. To a visitor our interior looks like an old and aban- 
 doned country, where everything is going to decay, and 
 the common jiecessaries of life are not to be met with." 
 M. Andrade, the president of the province, in his mes- 
 sage to the Legislative Assembly, February, 1884, says, 
 " To speak frankly, w^hat is needful is to wrest this noble 
 province from the lethargy which oppresses it." This is 
 the province at which the American steamers first touch, 
 on their way to Eio, after leaving Pard. Its natural 
 resources are important. It contains several navigable 
 rivers, and most of the population is in towns along their 
 banks. A civil engineer of Brazil, whose home is in this 
 province, in giving me a description of the rivers, and of 
 the finely wooded and fertile tracts accessible therefrom, 
 rather dampened the delightful impression I had got from 
 his statements, by telling me, in answer to a direct ques- 
 tion, that he had once seen one of those big, cattle-swallow- 
 ing serpents, the anaconda, swimming along in one of 
 these rivers. " There is an abundance of good land, but 
 the chief obstacle to its cultivation," writes a resident of 
 the province, is " the want of proper roads and an enter- 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 65 
 
 prising population to open the country, and better legis- 
 lation for inducing and facilitating immigration." 
 
 The province of Ceara is remarkable for the famine 
 which occurred there a few years ago. "Industry and 
 trade generally, in the province," writes Mr. George Hol- 
 derness, American consular agent at the port of Ceara, 
 in 1884, "have made no progress since 187T, the begin- 
 ning of the great drought. Emigration y/'6??;i the prov- 
 ince, which commenced then, has since continued in an 
 increasing degree, up to the beginning of 1884." It is 
 estimated that the number of Cearense, who emigrated to 
 the province of Amazonas, alone, amounted to thirty thou- 
 sand, many of whom found a grave on the banks of the 
 Amazon. The interior of the province is thinly peopled, 
 and a state of desolation prevails. The agricultural class 
 in the interior are represented as having no means of rec- 
 reation to speak of. Horseback-riding is the only exer- 
 cise they take. For amusement the men play cards, and 
 also play on the viola or guitar. There is no national game 
 among the boys. The poor people have been benefited 
 by the export of goat-skins, a trade started recently. Over 
 two hundred thousand of these were shipped to the United 
 States in 1884, and nearly as many to Europe. The ex- 
 port of oranges to the United States has lately commenced. 
 The principal export from Ceara is cotton, of which ten 
 million pounds were exported in 1884. The interior is 
 mostly composed of highlands, which are used for cattle- 
 breeding. Since the white settlements began, there have 
 been four or five fatal droughts there, the last and one 
 of the worst of which occurred in 18YT-1878. The two 
 previous years there had been an excess of rain. By 
 March, 18 77, the bishop ordered prayers in all the churches 
 for rain. Weeks and months passed, while the situation 
 
Qe BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 was growing worse. The crops failed, and bj April and 
 May the poorer people began to flock to the villages for 
 food. The forage had disappeared, and the stock-raisers 
 began to slaughter their cattle for their hides and tallow. 
 There was local relief as long as the generously disposed 
 had the means. Some provisions were brought in from 
 neighboring provinces on the backs of animals. Such 
 relief, of course, could only be very limited. The terri- 
 tory was then, and is now, so unprovided with good roads 
 and means of transportation, that a drought, which under 
 different circumstances could have been tided over with- 
 out much suffering, reached there and then the propor- 
 tions of a tragic and melancholy famine. By the middle 
 of 1877 many thousands of the interior inhabitants were 
 fleeing, half naked and in a state of destitution, toward 
 the coast cities. Many perished on the way, but many 
 thousands more, who arrived at places where there was 
 food, subsequently died of disease. Probably it is quite 
 within bounds to estimate the mortality in the province, 
 from the famine, at two hundred thousand. The General 
 Assembly of Brazil finally voted a large sum of money for 
 the relief of the destitution. 
 
 An observing friend, who recently traveled in the 
 province of Parana, has given me his impressions of the 
 condition and manners of the people there. In his opin- 
 ion, the natural fertility of the soil tends to malce the in- 
 habitants indolent. Each head of a family plants a small 
 plot of ground, whose produce may last a year. He does 
 not try to do more. He does not raise crops for the mar- 
 ket. Nearly all of the commerce of the province is in 
 the yerha mate but even this they do not cultivate. It 
 grows wild, and the people who bring it to town do so 
 from the necessity of having to procure certain neces- 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 67 
 
 saries. The Idglier class is also indolent, going to bed 
 early and rising late. What gives life to the town is 
 the coming and going of the colonists in selling milk and 
 other small things. There are scarcely any amusements. 
 On Sundays people have balls, and now and then church 
 festivals. The feeling toward immigrants and foreigners 
 is kind. Curitiba, the capital, is perhaps the only place 
 in the empire where Protestants have been allowed to 
 build a house of worship with the exterior of a church, 
 namely, with a church-steeple. The work was stopped by 
 the Government, on account of being against the law, 
 but the local sentiment tolerated it, and the church has 
 been completed. The houses at Curitiba are built of 
 brick or pine-wood, principally of the latter, and the 
 roofs are shingled with the native pine. The furniture 
 is made of the same. 
 
 Young women marry at different ages, from thirteen 
 years upward. If the parents are rich, they give a dower ; 
 otherwise, they merely furnish the wedding outfit, con- 
 sisting of considerable clothing and linen. Young women 
 of the middle class, besides helping in the work of 
 the house, devote themselves to sewing and sometimes 
 even washing and ironing. There are few books which 
 a young girl can read in Brazil, because, as a rule, the 
 novels are not of a very high moral tone. There are no 
 story-books, or anything of the sort, for the young ; they 
 either read nothing, or else read novels in books or from 
 newspapers. 
 
 There is a normal school at Curitiba, kept in a 
 pretty good building, but its furniture is scanty. There 
 are a few maps on the wall, one or two blackboards, and 
 nothing more. The hbrary is not small, but the books 
 are of little value, and apparently were donated by per- 
 
68 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 sons wlio wished to get rid of them. There is a private 
 school kept by the German pastor in the German Prot- 
 estant church, with a large attendance. The seats are 
 mere benches. 
 
 The dress of the people is in. the same style as at Eio, 
 except that perhaps the people are not so particular as to 
 cleanliness and good material. 
 
 The surface in Parand is divided into two distinct 
 portions, the coast belt and the interior table-land. As- 
 cending the mountains, forest-covered, we come to a 
 table-land entirely flat, at an elevation of three thousand 
 feet, and which is studded here and there with pine-for- 
 ests. Going from Paranagua to Curitiba, the scenery is 
 very beautiful and grand. 
 
 Mr. Bigg-Wither, an English engineer employed two 
 or three years on a railway survey in the wilds of Pa- 
 rand, describes, in his interesting work, " Pioneering in 
 South Brazil," a visit in 1872 to the home of a Brazilian 
 landed proprietor, who represented a type of the ordinary- 
 backwoods planter and stock-raiser, but who at that date 
 was a generation — one would think a century — behind 
 the intelligent and cultivated class of planters. Mr. Bigg- 
 Wither, traveling with assistants and supplies loaded on 
 mules, had got within about a day's march of his destined 
 headquarters, Colonia Thereza, in the great forest-covered 
 valley of the Ivahy. He says : " We followed Sr. An- 
 drade into the house, and found ourselves in a little tim- 
 ber-built room, of about fourteen feet by twelve feet, 
 with doors in each of the walls opening into other 
 apartments, whose mysteries will presently be explained. 
 Benches were ranged all around the walls, with the excep- 
 tion of the spaces left for the doorways. The floor was 
 the bare earth, beaten hard, and on it stood, in the mid- 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 69 
 
 die of the room, one solitary table. There were no win- 
 dows, and w^hen the door was shnt, the light could only 
 come in through the chinks in the w^alls and roof, which, 
 however, seemed large enough to render further provision 
 for light and air unnecessary. Eound these walls, which 
 were all built of timbers similar in shape to an ordinary 
 railway-sleeper, the convex side being outward, were 
 hung all the paraphernalia which pertained to the every- 
 day occupations of th^ inmates. Lassos, whips, spurs, 
 saddles and bridles, weak-looking guns, and tawdry pis- 
 tols, took up most of the available space, and indicated 
 accurately enough what was the life led by our host and 
 the male portion of his family. The door opposite the 
 entrance by which we had come in was open, disclosing 
 a lean-to shed, in which an atrociously ugly negress was 
 engaged in crushing coffee with a wooden pestle and 
 mortar. The door on the right opened into a second 
 lean-to shed, in which, through the interstices of the wall, 
 appeared a fire on the ground, with various pots and 
 pans around it, over which a young and good-looking girl 
 was presiding. This information we obtained inadver- 
 tently, and evidently not altogether with the consent of 
 Sr. Andrade, by our happening to advance farther into 
 the room than was intended, and thus obtaining a full 
 view of this domestic apartment and of its occupant 
 through the open door. The third door was of better 
 make than the ones referred to, and was furnished with a 
 lock and key. 
 
 " Our host's first act, after offering us seats, one on 
 either side of the entrance, was to present a cigarette, 
 made of tobacco rolled up in an Indian-corn leaf, to each, 
 to light which a young, haK-naked slave-boy appeared on 
 the scene and handed round a brand out of the fire. The 
 
70 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 senliora, a cheerful, motherlj-looking old lady, now came 
 into the room, and added her welcomes to those already 
 given by her husband. Pedro, who seemed to be more 
 or less a privileged person in the house, had a short con- 
 versation with her, and she went out and presently re- 
 turned, accompanied by the negress, bearing a large 
 wooden bowl full of delicious-looking new milk, a bever- 
 age which Pedro had no doubt told her would be an ac- 
 ceptable offering to us. After the milk, coffee in tiny 
 cups was brought in and handed round to us by the 
 senhora herself. When we had in this manner taken off 
 the edge of our fatigues, conversation began, Pedro act- 
 ing as interpreter. . . . Andrade himself was an old man 
 of about sixty years, and allowed his wife to do most of the 
 talking for him when she was in the room. One of her 
 first questions was to know whether we were married ; 
 and, on hearing that we were still in the full enjoyment 
 of our freedom, she proceeded to enlarge upon the de- 
 lights of a married life, informing us, at the same time, 
 that she had five unmarried daughters ! After this pretty 
 broad hint of what was expected of us, we of course ex- 
 pressed a wish to then and there make the acquaintance 
 of these fair members of the family. Her face became 
 suddenly grave when this request was translated to her 
 by Pedro, and for a moment her flow of words was 
 stopped, and I feared that a mistake had been inad- 
 vertently made. She looked hesitatingly at her husband, 
 who had remained silently puffing at his cigarette during 
 this conversation, and he said something which we did 
 not understand, but which had the effect of at once dis- 
 pelling her momentary gravity. The old man got up, 
 and, going to the locked door and turning the key, opened 
 it and disappeared into a dark chamber within. Almost 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 71 
 
 immediately, however, he returned, saying, ^The girls 
 are not accustomed to see strangers, and are afraid.' 
 Meanwhile, the senhora, who was now evidently deter- 
 mined that her daughters should show themselves, had, 
 in her turn, disappeared into the secret chamber, from 
 which various sounds of whispering and suppressed gig- 
 gling were now proceeding. Presently the senhora re- 
 appeared, leading one very modest-looking damsel of 
 about eighteen or nineteen years of age, and closely fol- 
 lowed by three others, apparently somewhat younger. 
 All appeared to be overwhelmed with intense shyness, 
 and an almost hysterical desire to laugh. After a formal 
 and separate introduction of each one — be it noted that 
 the lady was here introduced to the gentleman — they all 
 retired back again into the secret chamber, and their papa 
 once more turned the key upon them. At this time we 
 were ignorant of the custom, which I afterward found to 
 be so general in these out-of-the-way parts, of keeping 
 the women, or rather the daughters, of the family, locked 
 up hke wild beasts ; consequently we did not hesitate to 
 express our wonder, and to ask why it was done in this 
 case. Sr. Andrade, in reply, said it was the custom of 
 the country, and that he had never thought of bringing 
 his daughters up in any other way. I asked, ' Did they 
 never go out ? ' * 'No, never,' he replied ; they had all 
 learned riding when they were children, and since then 
 they had, according to custom, been shut up in the house, 
 where they would remain until husbands had been ob- 
 tained for them. . . . Some of us promising to breakfast 
 with the Andrades the following morning, we retired to 
 our tents for the night, wondering much that a man, w^ho 
 prided himself on being the owner of an estate of more 
 than thirty square miles in extent, and who also possessed 
 
Y2 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 some hundreds of head of cattle, mules, and horses, could 
 be content to pass his life in so wretched a habitation as 
 was his, living in a style not better than the poorest ccv- 
 loclo. ... In the morning, on going out of our tent, we 
 found Andrade already standing outside his door, waiting 
 for our appearance to summon us in to partake of cof- 
 fee and smoke a cigarette, in which manner a Brazilian 
 fazendeiro invariably begins his day, breakfast being usu- 
 ally deferred till ten or eleven o'clock. ... On returning 
 from our ride at about ten o'clock, I went in to breakfast 
 with the Andrades, according to promise. The first dish 
 offered consisted of cubes of hard meat, out of which all 
 flavor and goodness had been extracted by a process of 
 cooking unknown to me, and withal so tough that no 
 teeth could meet through them, the whole floating about 
 in some thin, greasy-looking fluid which our hosts called 
 caldo, but which seemed to be nothing more than greasy 
 hot water. A second dish consisted of black beans, like- 
 wise swimming in greasy caldo. Cabbage, cut into fine 
 shreds, formed a third dish ; while farinha was handed 
 round to be put into each individual's plate, to absorb the 
 greasy liquor, and thus facilitate the conveyance of it to 
 the mouth. 
 
 " !N'otwithstanding a sharp appetite, engendered by a 
 three hours' ride in the fresh mountain air, my stomach 
 revolted from the nauseous mess in my plate, and vain 
 were my attempts to get any of it down. After this 
 came a dish of curded milk, which, when eaten with 
 sugar and fa/rinha, is really not objectionable. "Water 
 and rum were then handed round to drink, and thus the 
 meal came to an end. Before rising from the table, how- 
 ever, Andrade and Jaca (his son) each filled his mouth 
 with water, which, after going through various sug- 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. Y3 
 
 gestive contortions of cheeks and lips for about half a 
 minute, they presently squirted out, broadcast, over the 
 hard-beaten mud floor. Immediately after this, coffee 
 and cigarettes were handed round by the senhora herself, 
 she having all through the meal remained standing, in 
 attendance upon us and upon her husband and son. 
 
 " The meal above described may be taken, to a great 
 extent, as typical of the entertainment offered to the 
 traveler at the houses of all the ruder planters of the re- 
 moter districts of the province. What they are accus- 
 tomed to eat themselves, they give you — nothing more 
 and nothing less. They might live like princes, with 
 such a wealth of nature around them, but, in the great 
 majority of instances, they certainly seem to prefer to 
 live Hke — pigs. Their hospitality, however, must be 
 taken to cover a multitude of sins. When once a trav- 
 eler can get accustomed to the food of the country, there 
 is no trait that he more appreciates in the character of 
 the people than their open and ungrudging hospitality to 
 all comers." 
 
 A kind of ball which the same author attended at the 
 Colonia Thereza village, situated in a fertile region, yet 
 stagnant from lack of communication with the outer 
 world, is thus described : " On entering the house at which 
 the entertainment was to be held, we immediately found 
 ourselves in a large, mud-floor room, ranged round the 
 walls of which were all the youth and beauty of the vil- 
 lage, smartly dressed in clean cotton prints, all evidently 
 ' got up ' for the occasion. In the center of this room, 
 which was bare of furniture, the young men of the vil- 
 lage, to the number of about two dozen, were grouped 
 together, chatting and smoking cigarettes, with their hats 
 on their heads, to all appearance utterly oblivious of the 
 7 
 
74: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 presence of the ladies. Our entry seemed to be tlie signal 
 for tlie commencement of the entertainment. Two banjos 
 struck up, and now, for the first time, the men began to 
 turn their attention to the demure but conscious-looking 
 maidens, who had up to the present moment been silently 
 awaiting their pleasure. One by one each man chose a 
 partner, till ten couples were made up. These ten couples 
 now formed a circle in the middle of the room, and the 
 dance commenced. 
 
 " With slow and rhythmic beat the men first began to 
 keep time to the banjos, alternately advancing toward and 
 retiring from the center of the ring, the women also 
 stamping with their feet but not advancing. At the end 
 of each dozen bars or so of the music, all with one accord, 
 both men and women, gave three loud claps of the hands, 
 which was the signal for the moment of a greater display 
 of energy in the movements of the body, and a more vig- 
 orous stamping of feet upon the hard mud floor. All at 
 once one of the men dancers, in a rich full voice, struck 
 up an ^ impromptu ' stanza, in beautiful time and harmony 
 Avith the music, the last words of which were taken up 
 and repeated in chorus by all. Once more vocal silence, 
 while the monotonous tum, tum, tum, of the banjos, and 
 the noise of the stamping of feet, went on as before. 
 Then again, a second, wild, 'impromptu' stanza burst 
 forth from another of the dancers, again to be taken up in 
 chorus by all. We observed on each of these occasions 
 that the dancers all turned their eyes upon us, as though 
 we were the persons they were addressing. We presently 
 found this to be the case, one of our interpreters, who was 
 present, coming up and informing us that we were being 
 invited to 'join the dance.' Nothing loath, we each chose 
 a mlling damsel from the still unexhausted row of wall- 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 75 
 
 flowers, and joined the untiring ring in the middle of the 
 room. 
 
 " During what seemed interminable minutes, we too 
 had now to beat our feet upon the hard floor, swing our 
 arms and bodies, and clap our hands. As the dance went 
 on, the excitement waxed stronger, the impromptu' 
 shouts became yells, the once graceful swaying of the 
 bodies of the performers was changed into violent contor- 
 tions, and all the characteristics of a Korth American In- 
 dian war-dance came into play. Curling and I now 
 quietly slipped out of the ranks of the dancers, and re- 
 tired unnoticed to the background. The atmosphere of 
 the room was full of the smoke of cigarettes, through 
 which the dim bees-wax tapers, here and there stuck upon 
 the face of the walls around, cast a lurid glare. Suddenly 
 the music ceased ; the tired fingers of the minstrels had 
 given way at last, and the dance abruptly came to a con- 
 clusion. The partnership between each couple was im- 
 mediately dissolved, without ceremony of any kind. The 
 man turned on his heel without look, word, or salutation ; 
 and the forlorn damsel, her service or presence being no 
 longer necessary, once more retired to her place against 
 the wall, there to bloom unheeded till another dance 
 should be commenced. 
 
 "Refreshments of rum, water, and cigarettes were 
 now handed round by the host to us and to the men gen- 
 erally, who had again grouped themselves in threes and 
 fours about the middle of the room. During the dance 
 no conversation had been carried on between the partners, 
 and now no sign of courtesy or deference was bestowed 
 upon the poor, forsaken damsels by their late partners. It 
 appeared to me that this neglect proceeded not so much 
 from any indifference or want of gallantry on the part of 
 
^Q BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 the men, as from an enforced cnstom, wliicli seemed to 
 forbid even the slightest appearance of intimacy between 
 the sexes. A longer acquaintance with this backwoods 
 colony was not convincing of the perfect efficacy of these 
 strict rules of its society. Nevertheless, in default of a 
 higher standard of education being given to the women, 
 they are no doubt necessary." 
 
 It seems that when a stranger comes to one of these 
 backwoods settlements the people out of compliment — 
 possibly in part for curiosity — come to take a look at him. 
 The first day Mr. Bigg- Wither arrived at Colonia Thereza, 
 he dined in the evening with the director, and says: 
 " While we were at dinner, the same curious custom, with 
 which we were first made acquainted at Ponta Grossa, of 
 the people of the place paying us complimentary visits, 
 was observed ; at one time during the meal there being as 
 many as twenty individuals standing or squatting round the 
 walls of the room, staring silently with might and main. 
 They neither offered to say a word, nor, as far as I could 
 tell from their manner, did they expect to be addressed 
 themselves. I really began to feel quite uncomfortable 
 under their prolonged and silent stare. At length, how- 
 ever, somewhat to my relief, they began to depart one by 
 one, till, by the time dinner was concluded, they had all 
 disappeared. We talked to the director about them after- 
 ward, and he told us they were all residents of the place, 
 and that they merely wished to compliment us." 
 
 Captain Burton, in his graphic work the " Highlands 
 of Brazil," thus describes the planter's life as he saw it in 
 the province of Minas-Geraes in 1867 : " The life of the 
 planter is easily told. He rises at dawn and his slave- 
 valet brings him coffee and wash-hand basin with ewer, 
 both of solid silver. After strolling about the mill, which 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 77 
 
 often begins work at 2 a. m., and riding over the estate to 
 see that the hands are not idhng, he returns between nine 
 and eleven with his family, and, if a bachelor, with his 
 head men to breakfast. The sunny hours are passed either 
 in a siesta aided by a glass of English ale — there is noth- 
 ing English in it but the name — in reading the newspa- 
 pers, or in receiving visits. The dinner is between 3 p. m. 
 and 4 r. m., sometimes later ; it is invariably followed by 
 coffee and tobacco. Often there is another relay of coffee 
 before sitting down to tea, biscuits and butter, or con- 
 serves, and the day ends with chat in some cool place. 
 The monotony ... is broken by an occasional visit to a 
 neighbor, or to the nearest country town." 
 
 Santa Catharina, the most southerly but one of Bra- 
 zil's twenty provinces, contains the land granted as the 
 Princess Imperial's marriage-portion, and on which is a 
 colony under charge of an American. There are several 
 colonies in the province, and it possesses a diversified sur- 
 face, and a salubrious climate, like all of Brazil's highlands. 
 Desterro, its port and capital, has a good harbor, and in 
 time of war is used as Brazil's southern naval station. 
 Five to nine steamships per month, each way, north and 
 south, call there. The late American consular agent 
 there, Mr. Comsett, in a report published by the Depart- 
 ment of State, gave the name and character of thirty-eight 
 different kinds of valuable timber growing in that prov- 
 ince, and states that there are many other kinds. The 
 province has been called the paradise of Brazil. There is 
 an abundance of fish and beef, bnt otherwise Mr. Com- 
 sett found the expense of living dear. 
 
 I have lately obtained, direct, some information rela- 
 tive to the German colonies of Blumenau, Brusque, and 
 D. Francisca, and which, though from a source very 
 
Y8 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 friendly to the colonies, I consider reliable. They are 
 distant eight days by steamer southwest from Rio de 
 Janeiro. The colony of Blumenan was founded by Dr. 
 Blnmenau in 1849, and occupies mountainous land, with 
 red-colored and somewhat sandy soil, naturally produc- 
 ing forest near the navigable waters of the Itajahy River. 
 Its markets are Desterro, Santos, and Rio de Janeiro, and 
 as eight steamers a month run between these points, there 
 ought to be reasonable rates of transportation. However, 
 it costs twenty-six dollars for first-class passage on a 
 steamer from Rio to the nearest port for this colony. The 
 colonists bought their land at the rate of about two mills 
 a square hraga, they each hold on an average about one 
 hundred alqueiras (six hundred acres), and about half the 
 number have fully paid for their land. The Brazilian 
 Government furnished money to build roads. There is 
 a road leading from Itajahy on the sea-coast, by the way 
 of Brusque, to Blumenau, and there are also some steam- 
 boats running on the Itajahy River. These colonists are 
 principally Protestant Germans from North Germany. 
 They do not grow coffee ; their principal crops are sugar- 
 cane, Indian com, beans, and rice; and they raise cattle 
 and hogs. The houses of the colonists are of wood and 
 brick, one story high with floor overhead, and situated 
 about three hundred to five hundred yards apart. Each 
 family has on an average a dozen cows, thirty to forty 
 pigs, one to four horses, a few sheep, and a good deal of 
 poultry, chickens, turkeys, pigeons, etc. The wages for 
 men's labor are forty cents to a dollar a day of ten hours' 
 work. Servant-girls are paid four to six dollars per 
 month. There is an abundance of food, the climate is 
 excellent, and good health prevails. I am assured that a 
 colonist working hai'd, yet living well, will easily pay for 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 79 
 
 his land and accumulate a capital of twelve hundred to 
 twenty-four hundred dollars in eight or ten years. For 
 social diversion the colonists have the usual German 
 amusements. There are two or three singing societies, a 
 shooting society, also occasional balls. There are also fish- 
 ing and hunting. At both Blumenau and D. Francisca 
 there is a theatre, with a performance in German once or 
 twice a month. There are two newspapers pubhshed at 
 Blumenau, and one at D. Francisca, all in the German 
 language. The postal service is regular. There are two 
 post-offices, which have to accommodate a pretty exten- 
 sive region. Instruction in the schools is in the German 
 language. Teachers receive eight to sixteen dollars a 
 month, and land and house free. Attendance of children 
 from eight to fourteen years of age is very regular. 
 
 The German colonists have from six to eight churches, 
 nearly all Protestant, and sustained by themselves. At 
 Blumenau the Italians and Portuguese each have a Catho- 
 lic church. With one exception, the Catholic churches 
 are sustained by the colonists themselves. The Italians 
 in the settlement are from the north of Italy. Only a 
 very few of the colonists are naturalized, but they are of 
 course subject to Brazilian laws, with the exception of be- 
 ing called into the military service. As a rule, they appear 
 to be contented with their lot. The colony of Blumenau 
 has a municipal organization, and belongs politically to 
 the first election district of the j)rovince. There are sev- 
 eral hotels at the center of the colony, which furnish a 
 good table at less than a dollar a day — " drinking extra.'' 
 The venders also furnish lodging. There are no slaves 
 in the colony. 
 
 In the interior of Brazil, and among the more numerous 
 class of people, the habits and accommodations of living 
 
80 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 are very primitive, and scarcely above a half -civilized con- 
 dition. The floors of the dwellings are nothing but the 
 natural ground. Household utensils are very scanty. 
 People eat with their fingers, instead of with knives and 
 forks, and are expert in throwing the food into their 
 mouths. Women seldom sit at the table with the men, 
 especially if there be a stranger present ; but, with the 
 children, will take their meals sitting on the ground, the 
 food being spread on a dry hide, instead of on a cloth. 
 Some of the habits, such as bending the head down, and 
 wiping the mouth, after eating, on the bare table, are re- 
 pulsive enough. For a little fun, after a jovial meal, one 
 of the naked children — five or six years old it may be — 
 will be put upon the table, and made to frolic about by dif- 
 ferent ones giving it an amiable slap. Women belonging 
 to the middle class, in the rural districts, make visits to 
 their neighbors barefooted. The clothing of men is fre- 
 quently nothing more than a shirt and a pair of trousers. 
 If it is cold, they will wear the same red woolen blanket 
 that they use for cover at night. Tlie hammock is com- 
 monly used, instead of a bed, and is much the more tidy 
 article of furniture, it being the custom to wash it twice 
 a month. The ordinary hammock is of cotton, woven by 
 hand at home, and quite durable. Some of them have 
 neat variegated borders, and cost twelve dollars. So also 
 out in the wilds of Matto-Grosso there will be seen large, 
 square, and home-made hammocks, woven with diflerent 
 colors, which are worth forty dollars each. People sleep 
 in the hammock at night without undressing. In the day- 
 time the hammock has to serve for a seat, chairs being 
 very scarce. Indeed, the long dry season on the interior 
 table-lands tends to cause wooden furniture to faU to 
 pieces. The same people who eat with their hands, it 
 
LIFE AND MANNERS. 81 
 
 must be said to their credit, are clean in regard to their 
 bodies ; tliey are in the liabit of bathing frequently. In 
 Matto-Grosso, women as well as men are addicted to smok- 
 ing cigarettes. People have coffee served to them in a 
 small cup in the morning before getting out of the ham- 
 mock. 
 
CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 THE EMPEEOK OF BKAZIL. 
 
 " "What sort of a man is the Emperor ? " This was 
 the question most frequently asked me on my return from 
 Brazil to the United States. Dom Pedro II, Emperor of 
 Brazil, is six feet tall, and weighs one hundred and eighty 
 pounds. He has an intellectual head, eyes a grayish blue 
 (his mother was the Archduchess Leopoldine of Austria), 
 beard full and gray, hair well trimmed, also gray, complex- 
 ion florid, and expression sober. He is erect, and has a 
 manly bearing. Being now upward of sixty years of 
 age, he is not, of course, so sentimental a man as when, 
 thirty years or so ago, he used to talk to American trav- 
 elers about our poets. Descended from a long line of 
 rulers, he came to the throne in 1840, at the early age of 
 fourteen and a half years. His reign began fifteen years 
 after Brazilian independence, for his father, being unwill- 
 ing to accept so hberal a Constitntion, frankly expressed 
 his sentiments, honorably abdicated, though at great sacri- 
 fice of his feelings, and retired to Portugal. During this 
 long period there have been some provincial rebellions 
 and some local turmoil, but the Emperor has always shown 
 a tact, energy, and humanity that helped much to restore 
 order, quiet, and good feeling. Thus, while he has held 
 the scepter his country has continued to prosper. Its 
 
THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. 83 
 
 vast area has been held intact, and it has become an 
 important empire. As I have looked at his gray head, 
 when he has been driving in his carriage through the 
 streets of Eio, I have said to myself, " There certainly 
 is an august and venerable character." 
 
 The sixtieth anniversary of his birthday, December 2, 
 1885, was celebrated by the Municipal Council of Eio by 
 the liberation of one hundred and thirty-three slaves, with 
 funds contributed by private parties for that purpose. 
 The whole amount thus contributed was 34,925 milreis 
 ($12,256), of which the sum of 30,000 milreis was from 
 some person unknown, but generally believed to be the 
 Emperor himself. During the ceremony of conferring 
 the letters of liberty upon the slaves, the Emperor is said 
 to have expressed the wish that God would give him life 
 to bestow liberty upon the last slave in Brazil. 
 
 My wife and I had the honor of being presented to 
 the Emperor and Empress of Brazil, at the Palace of Sao 
 Christovao, some little time after our arrival, and were 
 graciously received by both. As was natural on this oc- 
 casion, reference was made to the Emperor's visit in the 
 United States, and I was glad to assure him of his popu- 
 larity there. I told him he had many friends in the 
 United States. He replied: "That is a good record." 
 On his learaing that the place of my nativity was in the 
 same region of country as Boston, the Emperor said that 
 Boston pleased him more than any other city in the 
 United States. The first person he visited when in Bos- 
 ton was Mr. Clark, of Cambridge, the celebrated telescope- 
 maker. As aU the world knows, the Emperor is not only 
 a scholar, but a man of great activity. He is unwearied 
 in his visits to observe and encourage industrial and edu- 
 cational enterprise. Day after day one hears of his spend- 
 
84: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITIOIf AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 ing two or three hours at a time at some of the public in- 
 stitutions or establishments — it may be a department of 
 the Government, or the ]N"ational Library or Museum, or 
 a pubhc-school examination, or a hospital, or the Military 
 Academy, or the Government machine-shops, or the Ar- 
 senal. 
 
 Daniel Webster would get up at four o'clock in the 
 morning to study a patent case, and has been seen thus 
 early with his coat off, lying on the floor on his back under 
 a machine, studying the principle and details of its opera- 
 tion. The Emperor does almost as much, for he has been 
 known, on an American vessel at Rio, to descend on lad- 
 ders through a narrow passage-way down to the bottom 
 of the vessel and minutely study its machinery. He 
 makes journeys, lasting several days, into the interior to 
 assist in the opening of new railroads, and on these occa- 
 sions he is frequently accompanied by the Empress, a 
 very popular lady, of fine manners. A recent instance of 
 his notice of scientific work, which he seems always par- 
 ticularly glad to honor, was his visit, October 10, 1884, on 
 board the United States Coast-Survey vessel Charles S. 
 Patterson, then lying at Rio on her way to Alaska for 
 scientific service. He was welcomed on board by the 
 American minister, ex-Governor Thomas A. Osborn, and 
 Lieutenant Clover, commanding the vessel. He went 
 through the vessel, examined carefully its library, scien- 
 tific instruments, charts, new apparatus for measuring 
 depth, as well as the newly invented steam launches. 
 Later in the day he attended the opening of the new in- 
 clined-plane Corcovado Mountain Railway to Paineiras. 
 The following day, according to the journals of Octo- 
 ber 11th, he spent three hours at the Government Office 
 of Public Archives, where he read several documents of 
 
THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. 85 
 
 historic interest, among others the original correspondence 
 of Lord Cochrane, the defense of Count Barca, a curious 
 manuscript of Father Francisco Jose da Serra Xavier, 
 etc. ; also looked at some of the work of the office. 
 
 If Peter II, Emperor of Brazil, lacks some of those 
 great qualities of statesmanship which distinguished Peter 
 the Great of Russia, he must be admitted anjhow to pos- 
 sess much tact as a ruler. Probably he does not exercise 
 a hundredth part of the one-man power that is used by 
 the President of the United States. 
 
 In case of his death the Emperor would be succeeded 
 on the throne by his daughter the Princess Isabella, bom 
 July 29, 1846, and married, October 15, 1864, to Count 
 d'Eu (Louis Gaston, Prince d' Orleans), grandson of Louis 
 Philippe. The princess bears a strong likeness to her 
 father, -and is regarded as an earnest Catholic. 
 
 When the Emperor goes out in the city he always 
 rides in the imperial carriage, drawn by six mules or 
 horses, with a mounted escort of eight or ten men, two of 
 which ride ahead. The carriage is always driven rapidly, 
 and the Emperor's coming over the stone pavements can 
 be heard some distance off. He generally sits bareheaded 
 in the carriage, reading, and returns salutations with a 
 slight nod. I am told that his library, into which visitors 
 are not usually admitted, is in a state of great disorder — 
 books, pictures, and other objects being scattered over the 
 floor. He gives no dinners nor balls, but is accessible to 
 the public generally every Saturday evening. He is very 
 benevolent, and gives away a good deal of money to the 
 poor. Though a man of liberal ideas, he fulfills those 
 religious duties and ceremonies required by his office. 
 One of these is to wash annually the feet of a certain 
 number of poor people. Respectable persons are selected 
 
86 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 for tHs rite, who, after its performance, are treated to a 
 good dinner. At Easter likewise he attends the long 
 service at the Cathedral, and publicly drinks a glass of 
 holy water. A beautiful and pious duty, which he never 
 neglects, is to visit his mother's tomb on every anniver- 
 sary of her death. 
 
 The newspapers mentioned that, during the political 
 excitement in April, a young man called at the palace in 
 Petropohs, sent in a card, and asked for an interview with 
 his Majesty the Emperor, which was granted. Upon 
 being introduced, the visitor informed his Majesty that 
 he had come from Sao Paulo especially to warn him that 
 the Conservatives must be called to take the Government. 
 The Emperor replied that this required reflection, and in- 
 vited the visitor to remain in an antechamber, from which 
 he was expelled by the servants. Some of his political 
 duties will be referred to in the chapter on Government. 
 
CHAPTER YI. 
 
 TIJUCA — PEDEA BONITA. 
 
 TouEiSTS arriving at Rio in the hot season, frequently 
 go up to Tijuca to spend the nights, or at least to have a 
 look at the place. It is a grand mountain-park region, 
 embracing many thousand acres, intersected by excellent 
 carriage-roads, which lead up to magnificent sea and 
 mountain views, such as the Chinese and the Admiral's, 
 abounding also with ilower-besprinkled woods, granite 
 cliffs, crystal brooks and cascades. Some of its nooks 
 seem enchanted. There are two villages on the main 
 road, and scattered about on the various eminences are 
 some pretty villas whose grounds are well stocked with 
 orange-groves, fig-trees, vines, thickets of bamboo, big 
 rose-bushes, some of which are always in bloom, and 
 much other vegetation. 
 
 The place is now rather quiet. To get there, you 
 take the street-car marked Tijuca at the Largo Sao Fran- 
 cisco, being careful to select a seat on the shady side; 
 on the way you pass through the long street, Haddock 
 Lobo, in which are the palaces of the Duke de Saxe and 
 Baron Mesqueta, and in an hour reach the foot of the 
 mountain. There you take the stage, or a private con- 
 veyance, up the fine mountain-road, admitting of a trot 
 a good part of the way, and in half an hour are at Boa 
 
88 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PEOSPECTS. 
 
 Yista, the most elevated village in Tijuca. That is as 
 high ground as the stage reaches, but the green-topped 
 mountains on either side are several hundred feet higher. 
 On the winding way up there are two places where very 
 beautiful views are to be had of the bay and part of the 
 city. There are a hotel and several nice residences at Boa 
 Yista, but from there the stage soon begins to descend 
 the other side to another hotel, reached in about ten 
 minutes, and which, though somewhat «hut in, has a pleas- 
 ant prospect from its piazza, and on its grounds a clear 
 stream forming cool basins for bathing, amid a romantic 
 labyrinth of foliage. 
 
 The last six months' residence of my family and my- 
 self in Brazil was at Sea-Yiew Cottage, Tijuca, a spot 
 whence there is a view of the sea in two places. During 
 this time we had many delightful horseback-rides amid 
 the charming solitudes, especially into the Floresta and 
 its pleasant bridle-paths, where often the most brilliant 
 butterflies, gently winging their way through the moist 
 tropical air of some shady ravine, would pass before us 
 and disappear in the woods. 
 
 To illustrate the surroundings, I shall venture to give 
 a familiar account of a horseback-ride which, accompa- 
 nied by my wife and daughter, I took to the top of the 
 mountain called Pedra Bonita (" Beautiful Rock "). We 
 had been told by an old resident of Tijuca that the road 
 was good all the way there, and that people sometimes 
 made the trip before breakfast. "We started at nine 
 o'clock in the forenoon, May 4, 1885, and, after riding 
 something over a mile, on the road leading from Boa 
 Yista to the Chinese Yiew, we turned off to the right and 
 went down into and across a valley having fifty acres or 
 so of flat land watered by a clear stream, traversed by roads 
 
TIJUOA-PEDEA BONITA. 89 
 
 arched over by bamboos, and wMch was formerly tlie 
 seat of a coffee-plantation. Of the latter there is no ves- 
 tige except a durable-looking house. At this time there 
 was a dairy with a good modem barn for cows, some 
 patches of cultivated grass on surrounding knolls, a few 
 scattered dwellings, and on the farther side, down stream, 
 a paper-miU. We rode on as far as the latter place, 
 and found we were on the wrong track ; but a Portu- 
 guese operative went with us a few hundred yards and 
 showed us where to turn. Soon we began to ascend the 
 mountain over a narrow way or path which had been 
 paved with rough stones many years ago, and which was 
 beginning to be obstructed by high bushes and branches 
 of trees, especially after we had left the only pasture-gate 
 on the way. On we rode. "We were ascending the north 
 side of the mountain ; some of the way was quite steep 
 and difficult, and, the weather being warm, it was neces- 
 sary occasionally to let the horses rest. We soon gained 
 a point where we had a full view of the Peak of Tijuca, 
 the Parrot's Beak, and other mountain scenery. In the 
 course of half or three quarters of an hour we came to 
 an old and abandoned house, without floor or windows, 
 but in the yard of which was a fine specimen of the fire 
 tree or plant in full bloom, with bright-red, long-leaved 
 flowers. We rode up into the door-yard to take a look 
 at the place, and to gain, if we could, a good distant view. 
 There seemed to be no very near prospect of our getting 
 to the top of the mountain. However, we kept on our way 
 through high and thickly grown bushes. In the course 
 of half an hour more we came to another deserted, low- 
 roofed, weather-stained house, still more dilapidated than 
 the one we had just seen. Around this were a few rods 
 of pasture, though rather overgrown with bushes. We 
 
90 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 seemed to have come to the end of our path, for there 
 were no signs of a track beyond, and we were not at the 
 summit of Pedra Bonita, that was sure. Fortunately for 
 us, however, we met there a colored man, a tall, slender 
 old fellow, who was hunting his mule. He was bare- 
 footed, wore a pair of cotton trousers, a thin undershirt, 
 a low-crowned felt hat, and had in his hands a sharp, 
 brass-hilted artillery saber or broadsword, which I sup- 
 posed he intended to use in cutting bushes. We learned 
 from him that we were on the right track, and that we 
 could get to the top of Pedra Bonita in about a quarter 
 of an hour. He pointed toward the path we should take, 
 but said it was very bad. "We found it so completely 
 overgrown by ferns and bushes that we could make no 
 progress at all. I then proposed that he should accom- 
 pany us, to show the way, which he did, going ahead and 
 cutting away the bushes so we could get along. The way 
 was difficult and seemed long. I thought no one could 
 have passed that route on horseback for some years. 
 At one time I almost had misgivings lest we were being 
 led into the wilderness ; but at length, in less perhaps 
 than half an hour, we reached the top. While yet in the 
 woods, and before we could see anything but light 
 through the branches, we could hear the heavy roar of the 
 sea. "We dismounted and tied our horses in a clump of 
 heavy timber, and then walked a few hundred feet out 
 upon the bare, smooth summit of solid rock, where a little 
 monument had been built. We were on the summit of 
 Pedra Bonita. 
 
 The view was superb. In a moment we felt more 
 than rewarded for the difficult and fatiguing ascent. On 
 our right, at the foot of the mountain, was the long 
 Tijuca beach, with the white waves of the ocean, whose 
 
TIJUCA— PEDRA BONITA. 91 
 
 deep murmur we heard, rolling upon it ; and back of the 
 beach a flat, dark area of low land, inclosing a fresh-water 
 lake, around which were some fishermen's cottages. Op- 
 posite us was the castle-topped Garvea, with its great 
 perpendicular tower of solid rock, distinctly and beauti- 
 fully prominent. To the left of the Garvea, and partly 
 in front of us, was an extensive view of the ocean and an 
 island near the shore; off to the left, and apparently 
 eight miles distant, was a good view of the Corcovado, its 
 side toward the sea looking extremely precipitous and its 
 summit sharp-pointed. Between the mountains we could 
 see the Bay of Kio, and the Petropolis Mountains be- 
 yond; also a little to their right the pinnacles of the 
 Organ Mountains. The prospect was much grander than 
 the " Chinese Yiew " — so called because Chinamen built 
 the road leading to it. Between the Pedra Bonita we 
 were on and the Corcovado, there was a mass of white 
 moving clouds covering the valleys, which made the 
 scene more picturesque. What we had formerly sup- 
 posed was the Pedra Bonita was, in fact, the slender, 
 sharp-pointed, sugar-loaf eminence, a little way distant on 
 our left, but considerably below us, called the Pitanga. 
 The highest summit of Pedra Bonita has an area only 
 about twenty-five feet square, and the sides are precipi- 
 tous. Toward the Garvea there is, after a slight descent, 
 a continuation of the summit that is about an acre broad. 
 After a stay of twenty minutes we started down, 
 bringing with us a piece of the rock. Our guide, who 
 had stayed with us, led the way, still cutting bushes to 
 improve the path. At one place he made a sudden halt, 
 and seemed, by the motion of his arm and knife, to be 
 trying to scare rather than hit a snake which he said was 
 in among the branches of some bushes. ITeither of us 
 
92 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 saw the reptile, which probably was after birds. It was 
 suggested that it might be an anaconda. The incident 
 afforded a good laugh. 
 
 We left our guide where we found him, telling him 
 to come to our house soon for his pay. He gave me a 
 few guavas, which I put in my pocket, and just then I 
 spied a couple of clusters of wild blackberries, which, 
 though small, had the natural taste. They are never seen 
 in Brazil except in some such wild place, but there is no 
 reason why the fruit could not be cultivated. 
 
 It was half -past one o'clock in the afternoon when we 
 safely reached home. Where the road was good we 
 galloped rapidly. We had occupied nearly five hours in 
 our excursion, yet felt very well satisfied at what we had 
 accomplished. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 BITTJATION, EESOHRCES, AND CLIMATE. 
 
 A coTJNTKY as large as Brazil, having an area equal to 
 tliat of tlie United States exclusive of Alaska, must, of 
 course, have a variety of surface and climate. First, 
 there are the hot lowlands bordering the ocean ; secondly, 
 the highlands, partly prairie, and on the average three 
 thousand feet above the sea-level, with a salubrious 
 climate ; and, thirdly, the great forest-clad river-basins. 
 Tlie vast basin of the Amazon, which occupies the north- 
 ern part of the empire, and comprises a third of its whole 
 area, is nearly level, although there are occasional blujffs 
 and not very high mountain-spurs on its shores as well as 
 along the banks of its tributaries. This region is mostly 
 covered with forest. The other two thirds of the country 
 are to a great extent mountainous, or at least much ele- 
 vated and broken. Distinct ranges of mountains extend 
 along nearly the whole of the sea-coast, but they gener- 
 ally are only about four thousand feet high, are covered 
 with a good growth of hard-wood trees, and always have 
 a green appearance. There are only a very few of the 
 mountains in Brazil which have an elevation of six thou- 
 sand to eight thousand feet. There are some in the min- 
 ing regions, three hundred miles west of Hio, which are 
 very rocky, and have a naked and black appeai'ance. 
 
94: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 Professor Agassiz was of the opinion that the soil 
 which covers Brazil was brought down from the Andes 
 by an immense glacier dming the ice period — the " cos- 
 mic winter, which may have lasted thousands of centu- 
 ries." His conclusions on other matters have been so 
 sound that I was disposed to adopt, without question, this 
 theory of his, and was surprised to hear an experienced 
 geologist, who is acquainted with Brazil, throw doubt 
 upon it. His remark to me was, " As the students at 
 college used to say, Agassiz ' balled up ' on this matter." 
 But whatever may have been the origin of the soil — call 
 it " drift " or " deposit " as we may — one thing is certain, 
 that nearly over all the surface of Brazil the soil has a 
 red color ; and the darker the shade of red which it has, 
 and the nearer it approaches to a purple color, the more 
 fertile it is found to be. Such soil frequently occurs on 
 the more elevated situations, where it produces a rich 
 growth of vegetation, and, indeed, is found on mountains 
 more frequently than on low land. Mr. Buckle, in his 
 well-known work, says : " Brazil, which is nearly as large 
 as the whole of Europe, is covered with a vegetation of 
 incredible profusion. Indeed, so rank and luxuriant is 
 the growth, that ]S"ature seems to riot in the very wanton- 
 ness of power. . . . The progress of agriculture is stopped 
 by impassable forests, and the harvests are destroyed by 
 innumerable insects. The mountains are too high to 
 scale, the rivers are too wide to bridge ; everything is 
 contrived to keep back the human mind, and repress its 
 rising ambition." This eloquent writer devotes several 
 pages to Brazil, and much that he says of it is true ; but 
 he had acquired from travelers, who had made but brief 
 visits to the country, an erroneous impression as to the 
 density and luxuriance of its vegetation. Many of the 
 
SITUATIOiT, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. 95 
 
 best plantations in Brazil are on land tliat was formerly 
 covered with the heaviest kind of timber that the soil 
 produces, and I am satisfied that, if we take the most de- 
 sirable agricultural land as a body, it can be subdued 
 about as readily as the forests of Kentucky and Ohio 
 were subdued by the pioneers of those States. Some of 
 the rich bottom-lands on the tributaries of the Mississippi 
 bear as dense and luxuriant a forest-growth as are to be 
 found in Brazil. It is true, the mountains greatly ob- 
 struct communication ; but already railroads run over 
 them in several places, as well as through them by tun- 
 nels; and they are no higher than some of those in 
 l!^orway, which are crossed by excellent macadamized 
 roads. The many navigable rivers, instead of retarding 
 development, afford an extensive means of communica- 
 tion, and much of the civilization of the interior is found 
 along their banks. In the central and southern portions 
 of Brazil are extensive undulating plains, mostly devoid of 
 timber, covered with green grass in summer but shriveled 
 and almost bare in winter, and which, though better suited 
 for cattle-raising than for field-culture, occasionally suffer 
 long-continued and fatal droughts. The more fertile 
 tracts of the country are like islands in a great area of 
 thin soil. One may sometimes travel for days on horse- 
 back over poor and almost worthless land. A naturalist, 
 who has spent several years traveling in Brazil, said to 
 me : '' Brazil is not a fertile country ; even the rich vege- 
 tation in the Amazon Yalley is not owing to fertile soil 
 but to the air and rain." Speaking of the large province 
 of Matto-Grosso, comprising almost a fourth of the em- 
 pire, he said, " It is a splendid desert." 
 
 Having traveled hundreds of miles in different direc- 
 tions in some of the most fertile and productive parts of 
 
96 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 tlie countiy, I must say that its vegetation is not more 
 remarkably luxuriant than what would be met with in 
 some parts of the United States or Europe. 
 
 Mr. Walter J. Hammond, a British subject and a rail- 
 way manager in Brazil, seems to give a fair summary of 
 the character of the land in a paper recently published. 
 " The chief reason," he says, " for the belief in the sur- 
 passing fertility of the land is not based on what it has 
 been known to give per acre, but rather it is the result of 
 an ocular impression of the glorious green mountains that 
 form the coast-line of the southern half of Brazil. In- 
 stinctively, all attribute fertility to forest-lands, and to a 
 certain extent this is right, owing to the magnificent allu- 
 vial soil found in them, often the accumulation of many 
 a century. But Brazil is not all covered with dense for- 
 ests, and even where it is, and where the soil is sufficiently 
 moist and good, the land is not by any means suitable for 
 any other than tropical agriculture. There are myriads 
 of miles of sterile campo-land, on which only rank grass 
 grows, and there are miles untold of sandy plains, on 
 which only scrub cork-trees and other similar growth will 
 flourish. . . . Examining the province of Sao Paulo, not- 
 ably one of the richest in Brazil, a territory not much in- 
 ferior in size to England, Scotland, and Ireland combined, 
 we find that down the coast, for a distance of from fifty 
 to eighty miles inland, the land is comparatively useless 
 from an agricultural point of view. Beyond this strip of 
 land the soil is a little better, and will, after the forest has 
 been cut or burned down, produce one or two crops of 
 Indian com or rice without the need of manuring, after 
 which it is used up. About one hundred miles from the 
 sea-coast commences the coffee district, which is also vari- 
 able in fertility, some parts being very good, others use- 
 
SITUATION, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. 97 
 
 less from being too dry, and others too sandj. Two hun- 
 dred miles inland, in the region between the rivers Pardo, 
 Piracicaba, and Tiete, where trap rock is chiefly found, is 
 the famous red land. Even here there are stretches of 
 miles and miles of sandy campo-land, useless for anything. 
 If the European idea of good land — namely, that which 
 with careful tilling and manuring will give good crops — 
 be taken as a standard, then can the whole province of 
 Sao Paulo be considered generally good, for the climate 
 is good, the rainfall between forty and fifty inches on the 
 table-land from Sao Paulo inland, and the seasons are well 
 defined. This, however, can not be called ' surpassing 
 fertility.' On the contrary, it is the usual hard work of 
 farming. "When speaking of ' surpassing fertility,' then, 
 such rich lands as will give crop after crop (of which 
 there are tracts in the province of Sao Paulo) with the 
 minimum of labor, and without the necessity of a rotation 
 of crops, is understood. Again, there certainly are good 
 grazing-lands in the west of Sao Paulo and in Minas- 
 Geraes, hundreds of miles from the markets, but they can 
 not compare with the prairies of Pio Grande and the Ar- 
 gentine Republic, hence can not be counted on as a source 
 of railway prosperity for many years to come. Brazil's 
 chief riches are her tropical products and her unworked 
 minerals. ... To sum up this question of 'surpassing 
 fertility,' Brazil is very like the United States, in being 
 rich and poor as far as her soil goes, but she can not com- 
 pete with the States in many things, owing to her phys- 
 ical configuration, her rivers in the southern half of the 
 empire being of little use, having only short stretches of 
 navigable water, and being cut up by innumerable rapids 
 and water-falls; finally, they chiefly run toward Bolivia and 
 her other western frontiers, instead of toward the coast." 
 
98 BEAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 Among the many great river-basins of Brazil the Sao 
 Francisco claims attention next after the Amazon, for the 
 degree of its development and the extent and variety of 
 its agricultural resources. It occupies but little space on 
 the ordinary map, but it is actually a thousand miles long 
 and from fifty to two hundred miles wide, being inclosed 
 on both sides by ranges of not very high mountains, 
 whose spurs and foot-hills occasionally extend to the river- 
 banks. This river takes its rise about three hundred miles 
 northwest of Kio de Janeiro, and, flowing in a north and 
 northeasterly course through a broken country, whose 
 general surface is two thousand feet above the sea, finally 
 reaches the ocean near the tenth degree of south latitude, 
 and midway between the two important coast cities, Per- 
 nambuco and Bahia. Unfortunately, the greatest extent 
 of its navigation is shut out from the ocean by tremendous 
 falls. 
 
 Its scenery is more picturesque than that of the upper 
 Mississippi, as it includes not only bold bluffs and knobs 
 single and in groups, but vast plains, sweeping undula- 
 tions, and grand mountain-views. Fine stretches of lime- 
 stone country, richly clothed with forest, are here and 
 there succeeded by sandstone with meager soil and scanty 
 vegetation. There are also marks which have been left 
 by mighty inundations. It is not remarkable, perhaps, for 
 its natural history. Small alligators are frequently seen 
 protruding their snouts out of the water. Here and there 
 on a white sand-bank are flocks of gulls and snowy herons, 
 while high in the air wheels the hunting vulture "svith 
 crimson head and silver-lined wings. At night, in the 
 soHtudcs, the traveler wiU often hear the plaintive notes 
 of the whip-poor-will. There is much local trafiic on this 
 great river in spoon-shaped yawls and on rafts guided by 
 
SITUATION, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. 99 
 
 singing and superstitious boatmen. The people living 
 along the banks call the canoe their horse. 
 
 Scattered along the valley are many plantations and 
 farms under cultivation. Delicious water-melons, or- 
 anges, bananas, and figs are among the common fruits. 
 Cotton is grown considerably, especially in the lower val- 
 ley, yielding five hundred pounds of clean cotton to the 
 acre. Indian com and sugar-cane are likewise important 
 crops. The principal agricultural pursuit, however, is 
 stock-raising, and that is the industry for which most of 
 the land is best adapted. About all the land in this great 
 valley is held by private individuals, some owning one 
 hundred and sixty square miles each. They have no 
 taxes to pay on it ; otherwise they would be, as we say in 
 the United States, " land-poor." Among the towns there 
 are two or three with a population of four thousand. 
 Captain Burton, who went down the entire valley, esti- 
 mates that it will sustain a population of twenty millions. 
 He shows, however, that there are places, now in ruins, 
 on its banks, which were under successful cultivation a 
 century ago by the Jesuit missions. The Paulo Affonso 
 falls of this river, two hundred and seventy-three feet 
 high, and probably the grandest in Brazil, occur about one 
 hundred miles from its mouth. Around these falls a rail- 
 road (Paulo Affonso), eighty-one miles in length, has been 
 built by Government aid, which, starting at Piranhas, on 
 the lower navigable part of the river, in the province of 
 Alagoas, terminates on its upper navigable waters at Jato- 
 ba, in the province of Pemambuco. 
 
 Railroads to tap this productive but now secluded val- 
 ley are pushing on from three important seaports. One 
 from Pemambuco, the first section of which was opened 
 in 1858, running in a southwesterly direction, through a 
 
100 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 sugar country, has been in operation seventy-seven miles, 
 to Palmares, a couple of years, and is now completed to 
 Marayal, another station beyond, but is only about a third 
 part of the way to its destination. Another, from Bahia, 
 running in a northwesterly direction, is in operation, one 
 hundred and sixty-six miles, to Salgada, being over a third 
 part of the way to Joazeiro, its destination, on the right 
 bank of the Sao Francisco. The other is the Dom Pedro 
 II Pail way, running from Brazil's great commercial cen- 
 ter, Kio de Janeiro, also in a northwesterly direction, and 
 finished three hundred and twenty-five miles, to Itabira, 
 on the head-waters of the Sao Francisco, from which point 
 it will descend the valley. These three railroads will in 
 a few years aid much in the development of that impor- 
 tant region. 
 
 The mbber industry is the principal resource of the 
 two great jDrovinces of the Amazon Valley, Para and 
 Amazon, and its product occupies the third place in the 
 national exports. The rubber-tree requires a growth of 
 twenty to twenty-five years before it begins to produce, 
 hence little or nothing has been done for its propagation. 
 The milky sap which forms crude rubber is taken from 
 the wild trees, which grow scattered through the forests 
 of the Amazon and many of its affluents. The industry, 
 being principally in the hands of an uneducated and half- 
 civilized nomad population of Indian mixture, is of a 
 crude character, and is pursued mostly on the national 
 domain, which is freely open to everybody for this j^ur- 
 pose. Il^othing has been done to improve the system of 
 labor. A wasteful and exhaustive system has been fol- 
 lowed for half a century, and the consequence is that 
 millions of rubber-trees have been destroyed and many 
 others abandoned from premature and excessive use. 
 
SITUATION, RESOURCES, A]<ID OLIMA'ra:. 101 
 
 There are instances of groves of trees wliicli, by careful 
 use and by not permitting them to be tapped in the 
 months of August and September, in which they change 
 their leaves, have been yielding for thii-ty years, and still 
 are in good producing condition ; but the common prac- 
 tice is so wasteful that many well-informed people appre- 
 hend that, unless some remedy is applied, this rich re- 
 source will, before long, suffer a serious and perhaps fatal 
 decline. 
 
 The rubber-tree thrives only on soil which is annually 
 overflowed to a depth of three or more feet, and prefers 
 the lowest and most recent river deposit. The rubber- 
 gatherers are temporary squatters, and their usual dwell- 
 ing is a hut with low roof of palm-thatch, beneath one 
 end of which there is a raised floor or framework of lath, 
 one or two yards from the ground, to which the occupants 
 retreat at high water. Karrow paths lead from the gath- 
 erer's hut, through dense nnderwood, to each separate 
 tree. 
 
 As showing how unprepared genteel people may some- 
 times be for " roughing it " in the rubber-growing wilder- 
 ness, or how ignorant they are of the life before them, 
 an American who recently journeyed on the upper 
 Amazon told me that on the steamboat with him was a 
 Brazilian family, the head of which was going up to en- 
 gage largely in the rubber business, and, although he and 
 his family would have to live in a shanty of one or two 
 rooms on the river-bank, his wife had brought along in 
 her trunks several fashionable silk dresses. 
 
 The chief products of Brazil for export are coffee, 
 sugar, rubber, cotton, hides, tobacco, and mate-tea, rank- 
 ing in the order in which they are named; but maize, 
 mandioca (from which tapioca is made), beans, and rice 
 
10,% < .aM'ZlX; ITS COroil'IOIf AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 are grown extensively for home consumption, the latter 
 being much used in place of potatoes. Oranges, bananas, 
 and pineapples are the best and principal fruits. With 
 the exception of gold and diamonds, the mines as yet oc- 
 cupy an insignificant place. There is good iron-ore, which 
 is got out and worked by the Government, but not in a 
 profitable manner. Amid the black and rocky moimtains 
 of the province of Minas-Geraes gold-mines have been 
 successfully worked for two or three centuries, and with 
 increased means of communication both gold and diamond 
 mining will have an important development. Brazil's for- 
 eign commerce amounts to $176,000,000 a year, of which 
 her exports average $96,000,000 and her imports $80,- 
 000,000 a year. The aggregate foreign commerce of all 
 the other South American countries per year is $275,- 
 000,000, being only a hundred million dollars more than 
 that of Brazil alone. That there is nothing marvelous in 
 Brazil's riches may be seen by compai-ing her foreign 
 commerce with that of some other countries. Take Swe- 
 den, for example, which lies at another part of the globe 
 and is covered with snow nearly half the year. Her 
 population is four and a haK millions — ^less than half that 
 of Brazil — and yet her foreign commerce amounts to one 
 hundred and twenty-five million dollars a year, or three 
 fourths that of Brazil — the latter country meantime hav- 
 ing the labor of a million African slaves. Of Brazil's 
 total foreign commerce fifty-six million dollars, or about 
 one third, is with the United States ; of which amount 
 forty-seven million dollars are exports, principally coffee 
 and rubber, to the United States, while nine million dol- 
 lars represent American imports into Brazil, consisting 
 principally of flour, kerosene, machinery, lard, and lum- 
 ber. This American trade is distributed among the lead- 
 
SITUATION, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. 103 
 
 ing ports of Brazil as follows : Pard, $10,000,000 ; Per- 
 nambuco, $6,000,000 ; Bahia, $3,000,000 ; Kio, $30,000,- 
 000 ; Santos, $5,000,000 ; Kio Grande do Sul, $1,000,000 ; 
 and other ports, $1,000,000. 
 
 Though a field worthy of much attention and enter- 
 prise, she has not the capacity for that rapid commercial 
 development which her resources would at first seem to 
 indicate. 'Her situation is not favorable for the rapid ac- 
 cumulation of wealth. "With a population of some thir- 
 teen millions scattered over a region nearly as large as the 
 United States, her territorial extent is a source of weak- 
 ness. Her resources, though undoubtedly imposing and 
 calculated to insure for her an important future, are yet 
 inferior to what is commonly supposed. Her coal, iron, 
 and much of her lumber have to be imported. The small 
 grains, such as wheat, barley, and oats, do not flourish on 
 her soil, j At present she is laboring under some financial 
 embarrassment, partly originating, it is but just to say, in 
 a long foreign war that was forced upon her, and in which 
 her course was disinterested. Her revenue amounts to 
 about fifty-five million dollars a year, but the expenditures, 
 of which only a comparatively small part is for produc- 
 tive purposes, annually exceed that amount by several 
 million dollars. The public debt of Brazil in 1885, ac- 
 cording to the report of the Minister of Finance, was 
 868,729,487 milreis; which reduced to money of the 
 United States, at the rate of forty cents to the milreis, 
 would amount to three hundred and forty-eight million dol- 
 lars. Her annual interest charge is now upward of twenty 
 million dollars. Her currency consists of irredeemable 
 legal-tender Government notes, the value of which — daily 
 fluctuating — is about twelve cents below par, although it 
 is seventeen years since her foreign war closed. In the 
 
104: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 laudable purpose of development, the Government has 
 incurred heavy liabiHties. It has guaranteed, and for a 
 long term of years will need to pay the interest on, the 
 bonds of several railway and other companies whose ex- 
 penses exceed their income. And, although Brazil has 
 always maintained a dignilied and conservative course, 
 and never repudiated any of her debts, still there is quite 
 a general feeling that, unless a change be made in the di- 
 rection of retrenchment, grave financial difficulties may 
 be experienced. The situation is not favorable, therefore, 
 for much material progress. Indeed, the gradual extinc- 
 tion of slave-labor will, for a while at least, tend to reduce 
 the volume of national products. Steady increase has 
 been made in extending several lines of railroads. Some 
 hundreds of miles of new road have been opened for 
 traffic during the present year. J^ew lines have also been 
 commenced, and there is reason to suppose that the de- 
 velopment will annually increase, though the broken sur- 
 face of Brazil generally, and esj)ecially the mountains 
 near the sea-coast, are great obstacles to rapid railroad de- 
 velopment. The principal railroad, being the one which 
 runs west from Hio de Janeiro, crosses two ranges of 
 mountains. The railroad running from Santos into the 
 interior of the province of Sao Paulo has first to climb a 
 mountain two thousand feet high. None of the railroads 
 have yet penetrated to the vicinity of wild or public 
 lands. Some of them traverse extensive areas of unculti- 
 vated land, but as yet no grants of land have been made 
 in aid of railroads. The capital for their construction has 
 mostly come from England. The state, however, as well 
 as the separate provinces, has extensively guaranteed the 
 payment of interest, usually at seven per cent, on railroad 
 capital. Its annual burden for the payment of such in- 
 
AND CLIMATE. 105 
 
 terest amounts now to upward of three million dollars. 
 Tlie rails for all the roads have to be imported, and the 
 greater part are purchased in England. The most of the 
 locomotives, however, are imported from the United 
 States. The coal consumed by the locomotives is also 
 imported. At the close of 1886 it may be said there are 
 four thousand miles of railway in operation in Brazil. 
 There is scarcely a province bordering on the ocean but 
 has one or more railways, and every one leads to the west 
 or toward the interior. Several of the railroads that are 
 in course of construction and that have received Govern- 
 ment guarantee do not pay and are not likely to pay ex- 
 penses for a long time. The " Jornal do Commercio," in 
 an article of August 26, 1883, specified nine separate rail- 
 ways with a total paid-up capital of forty million dollars, 
 on which the Government had guaranteed the annual 
 payment of interest at seven per cent, and which, with 
 cost of inspection, made an annual charge of three million 
 dollars, but which, however, were only a part of the 
 state's liabilities. 
 
 "If we are going," said the "Jornal," "to increase 
 this already enormous liability without the greatest cir- 
 cumspection, then bankruptcy, that word which has 
 sported on the lips of so many of our politicians as the 
 refrain of every opposition, may one day become a tre- 
 mendous reality, sweeping away the credit which we have 
 so scrupulously, but at the cost of such heavy sacrifices, 
 succeeded in founding and keeping uninjured as the most 
 precious treasure which the nation may one day be able 
 to fall back upon should it ever find it necessary to do so." 
 It is amazing how few carriage-roads have been built. A 
 few good macadamized wagon-roads through the fertile 
 parts of the empire, and extending across the whole of it, 
 
106 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 would form the nucleus of settlements. If I were the 
 Emperor of Brazil, I would not wish to be known by 
 any better title after my death than that of " The Road- 
 builder." 
 
 The usual rates of railway transportation are exceed- 
 ingly high, namely : Textile and general goods, twenty- 
 two cents per ton per mile ; railway-iron, iron-work for 
 construction, agricultural implements, iron tubes, etc., 
 eleven cents per ton per mile ; coffee, cotton, sugar, seven- 
 teen cents per ton per mile. I have heard people say: 
 " It is true there are splendid tracts of fertile land suitable 
 for coifee or other plantations situated off a hundred miles 
 or more from where railroads now end ; but it would not 
 pay to cultivate them, because it would cost too much to 
 bring the products to market." I am informed, however, 
 that in the course of a few years railway charges will prob- 
 ably be considerably reduced. Several of the railroads, 
 which were at first imperfectly built, now clear twenty per 
 cent on their capital ; they pay a dividend of ten per cent, 
 and use the other ten per cent for permanent improve- 
 ments. The time will come, therefore, when they can 
 well afford to reduce their rates, and when competing 
 lines will compel them to do so. 
 
 • Two of the railways in the province of Sao Paulo 
 which pay good dividends — the Paulista and the Mogyana 
 — appear to owe much of their financial success to the 
 economy of their construction: the first, a broad-gauge 
 line, one hundred and fifty miles long, cost fifty thousand 
 dollars per mile ; and the other, a metre-gauge line, one 
 hundred and ninety miles long, cost twenty thousand 
 dollars per mile. Their cost of construction appears to 
 have been economical, compared with most other railways 
 in Brazil. 
 
SITUATION, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. 107 
 
 There are no roads having double tracks, and no roads 
 running night passenger-trains. About one fourth of the 
 roads are live feet three inches wide, and the remaining 
 three fourths are of the metre gauge. The sleepers are 
 filled in with earth, more or less sandy, taken from adja- 
 cent cuttings, none of the roads being ballasted with stone. 
 Only a few are fenced in. The speed of the so-called 
 passenger-trains is, on the broad gauge, from twenty-eight 
 to thirty miles an hour, and on the narrow gauge about 
 twenty to twenty-two miles an hour. 
 
 Several American as well as English civil engineers 
 have gained well-merited distinction by their services in 
 Brazil, but the field now appears to be almost wholly 
 occupied by native talent. However, as is natural, sev- 
 eral English railway companies employ English engineers. 
 In subordinate positions in the Brazilian railway service 
 the pay is poor, and no inducements exist for Americans. 
 
 Brazil is not only on the east side of South America, 
 but it stretches so far eastward that a line drawn due south 
 from Kew York through South America would touch her 
 most westerly limits. The sun rises much sooner on Brazil 
 than it does on the New England States. 
 
 In this connection it is well to have clearly fixed in 
 mind the fact that the Eiver Plate is not a Brazilian river. 
 It empties into the Atlantic south of Brazil, at about the 
 thirty-fifth degree of south latitude, and is the great water- 
 way of three rising republics, which are Brazil's near and 
 jealous neighbors on the south. The upper part of the 
 river, fonning the western boundary of the republic of 
 Paraguay, is called the Paraguay, and its middle part is 
 called the Parana. On the other hand, Brazil's great 
 river Amazon empties into the Atlantic close to the equa- 
 tor. It is a ten-days' voyage for a steamer from the mouth 
 
108 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 of one river to the other. What are known as the River 
 Plate countries are the Argentine Eepublic and the two 
 other repubHcs of Uruguay and Paraguay. The last is 
 an interior state, of good natural resources, lying west of 
 southern Brazil, and has its outlet through the River 
 Plate. Its area is equal to that of the two States of Illi- 
 nois and Indiana together. It was greatly reduced by its 
 long war under Lopez, and now has a population of less 
 than half a million. Its products are mate-tea (its chief 
 export), horned cattle, tobacco, maize, rice, cotton, and 
 sugar ; and its total foreign commerce amounts to about 
 four million dollars a year. The Republic of Uruguay, 
 with a territorial extent about like Paraguay, fronts on 
 the Atlantic and the north shore of the River Plate. Its 
 capital, Montevideo, is an enterprising and pretty city, 
 situated on elevated land, and has about two hundred 
 thousand inhabitants. It is there that the South Atlantic 
 naval squadron of the United States anchors during the 
 hot season, November to June, returning to Rio in the 
 latter month. The population of Uruguay is a little over 
 half a million, and for such a population its foreign com- 
 merce is remarkably large, being about forty million dol- 
 lars a year. The principal industry is cattle- and sheep- 
 raising, and the chief export is hides. But much the 
 more important of the River Plate countries is the Argen- 
 tine RepubHe, which has an area, including Patagonia, 
 one third as great as that of Brazil. Its population, which 
 is receiving important accessions annually from the south 
 of Europe, amounts to about four millions. Its exports 
 are principally wool, hides, cattle, and dry, salted meat ; 
 and its total foreign commerce amounts to one hundred 
 and twenty million dollars, the exports and imports being 
 about equal. It has two thousand miles of railway in 
 
SITUATION, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. 109 
 
 operation. Buenos Ayres, the capital, has three hundred 
 thousand inhabitants, is situated on level ground, is built 
 in a very regular manner, though many of its buildings 
 are low, and is regarded as an enterprising and attractive 
 city. A bright American business man, who has made 
 several visits there, as well as to Rio, and of whom I in- 
 quired how the cities compared with each other, declared, 
 " Eio is a dog-hole compared with Buenos Ayres." Others 
 with whom I have conversed, while admitting the latter 
 to be the more regularly built city, have said that it had 
 not as line private residences as some that are to be seen 
 at Rio. The climate of the Argentine Republic is such 
 that wheat is becoming one of its successful and important 
 crops ; and, as very much of its surface is level or moder- 
 ately undulating, and devoid of timber, it is susceptible 
 of a more rapid development than Brazil. Indeed, all 
 three of these River Plate republics have good natural re- 
 sources, and, if they are permitted to enjoy the blessings 
 of peace and economical and impartial government, they 
 are destined to make great progress. Being of Spanish 
 origin, their language is the Spanish. These are the 
 neighbors which Brazil has on her south and southwestern 
 borders. 
 
 With reference to climate, I must say that I have 
 found more inconvenience from cold weather than from 
 hot weather in Brazil. The trouble is, that there are about 
 sixty mornings and evenings in the course of a year at Rio 
 when a little fire in a dwelling is necessary for comfort, 
 but none of the houses have any stoves, fireplaces, or 
 even chimneys, except what are connected with the kitch- 
 en. In the most southerly province, Rio Grande do Sul, 
 snow frequently falls. On the undulating plains of Pa- 
 rand, three thousand feet above the sea, the average daily 
 
 10 
 
110 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 range of temperature in August is from 44° to T2° Fahr., 
 and snow occasionally falls there in July, cnougli to en- 
 tirely cover tlie ground. Even in the province of Per- 
 nambuco, eight degrees south from the equator, country- 
 men may be seen descending from the highlands, with 
 their produce, dressed in fur-covered skins. The Ameri- 
 can minister, Mr. Blow, writing from Petropolis, near 
 Eio, July, 1870, mentions a frost that had occurred on the 
 22d of June preceding, and which it was feared had 
 greatly damaged the crops in that region. Ice formed 
 that was nearly an inch thick ; but nothing similar had 
 occurred since 1842. On the interior farming-lands, 
 which are about two thousand feet above ihe sea, white 
 frosts occur repeatedly, almost every year, say in the 
 winter months of June and July, and kill any bean-crops 
 which, from having been planted late, are then growing. 
 Mr. Lidgerwood, who is so well and favorably known in 
 Brazil, through his machines for cleaning coffee, told me 
 that one night in June, 1868, he rode muleback from 
 Campinas to Jundiahy, province of Sao Paulo, where he 
 found the ground white with frost, and that he never felt 
 the cold so much as then, being so chilled and numb he 
 could hardly step. As for the negro who was with him, 
 he thought he was about frozen to death; he seemed 
 hardly able to speak. All he could get out of him was a 
 groan ! 
 
 We must remember that when we get south of the 
 equator the seasons come to a right-about-face. While it 
 is winter north of the equator, it is summer south of the 
 equator. When it is summer in Europe and in the United 
 States, and everything is green and tropical, then it is that 
 people in Brazil are putting on their overcoats, and the 
 leaves have totally fallen from many of the trees. In 
 
SITUATION, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. m 
 
 Brazil, summer is in its full tropical glory in December 
 and January. Hot weather prevails at Rio de Janeii^o 
 from October to Mav, say a period of seven months, dur- 
 ing wbich there will be frequent spells, of a few days in 
 succession, w^hen, from ten o'clock in the forenoon tiU 
 fonr o'clock in the afternoon, the temperature will be up 
 to about 85° Fahr. in the shade. A few nights now and 
 then will be uncomfortably warm. But, commonly, such 
 hot speUs, after continuing two or three days, are followed 
 by heavy rains, lasting through a night or day, and which 
 leave the atmosphere fresh and pleasant for several days. 
 The heat never appears to be as excessive as it is in many 
 parts of the United States. Work goes on briskly all 
 through the day. Deaths from sunstroke are exceedingly 
 rare. The thunder and lightning are not terrific, and 
 cyclones and hurricanes scarcely ever occur. The winter 
 months of Bio are in the main what, in the United States, 
 we would regard as pleasant summer weather. In that 
 season a gentleman, starting out in the morning and going 
 in an open street-car, would be likely every day to take a 
 light overcoat with him, and generally to wear it. At 
 that season, although many of the trees have a naked ap- 
 pearance, and show that IS'ature is taking a rest, still there 
 are always enough that are covered with green foliage, 
 together with the flowers and shrubbery that are culti- 
 vated in thousands of pretty gardens, to give one, and 
 especially a stranger, the impression that it is still summer. 
 On the whole, I regard the climate of Bio as charming, 
 and, remembering the severity of our North American 
 winters, I am perhaps more inclined to value a chmate in 
 which people can be out in the open air every day in the 
 year without danger. From all that I can learn, the cli- 
 mate of the city of Bernambuco is the most delightful of 
 
112 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 any in Brazil. Thougli a little more damp, it has not the 
 extremes of heat and cold of Rio de Janeiro. All the 
 year round it is favored with the fresh sea-breeze. 
 
 Take the whole country of Brazil, and the climate is 
 salubrious. It is true that many people living in the wild 
 valleys of great rivers that annually overflow suffer much 
 from intermittent fever, but they are poorly housed and 
 fed. The yellow fever could be entirely exterminated, as 
 it ought to be, from sUch places as Kio, by the adoption 
 of rigorous sanitary measures. The improvement already 
 made in this regard has proved an important barrier 
 against its ravages. I do not wish, however, to give a 
 too rose-colored view of the salubrity of the climate. Un- 
 acclimated strangers coming to Brazil are exposed to some 
 dangers. European governments, which give pensions to 
 their civil officers after about thirty years' service, allow 
 one year's service in Brazil to count as two years, on ac- 
 count of the supposed perils of the climate. Facts are 
 cited by Brazilian writers to show that intermittent fever 
 is sometimes more prevalent on high than on low land. 
 Thus, a violent epidemic of this fever prevailed among 
 the workmen building the railroad over the mountain- 
 range of Maromby, in the province of Parana, while there 
 was very little of it among the workmen on that part of 
 the line through the swampy lowlands between Eoga-JSTova 
 and Curitiba. Also, in constructing the water-reservoir 
 in the Tijuca Mountains, this fever was prevalent. This 
 confirms experience in Italy, where it has been found that 
 two thirds of the places where fever prevailed were among 
 hills and mountains. 
 
 Mrs. Agassiz, writing at Pard, August 14, 1865, says : 
 " We are very agreeably surprised in the climate here. I 
 had expected, from the moment of our arrival in the 
 
SITUATION, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. 113 
 
 region of the Amazons, to be gasping in a fierce, uninter- 
 mitting, intolerable heat. On the contrary, the mornings 
 are fresh ; a walk or ride between six and eight o'clock is 
 always delightful, and though, during the middle of the 
 day, the heat is certainly very great, it cools oS. again 
 toward four o'clock. The evenings are delightful, and 
 the nights always comfortable. Even in the hottest part 
 of the day the heat is not dead ; there is always a breeze 
 stirring." 
 
 Senator Henrique d'Avila, a rich stock-raiser in the 
 province of Rio Grande do Sul (the most southerly part 
 of Brazil), also ex-Minister of the Department of Agri- 
 culture and Public Works, imparted some valuable infor- 
 mation in regard to recent changes of climate and droughts 
 in that province, in a speech which he made in the Senate 
 on the 13th of July, 1884. Senator Martins had stated 
 that Rio Grande do Sul had not been scourged by droughts 
 like the province of Ceara, and, in reply to this, M. d'Avila 
 affirmed that his province had suffered such formidable 
 droughts as to cause poverty and ruin to many of the in- 
 habitants. They had had, he said, a drought lasting two 
 or three years, by which many stock-raisers lost almost all 
 their cattle, and, both in Rio Grande and the adjoining 
 state of Uruguay, there had been farms in the interior 
 districts without one single head of cattle. The cattle 
 had died, or fled for water, so that nearly all were lost. 
 In regard to wheat-culture, it was not abandoned, as had 
 been alleged, because cattle-raising was more lucrative, 
 but in consequence of the irregularity of the climate and 
 damage by rust. Formerly, in Rio Grande, the winter 
 weather was uniformly cold, with occasional ice ; rain 
 came in its proper season, and the summers were always 
 warm, with more or less intensity, according to the month. 
 
114 BEAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 "Wheat, after it had germinated and well put forth, re- 
 quired frost, and did not prosper without it. His prov- 
 ince had changed so much in its seasons that in the month 
 of December (middle of summer) they had strong frosts, 
 with ice, as in winter, and in July and August they had 
 such heat as to cause premature germination of seed. In 
 consequence of such irregularity in the seasons, as had 
 occurred for several years in the province of Rio Grande, 
 the planters of wheat began to despond, seeing that they 
 could no longer harvest the crops of former times, and 
 which, indeed, had been the foundation of their wealth. 
 There were many fortunes to-day whose foundation had 
 been the production of wheat in previous good times. 
 Consequently, Rio Grande do Sul was in perfectly the 
 same condition as the province of Ceara. 
 
 "Without doubt," continued Senator d'Avila, "Rio 
 Grande do Sul has magnificent forests in her mountains ; 
 so has Ceara mountain riches that are never touched by 
 drought, which constantly have water, water permanently, 
 but the mountains can not save the valleys of Ceara. Rio 
 Grande do Sul has fine forests in her mountains but none 
 in the valley, which comprises the south part of the 
 province." 
 
 Senator Martins : " But it has water." 
 
 Senator d'Avila : " Our rivers dry up. The Santa 
 Maria, when I was at Uruguayana (southwestern frontier 
 of Brazil) and crossed it, was completely dry. The 
 drought was such that we had no water to give to the 
 animals which we took, and some of which perished for 
 want of water. I believe the Government ought to cause 
 studies to be made, as it did in Ceara, for irrigating dif- 
 ferent provinces — such as Rio Grande do Sul, the interior 
 of Bahia and Pemambuco, and the region of the upper 
 
SITTJATIOiT, RESOURCES, AND CLIMATE. 115 
 
 Sao Francisco Yalley ; in short, to ascertain, if possible, 
 whether their waters could not be canalized so as to afford 
 irrigation. We have equally in Ceara and Rio Grande do 
 Sul little dams to make small reservoirs on small streams. 
 There are owners of ranches of four or five leagues of 
 land, and who have a natural supply of water only at one 
 extreme end of the pasture or campo, and so, not to make 
 the cattle travel different times in the day a distance of 
 two, three, or more leagues, to drink, they make little 
 ponds by dams. An uncle of mine, living near the Jagu- 
 aro River, had one of these in which he also had excellent 
 fish, but the drought of one year caused it to dry up." 
 
 The average temperature at Para is 80°. The sum- 
 mer temperature at Rio de Janeiro is about T5°, and the 
 winter temperature 65°. The prevailing winds are from 
 the east, and always secure to the country, as a whole, an 
 abundance of earth-fattening rain. 
 
CHAPTEK YIII. 
 
 AMEEICAN-BEAZILIAN RELATIONS. 
 
 Like tlie Americans, the Brazilians take more interest 
 in what occurs in Europe than in any other part of 
 the outside world. They concern themselves very little 
 about what takes place in the United States. If a great 
 disaster happens, like the burning of the Brooklyn Theatre, 
 or a President is assassinated, they may possibly get the 
 tidings of such a catastrophe by telegraph in the course 
 of two or three days. Our presidential elections are im- 
 portant, and the result of a State election like that in the 
 State of Maine on the 8th of September, two months 
 before the presidential election, would be regarded by 
 everybody posted in American affairs as indicative of the 
 greater contest in November, and, of course, would be 
 promptly cabled to the London newspapers ; but no news 
 whatever about that election came to Brazil. A leading 
 journal publishes a tolerably fair letter from a l^ew York 
 correspondent once about every two months; but the 
 same journal prints seventy-five letters from Europe to 
 one that it prints from the United States. 
 
 The London daily journals of March 9, 1885, and of 
 some preceding dates, arrived at Eio de Janeiro March 
 27th. As usual, their telegraphic columns were filled 
 
AMERICAN-BRAZILIAK RELATIONS. 117 
 
 with news from all the principal countries, and the " Jor- 
 nal do Commercio " of Kio de Janeiro on the following 
 morning, as is its custom, had a column filled with a 
 synopsis of news from different countries, especially from 
 European coimtries. These London papers contained un- 
 usually important news from the United States — the in- 
 auguration of the new President, Mr. Cleveland, his in- 
 augural address in full, the names of his Cabinet minis- 
 ters; the appointment of General Grant as general on 
 the retired list of the army ; also, the announcement of 
 General Grant's alarming illness and probability of his 
 early decease. American news is first received at Rio 
 through the London daily newspapers, and all these facts 
 made an unusual amount of news to come by one mail. 
 Now, would it 1)0 thought that the synopsis of news in 
 the Rio paper from the London journals contained no 
 reference whatever to the United States — not a word 
 about the inauguration of the new President, or of the 
 dangerous illness of General and ex-President Grant? 
 Yet such was the case. ISio allusion was made to any- 
 thing that had occurred in the United States, l^ov had 
 any of this news from the LTnited States been published 
 in any of the Rio journals. This is according to the 
 usual custom ; and I think it shows very clearly that the 
 Brazihans take little note or interest of what transpires in 
 the North American republic. 
 
 I make no complaint about this ; I merely state the 
 facts. Probably it is natural that the Brazilians should 
 have their minds more constantly fixed on Europe than 
 upon the " Grand Republic," as they speak of our coun- 
 try when they wish to be very polite, though their news- 
 papers frequently style the Americans " Yankees." Any- 
 how it is well for our Mr. Spread-Eagle to laiow that the 
 
118 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 whole of mankind does not always have its admiring gaze 
 fixed on our country. Still, I think there is in the deep 
 current of Brazilian sentiment and thought a feeling of 
 respect and regard for the United States. I am led to 
 this conclusion for various reasons. It is certain that the 
 Brazilians recognize America's inventive and literary 
 genius. They know Longfellow at least, and they know 
 that the telegraph, the sewing-machine, and the Atlantic 
 cable started on their mighty errands from our shores. 
 They unite with people everywhere in revering such 
 American characters as Washington, Franklin, and Lin- 
 coln. In common with most other countries they have 
 had proofs of the traditional moderation and justice of 
 the American Government in its dealings with foreign 
 countries. As straws show which way the wind blows, I 
 would mention that I once attended in Eio de Janeiro a 
 sleight-of-hand entertainment in the principal theatre, 
 where there was an audience of about two thousand per- 
 sons. One of the tricks of the performer was to draw out 
 of a bottle the flags, one by one, of different nations, each 
 being saluted with more or less applause. The Brazilian 
 flag, of course, received the most favor, and quite a hearty 
 round of applause greeted the Stars and Stripes. It seemed 
 to me the American flag was next in favor to the Brazil- 
 ian, and I remember to have experienced a feehng of de- 
 lighted surprise at the incident. The Americans are 
 Brazil's best customers, and, on grounds of interest, the 
 Brazilians ought to be very friendly to the United States. 
 It is a fact, however, that during our civil war Brazilian 
 sympathy, unlike that of Russia, was with the South. 
 
 Steamships like the Oregon, which lately made the 
 passage from Queenstown to JSTew York in six days and 
 ten hours, would make the voyage from Kew York to 
 
AMERICAN-BRAZILIAN RELATIONS. 119 
 
 Rio de Janeiro in eleven days and a half, whereas those 
 now running occupy twice that time. Such a line would 
 give our country a prestige in South America which she 
 now greatly lacks. It would revolutionize trade in favor 
 of Americans. With the new railroad development that 
 is taking place, and the large immigration from Europe 
 to the four countries of the Argentine Eepublic, Uru- 
 guay, Paraguay, and Brazil, there will necessarily be an 
 increase of the foreign trade of those countries, and an 
 enterprising and seasonable step on the part of Americans 
 is indispensable if they would have a large share of it. 
 At present twenty steamships a month from leading Eu- 
 ropean ports arrive at Eio de Janeiro to one steamship 
 that arrives there from the United States ! Increased 
 means of transportation from the United States to Brazil 
 would greatly help American trade. At the same time, 
 we must bear in mind that our export trade is mainly 
 dependent on the goodness and cheapness of our com- 
 modities. 
 
 The Americans import from Brazil, and mostly from 
 Eio, over three hundred million pounds of coifee a year, 
 some of which, probably, is afterward sold as Java. It 
 costs, delivered in E'ew York, including the Brazihan 
 export tax, ten cents a pound. Its transportation from 
 Eio to Kew York — five thousand miles — is- remarkably 
 cheap, yet profitable to the carrier, being only forty cents 
 a bag, or less than a third of a cent per pound. Why is 
 it carried so cheaply ? Because there are so many British 
 and other foreign steamships in South American waters. 
 They go from Europe with goods for Brazil and the Eiver 
 Plate, and need return-cargoes. About two of these 
 steamers leave Eio every week for E'ew York, and go 
 thence to Liverpool. Americans save two million dollars 
 
120 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 a year in freight on their coffee, through this abundance 
 of foreign shipping. The present American hne of 
 steamers between 'New York and Eio is a help to our 
 export trade to Brazil, but has small influence on freight 
 froTYh Brazil. Brazil's imports amount to eighty million 
 dollars a year, of which the United States contributes nine 
 millions. Our chief export to that country is flour ; but 
 we also send much kerosene, many locomotives, and other 
 machinery. People ask, " Why don't we export more 
 goods to Brazil % " Partly because the Brazilians have not 
 the money to buy more, partly for lack of more frequent 
 communication, and partly because they can get suited 
 better elsewhere. There are, I repeat, twenty steamships 
 a month arriving in Brazil from Europe to one that ar- 
 rives from the United States, and goods can be got there 
 more cheaply from Europe than from the United States. 
 There is at Rio an American who sells the planters much 
 machinery for hulling coffee, but who manufactures his 
 machines in Scotland, because he can do so cheaper than 
 in his own country. Bio consumes thirty thousand bar- 
 rels of flour a month, mostly American. The bread is all 
 made by bakers, and, though very good, it is not likely 
 the consumption will increase rapidly, unless times become 
 flush. The finances of all the South American countries 
 are so depressed, their currency so depreciated, and their 
 need for high import taxes so imperative, that we should 
 not entertain extravagant ideas of beneficial reciprocal 
 relations with them. 
 
 American manufactures generally have a good name 
 in Brazil, and it stands our manufacturers in hand to con- 
 tinue to put conscience in their goods. A contrary course 
 will soon wind up any trade. Brazilian importers some- 
 times say the Americans have such a great home market 
 
AMERICAN-BRAZILIAN RELATIONS. 121 
 
 that they don't wish to trouble themselves about exporting 
 to foreign countries. The Brazilians have been accustomed 
 to rather long credits, and the general impression is, that 
 Europeans have been more ready to indulge them in this 
 regard than our people. Americans intending to begin 
 an export trade with Brazil, no matter how excellent their 
 goods may be, must expect at first to make some sacrifice. 
 It is as much as the Brazihan consignee can do to sell 
 goods whose mark and quality are well known. It is 
 more than he can be expected to do to urge upon custom- 
 ers goods of an unknown character. He will not do this, 
 and an exporter, introducing an article whose name and 
 character the Brazilian merchant is unacquainted with, 
 must be content to sell it at some loss till it gets favorably 
 known. After that he may expect to estabhsh a remu- 
 nerative trade. 
 
 Can any benefit be secured through a reciprocity 
 treaty? The Brazilians appreciate the great advantage 
 their country derives by the extensive import of their 
 coSee into the United States free of duty. Most other 
 countries, including Great Britain, impose an import tax 
 on coffee, rising all the way from three cents to fourteen 
 cents per pound, which last is the rate imposed by France. 
 Its admission free of duty into the United States is sub- 
 stantially a donation of several million dollars a year to 
 the treasury of Brazil, she having thereby been able to 
 collect an increased export tax from it, amounting, impe- 
 rial and provincial together, to eleven per cent. This has 
 helped her, probably, in spite of her bad finances, to late- 
 ly procure two of the most powerful ships of war that 
 are anywhere afloat, and which are better than any the 
 United States possesses. Although there has not been 
 much expression of gratitude for these benefits, Brazil 
 11 
 
122 BRAZIL: ITS OOI^DITION' AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 would now, I am sure, promptly negotiate with the 
 United States a reciprocity treaty, which would amelio- 
 rate our trade with her in some degree ; but her financial 
 situation is so straitened that she could not and would 
 not grant us those benefits which ordinarily we would 
 have a right to expect, and which would correspond with 
 the advantage we afford her in admitting coffee free. 
 
 The tendency of Brazil to develop home manufactures 
 under her high protective tariff will natm-ally cause a de- 
 cline in some articles of our exports, and yet our exports 
 as a whole may continue to increase. The number of her 
 cotton-mills is steadily increasing. There are cotton-mills 
 in the city of Rio run by steam with imported coal, that 
 are paying well. A cotton-mill at Macaco, an hour by 
 railway from Rio, which was burned some time ago, has 
 recently been rebuilt, and has eight hundred looms in 
 operation. It has water-power, and facilities for steam- 
 power in dry weather. It makes not only common white 
 cloth, but colored and mixed cloths for men's cheap cloth- 
 ing, and is earning very handsome profits. Already there 
 are many cotton-factories in the country, and their num- 
 ber is sure to increase. Manufacturing activity in Brazil 
 will make an increased demand for machinery. As an 
 example, there has lately been a large company formed in 
 the province of Minas-Geraes for the manufacture of lard, 
 which has sent to the United States an agent to purchase 
 machinery for the equipment of the factory. Indeed, it 
 seems reasonable that, in proportion as the industrial skill 
 and activity of the Brazihans increase, will their general 
 power of consumption likewise increase. Let a cotton- 
 factory be started in a place which is now a sohtude : 
 the hundreds of operatives which it will assemble, and 
 who will help to form the village around it, will soon 
 
AMERICAN BPwAZILIAN RELATIONS. 123 
 
 begin to wear shoes and stockings instead of going bare- 
 footed as they have been accustomed to do. Their wants 
 will increase, and the receipt of regular wages will develop 
 among them a power of j)urchase which before was al- 
 most a blank. Manufacturers help to civilize, and civili- 
 zation makes trade. 
 
 I am aware of the deep interest that is felt in the 
 United States in respect of the increase of our export 
 trade, and especially the increase of exports to Brazil — by 
 far the most populous and important of the South Ameri- 
 can countries. While it is desirable that every pains be 
 taken to expand our export trade with Brazil, the situa- 
 tion of our trade with this country is not, however, so un- 
 favorable as some persons have been led to suppose. We 
 buy from Brazil about thirty million dollars' worth of 
 coffee, eight million dollars' worth of rubber and sugar, 
 hides, and other products amounting in all to upward of 
 fifty million dollars, and in time of high prices sixty mill- 
 ion dollars per annum. JSTone of these things which we 
 buy of Brazil are for vanity and show, but they are all 
 useful and good for our people, because they are impor- 
 tant elements in our industrial and social prosperity. The 
 coffee is cheap and good, and gives cheer to the tables of 
 the rich and poor alike. The rubber which we buy is 
 worked up by our ingenious artisans to the great profit of 
 our industry. ISTow, because Brazil in return buys only 
 nine or ten million dollars' worth of our goods, does it 
 prove that we are doing a losing business with her ? May 
 we not be doing a trade with her that is actually quite 
 profitable to our people ? Is it not something such a case 
 as this ? A is a large manufacturer of pianos, which he 
 sells in different markets at a good profit. He buys the 
 larger share of his wood and material of B, because he 
 
124: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 can buy it cheaper of B than of any one else. Now, be- 
 cause B does not take his pay in pianos, is there any 
 ground for A complaining that his trade with him is un- 
 favorable ? The circumstances are not exactly the same, 
 but the principle is much the same, in respect of the bal- 
 ance of trade between the United States and Brazil. 
 
 Diplomatic and consular officers, if competent and 
 properly sustained, can be useful in j)romoting trade and 
 friendly relations. One of our ablest American Secre- 
 taries of State, Mr. Marcy, in a report to Congress, said : 
 "The object of diplomatic missions is to adjust differ- 
 ences and conduct affairs between governments in regard 
 to their political and commercial relations, and to furnish 
 the Government at home with information touching the 
 country to wliich the mission is accredited, more full and 
 more accurate than might be obtained through the ordi- 
 nary channels, or more promptly than the same informa- 
 tion might otherwise be received." That our Govern- 
 ment may not make an improper demand on a foreign 
 country, and one that it will be obliged finally to recede 
 from with loss of credit, it is of the utmost importance 
 that it be supplied with information, in case of some sud- 
 den emergency, of a perfectly reliable character. Its rep- 
 resentatives abroad, therefore, both diplomatic and consu- 
 lar, should have that position and consideration, in the 
 places where they are employed, that they would have 
 ready access to the very best sources of information, so 
 that they could truly and promptly report to their Gov- 
 ernment in any sudden emergency. Access to such infor- 
 mation requires friendly social relations with the leading 
 and most influential people ; relations which can only be 
 maintained by character and a hospitable style of living. 
 Unfortunately, our American diplomatic and consular 
 
AMERICAN-BRAZILIAN RELATIONS. 125 
 
 siervice has not been and is not half as well sustained as 
 that of the leading European countries. Our practice in 
 this regard has been eminently " pound foolish and penny 
 wise." How insignificant would be the cost of such serv- 
 ice on a liberal scale, compared with the vast outlay when 
 once a country is obliged to drop peaceful remedies and 
 resort to force ! A small example of this occurs to me. 
 Mr. Welles, Secretary of the I^avy, writing I^ovember 
 18, 1868, relative to a movement against Paraguay, states 
 that on a former occasion, when a demonstration was made 
 against Paraguay, a naval force of light-draught vessels 
 was sent out, and that the expedition " cost the Govern- 
 ment several million dollars." For much less money than 
 that the Government could have maintained a full em- 
 bassy in Paraguay, in a palace, a hundred years ! 
 
CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 A TRIP mTO THE INTEEIOE. 
 
 In the early part of August, 1883, I, with my family, 
 made a trip into the great province of Minas-Geraes as 
 far as the town of Barbacena, which, though on an ordi- 
 nary atlas appears to be close to the sea- coast, is yet two 
 hundred and thirty-four miles distant from Eio, by rail- 
 way, in the interior. In going we went a roundabout 
 way by Petropolis and returned direct by rail. We left 
 our residence in Rua (Jardim) das Larangeiras at 1.45 
 p. M., Monday July 30th, and drove to the Petropolis 
 steamboat, distant three miles, arriving considerably ahead 
 of time. The weather had been unusually warm that 
 day, but the sky was overcast, the distant mountains con- 
 siderably hidden by clouds, and the breeze from across 
 the bay felt damp but fresh. The harbor seemed very 
 quiet. Six or eight large steamers were lying in sight, 
 among them the American steamship Finance, which had 
 her colors displayed and steam making, apparently for 
 the continuation of her voyage to Santos — then an excep- 
 tional movement. A few little boats with freight were 
 moving about; and just in front of us a large three- 
 masted sailing-vessel, with white-painted hull and heavily 
 loaded, was being towed by a propeller. The cabin of 
 
A TRIP INTO THE INTERIOR. 127 
 
 our boat had a number of settees on each side facing the 
 direction we were going, and on one of these near a win- 
 dow we took our places, and went to reading some late 
 American newspapers. The boat started at six minutes 
 after three o'clock, and at half -past three we were pass- 
 ing near Government Island — the longest and largest of 
 the numerous islands in the Kio Bay, covered with low 
 green foliage, and along the edge of which are a number 
 of white cottages of working - people. Afterward we 
 passed another island which was particularly pretty from 
 the varied colors of its foliage — dark and light green — 
 also the russet-colored tops of the mango-trees of diiferent 
 shades, from the russet to an orange tint. The shores 
 were somewhat rocky, with occasional exposed places of 
 red soil. To our front and right were other smaller isl- 
 ands, bearing small palms, banana-trees, and green bushes 
 of various shades. On hill-sides were one or two cleared 
 patches. The highest land of any of the islands did not 
 exceed one hundred and fifty feet. Looking backward 
 on our right, the hills back of IST ictheroy and the Sugar- 
 Loaf were visible, while directly behind the boat was Eio, 
 dimly seen through the heavy atmosphere. In front, at a 
 distance, were high mountains draped with fleecy clouds. 
 Besides ourselves there were in the cabin eleven adult 
 passengers and five children. The cabin-floor was uncar- 
 peted and clean. After an hour's passage on the boat we 
 landed and walked a short distance to the railway upon 
 which, after half an hour's run through a level, and for 
 the first part swampy, bush-covered, wild, and thriftless- 
 looking country, though containing an occasional dwelling 
 and some patches of com and mandioca, also a few orange 
 and banana trees, the foot of the mountains was reached. 
 Then at a slow pace the cars were pushed up the mount- 
 
128 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITIOIT AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 ain's side over a surface well wooded with deciduous trees 
 and exposing many big granite rocks. The first half of 
 the way the soil is a red clay mixed with granite, but ap- 
 proaching the summit it becomes a brown loam. We 
 pass granite cuts near enough to touch the sides, also 
 high, almost overhanging, rocks, and occasionally a de- 
 clivity a hundred feet or more down and somewhat start- 
 hng. For a part of the way the track follows the rocky 
 course of a clear stream. Here and there the old, wind- 
 ing carriage-road with its high stone embankment is visi-* 
 ble. The vegetation is abundant, the trees being tall and 
 some of large size. Sometimes the views are fine, but on 
 this occasion they were all shut out by wet clouds which 
 actually enveloped us. Three quarters of an hour are oc- 
 cupied in ascending the mountain and in the short de- 
 scent on the other side into Petropolis, making about two 
 and a half hours for the whole trip. We reached the 
 place at half-past five o'clock and drove to our hotel. 
 As Petropolis is a very quiet place, it is the queer fashion 
 there for people, even of the genteel class, to go to the 
 railway-station at the time the train arrives; and there 
 was quite a collection of people at the station the evening 
 we arrived there. 
 
 The next day we made some excursions through and 
 around the city, and very much enjoyed seeing the pretty 
 villas with fine flower-gardens, the excellent macadamized 
 roads, and the pebble-bottomed streams. The situation 
 of Petropolis, in the mountains twenty-four hundred feet 
 above the sea, is very pleasant and healthful ; and foreign- 
 ers arriving at Kio de Janeiro during the warm season 
 between ]N^ovember and June, and finding the heat too 
 great, or yellow fever prevailing, can obtain a quick and 
 perfectly safe retreat at this mountain resort. The Era- 
 
A TEIP INTO THE INTERIOR. 129 
 
 peror's summer villa was built there about forty years 
 ago, and, as improvements have been going on ever since, 
 it has become a most attractive as well as healthful and 
 fashionable summer resort — the principal one, indeed, in 
 Brazil. The diplomatic body usually go there bag and 
 baggage at the same time as the court, and stay as long, 
 which is generally from December till June. Petropolis 
 lies in the valleys of three clear streams, which have been 
 so improved by the engineer and gardener that they are 
 quite a feature of the place. Their banks are even with 
 the macadamized street or road on either side, but their 
 channels are ten to fifteen feet deep, with sloping and 
 trim, grass-covered sides. They flow gently over smooth, 
 pebbly bottoms, and, though usually shallow, sometimes 
 after a heavy rain overflow their banks. They are crossed 
 by a number of foot and other bridges having bright-red 
 railings, and shade-trees are growing along their banks. 
 Two of these streams coming from opposite directions in 
 the same street unite in the square of Dom Pedro II, 
 and, after flowing through the centers of several other 
 streets in a similar deep channel, are joined by another 
 stream of like character, the whole forming a considerable 
 river, which still runs for some distance in the limits of 
 the town, and then over numerous foaming rapids de- 
 scends the western slope of the mountains to the broad 
 Parahyba. Petropolis includes in its limits several con- 
 ical hills, about five hundred feet high, composed of fer- 
 tile red soil, mostly covered with a young growth of 
 forest, ever verdant, but somewhat variegated, and in 
 which the dark green of the gracefully clustered bamboo 
 and the lighter shades of the banana are noticeable. Some 
 of the hill-sides show patches of cultivation and tidy- 
 looking cottages. Fine mountain scenery is visible in 
 
130 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION" AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 various directions. There are several extended and ample 
 streets, a number of whicli are level, containing many 
 separate, spacious, and tasteful dwellings, with the grounds, 
 lawns, shrubbery, and flowers which so much adorn the 
 country home, and which seem to find in the temperature 
 of Petropolis their natural clime. The Emperor's villa is 
 of a yellowish-brown color, and rather plain, but has about 
 twelve acres of ground with trees and plants. 
 
 Petropolis, being named after the Emperor, and indeed 
 founded by him, is naturally the object of his deep in- 
 terest. The place with its outskirts affords many miles of 
 pleasant carriage driveway over smooth roads. Its busi- 
 ness is confined to one central street, on which is the rail- 
 way-station. The working population is nearly all Ger- 
 man or of German descent, and good order and quiet pre- 
 vail. There are several tolerably comfortable hotels, with 
 board at two dollars and twenty-five cents a day. As 
 might be supposed, Petropolis has frequent spells of rainy 
 weather, which sometimes last fully three days. In al- 
 most every month, too, there are some mornings and even- 
 ings which are cold enough to render a fire indispensable 
 for comfoi^ ; but at present only a few houses are pro- 
 vided with heating accommodations. With good open 
 fireplaces in the houses, and a sufiiciency of dry fuel, the 
 sanitary condition of the place would become greatly im- 
 proved. 
 
 There is one train a day from Petropolis to Eio, start- 
 ing at 7 A. M. The fare each way is three dollars. A few 
 business men make the round trip daily, and state that 
 they find it less fatiguing than the trip between Rio and 
 Tijuca. 
 
 Having engaged transportation the preceding after- 
 noon, we, on Thursday morning at five o'clock, left Pe- 
 
A TRIP INTO THE INTERIOR. 131 
 
 tropolis by stage on the celebrated Juiz de Fora carriage- 
 road for Entre Kios, there to take the railway for Barba- 
 cena. We three happened to be the only passengers. 
 The stage was drawn by four mules, wliich were changed 
 at every station of eight miles. We made good time, as 
 the road was smooth (though I noticed it was getting 
 worn and out of repair), and reached Entre Rios at about 
 ten o'clock, in season for the express-train from Eio. The 
 scenery w^as interesting all the way. Entre Rios seemed 
 a brisk and important business place, especially for for- 
 warding produce, and appeared to have a few thousand 
 inhabitants. Continuing our journey from here on by 
 rail, we reached our stopping-place, Barbacena, shortly 
 after four. Carriages in city style, drawn by mules, were 
 at the station, but before I could get our trunk they had 
 all disappeared with other passengers ; however, one soon 
 came back in which we were taken to the Italian Hotel, 
 the principal one in the place. We found the weather 
 uncomfortably cold and damp. I^^o fires, and beds had to 
 be warmed with bottles of hot water; sleeping-rooms 
 small, beds too short, big cracks in the floor through which 
 one could look into an untidy room below. Dinner at 
 the hotel was fair, but the breakfast the next morning 
 was better, and consisted of fried potatoes, fried eggs in 
 peas, tenderloin of pork roasted, fried beef, coffee, and 
 good bread. After our dinner we took a walk through 
 the town before dark. Barbacena is an old town on a 
 ridge of land, has two long streets paved with rough but 
 now smoothly worn stones, and which are flanked by con- 
 tinuous low buildings. There are three old but rather 
 neat-looking churches, with shrubbery and trees in their 
 grounds. About the only evidence of life noticeable in 
 this walk was a brass band practicing in some upper room. 
 
132 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 Could we have been comfortably settled, it was our in- 
 tention to spend several days in tlie place, and to make 
 some excursions into the surrounding country. But, on 
 account of the raw, chilly temperature in-doors, we de- 
 cided to start homeward the next morning. Both in go- 
 ing and coming I made many notes as to the appearance 
 of the country, the better to fix the facts in my mind. 
 The route from Rio to Barbacena by railway is through 
 one of the oldest and best coffee-producing districts in 
 Brazil, and in that distance passes through sixteen tunnels 
 and crosses two separate mountain-ranges about as high as 
 the Alleghanies where crossed by the Pennsylvania Cen- 
 tral Railroad, and which are covered with a fair but not 
 dense growth of hard-wood trees, and, on the more ele- 
 vated parts, some tropical pines of medium size. It is 
 between these mountain-ranges that the road \\dnds for 
 sixty miles along the banks of the wide but frequently 
 shallow Parahyba River. 
 
 The country generally is exceedingly broken and hilly, 
 the hills for the most part being twice as high as the bluffs 
 of the upper Mississippi, and of conical form. They 
 seem to vary from one hundred to one thousand feet in 
 height, and often reach the dignity of mountains. Where 
 uncultivated, they bear thrifty yet small second-growth 
 timber ; but, after getting in the vicinity of Barbacena, 
 they become devoid of timber, and in the dry, or winter 
 season — which was the time of our trip — have the brown 
 and smooth appearance of a closely fed sheep-pasture. 
 Yery few rocks are to be seen ; but in some places ant- 
 hills, of smooth, liard exterior, the color of the soil, and 
 four or five feet high, are disagreeably numerous. The 
 prevailing character of the soil is a red clay, mixed with 
 gravel, and is evidently fertile, but there is nothing aston- 
 
A TRIP INTO THE INTERIOR. 133 
 
 ishing or particularly beautiful in tlie natural vegetation. 
 At long intervals some fine, tall trees, with large and 
 handsome orange-colored blossoms, may be seen, and there 
 is occasionally a blending of colors that about equals, but 
 certainly does not surpass, the Korth American foliage 
 after an autumn frost, where, on some forest hill-side, the 
 green and the scarlet, the orange and the crimson, are 
 richly mingled. There are some fences of rails laid upon 
 crotched stakes, but the division lines between estates 
 often consist of ditches, with the earth thrown up on one 
 side, resembling rifle-pits or field fortifications, and which, 
 being straight and of a red color, are at a distance inter- 
 esting objects. Not more than a twentieth part of the 
 land is under cultivation, and some of it appears to have 
 been worn out and abandoned. The sight, now and then, 
 of a pack of mules, with produce strung over their backs 
 in baskets or bales, and the most primitive of wooden and 
 squeaking-wheeled ox-carts — the axle revolving with the 
 wheels — carts such as might have come into Portugal with 
 the first Roman or Phoenician colony, also the absence of 
 all modem agricultural implements, tell of an antiquated 
 system of agriculture. Indeed, for the most of the way 
 along this route, the surface of the ground is so abruptly 
 broken that it is scarcely possible to use the plow, let 
 alone the planter and other modern implements. The 
 hoe is necessarily almost the sole implement of field-culti- 
 vation, and it is twice as large and heavy as the hoe which 
 the American and European farmer is accustomed to 
 use. 
 
 The leading crop of this region is coffee, plantations 
 
 of which are to be seen as far out as the neighborhood of 
 
 Retiro, one hundred and sixty-five miles from Rio de 
 
 Janeiro. As a rule, the soil on the coffee-plantations is 
 
 12 
 
134: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 kept as clean and free of weeds as are the corn-fields of 
 the most careful American farmers, who are accustomed 
 to till the soil with their own hands. The coffee-tree, as 
 it is called, is a bush from six to eight feet high. The 
 red soil is just visible between the rows of trees, so that 
 at a distance a plantation has a striped appearance of green 
 and red, which is very pretty. After the fruit has been 
 stripped off, and much of the foliage with it, the tops of 
 the trees have a slightly bluish tinge. 
 
 There are some separate coffee-plantations which cover 
 several thousand acres, and which, stretching as they do 
 over bold, circling undulations, present a beautiful and 
 even grand picture. I^ot the rich, grass-carpeted valley 
 of the Po, with its plantations of the mulberry, the wil- 
 low, and the vine, nor the blooming cotton-fields of Texas, 
 nor any agricultural scene that I have anywhere witnessed, 
 in the Old World or the New, can rival the beauty and 
 magnificence of one of the finely cultivated, mountain- 
 covered plantations of coffee in Brazil. Visible from the 
 railroad are a few, but only a few, handsome residences 
 of coffee-planters. 
 
 On this route are several neat-looking villages, and two 
 or three towns that may number six thousand inhabitants. 
 Among these, Juiz de Fora is perhaps the prettiest, and 
 is situated on sloping ground, with a hill, apparently of 
 granite, just behind it. Barbacena, a city with cobble- 
 paved streets, and situated on high ground, is reputed as 
 healthful, and has a large and fairly kept hotel. In all 
 •these villages and towns not a chimney is visible. The 
 houses are generally one to two stories high, the walls 
 stuccoed in white, and sometimes blue, pink, yellow, or 
 green color. The roofs are four-sided, low, and covered 
 with heavy red tiles. The aspect of the villages and 
 
A TRIP INTO THE INTERIOR. 135 
 
 towns, amid a variety of trees, including generally the 
 banana and palm, is, on the whole, cheerful, and the in- 
 habitants, so far as the traveler by railway can judge, are 
 temperate and contented. The houses, or rather huts, of 
 the poor are built of unburned bricks, are of a brown or 
 earth color, have wooden window-shutters, but no glass 
 windows, and usually palm-thatched roofs. Generally, 
 near the house is a Kttle patch of ground fenced with up- 
 right poles of irregular height. Mules, goats, and hogs 
 are the kinds of Hve-stock most commonly seen. The 
 railway-station buildings, though not spacious, are out- 
 wardly neat. They are of concrete, a story and a half 
 high, with projecting tiled roofs, walls white and thick, 
 with a strip two feet in width painted red around the 
 base, for an imitation foundation. The station Sitio, at 
 the foot of the Mantiqueira range, has an attractive flower- 
 garden attached to it, as is the excellent custom in some 
 of the countries in the north of Europe, and which always 
 make an agreeable impression on the traveler. 
 
 The railway on this line is owned and managed by the 
 Government. The employes wear citizen's clothing, and 
 are unpretentious in their manners. The cars were made 
 in Brazil, the inside finish being of light-colored hard 
 wood, with cane-seated, high-back chairs, in pairs, perma- 
 nently fixed, and facing each other, on each side of the 
 car, with a passage-way in the center. Closets are at- 
 tached to the cars, after the American system. It is the 
 fashion among Brazilian male passengers to wear brown 
 or white linen overcoats to keep off the dust, and to smoke 
 cigarettes in any car, as a matter of course. There are no 
 separate cars for ladies. There is no discrimination on 
 account of color. In going from Rio passengers get a 
 late breakfast at Barra de Pirahy, and on the return trip 
 
136 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 dine at the same place. One dollar is charged for a meal. 
 Pure and good black coffee, in small cups, with other re- 
 freshments, is served at Entre Eios, and several other 
 places. On the whole, I think that American visitors to 
 Brazil would find a trip into the interior, on this or some 
 other route, highly interesting, and such as would leave 
 lasting and agreeable impressions on the mind. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 VISIT TO A COFFEE-rLANTATION. 
 
 Sao Paulo, besides its seaport, Santos, and its capital, 
 the city of Sao Paulo, contains several important business 
 centers, and, as it is supposed to possess the best agricult- 
 ural resources of any province, I desired to make a visit 
 there at the first convenient opportunity. My interest 
 had been increased by hearing people speak of its capital 
 as being the most American of any city in Brazil. The 
 day fixed for starting was the 1st of May, 1884, and, as I 
 was to be accompanied by my wife and daughter, we all 
 thought it would be the more pleasant to go by steamship 
 from Rio to Santos, and return to Rio by rail, which we 
 did. We embarked at noon, on the steamship Crown 
 Prince Frederick William, and I must say that I did not 
 quite relish the idea of having to deliver up my passport 
 to the steamship agents — so that a permit from the Bra- 
 zilian authorities for my leaving port could be obtained — 
 before I could have the privilege of buying tickets. But 
 no foreigner can leave any Brazilian port without first 
 obtaining a pass from the chief of police — a frivolous and 
 burdensome usage. It was one o'clock p. m. when we 
 began to steam out of the harbor and tui'n southward. 
 The weather was perfectly clear and delightful. Twenty 
 months had passed since we had first entered the harbor 
 
138 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PPwOSPECTS. 
 
 of Rio, and it was with peculiar feelings that we now 
 again, from a steamer's deck, surveyed the same extended 
 and striking view of mountains and city that then opened 
 before us. The sea continued smooth and the weather 
 very pleasant all the afternoon and till bedtime. In a 
 couple of hours after leaving Rio the mountain scenery 
 along the coast becomes somewhat grand, and more beau- 
 tiful than about Rio. The mountains, though generally 
 covered with green forest, present a variety of forms, and 
 it was very pleasant to sit under a canvas awning, or walk 
 the deck, and watch the changing views. On retiring at 
 night we had every expectation of arriving at Santos at 
 the usual time, which would have been early the next 
 morning. But a sharp rain- and thunder-storm rose in the 
 night, during which the ship pitched and rolled a good 
 deal, and the captain thought it pnident to stop, as there 
 are several rather dangerous islands on the route between 
 Rio and Santos. The result was that we did not reach 
 Santos till four o'clock the next afternoon. Santos is 
 situated out of siglit from the sea, on a river not much 
 wider than a canal, and it requires careful navigating for 
 half an hour to get up to it ; and when one does get to it 
 there is nothing attractive to be seen. The banks of the 
 river are muddy and filthy, though the tide comes up 
 sometimes. There are a few wharves, to which large 
 steamships were moored. The city itself has an anti- 
 quated appearance, and its narrow streets are compactly 
 built up. The most striking object, on coming up to the 
 city, is the custom-house, which, though small, is some- 
 what showy. 
 
 The hotel to which we went was old, situated in a 
 block of buildings, and had only an up-stairs entrance, 
 direct from the street. The rooms and furniture left 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 139 
 
 considerable to be desired, but tbe table was good. The 
 dining-room being small, I could not but notice that the 
 practice of gentlemen — probably the most of them for- 
 eigners — ^lighting their cigars and smoking for a while at 
 the table seemed to have given the room a permanently 
 stale smell of tobacco-smoke. There was a heavy shower 
 during the night, but the next day was pleasant, and in 
 the forenoon, in company with the wife of the American 
 consul, a Brazilian lady, and her daughter, we made an 
 excursion of a couple of miles or so in the horse-cars, to 
 the sea-beach, which is very long, and affords an extensive 
 driveway. A number of genteel cottages are occupied 
 along the edge of the woods which border the beach. In 
 going there from the city the way is over level land, and it 
 appeared to me that there was enough well-situated ground 
 for the site of a large city. I suppose it is all laid out 
 into lots. Leaving Santos at haK-past two p. m., on the 
 railway, we arrived at Sao Paulo about six o'clock. For 
 the first half -hour the road is over low, level land, covered 
 with bushes. In the course of twenty minutes we cross a 
 wide stream, near to which is the first station. The sta- 
 tion-building is of brick, one story high, of light-yellow 
 color, with a zinc roof, which projects six feet beyond the 
 wall, and is supported by an iron frame. On one side of 
 the road the forest is only a rifle-shot distant, while behind 
 the station-building there is a slightly de'scending bush- 
 covered surface for about a mile, and then hills, and 
 mountains a thousand feet high, covered with forest. 
 We were going through a valley, and getting nearer the 
 mountains, and in ten minutes from this first station were 
 on an ascending grade, in the vicinity of second-growth 
 timber, rank weeds, and rich soil washed from hills near 
 by. At ten minutes past three we arrived at the foot of 
 
140 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 the serra, a green, forest-covered mountain-side, a mile 
 distant, on our left, and another, half a mile distant, on 
 our right. At the station are a telegraph-office, a bar, and 
 also closets. Near by are two or three adobe houses of the 
 poor people, with small grounds, fenced with close-stand- 
 ing, slender stakes. The weather was warm, and the in- 
 sects troublesome. At 3.35 we began the ascent of tlie 
 serra, in a railway-car pulled up by an iron cable, and 
 reached the top at 4.16. There were some fine views on 
 the way up, both of mountains on our left and of sea and 
 mountains behind. We also felt the air delightfully 
 cooler as we got near the summit. Among the passengers 
 were some German business men, going up from Santos 
 to spend Sunday at Sao Paulo. At the summit station a 
 number of working-men were standing about, dressed in 
 blue cotton clothes. 
 
 From the point where we reached the high land all 
 the way to the city of Sao Paulo, I watched the soil 
 very closely and was surprised to see that so much of it 
 was apparently poor. At 4.40 we came to a station where 
 there were a saw-mill, a few houses, and some cleared 
 ground, with old stumps, resembling an American pasture. 
 We had been about twenty minutes coming to this point 
 from the summit, much of the way being descending, the 
 surface generally undulating, rather wet and bush-covered. 
 We soon ascend another ridge covered with timber. At 
 5 A. M. we reach a station, where there are wooden build- 
 ings surrounded by partly cleared land ; thence we soon 
 entered a narrow prairie. At 5.12, the station of Sao Ber- 
 nardo, with good brick buildings, on nearly level cainpos j 
 after that, smooth, undulating land and occasionally rocks. 
 At 5.4, reached station of Braz near Sao Paulo, where the 
 tickets were taken up. Yery pretty surrounding country. 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 141 
 
 It was just sundown ; the weather was pleasant, but I felt 
 the need of putting on a light overcoat. In about eight 
 minutes more we were at the last station. We had to wait 
 twenty-five minutes for our trunk before we could start 
 in a carriage for the hotel. The number of every piece 
 of baggage as it is taken from the car is checked in a book 
 by an employe. The convenient system of checks as in 
 the United States is not used, but a paper receipt is given 
 at the beginning of the journey, whicli must be given up 
 before getting the baggage. 
 
 My impressions of the country between Santos and 
 Sao Paulo were penciled down May 4, as follows : " On 
 the whole, the soil between Santos and Sao Paulo appears 
 only third rate. The mountain-slope toward Santos and 
 the sea is densely covered with a small growth of hard- 
 wood forest. The trees seem of uniform height, and there 
 is but little variety in the shade of dark-green of the foli- 
 age. Looking off and down on the left side from the rail- 
 way, the mountain - slope shows numerous but not deep 
 ravines, all timber-covered. The view is not as imposing 
 as we had been led to expect. "We had one view of the 
 sea and intervening valley. After getting to the summit 
 there is but little descent to Sao Paulo; what there is 
 seems to be offset by ascent. Leaving the summit station, 
 we came, at about twenty-five miles an hour, through a 
 moderately undulating country, with more or less timber 
 and bushes. Say at five o'clock, we entered the campos^ 
 though still some timber at a distance. The campos 
 begins as a narrow prairie, sloping a little to our right. 
 Ther& is some meadow-land with rather poor meadow- 
 grass. Much of the land shows need of drainage. A 
 few straight ditches have been dug. As we were forty 
 minutes coming to Sao Paulo after striking the campos, 
 
142 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 I suppose we passed over fifteen miles of such surface. 
 Scarcely any of the land is fenced. We saw two or three 
 insignificant patches of com already ripe, but in the whole 
 distance there was not visible one well-cultivated field of 
 any sort of crop. "We did not see in all more than fifty 
 head of cattle, very few dwellings, and those very small and 
 generally of adobe. Of trees a few stunted palms were 
 seen ; also green-leaved trees such as are commonly seen, 
 a few quite tall and slender, some with green parasites ; 
 but mostly the forest vegetation does not rise above the 
 dignity of bushes ; and many of the trees, indeed, from 
 their sickly appearance, might be fancied to be witnesses 
 rising up to testify to the poorness of the soil. With 
 drainage and good cultivation, no doubt, the soil would 
 produce fair crops, but in its natural condition it presents 
 a great contrast to that fertility which is so much vaunted 
 in respect to Brazil." 
 
 In a conversation which I had in Sao Paulo with 
 Brigadier - General Magelhaes, a Brazilian who is well ac- 
 quainted with the country, he told me that the soil between 
 Santos and Sao Paulo " is not even third rate " ; that it 
 contains no lime, and is fit only for the vine ; that there 
 is very little good land near Sao Paulo, though there is a 
 strip that is good, a league square, toward the west. He 
 says that three fourths of the land in the province of Sao 
 Paulo is good ; but that, in respect of Brazil as a whole, 
 only a hundredth part of the land is fit for cultivation. 
 
 The city of Sao Paulo is the most famous imd impor- 
 tant of all the interior towns of Brazil, its history being 
 interwoven with turbulent political events of early times. 
 It has a pleasant and elevated situation on an undulating 
 bank of the Tiete Eiver, where it is but little more than a 
 brook ; and in any season of the year, with its green-topped 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATIOK 143 
 
 trees, including a few palms amid light-colored walls, red- 
 tiled roofs, and old cliurcli-towers, lias a striking appear- 
 ance. Looking down from tlie city toward the river, the 
 opposite and lower side is considerably built upon, but 
 farther on is a wide expanse like a meadow, and then be- 
 gins a rolling prairie which, after a stretch of eight or ten 
 miles, is closed in by a range of forest-covered hills. It 
 is in this lower and newer part of the city, and near the 
 stream, that the Public Garden is situated. We spent some 
 hours in it on a pleasant forenoon. It comprises about 
 twelve acres, and there is room for its extension. It has 
 fine shaded walks and neat ponds. One of its chief feat- 
 ures is an avenue of figueira, or wild fig-trees, which 
 resemble the American live-oak. Among a variety of 
 trees I noticed two small American or English white oaks. 
 Eeally, a great deal of taste, enterprise, p-nd skill is dis- 
 played in this garden. There is a pretty high tower for 
 an observatory, and the superintendent has his residence 
 in the grounds. ^Nothing, in my opinion, reflects greater 
 credit on a place than ample and well-arranged grounds 
 in a convenient locality for a public garden or park. This 
 one was not for driving, but simply for pedestrians. Op- 
 posite this park are the old and extensive buildings of the 
 Catholic Theological Seminary of the diocese. 
 
 A very pleasant set of rooms commanding a fine view 
 had been engaged for us at the principal hotel. This ho- 
 tel, now owned and kept by a German, is, as a building, 
 the largest and best hotel in all Brazil. Its rooms and 
 furniture are the best of any in Brazil. It is a respect- 
 able and orderly family hotel, and has, I believe, no bill- 
 iard - table nor bar. The furniture is black walnut and 
 American. The beds are comfortable and clean. The 
 dining-room is spacious, but the table is not as good as 
 
IM BRAZIL: ITS COKDITIOIT AND PROSPECTS, 
 
 a traveler has a right to expect. It is a little too scrimpy 
 and plain. From the published list of guests, I infer that 
 the French hotel on the other side of the same street is 
 better patronized. However, I learn that the proprietor 
 of the hotel I am speaking of is clearing eight per cent 
 on the capital invested. The hotel is closed at ten o'clock 
 every evening. The front door is then locked, the lights 
 put out, and the waiter for each floor then goes to bed on 
 a cot in the hall near the stairway. 
 
 Sao Paulo has unquestionably the finest shop for a 
 book and stationery store combined that there is in Brazil. 
 It is kept by Frenchmen, and was visited by the Princess 
 Imperial during her recent visit to that city. Her Impe- 
 rial Highness condescended to accept as a present from 
 the proprietors an elegantly bound and illustrated volume. 
 (I also was presented with a volume — a catalogue in paper 
 binding.) Among the prominent things in Sao Paulo is 
 the National Law School, mentioned elsewhere, and kept 
 in an antiquated convent pile. I should judge also that 
 the mansion and offices of the president of the province 
 were once an ecclesiastical edifice. How generous and 
 public-spirited the Church must be, thus to give its ven- 
 erable buildings to the Government ! Military sentinels 
 were posted at the doors of the presidential offices. The 
 bishop's residence is also well situated. The city is well 
 supplied with street-railways, and those through the newer 
 part of the city afford the visitor an opportunity of seeing 
 a few expensive and pretty villas. 
 
 With the Eev. Dr. John Cross, British chaplain, I 
 went to see his church. It is constructed after the style 
 of many American Episcopal churches, especially its inte- 
 rior, the ceiling extending to the roof, and being finished 
 in the dark and natural color of the wood. It was all 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 145 
 
 neat and tasteful, and I was struck with the appearance 
 of several kinds of Brazilian wood used for the interior 
 finish. From there, Dr. Cross took me to see the ma- 
 chine-shops of the Santos and Sao Paulo Kailroad Com- 
 pany, to which I had been invited by Mr. Bai'ker, the 
 manager. Connected with the offices are a library and 
 reading-room, and a billiard-room adjoining, all for the 
 use of the clerks and other employes of the company. 
 I had never before seen anything of the sort, and was 
 most favorably impressed by such thoughtful provision 
 for the recreation, instruction, and amusement of corpora- 
 tion employes. These rooms were on the lower floor, spa- 
 cious, well lighted, and pleasant. In the reading-room 
 was a large table where were the latest London newspa- 
 pers and periodicals. The books composing the library, 
 which probably numbered six hundred volumes, were 
 mostly English; they were modern and well selected. 
 Everything is free, except that one milreis a month is 
 paid for the use of the books. 
 
 From Mr. Barker I received some information in re- 
 spect to wages and other matters. The railroad company 
 gets its sldlled mechanics from England by contract, pay- 
 ing one hundred and eighty milreis (seventy-two dollars) 
 a month, and no deduction during sickness or holidays ; 
 after three years they get one hundred and ninety milreis 
 a month. Native carpenters are paid two dollars a day, 
 laborers eighty cents a day. Apprentices are paid twenty 
 cents a day, with an annual increase in the same amount ; 
 they serve from five to seven years. The rule for all is 
 to work fifty-two hours in a week, and the work is dis- 
 tributed so as to let them quit some hours before night 
 on Saturdays, which is the common rule in England. 
 
 The work of the machine-shops consists of foundry- 
 13 
 
146 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 work and car-building and repairing. And here comes 
 a singular fact for a country so endowed with forests as 
 Brazil is supposed to be: The timber used in the con- 
 struction of cars is tecik^ grown in and imported from 
 India through England ! It resembles white oak, but is 
 more durable, and handsomer, and is the sort of timber 
 that decks and the tops of railings on the best steamships 
 are made of. However, considerable Brazilian lumber is 
 used in the shops, and Mr. Barker says it is found to be 
 very good. 
 
 The rate of transportation of coffee on this railway is 
 very high, being something over two hundred reis, or eight 
 cents, per ton per kilometre. The Santos and Sao Faido 
 Railroad Company had a guarantee from the Brazihan 
 Government of the payment of seven per cent interest ; 
 but the road must earn its working expenses to get the 
 guarantee, and after its earnings exceed its expenses it 
 must divide the profit with the Government, which still 
 pays the guarantee, till all that has been paid in the way 
 of guarantee is returned to the Government. Hence, the 
 Government is not inclined to have the road reduce its 
 rates of transportation. 
 
 The Sunday we passed in Sao Paulo we attended re- 
 ligious services in the Presbyterian church, under the 
 charge of the American missionary, Pev. George W. 
 Chamberlain, walking there and back, the distance being 
 about three quarters of a mile from our hotel. Mr. Cham- 
 berlain, who has been a mission aiy in Brazil fifteen or 
 twenty years, preached an extemporaneous sermon in the 
 Portuguese language to a respectable and devout congre- 
 gation of about two hundred, nearly all white Brazilians. 
 The singing was by the congregation. The sacrament was 
 administered in the same form that is customary in the 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 147 
 
 Congregational and Baptist churches — the deacons carry- 
 ing the bread and wine to the communicants at their seats. 
 A large majority of the congregation partook. I was sur- 
 prised at the large size of the church-building. It will 
 accommodate an audience of nearly a thousand. Its ceil- 
 ing is very high, and it has a new, fresh, and pleasant ap- 
 pearance. On the wall, behind the pulpit, the ten com- 
 mandments are legibly inscribed in Portuguese ; also, 
 there are two large and finely colored maps of the world. 
 
 The next day we went to take a fuller look at the 
 church, and to visit the day-school connected with the 
 mission. On that occasion, Mr. Chamberlain told me that 
 the ground, an acre and a half, bought in 1875, and the 
 church and school-buildings, cost in all about eighty thou- 
 sand milreis at that time, say thirty- four thousand dollai'S. 
 The church alone cost thirty-five thousand milreis, or fif- 
 teen thousand doUars. It is of wood, and the material was 
 brought from the United States. Around the grounds are 
 a nmnber of tall eucalyptus-trees. The school corresponds 
 to a good grammar-school. There were one hundred and 
 twenty pupils, besides twenty in the Kindergarten. Boys 
 and girls were in the same room. It appeared to be a 
 very well managed school. It was once visited by the 
 Emperor himself, and in a subsequent conversation with 
 Mr. Chamberlain he complimented the school, but said he 
 regretted its proselyting influence. Mr. Chamberlain dis- 
 claimed its having such a purpose, and said that religious 
 but not sectarian instruction was given in the school. 
 
 I would here say that Mr. Chamberlain is known in 
 Sao Paulo as the Padre Americano^ or American priest. 
 He is an energetic, active, and effective man, highly re- 
 spected by all classes, and exerts a large influence. His 
 residence, on ample grounds, selected at a favorable time, 
 
148 BRAZn.: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 is about a mile from the older part of the city ; and there, 
 one evening, we had the pleasure of meeting a party of 
 about thirty ladies and gentlemen who are residents of 
 Sao Paulo. There was some good music. In a conversa- 
 tion with an intelligent and candid Brazilian who was pres- 
 ent I remarked that I admired the courage and tenacity 
 with which the Portuguese settlers in Brazil defended 
 themselves against the French and Dutch ; that it ap- 
 peared to me it surpassed what they had done in their 
 native country. He replied : '^ The Tupay Indians did 
 the fighting ; they are entitled to more credit than the 
 Portuguese. Those Indians were a remarkable race." I 
 inquired if those Indians had become extinct. He said, 
 not entirely ; but they are mixed more or less with the 
 Brazilians. 
 
 We visited the Law School, which, however, was hav- 
 ing a vacation. It is kept in an old Jesuit church and 
 monastery, the mud walls of which, white outside, are 
 two and a half feet thick. Besides the room for the 
 library, there are two fine large rooms or halls, with sev- 
 eral full-length portraits of professors, and in an inner 
 room was a good full-length portrait of the Emperor, 
 Dom Pedro II. The library-room was undergoing re- 
 pairs, and the books were mostly on the floor, which was 
 carpeted. They had a French look outside, and the most 
 were apparently a century or so old. The only English 
 law-books were Burns's "Justice" and Chitty's "Com- 
 mercial Law." There were no American law-books that 
 I could discover except three copies, in two volumes each, 
 of Wheaton's "International Law," in French. There 
 was a set of the "Edinburgh Review," but apparently 
 not the later volumes. 
 
 The old church in the same pile of buildings, though 
 
VISIT TO A OOFFEE-PLANTATIOK 149 
 
 of small dimensions, is an historical curiosity. Of its 
 paintings the one that struck me most was a full, life-sized 
 portrait on the ceiling in strong colors of some holj man 
 on bended knees, with eyes upturned as if in the act of 
 invoking a divine blessing. The verdant, rolling land- 
 scape about him resembled the beautiful expanse which 
 surrounds the venerable city of Sao Paulo, and the pleas- 
 ing thought occurred to me, as I stood gazing at the pict- 
 ure, that it probably represented the pioneer missionary 
 who first planted the cross at that place. " Here," thought 
 I, " honor has been done to home worth. This is a memo- 
 rial of some spiritual hero who encountered perils in the 
 wilderness in Brazil's early days ; and how much better it 
 is to honor such men than to be always painting saints 
 of the middle ages ! " I was not a little indignant, there- 
 fore, when I learned that it was a picture of some Euro- 
 pean who had never set foot in Brazil. However, it rep- 
 resented no unworthy man — it was St. Francis. 
 
 The Bev. Mr. Chamberlain related to me an anecdote 
 of a party of begging Indians who came naked from their 
 haunts in the wilderness to see the president of the prov- 
 ince. The law-students gave them some clothes, which 
 they pat on in an amusing style. Mr. Chamberlain with 
 some young people visited the party of Indians as they 
 were eating. One of the Indians, for a bit of humor, yet 
 with serious face, got up and approached him with a long 
 knife, which he pretended to be sharpening on his naked 
 arm. Some of the girls screamed, and one fainted. Mr. 
 Chamberlain went toward the Indian, who did not change 
 his countenance. Mr. Chamberlain asked, in Portuguese, 
 if they would like to hear some singing. The Indian did 
 not understand him, and called an interpreter. They 
 wanted to hear the singing, and several hymns were sung 
 
\/ 
 
 150 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 in Portuguese. The Indians all gathered round and liked 
 it, and wanted more singing. These Indians used bows 
 six feet long, and arrows with poisoned bone points. 
 
 During our stay in Sao Paulo we had one or two pleas- 
 ant horseback rides. One afternoon we started at 4.30 
 o'clock with some friends, passing through ravines and 
 over hills behind and overlooking the city, and gettiug as 
 far as the Small-pox Hospital, then happily unoccupied, 
 and from which place we started back at dusk. The same 
 evening we went and took tea with the Rev. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Tarboux, missionaries of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, South, who had recently come from South 
 Carolina. 
 
 I noticed that, while in Sao Paulo, the temperature was 
 such that a thick blanket made a necessary bed-cover at 
 night. 
 
 On Thursday morning at nine oclock we took the cars 
 to visit Mr. Yergueiro's great coffee-plantation at Ibicaba, 
 the principal to^vns that we passed on the trip being Jun- 
 diahy, Campinas, and Limera. The railway-car in which 
 we went was comfortable and neat. There were eight 
 rows or sets of seats with high backs covered with brown 
 Hnen ; single seats on the left side of the passage and 
 double ones on the right side. The wood-work was of 
 teak ; the windows could be opened and shut easily ; the 
 floor was covered with oil-cloth. The weather was misty 
 and rather cold. First, we passed through bottom-land 
 with black soil, and in twenty minutes were passing along 
 a narrow valley with hills forty feet high, bush-covered ; 
 some rocks, occasional patches of corn amid bushes ; the 
 hills afterward increasing in height and being frequently 
 devoid of bushes. My pencil-notes made at the time read ; 
 " Cayaeira, 9.45 a. m. Some granite, very little surface 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 151 
 
 thus far visible this side of Sao Paulo that can be culti- 
 vated with the plow. — Belim, 10.2. Much of the bushes 
 we have passed look like willow. None of the trees arc 
 large, and but for the flowers on a few of them the vege- 
 tation and surface would look almost exactly like much 
 of the broken and third-rate land one sometimes traverses 
 in the western part of the United States. A stop at this 
 station of ten minutes ; and lamps in the cars are lit, evi- 
 dently preparatory to entering a tunnel. — YaUinhas, 11.40. 
 The undulations here become more moderate. The soil 
 seems to improve. It is of red color ; scarcely any culti- 
 vation, however, in sight. A few dwellings in the vicinity. 
 A pack of mules, the first of the sort seen to-day, at the 
 station, and a few ox-teams. A small flower-garden close 
 to the station. HaK-way between the last station and 
 this, a large, high hill covered with white rocks visible off 
 to the right. 
 
 " Campinas, 12.10. A mile or two before reaching the 
 station a fine view opens on the right of a gently undulat- 
 ing country five to ten miles across, surrounding the town, 
 amphitheatre-like, and apparently considerably cultivated. 
 — Rebougas, 1 p. m. The country has been moderately roll- 
 ing ; bushes and scattered timber ; a little com amid bush- 
 es. Soil for the most part ordinary. Am reminded, by the 
 surface and vegetation, of land in the western part of the 
 United States, except for occasional banana-trees. Here 
 is a very small lumber-yard ; such things very rare. A 
 small but thrifty-looking field of cane. — Santa Barbara, 
 1.20. Some signs of a new settlement. A field of cane at 
 a distance, the color of which is like a new field of oats. 
 Flov/er-garden at the station ; a lumber-yard ; a small 
 stream on the right ; meadow with horses and cattle feed- 
 ing ; on gentle, grass-covered rise of groimd are a few 
 
152 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 dead trees, but not large. At l.-iO cross the Piraeicaba 
 Eiver, of dark-drab color, and about eiglity feet wide." 
 At the station of Cordeiro a fine carriage of Mr. Yer- 
 gueiro's, also a team to take our baggage, were waiting us. 
 The weather was cool and pleasant, and the drive of about 
 three miles to his residence was agreeable. From my rec- 
 ollection, the situation of his buildings and plantation is a 
 couple of hundred feet or so higher than the line of the 
 railway, and with surrounding hills even higher ; and, as 
 the plantation has a breadth of three or four miles, it was 
 not long before we were traveling over it. There was soon 
 a striking improvement in the appearance of the soil and 
 vegetation, the latter increasing in size and the fonner 
 being a pui^ple clay, such as is considered the very best 
 for the production of coffee. As we approached the 
 premises I could see that the buildings were rather exten- 
 sive, as indeed might be supposed on an estate employ- 
 ing five or six hundred slaves. The house, which is very- 
 substantial, but not showy, is two stories high, the first 
 one being for offices, and the second one for living-rooms, 
 the entrance being through a large front yard containing 
 flowers and trees. On the right side are additions for 
 storage and domestics, making a line of a hundred yards 
 or so of buildings. Adjoining on the left is a square, over- 
 looked from the dwelling, surrounded by the cabins of the 
 slaves, and in the rear are the mills and shops, brick-yard, 
 etc., for the mechanical work of the plantation. There are 
 also a hospital, chapel, with prominent tower and clock. 
 Looking from the front windows of the house, there is a 
 pleasant view of smooth pasture -ground sloping moder- 
 ately, with here and there a tall, handsome tree — survivor 
 of the virgin forest — and resembling a big, spreading- 
 topped American elm ; then there is an ascent to high 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 153 
 
 ground, on whicli, about a mile distant, are visible the 
 houses of Mr. Yergueiro's German colony and coffee-fields. 
 Looking to the right, the view is shut out by hills. 
 
 Mr. Yergueiro and his refined and estimable wife re- 
 ceived us in a cordial manner and made us feel immedi- 
 ately at home. The reception-room was large, with clean- 
 scrubbed floor and some rugs, a large, round table, sofa, 
 and easy-chairs. On a small table was a waiter with some 
 liquors, in case a guest might wish such refreshment. On 
 the front walls were engraved portraits of Mr. Yergueiro's 
 father and mother ; the former, though a native of Portu- 
 gal, having been a senator and distinguished Brazilian 
 patriot, and for a short time during the era of independ- 
 ence one of the regents of the empire ; and on account of 
 this last circumstance Mr. Yergueiro's neighbors are in 
 the habit of giving him the title of " duke." Delicious 
 black coifee in small cups was served shortly after our 
 arrival, according to the Brazilian custom ; it was also 
 passed round in the same way shortly after dinner, and 
 again later in the evening. It was also brought into our 
 sleeping-rooms at the time of getting up in the morning. 
 After partaking of coffee, and some time spent in conver- 
 sation, Mr. Yergueiro accomp'anied us to see some of the 
 premises. We first visited the mill, steam-engine, water- 
 tanks, and machinery for cleaning the coffee ; also the 
 machinery for filling sacks. There was a large stock of 
 superior coffee on hand, and the machinery and works 
 for cleaning and preparing it were of a character calcu- 
 lated to excite w^onder and admiration. The same engine 
 which runs the coffee-machinery also furnishes power for 
 a saw- and planing-mill and a grist-mill. Mr. Yergueiro 
 had the machinery put in motion, and had planed some 
 strong reddish-colored timber called tiiwa. A number of 
 
154: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 his slaves are skilled meclianics, wliom he has instructed. 
 There was quite a lot of lumber on the ground ; a brick- 
 yard near by, with a big stock of bricks ; and, as Mr. Yer- 
 gueiro is his own manager, I thought he must possess a 
 great deal of business talent. He served for some years, 
 in early life, as an officer in the German army, and un- 
 doubtedly there gained many valuable habits of system 
 and discipline. We afterward visited the vegetable gar- 
 den, which occupied fully two acres, was very well culti- 
 vated, and had a number of orange and peach trees, also a 
 few magnificent specimens of forest- trees, among them the 
 cajaeiro, with very large spreading top, very small leaves, 
 and which bears an aromatic fruit of which a drink like 
 lemonade is made ; and the jpainera^ or cotton-tree, seven 
 feet in diameter at the base, very tall, Avith large to'p, long 
 green leaf something like the willow, and which bears a 
 pink flower, but is not valuable for timber. We next went 
 to see the hospital and medical dispensary, and these I 
 thought Mr. Yergueiro took more pride in showing than 
 anything else. The hospital apartments seemed well 
 adapted for their purpose, and happily were unoccupied ; 
 the room for medical stores appeared to be well furnished. 
 When we got back to the house, it was about time for 
 dinner, which was served at five o'clock. In a case like 
 this, off in the interior of Brazil, it may be expected that 
 I would say a word or two about the table. It was a 
 family dinner, without ceremony, and there were in all 
 nine at the table — Mr. and Mrs. Yergueiro, an adopted 
 daughter and her two children, and an Italian Catholic 
 piiest (who had come from a neighboring town to hold 
 mass for the slaves), besides ourselves. The table was 
 long, and had room for several more guests, for Mr. Yer- 
 gueiro is in the habit of entertaining visitors. This gen- 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATIOlir. 155 
 
 tleman sat at tlie head and did the carving. Among the 
 dishes was a good piece of roast beef and an uncommonly 
 nice boiled leg of mutton. Among the vegetables were 
 rice, sweet potatoes, and spinach, mashed in the Euro- 
 pean style, and which I noticed was eaten mixed with dry 
 mandioca-meal as a favorite dish. There were red and 
 sherry wines. The sweet dishes and dessert showed skill- 
 ful cooking. There were two or three well-trained black 
 waiters dressed in full fashion, with black, swallow-tailed 
 coats and white cravats. At dessert Mr. Yergueiro had 
 his grandchildren sit by him, and I think his two big 
 greyhounds, which seem to accompany his every step, 
 also came in for a bite. About eight or nine o'clock in 
 the evening we went to the dining-room again for tea and 
 supper. Stairs led down, without a door, from the parlor 
 to an entry-way in the basement ; and we had not sat very 
 long after dinner before we were surprised by the sound 
 of the music of a full brass band in that direction. Like 
 many planters, Mr. Yergueiro has organized among his 
 slaves such a band of music, which, of course, contributes 
 much to the general diversion and spirit. The band, 
 however, was to do special services that evening ; for 
 the slaves were to celebrate a religious festival by a torch- 
 light procession. During the evening we witnessed the 
 procession from the open windows of the house. There 
 were torches in abundance, and banners, and crucifixes, 
 sky-rockets, Roman candles, cannon-firing, and music by 
 the band ; and, amid all, a mournful murmm* of chants 
 and prayers. Women carried their babies in their arms, 
 and children were tagging by their side. A sort of weird 
 spectacle these hundreds of slaves made as seen in occa- 
 sional flashes of artificial light. There was no mirth. I 
 could not perceive a single indication of cheerfulness. 
 
156 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 Everything seemed of an opposite character. The air 
 was cold, almost frosty, and when at length the procession 
 returned and marched into the yard of the slave-quarters, 
 little fires were kindled in different spots for warmth. 
 As I was looking out of a window on the scene and heard 
 the gate shut, and a heavy bolt turned after the procession 
 had all got in, the thought struck me, rather sadly, that 
 these people were like prisoners. 
 
 The next day, though Friday, was kept as Sunday. 
 By mutual understanding the large slaveholding plant- 
 ers observe a day for Sunday, each different from the 
 others, so that the slaves of different plantations shall not 
 have an opportunity of mingling together in a sort of 
 mass-meeting. Friday was, therefore, kept as Sunday at 
 Ibicaba. As soon as we were dressed in the morning we 
 were informed that mass was about to be celebrated in the 
 chapel, and thither we went. A fair congregation was 
 present, consisting mostly of slave-women, who were on 
 their knees on the tiled floor. The priest celebrated mass 
 in quick time, occupying perhaps twenty minutes in all, 
 and was assisted by rather a handsome young mulatto 
 belonging to the plantation. The slave-women kept up 
 a plaintive chanting or praying a part of the time, and 
 there seemed to be a sad look on every face. After this 
 service Mr. Yergueiro took us to see his artificial lake or 
 mill and fish pond, some hundred yards in the rear of the 
 buildings, going through the garden, and where was a con- 
 venient bath-house ; and when we got back it was about 
 breakfast-time. Speaking of the big greyliounds which 
 always kept close to Mr. Yergueiro, and which were the 
 largest and most powerful I ever saw, the governess told 
 us that once on taking a walk she had found these dogs 
 the most perfect of protectors. 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION-. 16Y 
 
 After breakfast the priest had his mule saddled and 
 rode away in citizen's clothes, which I noticed he wore ex- 
 cept when officiating in the chapel. In the course of the 
 forenoon my family and I had Mrs. Yergueiro's company 
 in a visit to the dwellings of the German colony, about a 
 mile distant. We went into several of the cottages, which 
 were substantial and comfortable, saving that the floors 
 were bare earth. Each family had its patch of garden, 
 out - building for cattle, pigs, and fowls, and appeared 
 contented. In the house of the director, who also is a 
 German, was an apartment furnished for a school. vThe 
 colonists are simply tenants, receiving pay in money for 
 the coffee they produce, cultivating it according to instruc- 
 tions, and receive rent of house and land enough for their 
 own produce free. Later in the day we went out to look 
 at the coffee-trees laden with ripe and green berries. They 
 were of most thrifty appearance, and the soil, a purple- 
 red clay with a very little sand, was free from weeds and 
 grass. We were told that this very soil bore cane forty 
 years ago, and had been continuously in crop ever since 
 without manuring. It has a depth of many feet. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Chamberlain arrived from Sao Paulo 
 before dinner, and was received by Mr. Yergueiro as an 
 old friend. He suggested giving a talk to the black peo- 
 ple in the evening, as he had done on some former occa- 
 sion, but Mr. Yergueiro did not appear to favor the idea 
 — ^possibly because it might seem a little inconsistent to 
 have Catholic service in the morning and Protestant serv- 
 ice in the evening ; possibly, it might have been in defer- 
 ence to the feelings of his wife, who is undoubtedly a 
 devout CathoHc. Mr. Yergueiro and Mr. Chamberlain 
 passed the evening in an animated and friendly conversa- 
 tion on religious and other questions, and the rest of us 
 U 
 
158 BRAZIL- ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 around the center-table cliatted and looked at engrav- 
 ings. 
 
 The next morning I took a look at some of the dairy- 
 stock. The cows were the native Brazilian breed called 
 caracu, or thick-necked. They have very large horns, and 
 give twelve quarts of milk a day. The stock, however, 
 is used more for beef than the dairy. After breakfast the 
 time came for us to say good-by. Our visit had been 
 pleasant and interesting, and we took leave of our friends 
 with expressions of sincere thanks for their amiable hos- 
 pitality. A team of Mr. Yergueiro's took us to Eio Claro, 
 a town of about six thousand inhabitants. The planters 
 in the adjacent country are generally in unembarrassed 
 circumstances. On our way we noticed in a piece of woods 
 near the road a temporary rustic altar where the Ibicaba 
 slaves had held rehgious services of their own the previ- 
 ous day. 
 
 Afterward, a good deal of the land we passed over was 
 mere pasture embossed with ant-liills, and as we came near 
 the town of Rio Claro the soil became quite sandy. At 
 the suggestion of Mr. Chamberlain, and in his company, 
 we, at Rio Claro, called upon and accepted an invitation 
 to lunch with the family of an American missionary, Mr. 
 de Gamma, consisting besides himself of a wife and grown 
 daughters. Mr. de Gamma, though a native of Portugal 
 or the Azores, has lived many years in the State of Illi- 
 nois, and seems much attached to the United States. He 
 owns about a dozen acres of land, on which his house 
 stands, well situated at the edge of the town, and on which 
 he is having success in raising grapes, for which the soil 
 and climate of the locality seem well adapted, the tem- 
 perature being warmer than at Sao Paulo. Around the 
 house were plants and flowers. He has a successful school, 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 159 
 
 also a liome for poor boys, and appeared to me to be ac- 
 complishing useful work. 
 
 In several places in the streets of this town, some piles 
 of logs and tar-barrels had been got in readiness for bon- 
 fires the ensuing night, in celebration of the festival of 
 Santa Cruz. 
 
 Leaving Kio Claro by railway, we got back to the sta- 
 tion of Santa Barbara before sundown, This is the station 
 where one stops who wishes to visit the American col- 
 ony — the settlement of farmers who emigrated to Brazil 
 from the Southern States of the United States soon after 
 the civil war. They live on a tract of moderate but not 
 first-rate fertility, surrounding the village of Santa Bar- 
 bara, about ten miles south from the station. We hoped, 
 after visiting that settlement, to be able to go on horse- 
 back across the country to Piracicaba. With the assist- 
 ance of Mr. Chamberlain, I hired of a neighboring German 
 planter a buckboard wagon— a long, rather low veliicle, 
 with light board bottom, uninclosed at the sides and ends, 
 and two seats without springs, with two mules driven by 
 an African driver. It was the best conveyance to be had ; 
 and in it, or on it, we started for the residence of Mrs. 
 Ellis, some four or five miles distant. There were sev- 
 eral Americans about the railway-station, the most of them 
 being young men who appeared to have come for mail- 
 matter ; and as they, returning home, galloped or trotted 
 by us on good animals, soon after we had started, we could 
 almost fancy we were somewhere in the United States. 
 There was quite a hill to go up soon after we had got 
 under way. The whole of the country seemed poor and 
 desolate. We did not pass a dwelling, nor any cultivated 
 land, the entire way to Mrs. Ellis's. The surface is undu- 
 lating, studded with clumps of bushes, here and there some 
 
160 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AN^ PROSPECTS. 
 
 trees, and occasionally a partly burned tnmk of a fallen 
 tree ; the soil, reddish-colored with a large proportion of 
 sand ; the road natural, much worn, and with numerous 
 tracks. In places the ruts were so worn dov\^n that the 
 bottom of our buckboard would scrape the middle of the 
 road. 
 
 The house of Mrs. Ellis and her sister, Miss Strong, 
 is situated about half a mile off the main road, and we 
 arri\^ed there at dusk, meeting a kind welcome. The 
 next day we drove in the buckboard (I have read in a 
 Brazilian newspaper that the Princess Imperial of Brazil, 
 in her recent tour in the southern provinces, rode in such 
 a conveyance) eight miles to the " Campos " church, 
 though the weather was very hot, and attended services 
 and preaching by Mr. Chamberlain. The meeting-house 
 is a plain yet comfortable wooden building, where the 
 American settlers assist in maintaining a union church, 
 services being held alternate Sundays by Baptist, Meth- 
 odist, and Presbyterian clergymen. There was a good 
 attendance of respectable and intelligent-appearing Amer- 
 icans, whose manners were uniformly friendly. Several 
 invited us to go home with them to dinner ; but as we 
 could only accept one invitation, we went to the family 
 where Mrs. Ellis was going to dine, which proved to be 
 that of an American, who has a thousand acres, a pleasant 
 home, and apparently a good farm. I noticed in his 
 house a big, old-fashioned open fireplace. The frame of 
 a new house was up. There was a good brook running 
 through his farm, and he had ten or a dozen fat hogs, 
 which had the benefit of the stream. The dinner was 
 such as one could expect at the house of an American 
 country gentleman. There was no attempt at style, but 
 the fare was generous, and there was an air of quiet and 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 161 
 
 dignity. A full decanter of good sherry wine was on the 
 table. All the farm-houses that we saw during the day 
 were very plain outwardly and in their surroundings. 
 
 It was again dusk when we got back to Mrs. Ellis's ; 
 and the temperature was so cool after dark that a fire 
 kindled in the open fireplace was very agreeable. The 
 month of May, it must be remembered, is the beginning 
 of Brazilian winter, and the elevation where we were is 
 two thousand feet above the sea. 
 
 Mrs. Ellis is a widow, with children grown up and 
 married, and she and her maiden sister. Miss Strong, who 
 live together, are large, fleshy, and whole-souled women 
 from Georgia ; but a part of their life since they came to 
 Brazil has been tinged with sadness. Miss Strong first 
 came with her father fifteen or twenty years ago ; they 
 traveled a good deal through Brazil, searching for an 
 eligible site for a farm, during which time they were most 
 kindly and hospitably received by Brazihans. Finally, Mr. 
 Strong selected this place, of two or three hundred acres, 
 principally because he could get a clear title, for about 
 everywhere else he had found some difficulty or question 
 in regard to title. He was an enterprising, methodical, 
 and thoughtful man, and devoted a great deal of labor to 
 clearing off the woods from a part of the farm and bring- 
 ing it into a state of cultivation. He planted a peach- 
 orchard on a rise of ground in front of the dwelling, and, 
 when all the other improvements were done, he built a 
 house in the old Georgia style, with a wide veranda in 
 front, which is entirely covered by the projecting roof. 
 He lived to see his peach-trees blossom and bear fniit, 
 but finally, owing to the moisture of the ground or some 
 other cause, they began to die. And it was not long after 
 he had got his house finished till he himseK fell a victim 
 
162 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 to fatal illness, leaving his affectionate daughters most 
 deeply to deplore his loss. Partly for recreation and 
 partly to do good, Mrs. Ellis has for several years taught 
 a small school in a little building set apart for the pur- 
 pose, and situated on the opposite side of the road from 
 the house. Several of the pupils live in the family, as it 
 would be too far for them to go daily to their homes. 
 That Sunday evening two pretty little American girls 
 under twelve years of age had been brought and left at 
 the house by their father, who lived seven or eight miles 
 distant, in order that they could attend the school. He 
 said they had never stayed away from home before, and it 
 was a hard trial for him to be separated from them ; but 
 there was no nearer school to which they could go. There 
 was an organ in the same room as the fireplace, and dur- 
 ing the evening some familiar tunes were sung in which 
 the children joined. With reference to the American 
 colony, I might here say that while a majority are making 
 a good living, there is not a likelihood that it will grow 
 by American immigration. 
 
 Learning that a bridge was down on the road to Pira- 
 cicaba, it seemed to be doubtful whether the trip could be 
 safely made on horseback ; so the next morning we again 
 took the railway at Santa Barbara station for Campinas. 
 From here I had thought of continuing the journey on 
 another line to Casa Branca, nearly a day's journey, but, 
 owing to the excessive dust, the ladies outvoted me, and 
 we went straight to the principal hotel of Campinas. We 
 were some minutes driving there. The hotel was only 
 one story high, the entrance looked dirty, and the apart- 
 ments assigned for us showed a decided lack of soap and 
 water, and the need of some fresh coats of paint. The 
 beds were devoid of linen, which, it seems, is not put on 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 163 
 
 at some hotels till the rooms ai'e let. Everything looked 
 disagreeable. The rooms were almost overlooked from 
 the street. There were no window-shades; but there 
 were wooden shutters, which, when closed, left the room 
 nearly dark. I apprehended that breakfast would be in 
 keeping with the rooms. But on going into the eating- 
 room everything seemed changed. We got a good beef- 
 steak, with fried potatoes, good rolls, and tea, all served in 
 a satisfactory manner. We had scarcely finished break- 
 fast, when the Eev. Mr. Lane, chief of the American Pres- 
 byterian mission and college at Campinas, accompanied by 
 the Rev. Mr. Chamberlain, came in a carriage to take us to 
 the college, and be its guests during our stay in the city. 
 We could not very well decline so kind an invitation, 
 and therefore went. The college is a two-story red-brick 
 building, with porch and steps at the front entrance, situ- 
 ated on gently rising ground at the outskirts of the town, 
 and has about forty acres of good land belonging to and 
 surrounding it. It is a good boarding-school for boys who 
 Avish to pay, and a manual-labor school for some who do 
 not pay. A matron and some of the teachers live in the 
 building, and there are guest-rooms in the lower story. 
 Tiie grounds are amply supplied with water, even to the 
 extent of a swimming-tank. A young ladies' school is 
 kept at the residence of Mr. Lane, some hundred yards 
 distant, under the direction of Mrs. Lane, a Virginia lady, 
 with whom we had the pleasure, in the evening, of taking 
 tea. Mr. Lane is a native of the British Islands, and a 
 man of superior organizing talent, as well as an able 
 preacher. The college grounds, which he selected, will, in 
 time, as the city grows, prove a very valuable endowment. 
 In another part of the town he has presented to the 
 municipality a piece of ground for a park. In the course 
 
164 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PEOSPECTS. 
 
 of the day, in company with Mr. Chamberlain, we visited 
 the new Catholic church edifice in Campinas, which was 
 in course of erection many years, and was finally dedi- 
 cated, with great ceremonies, a year or two ago. It is a 
 very large structure ; handsome outside, and very hand- 
 some inside, the finish being in Brazil-wood, in natural 
 dark-red color, in happy contrast to the white and gilded 
 style that is so common. We went to the top of the 
 tower, which is very high, and affords a splendid view of 
 the surrounding country. The architect occupied ofiices 
 on the ground-floor. 
 
 The same afternoon, in company with Messrs. Lane 
 and Chamberlain, we visited a neighboring coffee-planta- 
 tion, the proprietor of which being absent, we were kindly 
 shown through the house and grounds by his wife, ac- 
 companied by their two grown daughters. The lady was 
 a stout, bright, yet amiable person, evidently competent 
 to rule a large household. The department of the in-door 
 female slaves presented novel scenes. Here was a nursery 
 of negro babies, tended by their mothers : some were in 
 cradles ; and there was one, sick with the measles, that was 
 being rocked by a little negro boy. The lady said she 
 had to watch the mothers, to see that they sufficiently fed 
 their children. In the kitchen, among other cooking, 
 some not very ripe pumj^kins were being cut and put into 
 a large boiler, to be cooked for food for the work-people. 
 It reminded me of what I had seen done for cattle. In a 
 corner of the large dining-room was a loom for hand- 
 weaving ; and in the same room, slave-women were clean- 
 ing coffee by hand, shaking it up in large, shallow sieve- 
 baskets, occasionally giving it a dexterous toss in the air, 
 and letting it fall again into the basket, without wasting a 
 kernel. I was particularly struck by the good and tidy 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION". 165 
 
 woolen skirts of the slave-women's dresses. We took a 
 look at a coffee-orcliard near the house, also went through 
 grounds devoted to fruit, and while in the latter, coifee, 
 in small cups, was brought out to us. There was a piano 
 in the parlor, on which the daughters are accustomed to 
 play. The house was of good size, and substantially built 
 in old-fashioned style, with thick walls, whitewashed out- 
 side. There were several steps descending very gradu- 
 ally from the front door, and below them a smooth, hard 
 piece of ground, clean swept, for drying coffee. The pre- 
 vailing air about the premises was business, as an example 
 of which, the fowl-yard on one side of the house came 
 up to the veranda. Messrs. Lane and Chamberlain were 
 acquainted with the family, and I presume it was owing 
 to this acquaintance that the latter, while we were aU in 
 the parlor together, got into a discussion with the lady of 
 the house, who was a Cathohc, on some doctrinal ques- 
 tion. They conducted the discussion in an animated but 
 very good-natured manner, and I thought the lady, who 
 sat a part of the time in a hammock, maintained her side 
 with ability. Mr. Chamberlain, who is a good singer, 
 wound up by singing some verses of a Portuguese hymn. 
 The next morning we were up and had our coffee at 
 the college before daylight, took the train for Jundiahy, 
 where we arrived in two hours, and were entertained at 
 breakfast by Mr. and Mrs. Hammond at their pleasant 
 home. About 11 a. m. we started by railway for Piraci- 
 caba, on the Itu line, which at first descends along a branch 
 of the Tiete River. In about half an hour we passed the 
 Italian colony of Montesserate, whose houses are close to- 
 gether fronting the road. The president of the railway 
 
 company. Baron , who with his family was going 
 
 to his plantation at Itu, noticing that I was observing the 
 
166 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION" AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 soil, which was of a dark color, informed me that the soil 
 in that neighborhood was called massapS, and that it was 
 good for growing coffee, cotton, and cane. With this 
 family we interchanged some sociability. By the baron's 
 direction, his handsome little boy came with captivating 
 modesty and gave the youngest of our party some fmit. 
 During this journey of over four hours by rail we trav- 
 ersed a country that has long been settled and which 
 contains several old towns and villages — a country with 
 alternately good and poor soil, with here and there bright 
 fields of cane and coffee and of ripe com, and which also 
 afforded in passing a few really splendid views of dis- 
 tant highlands, of vast prairies and majestic forests. We 
 reached Piracicaba at 3.45. Before getting to the station 
 the railway winds along the upper edge of a sort of amphi- 
 theatre, affording a view of the city lying farther down 
 toward the river. We had accepted an invitation to stop 
 while in this city at the Collegio Piracicabano, an Ameri- 
 can boarding and day school founded by the Methodist 
 Episcoj)al Church, South, and under the charge of Miss 
 Martha Watts, of Kentucky. Before the cars stopped we 
 were able to distinguish this building, a two-story red- 
 brick edifice, by seeing the American and Brazilian flags 
 displayed from its cupola. It was a sunshiny, pleasant 
 afternoon. Rev. Mr. Koger was at the station with a car- 
 riage to meet us, and we were soon on our way to the col- 
 lege. On arriving there. Miss Watts had her school of 
 young misses, mostly Brazilians, paraded in two lines in 
 the front yard and on the steps, and as we passed up be- 
 tween tliem they shook hands with each of us and pre- 
 sented flowers. When we had got into the entry, Miss 
 Watts introduced Miss Maria Escoba, a handsome Brazil- 
 ian miss of about eighteen years, who, she said, had a few 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION. 167 
 
 words to say to us. The young lady then read a short 
 address of welcome in Portuguese, and in reply I said we 
 appreciated the honor they v/ere doing us, and that we 
 would accept it as a compliment to the United States. 
 After this the scholars gave nine hurrahs. "We could not 
 have had a more cordial reception. Our apartments in 
 the building were home-like and comfortable, and we were 
 well satisfied with our treatment. The rooms of the 
 building are spacious, and seem well designed for such 
 an institution. The situation is in a good part of the 
 to^vn, and the grounds, containing a vegetable-garden, 
 lawn, orange and other trees, are ample. After dinner 
 we went to the top of the building, and from the cupola 
 had a fine view of the city and surrounding country. 
 
 That evening a Brazilian brass band, several of whose 
 members were mulattoes, came and gave a serenade, and 
 Miss Watts invited them into the college and gave them 
 a collation. 
 
 "Wednesday, May 14th, weather being pleasant, I took 
 a walk in the morning through the town. The main 
 street is of good width, with fairly wide and stone-paved 
 sidewalks. Some of the shops were of good size and well 
 stocked. The most disagreeable thing that impressed me 
 was the exposed position of the city prison. It is in a 
 basement-room, and through the heavily grated windows 
 the prisoners could be seen from the street, there being 
 no inclosure around the building. 
 
 I might here say that the name of the city of Piraci- 
 caba is composed of two Guarany-Indian words, j^ira^ 
 fish, and cycaba, end, meaning the place w^here the fish 
 stop in their passage up the river on account of the falls. 
 The locality has long been celebrated for good fish at cer- 
 tain seasons of the year. Piracicaba was settled a hun- 
 
168 BRAZIL: ITS COITDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 dred years ago, and has risen by regular promotion, hav- 
 ing been created a separate parish in 1810, a town in 
 1821, and a city in 1856. Its fine bridge of about six 
 hundred feet in length, just above the falls, was made by 
 the province at the moderate expense of forty thousand 
 dollars. The streets of the city are all at right angles 
 and wide, and, owing to its splendid water-power, its ex- 
 cellent situation on high, rolling land, and very extensive 
 surroundings of fertile country, it seems destined to have 
 considerable growth. It was visited by the Princess Im- 
 perial and her husband in November, 1884. 
 
 We breakfasted at 8.30. In the forenoon we listened 
 to some of the recitations in the school. I was pleased 
 with Miss Watts's system. 
 
 About 1 p. M. we rode out on horseback, three miles 
 or so, taking the road through some woods toward Santa 
 Barbara. In the afternoon we visited the cotton-mill of 
 Mr. Luiz Quiroz, a Portuguese, who showed us through it. 
 We there saw a new embroidery-machine doing the work 
 which a hundred operatives would do by hand. The pro- 
 prietor has a handsome new villa not far from the river, 
 and from which there is a splendid view of the falls and 
 rapids. We then drove over the new bridge and down a 
 piece on the opposite bank ; then got out and walked down 
 close to the river, on a terrace from which the view of 
 the falls is fine. The falls are about forty feet high, but 
 not exactly abrupt. It was nearly dusk when we got 
 back to the carriage. I should say the Piracicaba River 
 is larger there than the Merrimac at Lowell. The best 
 fish of the river, and a kind which is abundant, is the 
 dourado. As many as five hundred and seventy-eight 
 of tliese fish, some weighing five pounds each, were caught 
 in a net there one afternoon in the month of February. 
 
VISIT TO A COFFEE-PLANTATION". 169 
 
 Mr. Koger told me tliat they are as good as our American 
 shad. 
 
 On Thursday afternoon, in company with Miss Watts, 
 her assistants, and several of her pupils, and Mr. Koger, 
 we took an excursion down the river in large and long 
 canoes dug out from trees. I felt a little timid; but 
 the boatmen were experienced river-men, and we made a 
 pleasant trip down to and even into some rapids, return- 
 ing safely by dusk. The river was broad, and its banks 
 moderately high and covered with bushes and trees, on 
 which were many hanging vines and some parasites with 
 bright flowers. The chief boatman told us the names of 
 several of the trees, explaining which were good for tim- 
 ber and which for fuel only. 
 
 That evening we attended public worship and preach- 
 ing in Portuguese by Mr. Koger. (The Eev. James W. 
 Koger, superintendent of the mission in Brazil of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, South, an excellent and 
 amiable man, preached in Rio de Janeiro, January 17, 
 1886, returning the 19th to Sao Paulo, where, after nine 
 days' illness of yellow fever, he died, deeply regretted, 
 leaving a widow and four children.) The next morning 
 we took leave of Miss "Watts and all at the college, feeling 
 much gratified with all we had seen at the institution, and 
 with the kind entertainment we had received. We took 
 the train for Sao Paulo at 8.15, where we arrived in the 
 afternoon. On Sunday we heard Mr. Tarboux preach an 
 earnest sermon in Portuguese, reading it from manuscript, 
 and it seemed to me he had made great progress, consid- 
 ering that it was only about a year since he came to Bra- 
 zil from the United States. A young American acted as 
 organist. The audience comprised about twenty persons. 
 
 Monday, May 19th, we arose at 4.15, took coffee be- 
 15 
 
170 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 fore 5, left the hotel in a carriage at 5.30, and started on 
 the train for Eio at 6. The trip occnpied the day — say 
 twelve hours, the train going at moderate speed, and stop- 
 ping at stations about every ten miles. The fare for three 
 of ns was ninety milreis, and ten milreis more for a trunk, 
 making in all about forty dollars. Considerable of the 
 way was down the valley of the Parahyba, which varies 
 from two to twelve miles or more in width, is of medium 
 fertility, has long been settled, contains many plantations 
 and populous villages, and is inclosed on each side by for- 
 est-covered mountains on whose sides, however, are occar 
 sionally to be seen coffee-plantations. The river, which 
 is dark-colored, is generally broad and shallow, but here 
 and there is shut in narrow banks with rapids. The 
 scenery is frequently picturesque. We reached Eio at 
 7.10 p. M. in the midst of a very heavy fall of rain, and 
 before eight o'clock were safely at our residence. 
 
CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 PUBLIC INSTRTICTION. 
 
 While tlie Pedagogical Exhibition held at Eio in 
 1883 was a success, the friends of education very much 
 regretted that a congress of teachers from all parts of the 
 country could not have been held at the same time. The 
 plan which the Government proposed for the congress 
 was that, in each province, the Inspector-General of In- 
 struction should assemble all the male teachers of that 
 province, who should select three of their number to 
 attend the congress, the inspector himseK to select three 
 female teachers to attend, making six teachers from each 
 province, or, for the twenty provinces and the capital, 
 one hundred and twenty-six members. The necessary 
 expenses were to have been paid by the central Govern- 
 ment, and the estimate to cover the expense of the con- 
 gress was thirty coiitos, or twelve thousand dollars. 
 The national legislature, however, declined to vote the 
 money, and so the congress was not held. Under these 
 circumstances the Government appointed a commission, 
 or congress, of distinguished educators, who served gi\a- 
 tuitously and furnished some able papers on educational 
 subjects. It is now the wish of the Government soon to 
 hold an international congress of teachers of American 
 countries. 
 
172 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 The Pedagogical Exhibition was under the presidency 
 of his Royal Highness Count d'Eu, husband of the Prin- 
 cess Imperial, and was opened in presence of the Empe- 
 ror and Empress, and a numerous public, in the city of 
 Kio de Janeiro, Sunday, July 29th. It remained open 
 for the free admission of visitors for several weeks, and 
 was visited by many thousand people, and, in this way, was 
 itself an educator of taste and ideas of very great value. 
 Several foreign countries were represented in the exhibi- 
 tion; but the United States, for some reason, was very 
 scantily represented. Belgium took the lead in the ex- 
 hibit of technical work of pupils and in school-room appa- 
 ratus and fixtures. Her display was admirable, and calcu- 
 lated to inspire admiration for the country maldng it, and 
 thus indirectly to benefit her commercial interests. Ger- 
 many came next ; and the exhibit by France was respect- 
 able. 
 
 The exhibition finally developed into a permanent 
 Educational Exposition of school-furniture, fixtures, maps, 
 text-books, etc., all being well arranged in spacious rooms 
 in the second story of the National Printing-Office build- 
 ing, and where it now forms one of the most creditable 
 displays that can be found in Brazil. 
 
 The literature of the exhibition was also creditable. 
 Conselheiro Leoncio de Carvalho, first secretary of the 
 commission appointed to organize a teachers' congress in 
 connection with this Pedagogical Exhibition, contributed 
 an interesting and able introduction to the report on the 
 exhibition, in which he first expresses regret because the 
 expected congress of teachers did not take place owing to 
 the failure of the legislature to provide means, pointing 
 out, at the same time, the many foreign countries, begin- 
 ning with Germany in 1848, in which teachers' congresses 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 173 
 
 have been successfully held. Thanks, however, to gener- 
 ous private contributions of money, and to the active co- 
 operation of the Government, an exhibition was held, and 
 many valuable written opinions or essays contributed to 
 educational literature. These opinions are printed in a 
 large quarto volume issued at the same time with the in- 
 troduction and reports of awards by committees. 
 
 This introduction by Conselheiro Carvalho contains 
 much information on the subject of public instruction in 
 Brazil. The condition of primary- instruction, he says, is 
 deplorable. Taking the free population at upward of 
 seven millions, there is but one school in proportion to 
 every 1,356 inhabitants, which is far from satisfying the 
 needs of a population scattered over a vast territory, and 
 separated by great distances. Many of the schools, too, 
 are not provided with teachers ; almost all are kejDt in 
 hired houses, and badly situated in sanitary regards. 
 Pupils of different sexes can not attend the same school. 
 In the whole country there are 1,315 schools for girls. 
 The school population, composed of boys and girls from 
 six to fifteen years of age, amounts to 1,902,454, of whom 
 only 321,449 are registered as pupils, leaving 1,581,005 
 who do not go to any school. 'No one can teach a private 
 school without being subjected to the tests applied to 
 teachers of public schools. Many of the latter, Mr. Car- 
 valho says, are deficient in the necessary qualifications. 
 The pay is frequently inadequate; nor do women have 
 the proper facihties for teaching. Religious intolerance 
 closes the school to all but Catholics. The school sessions 
 are divided by long intervals, obliging the father to send 
 his boy to school twice a day, which is inconvenient for 
 all and impossible for many. 
 
 Mr. Carvallio has not sought in this introduction to 
 
174 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITIOl^ AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 give a rose-colored sketcli of popular education that would 
 gratify tlie vauitj especially of the statesmen of the coun- 
 try ; but he has had the courage to speak the truth like a 
 manly patriot, knowing that such a course would, in the 
 end, prove the most serviceable to the public welfare. 
 He tells us that popular education is in a deplorable con- 
 dition, which, no doubt, is the honest truth as regrads 
 many of its features. 
 
 Brazil has for many years maintained a system of pub- 
 lic instruction, and some of her enlightened statesmen are 
 now devoting special attention to its improvement. Nat- 
 urally, the great extent of the country and sparseness of 
 its population have been serious drawbacks to common 
 schools in the rural districts, and it will be found that, in 
 the endeavor to overcome these, practices have grown, 
 such as keeping schools in private houses, which would 
 seem novel in the United States, where a sej)arate build- 
 ing for a public school is the universal custom. More 
 than ordinary interest was manifested in educational mat- 
 ters by Minister Joao Alfredo when at the head of the 
 department of the empire about ten years ago. Among 
 other things he caused the erection of the fine school- 
 building in the Largo Machado, where the Emperor fre- 
 quently, on Sundays, attends lectures. He also changed 
 the rules of the Polytechnic School so that students could 
 undergo examination without attendance on the lectures. 
 Educational reform began under him, and was effectively 
 continued by his successor, Conselheiro Leoncio de Car- 
 valho, who was appointed Minister of the Empire in the 
 early part of 1878, in the Sinimbu Cabinet, and who in the 
 course of the year and a half that he was in office caused 
 the enactment of the law of April 19, 1879, reforming 
 primary and secondary instruction in the municipality of 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 175 
 
 the capital, and superior instruction — schools of law, medi- 
 cine, science, and theology — throughout the empire. This 
 law, which will be further referred to, forms a landmark 
 in Brazilian education. One of its advanced features was 
 the provision for obligatory education at the capital, 
 which, however, is not yet enforced ; also, making instruc- 
 tion in the Catholic religion optional in respect of non- 
 Catholics. 
 
 In giving a brief outline of public instruction in Bra- 
 zil, it is proper to notice, first, that the several provinces 
 have separate and exclusive control of popular education 
 in their respective limits. This is both according to usage 
 for half a century, and admitted constitutional law. On 
 the other hand, the central Government exercises exclusive 
 control over public academical education, or what corre- 
 sponds to university education, and over popular educa- 
 tion in what is called the neutral district of the capital. 
 Each provincial legislature raises and appropriates the 
 money for support of primary and secondary schools in 
 the province, though there is no separate school fund, and 
 makes the laws for the organization of such schools. The 
 central Government has an indirect authority over the 
 schools in this way, that each president of a province, by 
 and under whom school inspectors, examiners, and com- 
 mittees are appointed, receives his appointment from and 
 must report to the central Government. There has been 
 no complaint, however, of undue interference by the cen- 
 tral Government with the separate educational affairs of 
 the provinces. Primary schools are those where the simple 
 branches are taught, such as reading, writing, arithmetic, 
 and geography, and are attended by pupils of from seven 
 to about twelve or fourteen years of age. Secondary 
 schools are of a higher grade, where those branches are 
 
176 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 taught which are usually studied by pupils intending to 
 pursue an academical course. In the primary schools of 
 first grade, in the capital, according to the law of April 
 19, 1879, drawing, singing, gymnastics, and simple sew- 
 ing for girls, form part of the intruction ; and in the same 
 schools of the second grade, the use of the needle by girls 
 and mechanical work by boys, ideas of social economy for 
 boys and of domestic economy for girls, ideas of agriculture 
 and horticulture, physics, chemistry, and natural history 
 in their application to industry, are among the prescribed 
 branches of instruction. 
 
 As a rule, boys and girls in Brazil attend separate 
 schools, but the law just cited allows mixed schools at the 
 capital for boys and girls up to the age of ten years ; and 
 now, generally, in the public schools of Kio de Janeiro 
 boys and girls up to ten years of age attend school to- 
 gether. The same is the practice in the city of Pernam- 
 buco. 
 
 There are six normal schools for the training of teach- 
 ers, situated at Kio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Bahia, Per- 
 nambuco, Maranham, and Pard. Pupils are admitted at 
 the age of sixteen, and the course lasts six years. A gradu- 
 ate of either of these schools can be employed as a teacher 
 without examination. Other teachers, after being once 
 examined and employed as teachers, must undergo a 
 further examination if they take another school in an- 
 other province. In each province, residing at its capital, 
 is a committee of three or five persons appointed by the 
 inspector of instruction of the province, who examine all 
 persons applying to be teachers. The teacher's salary is 
 fixed by the Provincial Assembly. But the school must 
 have a certain average attendance, the number varying 
 in different provinces, but probably nowhere less than 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTIOK 177 
 
 twenty. Teachers get their pay monthly from the pro- 
 vincial treasury, at the capital of the province — often a 
 great distance off — and they can draw it through a friend 
 or agent. The average yearly pay of teachers throughout 
 the country is small, say one conto of reis, or $450, with 
 obligations to furnish apartments for the school. The prin- 
 cipal (male) of one of the large public schools at Rio de 
 Janeiro receives 1,800 milreis (say at present $720) a 
 year, with rent of apartments connected ^vith the school- 
 building free. His tenure, however, is permanent, and 
 after twenty-five years' service he will receive a pension of 
 three quarters of his pay. The pay of the second teacher 
 is about $200 less, and of the assistant over $300 less. 
 
 After ten years' service, a teacher receives an increase 
 of pay ; after fifteen years' service, another increase ; and 
 still another increase after twenty-five years' service, if he 
 chooses still to continue in the service. By custom, school- 
 teachers in Brazil bear the title of " Professor." 
 
 In recent years the municipal government of the capi- 
 tal has created and now supports two large schools in spe- 
 cial buildings and seven smaller ones in private buildings, 
 in which latter boys and girls attend together. The other 
 public schools of the capital are called government schools. 
 
 There are no teachers' institutes, but the teachers of 
 the "municipal" schools of the capital hold a general 
 meeting twice a year, lasting two or three days, to which 
 other teachers are invited. Educational periodicals have 
 been started at different times, but have had only a tem- 
 porary existence. Another was started the present year. 
 
 The supervision of schools is exercised through the 
 inspector-general, or director-general, as he is sometimes 
 styled, of each province. As has been said, he receives 
 his appointment from the president of the province. 
 
178 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITIOIT AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 There is no fixed tenure, but changes are not frequent, 
 and valuable men are usually selected to fill the office. 
 The inspector-general of instruction for the province of 
 Kio de Janeiro receives a salary of eight contos (8,000$- 
 000), eight thousand milreis — say $3,200 per year ; the 
 inspector-general for the capital, 7,200$000 — say $2,820 
 per year. In the j^rovince of Sao Paulo the salary is 
 $2,400 per year. 
 
 The inspector-general of instruction in each province 
 nominates or proposes, and the president appoints, a dele- 
 gado, or agent, for each comarca^ or county, whose duty 
 it is to inspect both primary and secondary schools, and 
 see that the teacher discharges his or her duty. The 
 teacher gives his returns and reports to the delegado, or 
 agent, by whom they are communicated to the inspector- 
 general. The office of delegado is honorary, no pay being 
 attached to it. It is sometimes filled by priests, who are 
 also occasionally, but not usually, employed as teachers. 
 The inspector-general visits schools personally, so far as 
 he is able to do so. He makes his report to the president 
 of the province, but not to the central Government. The 
 president usually presents an abstract of the report in his 
 annual message or address to the Provincial Assembly ; 
 but he makes no separate school report to the central 
 Government. 
 
 There is no separate school-tax nor fund, but the 
 money for school purposes is voted by the Provincial As- 
 sembly out of any money there may be in the provincial 
 treasury. Throughout the rural districts, and in many 
 towns, the public schools are usually kept in private 
 rooms, which are provided by the teacher without extra 
 allowance. As has been said, his contract is to teach and 
 furnish the apartments. The Government provides the 
 
PUBLIC mSTRUOTION". 179 
 
 furniture. Of course, these accommodations are fre- 
 quently insufficient. One will sometimes see school furni- 
 ture that has been imported from the United States ; but 
 there are now several places in Brazil where furniture 
 similar to the American patterns is made. The pro- 
 vincial authority furnishes all the school-books gratui- 
 tously. 
 
 There are as yet no movable schools, such as are 
 found in sparsely settled parts of Scandinavia, though 
 their introduction is being somewhat discussed. 
 
 There are thirty school savings-banks in operation. 
 The General Government has committed itself to this 
 laudable system of inculcating habits of foresight and 
 economy in children in the law of April 19, 1879, re- 
 organizing primary and secondary instruction at the capi- 
 tal. In that law it was required that a savings-bank 
 should be organized in each school of the first and second 
 grade — that is, that small sums of money which the pupils 
 might wish to deposit should be received, and the amount 
 returned in due time with interest. As, however, diffi- 
 culties were met with in executing the law, new regula- 
 tions to obviate them were issued by the Government, 
 January 12, 1882. 
 
 There is no uniformity of legislation in the different 
 provinces on the subject of education. 
 
 The annual appropriation for public instruction by 
 the twenty different provinces amounts in the aggregate 
 to two and a half million dollars. In addition to that, the 
 General Assembly appropriates for higher instniction, 
 and for the public schools at the capital, a little over one 
 million dollars, making for the whole empire an expendi- 
 ture of a little upward of three and a half million dollars 
 of public money for educational purposes. 
 
180 BRAZIL; ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 The following table shows the specific appropriations 
 for the higher schools of the empire and for the public 
 schools of the capital for the fi.scal year ending June 30, 
 
 1885 : 
 
 Seminaries (theological) $44,100 
 
 Law-schools 106,660 
 
 Medical schools 330,320 
 
 Engineering School 120,836.80 
 
 Mining School 33,920 
 
 Normal School 28,640 
 
 Academy of Fine Arts 28,860 
 
 Dom Pedro II College 173,094.80 
 
 Primary and secondary instruction at the capital 230,436 
 
 Blind, Deaf and Dumb, and Poor Asylums 60,348.36 
 
 Total $1,157,215.96 
 
 Although tuition is nominally free, students at the 
 higher professional schools have to pay an annual fee for 
 matriculation and for examination. For example, the 
 course at the Medical School occupies eight years, and a 
 fee of one hundred and two milreis — at present exchange 
 about forty-one dollars — must be paid each year, of which 
 half may be paid at the time of matriculation or the 
 whole at the time of examination. At the Polytechnic 
 School the fee is but half as much. At the time of gradu- 
 ating, a fee must be paid for the diploma. 
 
 I think I derived on the whole a favorable impression 
 from a short visit I made to the Sao Jose Public School, 
 supported by the municipality at Rio de Janeiro, and 
 which must be considered one of the best in Brazil. It is 
 a free school, admitting pupils without regard to color 
 from all parts of the city. There are two large rooms on 
 the basement-floor, one for boys and the other for girls, 
 each having three divisions, separated by railings three 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION". 181 
 
 feet high. One division, for example, had seats without 
 desks, another had seats with desks ; and it is the practice 
 every hour and a half to change the pupils from one di- 
 vision to another, when they are expected to march single 
 file, in good order, out and in. I first went into the boys' 
 room, and was struck by its large size. On one side were 
 six large windov/s open, and the ceiling was very high. 
 The number of boys registered in that room was three 
 hundred and fourteen ; but only one hundred and forty 
 were present, the average attendance, and were apparent- 
 ly of an age from seven to fourteen years. An assistant 
 teacher appeared to have charge. There was at first a 
 good deal of noise, like loud study, but perhaps not dis- 
 order. The teacher rang a bell, and the room quieted 
 down a little. All the pupils seemed well disposed, respect- 
 ful, and interested in their work. The teacher offered to 
 have any exercise I might wish. He called a class of a 
 dozen or more boys to read, and they immediately gath- 
 ered in a group around him and me, that we could the bet- 
 ter hear. They appeared to go into the work with eager- 
 ness, and read, I thought, tolerably well. I was rather 
 pleased with their unrestrained manner. From the pen- 
 manship and other things I saw, including drawing, I had 
 no doubt the school was doing pretty good work. The 
 boys, who, I supposed, belonged to the working class, were 
 tidily dressed, and all had on shoes. 
 
 The girls' room, under female teachers, was more 
 quiet. One hundred and twenty were present. The room 
 was divided into three divisions like the boys' room, and 
 they changed places in fair order. A teacher works with 
 each division at the same time. A number of excellent 
 specimens of writing, and some of drawing and sewing, 
 were shown me. I asked to have some of the little girls 
 16 
 
182 BRAZIL: ITS OONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 make figures, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., on the blackboard, and for 
 tlie most part tliej made the figures in a neat and uni- 
 form style, wbicb sliowed that they had received training 
 in that frequently neglected line. " What reward do you 
 hold out to pupils for special merit 'I " I inquired of the 
 principal. " We have a seat of honor," she replied, point- 
 ing to a chair which stood alone with the back to the wall, 
 " where a pupil sits for half an hour who has her lesson 
 the most perfect of any in her class." Then, at her re- 
 quest, three girls modestly stood up who had had the honor 
 that forenoon to sit in the chair. " We also," she said, 
 " have a roll of honor of the names of three of the most 
 advanced pupils, which is framed and hung upon the wall 
 at the end of every three months." At the close of my 
 visit she gave me an opportunity to enter in a large 
 blank-book, kept for the remarks visitors may wish to 
 make, such observations in regard to the school as I chose 
 to record. 
 
 As applicable to both of the schools, I learned that 
 books and stationery were furnished free by the city gov- 
 ernment. The term lasts eleven months continuously, 
 with a vacation during December. The session each day 
 is five hours, from 9 a. ivi. to 2 p. m., with a short inter- 
 mission. The pupils study at home as well as at school. 
 There are gymnastic exercises twice a week, also instruc- 
 tion in singing twice a week. There are four grades, 
 each of which is expected to be passed by a pupil in one 
 year. A register is kept, and there is a roll-call at the 
 end of each day. It is intended that study in school shall 
 be silent. Attention is paid to moral instruction, but it 
 is incidental. The school is opened with prayers of the 
 Catholic Church, but attendance thereat is not obligatory. 
 No particular religious qualifications are required of the 
 
PUBLIC INSTRUCTION". 183 
 
 teachers ; but they must be Brazilian subjects. Corporal 
 punishment is not allowed in any school. The kind of 
 punishment resorted to is usually to have the pupil stand, 
 or to deprive him of a recess or of some favor. Parents 
 are always welcome, but they seldom visit the school. 
 The committee of examination is appointed by the Mu- 
 nicipal Chamber. The director who now has charge of the 
 municipal schools is Dr. Chagas Kosa. 
 
 These two schools occupy separate wings of a build- 
 ing, the central part of which on the same floor is a gen- 
 eral assembly-room for the whole school, and which has 
 at one end an altar that ordinarily is shut from view by a 
 curtain. The front of the building outside is somewhat 
 pretentious, there being four or more large statues set in 
 niches, and very much out of proportion to the size of the 
 building. The windows, however, are arched with the 
 usual smooth granite facings. The building has a gray 
 stone color which is agreeable. Ample granite steps are 
 laid at each of three front entrances, and a neat but not 
 large yard contains some patches of lawn, some flowers 
 and shrubbery, and several shade-trees, all being inclosed 
 with an iron fence resting on a granite base. 
 
 Having noticed that the school-teacher in Brazil is 
 called " Professor," I did not know but more than ordi- 
 nary respect might be felt for the calling, and I asked the 
 principal of one of the Kio public schools what rank teach- 
 ers held in society. " The GovernmcDt," he said, " would 
 like to give consideration to the profession, but naturally 
 a man with an income of only six or eight hundred dol- 
 lars a year can not occupy much of a position in society." 
 
 One of the best educational institutions is the Lyceu 
 de Artes e Officios^ a sort of technical school for fitting 
 young people of the middle and poorer class for gaining a 
 
184 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 livelihood. It lias very roomy apartments opposite the 
 IS'ational Printing-Office. Instruction is given evenings 
 to nearly a thousand pupils of both sexes in various useful 
 branches, including drawing, painting, sculpture, French, 
 and English. The institution was founded in 1856, through 
 the efforts of Mr. F. J. Bettencourt da Silva. 
 
 There are not many separate school-buildings in Eio ; 
 but there are many places where one sees a painted sign 
 showing that there is a school kept for boys or girls. 
 One sees also, between eight and nine o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, many tidy children with their books, sometimes alone, 
 sometimes a colored servant following close behind them, 
 wending with animated step their way to school. 
 
 There is scarcely any encouragement for American 
 teachers to go to Brazil with the expectation of employ- 
 ment in the public schools. A number of such, it is true, 
 have found their way to the Argentine Republic, but their 
 expectations were not realized; they have had a hard 
 time. I think, however, that American young men who 
 would learn the Portuguese language would find remu- 
 nerative and agreeable employment as teachers of the 
 English language in the families of planters. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 LOCAL ADMINISTKATION. 
 
 A GOOD share of the contentment of people in almost 
 every country arises from their liberty to manage their own 
 local affairs. Even in old European countries, ^vith abso- 
 lute governments, the people have generally been allowed 
 to have their own way about many local concerns. 
 
 For local government, every province of Brazil is 
 divided into municipalities. Sometimes a municipality 
 will include simply a city with its suburbs ; sometimes a 
 small city or village, and a large extent of contiguous ter- 
 ritory. In this municipality we find that the people can 
 elect a municipal body or council, called a chamber, con- 
 sisting, in cities, of nine, and in villages of seven, members 
 who hold for four years, and whose president, holding for 
 one year, is elected by them from their own number. 
 This president is the executive officer for the city, and 
 corresponds somewhat to the office of mayor in the 
 United States. The Municipal Chamber, whose room is 
 often in the same building as the jail, can levy a tax on a 
 few things, such as the manufacture and sale of spirits, 
 the slaughter of beef-cattle, licenses, etc., but it can not 
 tax property in general — neither houses nor vacant lots, 
 nor personal property. The greater part of the municipal 
 expenses are paid out of the municipal treasury from its 
 
186 BRAZIL: ITS COiilDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 own revenue, but nothing can be expended without the 
 consent of the Provincial Assembly. The amount which 
 any municipality may spend in a year has already been 
 fixed and limited by the Provincial Assembly, and the 
 Municipal Chamber must limit its estimate of expenses to 
 such sum. The practice is for each municipal chamber 
 to send, in due season, every year, its budget or estimate 
 of expenses, specifying how much under each head, to the 
 Provincial Assembly ; and the latter, usually as a matter 
 of course, votes the amount in a general bill for all the 
 municipalities of the province, yet showing the items for 
 each municipality — so much for salaries, so much for 
 lights, so much for rent, and so on. If the municipalities 
 have not quite money enough in their OAvn treasuries, the 
 deficiency is voted out of the provincial treasury; but 
 such deficiency probably would not amount in all to more 
 than a quarter part of the aggregate mimicipal budgets. 
 The MunicijDal Chamber has no control of schools, nor 
 of the police, nor of paupers, and its powers indeed seem 
 to be quite limited. It has, however, charge of sanitary 
 matters, and of roads and streets in its limits. Besides 
 electing a " chamber," the people can elect justices of the 
 peace; but the agent and sub-agent of police, the col- 
 lector of taxes, the prosecuting attorney, the inspector of 
 schools, and tlie school-teachers are all appointed by the 
 president of the province. Of course, the parish priest is 
 appointed by the bishop. On the whole, therefore, it 
 does not seem that a large amount of local self-govern- 
 ment devolves on the people. 
 
 The Municipal Council of Eio de Janeiro, like the 
 others, is elected for a term of four years, and its presi- 
 dent is the executive officer of the city. As, however, 
 Eio de Janeiro, hke the city of Washington, is directly 
 
LOCAL ADMINISTRATION". 187 
 
 under the jurisdiction of the General Government, the 
 council has subordinate authority. The matters of water- 
 supply and street lights, for example, are controlled by 
 the Imperial Government. The municipal body has no 
 power to run into debt ; consequently, Kio, for a city of its 
 size, has a very small debt. The city government, how- 
 ever, justly or unjustly, is the target of a great deal of 
 complaint. Within a couple of years it has moved into 
 its new and handsome building, with marble floors and 
 spacious marble stairways, fronting on Acclamation Park. 
 The criminal court is held in the same building. 
 
 The twenty provinces of Brazil not only have their 
 separate legislatures and executive governments, but they 
 can and do levy taxes on the live-stock and products 
 brought into their respective limits from sister provinces. 
 
 At the capital of every province there is a chief of 
 police — an office next in dignity to that of president, and 
 for which is usually selected a man of acknowledged judi- 
 cial or legal ability. He receives his appointment from 
 the central Government. 
 
 The office of provincial president, like that of the 
 Governor of a State, is very important. The appointment 
 to it is made by the central Government without regard 
 to place of residence. Sometimes very able men are ap- 
 pointed to this office ; often, however, young and rather 
 inexperienced men are appointed. The service is re- 
 garded as a good school for training statesmen, and some 
 of the ablest administrators of Brazil have served as pro- 
 vincial presidents. The office affords a fine field for 
 statesman-like ability, but, unfortunately, it has been 
 granted in many cases as a reward for party service, and 
 changes have been frequent. The " Paiz," a daily " jor- 
 nal " of Kio, of May 19, 1885, laments that the Govern- 
 
188 BRAZIL: ITS COIfDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 ment should so often change the presidents of the prov- 
 inces, not allowing them time to become experienced. A 
 position as president, it says, is nearly always given with 
 a view toward one of these two ends : to enable a party 
 colleague to receive a certain amount of money for ex- 
 penses of moving, or to find him a temporary situation 
 during the intervals of the legislatures. As a rule, the 
 administration of a president lasts only five or six months. 
 The " Paiz " says it knows of one who received ten contos 
 of reis (four thousand dollars) to defray " expenses " to 
 go to Nictheroy (a distance of four miles) to manage the 
 affairs of the province. 
 
 " The financial state of the provinces," this journal 
 adds, "is very bad; the most important have a deficit 
 which they can not meet. In some the police is not 
 paid, in others public-school teachers are left without a 
 penny, in others public employes are paid in tenders ; all 
 of which tend to paralyze necessary works and to cause 
 general poverty. This state of affairs," it says, " shows a 
 profound defect of administration, and threatens, if con- 
 tinued, to ruin the country." 
 
 It would take at least a couple of years for even a 
 bright man to become familiar with all the official duties 
 of president of an important province. In his reports and 
 messages to the Provincial Assembly he must annually 
 submit a clear statement of the condition of the province 
 and its needs in respect of legislation; its industries, 
 means of transportation, education, care of tlie poor, tran- 
 quillity, and all the various interests that affect its weKare, 
 need his guidance. All bills of the Provincial Assembly 
 appropriating money for roads and bridges, improvements 
 of navigation, schools, churches, the promotion of immi- 
 gration, and the like, are approved or rejected by him. 
 
LOCAL ADMINISTRATION. 189 
 
 It is remarkable, therefore, and, I should think, very 
 unfortunate, that presidents of provinces hold their 
 offices, on an average, only about one year or less. Tlie 
 practice in several European countries, of giving a perma- 
 nent tenure to such posts, and filling them by the appoint- 
 ment of tried and competent statesmen who wish to retire 
 from active politics, would seem preferable. I know of 
 at least one well-administered state in Europe where such 
 posts are considered a dignified retreat for ex-cabinet min- 
 isters. 
 
 There are several other provincial officers, such as the 
 secretary, the inspector of instruction, the collector of 
 taxes, and the engineer. The latter has charge of all 
 highways outside of the municipal limits. 
 
 Most legislative assemblies will vote money lavishly 
 when they have an overflowing treasury to draw from. 
 But years of abundance are only exceptional; and it 
 would benefit a province if its president had that position 
 and influence that would enable him to prevent extrava- 
 gant appropriations. Take the province of Amazonas, for 
 example ; for a year or two, rubber, its great product, had 
 a very high price ; the export of it was immensely stimu- 
 lated, and, as the province collected a high export tax on 
 the article, its treasury suddenly acquired a large surplus. 
 What was the result ? The Provincial Assembly voted 
 away the money in a prodigal manner ; and then in a year 
 or so, when the rubber-trade suffered a very great depres- 
 sion, they found their treasury very short of money. 
 Baron de Mamore, of that province, spoke of this matter 
 in the Senate on March 23, 1885. He is a Conservative, 
 and naturally was not unwilling to make a point against 
 the (Liberal) party in power. He said that, at the begin- 
 ning of 1884, the province had in hand a balance of 
 
190 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 )jOOO ; when the ex-president turned over the admin- 
 istration to his successor, the balance was $370,000 ; not 
 quite a year had passed, and the province of Amazonas 
 had not a penny to pay its public employes. Of the public 
 works be^n, not one had been completed ; the money 
 expended so far would be a total loss, for it was not prob- 
 able that the province would continue to have presidents 
 who considered a theatre costing $400,000 and a lyceum 
 based on European universities necessary to the capital. 
 He mentioned as irregularities the granting of subsidies 
 to students of photography, short-hand writing, law, medi- 
 cine, etc., amounting to $7,200 ; for a theatre, $20,000 ; a 
 monument, $27,000 ; and said that subsidies and interest 
 guarantees amounted to a million dollars. "With reference 
 to the pubhc emancipation fund of the province (the most 
 sacred of any money), he read an official table showing 
 that $48,000 had been disbursed, of which $4,000 was ex- 
 pended m fetes, and said that up to the middle of Janu- 
 ary none of the abolition committees had settled accounts. 
 He had made a memorandum of a case, which he read, 
 where the party told him that he had received a loan of 
 $3,200 from a member of a committee on the emancipa- 
 tion fund ; and, upon making the first partial payment, 
 was told that there was no hurry for paying the balance, 
 which would be called for when the lender had to settle 
 accounts with the treasury. 
 
 Some of the provinces occupy a respectable position 
 in regard to what has been done in the establishment of 
 humane and benevolent institutions. There are several, 
 however, which are still behindhand. 
 
 The chief of police of the province of Parand, in his 
 annual report to the president of the province, 1883, says, 
 " I receive constant requests from various points in the 
 
LOCAL ADMINISTRATION^. 191 
 
 province to receive into the jail at the capital (Curitiba) 
 insane people, which I can not satisfy, both for the rea- 
 son that the practice would be irregular, and that there 
 are not accommodations." 
 
 So, also, the manager of the public hospital of Maran- 
 ham, in his report of 1881, laments that there is no suit- 
 able place for the treatment of the insane, who have to 
 be kept in the same building with other sick patients. 
 The insane in the province, he states, could be counted 
 by hundreds, and there was no suitable building for them. 
 Some even wandered the streets without food or shelter. 
 The next year, however, a country-house was bought and 
 appropriated for the shelter of the insane. 
 
 The Minister of the Department of the Empire, in his 
 annual report for 1884, submitted the following reflec- 
 tions as to the need of reorganizing the provincial and 
 municipal governments: "The law of October 1, 1828, 
 which modeled the provincial and municipal administra- 
 tions, has failed of successful execution, in consequence of 
 inadequate political conditions. A centralizing system 
 has always arisen against its development. This antago- 
 nism has created an abnormal situation, in which the un- 
 certainty of rights and consequent weakness of authority, 
 which should direct society, have produced disturbance, 
 which must not continue, for the material and intellectual 
 progress of our country will not allow it. 
 
 " The law of October 1, 1828, which defined the func- 
 tions of the municipalities, has been violated frequently 
 by the Municipal Chamber of Eio de Janeiro. Of forty- 
 nine days designed for ordinary sessions, and seven for 
 extraordinary, the Chamber did not sit twenty-five. And 
 even of the days it did sit, some were entirely thrown 
 away, in consequence of the disorderly discussions and 
 
192 BEAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 violent and tumultuous scenes among the members. Gov- 
 ernment spared no means to set matters aright ; but, not 
 succeeding, the members were suspended, and those of 
 the preceding legislature were re-elected j^ro tern. The 
 latter have been able to re-establish order in the admin- 
 istration of the municipality, and have set themselves to 
 meliorate the sanitary condition of the city." 
 
 The report sets forth, therefore, the urgent necessity 
 of a reorganization of the municipalities, whereby may 
 be given to each body, which intervenes in its adminis- 
 tration, certain and defined positions, and unquestionable 
 functions, so as not to continue the abnormal state of 
 affairs of to-day, in which the administrative powers waste 
 their strength in a mutual contest as to their respective 
 spheres of action. At present the central Government is 
 too much burdened with local affairs of too little impor- 
 tance compared with national affairs. 
 
 A Portuguese long ago said that the fortune of a court- 
 ier consisted in knowing how to flatter, to lie, to steal, 
 and to divide. It would be singular if such talents had 
 not descended to the present generation ; only we must 
 remember that in any country the scene of the courtier's 
 tricks shifts according as power and the purse-strings 
 change from one branch of government to another. In 
 the meaning of this Portuguese philosopher, there is no 
 material difference between the courtier and the lobbyist. 
 We know that in the best countries there must be occa- 
 sional cases of malversation, defalcation, and corruption 
 in office ; and it is when these cases are dragged to light, 
 exposed, and punished that one may safely conclude that 
 the administration as a whole is sound and honest. I 
 would not leave the impression that there is overmuch 
 corruption in Brazilian administration ; it is a subject I 
 
LOCAL ADMINISTEATIOJST. 193 
 
 am too little acquainted witli to give an opinion upon. I 
 know, however, that intelligent and upright business men 
 openly and firmly assert that administration is corrupt. 
 Further, I have no knowledge of any recent case where 
 any functionary has been punished for misbehavior in 
 office. All that the public knows of corruption is what 
 appears from a few feeble squeaks and murmurs of anony- 
 mous correspondents through the paid columns of a news- 
 paper. 
 
 Able Brazilian publicists have repeatedly said with 
 truth that the Brazilian has much better facilities for 
 learning what has transpired and what is taking place in 
 foreign countries than he has of what is taking place in 
 his own country. 
 
 " This sad condition of the Brazilian, knowing more 
 about foreigners than of his own people," says Dr. Yieira 
 Souto, " will only cease when our legislators become satis- 
 fied that statistics are the only guide for making known 
 the manner of existence and the development of society 
 in all of its manifestations, the light which clearly guides 
 the way for improving all branches of the public service." 
 
 The principle of permanency, however, appears to 
 exist in all branches of the civil service of Brazil except 
 in the office of provincial president. 
 17 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PAELIAMENTAKY GOVEENMENT. 
 
 The two parliamentary bodies composing tlie national 
 legislature consist of a Senate, whose members, elected for 
 life, are chosen by and represent the separate provinces ; 
 and a Chamber of Deputies, whose members, elected for a 
 term of four years, are chosen by and represent separate 
 districts. In the election of senator three persons are 
 voted for, one of whom, and usually the one having the 
 highest number of votes, is appointed by the Emperor. 
 The position of senator is the most independent, digni- 
 fied, and desirable political office to which the Brazilian 
 subject is ehgible. The prime minister and several of 
 the Cabinet are usually senators, still retaining tfieir sena- 
 torial position. The senators generally have passed the 
 middle of life before their election. They are liberally 
 paid, and, like many of the deputies, are well-trained and 
 able politicians and debaters. Of the two hundred and 
 twelve senators who, up to 1884, had been elected since 
 the creation of the Senate, two resigned, and one hun- 
 dred and fifty-four died after an average service of fifteen 
 years. The average service of the fifty-six senators then 
 serving was eleven and a quarter years. 
 
 The proceedings in both bodies are usually of a digni- 
 fied and courteous character. The debates and speeches 
 
PARLIAMENTARY GOYERNMENT. 195 
 
 are taken down by stenographers and published at length 
 in the leading morning newspaper of the capital, which 
 is, perhaps, an incentive to excessive talk. The interrup- 
 tions are very numerous. While a member is speaking, 
 some other member, remaining in his seat, will exclaim, 
 " I agree w^th you ! " or, '^ I don't agree with you ! " This 
 will be done every few minutes, sometimes several mem- 
 bers joining in the approval or dissent. The interrup- 
 tions sometimes become as frequent and noisy as in an old- 
 fashioned Methodist camp-meeting. The journal wliich 
 gets paid for reporting the debates interlards all of the 
 interruptions — printing them, indeed, in italics. The 
 speeches are delivered extemporaneously, and usually in 
 a conversational rather than declamatory manner. 
 
 An example of humor in debate was a passage in a 
 late speech of Senator Silveira Martins. He criticised 
 the concentration of forces on the southern frontier, say- 
 ing that one of the brigadiers was eighty years old, and 
 falls off his horse when it stops ; and another, appointed 
 to command a cavalry brigade, is paralyzed, never leaves 
 his room, and can not even write. Another officer, sent 
 from Rio Grande to Matto-Grosso, was obliged to mount 
 an ox when proceeding on an expedition, and he produced 
 a photograph in proof of his assertion. Thus the coun- 
 try was in a perfect state of defense ; by sea it only had 
 turtles, and on shore bovine cavalry ! 
 
 There is no especially Catholic party in either the 
 Chamber or the Senate, but the leading friend of the 
 Church is Deputy Yianna, of Rio, whose remarks often 
 have a religious tone. In a late speech he declared that 
 his only intervention in the election in the province of 
 Goyaz was, writing a letter to the bishop, asking his pro- 
 tection for the Conservative candidate, which the bishop 
 
196 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 did not consider lie could extend, but contented himself 
 with prayer that so Catholic a community should not be 
 represented by an enemy of the Church, and therefore of 
 the country ; and that the bishop's prayer had been heard ! 
 The Senate-house is a plain and separate building 
 about a mile distant from that of the Chamber of Depu- 
 ties, fronts on the now handsome Park of Santa Anna, 
 and is close to the Mint. The Senate-chamber is about 
 the size of the old Senate-chamber, now Supreme Court- 
 room, at Washington. The floor is carpeted, and the 
 chairs are arranged in three semicircular rows divided 
 by two aisles ; and what answers for a continuous railing 
 in front of them, and against which senators can lean 
 when they speak, has a polished top of Brazil-wood, ma- 
 hogany-colored, and about ten inches wide, which opens 
 toward the chair so as to form a handy, cloth-covered desk 
 for each senator when he has occasion to write. As a 
 rule, these desks are closed, and thus outwardly form a 
 convenient raihng. The President of the Senate, Baron 
 Cotigipe (prime minister since the latter: part of 1885), 
 leader of the Conservative party, and a man who looks a 
 good deal as Henry Wilson did when a senator, sits at the 
 center of a long and wide table, with the Yice-President 
 and Secretaries, all of whom are senators, on either side of 
 him. Behind the President's chair a long green, curtain, 
 suspended from the ceiling, shuts off the view of the im- 
 perial chair, or throne, which the Emperor occupies when 
 he opens and closes the legislative session. There is, 
 therefore, no gallery in rear of the presiding ofiScer. On 
 his right is a small gallery for the imperial family, on 
 his left another for the diplomatic body, each having a 
 green curtain in front when vacant. Next to the diplo- 
 matic gallery is one for the families of senators, while in 
 
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 197 
 
 front of the presiding officer is tlie general public gallery 
 that will accommodate a hundred people. On the main 
 floor is a reception-room for senators and their visitors, 
 and another exclusively for the Cabinet ministers. The 
 first time that I saw the then prime minister, Senator 
 Dantas, was in the Senate the afternoon of the 2Tth of Au- 
 gust, 1884, toward the close of the session of Parliament. 
 lie is, perhaps, a little under medium height, stoutly 
 built, with large and pleasant face, full beard, slightly 
 gray, abundant hair, complexion hardly as dark as the 
 usual Brazilian, large brown eyes, and wears glasses. His 
 dress and manner were very simple. His coat was a dark- 
 blue cloth sack which came below his Imees. He was at 
 first sitting on the left side of the presiding officer, but 
 soon went to one of the usual seats and engaged in con- 
 versation a few minutes with his predecessor. Senator 
 Lafayette. About ten minutes afterward he rose and 
 made a five minutes' speech in reply to some senators on 
 the opposite side. The Chamber suddenly became ex- 
 ceedingly still as he began to speak, and so continued dur- 
 ing his remarks. He held in his right hand a printed 
 document, gesticulated slightly with his left hand and 
 arm, leaned a little over the railing in front of him, spoke 
 in a conversational tone, fluently and earnestly, yet with 
 unaffected modesty, which, joined to good temper, un- 
 doubtedly is his characteristic strong point. Shortly after 
 he had finished he stepped over across the aisle and stood 
 conversing a few minutes with Senator Sinimbu, a former 
 distinguished Liberal prime minister. 
 
 Senator Sinimbti looks more like an American or an 
 Englishman than a Brazilian. His complexion is inclined 
 to be florid. His face is shaved, except a thin and gray 
 beard on each side and under his chin. Senator Lafayette 
 
198 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 is of mednm height, inclined to be stout, has rather a He- 
 brew face, very expressive black eyes, is somewhat bald, 
 but with some strands of jet-black hair over the top of his 
 head. He wears glasses, and might be taken for a college 
 professor. He is distinguished for eloquence. Senator 
 Saraiva, who assumed the office of prime minister, May 
 5, 1885, is a man perhaps of as much character as there 
 is in public life in Brazil. He is a tall man, with white 
 hair and beard, sixty years of age or upward, stoutly built, 
 a little stooping, wears a tall hat and long sack or over- 
 coat, generally has a cigar in his mouth when in the street, 
 is eminently practical and active, and might easily be taken 
 for a large landed proprietor and energetic planter, which 
 he is. These four, that I have mentioned, are Liberals. 
 Several of the Conservative senators are planters of wealth 
 and culture, and distinguished in appearance. The sen- 
 ators are mostly large-sized men, and seem to enjoy them- 
 selves seated in their arm-chairs Avith backs as high as their 
 shoulders. I^ow and then one of them will take a pinch 
 of snuff, and the bigger magnate he is, the more likely he 
 he is to pull out a red cotton handkerchief with which to 
 wipe his nose. I have looked down from the gallery on 
 the Senate of modem Kome, but somehow I fancy that 
 these Brazilian lawgivers resemble the ancient Romans as 
 much as any I have seen. As a rule, the senators spend 
 a great deal of their time at the capital, and have much 
 influence in the Government. 
 
 The lower house, called Chamber of Deputies, takes 
 the initiatory in taxation and appropriations, but in mat- 
 ters of ceremony the Senate has precedence. It is to the 
 Senate that the Emperor goes to open or close a session. 
 If the two bodies differ on some bill, committees of confer- 
 ence are not appointed, as is done in the American Con- 
 
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 199 
 
 gi'ess, but the two bodies meet in joint convention to con- 
 sider tbe question. The deputies in such case go to the 
 Senate, and sit or stand in a crowded condition on one 
 side of the chamber while the senators occupy the other 
 side. These joint meetings are rare, and the business 
 done on such occasions is merely formal. I happened to 
 be in the Chamber of Deputies when a committee of three, 
 who had been sent to the Senate to ascertain when the 
 latter body would receive the deputies in such a joint as- 
 sembly, returned and made their report. All three were 
 in evening dress — w^hite cravats, white tid gloves, and 
 swallow-tailed coats. 
 
 The Government is essentially parhamentary. Cabi- 
 nets come into power and go out according to the support 
 they get in the Chamber of Deputies. 'No Cabinet under- 
 takes to exist without a good working majority in that 
 body. The Cabinet ministers sit and speak in each body. 
 Depending as it does for existence on the will of the popu- 
 lar branch of the legislature, the administration is neces- 
 sarily influenced very much by public opinion, and is in 
 danger of being influenced even by popular clamor. The 
 fact that in recent times Cabinets have changed about once 
 a year would seem to show that there is considerable in- 
 trigue in political circles, or else that the situation has been 
 exceedingly peculiar. I think that intrigue has had much 
 to do with the changes. 
 
 The Minister of Finance is usually the President of the 
 Council and virtual prime minister. He it is, rather than 
 the Emperor, who is regarded as responsible for the ad- 
 ministration of the Government ; and he is accordingly 
 allowed to have his own way a good deal in the selection 
 of his colleagues ; though, of course, he selects those men 
 who can count on the largest groups of friends among the 
 
200 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PEOSPEOTS. 
 
 deputies. The ministry of Mr. Lafayette came in on 
 May 24, 1883. His minister of tlie Department of "War 
 was Deputy Antonio Joaquim Kodrigues, Jr., of the prov- 
 ince of Ceara, whom in the month of February follow- 
 ing he caused to resign ; not, however, without resorting 
 to correspondence which produced some sensation and 
 which was justly regarded as quite unusual. The Minis- 
 ter of War then resigned, but in the month of May follow- 
 ing, in the discussion of the estimates of the Department 
 of Finance, he attacked the prime mmister, demanding full 
 explanation of the reasons for the letter inviting him to 
 resign ; and upon Mr. Lafayette replying to him, a scene 
 of uproar ensued in Avhich assertions of both sides were 
 contradicted, and finally the lie was exchanged between 
 the two disputants, when Mr. Kodrigues, Jr., declared that 
 Mr. Lafayette had acted with injustice and discourtesy, 
 disloyalty and perfidy, and had sent the Minister of Justice 
 to try and substitute another note for the letter, promising 
 to do anything he wished for Ceara. This the Minister 
 of Justice denied. 
 
 As showing what part the Emperor takes in forming 
 Cabinets, the regard that is paid to thorough publicity in 
 such matters, and as illustrating also the style of expres- 
 sion of Brazilian statesmen, I will here copy a short report 
 of what was said in the Senate at the accession of the Dan- 
 tas ministry, June 9, 1884, it being substantially the trans- 
 lation published in the "Anglo-Brazilian Times." Mr. 
 Lafayette Eodrigues Pereira — jurist, senator from the 
 province of Minas-Geraes, and prime minister of the out- 
 going Cabinet— said : " In view of what occurred on the 
 3d instant in the Chamber of Deputies, the Cabinet of May 
 24th became convinced that they had not the necessary 
 parliamentary strength to continue to direct the public 
 
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 201 
 
 affairs and to cany out tlie ideas of their programme of 
 government. Consequently, I went the same evening to 
 the palace, and in the name of myself and my colleagues, 
 alleging the above reason, I asked his Majesty the Em- 
 peror to be pleased to accept our resignation. His Ma- 
 jesty consenting, asked whom I indicated to undertake to 
 form a new ministry, and on my mentioning Senator Jose 
 Antonio Saraiva, commanded me to invite Mr. Saraiva to 
 come to the palace that same night. This command was 
 obeyed at 8.30 r. m." 
 
 Senator Saraiva : " On the 3d, at 9 p. m., I was invited 
 by Conselheiro Lafayette, by command of the Emperor, to 
 go to the palace. On arriving there, his Majesty said to 
 me that Conselheiro Lafayette had indicated me as suc- 
 cessor, and his Majesty having received the suggestion 
 with pleasure, was desirous that I should form the new 
 ministry. I replied to his Majesty that the reasons still 
 subsisted that prevented my undertaking in 1883 the re- 
 sponsibilities of government, namely, that I had no cer- 
 tainty of being able to form a strong and durable ministry, 
 capable of deciding or carrying forward toward a satis- 
 factory solution grave questions agitated both in and out 
 of Parliament, such as the slave question. His Majesty 
 said that he considered it his duty to do all that was possi- 
 ble to render the approaching elections of deputies most 
 regular ; that he had entire confidence in me, and as I did 
 not hold extreme opinions I could direct the slave ques- 
 tion to a solution that would not compromise the great 
 economic interests of the country ; that consequently he 
 must insist upon my forming the new administration. I 
 then observed to his Majesty that both the constitutional 
 parties were interested in complete liberty of the elections ; 
 that the leaders of those parties could carry out the ele- 
 
202 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 vated and patriotic idea his Majesty had so much at heart, 
 were it only because those leaders were perfectly aware 
 that a return to the old system of direct or indirect gov- 
 ernment interference in the elections would considerably 
 reduce the influence of the Chamber of Deputies upon 
 the constitution of ministries ; that, as the Liberal party 
 had fought during ten years of opposition for freedom of 
 vote and had made a law to insure that freedom, it could 
 not, under penalty of becoming unpopular, fail to do 
 honor to the programme that had raised it to power. I 
 added that, owing to the declarations I made in 1880 in 
 the Chamber of Deputies, I could not assume the respon- 
 sibility of power without treating specially of the slave 
 question, but that I could not at present form a ministry 
 that would be homogeneous in regard to. this matter, and 
 which, because of its homogeneity, could exert an effica- 
 cious influence upon the Liberal party ; finally, that with- 
 out the strong support of its party no government could 
 have any certainty of a good result, even though the pre- 
 dominating idea were a national aspiration. This is more 
 or less what passed between his Majesty the Emperor 
 and myself." 
 
 Senator Dantas : " On the 4:th instant the honorable 
 ex-President of the Council came to me to deliver to me 
 his Majesty's command to appear at the Sao Christovao 
 Palace at 6 p. m. of the same day. At the hour fixed I 
 presented myself at the palace, and, on being admitted to 
 his Majesty's presence, he deigned to consult mo upon 
 various points, especially in regard to the ministerial 
 ciisis on the 3d. AVith tlie loyalty due to the chief of 
 the state, I furnished all the information I could, and at 
 the same time gave my humble opinion upon the difficul- 
 ties of the occasion. Thus closed the audience with which 
 
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 203 
 
 his Majesty honored me. About midnight of the same 
 day I was again sought by the ex-President of the Coun- 
 cil, who, by command of his Majesty the Emperor, in- 
 vited me to appear at the palace at 10 a. m. of the next 
 day. Having punctually obeyed this command, his Ma- 
 jesty deigned to tell me that he had resolved on intrust- 
 ing me with the formation of a new ministry. "With due 
 reverence I stated to his Majesty my reasons for declin- 
 ing so great an honor. His Majesty insisted again, but I 
 persisted in justifying the grounds of my excuse. Fi- 
 nally, as his Majesty gave favorable acceptance to the 
 terms which I thought would authorize me to undertake 
 the ministerial organization, I obeyed the command, in 
 the conviction that thereby I also obeyed a great and im- 
 perative duty in the grave circumstances in which my 
 services were considered useful to the public cause. On 
 retiring from Sao Christovao, I undertook at once to come 
 to an understanding with different political friends, and, 
 returning at night to the palace, I presented the names of 
 the distinguished citizens who constitute the present 
 Cabinet. I must now state to the Senate the programme 
 that the ministry has adopted and proposes to carry out. 
 Mr. President, among the various questions that press 
 upon the attention and study of the Government, there 
 are two that at present dominate all the rest : that of the 
 finances and that of slavery. The ministry think it a 
 duty to explain themselves upon both in such a manner 
 as to render their views evident, with the object of defin- 
 ing their responsibility before the country as to the man- 
 ner in which the Government intend to treat both. The 
 absence of equihbrium between the public revenue and 
 expenditure is known, and the illustrious ex-Minister of 
 Finance demonstrated it completely in his report to the 
 
204: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 General Assembly. Unfortunately, the evil is one of 
 years of duration, and, without treating now of its cause, 
 I will simply mention the fact for the purpose of saying 
 that it is urgent to adopt efficacious and persevering 
 measures to remove it as soon as possible. First, it im- 
 poses on the Government the absolute necessity of a rigor- 
 ous observance of the estimates and the strictest oversight 
 of the collection of our revenue ; and, lastly, an intelligent 
 and severe reduction of the expense, as much as we can 
 without injury to the necessary improvements that have 
 already been commenced and are in execution. The Gov- 
 ernment, however, beheves that in our present circum- 
 stances these measures, though what economic and finan- 
 cial science usually counsels for such cases, will not suffice 
 us. We must, and we pledge ourselves to this also, di- 
 minish our responsibilities as much as possible, as a means 
 of strengthening the public credit, availing of this credit 
 less and less, to maintain its vigor, until now intact. Fi- 
 nally, we must confess, we shall have to resort to some 
 other means of enlarging the revenue, and as to this we 
 will adopt as a basis the idea of the bill reported by the 
 committee on estimates, of the Chamber of Deputies, 
 both as to the creation of certain taxes and as to the con- 
 version of the funded internal debt." 
 
 It will strike almost any one, I think, that the '' effica- 
 cious and persevering measures" for improving the 
 finances, which the ministry thought it their duty to ex- 
 plain in such a manner as " to render their views evident," 
 are very vaguely stated. These generalities were scarce 
 any improvement on what several of his predecessors had 
 uttered on entering upon the same office. The following 
 views which he delivered on the slavery question are 
 more definite, though it will be seen that, while propos- 
 
PARLIAMENTAKY GOVERNMENT. 205 
 
 ing the liberation of slaves upward of sixty years of age, 
 he omits to say whether or not the owners are to be re- 
 munerated : 
 
 " I must nov/ declare tlie views of the Cabinet upon the 
 slave question. We have arrived, Mr. President, at a 
 point where the Government ought to intervene most 
 seriously in the progressive solution of this problem, and 
 bring it frankly before the Parliament, which has to pro- 
 vide the solution. In this matter no retrocession, no stop- 
 ping, no precipitation. It is, therefore, the special pur- 
 pose of the Government to give movement to this ques- 
 tion, both in satisfaction to generous sentiments and 
 humanitarian aspirations and in homage to the vested 
 rights of property involved in it, and to the greater in- 
 terests of the country dependent on that agricultural 
 wealth which, unfortunately, is still linked most intimately 
 with this anomalous institution. It is the imperative 
 duty of the Government and legislature to fix the line 
 to which prudence permits and civilization obliges us to 
 advance, so that it will become possible to prevent law- 
 lessness and excess that compromise the solution of the 
 problem without advancing it. For this purpose the 
 Government considers it indispensable to adopt a general 
 measure that shall establish throughout the country that 
 provincial localization of the slaves which has already 
 made progress in provincial legislation. This, however, 
 is not sufficient. The emancipation fund works now 
 within a very limited sphere, and the Government will 
 promote a powerful measure to increase it to great di- 
 mensions. I refer to a national tax, one which will call 
 upon all, not merely the slave-owners, to contribute to the 
 extinction of slavery. Another measure which the Gov- 
 ernment considers equitable and opportune is the libera- 
 ls 
 
206 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 tion of the slaves who have reached or will reach sixty- 
 years of age. The powerful reasons supporting this meas- 
 ure, one that would do honor to the philanthropic disposi- 
 tion of Brazihans, need not be mentioned now, and the 
 Government will reserve them for the debate on the bill 
 that will be submitted to you." 
 
 After referring to some other subjects upon which the 
 Government would propose legislation, including that of 
 civil marriage, he continued : " At the moment when the 
 present ministry commence their administration, little or 
 no time separates us from the elections (of deputies). 
 The Cabinet consider it a duty to declare to you that if 
 thej continue in the direction of aSairs they will maintain 
 entire neutrality in the struggle, thus honoring the pre- 
 cedent established by the Cabinet of March 28th. By 
 themselves and by their appointees in the provinces they 
 will not fail to repress fraud and violence, in order that 
 the election may be true and free, leaving it to the ac- 
 count of the parties and their leaders — conquer who con- 
 quers. The wisdom of the Senate will assist me, I hope, 
 in the difficult path I must follow." 
 
 Senator Correia, one of the Conservative leaders, then 
 criticised the declarations which had been made; he 
 wished to know what the conditions were which the new 
 prime minister considered as justifying his acceptance of 
 office ; also what passed at the audiences with the Emperor 
 of Senators Sinimbd and Affonso Celso. 
 
 Senator Sinimbu said that he recognized the right of 
 the Chambers to know what passed between the Crown 
 and those called upon to inform upon public affairs, but 
 judged it proper to allow the ex-President of the Council 
 and the present President of the Council to previously 
 make their declarations. Invited on the 4th to the palace, 
 
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 207 
 
 he was asked by his Majesty for his opinion upon the 
 causes of the crisis and upon the slave question ; that he 
 replied that the crisis had been caused chiefly by the 
 affair of October 25th (what he means by the affair of 
 October 25th was the assassination of the editor of a scur- 
 rilous newspaper by alleged undetected mihtary officers), 
 by the process adopted for the conversion of the monastic 
 property, by the official assent to the irregular manner in 
 which the Ceara emancipation had been effected, and to 
 the initiation of a like movement in other parts of the 
 empire, and by the unusual manner in which the minis- 
 terial change of February 29th had been effected ; that 
 under the circumstances the most convenient solution of 
 the crisis would be the formation of a Cabinet able to re- 
 unite the party and relieve the Conservatives of their fears 
 of interference with the approaching elections ; that this 
 solution was not beyond the power of the Liberal party, 
 and that all would hail the accession of Mr. Saraiva ; that 
 he did not consider the occasion proper for a dissolution 
 of a Chamber freely elected, as was generally aclmowl- 
 edged ; that as to slavery he still maintained the opinion 
 declared at the Agricultural Congress, namely, execution 
 of the law of September 28, 1871, with the development 
 it is susceptible of." 
 
 Senator Affonso Celso said that he had also received 
 on the 4th a similar command to go to the palace, but at 
 a later hour ; that it was enough for him to say that his 
 opinion on the crisis and on the slave question was, he 
 was glad to find, identical with that expressed by Mr. 
 Sinimbti, as just stated to the Senate. He would merely 
 add that in regard to slavery, along with guarantee of the 
 property recognized by law, and the personal security of 
 the owners, it would be requisite that the new Cabinet 
 
208 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 sliould give a greater impulse to the too slow emancipat- 
 ing movement of the law of September 28, 1871, by in- 
 creasing the emancipation fund, and by adopting other 
 measures to make it more effective. He had, however, 
 declared to his Majesty that acceleration of the emancipa- 
 tory movement, as well as other measures of great impor- 
 tance to the future of the country, were bound up in the 
 improvement of the financial situation, and that this im- 
 provement was the first thing to be undertaken. In fact, 
 he thought material improvements, transformation of la- 
 bor, reform of the administration, reconstruction of the 
 state patrimonies, of the provinces, of the municipalities, 
 redemption of the paper money, order, plenty, and progress 
 in the interior, confidence and credit abroad, can not be 
 thought of by a statesman while the rule of permanent 
 deficits exists, together with the system of contracting 
 new loans to pay the interest of old ones ; that, there- 
 fore, one of the greatest aims of the new Cabinet should 
 be to endeavor to render the public finances more pros- 
 perous. This was the first necessity, the fundamental base, 
 for every aspiration. 
 
 It was immediately after this that Senator Ottoni de- 
 livered his interesting and important speech, liberal ex- 
 tracts from which will be found under the head of slavery. 
 Some days later a bill was introduced by the ministry for 
 liberating all slaves of the age of sixty years and upward, 
 but, as it was unaccompanied by any provision for remu- 
 nerating the owners, it failed to receive the fuU support 
 of the Liberal party ; Deputy Albuquerque, who had been 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet preceding the 
 Lafayette ministry, being on that ground one of the lead- 
 ing opponents of it in the Liberal ranks. The new Cabinet 
 having thus experienced a defeat on a vital measure, the 
 
PAKLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 209 
 
 question arose whether it should go out and an attempt 
 be made to form a Conservative ministry, or whether, as 
 the time was near at hand for a new Chamber to be elected 
 it would be better to wait the result of that election, leav- 
 ing the Cabinet meantime unchanged. The latter course 
 was adopted. A meeting was held by the Grand Council 
 of State, and by its advice it was decided to dissolve the 
 Chamber of Deputies ; but this was not done till after the 
 usual appropriation bills were passed, by which time the 
 Chamber had sat out nearly its full constitutional time. 
 During the ensuing political canvass there was no speech- 
 making, such as occurs in England and in the United 
 States, and which is so instructive to the public mind. 
 The Abolition Society of Eio de Janeiro, in their address to 
 the electors, September, 1884, recommending the support 
 of Mr. Jose Carlos do Patrocinio for the General Assem- 
 bly, declared that, limiting their aspirations to what was 
 lawful, and deriving their force from the law, they directed 
 their efforts to the solution of the labor problem, endeav- 
 oring to substitute the man for the slave, and liberty for 
 slavery. Appealing, they said, to the electoral body of 
 the capital of the empire, they addressed themselves to 
 the most enlightened and conscientious who exercise sov- 
 ereignty, but also knew that an en-oneous political notion 
 restricts the exercise of popular sovereignty in such a 
 manner that, in a municipality like that of the capital of 
 more than 600,000 souls, barely 6,T93 citizens are qualified 
 voters, being in the ratio of one elector for more than one 
 hundred inhabitants. The forms of the electoral organi- 
 zation, they declared, have resulted in the continuance of 
 a parliamentary system all in the interest of caste rather 
 than the development of order in liberty, the stability of 
 institutions in respect to the rights of man, the founda- 
 
210 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 tion of public wealth on tlie most fruitful and solid of 
 properties — the property of labor. 
 
 With reference to the Republican party in Brazil, 
 which formerly, it would seem, was stronger than it is at 
 present, Mr. Jose do Patrocinio, a noted abolitionist and 
 editor of the evening paper, made some amusing remarks 
 in a pubhc address at Rio, September 7, 1884 ; " In gen- 
 eral," he said, " the proportion of deserters in any party 
 was about ten per cent ; but, in respect of the Republican 
 party in Brazil, it was different — the faithful constituted 
 ten per cent, and the deserters ninety per cent ! " 
 
 The general election for a new Chamber of Deputies, 
 for a term of four years, commenced in December, 1884. 
 I say commenced, because under the rule requiring the 
 successful candidate to have a majority of all votes cast, 
 instead of a plurality, the election had in several districts 
 to be repeated two or three times. There was, of course, 
 considerable excitement, some fraud, and some violence, 
 but it struck me that there was less trouble than one would 
 naturally suppose under all the circumstances. Judging, 
 however, from remarks of opposition senators and depu- 
 ties since the legislature convened, one would think that 
 the elections were attended with an unprecedented degree 
 of rascality and violence. That a few people were killed, 
 and that there was some fraudulent voting, might have 
 been expected ; and such were the facts. It is a signifi- 
 cant fact that no certain knowledge of the political result 
 of the election, as bearing on the ministry's plan of Hber- 
 ation, could be known till after the meeting of the newly 
 elected Chamber of Deputies, in March, 1885. 
 
 This extra session of the General Assembly was opened 
 by the Emperor in the Senate-chamber on Sunday, March 
 8, 1885, after a celebration of mass at the Imperial Chapel. 
 
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 211 
 
 Thougli called solely for the settlement of some scheme 
 of emancipation, the subject was treated in the speech 
 read by the Emperor only in these few general words, 
 namely : " The present extra session was advised by the 
 need, which certainly you will meet with the greatest 
 solicitude, of deciding in regard to the project which the 
 Government judges useful for the gradual extinction of 
 slavery in our country, agreeably to the desire of all Bra- 
 zilians, in a way that will cause the least possible sacrifice, 
 and without interfering with the development of the pro- 
 ductive forces of the nation." 
 
 The Emperor comes in considerable state to open the 
 General Assembly, and yet in a simple manner as com- 
 pared with the usage of some European sovereigns, who en- 
 ter the hall of state wearing a crown and royal robes, with 
 a brilliant escort of soldiers and civil and military officers 
 richly uniformed, and moving to martial music, the throne 
 meantime being densely surrounded by officers of the life- 
 guards. His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, wearing a 
 uniform, drives to the Senate in his usual carriage, drawn 
 by six horses, with a mounted escort, and is received at 
 the outer door by a joint committee of the Senate and 
 Chamber of Deputies. On the occasion of the opening 
 of this extra session the two bodies in joint assembly ap- 
 pointed twenty-four deputies and twelve senators to meet 
 the Emperor at the door and conduct him to the throne. 
 Four deputies and two senators were likewise appointed 
 to meet the Empress and conduct her to her place in the 
 imperial gallery. 
 
 On March 12th the Chamber of Deputies proceeded 
 to elect a presiding officer, selecting for this purpose Mr. 
 Moreira de Barros, the head of the Liberal opposition of 
 about twelve members, with the aid of Conservative votes ; 
 
212 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 but, as there were some forty deputies who could not vote 
 because their credentials had not been decided upon, the 
 prime minister (Liberal) declared in the Senate that such 
 vote could not under the circumstances be accepted as a 
 ministerial defeat. With reference to this proceeding the 
 " Paiz " newspaper said, " One half the country, which is 
 still outside the legislature " (referring to those members 
 whose credentials were not acted upon), " can not logically 
 be subjected to the decision of any minority whose mem- 
 bers are already recognized as deputies." With reference 
 to the way in which business was held in check in both 
 branches of the legislature the first part of the extra ses- 
 sion of 1885, pending the decision of so many contested 
 election cases, a Rio journal said : " That ten dissatisfied 
 Liberal members of the Chamber, acting in connection 
 with their political opponents, could so completely succeed 
 in obstructing parliamentary work needs explanation. The 
 cause seems to us to be found in the last electoral law, and 
 the effect only to be removed by such a modification of 
 this law as will greatly increase the suffrage, to the end 
 that the Chamber of Deputies may more nearly represent 
 the country, and not that very small section of it which it 
 now represents. . . . A sincere observer of political affairs 
 in Brazil can not claim that the Chamber of Deputies as 
 at present constituted represents the public opinion of the 
 empire. The manner in which deputies are elected proves 
 the contrary. The practice is for the candidate to issue a 
 circular to the electors of the district he wishes to repre- 
 sent, and if possible secure some indorsement of his pre- 
 tensions by the chiefs of his party; then personal visits to 
 local magnates are made, and if their support be secured, 
 the candidate may calmly and confidently await the re- 
 sult. There is no personal contact with the great mass of 
 
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 213 
 
 the people, no speech-maldng, or attempts at raising en- 
 thusiasm ; the election canvass is generally as flat as possi- 
 ble, and when disturbances occur the cause can generally 
 be found in the enmity of local chiefs, and the actors are 
 their personal followers. It is no uncommon thing for a 
 candidate for a district in the north, or in the interior, to 
 remain in Rio during the time that would be employed 
 in England or in the United States in actively canvassing 
 his proposed constituency. How can it be claimed that a 
 deputy, for example, from Para who has never left this 
 capital can represent the public opinion of his district, 
 which opinion he has only heard by proxy ; and how can 
 the electors of that district know anything of his opinions 
 save from his circular and the indorsements of personal 
 and political friends and relatives ? . . . Another proof of 
 our argument is shown by the professions of the deputies. 
 Whereas the House of Commons is to a large extent 
 composed of merchants, bankers, and manufacturers, our 
 Chamber is almost exclusively formed of lawyers, with an 
 occasional medical man, and a rare planter, unless in com- 
 bination with the lawyer. . . . There must be unprofes- 
 sional men who are sufficiently interested in commerce 
 and trade to offer themselves as candidates, and the intro- 
 duction of a few such into the composition of the Cham- 
 ber could not but be attended with advantage. Politics 
 is made entirely too much a means of support, and, the 
 same members being returned again and again, political 
 cabals are easily brought about, and personal questions 
 quite as frequently cause the fall of a ministry as politi- 
 cal, economic, or other principles. We think an extension 
 of the suffrage would go far to correct the present unfor- 
 tunate state of affairs." 
 
 The foregoing, together with what is found in the 
 
214 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 chapter on slavery, will enable one to form a fair judg- 
 ment of tlie political situation and of the practice of poli- 
 tics in Brazil. It will be seen that parliamentary govern- 
 ment is there carried on mth as much ability and fairness 
 as it is in some European countries. Some things un- 
 doubtedly are to be deplored. An ex- Cabinet minister 
 said to an acquaintance of mine, at Rio, " I would sooner 
 bury my son than to bring him up in politics." His 
 opinion was formed doubtless by the ups and downs — the 
 uncertainty — as well as by the intrigue and corruption 
 there are in politics. The Brazilians feel that they have 
 a tremendously great country, and one which has a sj)len- 
 did destiny. They are proud of it, and will not permit it to 
 fall into too much discredit. The honors which in a par- 
 liamentary system await a high order of statesmanship are 
 healthy incentives, and I believe the tendency in Brazil is 
 toward improvement under her present system. 
 
 The return of the adjutant - general of the army 
 shows that the aggregate number of officers and enHsted 
 men is 13,764, being the military strength of the country 
 on a peace basis. It consists, in round numbers, of 3,000 
 artillery, 2,500 cavalry, and 8,000 infantry, and is widely 
 detached in the different provinces. The principal de- 
 tachment, comprising 4,000 men, under a general officer, 
 is stationed in the province of Rio Grande do Sul, which 
 borders the Republic of Uruguay ; about 2,000 men are 
 stationed in the frontier province of Matto-Grosso ; 1,000 
 in the province of Pernambuco ; 600 in the province of 
 Pard; about the same number in each of the provinces of 
 Bahia and Parand, and about 3,000 at the capital — each 
 detachment being under the command of a general officer. 
 In the other provinces there are detachments which are 
 under the command of the respective presidents. The 
 
PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT. 215 
 
 enlisted men of the army are all volunteers, wlio liave en- 
 gaged to serve for a term of six years. Their pay is only 
 about two dollars a month, besides board and clothing. A 
 law was passed ten years ago making military service for 
 eight years obligatory on males between eighteen and 
 thirty years of age — the requisite number to be drawn by 
 lot. As yet, however, it has not been found necessary to 
 enforce it. The annual military expenses amount to six 
 million dollars. 
 
 Brazil is rather liberal in her system of military pen- 
 sions. Those who received wounds or injuries to health 
 in the Paraguayan war, as well as the widows, children, or 
 sisters of those who were killed, receive an allowance of 
 six dollars and upward a month. The widow of an officer 
 killed in war would now receive a pension equal to his 
 full pay. Where there are male children, but not a widow, 
 they would receive the pension till they were of age ; and 
 a daughter, if an only child, and the mother not living, 
 would receive the full pension during her life, whether 
 married or single. So, also, officers who distinguished 
 themselves in the war, though never wounded, receive a 
 pension in some cases as high as twenty-five hundred dol- 
 lars a year. 
 
 A commission, of which his Eoyal Highness Count 
 d'Eu was president, and the adjutant -general, quarter- 
 master-general, and three other general officers were mem- 
 bers, was appointed two years ago to elaborate a plan of 
 army organization in accord with improvements intro- 
 duced into modem armies, and which would be suitable 
 for Biazil. The plan they reported contemplates an ag- 
 gregate force, in time of peace, of 1,129 commissioned 
 officers and 15,000 enlisted men, and which in time of 
 war could be increased to an army of 30,000 men. 
 
CHAPTEE XIY. 
 
 BRAZILIAN LITEEATUEE. 
 
 As the language of Brazil is the Portuguese, a few re- 
 marks in regard to it may serve as a suitable introduction 
 to a sketch of Brazilian literature. The Portuguese lan- 
 guage, like the Spanish, is founded on the Latin. This is 
 evident from the many Latin words still in use in the lan- 
 guage, even if there were no historical proofs of the fact. 
 Prof. Ticknor, in his " History of Spanish Literature," 
 points out that Christianity, beginning as early at least as 
 the second century, was introduced into the peninsula, 
 comprising Spain and Portugal, in the Latin language. 
 That fact, he says, is very important, as showing that no 
 other language was left strong enough to contend with it, 
 at least through the middle and southern portions of the 
 country. The Christian clergy, however, he says, ad- 
 dressed themselves for a long period to the lower and 
 more ignorant classes of society, because the refined and 
 the powerful refused to listen to them, and therefore 
 used the degraded Latin which the common people spoke. 
 He is of the opinion that "the modem languages and 
 their dialects in the south of Europe were, so far as the 
 Latin was concerned, formed out of the popular and vul- 
 gar Latin found in the mouths of the common people ; 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 217 
 
 and tliat Christianity, more than any single cause, was the 
 medium and means by which this change from one to the 
 other was brought about." The Portuguese language re- 
 ceived additions and modifications by the invasion of the 
 Goths in the fifth century and of the Arabs in the eighth 
 century, but still retains distinctive Latin characteristics. 
 There are so many words in common use, in the Portu- 
 guese, like the Latin, that it does not require a great 
 stretch of the imagination to fancy that the people one 
 sees and hears in Brazil are descendants of an ancient 
 Latin race, and speak a language that could almost have 
 been understood by the every-day people in the time and 
 country of Horace. The similarity of the architecture of 
 Rio, especially of the shops, with what is seen in the re- 
 mains of the old Roman cities, makes the idea seem not 
 unreasonable. Of course, from my limited acquaintance 
 with the Portuguese language, I would not presume, un- 
 aided, to give a sketch of Brazilian literature ; and most 
 of the matter which follows in this chapter has been sup- 
 plied by Mr. Shalders, a conscientious and talented gradu- 
 ate of one of Brazil's highest institutions of learning. 
 
 Among Brazilian authors probably Jose Martiniano de 
 Alencar, Bernardo Guimaraes, and J. M. de Macedo, by 
 general consent, occupy the prominent places. The first- 
 named belonged to the present era, and composed about 
 thirty works of fiction, of which " Iracema " and " Gua- 
 rany " are regarded as the best. He was born at Ceard, 
 northern Brazil, May 1, 1829, and his early childhood 
 was there spent. At the age of ten his family moved to 
 Rio de Janeiro, maldng the very long journey thither by 
 land. At Rio he received his first scholastic training, 
 after which he studied law at the Sao Paulo and Ohnda 
 schools, graduating at the latter in 1851. Returning to 
 19 
 
218 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITIOIT AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 Eio, lie there spent the rest of his life, following during the 
 first four years the profession of lawyer. His early ardent 
 desire of becoming an editor was satisfied on his becoming 
 proprietor and editor of the " Diario do Kio " ; here he 
 began to pubhsh his first writings, entitled " Ao Correr da 
 Penna" (" The Kunning of the Pen "), on various topics, 
 which soon attracted and fixed the attention of the pubhc. 
 About this time Gongalves Magalhaes published his " Con- 
 federagao dos Tamoyos," a work which incited Alencar's 
 ambition. Alencdr became Professor of Mercantile Law 
 in the Commercial Institute of Eio, was deputy in the 
 General Assembly in several legislatures. Counselor of 
 the Ministry of Justice, and, later on. Minister of Justice, 
 He died December 12, ISTT", at a house in Eua Guana- 
 bara, which he had selected in search of better atmos- 
 phere. The historical groundwork of his "Iracema"is 
 substantially this : " In 1603 Pero Coelbo started from 
 Parahyba with eighty colonists and eight hundred Indians, 
 and settled at the mouth of the Jaguaribe, and there 
 founded a colony, the first in the province of Ceard. 
 Pero Coelho, having been abandoned by his comj)anions, 
 Joao Soromenho was sent to his help, which latter having 
 arrived at the place, began to attack the Indians, who were 
 friends of the Portuguese. This ruined the recent colony ; 
 the colonists were forced to withdraw on account of the 
 hostilities of the Indians, and Pero Coelho was oblioced to 
 retire to Parahyba. In the first expedition a young man 
 named Martim Soares Moreno formed a friendship with 
 Jacatina, chief of the Indians of the coast, and with his 
 brother Poty. Later on this Martim, having established a 
 colony there, Jacatina came with his people to live in the 
 neighborhood in order to protect the Portuguese from the 
 Indians of the interior. " Iracema " is a poem in prose. 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 219 
 
 The scene lies in tlie interior of Ceara among the Indians 
 first among those who are enemies of the coast Indians, 
 and toward the end among the latter. Martim is the hero. 
 The legend runs thns : Martim finds himself lost in the 
 woods, when suddenly he is in the presence of an Indian 
 girl of the Tabayara race, enemy to that of the coast. 
 The girl shoots an arrow which strikes Martim on the 
 forehead, but, repenting immediately of her deed, she 
 runs to him, dresses the wound, and conducts him to the 
 cabin of her father, who is the chief of the tribe. Martim 
 is treated by the chief with hospitality, and stays at his 
 house a long time, acquires the fame of a great warrior, 
 and falls in love with the girl, or rather she with him. 
 The principal warrior of the tribe becomes enraged with 
 him on that account, from being in love with the girl 
 himself ; he requires of the chief that Martim should be 
 given over to' his vengeance ; Martim is discovered by his 
 friend Poty and flees — the two being escorted by the In- 
 dian girl, who is named Iracema. Once outside her father's 
 domains, she declares that she will not leave Martim. 
 A war then ensues between the Tabayaras and Mai-tim's 
 friends, in which Iracema shows herself a heroine in sav- 
 ing Martim's life. Finally, Martim begins to grow cold 
 toward Iracema from his longings to go back to his peo- 
 ple ; he absents himself for some time, and when he re- 
 turns to Iracema he finds her languishing away ; she has 
 barely strength to lift her child up to Martim's arms, and 
 then faints and dies. 
 
 The following, describing this tragic end, is perhaps 
 the most touching passage in the poem : 
 
 "The Christian moved with uncertain steps. Sud- 
 denly, among the foliage of the trees, his eyes beheld, sit- 
 ting at the door of the cabin, Iracema with her child at 
 
220 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 lier breast, and the dog playing at her side. His heart 
 was filled, and his soul would start to his lips— Iracema ! 
 . . . The sad mother and spouse raised her eyes at hearing 
 the beloved voice. With great effort, she succeeded in 
 lifting her child in her arms and presenting it to its father, 
 who contemplated it in an ecstasy of love. 'Keceive 
 the son of thy blood. It is time ; my ungrateful breasts 
 have no longer nourishment to give him ! ' Placing the 
 child in the paternal arms, the unfortunate mother fainted 
 as fades the jetyca when it is plucked. The husband then 
 saw how grief had caused her beautiful body to fade ; but 
 still beauty was in her, just as the perfume in the flower 
 fallen from the manaca. Iracema rose no more from the 
 hammock in which the afflicted arms of Martim placed 
 her. The loving husband, in whom affection had revived 
 with the paternal joy, surrounded her with affectionate 
 cares, which filled her soul with delight, but restored not 
 life to her ; her bloom had passed. 
 
 " ' Bury the remains of thy wife beside the cocoanut- 
 tree which thou lovedst. "When the breeze blows through 
 its foliage, Iracema will think it is thy voice sounding in 
 her hair.' 
 
 "The sweet lips were silent forever; the last glow 
 took leave of the dim eyes. 
 
 " Poty held up his brother in his great sorrow." 
 
 Alencdr's " Guarany " is another work in which the 
 principal character is an Indian who shows great devotion 
 and faithfulness to a young Portuguese woman, whom he 
 treated as his mistress and for whom more than once he 
 risked his life. Alencar tried to form in romance the 
 same school which Gongalves Dias wished to do in verse. 
 Both created a kind of native style. In their works the 
 principal characters are native Indians, and they occupy 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 221 
 
 themselves with their language, habits, and temperament. 
 But neither of these two authors found followers, although 
 their works arc greatly appreciated. 
 
 Bernardo Guimaraes was born in Ouro Preto, August 
 15, 1825. At four years of age his family removed to 
 Uberaba, where he received his primary education. He 
 also studied in Campo Bello and Ouro Preto. In 1842, 
 during a revolution in Minas, he left school and enlisted 
 as a soldier. A short time afterward he matriculated in 
 the academy at Sao Paulo, where he mingled with Al- 
 vares de Azevedo, Aureliano Lessa, and others. He suc- 
 ceeded in taking his degree, and soon after tried the pro- 
 fession of teacher, which, however, he shortly abandoned. 
 He then came to Rio and became a journalist, but he 
 soon left this occupation, to return to Ouro Preto, where 
 he afterward married his cousin. Dona Thereza Guimaraes. 
 Then he devoted himself, body and soul, to poetry and 
 novels, entirely forgetful of his commonplace condition 
 of bachelor of laws. He remained there till his death, 
 which happened on March 10, 188i. 
 
 In Sao Paulo Guimaraes acquired convivial habits, 
 which, however, did not seem to affect his robust consti- 
 tution, nor deprive him of the qualities which made him 
 one of the most original poets and novelists of his coun- 
 try. His " Cantos da Solidao " are admired. His prose 
 works are numerous; and the best is the "Ermitao de 
 Muquem," which is written in three different styles : the 
 first, a style peculiar to himself, describing the habits and 
 life of the " Sertao " of Brazil ; the second, a kind of lyric 
 style ; and, lastly, a style which the writer calls realistic. 
 Among other works of his are the " Garimpeiro," the 
 " Slave Isaura," and the " Seminarista." The story of the 
 latter is more or less this : A young boy is brought up in 
 
222 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 the companionsliip of a girl, who is god-child of his 
 mother ; this girl is poor and lives on his father's lands. 
 The boy, named Eugenio, afterward falls in love with this 
 girl, named Margarida ; but his parents have destined him 
 to be a priest, and oblige him to enter the seminary in 
 spite of his unwillingness; at last he consents to being 
 ordained, believing that his loved Margarida had married 
 another, and also giving way to the religious impulses of 
 his nature. Afterward he is called to administer, as a 
 priest, the last unction to a dying woman. He discovers 
 this woman to be his Margarida, and that the cause of her 
 languishing was love for him to whom she had remained 
 faithful ; here he fights a great battle with his conscience, 
 but finally falls ; the consequence is, he considers himseK 
 a base and eternally lost man. The next day, having to 
 celebrate mass for the first time before going up to the 
 altar, he is called to perform the last funeral rites over 
 the body of a woman lying in the church ; this woman is 
 Margarida. He performs the service, but afterward, as- 
 cending the altar, instead of celebrating the mass, he be- 
 fore the public begins to disrobe himself, tearing his 
 clothes, and rushes out of the church a furious madman. 
 The writer's object is to show the error of the CathoUc 
 Church in compelling her ministers to remain single; 
 also how many virtuous men become corrupted by enter- 
 ing the ministry against their inclination. 
 
 Joaquim Manoel de Macedo was bom June 24, 1820, 
 at the village of Itaborahy, and died April 11, 1882. He 
 was a man of great talent, and his writings in prose and 
 verse are numerous. He distinguished himself, however, 
 specially as a novelist, and as the founder of the Brazihan 
 novel ; abandoning the romantic style, he brings into his 
 novels local color and the reaUty of the customs and 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 223 
 
 habits of Brazilian society. In 1844. the time in which 
 he pubhshed his " Moreninha," the Brazilian novel .was 
 yet to be founded, and Macedo was proclaimed its founder. 
 In his " Moreninha " he painted society as it really was. 
 And Eio then was gay, and not mournful, as the poets 
 would have it ; it was full of faith, and not of distrustful- 
 ness, like to-day. Everybody could see his picture in this 
 book ; a universal acceptance of it followed as a natural 
 consequence. Macedo graduated at the Faculty of Medi- 
 cine of Rio de Janeiro ; but seeing his success on the pub- 
 lication of the " Moreninha," he left his profession and 
 gave himself up to the study of history, which was des- 
 tined to furnish him elements for his historical novels, 
 for his appointment as Professor of History in the College 
 of Dom Pedro II, and for his admission into the Histori- 
 cal Institute of Brazil in 1845. Many works followed 
 one after another, such as "Mo§o Loire," published in 
 1845, " Dons Amores," in 1848, etc. From his success as 
 a novelist Macedo tried his pen as a dramatist and was not 
 less successful. He published two dramas in verse : " The 
 Cego " (" The Blind Man ") in 1 849, and " Cobe " in 1852, 
 two inspired productions, particularly the latter. His com- 
 edy " Phantasma Branco," among many others, gained also 
 the public applause. Macedo was now at the height of 
 his literary fame; and here he began to write for the 
 " ]S"agao," a journal of the Liberal party. "Whatever be 
 the character of the political articles of Macedo, or any of 
 his services in this field, the general opinion is that they 
 are not worth the hundredth part of his purely literary 
 works. Macedo's character was not fit for politics ; as a 
 proof, we have his " Yictimas-algozes," in which his in- 
 tention was to awaken compassion for slavery, but which 
 produced the opposite effect, that of hatred. He was a 
 
224 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 member of the Legislative Assembly of bis province, was 
 also deputy in the General Assembly, and declined to 
 make part of the ministerial Cabinet of August 31, 1864:. 
 He was also tbe author of a " History of Brazil," for the 
 use of the College of Dom Pedro II, also of the " Bio- 
 graphical Year," a work in four volumes. The style of 
 his works of fiction is now rather out of date. His work, 
 descriptive of Brazil, of which an imperfect English 
 translation by Le Sage, entitled " J^otions on the Chorog- 
 raphy of Brazil," Avas published at Leipsic in 1873, is 
 worthy of much commendation, particularly for its scope 
 and purpose — there being generally a great lack of books 
 of this character. It contains a summary of the history 
 of Brazil, a description of its geography, resources, pro- 
 ductions, and institutions, and a separate sketch of each 
 province, and, although the student will often open it in 
 vain for information which he desires, he will yet find in 
 it enough to give it a value. Its great fault is that it 
 abounds too much in glittering generalities. It is written 
 in a flowing, poetic, and occasionally eloquent style, but 
 is apt to deal in exaggeration when describing the natural 
 resources of the country. The following about slavery- 
 gives a specimen of his metaphors : " In the country itself 
 the complete extinction since 1852 of the criminal Afri- 
 can slave-trade dried up the principal spring of an evil in 
 every point of view more than shameless, and even fatal ; 
 and on the 28th of September, 1871, the law which eman- 
 cipated the offspring of women slaves closed forever the 
 second source of the tophet of slavery, ennobled Brazil 
 by taking from her the slur cast on her as the country of 
 slavery, and causing every cradle to be rocked by the 
 sacred breeze of liberty." 
 
 He describes Antonio Carlos, one of the early public 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 225 
 
 men of Sao Paulo, as one " wliose eloquence might be 
 compared to a cataract, and his enthusiasm to a volcano." 
 
 The following is less extravagant than some of his 
 descriptions : " The soil of Matto-Grosso is of wonderful 
 fertility. . . . The sugar-cane, tobacco, cotton, and man- 
 dioc, the common cereals of the country, wheat, all escu- 
 lents are so advantageously cultivated as to appear in- 
 credible. . . . No one plants rice, which only requires to 
 be plucked by those who require it. . . . Matto-Grosso is 
 an abyss of riches, the revelation of which will be splen- 
 did and dazzling in a future not far distant." 
 
 It may be of interest to name some of the distin- 
 guished orators of the pulpit. Rio de Janeiro is the birth- 
 place of Souza Caldas, Francisco de Sao Carlos, Francisco 
 Sampaio, and Francisco Jose de Carvalho, known as Frei 
 Francisco de Monte- Alverne, a name given to him on en- 
 tering the convent of Sao Antonio. Of these orators the 
 greatest is Monte- Alverne, born in Rio, 1785. He en- 
 tered the convent of Sao Antonio on June 28, 1801. On 
 being sent to Sao Paulo, he was there ordained presbyter 
 in 1808, preached in 1810, and was Professor of Arts in 
 1813. Returning to Rio with a confirmed reputation, he 
 was appointed royal preacher in 1816, in 1824 secretary 
 of the province of Rio. He became then Professor of 
 Philosophy in the Sao Jose seminary. He was tall, strong, 
 and muscular ; would bend forward a little when walking, 
 on account of his short-sightedness ; his face was long, 
 thin, pale, and severe ; his voice was strong, flexible, deep, 
 and somewhat harsh, which in him was not a defect, but 
 rather augmented its energy and gave it a metallic vibra- 
 tion that would resound in the largest edifice. He spoke 
 with emphasis, as one would who felt what he said, articu- 
 lating every syllable, so that not one was lost. His ser- 
 
226 BRAZIL; ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 mons are printed in three volumes, and are noted for their 
 eloquence, their doctrine, elevation of thoughts, and sub- 
 lime pictures. An eye-witness sajs that, on the occasion 
 of the funeral of the first Empress of Brazil, Dona Leopol- 
 dina, when that tremendous voice of the orator was heard 
 to pronounce, '* God crushes against the walls of the 
 tomb all these giants of earth ! " the widower Emperor 
 bent down his head and carried his hand to his eyes, and 
 the courtiers present all looked up to the orator, astounded 
 at his boldness. Twenty years before his death he was 
 stricken with blindness, but even after this misfortune his 
 sermons excited the admiration of those who had not 
 heard him in his better days. He died on December 3, 
 1858, in Sao Domingo. His body was brought from Sao 
 Domingo to Eio de Janerio in the imperial yacht, and 
 transported from the shore to the convent of Sao Antonio 
 in the coxai. carriages, his funeral being at the expense of 
 the Emperor. Monte- Alverne was also a poet ; much of 
 his sacred poetry is sung in the Protestant churches in the 
 empire, and consists of beautiful verses. 
 
 Another clerical orator, who was also a poet, is Padre 
 Antonio Pereira de Souza Caldas, bom in Brazil, educated 
 in Portugal, and receiving in Italy the finishing touches 
 of his education. He is noted for his eloquence, for his 
 original lyric poetry, but especially for his translation of 
 the Psalms of David in Portuguese verse. For instance, 
 the first psalm — 
 
 " Yenturoso o que nao vaga 
 Pela estrada criminosa 
 Da impiedade, c a voz dolosa 
 Do malvado que extravaga, 
 Com sorriso, nao affaga, 
 
BRx\ZILIAN LITERATUEE. 227 
 
 Nem do vicio comiptor 
 Na cadina pestilente 
 Se assenton com cego ardor ; 
 Antes posta sempre a mente 
 Traz na lei do Creador " — 
 
 of wMcIi there can be no better translation in English 
 than that of the English Bible. 
 
 Among the names of distinguished joumaUsts in Brazil 
 may be mentioned the following, together with the papers 
 for which they wrote : In the time of the Independence 
 there iigured as editors and writers to the " Eeverbero " 
 the following: Januario da Cunha Barboza, Francisco 
 Ledo, and Capitao Mor Justiniano Jose da Eocha. 
 
 In 1831, Evaristo da Yeiga, editor of the "Aurora 
 Fluminense," caused a great sensation. 
 
 Later on, about 1856, there appeared the " Correio 
 Mercantil," in which the principal writers were Francisco 
 Octaviano de Almeida Rosa, Yisconde do Rio Branco, and 
 Jose Martiniano de Alencar. Of these three, Octaviano 
 is still living and a senator. Later on appeared the " Re- 
 fonna," of which Tavares Bastos was editor. And 
 prominent among the joumahsts of the present time is 
 Quintino Bocayuva, editor of the " Paiz," who was also 
 editor of the " Globo " and the " Republica." 
 
 As historians, may be named Joaquin Manoel de 
 Macedo, already noticed ; Francisco Adolpho Yarnhagem, 
 known as Yiscount of Porto Seguro, who WTote a history 
 of Brazil and a defense of Amerigo Yespucci as the dis- 
 coverer of America, a work well known to students of the 
 voyages of the early navigators of the era of Columbus ; 
 and Innocencio F. da Silva, who wrote a "Diccionario 
 Bibliographico." 
 
228 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 Brazil has produced many poets, and some who are 
 worthily popular in their country. Of these, the one who 
 probably should be first mentioned, and who wrote at a 
 time when Brazilian literature was scarcely distinct from 
 that of the mother-country — Portugal — is Frei Jose de S. 
 Kita Dnrao, author of the epic poem " Caramuru." He 
 was born in the province of Minas-Geraes at a place called 
 Catta-preta, in the district of N". Senhora de IS'azareth do 
 Inf eccionado, about sixteen miles to the north of Mariana. 
 The date is uncertain, somewhere between 1718 and 1720. 
 He died in the College of Sao Agostinho, in Lisbon, Jan- 
 uary 24, 1784. He was a member of the order of Agus- 
 tinho, and doctor in theology by the University of Coim- 
 bra. He entered the order of Agustinho on October 12, 
 1738, and graduated in the year 175G. His education 
 began in Brazil under the Jesuits, who then had founded 
 good schools, and where Jose Basilio da Gama also was 
 instructed. It is not known who were his parents, nor at 
 what time he went to Europe. In 1758, shortly after he 
 graduated, he was in Leiria, where he preached a beauti- 
 ful sermon of thanksgiving, on account of the King, Dom 
 Jos6, having escaped from the shots fired at him on Sep- 
 tember 3d of the same year. He did not stay there long ; 
 leaving Poitugal, he traversed Spain and Italy, spending 
 about eighteen years on these travels. A Brazilian his- 
 torian says that the cause of his leaving Portugal was his 
 refuting certain letters of the Bishop of Leiria written 
 against the Jesuits when their expulsion was decreed in 
 Portugal. He was obliged to flee to Spain on this ac- 
 count. In Spain he was imprisoned on suspicion of being 
 a spy, when the war of the family pact broke out there ; 
 being afterward set free in 1763, he went to Italy. In 
 1778 he was again in Portugal, when he became lecturer 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 229 
 
 at the University of Coimbra. After his return to Port- 
 ugal he only lived about six years, in which he finished 
 his poem, which was published in 1781. Its story is the 
 discovery of Bahia, in the middle of the sixteenth century, 
 by Diogo Alvares Corria, whom the Indians named " Ca- 
 ramurti," from his use of fire-arms ; it comprehends in 
 several episodes the history of Brazil, the rites and tradi- 
 tions of its natives, and the pohtics of the colonies. The 
 argument is as follows : Diogo Alvares Corria suffered 
 shipwreck near Bahia. He was saved with his six com- 
 panions, who were devoured by the Indians, he alone 
 being spared, because thin and ill, the savages intending 
 to keep him until he should get better. They allowed 
 him, in the mean while, to withdraw from the wreck pow- 
 der, shot, and guns. Having killed a bird flying, in their 
 presence, the savages pronounced him the sun of thun- 
 der, and Caramuni— that is, dragon of the sea. Fighting 
 against the natives of the interior, he brought them 
 into subjection. The chiefs of Brazil offered him their 
 daughters as wives, but he chose Paraguagu, whom he 
 afterward took to France in a French ship, five other 
 Brazilian women following him swimming, until one was 
 drowned and the others returned. In France Paraguagti 
 was baptized as Catharine. Having returned with Para- 
 guaQti to Bahia, he was received by the Tupinambas, who 
 considered Paraguagu as the heiress of their chief. On 
 the voyage to Bahia the latter has a vision, in which is 
 revealed to her the future lot of Brazil. About this time 
 Thome de Sousa arrives with some ships and families to 
 people Bahia, whose colonization begins. Paraguagu, 
 or Catharine Alvares, renounces her rights in favor of 
 Dom Joao III, who ordered his governors to honor 
 Diogo Alvares for the services he had rendered, and 
 20 
 
BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 she was in fact the source of the noble house of Torre in 
 Bahia. 
 
 The passage most generally quoted as the best is the 
 episode of Moema, and of which the following is a trans- 
 lation : 
 
 " She loses the brilliancy of her eyes, faints, and shud- 
 ders, with pale, dying aspect ; her hands, already deprived 
 of strength, letting go of the rudder, she sinks to the bot- 
 tom of the foaming waves; but, again rising from the 
 depths of the angry sea, she utters with pain, ' O cruel 
 Diogo ! ' and was buried in the waters, to be seen no 
 more ! " 
 
 One of the best known of Brazilian poets is Antonio 
 Gongalves Dias, who was born August 10, 1823, at the 
 town of Caxias, Maranhao. His father, who was a Portu- 
 guese, on his return from Portugal, whence he had fled 
 on account of the war, put his boy into mercantile em- 
 ployment, but at the instance of some friends, who saw in 
 him an inclination for letters, he was placed under Ei- 
 cardo Joao Sabino, who taught him the rudiments of 
 Latin and French. Having acquired the necessary foun- 
 dation for higher studies, he set out with his father for Sao 
 Luiz, capital of the province, and thence to Portugal, on 
 account of his father's health. Having lost his father, 
 however, he returned to Maranhao. His step-mother hav- 
 ing afforded liim the means to continue his studies, he re- 
 turned to Portugal May 13, 1838, where he studied in the 
 University of Coimbra. On account of a civil war which 
 broke out in Maranhao, known by the name of " Bolai- 
 ada," his step -mother suffered losses, and suspended his 
 monthly allowance ; at this misfortune he intended to re- 
 turn to Brazil, and would have done so, but for the kind- 
 ness of his Brazilian college companions, who furnished 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 231 
 
 him tlie necessary means to continne. Gon§alves Dias, 
 speaking of this time, says : " Sad was my life in Coim- 
 bra ; it is a sad thing to live away from our native coun- 
 try, live in a stranger's house, and sit at a strange table as 
 a favor ! This table belonged to good and faithful friends, 
 that is true ! The bread was another's, it was the bread 
 of charity, it was the lot of the mendicant ! " Having 
 succeeded at last in taking his degree as Bachelor in Ju- 
 ridical Sciences, he returned to Caxias in 1845, and there 
 began the profession of advocate ; but soon went to Kio, 
 and in 1846 published his "Primeiros Cantos," which 
 gained him much honor. He became instnictor of Latin 
 at a lyceum in [DTictheroy. In 1847 he published his best 
 drama, entitled "Leonor de Mendonga," and in the fol- 
 lowing year the ^* Sextilhas de Frei Antao." He became 
 distinguished, and was appointed professor of Latin in 
 the College of Dom Pedro II. In 1851 the Imperial Gov- 
 ernment detailed him to study and report on the state of 
 public instruction in various northern provinces, and the 
 best means of bettering its condition. On his return from 
 the north (1852) he was appointed secretary in the Office 
 of Foreign Affairs, and the same year married Dona Olym- 
 pia da Costa. In 1855 he set out for Europe, employed by 
 the Government, in order to study the best methods and 
 the ones most applicable for Brazil in respect of public 
 instruction. Beginning with Portugal, where he visited 
 the cities of Lisbon, Oporto, Coimbra, and Evora, he trav- 
 eled successively through France, England, and Germany, 
 examining different establishments of education. In 1857 
 he printed his dictionary of the Tupy language, called 
 the general tongue of the native Indians of Brazil ; also 
 the first four cantos of his celebrated " Tymbiras." On 
 his retimi to Rio he was again sent out on a scientific 
 
232 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 commission to explore and report on the resources of Bra- 
 zil, and spent six months in the Amazon Yalley, when his 
 health broke down, and he returned to Rio. Deriving no 
 benefit from his stay in Rio, he embarked for Europe, 
 but still with no better result, until at last he resolved to 
 return to his native land, making a long sea-voyage, from 
 which he hoped to derive some benefit. lie embarked 
 September 14, 1864, on the ship Yille de Boulogne, bound 
 for Maranhao, but he never again arrived on land ; the 
 ship was wrecked, and it is supposed that the crew, seeing 
 him so ill, abandoned him, and left him to die on IS'ovem- 
 ber 3, 1864. His chief w^orks are the "Cantos," the 
 " Tymbiras," and " Y-Juca-Pirama " — two poems on abo- 
 riginal subjects, both published in Leipsic. The first of 
 the two is incomplete. Gongalves Dias is, in the opinion 
 of many, the best Brazihan lyric poet. The following 
 are the first and last verses of one of his most popular 
 poems : 
 
 " In my country there are palm-trees 
 Where sings the sabia ; 
 The birds which warble here 
 Are not like those afar. 
 
 " God forbid that I may die. 
 
 Before returning to my land ; 
 Before I enjoy those scenes 
 
 Which here I can not find ; 
 Without seeing again those palm-trees 
 
 Where sings the sabid I " 
 
 A beautiful epic poem of his is his " Tymbiras," of 
 which there are only four cantos, the rest being lost with 
 him in the shipwreck. The hero of the poem is the chief 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 233 
 
 of the Indians Tjmbiras, Itajuba ; the scenes are placed 
 in Maranhao, at the time of the colonization. In the four 
 cantos existing only the Indians are spoken of, the civil- 
 ized man taking no part in them. One of the notable 
 episodes is that of Coema ; 
 
 " ' Flower of beauty, light of love, Coema,' murmured 
 the singer, ' where wentest thou, so sweet and beautiful, 
 when the sun was rising ? Coema, what love thou hast 
 left in us ! Thou wast so meek, thy smile so soft, so se- 
 rene thine eyes ! Thine accents a beautiful singing, thy 
 voice sweet warbles, thy words honey ! If the break of 
 day would compare its enchantments with thine, it would 
 really try in vain ! ' " 
 
 Another poet of earlier date was Domingos Jose Gon- 
 galves Magalhaes, who was born at Eio de Janeiro, Au- 
 gust 13, 1811. His writings are much admired for their 
 simplicity and their elevated moral tone. His chief work 
 is the " Confederagao dos Tamoyos," a poem rich in in- 
 spirations, patriotism, and enthusiasm. He may be said 
 to be the founder of the national theatre, being the first 
 Brazilian to write a tragedy, and one whose subject con- 
 cerns his native country. This tragedy was "Antonio 
 Jose," or the " Poeta e a Inquisigao." His name is to 
 be seen among the founders of the Historical and Geo- 
 graphical Institute of Brazil, in which he published an 
 historical memoir of high merit. The scene of " Con- 
 federa§ao dos Tamoyos" lies at Rio de Janeiro, in the 
 first times of Brazilian colonization: Three Portuguese 
 attack an Indian girl and kiU her brother who comes to 
 her rescue, but at the same time they fall under the 
 blows of this dying chief. Kext the Tamoyos, to which 
 tribe the Indian belonged, determine to take vengeance 
 on the Portuguese. They hold a council of war, and then 
 
234 BRAZIL: ITS OOITBITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 march against the new inllage of Sao Yiceiite ; the battle 
 is described, then peace is made, marriages are celebrated, 
 Indians are converted, and so on. The poem is divided 
 into ten cantos and is in blank verse. I will quote a 
 passage where Aimbrie, the chief of the Tamoyos, comes 
 upon Pindobucii as he is burying his son Comorim, killed 
 by the three Portuguese, and asks him when he is going 
 to avenge his son, and, on being asked if he knew where 
 the enemies lived, he says : 
 
 "Where are they? thou inquirest. Knowest not 
 where are the ferocious Portuguese who rob us of our 
 Bons and women, and kill our parents, brothers, and 
 friends ? Thou knowest not where these ungrateful be- 
 ings are, who take possession of our lands and pei*secute 
 us, hunting us down and making us slaves ? . . ." 
 
 Another esteemed poet of Brazil is Casimiro Jose, 
 Marques de Abreu, bom at the village of Barra do Sao 
 Joao, province of Eio de Janeiro, January 4, 1837. His 
 father was Portuguese, his mother Brazilian. At nine 
 years of age he was sent to Freese, a school in iXova- 
 Friburgo. Before finishing his preparatory studies he 
 returned to Eio to his father's business office ; but show- 
 ing no inclination for business, he was sent to Lisbon, 
 November 13, 1853, and stayed in Portugal nearly four 
 years. There he published in Hterary papers some of his 
 verses which were much applauded, also a drama entitled 
 " Camoes c o Jdo." Family interests, together with persua- 
 sions and orders from his father, caused his return to Rio, 
 January 11, 1857. He died at his father's home in In- 
 dayassu, October IS, 1860. The Rio edition of his works 
 contains, in all, seventy lyric pieces of different metres, 
 and which in his preface he says are " flowers which the 
 wind will scatter to-morrow, only serving as the promises 
 
BRAZILIAN LITEPwATUEE. 235 
 
 of the fruits of autumn." The following is the last verse 
 of his song, '' My Country " : 
 
 " It is full of beauties, so full 
 My native country is. 
 Even a poet dreams not of them ; 
 Kor can a mortal sing them. 
 It is a land of love 
 Scattered over with flowers, 
 Where the breeze in its murmurs 
 Whispers, ' It has no rival' " 
 
 Antonio Castro Alves was bom March 14, 1847, at 
 the farm of Cabaceiras, near Curralinho, in the district 
 of Cachoeira, province of Bahia ; his father was Dr. A. 
 J. Alves, professor in the faculty of medicine of Bahia, 
 and his mother. Dona Clelia B. da Sa. Castro. In the 
 beginning of 1870 he collected his scattered verses and 
 published them under the title of " Espumas Eluctuantes " 
 (" Floating Foam "). It was not long before he fell a victim 
 to pulmonary consumption, wliich carried him to liis grave 
 July 6, 1871. He left many manuscripts which have been 
 published : " Gonzaga," a drama in four acts ; the " Ca- 
 choeira de Paulo- Affonso " ; a fragment of the poem " Os 
 Escravos," which is incomplete ; and others which are still 
 unpublished. His best work is doubtless the " Cachoeira 
 de Paulo- Affonso," composed of many short pieces of dif- 
 ferent metres, and of which the following is an extract : 
 
 " I sinned I . . . Great was my crime, but greater still 
 is my punishment. . . . Ah ! the bitterness of the nights 
 without shelter was not sufficient ; all that I suffered from 
 the whip and the torture which lacerated my flesh did 
 not suffice. More pains were necessary, still a greater 
 
236 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PKOSPEOTS. 
 
 sacrifice. . . . Son ! thou seest my torture. ... I am to 
 be separated from thee ! . . ." 
 
 A poet of considerable merit, but of whom no biog- 
 raphy is to be found, was Fagundes Yarella. He died a 
 few years ago, and is the author of " Auchieta," a poem 
 in blank verse ; the " Diario de Lazaro " ; " Yozes d' Ame- 
 rica," a collection of verses ; and " Cantos Meridionaes." 
 Among his writings should be mentioned with special 
 notice his " Cantico do Calvario," a poem in blank verse, 
 written on the occasion of the death of a son. 
 
 Among the poetical writers who are yet living are 
 Alberto de Oliveira, author of the " Meridionaes," a col- 
 lection of poems, of which the best are thought to be 
 "Labor das Lagrimas" and the "Leque"; Raymundo 
 Correa, author of the " Symphonias," and of which the best 
 are " Plena IlTudez," " Sanctas Esmolas," and " As Pom- 
 bas " ; Yalentim Magalhaes, author of a poem, " Colombo 
 e Nene," a work of some literary value ; Luiz Guimaraes, 
 Jr., author of the " Sonetos e Rimas," "Kocturnas," 
 " Curvas e Zigzags," etc. ; and, lastly, Machado de Assis, 
 a poet also, but known especially as a writer of short 
 stories. He has written several books of stories and 
 verses in a style very peculiar to himself. Of his books 
 of stories may be mentioned one entitled " Historias sem 
 Datas," and as one of the best stories, " Miss Dollar." 
 
 The periodical literature of Brazil comprises now only 
 about two reviews, the principal one of which is the quar- 
 terly review published by the Historical, Geographical, 
 and Ethnological Institute of Brazil — " Revista Trimen- 
 sal do Instituto Historico Geographico e Ethnographico 
 do Brazil," published at Rio, and of which the last number, 
 comprising parts one and two, 1884, is forty-seven. It is 
 a large, well-printed octavo volume of over eight hundred 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 237 
 
 pages, and is filled principally with historical docnments. 
 The " Law Review," also published at Rio, monthly, en- 
 titled " O Direito Revista Mensal de Legislagao, Doutrina 
 e Jurisprudencia," is filled principally with juridical de- 
 cisions and opinions. The latest number is over a year 
 behind. A literary review had an existence of about three 
 years, and ceased a few years ago. 
 
 * The daily newspaper press is fairly represented. In 
 Rio Janeiro the principal newspaper is the " Jomal do 
 Commercio," established in 1827, daily circulation now 
 twenty thousand, is printed on a modern French press, 
 on roll paper, at the rate of ten thousand an hour. It 
 goes to press from 3 to 4 a. m. Four thousand copies of 
 this paper leave Rio every morning for the province of 
 Sao Paulo. The "Gazeta de I^oticias," estabhshed in 
 1876, is printed on a similar press as the last named, and 
 goes to press from 2 to 3 a. m. The " Paiz," established 
 in 1884, goes to press at midnight. These probably have 
 each a smaller circulation than the "Jornal do Com- 
 mercio." There is one small evening paper, " Gazeta a 
 Tarde," its specialty being the cause of the abolition of 
 slavery. 
 
 The press enjoys the greatest liberty. Public meas- 
 ures and public men are discussed with entire freedom, 
 but without much personal abuse. The highest officers 
 of the Government are caricatured in illustrated papers 
 with as much latitude as in the United States. As com- 
 pared with English and American journals, the Brazilian 
 press would seem very unenterprising in respect to news. 
 But political and social questions are often treated in an 
 eloquent manner. The " Jornal " publishes in full all 
 the debates of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and 
 aU those of the Provincial Legislature and of the Muni- 
 
238 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 cipal Chamber, so that there are but few weeks in the 
 year that the reader is not first greeted every morning, 
 on taking np the great barn-door sheet, with a couple of 
 broadsides, more or less, of speeches. An important 
 source of income of the journal in question is the publi- 
 cation of anonymous communications on nearly any sub- 
 ject, public or personal, for pay. Anybody can bring his 
 views before the public in this way, by paying for the 
 pubHcation of his article. 
 
 As a rule, all the newspapers publish novels Vi^feuille- 
 ions at the bottom part by daily short chapters. The cir- 
 culation appears to be, in a very great degree, through 
 the newsboys. The Brazilian " Punch," or paper of hu- 
 mor, is an eight-paged illustrated periodical of quarto 
 size, entitled " Revista Illustrada," published at Rio, and 
 now in its ninth year of publication. Perhaps a good 
 sample number would be that issued about the time of 
 the crisis in the Dantas ministry, on account of the slav- 
 ery question. On the first page is a striking illustration 
 entitled " A Medical Conference." Brazil, personified 
 as an Indian maiden, lies sick, bolstered up in bed, and 
 covered with the bedclothes nearly to her bosom, which, 
 like her arms, is bare. On one side, near the head of the 
 couch, sits the Emperor in a deeply meditative mood, 
 his legs crossed, and his chin resting in his left hand. 
 On the opposite side of the couch is a group of Brazilian 
 statesmen, readily distinguishable by their portraits, in the 
 center of which is Senator Dantas, the prime minister, 
 holding in his right hand a bottle of medicine labeled 
 with his project of emancipation. On his right are rep- 
 resented Senators Affonso Celso and Christiano Ottoni, 
 and on his left Senators Sinimbti, Martinho Campos, Co- 
 tigipe, Paulino, and Joao Alfredo. The chief medical 
 
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE. 239 
 
 officer (Senator Dantas) : " We all agree that tlie patient 
 suffers from acute abolition. Well, I think that with this 
 remedy of mine she will soon recover. If my colleagues 
 of the Senate think otherwise, let them express their 
 opinions, and we will discuss what are the best means 
 of saving the country. If any one has a more effective 
 remedy, let him present it." Affonso Celso (aside) : " You 
 will not catch us ! That is our secret." Christiano Ot- 
 toni : " What they want is to take charge of the patient 
 without responsibility. What line doctors ! " " And what 
 will the nurse " (the Emperor) " of the patient say ? " 
 
 Another illustration represents the figure of a female 
 lying under a tree in the desert, with this text : " All who 
 have seen the ' Africana ' of Meyerbeer know how Selika 
 died. Poor thing ! " 
 
 This is followed by an illustration of an Indian female 
 lying under a big tree ; the carriage of a minister of state 
 passing near ; and below, this text : " Brazil, sleeping un- 
 der the shade of the mortifera mancenilha^ runs equally 
 great risk. Numerous governments passed indifferent dur- 
 ing long years." 
 
 The whole of the last page is devoted to the " Car- 
 riage of State conducted by the Conservatives." A figure 
 representing the Emperor sits bareheaded on the back 
 seat, reading a book; opposite, facing him, sits Brazil, 
 still personified as an Indian maiden. On the top is a 
 slave family. The driver's seat is occupied by the chief 
 of the Conservative party, Baron Cotigipe, whose team is 
 a big turtle and a crab ; the reins which he holds are fast- 
 ened to the turtle's mouth, and he is bending forward to 
 apply the lash. A prominent Conservative senator is rid- 
 ing the crab, which is turning off at right angles from 
 the turtle. Senator Teixeira is pushing at one of the 
 
24:0 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 wheels. A yoke of oxen are hitched behind, with heads 
 toward the carriage, to prevent it from going too fast ; 
 and, to retard the motion still more. Senator Junqueira is 
 represented as pulling back on the hind wheel ; while Sen- 
 ator Paulino, facing to the rear, appears to be holding 
 back strongly by means of the oxen's tails, the ends of 
 which he holds firmly over his shoulder. Senator Correia 
 is standing up behind the carriage, making a speech. 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 AGRICULTURE AND STOCK-EAISINa. 
 
 I Brazil is pre-eminently an agricultural country, yet 
 its agriculture differs from that of the United States and 
 Europe as much in its methods as in its products. The 
 surface of the land is so abruptly broken that it does not 
 generally admit of the use of the plow and. the more 
 modern implements, and yet there are important areas 
 where these implements could be used to advantage, and 
 there is some increase in their introduction. As a rule, 
 the hoe is the main implement for field-culture. As the 
 soil in Brazil, especially in the coffee regions, is a firm, 
 red clay, mixed with gravel, the hoe necessarily is about 
 twice as heavy and large as the field-hoe in common use 
 in the United States. It often takes the place of a grub- 
 hoe. I have seen a platoon of hands in one rank moving 
 over a field of low bushes, which they were leveling with 
 the hoe and apparently breaking the soil at the same time. 
 The cheapest ones, say those of iron, and weighing two 
 and a half pounds, range in price from three dollars and 
 eighty-nine cents per dozen upward. They are imported 
 in barrels of ten dozen in a barrel, principally from Eng- 
 land, and six hundred thousand hoes are imported and 
 disposed of at Rio annually. The upper half of the hoe 
 21 
 
242 BPwAZlL: ITS CONDITION" AND PEOSPEOTS. 
 
 is generally painted in green or some otlier fancy color, 
 and I Lave seen samples at coffee exhibitions that were 
 even gilded. Another implement in considerable use is a 
 sort of knife about as long and heavy as a cleaver, curved 
 at the end, fastened to a long wooden handle, and in 
 planting is used both to open the soil and cover the seed. 
 
 A Portuguese, who at the latter part of the last cent- 
 ury wrote on the agriculture of Brazil, represented that 
 the Indians in planting corn used a stick, the end of 
 which had been burned and sharp pointed, to open the 
 ground for the seed and to cover it. He shows that the 
 destruction of the timber in order to plant was the same 
 then as now, that the system of the white people was 
 scarcely better than that of the natives, and he eloquently 
 laments such waste of timber, as well as the lack on the 
 part of the settlers of the use of the plow. Probably less 
 than two thousand plows, and all imported, are sold at Eio 
 in the course of a year. A good breaking-plow retails at 
 from twenty to thirty dollars, and a common plow, such 
 as would be used with one yoke of oxen, at ten to twelve 
 dollars each. The latter sort of plow appears to have the 
 preference, as one yoke of oxen is the most convenient 
 team for its use. 'The Government discriminates in favor 
 of agricultural implements, and the transportation of 
 them on Government railroads is cheap. 
 
 Coffee is the leading crop, and, though gi^own princi- 
 pally in the three large provinces near Eio, is raised suc- 
 cessfully in every province except perhaps the two most 
 southerly ones. Its production is increasing very consid- 
 erably, especially in the province of Sao Paulo, in the 
 vicinity of new lines of railway and newly opened lines 
 of river navigation. Take the whole country together, 
 and the coffee-crop is destined to have a greatly increased 
 
AGRICULTURE AND STOCK-RAISING. 243 
 
 development. Sugar-cane, cotton, maize, tobacco, and up- 
 land rice are readily grown in every province. Wliile 
 many of the coffee-plantations are kept very clean and 
 have a beautiful appearance, both from their great extent 
 and the mingled colors of the soil and plant, yet ordi- 
 narily agriculture presents a shiftless appearance. The 
 smaller crops, like maize, are planted on patches from 
 which bushes or timber have been recently about half cut 
 and haK burned off, and the soil of which has never felt 
 the plow. The coffee tree or bush varies from eight to 
 tw^elve feet in height, according to age and richness of 
 soil, and is one of the most beautiful of productive plants. 
 Its stem is two to three inches in diameter, and of a drab 
 color. Its foliage is abundant, and of a rich dark-green 
 color, the leaves being enameled on the upper side, pos- 
 sessing a graceful, tapering form, about five inches in 
 length and two inches in width at the widest part. Its 
 abundant blossoms are of a delicate white color, and a 
 single one resembles in shape and size a separate lilac- 
 flower. 
 
 The berry grows on slender branches with scarcely 
 any more stem than that of an acorn, and, when ready 
 for gathering, has a brownish-red color. Picture to your- 
 self plump, fully ripe, and finely colored cranberries or 
 cherries strung upon long twigs amid the foliage I have 
 mentioned, and you mil have a fair idea of how a coffee- 
 tree looks when its fruit is ready to pick. At this time 
 the berry, on being held between the thumb and finger, is 
 firm to the touch. On cutting it open, the skin appears 
 tougher than the toughest grape-skin. A rather thin 
 coating of juicy, sweet, and not unpleasant pulp is found 
 to surround the two coffee-beans within, and which are 
 inclosed each in its separate husk or shell. As a single 
 
244: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 tree will sometimes have a biishel or two of such fruit, 
 one can imagine that thousands of them together will 
 present a handsome appearance ; all the more beautiful, 
 indeed, from the thought that their product constitutes 
 one of man's chief luxuries. 
 
 Coffee is principally grown by slave labor on large 
 plantations, situated on sides of high hills and even upon 
 mountains, often quite steep ; such land being preferred 
 because it is richer, and because, being elevated, it is safer 
 from frost. In recent years the total yield has reached 
 the immense quantity of about six million bags, or say 
 fully seven hundred million pounds each year, being 
 sufficient to supply each inhabitant of the United 
 States with twelve pounds ! The actual export of coffee 
 from Brazil to the United States has amounted in 
 the latest years to about four hundred million pounds 
 a year. 
 
 I have lately seen most luxuriant coffee-plantations on 
 purple clay soil of great depth, which, without manuring, 
 has constantly produced either sugar-cane or coffee for 
 forty years, and which seems inexhaustible. For land of 
 that quahty yet in an unimproved and wild condition, and 
 situated near a railroad, and upward of a hundred miles 
 from a seaport, seventy dollars an acre would be asked. 
 There are, however, wild tracts of similar coffee-land now 
 covered with timber, situated a hundred miles or more 
 from some of the present railway terminations in the 
 province of Sao Paulo, which could be bought at about 
 ten dollars an acre, but which, from the expense of trans- 
 portation, are not now available for cultivation. ',!N'ow 
 would probably be a good time to settle on them and 
 " grow up with the country," as, after the railroads reach 
 them, they will be very desirable for plantations, provided 
 
AGRICULTURE AND STOCK-RAISING. 245 
 
 always that the rates of transportation are not too ex- 
 cessive. 
 
 It does not pay to cultivate less than about twelve 
 thousand trees, which would require thirty-six acres of 
 land. A faithful man with a pair of mules and a plow 
 could keep such a plantation clean, and could besides 
 raise com, rice, and beans enough for his household and 
 animals. It is usual to raise these other crops between 
 the rows of coffee-trees till the latter are in bearing condi- 
 tion. The coffee-tree sometimes begins to yield at the 
 age of three years. It flowers in August and September 
 (a second flowering in November and December, and 
 sometimes a third one in January, also have some yield), 
 and developing slowly ripens in April and May, and be- 
 gins to come to the market in June. A crop year, there- 
 fore, dates from the 1st of July in each year and lasts 
 until June 30th of the next year. It is gathered by strip- 
 ping it by hand from the branches, and often with haste 
 and carelessness, taking the leaves with it. While some 
 gather it into baskets hung around their necks, others 
 simply let it fall upon the ground, a practice very differ- 
 ent from the system in Java, where the coffee-berries are 
 carefully picked one by one and deposited in a dish or 
 basket. There, under Dutch administration, one family 
 will cultivate five hundred trees, while in Brazil a single 
 hand in the province of Eio de Janeiro cultivates from 
 three to seven thousand trees. Besides, in Brazil a great 
 deal of coffee is picked before it is ripe. It is also in- 
 jured sometimes by being left too long a time on the 
 ground after it has been picked. 
 
 The average yield per year in the province of Rio de 
 Janeiro is three fourths of a pound per tree ; in the prov- 
 ince of Minas-Geraes a little more ; in the province of Sao 
 
246 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 Paulo a pound and a lialf per tree, wliile in the vicinity 
 of Campinas, a very fertile coffee - producing region in 
 the same province, the average yield is almost two pounds 
 per tree, or say fourteen and a half bags of one hundred 
 and thirty-two pounds each per one thousand trees. 
 
 The coffee-tree is very sensitive. The injuries it is 
 liable to are from frost, hail, excessive sunshine, which 
 shrivels the fruit when green and tender; depredations 
 by a small butterfly, which deposits its eggs on the leaves ; 
 but most of all an ant, which is half an inch in length, 
 and which undermines the tree. The larger plantations 
 annually expend a thousand dollars and upward, each, for 
 bisulphide of carbon to destroy these ants. Usually coffee 
 is hulled or thrashed — mechanically — after it is ripe and 
 dry. The machinery for cleaning coffee and putting it in 
 its most attractive condition for the market is expensive, 
 and on the large plantations, which are occasionally found 
 equipped with enterprise, sometimes costs from fifteen 
 to thirty thousand dollars ; and the machinery necessary 
 for cleaning the crop of a small farm could hardly be pro- 
 cured for less than three thousand dollars. Many immi- 
 grant coffee-farmers are consequently obliged to send their 
 coffee to market in a crude condition, and to submit to a 
 heavy deduction in price on that account. In other lo- 
 calities they can " go to mill " with their crude coffee, and 
 get it hulled at about half a cent per pound. 
 
 A great improvement in the process of hulHng coffee 
 has been introduced through the machinery invented and 
 manufactured by Mr. William Yan Yleck Lidgerwood, of 
 Morristown, "N. J., who has devoted many years to the 
 w^ork, and achieved great success. His machinery is ac- 
 knowledged in Brazil to have caused an important saving, 
 not only of labor but of life. The title of commandor 
 
AGRICULTURE AND STOCK-RAISING. 247 
 
 dor^ conferred upon him bj the Brazilian Government, 
 was certainly a very slight recognition of the great service 
 he has rendered to the industry of the country. From 
 the plantation coffee is taken in coarse and often patched 
 sacks, which bear the planter's name, and are afterward re- 
 turned to him, on mules or in squeaking wooden- wheeled 
 ox-carts to the nearest railway-station, whence it is carried 
 by railway at very high rates of transportation to the sea- 
 port. Arrived at the market, the first quantities say in 
 June or July, it has before shipment to go through sev- 
 eral hands, each taking a liberal profit : First, into the 
 hands of the planter's agent, generally the creditor of the 
 planter, and whom he charges from six to twelve per 
 cent interest for loans. The agent sells the coffee to the 
 " dealer," and charges the planter three per cent of the 
 price for his services. The dealer manipulates the coffee, 
 mixing different sorts together, and puts it into bags. 
 He sells to the exporter through a broker, who receives 
 fifty reis (at present about two cents) from the dealer, 
 and a like amount from the exporter, on each bag. The 
 broker's charge has by law been reduced to one fifth per 
 cent of the value of the coffee, but as yet the regulation 
 is not comphed with. Besides these several charges, there 
 are heavy expenses for cartage. After the coffee arrives 
 at Kio, it is conveyed from the railway-station to the 
 agent's store ; afterward to the dealer's store, and thence 
 to the docks or place of shipment, being transported 
 each time through narrow streets by mule-power, in some 
 cases by tramway, and handled by costly labor. In all 
 the various cartages from the time it leaves the plantation 
 there is considerable wastage. 
 
 Owing to the large production, and the medium qual- 
 ity of the coffee, its price during the past two or three years 
 
248 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 has been unusually low, varying from six to twelve cents 
 per pound. It liad not been so cheap before since the year 
 1857. It gradually rose after that year to be worth sev- 
 enteen cents a pound for "good first" in 1864, then de- 
 clined, and remained for several years at about eleven 
 cents per pound, after which it rose to seventeen cents in 
 1871-72, and to twenty-three cents in 1873-74 — a period 
 when the crop was light. 
 
 A firm in 'New York, which had received from Kio 
 some coffee which had been artificially colored, sent back 
 word to the exporter : " Don't paint any more coffee ; we 
 can paint better here." When the time comes that coffee 
 shall be cultivated by intelligent labor, it will be twice as 
 good as it now is. Thus, we all have an interest in the 
 progress and improvement of Brazilian industry. 
 
 Indian corn, or maize, is grown successfully in all parts 
 of the country, and forms one of the principal crops. 
 None, however, appears to be exported ; on the contrary, 
 on account of the expense of bringing it from the interior, 
 the principal seaports have been compelled to import some 
 of their supply from abroad. In recent years the impor- 
 tation from the River Plate to Rio has averaged about 
 one hundred and fifteen thousand sacks per year, at say 
 two dollars per sack. 
 
 The Brazilian maize is generally the yellow sort, of 
 medium-sized kernel, and is produced the most extensively 
 in the provinces of Minas-Geraes and Sao Paulo, both 
 adjoining the province of Rio de Janeiro. It is planted 
 by hand in the months of September and October, and is 
 usually hoed twice. A common way of doing on new 
 lands is to first cut the underbrush, burn it, and thereby 
 kill the timber, and afterward plant the ground with com, 
 the yield being about forty bushels to the acre. The 
 
AGRICULTURE AND STOOK-RAISINCf. 249 
 
 next, or a second season afterward, a new piece of timber 
 may be treated in the same way. Naturally there is some 
 outcry against such a devastating system, but it avails lit- 
 tle. However, a few farmers are beginning to manure 
 the soil. A farm with good . running water, and fair 
 soil, may be surely remunerative in raising corn and 
 hogs. 
 
 The richest sugar-producing district of Brazil lies on 
 the eastern border of the province of Pernambuco, where 
 it has been under cultivation two hundred and fifty years. 
 It is linked in history with hard-fought wars between the 
 Portuguese settlers — who were finally conquerors of the 
 country — and the natives, the French, and the Dutch, and 
 still shows some traces of a quarter of a century of Dutch 
 government, and especially of the administration of that 
 able statesman. Prince Maurice of ISTassau. The Dutch 
 occupied an important part of Brazil, including Pernam- 
 buco, thirty-seven years, from 1624 tQ 1661, and then, 
 through the influence of England and France, were made 
 to yield it up to Portugal. It would have been better for 
 the rest of Brazil, probably, if so thrifty a nationality had 
 remained as a near neighbor. 
 
 The cultivation of cane by the American colony in 
 the province of Sao Paulo, three hundred miles southwest 
 of Kio, is in this manner: new land is broken by the 
 plow ; joints of cane are laid lengthwise in the furrow, 
 either in January, February, or March, and covered. It 
 requires thirteen months for the crop to mature. A sec- 
 ond crop will spring up and mature from the root nearly 
 as good as the first, and sometimes a third crop. Planted 
 in January, it is generally a foot or two out of the ground 
 in May. A field of cane should be kept free from weeds, 
 and needs to be hoed or worked with the cultivator four 
 
250 BPwAZIL: ITS OOI^BITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 times. It is usually cut in May, June, and July. Where 
 the plow is used, farmers cultivate six or seven acres to the 
 hand, and subsistence crops — com, beans, etc. — enough to 
 sustain the farm. Mules are used in plowing, and oxen 
 invariably with carts for transportation. Labor, and very 
 unreliable, costs forty cents per day for about ten hours' 
 work, by one hand, or about ten dollars a month, food in- 
 cluded. Much of the cane is used for making spirits,, and 
 the necessary outfit with machinery for profitably cultivat- 
 ing fifty acres of cane continuously will cost about twelve 
 thousand dollars. Some of the accidents the cane-crop is 
 liable to are, frost when it is tender, and fire when it is 
 ripe. Medium land, with some light timber, in the vicin- 
 ity of the American colony, can be bought at three dollars 
 an acre. There are plantations in the far interior which 
 have come down intact through several generations, and 
 which, although embracing an area of fifty or more square 
 miles, produce only meager surplus products. A little 
 maize, sugar, and rum will be about all there will be to 
 sell. Such of the cane- juice as can not be conveniently 
 made into sugar will be put into a vat, and, after ferment- 
 ing, will be distilled into rum ; and this frequently forms 
 the most remunerative part of the crop. Often as any 
 way it will be carried to market, thirty miles or more, in 
 email dug-out kegs, slung over the backs of mules. On 
 these plantations the plow has never yet been seen. 
 
 What are called the central sugar-mills have small iron 
 railways extending five or six miles in different directions 
 over the cane-growing land, and they pay two dollars and 
 a half to three dollars per ton of cane delivered on the 
 cars. The industry is remunerative. There are some 
 splendid sugar estates in the vicinity of the city of Campos, 
 province of Kio de Janeiro. Brazil's export of sugar 
 
AGRICULTURE AND STOCK-RAISING. 251 
 
 averages about five hundred million pounds a year, of tlie 
 value of fourteen million dollars. 
 
 The poetry of hay-making under the Southern Cross 
 will have to wait till some future age, perhaps till Nature in 
 her throes has elevated the Amazon plains. In a country 
 where there is grazing the year round, hay can not be ex- 
 pected to figure largely as a crop. Still, there is a demand 
 for it in the cities, and the supply called alfalfa comes 
 from the Eiver Plate. American sailing-vessels some- 
 times bring cargoes of it in bales from that region to Eio, 
 where it is worth thirty dollars and upward a ton ; but its 
 fiber is coarse and it is inferior to good timothy. Some 
 forty thousand bales of hay are annually imported at 
 Eio from the Eiver Plate, and occasionally a few bales 
 come from Lisbon. The kinds of grass which flourish 
 naturally in Brazil are the creeping ginger-grass, the most 
 common for cattle, called in Portuguese capim gengihre 
 Tasteiro^ and the botanical name of which is Pasjpalium 
 jpastoTTYi j and the honey-grass, called capim melado, 
 and the botanical name of which is Melnis glutinosa. 
 The latter springs up spontaneously after land has been 
 cleared of timber. It is quite fragrant, a little sticky 
 when handled, and good in fattening cattle, but rather 
 weakening for working animals. When fully grown, say 
 in June, it is nearly two feet high, and has a reddish top 
 like the American red-top grass ; patches and sides of hills 
 and mountains covered with it in June have a red appear- 
 ance. There is also a garden grass used for lawns and 
 borders, which has a wide but tender blade. 
 
 Cotton is another leading crop of Brazil, and may be 
 grown in every province. The annual export amounts to 
 some thirty million pounds, of the value of two million 
 dollars. The cotton-growing districts have fewer marks 
 
252 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 of wealth than are found in the sugar districts. In grow- 
 ing cotton, in the province of Sao Paulo, for example, it 
 is usual to begin in July or August to clear the land and 
 burn the brush ; then, after a rain, to plow — if in a locality 
 where the plow is used — or break the land with the hoe. 
 In September or October manure is sometimes scattered 
 in furrows four or live feet apart ; afterward the furrow 
 is reopened by the plow and the seeds are dropped in it 
 by hand and covered very lightly with the plow or harrow. 
 The cotton comes up in about a week, and two or three 
 weeks afterward is plowed and hoed, and thence on is 
 plowed and hoed every two or three weeks until the latter 
 part of January, in which month it is generally in blos- 
 som. The picking commences about March, and the 
 whole field is picked over once in fifteen or twenty days, 
 until the crop is wholly gathered, which may be in June 
 or July. It is common to plant from ten to twelve 
 acres to the hand, in addition to enough small crops for 
 the home subsistence. At picking-time the working 
 force is frequently doubled, and the price of labor is 
 twelve to fifteen cents for picking thirty-three pounds. 
 The cotton is put up in bales of one hundred and thirty- 
 two pounds, and the average yield is two and a half bales 
 per acre. The gross return per acre is about thirty-two 
 dollars. The cotton-plant is liable to damages from ants 
 and caterpillars. The latter are killed with Paris-green, 
 which, however, itself injures the plant very much. At- 
 tacks by the ants have to be watched and guarded against 
 from the time the plant is up till it is fully grown. The 
 common way of destroying them is by pouring bisul- 
 phide of carbon into their nests. Cotton is sometimes cut 
 and the old root left to sprout and bear another crop, but 
 the practice is not followed by the best farmers, as in- 
 
AGEIOULTURE AND STOOK-RAISINa. 253 
 
 creased labor is required for cultivation, and it does not 
 in any case yield more than an inferior crop. 
 
 An important substitute for tlie potato, especially 
 among people of African descent, is tlie mandioca, a vege- 
 table indigenous to the country, and found cultivated by 
 the natives on the arrival of the first Europeans. Like 
 the potato, it grows beneath the soil, and is shaped some- 
 what like a long sweet-potato, though more on the root 
 order, and has a skin darker and thicker. The stalk is 
 taller and stiffer than that of the common potato, and a 
 field of it has a bluish-green color. Of the two sorts in 
 use, one is cooked like the potato, but has a firmer and 
 more nutty consistency and flavor. The other sort has a 
 poisonous quality in its green state, but after a peculiar 
 process of fermentation is made into a coarse meal, the 
 farinha of Brazil, which is eaten commonly by labor- 
 ers in its raw state, mixed with a fatty gravy, and by peo- 
 ple in general after a brief cooking in butter. A dish of 
 dry farinha is on every Brazilian table, and is eaten 
 habitually mixed with stewed black beans. Some quan- 
 tities of mandioca-meal have also been exported to Europe 
 to be manufactured into tapioca. The value of the export 
 amounts to some three hundred thousand dollars a year. 
 About twenty million pounds of the meal are annually 
 received at the port of Rio. 
 
 Rice is cultivated all over the country, but principally 
 as an upland crop. It is habitually used cooked in a little 
 fat and with small bits of tomato, l^ot enough is raised 
 for home consumption. Eive million pounds of rice of 
 domestic growth are annually received at Rio. Beans, 
 and especially black beans, which form the common sub- 
 sistence, are often grown as a separate crop, and are also 
 frequently planted in the corn-hills at the last hoeing, and 
 22 
 
254 BRAZIL:* ITS CONDITION" AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 matTire in three montlis. Twenty-five million pounds of 
 beans of domestic growtli are received at Eio in the course 
 of a year. 
 
 Another of Brazil's important crops is tobacco, which 
 is grown throughout the empire, though the principal 
 tobacco-producing province is Bahia. Comparing the 
 minute description given by Antonil at the beginning of 
 the eighteenth century with the processes employed on 
 the great majority of the tobacco-plantations to-day, it 
 will be seen that little advance has been made. The an- 
 nual export is fifty million pounds, of the value of from 
 three to four million dollars. The export tax on tobacco 
 in Bahia, national and provincial together, amounts to 
 eighteen per cent. 
 
 The organizations for the promotion of agriculture 
 are scarcely worth notice. There is no European coun- 
 try, except Turkey, so behindhand in such matters. A 
 thin agricultural monthly magazine is published at Eio, 
 but it does not as yet impart much information on the 
 subject of agriculture. 
 
 The average wages of a free working-man at agricult- 
 ural work, and in contracts for five months, are a milreis 
 — thirty-six cents — a day, with board and lodging. At 
 such wages he is expected to do all the work of cultivat- 
 ing three thousand coffee-trees, and of gathering and tak- 
 ing care of the crop ; or, what is equivalent, to cultivate 
 three and a half acres of cane, yielding from sixteen hun- 
 dred to six thousand four hundred pounds of sugar, worth 
 six dollars per hundred pounds. He would not be able 
 to cut all of the cane grown on three and a half acres, as 
 it has to be cut in a short time, but he would do his part 
 of the cutting. Besides, he would, in cultivating other 
 products, like maize, beans, and vegetables, and in tending 
 
AGRICULTURE AND STOCK-RAISING. 255 
 
 Btock, raise the provisions necessary for the subsistence of 
 himself and family. 
 
 The means of diversion and recreation among this 
 class are limited. Perhaps one free agricultural working- 
 man in every ten— say in the province of Sao Paulo, which 
 is one of the most advanced — can read ; but among wom- 
 en the number that can read is less. On Sundays and 
 holidays the men visit the neighboring village or town, 
 where sometimes there is a horse-race. Once in a w^hile 
 an ordinary circus comes round, which they attend. In a 
 community of small farmers, when on a holiday a num- 
 ber arc assembled socially, pitching quoits is not an uncom- 
 mon amusement. On such occasions, the women present, 
 young and old, will sit looking on, smoking tobacco in 
 pipes, a habit which is very common among women in the 
 rural districts. Fishing with the rod is a common diver- 
 sion of both sexes. At weddings, baptisms, and chris- 
 tenings, when a large party of relatives and friends are 
 assembled, there is dancing on the earth floor of the 
 dwelling, when for music some of the men play a monot- 
 onous strain on the banjo, the violin also being some- 
 times used, and the women accompanying on the Castanet 
 and tambourine. Thrashing " bees " of both sexes are 
 frequent, when the people tread out the beans and rice 
 with their feet. In some localities these gatherings afford 
 almost the only opportunity which the young w^omen 
 have to display their good dresses, of which they some- 
 times bring a trunlrful, and thus in the course of the 
 dance, through the night, appear in different gowns. 
 
 In these communities the subsistence consists of man- 
 dioca-meal, stewed black beans, chickens, which are usu- 
 ally very abundant, pork, rice, sweet-potatoes, and yams. 
 Coffee, which is freshly roasted every two or three days, is 
 
256 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 served frequently during the day, and always, among rich 
 and poor, when a visitor comes in. It is served in small 
 cups, without milk, and is sweetened with home-made 
 sugar. Water is always kept ready to boil, in order to 
 prepare coffee at short notice. Women, as well as men, 
 occasionally take a glass of the rum of the country (which 
 smells much better than it tastes), but the former scarcely 
 ever, and the latter seldom, drink to great excess. Women 
 go to confession once a year. As bearing on this usage, I 
 may state that a perfectly authentic case has been related 
 to me of flagrant breach of confidence on the part of a 
 priest, though probably unintentional. In many of the 
 rural communities women seem to do more work than the 
 men. Besides labor in the house, they carry meals, often 
 a great distance, to the men in the fields, and come home 
 lugging wood. JS'ot unfrequently, in the more remote 
 regions, men beat their wives, and the happiest couples 
 in such cases are those who are not legally married, and 
 who live together but a short time. The walls and roofs 
 of the dwellings of these people are often in an unfinished 
 state ; but " when it rains, the man can't do the work ; 
 when it don't rain, the work is unnecessary." 
 
 Stock-raising is one of the most interesting pursuits in 
 Brazil, and is largely carried on in the south border prov- 
 ince of Rio G-rande do Sul, which is estimated to contain 
 ten million head of cattle. The American vice-consul 
 there, Mr. William A. Preller, states that the industry is 
 almost wholly in the hands of the natives. It is very 
 difficult for strangers to acquire suitable lands, they being 
 transmitted to heirs and frequently allotted as marriage 
 portions. The owner of a good piece of herding-land 
 will make almost any sacrifice to purchase any adjoining 
 lot that may be for sale, rather than let it go into strange 
 
AGRIOULTUKE AND STOCK-RAISING. 257 
 
 hands ; and ready casli is commonly scarce with holders 
 of leao-ues of breeding-land and hundreds of cattle. 
 
 The estanceiero^ as the larger cattle-raiser is called, 
 " little acquainted with the luxuries of town-life, lives 
 almost in primitive simplicity, and with an abundance of 
 meat, yerba-mate tea, and mandioca-flour, for himseK, 
 family, and servants ; a good stock of plate and jewelry 
 in his house, good horses, with rich trappings for himself, 
 and an occasional game of cards with his neighbors, he 
 leads a lazy: aniL_easy__life, suitable to the temperament of 
 the genuine Brazilian." 
 
 The value of land varies in proportion to the quality 
 of the pasture, water-supply, and situation, say from ten 
 to thirty thousand dollars for a tract of three thousand 
 bra^as square, which would be a tract over four miles 
 square, or over ten thousand acres. Stock cattle, mostly 
 cows and yearUngs, with a few bulls, sell at from five 
 to six dollars, one with the other, but, for butchery 
 consumption, twelve to thirteen dollars is the current 
 price for good selection. It is in part from the hides of 
 these cattle that the Americans get their leather. The 
 sale is often made on the raising-ground, but not infre- 
 quently the cattle are sent in a herd of from three to 
 five hundred head for public sale at Pelotas, the center 
 of the saladeros^ and where the slaughter amounts to 
 two hundred and sixty thousand head a year. The breed 
 is principally the long-horned cattle originally brought 
 from Spain and Portugal, and of large size. Some of the 
 cows, which are large and have long horns, yield a good 
 quantity of milk. One of these cows, of the breed called 
 Caragua, native of the province of Parana, of which I 
 had a photograph taken at Piracicaba, measured four 
 feet five inches in height, eight feet two inches length 
 
258 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 of body, and four feet seven incites between tips of 
 horns. Age, nine years. 
 
 Mr. Preller states that the means of transportation 
 are very inferior, though gradually improving, as several 
 bridges have been constructed over the rivers, which, 
 from streamlets easily waded in the summer, become, 
 during the winter months, or after heavy rains, most 
 violent torrents, and quite impracticable for the passage 
 of cattle or wagons, causing often a delay of many days. 
 The roads, he says, have no claim whatever to the name, 
 and are merely the tracks made by the ox-carts and hoofs 
 of passing cattle driven in to the saladeros for slaughter. 
 If the transport, which remains to be seen, can be made 
 by xailway, the cattle will then be brought to market in 
 fewer hours than days now actually necessary; and in 
 good condition, instead of worn and diminished in num- 
 ber through casualties on the road, caused by drought, in- 
 sufficient nourishment, and passage of flooded rivers, to 
 say nothing of the tribe of drivers and horses indispen- 
 sable for the safe driving. 
 
 In regard to fruit-culture in Brazil, I w^ould state that 
 neither olives, figs, nor lemons are grown for commercial 
 purposes. Figs are grown, and are occasionally seen fresh 
 in the market. The lemons are small, and have a green 
 skin. Grape-culture appears as yet to be in its infancy, 
 though German and other colonists are giving increased 
 attention to it. Grapes are successfully grown in the in- 
 terior at an elevation of two thousand feet, as well as on 
 the warmer lowland of the coast. The best results are 
 obtained on sloping ground with gravelly soil. At Kio, 
 Isabella grapes of domestic growth retail at twenty to 
 forty cents a pound. Oranges grow in all parts of the 
 empire, but it is only in the vicinity of Eio and Bahia 
 
AGRICULTURE AND STOCK-RAISING. 259 
 
 that really good ones are produced. Large quantities are 
 consumed in the country, and a few million are exported 
 in bulk to the neighboring countries, Uruguay and the 
 Argentine Republic. 
 
 As Pemambuco is distinguished for its good pine- 
 apples, so is Bahia — about midway between that port 
 and Rio — distinguished for its large, sweet, and delicious 
 oranges, the favorite variety being the Umbigo, which is 
 without seeds. It begins to ripen about May and lasts till 
 September. I succeeded in bringing some of these oranges 
 in a good condition from Bahia to the United States. 
 Sweet and excellent oranges are also produced exten- 
 sively in the vicinity of Rio, though there is a tendency 
 to crowd them on the market before they are fully ripe. 
 The old Brazilians say that oranges are not fit to eat till 
 the month of August. The more common kind is the 
 Siletta, which when ripe has a sweet and delicate flavor 
 not much inferior to the finest Florida oranges. It also 
 has the size and form of a good Florida orange. "Wlien 
 ripe the sldn has a tinge of green mixed with yellow. 
 These Silettas, when they first appear in the market, say 
 in the month of April, are retailed at eight cents each, 
 while during the month of June or July they can be had 
 at a cent each. This variety is the orange of commerce, 
 and of which, as I have said, large quantities are exported 
 in bulk to the River Plate countries. The price paid for 
 them at the orchard in June, say at Yilla Kova, an easy 
 day's carriage from Rio, partly by water, is two dollars 
 per thousand. 
 
 Another variety, and which is much used for the 
 table, is the Tangerina ; it is smaller than the Siletta, has 
 an orange-yellow skin that breaks easily in peeling, and 
 an aromatic odor ; it contains many seeds, and has some- 
 
260 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 what of a strawberry flavor and color. It ripens at the 
 same time as the Siletta. Another good variety is the 
 Natal, which is particularly valuable for its ripening 
 about the time of Christmas. 
 
 There is not much information of value to communi- 
 cate in respect of cultivation. There is none of that en- 
 thusiasm in orange-growing in Brazil that there is in 
 Florida. One sees orange-trees in almost every garden, 
 but many of them bear only natural and worthless fruit. 
 Generally orange-orchards Avhich yield fruit for the mar- 
 ket are situated- on low and somewhat sandy land, the 
 selection being influenced by the facilities of water trans- 
 portation. The young trees are planted in the months of 
 April and May, though sometimes they are planted in 
 March ; also in February, if the latter month be rainy. 
 In the following August the trees are budded, provided, 
 as is usually the case, they have got a good start. The 
 trees are planted about fifteen feet apart ; begin to bear 
 in five or six years, yielding twenty to thirty oranges 
 each, and then continue to increase for ten years after, 
 when they are in full bearing and produce from two to 
 three hundred oranges per tree. They continue fruitful 
 thirty years or more, according to cultivation. In the 
 most favorable circumstances a tree will produce one thou- 
 sand oranges in a year. Trees fully grown are pruned a 
 little twice a year. 
 
 The oranges are gathered by knocking them from the 
 limbs with a pole, so that a piece of the twig two or three 
 inches in length adheres to them, and are allowed to lie 
 on the ground a few hours to dry before being picked 
 up. One man will knock off and gather about three thou- 
 sand oranges per day, at wages of one milreis per day, and 
 his meals. It costs about sixty to eighty dollars a year for 
 
AGRICULTURE AiTD STOCK-RAISING. 261 
 
 the labor to cultivate and take care of one thousand trees. 
 Different crops are sometimes raised between the trees 
 when they are young. Oranges are liable to attack and 
 injury by a large black ant, which eats the leaves, and 
 which is destroyed by pouring bisulphide of carbon into 
 the ants' nest in the ground ; also by a black bee, about 
 the size of a common fly, and which is destroyed by burn- 
 ing its nest. Brazilian oranges will stand a voyage of 
 about twenty days. They are exported to some extent 
 from the northern ports of Brazil to the United States. 
 
 Kio buys many good apples and pears from the Kiver 
 Plate countries. For some years a large ship-load of 
 Baldwin apples has arrived at Rio from Boston, either 
 in December or January, which have generally been re- 
 tailed at eight cents apiece. 
 
 Of small fruits there are scarcely any in the Rio mar- 
 ket. Strawberries could be cultivated, but they are sold 
 as yet only by the saucerful. There are neither black- 
 berries, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, nor cur- 
 rants. However, a small blackberry and a species of 
 raspberry are found growing wild on the highlands 
 about Rio, and doubtless they could be cultivated. 
 
CHAPTEK XVI. 
 
 THE AMAZON VALLEY. 
 
 Beazil possesses, in the Amazon, the greatest river 
 system in the world. Marked improvements have been 
 made in the last twenty years in the means of travel up 
 and down its waters. The point of starting for up river 
 is the city of Pard, situated on the Pard Eiver, and which 
 is generally regarded as one of the outlets of the Amazon. 
 I visited that city on the American steamer Advance, in 
 July, 1885. It looks low from the water, yet has a fair 
 elevation, and many of its streets are well paved and have 
 a modem appearance. The passengers, ladies as well as 
 men, aU laid in a stock of " Panama '' hats, which there 
 can be bought for about fifty cents each. In going up 
 from the ocean the Para River, after getting within a 
 f6w miles of the city, resembles the Missouri in its 
 broadest part, both in the light color of the water and the 
 low, wooded banks. 
 
 The Amazon Steam Navigation Company receives a 
 subsidy from the Brazilian Government of two hundred 
 thousand dollars a year, and runs screw and other steamers 
 regularly from Pard to distant ports on the upper Amazon 
 and its principal tributaries. The traveler or merchant 
 can in about ten days from the time he leaves the United 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 263 
 
 States reacli Para, and in fifteen to twenty days more 
 may find himself almost at the foot of the Andes, with 
 no more discomfort than is experienced in a steamboat 
 trip on the Missouri. Good steamers leave Pard the Ist, 
 10th, and 20th of each month for Manaos on the Amazon, 
 at the mouth of the river Negro, nine hundred and twen- 
 ty-seven miles from Para, stopping at about nine places, 
 and making the trip in eight days ; first-class fare, board 
 included, one hundred milreis, or say forty dollars. There 
 is a good deal of difference in the steamers. Probably on 
 the most of them passengers will sleep at night in their 
 own hammocks, swung over the deck in a miscellaneous 
 crowd, where pigs scamper over the deck in the capacity 
 of scavengers. On the other hand, there are steamers 
 running as far up as Mandos, like the Mandos, of the Bra- 
 zilian Northern ISTavigation Company, which are as fine 
 as any ocean-steamer. 
 
 A steamer leaves Mandos the 28th of each month for 
 Iqutos in Peru ; distance, eleven hundred and fifty-two 
 miles, and fare fifty dollars. To Tabatinga, on the bound- 
 ary of Peru, the fare is thirty-five dollars. A steamer 
 leaves Para for San Antonio, at the head of navigation on 
 the Madeira Kiver, the Tth of every month; distance, 
 seventeen hundred and twenty-three miles ; fare, eighty 
 dollars. A steamer leaves Pard for up the Purus, another 
 of the remarkable navigable streams of Brazil, the lYth of 
 every month. Distance to Anajas, the end of the route, 
 twenty-three hundred and eighty-seven miles. The fare 
 to Hyutanahan is eighty-six dollars, and the distance nine- 
 teen hundred and ninety-seven miles. For the nver Ne- 
 gro a steamer leaves Pard the 10th of every month ; fare 
 to Santa Isabel, a distance of thirteen hundred and fifty 
 miles, eighty-five dollars. In engaging transportation for 
 
264 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 a long trip a passenger would do well to obtain, if pos- 
 sible, a statement in writing of the kind of accommoda- 
 tions and subsistence that are to be furnished, and then 
 hold the company to their contract. The living ought to 
 be good, and to comprise fresh beef, mutton, poultry, and 
 fish, of which there are an abundance along the river. 
 The tendency, however, of many steamers is, after get- 
 ting the money of the passenger, to feed him on a miser- 
 able diet of canned and preserved food. 
 
 The officers on these steamers are Brazilians and the 
 crews Indians. The latter, however, are not only very 
 docile, but are expert navigators. It is a noteworthy fact 
 that a considerable part of the fuel consumed by the 
 steamers is coal brought from England, the inhabitants 
 along the Amazon being so absorbed in the production of 
 rubber, especially when it is fetching a high price, that 
 enough labor can not be had to furnish the steamers with 
 wood. Americans and Europeans proposing a journey 
 up the Amazon, should, of course, come with as little 
 baggage as practicable. A gentleman would do well to 
 be provided Avith two summer suits of wool and a thicker 
 suit adapted for autumn or cold weather, as a day of 
 windy and cold weather may occasionally be experienced. 
 Boots and shoes with thick or cork soles are desirable ; 
 also some clothing suitable for wet weather ; and, lastly, 
 a hammock, in case it is intended to pass a night ashore 
 up the river. The wet season is from January to May ; 
 and, of course, there is occasionally rain in the rest of the 
 year. The best time for a journey on the Amazon is in 
 the dry season, say June, July, August, September, and 
 October. 
 
 In going from Eio de Janeiro to Para, passage can be 
 taken on the well-managed steamers of the Northern 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 265 
 
 Brazil Navigation Company, which leave three times a 
 month, calling at seven ports, and make the trip in four- 
 teen days, the distance being twenty-one hundred miles ; 
 fare, ninety dollars. Also, the new American steamers 
 call at Pard on their return voyage from Rio, and at three 
 other ports between Rio and Para. 
 
 The rising city of Para is the gateway of the Amazon 
 trade. From the ocean you go up, as I have said, a bay 
 and river to that city, and afterward come round into the 
 Amazon proper. The place has taken a fresh start in 
 recent years, and looks forward, as well it may, to become 
 a large and splendid city. 
 
 A well-informed American now residing and engaged 
 in business in the Amazon Yalley, and who has traveled 
 through it a good deal, has just furnished me some fresh 
 information in respect to people and things there. It is 
 impossible, he says, to give the average width of country 
 in the Amazon Yalley that is overflowed during the high- 
 water season. The land bordering all of the rivers flow- 
 ing north into the Amazon is overflowed during the high- 
 water season, so much so that work in the rubber districts 
 is entirely suspended, and the houses are elevated from 
 three to six feet above the ground. The rivers flowing 
 south into the Amazon, such as the Rio Negro, Japura, 
 etc., are principally bordered by high land which is not 
 subject to overflow. The land most suitable for agricult- 
 ure is between the mouth of the Rio Negro and Macapa, 
 a town situated near the mouth of the Amazon. It is 
 there generally high, the soil fertile, and easily accessible, 
 as steamers pass nearly every day. The provincial gov- 
 ernments are doing all possible to encourage immigration ; 
 consequently, land can be bought at a low price by mak- 
 ing a petition to the Government. The only real protit- 
 23 
 
266 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 able agricultural pursuit is tlie raising of cattle. A bul- 
 lock sells at one hundred and ten milreis, saj forty-four 
 dollars. Sugar-cane, rice, and tobacco grow finely, but in 
 1885 there was very little profit in these articles. A new 
 settler would require a capital of at least two thousand 
 dollars to begin with, to clear the land, build his house, 
 buy his stock and outfit. At present, however, there is 
 no immigration of agricultural settlers. The drawbacks 
 a foreign immigrant would meet are inability to speak 
 the language, not being acclimated and consequent lia- 
 bility to fevers. A person coming direct from a northern 
 country can not subject himself to out-door work for the 
 first year on account of the heat. There are no means of 
 communication or of transportation otherwise than by 
 water. The interior of the country back from the navi- 
 gable streams is unknown. The Government sends mis- 
 sionaries among the Indians for the purpose of civiHzing 
 them. The prevailing and best opinion of the half-breeds 
 is very poor; they are a lazy and troublesome class of 
 people, and much inferior to the original stock. 
 
 The every-day food of the common class of people is 
 farinha, rice, dried beef, fish, and game. The part which 
 women take in supporting the family is simply to attend 
 to the domestic affairs. With regard to the physical and 
 moral improvement of the people all that one can say is 
 that there is room for improvement. Morals are at a 
 very low ebb. Tlie usual means of amusement and recre- 
 ation are fishing and shooting. Gambling is very com- 
 mon ; yet some progress is being made in the intellectual 
 and economical condition of the people. There is no 
 retrograde movement, and in fact the contrary. The low- 
 er class are superstitious respecting their religion. The 
 principal occupations are gathering rubber, nuts, piassava, 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 267 
 
 and fishing. As a general rule, a laborer spends all that 
 he earns. The habit of saving seems to be entirely un- 
 known to the lower class. A very small proportion of 
 the people, as a rule, pay their debts — about a quarter 
 part the past year. 
 
 The testimony of my infonnant is that travel on the 
 steamers between Para and Manaos is comparatively com- 
 fortable, although the table is not luxurious. Sailing-ves- 
 sels which pass between those towns are towed. 
 
 As to the timber products of the forest, cedar is the 
 only wood exported, and this industry does not pay very 
 well, owing to the high rates of freight to the United 
 States and Europe, and the labor being also high — ^four to 
 five mih-eis per day. As to serpents and wild beasts, my 
 informant states that, having traveled some thousand 
 miles on the Amazon and its tributaries, he has come to 
 the conclusion that the greater part of the stories about 
 such animals has been " manufactured to make books in- 
 teresting," 
 
 " On the whole," he winds up by saying, " I should 
 not advise any of our Americans to immigrate here, as I 
 consider that we have much better openings at home for 
 our people. There are a number of Americans on the 
 Amazon engaged in agriculture who bitterly regret hav- 
 ing come to this country, and who are only struggling to 
 make a little money to allow them to return. It is a very 
 serious matter to encourage immigration of northern peo- 
 ple to come to a climate like this, as there is great danger 
 of sickness." 
 
 Mr. Alfred R. Wallace, an able and unwearied English 
 naturalist, and author of " Travels on the Amazon and 
 Eio 'Negro" arrived at Para in a sailing-vessel from Liver- 
 pool, May 26, 184:8. The city then contained a popula- 
 
268 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 tion of fifteen thousand, was surrounded by dense forest 
 and overtopped by palms and plantains. He hired an 
 old negro man named Isidora for a cook and servant-of- 
 all-work, and regularly commenced liousekeeping, learn- 
 ing Portuguese, and investigating the natural produc- 
 tions of the country. In what he saw he was on the 
 whole disappointed. The weather was not so hot, the 
 people were not so peculiar, the vegetation was not so 
 strildng as the glowing pictures he had been brooding 
 over ; and he sensibly remarks : " Travelers who crowd 
 into one description all the wonders aud novelties which 
 it took them weeks and months to observe, must produce 
 an erroneous impression on the reader, and cause him 
 when he visits the spot to experience much disappoint- 
 ment." Bits of gardens and waste ground intervening 
 between the houses, fenced in with rotten palings, and 
 filled with rank weeds and a few banana-plants, looked to 
 him strange and unsightly. His general impression of 
 the city of Para was not very favorable. The pirarucu 
 fish, dried, with farinha, formed the chief subsistence of 
 the native population, and in the interior was often the 
 only thing to be obtained. It looked much like a dry 
 cowhide grated up into fibers and pressed into cakes, was 
 boiled or slightly roasted, and, mixed with vinegar, oil, 
 pepper, onions, and farinha, made a savory mess for a per- 
 son with a strong stomach. The palmeto, another article 
 of subsistence, was procured from the Assai palm, which 
 was common, growing in the forest sometimes to a height 
 of eighty feet, slender, with smooth stem, and very beau- 
 tiful. 
 
 Only a few miles above Para ia the mouth of the Tocan- 
 tins, one of the mighty rivers of the Amazon basin, and 
 running due north. Mr. Wallace, in the latter part of Au- 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 269 
 
 gust, went up that river for a trip of a few weeks. At 
 Baiao, in September, he writes : " All round the village for 
 some miles on the dry liighland are coffee-plantations and 
 second-growth forest. Soil, red clav." A tree common in 
 Brazil he sees there — a large leguminous tree covered with 
 clusters of pink and white flowers and large, pale-green, 
 flat pods. "The depths of the virgin forest," he says, 
 "are solemn and grand, but there is nothing in this 
 country to surpass the beauty of our river and woodland 
 scenery. ... In the second-growth woods, in the Campos, 
 and in many other places, there is nothing to tell any one 
 but a naturalist that he is out of Europe. ... At the 
 Falls the central channel is about a quarter of a mile wide, 
 bounded by rocks, with a deep and very powerful stream 
 rushing down in an unbroken sweep of dark-green waters, 
 and producing eddies and whirlpools. . . . On both sides 
 of the river, as far as the sight extends, is an undulating 
 country, from four to five hundred feet high, covered 
 with forests, the commencement of the elevated plains of 
 Brazil." The sounds at night on the Tocantins were: 
 " One sort of frogs with usual croak, another like a dis- 
 tant railway-train approaching, another like the sound of a 
 blacksmith hammering on an anvil ; also terrific noise of 
 the howling, the shrill grating whistle of cicadas and lo- 
 custs, and peculiar notes of aquatic birds." 
 
 Summing up in regard to this little side excursion, he 
 says : " In the districts we passed through, cotton, coffee, 
 and rice might be grown in any quantity and of the finest 
 quality. The navigation is always safe and uninterrupted, 
 and the whole country so intersected by igarepes and 
 rivers that every estate has water-carriage for its produc- 
 tions. ... A man can work as well here as in the hot 
 months in England, and, if he will only work three hours 
 
270 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 in tlie momirig and three in the evening, he will produce 
 more of the necessaries and comforts of life than by 
 twelve hours' daily labor at home. We returned safely to 
 Para, September 30th, just five weeks from the day we 
 left. We had not had a wet day, yet found that, as usual, 
 there had been at Para a shower and a thunder-storm 
 every second or third day." 
 
 He went out into the alluvial country a short journey 
 from Para, and witnessed, in one of the numerous lakes 
 abounding in fish, a hunt for alligators, which were 
 captured as a business, for their oil. " Hung our ham- 
 mock for the night in a little, dirty, ruined hut, from 
 which a short time before an onga (jaguar) had carried 
 away a large bundle of fish." As many as thirty alliga- 
 tors of large size were captured in a day. " In the even- 
 ing, after the alhgator-hunt, the negroes sang several 
 hymns as a thanksgiving for having escaped their jaws." 
 
 Another trip was made up the Guama River, which 
 comes in from the southeast, near Para, and its tributary, 
 the Capim. A short distance up the former the banks 
 are rather undulating, with many pretty estates. " We 
 went pleasantly along" (in a canoe on the Capim) "for 
 two or three days, the country being prettily diversified 
 with cane-fields, rice-grounds, and houses built by the 
 early Portuguese settlers, with elegant little chapels at- 
 tached, and cottages for the negroes and Indians, all much 
 superior in appearance aud taste to anything erected now." 
 
 Finally, Mr. Wallace embarked in a canoe for a voyage 
 of five hundred miles up the Amazon to Santarem, and 
 he writes : "In about twelve days after leaving Para we 
 were in the Amazon itself. ... We now felt the influ- 
 ence of the easteriy wind, which during the whole of the 
 summer montlis blows pretty steadily up the Amazon, and 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 271 
 
 enables vessels to make way against its powerful current. 
 Sometimes we had thunder-storms, with violent squalls. 
 . . . The most striking features of the Amazon are its 
 vast expanse of smooth water, generally from three to six 
 miles wide ; its pale yellowish-olive color ; the great beds 
 of aquatic grass which line its shores, large masses of 
 which are often detached and form floating islands ; the 
 quantity of fruits and leaves and great trunks of trees 
 which it carries down ; and its level banks clad with lofty, 
 unbroken forest. In places the white stems and leaves of 
 the cecropias give a peculiar aspect, and in others the 
 straight, dark tninl^ of lofty forest-trees form a living 
 wall along the water's edge. ^Numerous flocks of parrots 
 and the great red and yellow macaws fly across every 
 morning and evening, uttering their hoarse cries. Herons 
 and ducks are numerous, but most characteristic are the 
 gulls and terns. All night long their cries are heard over 
 the sand-banks. ... On the north bank of the Amazon, 
 for about two hundred miles, are ranges of low hills, 
 which, as well as the country between them, are partly 
 bare and partly covered with brush and thickets. They 
 vary from three hundred to one thousand feet high, and 
 extend inland. . . . After passing them there are no more 
 hills visible from the river for more than two thousand 
 miles, till we reach the lowest range of the Andes." 
 
 After a voyage of twenty-eight days he reached San- 
 tarem, at the mouth of the Tapajos, another big river 
 flowing from the south, and whose blue, transparent 
 waters formed a most pleasing contrast to the turbid 
 stream of the Amazon. Santarem is pleasantly situated 
 on a slope, with a fine sandy beach, and its trade consisted 
 principally in Brazil-nuts, salsaparila, farinha, and salt 
 fish. The village of Mbnte-Alegre, which he had passed 
 
272 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 on tlic nortli shore, lie describes as situated on a hill about 
 a quarter of a mile from tlie water's edge. There were 
 no neat inclosures or gardens, nothing but weeds and rub- 
 bish on every side. The trade was in cacao, fish, cala- 
 bashes, and cattle. The cacao was grown on the low 
 lands along the banks of the river, and all planted on 
 cleared ground fully exposed to the sun, and did not seem 
 to thrive so well as when in the shade of the partly 
 cleared forest, as was the plan on the Tocantins. " When 
 an Indian can get a few thousand cacao-trees planted, he 
 passes an idle, quiet, contented life ; all he has to do is to 
 weed under them two or three times a year and to gather 
 and dry the seeds." 
 
 In a little excursion into the country back of the last- 
 named village he found the surface an undulating, sandy 
 plain, in some places thickly covered with bushes, and in 
 others with large, scattered trees. At a distance of ten or 
 twelve miles were several fine, rocky mountains. He 
 visited and ascended one of these, and on the other side 
 saw a wide, undulating plain, covered with scattered trees 
 and shrubs, with a yellow, sandy soil and a brownish vege- 
 tation. " Beyond this was seen stretching out to the hori- 
 zon a succession of low, conical, and oblong hills, stud- 
 ding the distant plain in every direction. Kot a house 
 was to be seen, and the picture was one little calculated to 
 impress the mind with a favorable idea of the fertility of 
 the country or the beauty of tropical scenery." Eeturn- 
 ing to Monte- Alegre on a small stream filled with grass and 
 weeds, he saw many alligators. " Every year some lives 
 are lost by incautiousness." Eetuming to Santarem to 
 collect insects, he speaks of the "grateful and refreshing" 
 water-melons. " The constant hard exercise, pure air, and 
 good Hving kept us in the most perfect health, and I have 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 273 
 
 never altogether enjoyed myself so much." He observed 
 that the tide in the Amazon rose to considerably above 
 Santarem, but that it never flowed — merely rose and fell. 
 
 The last of December, 1849, he arrived at Mandos, on 
 the east bank of the Eio IS^egro, twelve miles above its 
 junction with the Amazon, a city then containing about 
 five thousand inhabitants, mostly of mixed blood. Mandos 
 is situated thirty feet above high water, and its streets are 
 regularly laid out. The river there is a mile wide. Con- 
 tinuing his voyage up the Amazon, he says : " The low- 
 lands, called ' Gapo,' varying in width from one to ten or 
 twenty miles on each side of the river above Santarem to 
 the confines of Peru, are in great part flooded six months 
 of the year." 
 
 On the 31st of August, 1850, Mr. Wallace started 
 from Mandos for an extensive voyage up the Rio Ne- 
 gro and some of its tributaries, occupying nearly two 
 years, in the course of which he visited several of the wild 
 tribes of Indians. After getting a few miles above Ma- 
 ndos, the river is so wide for several hundred miles that 
 both banks can not be seen at once ; they are probably 
 from ten to twenty-five miles apart, and some of the isl- 
 ands are of great size. He found all the villages desolate 
 and half deserted. " Called at the house of a man who 
 owed Mr. L some money and who paid him in tur- 
 tles, eight or nine of which we embarked. . . . Yery fine 
 weather, but every afternoon, or at least four or five times 
 a week, we had a storm, with violent gusts of wind, and 
 often thunder and rain. . . . After September 30th, gra- 
 nitic rocks, and river became more picturesque." 
 
 After making some hunting excursions in the thick 
 forest, accompanied by naked Indians, he on January 27, 
 1851, left Guia, continuing the voyage up the Rio Negro, 
 
274: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 and on February 1st reached the Serra Cocoi, which marks 
 the boundary between Brazil and Venezuela — granite rock, 
 precipitous, and nearly a thousand feet high. " During 
 colonial times," he says, " the Indians learned how to con- 
 struct vessels for coast and inland trade, and have not 
 forgotten the art. By eye and hand alone they form the 
 framework and fit on the planks of fine little vessels of a 
 hundred tons or more with no other tools than axe, adze, 
 and hammer. ... A great part of the population of the 
 upper Rio Kegro is engaged in gathering piassaba broom- 
 fiber for exportation. Men, women, and children go in 
 large parties into the forest to obtain it. The whole stem 
 of a curious palm, twenty to thirty feet high, growing in 
 moist places, is covered with a thick coating of this fiber, 
 hanging down like coarse hair. It is found on two of the 
 southern and three of the northern tributaries. . . . In- 
 dians will take two loads a day, ten miles each way, at a 
 sort of run — ^the loads suspended from a pole between 
 them." He speaks of the graceful forms of Indians ; is 
 deserted by his own Indians. 
 
 Mr. Wallace says it is a " vulgar error, copied and re- 
 peated from one book to another, that in the tropics the 
 luxuriance of the vegetation overpowers the eiforts of 
 man. . . . The * primeval' forest can be converted into 
 rich pasture and meadow-land, cultivated field and garden, 
 with half the labor and in less than half the time required 
 at home. ... In the whole Amazon no such thing as 
 neatness has ever been tried." He recommends the Eio 
 Negro country for settlement and cultivation. 
 
 On FebiTiary 16, 1852, he starts on another ascent of 
 the Uaupes, with seven of the Uaupe Indians with him, 
 some of whom break their promise. Speaking of the 
 superstition of the Indians, he says women are killed who 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 275 
 
 even accidentally beliold a certain musical instrument. At 
 the Uarucapuri village lie sees handsome men of the Co- 
 beu nation. It was with difficulty he succeeded in buying 
 two or three baskets of farinha. On March 12th he 
 reached Mucura, his destination, having passed fifty rap- 
 ids and falls. The Indians were naked. " One woman 
 appeared as ashamed with a petticoat on as civilized people 
 would be if they took theirs off." He was in a part of 
 the country never before visited by a European ; but he 
 was disappointed in his expectation of finding rare and 
 handsome birds, and starts on March 28th on his return 
 trip. He names a couple of white men who with a suffi- 
 cient force had engaged in the amiable business of attack- 
 ing the Carapanas tribe with the hope of getting a lot of 
 women, boys, and children to take ''as presents" to Ma- 
 ndos. On April 4th he records that they " arrived with 
 a fleet of canoes and upward of twenty prisoners, all but 
 one women and children. Seven men and one woman 
 had been kiUed ; the rest of the men escaped ; but only 
 one of the attacking party was killed." Of course, it did 
 not often happen that a witness like Mr. Wallace was 
 present to report such innocent little expeditions ! 
 
 Parties meeting on the river, having lost their date, 
 ask, "What day is it with you?" Dwellers along the 
 banks of the river ISTegro, wishing to do a little shopping 
 a few hundred miles below, frequently ask passers to 
 bring them, on their return, what they require. 
 
 Mr. Wallace reached Mandos on May ITth. He had 
 obtained in the Amazon Yalley five hundred species of 
 birds, and thought a thousand might be got. He found 
 two hundred and five species of fish in the Eio IS^egro, 
 and thought there were many more. The dry season, he 
 states, is from June to December, and the wet season 
 
276 BRAZn.: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 from Januaiy to May. On the upper Amazon he once 
 experienced a hail-storm. On getting back to Pard he 
 found that it had much improved. He declares that its 
 climate is exceptional, being one of the most agreeable in 
 the world. But there were some drawbacks, a '^ univer- 
 sal and insecure system of credit " ; and the three great 
 vices prevalent were " drinking, gambling, and lying." 
 
 With reference to the province of Pard he says : 
 " There is perhaps no country in the world so capable of 
 yielding a large return for agricultural labor, and yet so 
 little cultivated ; none where the earth will produce such 
 a variety of valuable productions, and where they are so 
 totally neglected ; none where the facilities for internal 
 communication are so great, or where it is more difficult 
 or tedious to get from place to place ; none which so much 
 possesses all the natural requisites for an immense trade 
 Vrith all the world, and where commerce is so limited and 
 insignificant. . . . l!^ature presents but a monotonous 
 scene. In the interior of the country there is not a road 
 or path out of the towns along which a person can walk 
 with comfort or pleasure ; all is dense forest, or more im- 
 passable clearings. Here are no flower-bespangled mead- 
 ows, no turfy glades, or smooth shady walks to tempt the 
 lover of Nature ; here are no dry, graveled roads, no 
 field-side paths, ... no long summer evenings to wander 
 in at leisure; nor long winter nights with the blazing 
 hearth." He expresses the opinion that the large extent 
 of flat land in the Amazon Yalley would continue to be 
 flooded till raised by renewed earthquakes. 
 
 • Fourteen years pass, and a new actor appears on the 
 scene. Prof. Agassiz made his indefatigable and most 
 valuable scientific journey on the Amazon just after the 
 close of the American civil war. He spent from August, 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 277 
 
 1865, to March, 18G6 — a period of fully six months — in 
 most active research in the Amazon Yallej, assisted by 
 Mrs. Agassiz and by several talented young Americans of 
 scientific education. One part of the result of this tour 
 was a fine volume, entitled " A Journey in Brazil," by 
 Prof, and Mrs. Agassiz. These enlightened travelers had, 
 of course, good opportunities to see both ISTature and soci- 
 ety, and I shall venture to make some extracts from their 
 narrative. The Brazilian Company of Amazon Eiver 
 Steamers generously placed at the disposition of Prof. 
 Agassiz and party, for a month, the use of one of their 
 best steamers for the trip from Pard to Manaos, which is 
 usually made in five days. On August 20th, the first day 
 of the trip, Mrs. Agassiz thus describes the accommoda- 
 tions : 
 
 " Thus far the hardships of this South American jour- 
 ney seem to retreat at our approach. It is impossible to 
 travel with greater comfort than surrounds us here. My 
 own suite of rooms consists of a good-sized state-room, 
 with dressing-room and bath-room adjoining ; and, if the 
 others are not quite so luxuriously accommodated, they 
 have space enough. The state-rooms are hardly used at 
 night, for a hammock on deck is far more comfortable in 
 this climate. Our deck, roofed in for its whole length, 
 and with an awning to let down on the sides, if needed, 
 looks like a comfortable, unceremonious sitting-room. A 
 table down the middle serving: as a dinner-table, but which 
 is at this moment strewed with maps, journals, books, and 
 papers of all sorts ; two or three lounging-chairs, a num- 
 ber of camp-stools, and half a dozen hammocks, in one or 
 two of which some of the party are taking their ease — 
 furnish our drawing-room, and supply all that is needed 
 for work and rest." 
 
 24 
 
278 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 From Manaos they continued the trip up the An>azon 
 on another steamer, which was furnished by the Brazilian 
 Government. Of course, their accommodations were bet- 
 ter than ordinary travelers would receive. On September 
 12th Mrs. Agassiz writes : " Il^othing can be more com- 
 fortable than the travelmg on these Amazonian boats. 
 They are clean and well kept, with good-sized state-rooms, 
 which most persons use, however, only as dressing-rooms, 
 since it is always more agreeable to sleep on the open 
 deck in one's hammock. The table is very well kept, the 
 fare good, though not varied. Bread is the greatest defi- 
 ciency, but hard biscuit makes a tolerable substitute. Our 
 life is after this fashion : We turn out of our hammocks 
 at dawn, go down-stairs to make our toilets, and have a 
 cup of hot coffee below. By this thue the decks are gen- 
 erally washed and dried, the hammocks removed, and we 
 can go above again. Between then and the breakfast- 
 hour, at half -past ten o'clock, I generally study Portu- 
 guese, though my lessons are somewhat interrupted by 
 watching the shore and the trees — a constant temptation 
 when we ai'e coasting along near the banks. At half -past 
 ten or eleven o'clock breakfast is served, and after that 
 the glare of the sun becomes trying, and I usually descend 
 to the cabin, where we make up our journals and write 
 during the middle of the day. ... At three o'clock I 
 consider that the working-hours are over, and then I take 
 a book and sit in my lounging-chair on deck, and watch 
 the scenery, and the birds and the turtles, and the alliga- 
 tors if there are any, and am lazy in a general way. At 
 five o'clock dinner is served (the meals being always on 
 deck), and after that begins the delight of the day. At 
 that hour it grows deliciously cool, the sunsets are always 
 beautiful, and we go to the forward deck and sit there till 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 279 
 
 nine o'clock in the evening. Then comes tea, and then 
 to our hammocks ; I sleep in mine most profoundly till 
 morning." 
 
 " September 17th. — These upper stations on the Ama- 
 zons are haunted by swarms of mosquitoes at night, and 
 dm-ing the day by a little biting fly called jpiurriy no less 
 annoying. 
 
 " September ISth (the day before reaching Tabatinga). 
 — The scenery is by no means so interesting as that of the 
 lower Amazons. The banks are ragged and broken, the 
 forest lower, less luxuriant, and the palm-growths very 
 fitful. . . . The steamer is often now between the shores 
 of the river itself instead of coasting along by the many 
 lovely islands which make the voyage between Para and 
 Manaos so diversified. . . . Then the element of human 
 life and habitations is utterly wanting ; one often travels 
 for a day without meeting even so mnch as a hut. But, 
 if men are not to be seen, animals are certainly plenty ; 
 as our steamer puffs along, great flocks of birds rise up 
 from the shore, turtles pop their black noses out of the 
 water, alligators show themselves occasionally, and some- 
 times a troop of brown capivari scnttles np the bank, 
 taking refuge in the trees at our approach." 
 
 With reference to the state of society. Prof. Agassiz 
 says : " Two things are strongly impressed on the mind of 
 the traveler in the upper Amazons : the necessity, in the 
 first place, of a larger population ; and, secondly, of a bet- 
 ter class of whites, before any fair beginning can be made 
 in developing the resources of the country. . . . Kot 
 only is the white population too small for the task before 
 it, but it is no less poor in quality than meager in num- 
 bers. It presents the singular spectacle of a higher race 
 receiving the impress of a lower one, of an educated class 
 
280 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PEOSPEOTS. 
 
 adopting the habits and sinking to the level of the savage. 
 In the towns of the upper Amazons the people who pass 
 for the white gentry of the land, while they profit by the 
 ignorance of the Indian to cheat and abuse him, neverthe- 
 less adopt his social habits, sit on the ground, and eat with 
 their fingers as he does. . . . The white man engages an 
 Indian to work for him at a certain rate, at the same time 
 promising to provide him with clothes and food until such 
 time as he shall have earned enough to take care of him- 
 self. This outfit, in fact, costs the employer Httle ; but, 
 when the Indian comes to receive his wages, he is told 
 that he is already in debt to his master for what has been 
 advanced to him : instead of having a right to demand 
 money, he owes work. The Indians allow themselves to 
 be deceived in this way to an extraordinary extent, and 
 remain bound to the service of a man for a lifetime, be- 
 lieving themselves under the burden of a debt, while they 
 are in fact creditors." He thinks that neither Americans 
 nor Englishmen would degrade themselves to the social 
 level of the Indians as the Portuguese do. 
 
 The following is very true to-day: "The Brazilians 
 are very happy in their after-dinner speeches, expressing 
 themselves with great facility, either from a natural gift, 
 or because speech-making is an art in which they have had 
 much practice. The habit of drinking healtlis and giving 
 toasts is very general throughout the country, and the 
 most informal dinner among intimate friends does not 
 conclude without some mutual greetings of this kind." 
 
 At Mandos Prof, and Mrs. Agassiz also attended a 
 ball given at the residence of the president of the prov- 
 ince, and, there being no carriages in the place, different 
 parties of invited guests were to be seen groping through 
 the streets at the appointed time, lighted with lanterns. 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 281 
 
 " The dresses," says Mrs. Agassiz, " were of every variety, 
 from silks and satins to stuff-gowns, and tlie complexions 
 of all tints, from the genuine negro through paler shades 
 of Indian and negro to white. There is absolutely no dis- 
 tinction of color here ; a black lady (always supposing her 
 to be free) is treated with as much consideration and 
 meets with as much attention as a white one. It is, how- 
 ever, rare to see a person in society who can be called a 
 genuine negro ; but there are many mulattoes and mame- 
 lucos — that is, persons having black or Indian blood. 
 There is little ease in Brazilian society, even in the larger 
 cities ; still less in the smaller ones, where to guard against 
 mistakes the conventionalities of town-life are exagger- 
 ated. The Brazilians, indeed, though so kind and hospi- 
 table, are formal, fond of etiquette and social solemnities. 
 On their arrival, all the senhoras (married ladies) were 
 placed in stiff rows around the walls of the dancing-room. 
 Occasionally an unfortunate cavalier would stray in and 
 address a few words to this formal array of feminine 
 charms; but it was not until the close of the evening, 
 when dancing had broken up the company into groups, 
 that the scene became really gay. At intervals trays 
 of doces (confectionery and cake) and tea were handed 
 round, and at twelve there was a more solid repast, at 
 which all the ladies were seated, their partners standing 
 behind their chairs and waiting upon them. Then began 
 the toasts and healths, which were given and received 
 with great enthusiasm." 
 
 Again, Mrs. Agassiz writes : " Whenever we have been 
 present at public festivities in Brazil — and our observa- 
 tion is confirmed by other foreigners — we have been 
 struck with the want of gayety, the absence of merriment. 
 There is a kind of lack-luster character in their fetes, so 
 
282 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 far as any demonstration of enjoyment is concerned. Per- 
 haps it is owing to their enervating climate, but the Bra- 
 ziHans do not seem to work or play with a will. They 
 have not the activity which, while it makes life a restless 
 fever with our people, gives it interest also ; neither have 
 they the love of amusement of the Continental Euro- 
 peans." At the time of their visit Brazil was engaged in 
 the- long and costly war with Paraguay, which possibly 
 might have been one cause of the sober manners of the 
 people. 
 
 There was not at that time, and probably there is not 
 now, a decent hotel throughout the whole length of the 
 Amazon, and any one who thinks of stopping at the towns 
 had better provide himseK with such letters as will secure 
 accommodation in private houses. " One is quite inde- 
 pendent in the matter of bedding ; nobody travels without 
 his own hammock, and the net, which in many places is a 
 necessity on account of the mosquitoes. Beds and bed- 
 ding are almost unknown, and there are none so poor as 
 not to possess two or three of the strong and neat twine 
 hammocks made by the Indians themselves from the fibers 
 of the palm." The refreshment of a hammock is the first 
 act of hospitality in the upper Amazon offered one arriv- 
 ing from any distance. " One does not see much of the 
 world between one o'clock and four in this climate. These 
 arc the hottest hours of the day, and there are few who 
 can resist the temptation of the cool, swinging hammock, 
 slung in some shady spot within doors or without. . . . 
 Smoking is almost universal among the common women 
 here, yet it is not confined to the lower classes. Many a 
 senhora (at least in this part of Brazil, for we must dis- 
 tinguish between the civilization on the banks of the 
 Amazon and in the interior and that in the cities along 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 283 
 
 the coast) enjoys her pipe, while she lounges in her ham- 
 mock through the heat of the day." 
 
 It would be a mistake to suppose that this valley is 
 abundantly supplied with subsistence. " In the midst of 
 a country which should be overflowing with agricultural 
 products," Mrs. Agassiz states, " neither milk, nor butter, 
 nor cheese, nor vegetables, are to be had. You constantly 
 hear people complaining of the difficulty of procuring 
 even the commonest articles of domestic consumption, 
 when, in fact, they ought to be produced by every land- 
 owner." In the upper Amazon "a well-stocked turtle- 
 tank is to be found in almost every yard, as the people 
 depend largely upon turtles for their food." 
 
 Mrs. Agassiz gives some uncommonly hne sketches of • 
 aboriginal life, though the Indians, on account of the forced 
 recruiting that was going on, were not seen at their best. 
 The Indian women said " the forest was very sad " then, 
 because all their men had been taken as recruits, or were 
 seeking safety in the woods. As a general thing, the 
 houses of the Indians were found more tidy than those of 
 the whites. " However untidy they may be in other re- 
 spects, they always bathe once or twice a day, if not oft- 
 ener, and wash their clothes frequently. We have never 
 yet entered an Indian house where there was any disagree- 
 able odor, unless it might be the peculiar smell from the 
 preparation of the mandioca in the working-room outside, 
 which has, at a certain stage of the process, a slightly sour 
 smell. . . . Although the Indians are said to be a lazy 
 people, and are unquestionably fitful and irregular in their 
 habits of work, in almost all these houses some character- 
 istic occupation was going on. In two or three the women 
 were making hammocks." 
 
 While even the partly civilized Indians of the Amazon 
 
284 BKAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PKOSPEOTS. 
 
 Yalley would seem to live from hand to mouth, it must 
 be remembered that as gatherers of rubber in the forest 
 wilds they supply a large part of one of Brazil's leading 
 commercial products. 
 
 In October Prof. Agassiz and party were taken by the 
 president of the province, and some other Brazilian gen- 
 tlemen, on an excursion to a lake some hours distant by 
 row-boat from Manaos, on whose shore they spent a couple 
 of days at the house of one of the Indian gentry. It was 
 the first visit of the new president of the province to the 
 Indian village of which this house formed a part. Mrs. 
 Agassiz thus describes the place : " This pretty Indian vil- 
 lage is hardly recognized as a village at once, for it con- 
 sists of a number of sitios scattered through the forest ; 
 and, though the inhabitants look on each other as friends 
 and neighbors, yet from our landing-place only one sitio 
 is to be seen — that at which we are staying. It stands on 
 a hill sloping gently up from the lake-shore, and consists 
 of a mud house, containing two rooms, besides several 
 large, open palm-thatched rooms outside. One of these 
 outer sheds is the mandioca-ldtchen, another is the com- 
 mon kitchen, and a third, which is just now used as our 
 dining-room, serves on festal days and occasional Sundays 
 as a chapel. It differs from the other in having the upper 
 end closed in with a neat thatched waU, against which, in 
 time of need, the altar-table may stand, with candles and 
 rough prints or figures of the Yirgin and saints. We 
 were very hospitably received by the senhora of the mud 
 house, an old Indian woman, whose gold ornaments, neck- 
 lace, and ear-rings were rather out of keeping with her 
 calico skirt and cotton waist. Besides the old lady, the 
 family consists, at this moment, of her god-daughter, with 
 her little boy, and several other women employed about 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 285 
 
 the place. . . . The situation of this sitio is exceedingly 
 pretty, and as we sit around the table in our open, airy 
 dining-room, surrounded by the forest, we command a 
 view of the lake and wooded hill-side opposite and of the 
 little landing below, where are moored our barge, with its 
 white awning, the gay canoe, and two or three Indian 
 montarias. After breakfast our party dispersed, some to 
 rest in their hammocks, others to hunt or fish, while Mr. 
 Agassiz was fully engaged in examining a large basket of 
 fish just brought up from the lake for his inspection. . . . 
 Dinner brought us all together again at the close of the 
 afternoon. As we are with the president of the province, 
 our picnic is of a much more magnificent character than 
 our purely scientific excursions have been. Instead of our 
 usual make-shifts — tea-cuj)s doing duty as tumblers, and 
 empty barrels acting as chairs — we have a silver soup- 
 tureen, and a cook, and a waiter, and knives and forks 
 enough to go round, and many other luxuries which such 
 wayfarers as ourselves learn to do without. While we 
 were dining, the Indians began to come in from the 
 surrounding forest to pay their respects to the president 
 for his visit was the cause of great rejoicing, and there 
 was to be a ball in his honor in the evening. They 
 brought an enormous cluster of game as an oSering. 
 What a mass of color it was ! — more like a gorgeous bou- 
 quet of fiowers than a bunch of birds. It was composed 
 entirely of toucans, with their red and yellow beaks, blue 
 eyes, and soft white breasts bordered with crimson ; and 
 of parrots, with their gorgeous plumage of green, blue, 
 purple, and red. When we had dined we took coifee out- 
 side, while our places around the table were filled by the 
 Indian guests, who were to have a dinner-party in their 
 turn. It was pleasant to see with how much courtesy 
 
286 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 several of the Brazilian gentlemen of our party waited 
 upon these Indian senhoras, passing them a variety of 
 dishes, helping them to wine, and treating them with as 
 much attention as if they had been the highest ladies of 
 the land. They seemed, however, rather shy and embar- 
 rassed, scarcely touching the nice things placed before 
 them, till one of the gentlemen, who has lived a good deal 
 among the Indians and knows their habits perfectly, took 
 the knife and fork from one of them, exclaiming : * Make 
 no ceremony, and don't be ashamed ; eat with your fingers 
 as you're accustomed to do, and then you'll find your ap- 
 petites and enjoy your dinner.' His advice was followed, 
 and I must say they seemed much more comfortable in 
 consequence, and did more justice to the good fare." 
 
 Indian society presents one peculiar feature. Many a 
 family gets along without the presence of men-folks ; and, 
 if the husband and father is Hkely to be worthless, his ab- 
 sence is a source of happiness. The home of an Indian 
 family of gentle condition, and living in comfort in the 
 village just mentioned, was visited, and when the grown 
 daughter was asked as to the whereabout of her father, 
 the mother answered, smihng : " She hasn't any father ; 
 she is the daughter of chance " ; and when the daughter 
 was asked if the father of her two httle children was away 
 in the war, she rephed, " They haven't any father." The 
 partly civilized Indian women seem to lead, on the whole, 
 a happy life. " The hf e of the Indian women," says Mrs. 
 Agassiz, " so far as we have seen it, seems enviable, in 
 comparison with that of the Brazilian lady in the Ama- 
 zonian towns. The former has a healthful out-door life ; 
 she has her canoe on the lake or river, and her paths 
 through the forest, with perfect liberty to come and go ; 
 she has her appointed daily occupations, being busy not 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 287 
 
 only with the care of her house and children, but in mak- 
 ing farinha or tapioca, or in drying and rolling tobacco, 
 while the men are fishing and turtle-hunting ; and she has 
 her frequent festa-days to enliven her working-life. It is, 
 on the contrary, impossible to imagine anything more 
 dreary and monotonous than the life of the Brazilian sen- 
 hora in the smaller towns. In the northern provinces espe- 
 cially, the old Portuguese notions about shutting women 
 up and making their home-life as colorless as that of a 
 cloistered nun, without even the element of religious en- 
 thusiasm to give it zest, stiU prevail. Many a Brazilian 
 lady passes day after day without stirring beyond her four 
 walls, scarcely ever showing herself at the door or win- 
 dow ; for she is always in a slovenly deshabille^ unless she 
 expects company. It is sad to see these stilled exist- 
 ences ; without any contact with the world outside, without 
 any charm of domestic life, without books or culture of 
 any kind, the Brazilian senhora in this part of the coun- 
 try either sinks contentedly into a vapid, empty, aimless 
 life, or frets against her chains, and is as discontented as 
 she is useless." 
 
 With reference to the mixture of races. Prof. Agassiz 
 records the following opinion : " Let any one who doubts 
 the evil of this mixture of races, and is inclined, from a 
 mistaken philanthropy, to break down all barriers between 
 them, come to Brazil. He can not deny the deterioration 
 consequent upon an amalgamation of races, more wide- 
 spread here than in any other country in the world, and 
 which is rapidly effacing the best qualities of the white 
 man, the negro, and the Indian, leaving a mongrel nonde- 
 script type, deficient in physical and mental energy.'' 
 
 During this exploration Prof. Agassiz collected from 
 the waters of the Amazon Yalley nearly two thousand 
 
288 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 different species of fish, a result tlie significance of which 
 will be recognized when one is told that in all the rivers 
 of Europe there are less than one hundred and fifty spe- 
 cies of fresh-water fish. The artist of the expedition, Mr. 
 Burkhardt, painted more than eight hundred sketches of 
 different fishes from life — that is, from the fish swimming 
 in a large glass tank before him. 
 
 !N"ear the close of his work. Prof. Agassiz, in a letter to 
 the Emperor, bore generous testimony to the co-operation 
 the Brazilians had given to his labors : " Erom the presi- 
 dent to the most humble employes of the provinces I have 
 visited, all have competed with each other to render my 
 work more easy." 
 
 I shall finish this chapter with some testimony on the 
 situation of American settlers in the Amazon Valley, by 
 Dr. Herbert H. Smith, author of the valuable work, " Brar 
 zil, the Amazons, and the Coast." His visit there was ten 
 years after that of Prof. Agassiz, namely, in 1875. At 
 
 Santarem he met with Mr. P , one of some fifty 
 
 Americans who had come from the Southern States in 
 1866, and who were engaged in farming about six miles 
 distant. Originally the colony had been much larger, for 
 " with a few good families there came a rabble of lazy 
 vagabonds who looked upon the affair as a grand ad- 
 venture. Arrived at Santarem, they were received kindly 
 enough, but after a little the good people became disgusted 
 with their guests, who quarreled incessantly, and filled 
 the town with their drunken uproar. Government aid for 
 the colony was withdrawn ; gradually the scum floated 
 away, leaving the memory of their worthlessness to injure 
 the others. The few families that remained had to out- 
 live public opinion, and a hard time they had of it, with 
 poverty on one side and ill-will on the other. But in 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 
 
 time the Brazilians discovered that these were not vaga- 
 bonds ; they learned to respect their industry and perse- 
 verance, and now all through the Amazon you will hear 
 nothing but good words of the Santarem colony." Dr. 
 
 Smith accepted an urgent invitation from Farmer P , 
 
 a tall Tennessean, to go out to the settlement for a few 
 days, where he met with a cordial welcome. The fai-m- 
 er's home was situated a few miles distant, in a large clear- 
 ing in the forest, at the base of a plateau that is some 
 hundred feet above the river. All around there were 
 splendid masses of green cacao-trees, and lime-trees, and 
 great pale banana-plants, and coffee-bushes straying up 
 into the woods ; and beyond those a bit of untouched for- 
 est, with a giant Brazil-nut tree towering over it. He 
 
 says : " With all the beauty of the site, P evidently 
 
 has a hard time of it ; he looks care-worn, and a little dis- 
 couraged. The land is excellent, but the stream is too 
 small to give him a good water-power, and without that 
 he can not manage a large cane-plantation. He complains 
 of the low prices that he receives for his produce ; the 
 Santarem traders take advantage of his helplessness, and 
 he is often obliged to sell below the market value. All 
 the Americans are cultivating sugar-cane ; the juice is 
 distilled into rum, which is sold at Santarem. Probably 
 coffee or cacao might pay better, but our colonists came 
 here without money, and they could not wait for slow- 
 growing crops. Mr. P tells how he and his family 
 
 were housed, with the others, in a great thatched build- 
 ing; how the colonists were supported for a while on 
 Government rations, until they could locate their planta- 
 tions and get in their first crops ; how they had to strug- 
 gle with utter poverty, work without tools, live as best 
 they could until their fields were established. P 
 
290 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION" AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 saved a little money, and bonglit this ground of an old 
 Indian woman ; it was only a small clearing, with a dozen 
 fruit-trees. The family lived in a rough shed until they 
 
 could build a thatched house, and P himself had to 
 
 bring provisions from Santarem on his back. It was a 
 long time before he could cut a road, and longer before 
 he had horses for his work. . . . He had to grind his cane 
 with a rough wooden miU until he could procure an iron 
 one from the United States ; he had to get his still on 
 credit, and pay a high price for it ; horses, oxen, carts, 
 casks, were all obtained by slow degrees and at a great 
 sacrifice. He has been his own carpenter, mason, ma- 
 chinist — everything ; it was a long time before he could 
 even hire an Indian to work for him. And now, after 
 seven years of hard struggle, he finds himself with — what ? 
 A plantation that he "could not sell for one fourth of its 
 real value, simply because there are no buyers ; a burden 
 of debts that it will take him a long time to pay ; and 
 himself with a broken-down body and discouraged heart. 
 " ' The children have no schooling,' complains Mrs. 
 
 P ; ' they can't even go to a Brazilian master, for we 
 
 are too far from town.' She talks of sending them to 
 the States, but I fear it will be a long time before her 
 husband can afford that. The family are Protestants, but 
 they never hear a Protestant service now, unless rarely, 
 when a missionary or traveling minister passes this way. - 
 Sometimes they visit with the Americans, but the planta- 
 tions are far apart, and tlie roads are rough, and it is not 
 often that they can make a holiday, unless it be of a Sun- 
 day. . . . 
 
 " After a while we find our way to other American 
 houses ; the nearest of these are at Diamantina, a little 
 settlement two or three miles beyond P 's house. . 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 291 
 
 R 's house is really very pretty ; to be sure, it is cov- 
 ered entirely with palm-thatch, but the wide hall through 
 the middle looks cool and inviting ; there are orange-trees 
 on either side, and a flower-garden in front, with a beauti- 
 ful clear stream, where R has built a bathing-house 
 
 over the water. The whole looks so neat and tasteful that 
 we half beheve in Mr. Wallace's romantic dream, after all. 
 
 But there is the drunken Indian at the still, and R 's 
 
 tired face taking the color from the picture. Mrs. R 
 
 speaks sadly of her Charleston home, and the intellectual 
 society which she has left there. I fear that this family 
 is hardly better satisfied than are the others." In course 
 
 of time Dr. Smith leaves his pleasant quarters at P 's 
 
 and visits other American families at Panema, five miles 
 away, where, among other homes, was the most advanced 
 establishment of the colony, and which he thus describes : 
 " The proprietor was a Methodist clergyman in Mis- 
 sissippi ; like many of his class, he had a ready capability 
 for aU kinds of work ; was, in fact, the very best man that 
 could be chosen for a pioneer. Moreover, he had a little 
 money to start with, and two stout boys to assist him in 
 his work ; he was sensible enough to choose a most desir- 
 able location, where the land was rich, and there was 
 abundant water-power. With these advantages, he has 
 advanced steadily. At first he was content to live in a 
 log-house, and work with such machinery as he could get 
 in the country ; when his plantation was well advanced, 
 and he thoroughly understood his needs, he made a trip 
 to the United States expressly for the purpose of bringing 
 out machinery and tools. One of these importations was 
 a saw-mill ; with this he sawed out boards and beams for 
 a good frame house, and a great deal for sale besides ; he 
 has built mills for grinding com, thrashing rice, cutting 
 
292 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 cane-tops for his cattle; a blacksmith - shop, very well 
 equipped; a fine cane-mill, and evaporators for sugar. 
 He has reason to look forward with hope to the future. 
 
 " This man and Mr. E , at Diamantina, are the 
 
 only ones in the colony who have achieved anything like 
 success. But they came alone, chose their ground care- 
 fully, and worked carefully with a fixed end in view ; and, 
 having capital in the outset, they were independent of the 
 traders, and could get a good price for their produce. . . • 
 The Americans at Diamantina and Panema are generally 
 discontented with their lot, and no wonder ; they began 
 work without capital, or with very little, and they have 
 been sti-uggling all along for a bare existence. Their ex- 
 ample shows plainly enough, I think, that the Amazons 
 is not a good pioneering ground for a jpoor man." 
 
 Dr. Smith afterward speaks of the experience of Mr. 
 E. J. Ehome, a practical American, who had a theory 
 that the Amazonian highlands were fitted for successful 
 farming. He took the managing partnership of a Bra- 
 zilian plantation, twenty miles below Santai'cm, and put 
 his theory into practice. " At the end of twelve years the 
 estate has become the finest on the Amazon, and Ameri- 
 can enterprise has built up an American home." 
 
 Dr. Smith shows that the gatherers of Brazil-nuts in 
 the Amazon Yalley suffer a great deal of sickness from 
 their exposure and poor diet. But there are direct perils 
 also: 
 
 " Sometimes the gatherers are lost in the woods ; some- 
 times canoes, loaded with nuts, are overturned in the rap- 
 ids, and the boatmen are drowned. But the grand danger 
 — the one most dreaded — is that of the falling nut-cap- 
 sules. They are five inches in diameter, and weigh two 
 or three pounds; falling a hundred feet or more, they 
 
THE AMAZON VALLEY. 293 
 
 come crashing through the branches Kke cannon-balls. 
 The gatherers keep to their huts while the morning wind 
 is blowing, and if their roof is at all exposed it is inclined 
 strongly, so that the fruits will glance off from it. While 
 the fruits are falling, the gatherers occupy themselves at 
 home, cutting open the hard cases with their heavy knives, 
 and drying the nuts in the sun. When the wind dies 
 away, men and women sally out to the gathering, bringing 
 the nuts on their backs in great baskets." 
 
 It is true the trade of the Amazon Yalley has rapidly 
 increased within the past few years, but it has not been 
 such a development as makes a very good showing for the 
 country, since the principal article of this commerce — 
 rubber — has been produced at the cost of the natural 
 wealth of the forest ; being much on the same principle 
 in which lumber is produced from our pine-forests in the 
 United States, Avith total disregard of regrowth and the 
 future. For the proper development of the Amazon Yal- 
 ley there are needed just what is required in the other 
 large unoccupied areas of Brazil — people and capital. 
 
CHAPTEE XYII. 
 
 BEASTS OF PEEY. 
 
 Of all the beasts of prey in Brazil, tlie most formida- 
 ble and the most common is the jaguar, or South American 
 tiger, called in Brazil the onga. There are three kinds — 
 red, spotted, and black, the last two kinds being the 
 largest. This animal does not stand as high as the Asiatic 
 tiger, but is very powerfully built, and carries off cattle. 
 The length of a large specimen is from six to seven feet, 
 but an ordinary one measures about four feet from the 
 nose to the root of the tail, " Its manner of killing its 
 victim is, after springing upon it, to strike it to the earth 
 by a blow of its powerful paw." It seldom attacks human 
 beings, unless interfered with or wounded; and I have 
 seen people who had seen an onga in the forest, and who 
 said they were not afraid of meeting one. 
 
 The spotted onga is handsomely marked, and the skin 
 of one sells at Kio for ten dollars. The English natural- 
 ist Wallace, while out alone with his rifle in the forest 
 solitude of the Amazon, saw a black on§a cross his path a 
 little way ahead of him, walking leisurely along. The 
 animal stopped a few moments and looked at him ; and 
 Mr. "Wallace, who was an excellent shot, relates that he 
 was so astonished and impressed by the magnificence of 
 the beast that he never thought to fire at him, and, while 
 he stood fixed in admiration, the onga disappeared. 
 
BEASTS OF PREY. 295 
 
 The few anecdotes I have heard of the Brazilian on^a 
 are not, I am happy to say, of a very thrilling character. 
 Some of them are ludicrous rather than dreadful. A 
 queer experience with an on§a is related of one of the 
 American settlers on the forest shore of the big lake of 
 Juparana, in the province of Espirito Santo. The man 
 lived alone, two miles from any neighbor, in a small cabin, 
 having an open doorway, but no door. One night he was 
 awakened from sleep by what he thought were the foot- 
 steps of some person ; and, getting up and going to his 
 open doorway to see who could be making him a visit at 
 that time of night, lo and behold! there was an on^a 
 standing opposite the entrance and looking toward him. 
 He was greatly alaiToed, for he had no weapon of defense, 
 and there was nothing to prevent the prowling intruder 
 attacking him. He had an axe, but it was out in the shed, 
 and he did not dare to step beyond the threshold. The 
 only thing he could think of for safety was to seize a tin 
 pan, which happened to be among his household utensils, 
 and climb aloft on one of the timbers of his cabin, and 
 scare off the on^a by beating the pan. He kept beating 
 the tin pan till dayhght, when he cautiously descended 
 and looked about. The on§a had disappeared, and, so far 
 as is known, never came back. 
 
 I once asked an English civil engineer who had re- 
 sided twenty-three years in Brazil, and had been a good 
 deal through the country exploring railway routes, if he 
 had ever come across an on^a. "ITo," said he, "never. 
 The on§a is a humbug. I should have no fear of one. 
 It is no bigger than a calf, and I consider it a humbug. 
 I have traveled thousands of miles in Brazil, and never 
 carried and never needed a weapon." 
 
 While examining with Dr. Herbert Smith his large 
 
296 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 and new natural history collection from Matto-Grosso at 
 the Irrational Museum of Rio de Janeiro, and, among other 
 things, the skull of an onga, which indicated a powerful 
 animal, he told me that the onga in question, before being 
 taken, had killed two dogs, and said the instinct of the 
 beast was to seize his victim by the throat. I naturally 
 inquu-ed if he would be apt to attack a man in that way, 
 and was informed that the onga, in fighting a human 
 being, would first try to deal a knock-down blow on the 
 head with his paw. He mentioned this case, which came 
 under his knowledge : A man was attacked by an onga, 
 and had only a knife for a weapon. He, however, wore 
 a pretty thick and strong leather pouch or bag, and had 
 the presence of mind to put his hand into this, and with 
 it, thus protected, to thrust it into the onga's mouth. 
 While the beast was trying in vain to bite through it, the 
 man dispatched him with his knife, but got some bad 
 scratches on his breast. 
 
 A BraziHan, living about sixty miles from Rio, was 
 in the woods with his gun not long ago, and was startled 
 by a noise and growl which he supposed were from an onga 
 close by him. He was frightened almost out of his wits, but 
 braced himself against a tree, and brought his rifle to his 
 shoulder to be ready to fire. In a moment more he saw 
 that it was nothing more dangerous than half a dozen 
 screeching monkeys in a furious chase up a tree, as badly 
 frightened, perhaps, as he. 
 
 Prof. Facchenetti, a landscape-painter of Rio, once, 
 when up in the Organ Mountains alone, had just got his 
 brushes out, ready to begin work, when his attention was 
 arrested by the noise of a movement near him. Looking 
 that way, he saw passing, as if on the scent of prey, a 
 large and beautifully marked on^a, which twice turned 
 
BEASTS OF PREY. 297 
 
 its head to regard him. He had no weapon, but simply 
 looked at the beast with an opera-glass, and he walked 
 quietly off. 
 
 A leading botanist, now at Eio, while on a scientific 
 tour in the interior province of Minas-Geraes, accom- 
 panied by a servant and a scientific assistant, camped one 
 night in a sort of stone cave, having only a small opening. 
 They brushed away the rubbish, among which were a few 
 bones, and, as it was already night, the botanist, being 
 tired, had lain down and was asleep. The assistant was 
 in the act of making a cigarette, when suddenly he 
 dropped it, threw up his hands, and gave a terrible cry 
 of alarm. They had unconsciously appropriated to them- 
 selves the den of this most dreadful wild beast, and he 
 had come back, his eyes glaring fire, to his accustomed 
 lodging. His appearance at the mouth of the cave caused 
 the shriek which awakened the botanist and actually made 
 the servant's hair to stand on end. He went off, however, 
 yet every httle while through the night they saw at the 
 mouth of the cave a pair of eyes looking like balls of fire. 
 They also heard his disagreeable growl while he was wan- 
 dering about outside. They sat up every minute of the 
 night, and kept up a blazing fire to frighten him away. 
 Every time he appeared the servant's teeth chattered with 
 fear. 
 
 In the end of one of the streets of the village of Lin- 
 hares, on the river Doce, province of Espirito Santo, an 
 onga killed a horse only a few months ago. "Well, when 
 an onga gets that near, he must be killed, or he will de- 
 stroy all the live-stock; so a hunting-party was got to- 
 gether, and went out and succeeded in kilHng the beast, 
 but not till he had dispatched a score or so of venturesome 
 dogs. An American planter, living in that vicinity, in- 
 
298 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PEOSPEOTS. 
 
 forms me that lie lias seen several live ongas in the woods, 
 and that there are three sorts in that region — the black, the 
 spotted, and the red. It is his opinion that they do not 
 attack a person unless they have been first interfered with 
 or wounded. They seem to respect people who mind 
 their own business. He related this anecdote : The farm- 
 ers often have their poultry-yards robbed by opossums. 
 One night a disturbance was heard among the fowls, and 
 some of the people went out to see what was the matter. 
 From all the sounds and appearances they were convinced 
 there was an opossum in the yard, and they determined 
 to wait there till daylight, and then administer summary 
 justice for his depredations. At length dawn arrived. 
 They opened the door and looked in, and, behold ! there 
 was an onga, at sight of which they gave a scream and 
 ran off. The onga escaped, though it was rather a small 
 and young one. 
 
 There is a man living in that neighborhood who car- 
 ries on his back the scars left by the paw of an on§a. In 
 the woods he had shot at and wounded the animal, which 
 w^ent off. He followed it, thinking it would be dead; 
 but it was alive and very mad, and tmmed and pursued 
 the hunter, who took to a tree as fast as he could. The 
 tree, however, was small, and bent down somewhat with 
 his weight, so that the onga was able to reach him with 
 his paw and deal him a bad scratch. The man, however, 
 had a big hunting-knife in his belt, which he drew and 
 gave the infuriated beast his quietus, otherwise the issue 
 might have been fatal to himself. 
 
 People do not hunt the onga for amusement, as a iiile. 
 They prefer to go a-gunning for almost any other sort 
 of game. It is only when a planter or farmer has lost 
 sheep after sheep, or other kinds of live-stock, and the 
 
BEASTS OF PREY. 299 
 
 circumstances point about conclusively to the onga as the 
 depredator, that he assembles his neighbors with their 
 guns and dogs, and they all sally out to bring the dreaded 
 beast to destruction. 
 
 There are authentic instances of his attacking and kill- 
 ing human beings. In the course of the past year an 
 onga was killed at the very door of the Superintendent 
 of the Grao Para Colony, in the province of Santa 
 Catharina. 
 
 A newspaper in the south part of the province of 
 Minas-Geraes recently published the following : " Traces 
 of an onga having been noticed on a farm near Santo An- 
 tonio do Machado, some hunters resolved to go in search 
 of it. Meeting with her in the woods, one of the hunters, 
 from fear or some other cause, attempted to climb a tree, 
 when the on§a sprang on him, catching him by the leg 
 and then by the neck. The other hunters began to fire 
 at the animal, which was enormous, and at last, giving it 
 a mortal shot, caused it to spring up in the air, carrying 
 with it the unhappy victim, falling down dead, and leav- 
 ing the unfortunate man in a horrible state, with a great 
 part of the scalp torn off, but still with life." 
 
 With regard to serpents, the two larger kinds — the 
 anaconda and the boa constrictor — are understood to exist 
 only in the Amazon Yalley. The last-mentioned is not 
 regarded as dangerous, and is even sometimes domesti- 
 cated for the purpose of keeping away vermin. An ac- 
 quaintance informed me that during a tour in the back 
 country he heard at night, in the unfinished ceiling of the 
 room in which he lodged, a movement of things at differ- 
 ent times, and when he awoke in the morning he found 
 the noise had been caused by a domesticated boa con- 
 strictor. 
 
300 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 Generally in Brazil there are several species of venom- 
 ous serpents besides tlie rattlesnake. I am glad to say that 
 I have had but little opportunity to extend my knowledge 
 in this branch of natural history. From my little observa- 
 tion I would think Brazil is no more troubled with the 
 ordinary sorts of venomous snakes than most other new 
 countries. The only incident under this head that has 
 occurred in my experience — and perhaps it is not worth 
 relating — was during our residence in the mountain sub- 
 urb of Tijuca. About the middle of a warm sunny day I 
 heard a shriek from the kitchen, and, on going to see 
 what was the matter, I saw that a snake, about a yard 
 long, had got into the entry through the open outside 
 kitchen - door, and was about advancing with his head 
 raised. From its brown and bright colors I instinctively 
 felt that it was one of the venomous sort. He had paused 
 for a moment, but then began to crawl farther along. At 
 this I seized a broom and killed him by a blow or two with 
 the handle, and got him out of the house as soon as possi- 
 ble. An old resident pronounced him one of the venom- 
 ous sort. 
 
 Mr. Bates, in his valuable narrative of explorations in 
 the Amazon Yalley, " The Naturalist on the Amazons," 
 gives some interesting anecdotes of the hideous anaconda. 
 Describing an experience while on the Cupari Eiver, a 
 branch of the Tapajos, he writes : " We had an unwel- 
 come visitor while at anchor in the port of Joao Mala- 
 gueita. I was awoke a little after midnight, as I lay in my 
 little cabin, by a heavy blow struck at the sides of the ca- 
 noe close to my head, which was succeeded by the sound 
 of a weighty body plunging in the water, I got up ; but 
 all was again quiet, except the cackle of fowls in our hen- 
 coop, which hung over the side of the vessel about three 
 
BEASTS OF PREY. 301 
 
 feet from the cabin-door. I could find no explanation of 
 the circumstance, and, my men being all ashore, I turned 
 in and slept till morning. I then found my poultry loose 
 about the canoe, and a large rent in the bottom of the hen- 
 coop, which was about two feet from the surface of the 
 water ; a couple of fowls were missing. Senhor Antonio 
 said the depredator was a suciiruju (the Indian name for 
 the anaconda, or great water-serpent — Eimectes murmus), 
 which had for months past been haunting this part of the 
 river, and had carried off many ducks and fowls from the 
 ports of various houses. I was inclined to doubt the fact 
 of a serpent striking at its prey from the water, and 
 thought an alligator more likely to be the culprit, al- 
 though we had not yet met with alligators in the river. 
 Some days afterward the young men belonging to the 
 different sitios agreed to go in search of the serpent. They 
 began in a systematic manner, forming two parties, each 
 embarked in three or four canoes, and starting from points 
 several miles apart, whence they gradually approximated, 
 searching all the little inlets on both sides the river. The 
 reptile was found at last sunning itself on a log at the 
 mouth of a muddy rivulet, and dispatched with harpoons. 
 I saw it the day after it was killed ; it was not a very 
 large specimen, measuring only eighteen feet nine inches 
 in length, and sixteen inches in circumference at the 
 widest part of the body. I measured skins of the anaconda 
 afterward twenty-one feet in length and two feet in girth. 
 The reptile has a most hideous appearance, owing to its 
 being very broad in the middle, and tapering abruptly at 
 both ends. It is very abundant in some parts of the 
 country ; nowhere more so than in the Lago Grande, near 
 Santarem, where it is often seen coiled up in the corners 
 of farm-yards, and detested for its habit of carrying off 
 26 
 
302 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 poultry, young calves, or whatever animal it can get within 
 reach of. 
 
 ^* At Ega a large anaconda was once near making a 
 meal of a young lad, about ten years of age, belonging to 
 one of my neighbors. The father and his son went one 
 day in their montaria a few miles up the Teffe to gather 
 wild fruit, landing on a sloping sandy shore, where the 
 boy was left to mind the canoe while the man entered the 
 forest. The beaches of the Teffe form groves of wild 
 guava and myrtle-trees, and during most months of the 
 year are partly overflown by the river. While the boy 
 was playing in the water under the shade of these trees, a 
 huge reptile of this species stealthily wound its coils around 
 him unperceived, until it was too late to escape. His cries 
 quickly brought the father to the rescue, who rushed for- 
 ward, and, seizing the anaconda boldly by the head, tore 
 his jaws asunder. There appears to be no doubt that this 
 formidable serpent grows to an enormous bulk and lives 
 to a great age, for I heard of specimens having been killed 
 which measured forty-two feet in length, or double the 
 size of the largest I had an opportunity of examining. 
 The natives of the Amazon country universally believe in 
 the existence of a monster water-serpent said to be many 
 score fathoms in length, which appears successively in 
 different parts of the river. They call it the Mai d'agoa 
 —the mother or spirit of the water. This fable, which 
 was doubtless suggested by the occasional appearance of 
 sucurujus of unusually large size, takes a great variety of 
 forms, and the wild legends form the subject of conversa- 
 tion among old and young over the wood-fires in lonely 
 settlements." 
 
 Mr. Bates had this experience with a boa constrictor : 
 " One day, as I was entomologizing alone and unarmed, in 
 
BEASTS OF PREY. 303 
 
 a dry ygapo, where tlie trees were rather mde apart and 
 the ground coated to the depth of eight or ten inches with 
 dead leaves, I was near coming into collision with a boa 
 constrictor. I had just entered a little thicket to capture 
 an insect, and while pinning it was rather startled by a 
 rushing noise in the vicinity. I looked up to the sky, 
 thinking a squall was coming on, but not a breath of wind 
 stirred in the tree-tops. On stepping out of the bushes I 
 met face to face a huge serpent coming down a slope, and 
 making the dry twigs crack and fly with his weight as he 
 moved over them. I had very frequently met with a 
 smaller boa, the cutim-hoia^ in a similar way, and knew 
 from the habits of the family that there was no danger ; 
 so I stood my ground. On seeing me the reptile suddenly 
 turned and glided at an accelerated pace down the path. 
 "Wishing to take a note of his probable size, and the colors 
 and marldngs of his skin, I set off after him ; but he in- 
 creased his speed, and I was unable to- get near enough 
 for the purpose. There was very little of the serpentine 
 movement in his course. The rapidly moving and shining 
 body looked like a stream of brown liquid flowing over 
 the thick bed of fallen leaves, rather than a serpent with 
 skin of varied colors. He descended toward the lower 
 and moister parts of the ygapo. The huge trunk of an 
 uprooted tree here lay across the road ; this he glided over 
 in his undeviating course, and soon after penetrated a 
 dense, swampy thicket, where, of course, I did not choose 
 to follow him." 
 
 The author of "Pioneering in South Brazil" relates 
 this anecdote, showing the usefulness of the toucan in giv- 
 ing the alarm against snakes : " One evening a caraarada 
 came to me to have a tooth extracted, but, as it was then 
 dusk, I told him he must wait till the following day, 
 
304 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 wlien, if he would come to me directly it was light, I 
 would do what he wanted. I was kept awake most of the 
 night by being pestered by fleas, with which the camp 
 had at this time begun to swarm. When morning came, 
 being then almost worn out by many nights of sleepless- 
 ness from the same cause, I was in a state of torpor, and 
 had not aroused myself as usual immediately it became 
 lisrht. The man with toothache came three times, at in- 
 tervals of about ten minutes, and found me asleep each 
 time. A minute after, coming the third time, he heard 
 the toucan screaming in my rancho, and thinking I was 
 the cause, and that he should now find me awake and up, 
 at once returned, only too anxious to have his toothache 
 cured without more delay. I was not awake when he 
 returned, but his vigorous shout of ^ Doutor, doutor, co- 
 hra ! ' (' Doctor, doctor, snake ! ') twice repeated, roused 
 me to a certain state of consciousness — when, on opening 
 my eyes, the first thing I saw were two young frogs jump- 
 ing in a great hurry along the floor of the rancho, closely 
 followed by a black snake. The spectacle, for the two sec- 
 onds during which it lasted, was superb. The snake was 
 evidently absorbed in the chase, oblivious to the sudden 
 shout of the man, or the screaming of the toucan. Its eye 
 was flashing like a diamond, and its long, forked tongue 
 was shooting in and out with lightning rapidity, as, with 
 head erect and held perfectly steady, it glided with a swift, 
 rocking motion of its supple body in pursuit, seeming as 
 though moved by some invisible, magic force. For these 
 two seconds the picture was absolutely perfect. I had 
 never beheld so fascinating an object, when, lo ! just as I 
 expected to see it strike one of the frogs, a big, rude paddle 
 descended upon its back, and only a hideous writhing object 
 remained, biting the dust in agony. I was quite angry 
 
BEASTS OF PBEY. 305 
 
 with the man for the moment for summarily spoiling the 
 chase ; but when I knew that the reptile, to whose exist- 
 ence he had thus put an end, was only less deadly than 
 the cascavel, and withal far more active in its movements, 
 I lost my momentary sympathy for it. In this case, if it 
 had not been for the toucan in the first instance, the snake 
 might have remained lurking about my rancho beneath the 
 boxes with which it was filled for days, until perhaps its 
 presence had been made known after the disagreeable 
 manner of Morant's snake. 
 
 " The Brazilians say that there is a certain snake which 
 they call cobra casada, or married snake, which it is dan- 
 gerous to kill near any habitation ; or, having killed it, to 
 trail it along the ground to any house, because its mate is 
 certain to follow it by scent, and, on finding it dead, will 
 savagely attack any person it can find in the neighbor- 
 hood. I do not know what foundation there is for this 
 story. I should tliink that I have seen and myself killed 
 at least a hundred snakes of various kinds in Brazil, but I 
 never knew one that showed any disposition to willfully 
 attack. The utmost any have done has been to remain 
 still, in readiness to strike when touched or threatened. 
 In the majority of instances they have tried to flee. 
 
 " Soon after this I had a very disagreeable rencontre 
 with a jararaca^ which dropped into my canoe from an 
 overhanging branch as I was paddHng gently up-stream 
 under the bank. As the snake dropped in, I tumbled out 
 into the river. Fortunately, it happened close to the camp, 
 and, in answer to my shouts, somebody came down to the 
 landing-place and captured the canoe as it was drifting 
 past, and killed the snake." 
 
 The adventure of Morant, which he refers to, occurred 
 two hundred miles distant, and is thus related : " It ap- 
 
306 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 peared that one night, after lie and his tent-companion, 
 Von Sydow, had retired to bed, the latter was aroused by- 
 feeling, as he thought, some animal sucking his finger. 
 He drew his hand away, and then struck a light, to find 
 out what it might be that had taken such a fancy to him, 
 but could see nothing. Meanwhile Morant was lying 
 asleep on his low camp-bed at the other end of the tent, 
 about ten feet distant. The night being very warm, and 
 there being no mosquitoes to guard against, he was lying 
 with one arm and shoulder nude above the blanket. The 
 constant movements of Yon Sydow, who was doctoring 
 his sucked finger, at length caused him to arouse himself 
 slightly, but just sufficient to make him conscious that 
 there was soihething wTong about him. ' I felt,' he said, 
 ' something heavy on my chest, and cold around my arm ; 
 I opened my eyes, and, by the light that Sydow was 
 using, to my intense horror and dismay beheld a long 
 head and neck waving backward and forward a few inches 
 above my face. It was a snake. I dared not stir, for I 
 felt that its body was twined round my arm, and that the 
 slightest motion on my part might cause the reptile to 
 drive its fangs into me. I called out gently to Sydow, 
 and said, ' Sydow, there is a snake on my arm — what is 
 to be done ? ' Sydow answered, * Yes, yes ! ya, ya ! very 
 good,' as though he thought it an excellent joke ; and I 
 knew that he did not understand me, but probably im- 
 agined that I was talking about his finger. (Yon Sydow 
 was a Swede, and only knew a few words of English.) 
 I spoke to him again and said, ' Sydow, snake, snake ! ' 
 but he did not understand me, and only laughed, and an- 
 swe:ced, ' Ya, ya ! ' I did not dare to shout out loud for 
 fear of exciting the snake, which was still gently waving 
 its head before my face. Something had to be done, and 
 
BEASTS OF PREY. 307 
 
 that very soon, for no mortal could long bear this agony 
 of suspense. 
 
 " The moment came when I could restrain myself no 
 longer. I jumped up in bed, and simultaneously, with aU 
 the force of long-restrained fear and horror, threw out my 
 arm, with the cold, deadly folds of the snake still twined 
 round it, hurling the reptile violently on to the ground 
 by the suddenness and energy of the movement, before it 
 had time to strike. 
 
 " While I was looking for a weapon of some sort with 
 which to kill it, it had glided out beneath the wall of the 
 tent and disappeared. . . . 
 
 " Yon Sydow to this hour believes that Morant's snake 
 was the very animal that sucked his finger." 
 
 The same author relates several other anecdotes, but 
 says the number of snakes found on the prairie — where 
 this last incident occurred — is small when compared with 
 the multitudes which exist in the forests. It was in the 
 forest that he was employed, and scarcely a day passed 
 without what might be termed a snake adventure happen- 
 ing to some one of the party. 
 
CHAPTEE XYIII. 
 
 SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 
 
 The first and greatest sugar-growing region of Brazil, 
 Femambuco, is exactly opposite the valley of tlie Congo ; 
 the mouth of the Amazon is opposite that of the Xiger. 
 With Africa thus so handy, it is no wonder the early 
 planters in Brazil availed themselves of Ethiopian labor, 
 and that the slave-trade soon grew into a profitable and 
 persistent business. Immediately after Portugal's recog- 
 nition of the independence of Brazil in 182G, a treaty 
 was made between Great Britain and Brazil for the sup- 
 pression of the slave-trade ; however, in those times and 
 for many years afterward, the influence of the slavehold- 
 ing class in Brazil was powerful enough to counteract the 
 wishes of any humane magistrate or statesman in that 
 country who may have m-ged the enforcement of that 
 treaty, and the slave-trade continued to flourish. Mr. 
 Christie, a former British minister in Brazil, in his " ^otes 
 on Brazilian Questions," published in 1865, says of the 
 action of the Government : " Left to itself, it did nothing ; 
 it treated for a long time with neglect representations of 
 the English Government ; it did not answer notes. "When 
 obliged to reply, it protested that its dignity did not allow 
 it to act while pressed by a foreign government ; it re- 
 sented interference, and clamored to be left free to exe- 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 309 
 
 cute its own laws, forgetting that treaty stipulations gave 
 a right to England to interfere. At last, after force had 
 been nsed, and the English Government was known to be 
 serious, and there seemed no help for it, it has done what 
 it ought to have done long before." Speaking of the ac- 
 tion of the Brazilian authorities in regard to the treaty 
 for the suppression of the slave-trade. Lord Aberdeen, in 
 1845, said, '' With rare exceptions the treaty has been by 
 them systematically violated from the period of its con- 
 clusion to the present time." At that time the clandes- 
 tine importation of African slaves into Brazil was esti- 
 mated at seventy thousand annually, of whom, no doubt, 
 some are still toiling on plantations. Mr. Christie states 
 that it was estimated that a million slaves had been im- 
 ported since the formal abolition of the trade by treaty. 
 
 John Candler and Wilson Burgess, members of the 
 Society of Friends, went from England to Rio de Janeiro, 
 in 1852, with an address to the Emperor, and on their 
 return from Brazil they wrote: "The late conduct of 
 Great Britain in chasing slavers into the harbors of Brazil, 
 and making seizures of them under its very forts, has con- 
 tributed mainly to stimulate the Government of Brazil to 
 put down the African slave-trade in that country. It 
 deeply wounded the pride of the nation to see its past 
 insincerity and bad faith thus exposed before the whole 
 world ; the Emperor, therefore, resolved to take the mat- 
 ter at once into his own hands, and by bold measures to 
 crush the traiSc." So the dispatch of Mr. Henry South- 
 em, the British diplomatic representative in Brazil, of 
 May 10, 1852, shows the admission of the Brazilian Min- 
 ister of Foreign Affairs that it was the compulsory meas- 
 ures of Great Britain which enabled the Brazilian Cabinet 
 to influence their countrymen in co-operating to support, 
 
310 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PEOSPECTS. 
 
 or, at least, in not opposing, measures to put down the 
 slave-trade. 
 
 In a letter of the distinguished Brazilian, Mr. Joaquim 
 Kabuco, who has spent several years in England, and who 
 received very strong support as candidate for deputy in 
 his native city, Peniambuco, published September 11, 
 1884, he says: "The Conservative opposition now de- 
 nounce the Emperor as the chief of the abolition propa- 
 ganda, ascribe the Dantas project to the pressure of the 
 Emperor, and endeavor by every means to identify him 
 with abolitionism. Some of the Kepublicans — I say some, 
 because the Republican party is to-day divided on the 
 question of emancipation — declare that the Consei-vatives 
 are serving the republic by their attacks upon the mon- 
 archy. . . . There is no doubt but that from 1840 to 1850 
 the Emperor struggled constantly for the suppression of 
 the slave-trade, encountering the greatest resistance ; that 
 from 1865 to 1871 he made great efforts for the freedom 
 of the future offspring of slave mothers ; and, finally, that 
 in 1884 he resolutely decided on the liberation of slaves 
 of sixty years of age and upward, and of others by means 
 of emancipation. But this will not compare for example 
 with the act of Alexander II. Dom Pedro II has reigned 
 forty-four years, and the capital of the empire which boasts 
 of being the first city in South America is yet a slave- 
 market." 
 
 Slavery having existed, as it still does, in all latitudes 
 of Brazil, it has never occasioned that bitter local or sec- 
 tional feeling which it caused in the United States. It 
 could, therefore, have scarcely led to such a catastrophe 
 as it produced in our country. Still, the Brazilians, in 
 taking steps for emancipation, were probably somewhat 
 influenced by American experience, as weU as by the 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 311 
 
 reprobation of mankind, the steady and industrious be- 
 havior of the freed people in the United States affording 
 an especially powerful argument in favor of liberation. 
 And, it appears to me, the Brazilians are entitled to praise 
 for wise statesmanship in having solved their slavery 
 problem in a peaceful manner, even though their system 
 of emancipation is slow. 
 
 The one important feature of the Emancipation Act 
 of Brazil of September 28, 1871 — sometimes called the 
 Eio Branco law, from the name of the prime minister of 
 the time — is the provision that all children bom of slave 
 mothers after the passage of that act shall become free 
 on attaining the age of twenty-one years. A few hundred 
 slaves belonging to the Crown were declared free ; but 
 the great mass of slaves born previous to September 28, 
 1871, were left in bondage. However, the act made some 
 provision for a fund for the purchase and liberation of 
 slaves. It provided that the tax on slaves, the tax on 
 their sale or bequest, the proceeds of certain lotteries, the 
 fines collected under the act, together with pubhc appro- 
 priations and private donations, should constitute an 
 emancipation fund, to be duly apportioned among the 
 several provinces. The whole amount raised from these 
 sources since the passage of the act has been, in round 
 numbers, six and a half million dollars. By it some 
 20,000 slaves had been purchased and set free up to 1885, 
 being at an average price for each one of three hundred 
 and twenty-five dollars. It is estimated that from 80,000 
 to 100,000 have also been set free by private emancipa- 
 tion in the same time ; also that 200,000 have died, mak- 
 ing a decrease of about 320,000 in the number of slaves 
 since the passage of the law. The number of slaves in 
 Brazil, September 30, 1S73, according to the registration 
 
312 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 whicli was then assumed to be complete, was 1,540,796, 
 so that the number now in the empire must be fully 
 1,200,000. Private emancipation is a matter of frequent 
 occurrence all over the country, and is apparently encour- 
 aged by the popular sympathy. Indeed, in some locali- 
 ties the cause has advanced with enthusiasm. Especially 
 in the early part of 1884, say in March, there was a strong 
 anti-slavery agitation, resulting in the formal declaration 
 of liberation in two of the northern provinces — Amazonas 
 and Ceard. However, a senator has lately declared that 
 slaves are still held in both those provinces, and I have 
 myself had misgivings as to whether abolition or emanci- 
 pation had been fully carried out there. In Rio de Ja- 
 neiro mass-meetings and fairs were held, eloquent speeches 
 delivered, streets were decorated, and other displays made 
 in behalf of the abolition movement, which seemed to 
 have the support of a considerable portion of the influen- 
 tial classes. Still, it must be remembered that there are 
 over a million slaves in the empire, the most of whom 
 are tenaciously held in the richest agricultural districts. 
 
 In regard to the children bom of slave mothers after 
 September 28, 1871, and who, by the terms of the law, 
 are absolutely free at the age of twenty-one years, it may 
 be supposed that such jealous and rigorous means of iden- 
 tity have been thrown around them that they will be able 
 effectually to claim their liberty on the very day of their 
 majority. As a means, and the only means, to this end, 
 the Emancipation Act provides that they should all be 
 registered in books kept by the parish priests. It must 
 occasion regret to know that the work does not appear to 
 have been very carefully attended to. The Minister and 
 Secretary of State for the Department of Agriculture, Com- 
 merce, and Pubhc Works, in his annual report, dated May 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 313 
 
 10, 1883, stated that the returns scarcely showed with 
 certainty that, in the city of Kio de Janeiro and in thir- 
 teen provinces, on June 30, 1882, the number of children 
 who had been bom of slave mothers since September 28, 
 1871, was 173, YT6. Returns in respect of such minors 
 were wholly wanting from seven provinces, including the 
 three large and populous agricultural provinces of Bahia, 
 Sao Paulo, and Minas-Geraes. 
 
 On large and rich plantations, where there are several 
 hundred slaves,Jlie_organization, discipline, and treatment 
 in eve ry wa; y^j£e^ likel y to be much better than on planta- 
 tions where there are but few. On plantations having, 
 say, twenty^Iaves or thereabout, one will sometimes see 
 them hurried in their steps and work by pricking them 
 with a long stick having a sharp-pointed iron in one end 
 of it. Women as well as men are to-day goaded like 
 beasts on many Brazilian plantations. Flogging is a very 
 frequent method of enforcing discipline. Indeed, in early 
 times flogging seems to have been a pretty general system 
 of punishment. Once a Brazilian offender claimed to be 
 exempt from it from being half hidalgo ; but the. magis- 
 trate ordered half his body to be flogged, and left him to 
 determine which half was hidalgo ! 
 
 A recent authoritative and fair account of slavery as 
 it now exists in Brazil is contained in the speech in the 
 Brazilian Senate, which was delivered June 9, 1884, by 
 Senator Ottoni, an old statesman representing in part the 
 great province of Minas-Geraes, and who is distinguished 
 for the independence and candor of his views : 
 
 "Ever since this question has become somewhat 
 
 heated," said he, " I have constantly heard the stanchest 
 
 supporters of slavery say, 'I, too, am an emancipator.' 
 
 Who is not ? We all are. But, when any measure is 
 
 27 
 
SU BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPEOPS. 
 
 mentioned, they say, 'Kot.that, because the planters can 
 not bear it.' They want emancipation, they say, yet no 
 efficacious step in this direction pleases them. They only 
 want a drawling progress — I am wrong ; they want the 
 mystification of the Emancipation Act of September 28, 
 1871. According to the progression with which we are 
 executing that law as it stands, the real emancipator is 
 Death. There have died, since 1871, at least some haK- 
 million of slaves, while in the same period the state has 
 emancipated less than twenty thousand. Let us calculate 
 the end of slavery according to the present state of things. 
 The youngest slaves are those born in 1871 prior to the 
 passing of the law ; many of these will attain to eighty 
 years of age, some even to one hundred, but let us say 
 eighty years of age ; and thus only in 1950, the very mid- 
 dle of the twentieth century, will Death complete his 
 work. This state of things is unworthy of a civilized 
 nation. ... I know not if I am a pessimist — God grant 
 that I may be ! God grant that I may be a simple vision- 
 ary ! — ^but the present state of the Brazilian nation appears 
 to me critical and beset with dangers. Certain events are 
 taking place around us which, in my opinion, are imperil- 
 ing public peace, tending to thwart the execution of the 
 laws, annulling the action of our tribunals, and are on the 
 high-road to establish a ferocious and bloody anarchy. 
 First, then, the effronteries and crimes committed by the 
 slaves against their masters, overseers, and drivers have 
 multiplied deplorably and with disquieting frequency of 
 late years. It is a lamentable fact which ought to be 
 studied by the authorities. When attention was called 
 to this fact in the lower house, it was answered that it 
 was nothing new, that such had always been the case ; but 
 that answer, if sincere, showed very little reflection. What 
 
SLAYEEY AND EMANCIPATION. 315 
 
 we are witnessing now has never been seen before. The 
 few crimes of this kind, committed at long intervals, did 
 not present the serious characteristics which distinguish 
 these crimes now. Formerly, the criminal fled, or he 
 denied the fact, or he tried to escape the penalty of the 
 law ; now, however, he murders, and goes immediately to 
 the authorities and dehvers himseK up, saying, We have 
 committed a murder ; we want to be punished. It is this 
 which increases the gravity of the situation. I, Mr. Presi- 
 dent, have completed my seventy-third year ; for more 
 than haK a century I have had the full use of my facul- 
 ties. I see, I hear, I observe, and I can bearjwitness that 
 the treatment of slaves inJ BraziLhaa, gone on- steadily im- 
 proving. 
 
 " Before the slave-trade was abolished, and while tlie 
 slavers were deluging our shores with legions of dull- 
 witted Africans, who were bought for a mere song, the 
 slave-owners generally were careless of the duration of 
 the lives of their slaves ; even those (and they happily 
 constituted the majority) who were incapable of iU-treat- 
 ing them, or of cruelly punishing them, even they reck- 
 lessly sacrificed the life of the slave to excess of work. 
 There were twelve or fourteen hours of severe labor in 
 sun and rain ; there were still two hours at night in culti- 
 vating cereals for their own food and that of the domestic 
 animals ; and there was in addition an hour at daybreak 
 in cleaning up the drying-ground ready for the cofifee — 
 making fifteen or sixteen hours of grinding toil, which no 
 constitution can stand. And to this must be added in- 
 sufficient or inadequate food, and for clothing something 
 just short of absolute nakedness. 
 
 " It was commonly held among the slaveholders, and 
 I have heard it from many, that the net proceeds of the 
 
316 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 first year's labor of a slave were at least enough to cover 
 his cost ; that the second and following years were clear 
 profit. Why, then, said they, should we bother ourselves 
 about them, when we can so easily get fresh ones at such 
 a low price ? But when the slave-trade was extinguished 
 the price of the slave advanced, and his treatment began 
 at once to be more humane. The cholera, which deci- 
 mated the slave population, resulted in vastly improving 
 his treatment, his dwelling, his clothing, in his being 
 withdrawn from the field in wet weather, etc. ; and the 
 law of the 28th of September still further improved his 
 condition. To-day there is no question that the condition 
 of the Brazihan slave is no whit inferior to that of the la- 
 borer in the great nations of Europe ; and yet, at the very 
 time that his condition has been so immensely improved, 
 his irritability and ferocity are on the increase — facts well 
 worthy the attention of all those who bestow a thought on 
 the future of this country. 
 
 " But, parallel to these facts, there are arising others 
 equally lamentable, still more reprehensible, for they are 
 committed by free men. I refer to the expulsion from 
 their domicile of those judges who have given certain de- 
 cisions, by individuals collected and armed, and who have 
 been called the populace. I refer to the expulsion of ad- 
 vocates who petition the courts for the judicial freedom 
 of a slave ; and, on a par with these still more astounding 
 abuses, the invasion of the jails, and the forcible with- 
 drawal of criminals, who are hacked to pieces in the pub- 
 lic square. And, what is most alarming, is the silence 
 preserved about each one of these facts ! To the expelled 
 judge the Government gives another district ; as to the 
 citizens violently assailed in their rights, they are left to 
 settle those matters among themselves; and no one has 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 317 
 
 yet heard say that the author or authors of a single one of 
 these attacks on jails and of murders of prisoners had been 
 discovered — people content themselves with saying, ^Itis 
 lynch law.' 
 
 (" Among the planters of a large part of the south of 
 the empire there is a wide-spread compact to bring press- 
 ure upon the jury to acquit slave offenders so they may 
 be handed over to their owners, who naturally administer 
 justice with their own hands. That this is the general 
 incHnation among the coffee-planters I know for a fact. ' 
 
 "There are yet other symptoms which are equally 
 serious. Let the Senate just mark the line which is being 
 followed by the planters' clubs founded in nearly aU the 
 municipalities of the provinces of Rio de Janeiro, Minas, 
 and Sao Paulo. The statutes of some clubs contain arti- 
 cles which imply that they are constituting themselves an 
 iinperium in im/perio, completely eliminating the appli- 
 cation of the laws and the action of the authorities. . . . 
 One great reason the planters give for taldng such steps 
 for their mutual jjrotection is the failure of the Govern- 
 ment to execute the death-penalty for high crimes com- 
 mitted by slaves. But the gallows is no remedy for the 
 state of things which I have described to the Senate; 
 what we have to do is to clear up the point to our coun- 
 trymen, and leave the Crown free to exercise the power 
 conferred upon it by the Constitution. . . . 
 
 " For five years, from 1866 to 1871, the promise of the 
 freedom of the wretched slaves, like a ray of sunlight 
 penetrated from tlie throne to every comer of the empire. 
 We all remember the journeys into the interior which the 
 chief of state made at that time, and how, if it was not a 
 working-day; the slaves lined the road on both sides, and 
 on their knees blessed their redeemer as he passed. The 
 
318 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 five years of these golden hopes passed, the hour of their 
 realization arrived in the law of the 28th of September, 
 and the undeceiving of these poor wretches was sad and 
 complete. The law declared that those who should be 
 bom thenceforward should be free, but as a fact it made 
 no such provision, for it left them in bondage until thej 
 were twenty-one years of age. Still, it at least assured 
 them of freedom on their attaining their majority. But 
 what did it do for the existing generation ? It spoke of 
 their gradual emancipation in such terms as we are accus- 
 tomed to describe as ''jpara Inglez ver ' " (for the English 
 to see). 
 
 Mr. Da Motta : " They were hoodwinked." 
 
 Mr. Jaguakibe : " It is the administrators of the law 
 who have not carried it out ; that's what's the matter." 
 
 Mr. Ottoni : " ISTo, sir ; it comes from the law and its 
 administrators." 
 
 Mr. Da Motta : " Hear, hear ! " 
 
 Mr. Jaqitaeibe : " The law was the thin end of the 
 wedge ; and, had it not been for that, there would be no 
 propaganda to-day." 
 
 Mr. Ottoni : " The report of the Minister of Agri- 
 culture for the present year only too justly laments that 
 the state has succeeded in emancipating only nineteen 
 thousand slaves, when during the same pariod there have 
 died, according to the report, one hundred and ninety-one 
 thousand. But far greater would be the regret and the 
 disappointment of the noble ex-Minister of Agriculture 
 were he to reflect that the figures of this part of his report 
 are notoriously and willfully false ! " 
 
 Mr. Da Motta : " Hear, hear ! " 
 
 Mr. Ottoni: "Notoriously and willfully false, as has 
 already been proved in the Legislative Assembly, without 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 319 
 
 any steps having been taken in consequence I These fig- 
 ures would give, calculated progressively, an annual death- 
 rate of a little over one per cent, barely one and a quarter 
 per cent. Kow, I will venture to say that no nucleus of 
 population in the whole world, even of free men, shows 
 so low a death-rate ; it is everywhere over two per cent. 
 Besides, who does not know that the deaths of the planta- 
 tion slaves are never registered ? Who is there that is ig- 
 norant that the planters of a certain class have cemeteries 
 on their estates, where they bury the corpses of their slaves 
 without holding themselves accountable to any one, and 
 without any oversight on the part of the authorities ? 
 
 " The regulations for the execution of the law of the 
 28th of September require that notice shall be given of 
 the deaths of the registered slaves, and impose fines for 
 non-compliance ; but the required notice is never given, 
 and no fine has ever been inflicted yet. And here is the 
 proper place for me to reply to the noble senator who 
 just now interrupted me : the executors execute ill what- 
 ever is mischievous in the law, and destroy all the good 
 that it may contain. The result is, that while the state 
 emancipates nineteen thousand slaves, death Hberates half 
 a million probably — some four or five hundred thousand, 
 perhaps. . . . 
 
 " I am an emancipationist, but profoundly discontented 
 with everything that has been done, and still more so 
 with the obstinacy which wants to do nothing in the direc- 
 tion of developing this principle. The result of this dis- 
 content must necessarily be the going over to abolition. 
 I regret, as I have already stated, this tendency ; but I 
 wish still to hope on, especially after hearing the promises 
 made by the ministry. ... It is to be presumed that any 
 radical measure which it may propose in this direction 
 
320 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 will meet with the assent of the majority of the Chamber. 
 Should such, however, not be the case, it would be a glori- 
 ous mission for the ministry to present its radical measure, 
 and to dissolve the Chamber for that reason ; thus facili- 
 tating the organization of the two parties — emancipation- 
 ist and pro-slavery — the only two which have any right to 
 exist at the present time." 
 
 The Cabinet of Senator Dantas, including much of 
 the best talent and parliamentary influence of the Liberal 
 party, and a chief of undoubted capacity for government, 
 came into office June 5, 1884, for the purpose of carrying 
 through some further measure of emancipation. On the 
 15th of July following, the long-looked for plan was pre- 
 sented in the Chamber of Deputies by a member from 
 Bahia, Mr. Rodolpho Dantas, a son of the prime minister. 
 The main provisions of the bill were, that slaves who 
 have attained or shall attain the age of sixty years are de- 
 clared free, without pay to their owners ; a new registra- 
 tion was to be made, and a tax of five per cent on all 
 slaves, according to a specified valuation, collected for an 
 emancipation fund. 
 
 Mr. Penido, Liberal, submitted this motion: "The 
 Chamber, disapproving the Government bill on slavery, 
 denies its confidence to the Government," which was 
 adopted by fifty-nine votes for it to fifty-two against it. 
 
 The ministry then decided, with the Emperor's ap- 
 proval, on appeahng to the country, if the right of suffrage 
 of two hundred and fifty thousand in a population of thir- 
 teen million can be so called. A dissolution of the Cham- 
 ber, whose term of four years was nearly up anyhow, was 
 decreed; but meantime the General Assembly devoted 
 its attention to the appropriation bills. 
 
 On the 20th of March the prime minister, Mr. Dantas, 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 321 
 
 had delivered a speech in the Senate principally with 
 reference to his scheme of emancipation, but in which, 
 from the turn of the previous discussion, he was diverted 
 into a number of topics. In the course of his speech he 
 said that, while twenty thousand slaves had been freed 
 by the emancipation fund, some three hundred thousand 
 had been emancipated by death since the act of Septem- 
 ber 28, 1871. 
 
 The following is a speech which he did not deliver : 
 " Mr. President, the Prince of Wales, as presiding officer 
 of a public meeting in London in August last, delivered 
 an address, in which he said : ' Then, as to Brazil, you are 
 probably aware that, while all the small republics of 
 South America put an end to slavery when they ceased 
 connection with Spain, Brazil alone retains the curse she 
 inherited from lier Portuguese rulers. At the present 
 moment Brazil possesses nearly a million and a half of 
 slaves on her vast plantations, many of whom lead a hfe 
 worse than that of beasts of burden.' Our country is get- 
 ting the ill-will of foreigners in consequence of slavery. 
 Besides, there is an important anti-slavery sentiment in 
 our own country which demands some additional and rea- 
 sonable measure of emancipation. Thejyusiness and in- 
 dustrial interests of the country require that something 
 be done to allay agitation and discontent. The plan of 
 the ministry is to emancipate absolutely and without com- 
 pensation to the owners all slaves who have reached the 
 age of sixty years. Objection is made to this on the 
 ground that it imposes on the slaveholder too great a 
 sacrifice. "Well, it would be pleasant for the state to buy 
 the freedom of these slaves if it could afford to do so. 
 The state, however, is now so deeply in debt, and the 
 currency so greatly depreciated, that it would not be pru- 
 
322 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 dent to increase the indebtedness for this object. To 
 increase taxation wonld be equally objectionable, because 
 taxes on imports and exports are now exceedingly high. 
 Indeed, a part of the public financial burden was incurred 
 for railroads and other improvements which have en- 
 hanced the value of plantations. Were it not for the very 
 difiicult financial situation of the country, we would all, 
 I think, most cheerfully compensate the masters for every 
 slave proposed to be liberated. 
 
 " Butj after all, is it much of a sacrifice for the owners 
 to liberate without pay those slaves who are sixty years 
 old ? In briefly considering this question, I do so with 
 feelings of respect and kindness to the slaveholding 
 planters, who, collectively, are as estimable a class of peo- 
 ple as we have. Let us look at the matter in the light of 
 the present day — and which, be assured, has penetrated 
 to the cabin of the slave — as a simple question of labor 
 and wages, devoid of sentiment and of traditional preju- 
 dice. We find, then, in our country a class of men and 
 women of African descent, aged sixty years, who have 
 been kept at compulsory labor for forty years without 
 receiving wages. What have they earned ? What gain 
 have the masters derived from their toil all these forty 
 years ? If we can ascertain this, then we can better under- 
 stand whether or not it will be a sacrifice for the masters 
 now to terminate without indemnity this relation of com- 
 pulsory labor without wages. The average wages of an 
 agricultural laborer in Brazil have been one milreis per 
 day ; and, in addition to the work he would do to earn this 
 amount, he would perform the labor necessary to raise the 
 subsistence for himself and family. The slave, fulfilling 
 daily an allotted task, imquestionably has earned more 
 than the average free laborer working for wages ; but, to 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 323 
 
 be surely in the limits of moderation, let ns assume that 
 the average net earnings of a slave, male and female, have 
 been only half a milreis a day, and that there have been 
 in each year as many as eighty-five days in which he did 
 not vrork. His net earnings, then, have amounted to one 
 hundred and forty milreis (at ]3resent exchange, fifty-two 
 dollars of United States money) per year. Since he was 
 twenty years old, or during forty years, he has, at this 
 rate, earned five thousand six hundred milreis. But, 
 when he had finished twenty years' work, he had, at the 
 same rate, earned haK that amount — say, two thousand 
 eight hundred milreis — which sum, if it had been put at 
 interest, would have doubled in the next twenty years. 
 Add this to his earnings, and we have eight thousand four 
 hundred milreis (8,400$000 ; in United States money, 
 $3,108) as the net amount of what his master has de- 
 rived from his labor during forty years, and at the time 
 he has reached the age of sixty years at half a milreis a 
 day. Twenty years ago the average value of a field-slave 
 was fifteen hundred milreis, and forty years ago it was 
 less. Even deduct from these net earnings the original 
 cost of the slave, and interest thereon, and we see that the 
 master can liberate him at the age of sixty, and stiU hold 
 a very substantial balance of earnings in his hands. 
 
 " Mr. President, the world moves. We live in a time 
 when, by steam communication, telegraphs, and news- 
 papers, thought travels rapidly. However ilhterate the 
 slave may be, he is not to-day ignorant of public senti- 
 ment and of what is due to labor. I appeal to the plant- 
 ers and their representatives to be wise in time, and to 
 accept the proposition now offered. If they do not, who 
 can guarantee that in the future they will receive one as 
 favorable? The United States was a peace-loving and 
 
324 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION" AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 tranquil country, yet African slavery, just such as we 
 have among us, threw it into a paroxysm of civil war 
 which, during an entire generation, involved the slave- 
 holders in distress, and in many instances caused their 
 absolute ruin. Let us profit by their experience, and give 
 some token that we respect the anti-slavery sentiment of 
 our country." 
 
 For several succeeding days one or two speeches a day 
 on the slavery question were made by different senators, 
 and of length sufficient to fill about a whole page of the 
 big " Jomal do Commercio," but, as a rule, they were 
 characterized by vagueness. 
 
 On the 29th of April a decree prolonging the extra 
 session of the General Assembly to the 19th of May was 
 read in the Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies. In 
 the latter branch some inquiries were made, apparently 
 to embarrass the ministry. Then, on the taking up of 
 the report in the contested election case for the second 
 district of Rio Grande do ITorte, a very disorderly scene 
 ensued, and the presiding officer suspended the session for 
 fifteen minutes. It was reported that one member had 
 assaulted another member. There was some jeering and 
 hissing in the galleries, and subsequently one or two mem- 
 bers were jostled by a crowd in the street, but no one 
 received any bodily injury. However, the disorder was 
 made the ground of complaint the next day by certain 
 senators, who imputed to the ministry an inability to main- 
 tain public order. In the Senate a strong attack on the 
 Government was made by Senator Brandao, of Pernam- 
 buco, wbo moved for information as to what steps had 
 been taken to guarantee the independence of the Chamber 
 of Deputies and public order. His speech, which was 
 frequently interrupted, was replied to, in the absence, from 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 325 
 
 sickness, of tlie prime minister, by Senator de Sa, Minis- 
 ter of the Empire, who denied any responsibility of the 
 Government in the matter, and said there had been no 
 disturbance of the peace. He called attention to the fact 
 that the disorderly persons had been spectators in the 
 Chamber, where they could only enter by cards, and that 
 these cards were furnished by the officers of the Chamber. 
 lie explained how the Government were the chief suffer- 
 ers from the occurrence, and the injustice and absurdity 
 of charging them with complicity in it. The minister 
 was constantly interrupted by opposition senators, but 
 seems to have retained his coolness under great provoca- 
 tion. 
 
 On the 2d of May Prime-Minister Dantas appeared in 
 the Senate, and, being still unwell, made some remarks, 
 seated in a chair, partly in reply to the inquiry of Senator 
 Junqueira, as to whether the prolongation of the extra 
 session had been made after consulting the Grand Council 
 of State. He thanked the Conservative Senator de Souza 
 for yielding him the floor, and said that, while his health 
 was far from satisfactory, his sense of duty and what he 
 had read in the papers about the previous session had 
 brought him to the Senate. He repeated Senator de Sa's 
 assertion that no blame could be placed on the Govern- 
 ment as to the disorderly occurrences at the Chamber. 
 He would stand or fall with his emancipation project. 
 
 The opposition in the Chamber of Deputies, however, 
 seized the opportunity to renew its attack on the ministry ; 
 and, on Monday, the 4th of May, Mr. Antonio de Siquei- 
 ra, of Pemambuco, moved that " the Chamber of Depu- 
 ties, convinced that the ministry is unable to guarantee 
 the public order and security, which are indispensable for 
 the solution of the slavery question, refuses to it its con- 
 
 28 
 
326 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITIOIT AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 fidence " whicli was carried by a vote of fifty-two to fifty. 
 Immediately after this the Cabinet miinisters, driving, as 
 usual, each in a close carriage with two mounted guards, 
 held a meeting at the office of the Minister of Agriculture, 
 and then the prime minister. Senator Dantas, started for 
 Petropolis to confer with the Emperor. At six o'clock 
 a large anti-slavery mass-meeting was held in the Lapa 
 Square, which, after listening to some address, went in an 
 orderly manner to the Rua Ouvidor and cheered in front 
 of the offices of four prominent newspapers which sup- 
 ported the Government plan of emancipation. The 
 " Paiz " newspaper the next morning said : " It rests now 
 with the Crown to pronounce upon the new conflict wliich 
 has arisen between the ministry and the accidental major- 
 ity. Public order never has been so assured as now, as 
 can easily be understood, seeing that the people are in 
 favor of the Government and of its political programme." 
 
 On the 5th of May the Emperor came down from his 
 summer residence to Eio with Senator Dantas, and the 
 same day at the palace consulted with some of the leading 
 statesmen, and, first of all, with Senator Saraiva. The 
 result was that Mr. Saraiva accepted the invitation of his 
 Majesty to form a new ministry, which was organized the 
 6th of May. 
 
 The emancipation project of the new ministry was 
 presented in the Chamber of Deputies May 11th, the dis- 
 tinctive features of which consisted in a large increase of 
 the emancipation fund, namely, two and a half million 
 dollars annually by a Government five per cent loan, the 
 interest on which is to be paid by a five per cent additional 
 tax on imports ; the payment to masters of two hundred 
 milreis— say, eighty dollars — for each slave aged sixty 
 years, four hundred milreis for slaves aged fifty years, six 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 327 
 
 hundred for those aged forty years, eiglit hundred for 
 those aged thirty years, and one thousand milreis for those 
 under twenty years of age. Slaves upward of sixty-five 
 are declared free, without pay to the master. All freed- 
 men over sixty years of age to remain with their masters, 
 who must feed, clothe, and care for them in sickness, 
 availing of their services, provided the orphans' court 
 does not decide that the said f reedmen can earn their own 
 living. Slaves between sixty and sixty-five will be obliged 
 to work for three years. A new registry of slaves to be 
 made, but not including those over sixty. The master 
 will pay a fee of one milreis for the registry of each slave, 
 and those not registered within the time fixed will be con- 
 sidered free. 
 
 The prime minister, Mr. Saraiva, made some remarks 
 on the subject in tlie Senate on May 23d. It was his 
 conviction that no country could transform slave into free 
 labor without an outlay by the state. If labor could be 
 reorganized on ten, fifty, sixty, or eighty plantations, the 
 slavery question was finished. The project was a large 
 expansion of the original law. From the time he had 
 first considered the question he had said that such a project 
 must be formulated as would need no future improve- 
 ments ; hence, his opposition to the former project, which 
 was not definite, and he believed the present would finally 
 settle the question. Again, on June 1st, in the Chamber 
 of Deputies, he said that if it was objected that the project 
 did not propose a pecuniary indemnification for slaves of 
 sixty-five years, it must be remembered that many plant- 
 ers would prefer to employ these old slaves as teachers of 
 the younger ones, rather than receive one or two hun- 
 dred milreis for them. He thought that a fixed period 
 was the worst means that could be employed, and it was 
 
328 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 for the purpose of defeating anarchical and revolutionary 
 principles that the Government organized the project as 
 it was. The project did not limit itself to freeing the 
 slave ; it had a more serious aim, that of the transforma- 
 tion of labor ; and, unless the planters are furnished with 
 the necessary means, there could be no transformation of 
 labor. With an annual discount of six per cent on the 
 value of the slave, and two per cent death-rate, he esti- 
 mated that in ten years slavery would be extinct. 
 
 The project, after considerable discussion and some 
 amendments, was passed in the Chamber of Deputies, on 
 August 13th, by a small majority, due in part to Con- 
 servative votes ; and the following day the Saraiva Cabi- 
 net resigned, and the Emperor, after consulting the Presi- 
 dents of the Senate and Chamber, decided, on August 
 19th, to call on the Conservatives to form a Government. 
 Their leader, Senator Baron de Cotegipe, promptly un- 
 dertook the task, as premier, accepting for himseK the 
 portfoho of Minister of Foreign Affairs. His Cabinet 
 supported the Saraiva project, and it passed the Senate 
 and became a law on September 28, 1885. 
 
 On June 1, 1886, ex-Premier Dantas treated the Sen- 
 ate to a surprise by introducing, in behalf of himself and 
 nine others, a bill for the unconditional abolition of slavery 
 at the expiration of five years from its adoption. It was 
 referred to a special committee, which was elected by the 
 Senate on the following day, and composed of strongly 
 pro-slavery men, among whom were ISTunes Gongalves and 
 Martinho Campos. In five days the committee made an 
 adverse report, dechning to consider emancipation as an 
 abstract question, but rejecting the project for its lack of 
 opportuneness and its effects on high social interests. In 
 their view the Saraiva-Gotegipe law was satisfying the 
 
SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. 329 
 
 aspirations of the country. According to the official re- 
 port for 1886, the whole number of slaves liberated by the 
 emancipation fund since 1871 was 24,165, at an average 
 price of $288 for each slave — being less than 2,000 liber- 
 ations per year. According to official returns, the number 
 of slaves in the empire on June 30, 1885, was 1,133,228 ; 
 and it is likely that Americans will drink coffee pro- 
 duced by slave-labor for at least a quarter of a century 
 longer. 
 
OHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 THE KELIGIOUS OKDEES. 
 
 The fact that the Pope sided with Spain against the 
 crown of Portugal over two centuries ago, probably has 
 made the Catholics of the latter country and of Brazil 
 more national and less Romish, in church matters, than 
 have been the Catholics of some other countries. The 
 Jesuits, who had been especially active and useful in civil- 
 izing the Indians in Brazil, were expelled from the coun- 
 try a century and a quarter ago for having influenced the 
 Indians to revolt against the Government. 
 
 In its proceedings against the monasteries Brazil has 
 been slower than either Italy, Portugal, or Spain. It is 
 only lately that it began to put in force a law for grad- 
 ually winding itp the monastic institutions. Ko new 
 members can be received into these orders, but existing 
 members remain unmolested. A commission under the 
 Government was appointed to ascertain and appraise the 
 revenue -yielding property of the different monasteries, 
 which is understood to be large ; this property was to be 
 sold and its proceeds invested in interest-bearing securi- 
 ties, and out of it the surviving members of the orders 
 were to be supported during life, after which the funds 
 would revert to the national treasury. This action by the 
 
THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 33I 
 
 legislative and executive power of the state has been 
 hotly denounced by the Catholic clergy and some of their 
 political friends as confiscation and robbery. Sermons 
 have been preached, and voluminous articles published in 
 the newspapers, denunciatory alike of the Emperor and 
 Government for permitting the law to be carried into 
 execution. The result has been that the law seems to be 
 rather at a standstill. 
 
 The Franciscan Convent on Sao Antonio Hill is an an- 
 tique massive pile, which from its long stretch of steps 
 reminds one of the old Roman Capitol. The visit which 
 I made to it was on one of the festival-days of the order. 
 I was ushered into the reception-room of the provincial, 
 or chief of the convent, where, besides three or four gen- 
 tlemen, who appeared to be making a social visit, were 
 two rather distinguished - looking men dressed in long 
 black robes tied about them with a white cord, and whom 
 I naturally took to be the higher officials of the order. 
 The one of these, who took the leading part in the con- 
 versation, and who impressed me at once by his dignified 
 manner, his deep fine voice, and fluent speech as an ideal 
 abbot, such as Sir Walter Scott describes, I supposed was 
 the head of the convent. I felt a gratified astonishment 
 in meeting such a character ; but I was destined to disap- 
 pointment, for I learned later on that he was a Rio lawyer 
 and politician. It was Dr. Antonio F. Yianna, a leading 
 member of the Chamber of Deputies from Rio de Janeiro, 
 distinguished as a debater, and who, as syndic or solicitor 
 of the convent, was present on this occasion in the capacity 
 of a lay member, wearing the regalia of the order. The 
 conversation gradually led to the character of Brazilian 
 monasteries, a subject on which I wished information 
 from the monks themselves. Dr. Yianna launched out 
 
332 BRAZIL: ITS CON"DITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 into an eloquent historical review of the operations of the 
 brotherhoods in Brazil, beginning over two centuries back, 
 and touching their work in civilizing the Indians, in pro- 
 moting education, in caring for the needy, and withal 
 touching on the manner in which they had been oppressed. 
 He dwelt with emphasis on the fact that there had never 
 been religious persecution in Brazil. From him and Pro- 
 vincial Costa I learned that this convent had become rich ; 
 that some property was originally granted to it by the Gov- 
 ernment ; that about fifty thousand dollars in money had 
 been annually expended by it in recent times for the poor ; 
 that there are many thousand lay members of the order, and 
 that a large hospital for their benefit is maintained by the 
 convent ; that there are now only three monks belonging 
 to this convent, and only about twenty monks in all the 
 twelve convents of the Franciscan order in Brazil. When 
 the convent was in full operation the ordinary duties of 
 the brothers, who were all educated men, were to admin- 
 ister the sacrament to the dying, solicit alms, and visit the 
 sick and poor. " When the convents took charge of the 
 poor," said Dr. Yianna, " we had no beggars among us." 
 '' Where did the brothers take their exercise and recre- 
 ation ? " " Out here on the mountain " — ^pointing to the 
 adjacent Sao Antonio Hill. 
 
 They took me to see the churches, of which there are 
 two, having much ornamentation ; also the vestries, library, 
 and other places of interest about the convent. The li- 
 brary is in a separate and higher building than the others. 
 There were a couple of thousand or more ponderous vol- 
 umes in calf-gilt binding, the most of them being works 
 of the church fathers in both Latin and Greek, in oppo- 
 site columns on the same page ; and, though a hundred 
 years old, the pages of several that I opened looked as 
 
THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 333 
 
 clear and fresh as if they had just come from the press. 
 There did not appear to be a single modern book in all 
 the collection, and the thought struck me that the library 
 was symbolic of the convent as an institution failing to 
 keep up with the times. 
 
 In a niche of one of the churches there was pointed out 
 to me the tomb of some of the royal princes who had been 
 buried there in colonial days. As we were walking over 
 the stone-slab pavement of one of the lower corridors 
 opening on the interior court, I was told that underneath 
 was the former burying-place of the brothers. The ves- 
 tries are spacious rooms, with marble floors, and contain 
 many big drawers made of Brazil-wood in natural col- 
 ors, in which are kept the priestly vestments. Some of 
 these, very rich in gold embroidery, were taken out by 
 Provincial De Costa and shown me. When the beautiful 
 vase of solid gold, and other golden vessels used in cele- 
 brating mass, were exhibited, one or two humorous remarks 
 were dropped at the expense of those who in these days 
 are trying to get hold of the convent's effects. 
 
 I took leave of both these gentlemen, who had courte- 
 ously spent an hour or two in showing me about the con- 
 vent, and in explaining its history, very favorably im- 
 pressed by their frank and manly character. 
 
 The Benedictine Convent of Eio de Janeiro, founded 
 in 1590, is situated in the busiest corner of the city, on a 
 hill about a hundred feet high, close to and overlooking 
 the harbor. The street, on which are the Post-Office and 
 new Merchants' Exchange, abuts on this hill, and it is from 
 that street that the convent is entered. The approach 
 up to it is over a solid and ancient-looking way, partly of 
 steps cut from long and whole blocks of granite, and is 
 partially shaded by the green foliage of trees through 
 
334: BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 which, as I passed under them, shone the afternoon sun 
 of a perfect summer day. 
 
 The building is in the form of a square with an ample 
 stone paved interior court. The church occupies one 
 whole side. The upper story of another side is occupied 
 by the large school which the convent sustains. The cor- 
 ridors are long and of good width and paved with stone. 
 At two comers are tile-paved reception-rooms, hung with 
 several portraits, and having windows which overlook the 
 island-studded bay. Immediately below the convent on 
 the north side are the Government's iron ship-yard and 
 machine-shops, the noise from which would be almost 
 sufficient to abolish the convent without other proceed- 
 ing. The establishment of these works so near the con- 
 vent was literally a flank movement against it. 
 
 My visit to the abbot of the Benedictine Convent of 
 Rio de Janeiro, the Bev. Manoel de Santa Catharina 
 Furtado, took place "at liis private parlor in the convent 
 on Saturday, the 11th of October. I sent in my card, and, 
 although my visit was unexpected, I was soon admitted 
 and received by him in a cordial manner. The abbot is 
 a man, I should say, about forty-five years of age, a little 
 over five feet in height, inclined to be fat, complexion, 
 hair, and eyes dark, an open, intelligent countenance, and 
 animated manner. He wore a long tunic, cape, and scap- 
 ulary of black serge, also a standing collar, but no cover 
 on his liead. At his request I took a seat on the cane- 
 seat sofa, he sitting in one of the arm cane-seat chairs, of 
 which two rows were ranged perpendicular to the sofa. 
 Though in a very old building the room was modem and 
 furnished like almost any tidy Rio parlor. On a marble- 
 topped center-table and on some cabinets were several 
 branched candlesticks with figured glasses to surround the 
 
THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 335 
 
 candles, and one or two stands of artificial flowers. There 
 was a rug in front of the sofa. The floor was made of nai*- 
 row cedar boards neatly finished in natural color. Two 
 windows in the room afforded an extensive view of the 
 port and shipping. After some casual remarks, I said, 
 " It has been the fashion in late years for writers of books 
 in the English language on Brazil to speak unfavorably 
 of Catholic priests and monks." 
 
 " That," said he, " was because they did not take the 
 trouble to come and see us and learn the truth about us. 
 You should have seen," he continued, "the crowds of 
 people who came up here, with tears running down their 
 cheeks, at the time the Government had in view the ap- 
 propriation of the convent's property, and who were 
 afraid they would be deprived of the donations they had 
 been accustomed regularly to receive. The Government 
 finally arranged that these charitable contributions might 
 be continued, and the convent now pays out monthly in 
 charity sums varying from two to twenty-five milreis 
 (one to ten dollars) to over a hundred people, say in all 
 seven hundred dollars a month." The abbot stepped to 
 his adjoining bedchamber and produced a large blank- 
 book w^herein he showed me a list of one hundred and 
 twenty-three names of citizens — which, of course, I did 
 not think it my place to read — with the monthly allow- 
 ance set opposite each name. The convent also expends, 
 as he informed me, eight thousand dollars annually in 
 maintaining a free primary and secondary school for boys, 
 in the latter of which they can fit for the higher scientific 
 and professional schools. This school was established in 
 1858, by a brother of Mr. Sariva, the Liberal statesman, 
 and now has an average attendance of about four hundred 
 pupils. He cited the fact that the convent had produced 
 
336 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION" AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 some men of acknowledged learning and usefulness, nam- 
 ino- as one of them the brother or friar who was the in- 
 structor of the Imperial Princess — the exemplary wife 
 and mother who is now next in succession to the throne. 
 Another was the Professor of Philosophy in the College 
 of Dom Pedro II. 
 
 In the course of his rapid observations he cited other 
 facts that would tend to reflect credit on the brotherhood, 
 but which I do not recall. IS"aturally the maintaining 
 of regular public worship in the church of the convent 
 would be an important claim to consideration. 
 
 " The income from the property of the convent," said 
 the abbot, ''is three hundred contos (one hundred and 
 twelve thousand dollars) annually ; but the Government 
 levies a tax on this of twenty-two per cent. The income 
 of the convent in 1850 was only twenty-iive thousand 
 dollars." 
 
 "When the convent was in a flourishing condition, 
 what were the rules for admission to membership?" I 
 asked. 
 
 " In former times candidates were admitted not young- 
 er than the age of fifteen years, and had a trial of half a 
 year, during which they did not leave the convent. At 
 the end of that time they could make their profession to 
 become one of the brotherhood or they could leave. This 
 was changed in 1856 so they were admitted at fifteen 
 years of age and upward, and then had a year's trial, dur- 
 ing which they remained constantly at the convent, at the 
 end of which time they could make their profession, or 
 they could go on and finish the regular six years' course of 
 study required in all cases, and, when ready to be or- 
 dained, they could make the solemn declaration to become 
 a member, or they could simply become a priest and leave 
 
THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 337 
 
 the order entirely. Tlie course of study is about the same 
 as at Catholic theological seminaries. Though candidates 
 were usually admitted while young, the convent once re- 
 ceived a man at the age of forty because he was distin- 
 guished. He was a Frenchman, and favored by the Em- 
 peror, who appointed him librarian. No pecuniary quali- 
 fications were required of any candidate, but it was neces- 
 sary he should be of a thoroughly respectable family. 
 Practically the question of color was undoubtedly re- 
 garded, as none of African descent have been admitted. 
 No one could be admitted without a knowledge of French, 
 Latin, geography, and history ; he must have had about 
 the same literary training required for admission to a 
 theological seminary." 
 
 " What were the duties of the monks and the disci- 
 pline they were subjected to i Could they go into soci- 
 ety ? Could they dine out ? " 
 
 " There was no regulation to prevent their going into 
 society or dining out. They could not, however, lodge 
 out of the convent, but were required to be present every 
 evening at eight o'clock. After completing the six years' 
 course of study required at every convent, a brother, if 
 twenty-three years of age, but not younger, could be or- 
 dained and exercise the office of priest. Till they had 
 finished their studies their duties and discipline were those 
 of students ; afterward, as priests, to conduct divine wor- 
 ship, preach, teach, and care for the poor — in fact, to do 
 any service a priest could do. If a brother could not 
 preach, he could, perhaps, sing and assist in public wor- 
 ship. Formerly the convent owned plantations, and a 
 brother would be detailed to have charge. Thirteen years 
 ago it freed about a thousand slaves, and gave some land 
 to well-behaved slaves. The collection of rents is through 
 
338 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 secular agents or attorneys. The convent has enjoyed a 
 large annual revenue." 
 
 "Who controlled the spending of the money?" 
 
 " The abbot. He is responsible for the expenditure 
 of the money. It is for him to determine the current 
 expenses. He gives a written report of the money he has 
 expended every three years. On any very important 
 matter he receives the advice of a council of the order. 
 
 " Our order," continued the abbot, " is quite a repub- 
 lic. It obtained independence from Leo XII (Pope, 
 1823-29), since which we have our congregation in our 
 own country, and change our ruler or general every three 
 years. There are now ten Benedictine Convents in good 
 order in Brazil. The principal one is at Bahia, where the 
 general resides, but this is the richest one. In 1850 there 
 were, perhaps, seventy-five brothers of the Benedictine 
 Order in Brazil ; now there are only twenty-five, of whom 
 about twelve are here. Six have died in the last three 
 years." 
 
 " I understand that, owing to the spirit of legislation 
 in recent years, a stop has practically been put to any in- 
 crease in the number of monks, but I suppose they will 
 be allowed to spend the rest of their days quietly in the 
 convents where they now dwell ? " 
 
 " We do not know," said the abbot. '' We live in ap- 
 prehension. In defending their interests during the late 
 controversy with the Government, two orders paid sixty- 
 six contos (twenty-six thousand dollars) to journals and 
 lawyers." 
 
 In answering some further inquiries of mine relative 
 to the dress of the brothers, the abbot explained the mat- 
 ter in a friendly and off-hand manner. He let me exam- 
 ine the cloth of which his tunic was made, and which he 
 
THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 339 
 
 said is called serge. The pleated slip worn over this, and 
 extending down over the stomach, is called the scapularj. 
 He went into his adjoining bedchamber and brought out 
 his black gown, which he put on. It was a loose black 
 robe of serge, with train, and he told me it was such as 
 he or any brother wore when preaching, and that thej 
 were also buried in it. He put on his gold cross and 
 chain ; also bent down Ms head to show me how those of 
 his order had their heads shaved. The part shaved is in 
 form of a ring, an inch or more wide on the top of the 
 head, leaving some hair in the center. 
 
 At the conclusion of our talk I expressed to the abbot 
 my sincere thanks for the kind manner in which he had 
 given me so much information. As I was coming away, 
 he took me into the choir of the church and pointed out 
 several things of interest. He also invited me to visit the 
 church on some Sunday, and I promised to do so. 
 
 "Do not come, however," said he, "next Sunday, for 
 I shall be absent." 
 
 I shook hands with him very heartily, and, as I de- 
 scended the old stone stairs, I thought of the time when 
 Brother Martin Luther himself was a monk, and that, 
 while monasteries seem now out of date, probably the 
 brothers are somewhat better than in the time of Luther, 
 when every monk had " two cans of beer and a quart of 
 wine for supper, with gingerbread, to make him take to 
 his liquor kindly." 
 
 The academical course of study which a theological 
 student takes in Brazil before he can be ordained as a 
 priest of the Catholic Church occupies twelve years. 
 Wlien he has finished this course, he has generally reached 
 the age of twenty-four years. He can not, anyhow, be 
 ordained or consecrated as a priest till he has attained that 
 
340 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 age. Having graduated at a seminary, and being of the 
 proper age, he can be consecrated as a priest without any 
 other examination. As soon as he becomes ordained, he 
 is immediately assigned by the bishop as an ordinary or 
 assistant in some parish ; and, after serving in that capaci- 
 ty four or five years, he can be assigned to duty as a full 
 priest in charge of a parish. The bishop, however, in no 
 case appoints for a longer term than one year. At the 
 end of the year every priest must ask for re- examination, 
 and to have his mission renewed. The salary which the 
 Government pays each priest is four hundred milreis — 
 say one hundred and sixty dollars — a year. The parish 
 he serves makes up the balance, according to its means 
 and disposition. Some parishes pay about one thousand 
 dollars; others pay less. In addition to his salary, the 
 priest receives some remuneration for such services as the 
 celebration of marriages and the like. There is no fixed 
 fee for performing the rite of baptism or of marriage, but 
 parties requiring either service give according to their 
 win and ability — for a baptism usually about two dollars, 
 and for a marriage five to ten dollars. For performing 
 mass there is a fixed fee of two milreis — say eighty cents 
 — ^but probably more is voluntarily paid, as a rule. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 PUBLIC LANDS AND IMMIGEATION. 
 
 The only wild lands that are surveyed, and that are 
 practically open to settlement, are those which have been 
 set apart for colonies in the provinces of Espirito Santo, 
 Sao Paiilo, Parand, Santa Catharina, and Rio Grande do 
 SuL. The areas surveyed in each of these provinces do 
 not much exceed the size of an ordinary county in the 
 United States. Such new land, adapted, we will say, for 
 coffee-growing, and situated in the province of Espirito 
 Santo, twenty-four hours by steamship from the port of 
 Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of German and Ital- 
 ian colonies, can be bought of the Government in tracts 
 of one hundred and twenty-five acres at three hundred 
 dollars, being at the rate of two dollars and forty cents per 
 acre. Payment may be made, if desired, in five annual 
 payments. The land has an elevation of two thousand 
 feet above the sea, is hilly, and covered with woods. A 
 good part of the local transportation would be on mule- 
 back or by boat. Though the manner of life is attended 
 with the usual drawbacks of new settlements, the colonies, 
 as a rule, enjoy good health, and are prospering finan- 
 cially. 
 
 There are extensive areas in the far interior which, on 
 the maps, purport to be occupied by Indian tribes, and 
 
342 BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 which in most cases it is safe to conclude are not private 
 lands. During three centuries the Crown has been mak- 
 ing grants of land to various parties, the records of which 
 do not appear to exist in any accessible form, if they exist 
 at all. A. man might expend weeks in exploring the wild 
 lands, and, if he should then find a tract he wished to pur- 
 chase, he would not be sure of a clear title. If he resolved 
 to run his risk and buy of the Government, his first pro- 
 ceeding would be to formally request, in writing, the 
 president of the province in which the land was situated 
 to cause the tract to be surveyed. The president of the 
 province would designate a surveyor to make the survey 
 and report upon the land, after which the Government 
 would fix the price and conditions for its sale. If a sale 
 should be effected, the purchaser would take the land 
 subject to the claims of other individuals, which, if any 
 Avere preferred, would, unless amicably adjusted, have to 
 be determined by expensive and dilatory proceedings be- 
 fore a judicial tribunal. 
 
 The wealth and future greatness of Brazil lie in the 
 fertility of her soil. Admitting that much the greater 
 part of her ten'itory is waste land, yet the area that is 
 susceptible of cultivation is immense, forming a resource 
 which deserves to be husbanded in the wisest manner ; 
 but it will ncFcr attract enterprise till there is more cer- 
 tainty about titles. Even if a commencement of the work 
 should be made to-day, the titles would not all be cleared 
 up in fifty years. It is all the more important, therefore, 
 that a beginning should soon be made. There should be 
 established in each province a competent commission to 
 settle land-titles, the whole acting under a central or gen- 
 eral land-office. A great part of the uncultivated land is 
 held, not by the state, but by individuals, and in tracts 
 
PUBLIC LANDS AND IMMIGRATIOiT. 343 
 
 large enough often to make good-sized counties. It is not 
 taxed ; and, having been obtained at a small price, the 
 proprietors hold on to it year after year for speculation, 
 or to gratify their vanity. 
 
 The Brazilians do not appear to realize that it is neces- 
 sary to offer ownership of land as an inducement to immi- 
 grants. In this, I think, they are greatly in error. There 
 is nothing in Europe that is so much prized as land. To 
 own there even a few acres, and especially a hundred 
 acres or more, carries with itself a certain dignity and 
 social rank. 
 
 Up to this hour the Brazilian planters seem to expect 
 to get European and island laborers by contract, to work 
 on shares or for wages, and to live like tenants or laborers, 
 without the expectation of an acre in their own right. 
 This seems the more surprising in view of the expected 
 labor crisis arising from the gradual extinction of slavery. 
 
 Official returns of the arrival of third-class passengers 
 — the most of whom were assumed to have been immi- 
 grants — at the port of Rio de Janeiro, show the number 
 to have been 25,845 in 1882, 26,789 in 1883, 17,999 in 
 1884, and 22,727 in 1885. A great majority of the im- 
 migrants are habitually from Portugal and Italy. 
 
 A scheme was projected in 1884 for introducing Chi- 
 nese laborers for contract work on plantations, but it met 
 with signal failure. A committee of Chinese subjects 
 visited Brazil to see for themselves how the plan would 
 work, but decidod and reported against it for its lack of 
 the element of freedom. They could not, they said, be a 
 party to anything but free immigration. In recent years 
 the River Plate countries have been receiving a much 
 larger share of immigrants than Brazil. For example, 
 while from 1857 to 1862 Brazil received 92,467 immi- 
 
3M BRAZIL: ITS CONDITION AND PROSPECTS. 
 
 grants and the Argentine Republic 33,020, the situation 
 was altered in the period from 1878 to 1882, during which 
 the Argentine Republic received 176,385, and Brazil only 
 92,620. And yet, it is said, that during the five years of 
 1874 to 1879 the state expended the immense sum of 
 $13,000,000 to promote immigration and support immi- 
 grants. 
 
 On the interior highlands, especially in the more south- 
 ern provinces, where the climate is salnbrions, agriculture 
 can be followed with profit and pleasure ; and it only re- 
 quires the adoption of proper measures to secure for Bra- 
 zil a very great increase of her immigration. The Gov- 
 ernment appears to desire immigration. It has at Rio de 
 Janeiro a Bureau of Colonization and of Immigration, with 
 a director-general, assisted by several clerks. It has pub- 
 lished documents, accompanied with fine maps, in respect 
 of as many as five different provinces, with descriptions 
 of their geography and resources, in the Portuguese, 
 French, German, and Italian languages. Individuals, and 
 especially large parties, wishing to emigrate to Brazil 
 would do well to address themselves to that office ; but 
 the ground ought to be looked over in person or by a 
 competent and reliable agent, before fully deciding to 
 emigrate. While a family alone, or even a group of fami- 
 lies, with slender means, would probably find themselves 
 struggling with unexpected difficulties and discourage- 
 ments, a considerable colony would, on the other hand, if 
 well organized and prepared, and fully resolved on a per- 
 manent settlement, probably meet with success. It may 
 be taken for granted that the Brazilian Government would 
 live up to its engagements with a colony or party of im- 
 migrants ; and, to show its liberality, I may mention that, 
 though the state church is Catholic, the Goveramcnt has 
 
PUBLIC LANDS AND IMMIGRATION. 345 
 
 sometimes aided in the building of religions meeting- 
 houses for Protestant German colonies. As the ministries 
 are frequently changed, however, to meet the shifting 
 majorities of the legislature, it is of the most absolute im- 
 portance that any set of immigrants or colonists who 
 purpose coming to Brazil, on any understanding with the 
 Government, should have their contract most explicitly 
 written, and signed by the proper officer before they start, 
 or make any sacrifice with a view to starting. Since the 
 beginning of the civil war probably three thousand Ameri- 
 cans emigrated from the Southern States to Brazil, of 
 whom many were experienced agriculturists, and possessed 
 means ; but four fifths of them have returned to the United 
 States, and many others look forward to doing the same. 
 Why ? I^ot because Brazil is a bad country, but because 
 they prefer the United States. 
 
IITDEX. 
 
 Abbots, conversations witb, 831-339. 
 Aberdeen, Lord, quoted on the slave- 
 trade, 309. 
 Abreu, Casimiro Jose, 234. 
 Academical course in theology, 339. 
 Administration, local, 185-193. 
 
 national, 194-215, 345. 
 Agassiz, Mrs., opinion of climate, 
 
 112. 
 tour of Prof, and Mrs., in Amazon 
 
 Valley, 276-288. 
 Agriculture, 241-261, 344. 
 Albuquerque, Deputy, 208. 
 Alencar, J. M., 217. 
 Alligator-hunt, 270. 
 Alves, A. C, 235. 
 Amazon, valley of, 262-293. 
 
 explorations in, by Prof. Agassiz, 
 
 276. 
 Americans should know races on 
 
 their own continent, 3. 
 settled in Brazil, 159-162; 267, 
 
 288-292. 
 Amusements. See Diversions. 
 Anaconda mentioned, 64, 302. 
 Andrade, Sr., hospitality of, 68-73. 
 Anecdotes of beasts of prey, 295- 
 
 307. 
 Apples, importation of, 261. 
 
 Architecture of Ptio, 24-26. 
 Army, 214. 
 
 Assis, Machado de, 236. 
 Authors, Brazilian, 217-236. 
 Avila, Senator, on climate, 113. 
 
 Balance of trade, 124. 
 
 Ball in the interior, 73. 
 at Manaos, 280. 
 
 Barbaccna visited, 1 26. 
 
 Barbara, S., American settlers at, 
 159. 
 
 Barker, Mr., mentioned, 145. 
 
 Bates, Mr., quoted, 300. 
 
 Beasts of prey, 294-307. 
 
 Beers, Captain, remarks on the trip 
 to Brazil, 11. 
 
 Begging in the street, 43. 
 
 Bigg-Wither, Mr., quoted, 68, 303. 
 
 Birds, numerous varieties in Amazon 
 Valley, 275. 
 
 Bismarck, steamship, voyage on, 10. 
 
 Blind Asylum, 48. 
 
 Boa, the, 302. 
 
 Books, few which girls can read, 67. 
 
 Brandao, Senator, 824. 
 
 Brazil, situation, resources, and cli- 
 mate, 93-115. 
 chief products of, 101. 
 
348 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Brazil, relations of, with the United 
 States, 116-125. 
 an agricultural country, 241. 
 \^ Brazilians, traits of, 35, 40. 
 
 sentiments toward the United 
 States, 117. 
 Brazil-nuts, 292. 
 British sentiment on slavery, 308, 
 
 321. 
 Buckle, his remarks on Brazil, 94. 
 Buildings, style of, at Rio, 25. 
 Burdens, borne on the head, 36. 
 Burton, Captain, quoted, 76, 99. 
 Butterflies, 88. 
 
 Cabinets, changes in, 199. 
 
 Caldas, S., 225. 
 
 Campinas, noticed, 162, 163. 
 
 Campo, 96. 
 
 Canary Islands, call at, 8. 
 
 Cane, the crop, 249. 
 
 Cantos of Bias, 232. 
 
 Capital required in the Amazon 
 
 Valley, 293. 
 Caramuru, poem, 228. 
 Carlos, Antonio, 224. 
 Carlos, F. de Sao, 225. 
 Carnival described, 41. 
 Carson's Hotel, noticed, 14. 
 Carvalho, Leoncio de, 172. 
 Casa dos Expostos, 43. 
 Casino hall, 43. 
 Catharina, Santa, 77. 
 Catholic religion, 54. 
 Cattle, breed of, 158, 257. 
 Celso, Senator, 207. 
 Chamberlain, Rev., mentioned, 147, 
 
 163. 
 Children, respect for parents, 55. 
 Chinese labor, 343. 
 Christie, Mr., quoted, 308. 
 
 Churches, 62, 53. 
 Climate, 109-115, 131. 
 Cobden, Richard, 3. 
 Coffee, cheapness of its transporta- 
 tion, 119. 
 
 cultivation of, 242-248. 
 
 plantations, beauty of, 134. 
 
 produced by slave-labor, 829. 
 CoUegio Piracicabano, visited, 166. 
 Colonia Thereza, 68, 78. 
 Colonies, German and other, 77. 
 Colonization, Bureau of, 344. 
 Commerce, 102, 121. 
 Communication between the United 
 
 States and Brazil, 120. 
 Comsett, Consul, quoted, 77. 
 Consular office, location at Rio, 4. 
 Consumption, prevalence of, 51. 
 Convents, Benedictine and Francis- 
 can, visited, 331-339. 
 Corcovado Mountain, view from, 23. 
 Corn, Indian, its cultivation, 248. 
 Corpus Christi, 55. 
 Correa, R., 236. 
 Correia, Senator, 206. 
 Costa, de, Provincial, 332. 
 Cotigipe, Senator, 196. 
 Cotton, production of, 251. 
 Count d'Eu, mentioned, 172. 
 Country life, 153-162. 
 Cross, Dr. J., mentioned, 144. 
 Curitiba, sketch of, 67. 
 
 Dantas, Senator, 197. 
 
 his bill for unconditional abolition, 
 321. 
 
 speech he did not make, 321. 
 Death the real emancipator, 321. 
 Debates in legislative bodies, 194. 
 Debt, public, 103. 
 Dentists, 69. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 349 
 
 Deputies, Cliambcr of, 194-213. 
 
 D'Eu, Count, 172, 215. 
 
 Dias, Gon9alvcs, sketch of, 230, 
 
 Diplomatic and consular oflScers, 
 what they can do, 124, 125. 
 
 Diversions, 41, 65, 255. 
 
 Dom Tedro II, sketch of, 82-S6. 
 
 Drainage of Rio by the English com- 
 pany, 29, 
 
 Driveways for pleasure, lack of, 31. 
 
 Durao, Kita, 228, 
 
 Dutch, the, in Brazil, 249, 
 
 Earnings of the slave, 322. 
 
 Earthenware, 20. 
 
 Earthquakes, need of, in Amazon 
 
 Valley, 276. 
 Education, system of, 171-184. 
 Elevation of the country, 93, 
 Emancipation, progress of, 310-329. 
 Emperor of Brazil, notice of, 82-88. 
 
 favors emancipation, 310. 
 
 his part in politics, 200-211. 
 England helps expel the Dutch from 
 
 Brazil, 249. 
 Exports, 102. 
 
 Facchenctti, Prot., 296. 
 
 Falls of Paulo Affonso, 99. 
 
 Famine in Ccara, 65. 
 
 Finances, 103, 105. 
 
 Fish, kinds in Rio market, 18, 
 
 Floresta, 88. 
 
 Forests, conversion of, into fields, 
 
 274. 
 Foundling Hospital, 43-47, 
 France helps expel the Dutch from 
 
 Brazil, 249. 
 Francisco, S2o, Valley, 98, 99. 
 Fruit-culture, 258-261. 
 Furniture in Rio houses, 16. 
 
 eo 
 
 Furtardo, the abbot, 334. 
 
 Garvca, Mount, 91. 
 Gate-pillars of sculptured granite, 27. 
 German colonists, 79, 345. 
 Government, local, 185-193. 
 national or parliamentary, 194- 
 215. 
 Guarany, Alcncar's, 220. 
 Guimaracs, B., 217, 221. 
 GuimarScs, L., Jr., 236, 
 
 Habits of the people, 33, 38, 55. 
 
 Hammock, use of, 282. 
 
 Hammond, W, J., observations of, 
 
 96, 97. 
 Harbor of Rio, 126. 
 Hay, the crop, 251. 
 Hayes, Mrs. J., 53. 
 Highlands of the Amazon, 292. 
 
 interior, 344. 
 Historians, 227. 
 Hoc, use of, 241. 
 Horseback-rides, delightful, at Ti- 
 
 juca, 88. 
 Housekeeping, beginning, at Rio, 15- 
 
 21. 
 Houses at Rio, 15. 
 Houston, Mr., missionary, 53. 
 Humor, 56, 60, 195, 238. 
 Hunting-park of the Emperor, 23. 
 
 Ibicaba, visit to plantation of, 150- 
 
 158. 
 Immigrants, 79, 288, 341-345. 
 Immigration, 341-345. 
 Imports, 102. 
 Indians, Tupay, bravery of, 148. 
 
 as crews, 264. 
 
 graceful forms of, 274. 
 
 tidiness, 283. 
 
350 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Industries, 122 (see Agriculture, 
 
 etc.). 
 Inheritance, 62. 
 Instruction, public, 171-184. 
 Interior, life in the, 68-77, 79. 
 
 a trip into, 123. 
 Iracema, poem of, 218-220. 
 Ivahy, valley of, 68. 
 
 Jaguar, the Brazilian, 294-299. 
 Jaguaribe, Senator, 318. 
 Journalists, distinguished, 227. 
 Judges, want of independence, 316. 
 
 Kennedy, Rev. J. L., 53. 
 Koger, Rev. J. W., 169. 
 Kyle, Rev., 53. 
 
 Labor, free, wages of, 19, 145, 254. 
 
 severe, of slaves, 315. 
 ^->^ transformation of slave, into free, 
 327, 343. 
 Laboring class, 38-40. 
 Ladies, Brazilian, 33, 34. 
 Lafayette, Senator, 198. 
 Land, abundance of, 64. 
 
 character of, between Santos and 
 Sao Paulo, 141. 
 
 price of, 250. 
 
 public, 341-345. 
 
 how obtained, 342. 
 Lane, Rev., 164. 
 Legal profession, 58. 
 Liberty of the press, 237. 
 Library of mechanics, 145. 
 Lidgerwood, Mr., his service to Bra- 
 zil, 246. 
 Life, in cities, 22-43 
 
 in the country, 64, 66, 79. 
 
 in the Amazon Valley, 265-293. 
 Lisbon, embarkation at, 7. 
 
 Lisbon, voyage from, to Rio, 9. 
 Literature, Brazilian, 216-240. 
 Local administration, 185-193. 
 Lotteries, 37. 
 Lyceu dc Artcs, 183. 
 
 Macedo, J. M., 217, 222. 
 Magelhaes, General, 142. 
 Magelhaes, D. J. G., 233. 
 Mandioca, production of, 253. 
 Manners of the people, 41, 52-81. 
 Manufactures, 122, 168. 
 Marcy, W. L., quoted, 124. 
 Marriage, celebration of, 61, 62, 67. 
 Martins, Senator, quoted, 114, 195. 
 Matto-Grosso, 80, 95. 
 Medical schools, 60. 
 Mines, 102. 
 Ministers, Cabinet, 200. 
 
 frequently changed, 345. 
 Misericordia Hospital, visit to, 47. 
 Missionaries, Protestant, 53. 
 Moema episode, 230. 
 Monasteries, 330-339. 
 Money of Brazil, 19, 103. 
 Monks, 330-339. 
 Monte- Alverne, 225. 
 Morals in the Amazon Valley, 266. 
 Moreninha, Macedo' s novel, 223. 
 Motta, Da, Senator, 318. 
 
 Navigation of the Amazon, 262-265. 
 Newspapers, 237. 
 
 Novel, the, not of high moral tone, 67. 
 Nut-pickers, 292. 
 
 Oliveira, Alberto, 236. 
 On9a, anecdotes of, 294-299. 
 Oranges, 258-261. 
 
 Oratory in legislative bodies, 196- 
 197. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 351 
 
 Oratory in the pulpit, 225, 226. 
 Osborn, T. A., mentioned, 84. 
 Ottoni, Senator, 208. 
 
 his observations on slavery and 
 emancipation, 313-320. 
 
 Palm-trees, striking appearance of, 
 
 26. 
 Para, city of, 262, 268. 
 Paraguay, cost of demonstration 
 
 against, 125. 
 Parana, province of, 68. 
 Parks, 2S, 87, 143. 
 Parliamentary government, 194- 
 
 215. 
 Parties, political, 195-214. 
 Pedra-Bonita, ascent of, 88. 
 Pedro, Dom, II, 82-88. 
 Penedo, Deputy, 320. 
 Pensions, 215. 
 Periodical literature, 236. 
 Pernambuco, delightful climate of, 
 
 111. 
 Petropolis, mountain resort, 128-180. 
 Physicians, 59. 
 Piracicaba, notice of, 167. 
 Plantations visited, 137-179. 
 Poets, 226-236. 
 Politics, 194-214. 
 Portuguese element, 38. 
 
 language, 216. 
 Presbyterian church at Sao Paulo, 
 
 147. 
 Presidents of provinces, 187. 
 Priests, Catholic, 54. 
 
 academical course of, 339. 
 Princess Imperial visits Sao Paulo, 
 
 144. 
 Protestant worship, 52, 79. 
 Pulpit orators, 225. 
 Punch, 238. 
 
 jRaces, mixture of, 287. 
 Railways, 30, 105, 106, 135. 
 Kansom, Rev. J. J., 53. 
 Reciprocity, 121. 
 Relations of the United States with 
 
 Brazil, 116. 
 Religious liberty, 52, 67. 
 
 orders, 330-339. 
 Revenue, 103. 
 
 Revolutions in South America, 3. 
 Rice, the crop, 253. 
 Rio de Janeiro, arrival at, 8. 
 
 living at, 18. 
 
 sketch of the city and its people, 
 22-51. 
 Rio Negro, explorations on, 273, 274. 
 River Plate countries, 108. 
 Roads, lack of, 64. 
 Rodrigues, Deputy, 200. 
 Rua do Ouvidor, frequented street, 
 
 32. 
 Rubber industry, 103, 293. 
 
 Sailing-vessels, route of, from the 
 
 United States to Brazil, 12. 
 Sampaio, F., 225. 
 S2o Paulo visited, 142-150. 
 Saraiva, Senator, 198, 327. 
 Scenery, mountain, 91. 
 School, young ladies', 53. 
 Schools, public, 171-184, 290. 
 Seamen, treatment of sick, 50. 
 Sea-View Cottage, 88. 
 Senate, 196. 
 
 Senators, several mentioned, 195-208. 
 Serpents, 299-307. 
 Servants, Portuguese, 19. 
 Shalders, Mr., 217. 
 Seminarista, story of, 221. 
 Sinimbu, Senator, 197. 
 Slavery and the slave-trade, 308-329. 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ^/Slaves, appearance of plantation, 
 
 155, 156. 
 Smith, Dr. Herbert H., quoted, 288. 
 Society, 223. 
 
 in the Amazon Valley, 279, 286. 
 Soil of Brazil, 94, 97. 
 South America, impressions about, in 
 
 the United States, 3. 
 Southern, Mr. Henry, quoted, 309. 
 Spirits, sale of, 40. 
 Steamship Company, United States 
 
 and Brazil Mail, stopping-places, ! 
 
 12. 
 Stewart, Dr. J. A., 51. 
 Stock-raising, 99, 113, 256-258. 
 Street railways and cars, 30. 
 Subsistence, common, 253. 
 Sugar, production of, 249. 
 Sunday, observance of, 52, 67. 
 Surface of Brazil, 93, 104, 241. 
 
 Table of the planter, 154. 
 Tarboux, Rev., 169. 
 Taste, lack of, 64. 
 
 Thallenhorst, Captain, mentioned, 7. 
 Thought, that of Brazil, 35. 
 Tijuca, mountain suburb, 87-92. 
 Tobacco, production of, 254. 
 Trade with Brazil, 102, 121-124. 
 Transportation, rates of, 106, 119, 
 
 146. 
 Travel on the Amazon, 277. 
 Trees, beautiful flowering, 27. 
 Tymbiras, poem of, 232. 
 
 United States, relations of, with Bra- 
 zil, 116. 
 trade of, with Brazil, 102. 
 a peace-loving country, 323. 
 
 Varella, R, 236. 
 
 "Venders, street, 37. 
 
 Vergueiro, Sr., his coffee-plantation 
 
 visited, 150-158. 
 Vianna, Deputy, 195, 331. 
 Voyage, New York to Rio, 7, 11-13. 
 
 Lisbon to Rio, 8-10. 
 
 Rio to Santos, 137. 
 
 Wages of servants, 19. 
 
 of mechanics, 145. 
 
 agricultural, 254. 
 Wallace, Alfred R., observations on 
 
 the Amazon Valley, 266-276. 
 Water-bottle, in common use, 20. 
 Water-supply at Rio, 48. 
 Watts, Miss, her school visited, 
 
 166. 
 Weights and measures, 19. 
 Wheat formerly cultivated, 114. 
 Wheel of Foundling Hospital, 43. 
 AVinter, 111. 
 Women, seclusion of, 70-71. 
 
 Yellow fever, first impressions about 
 15. 
 
 treatment, 50. 
 
 could be exterminated, 112. 
 Young, Rev. F., mentioned, 53. 
 
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 River Exneditiori, Naval Battle at Grand Gulf, General Butler in New Orleans, 
 Visit of President Lincohi to Richmond, and various other events of the war. 
 
 Some of the a:lmirars experiences wore certainly remarkable, and all are told 
 with groat erusto and spirit,. Nothing more stirring and readable has been pro- 
 duced iu the literature of the war. 
 
 NARRATIVE OF MILITARY OPERATIONS DIRECTED, 
 DUPJNG THE LATE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, BY 
 JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON, GENERAL C. S. A. Illustrated with 
 Steel Plates and Maps. 8vo. Cloth, $5.00; sheep, $3.00; half 
 morocco, $7.50. 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL COUNTS. A Complete Official Record of the 
 Proceedings of Congress at the Counting of the Electoral Votes in 
 all the Elections of President and Vice-President of the United 
 States. 8vo. Cloth, $3.50. 
 
 New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN NAVY DURING THE 
 GREAT REBELLION. By Charles B. Boynton, D. D., 
 Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives, and Assist- 
 ant Professor at the United States Xaval Academy. Illustrated with 
 ten full-page Woodcuts, Portraits on Steel of Distinguished Officers, 
 and numerous Vignettes from Sketches made by Commander S, B. 
 WooLSET, United States Navy, with numerous Maps and Charts from 
 Government Surveys and Official Plans furnished for this work ex- 
 clusively. 2 vols. 8vo. Half morocco, $10.00. 
 
 The whole material for this work has been drawn from documentB in po?Be8- 
 Bion of the Navy Department, so that its narrative rests upon the highest possible 
 authority. Dr. Boynton bad free access to the navy-yards and ships, and to the 
 Ordnance Department, while his connection with the Naval Academy and bis 
 residence in Washington pave him facilities for collectiup: materials for his 
 history that left little or nothin<( to desire. 
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE CIVIL WAR. By Major-General E. 
 D. TowNSEND. With Illustrations. 12mo. Cloth, $1.25. 
 
 HISTORY OF NEW YORK DURING THE REVOLU- 
 TIONARY WAR, AND OF THE LEADING EVENTS IN 
 THE OTHER COLONIES AT THAT PERIOD. By Thomas 
 Jones, Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province. Edited by 
 Edward Floyd de Lanct. With Notes, Contemporary Documents, 
 Maps, and Portraits, In 2 vols. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $15.00. 
 
 " Certainly no one historical work has been issued in the United States dnrinfj 
 the last twenty years of equal importance with this, unless it be the 'Colonial 
 History' and 'Documentary History of the Colonies,' published by order and at 
 the expense of the State. The publication of this history, so long and jealously 
 withheld from the public, offers the unlooked-for chance of seeing the men of the 
 Revolution through the eyes of a vigilant enemy, who knew them more or less 
 exactly, not only as to their characters, but their private lives and family anteced- 
 ents. It will cause more than one descendant of ancient and honorable families 
 of New York to wince, and to wince all the more because they are in a poor 
 plight to refute the statements of Judge Jones. It may be confidently said that 
 there is no history of the Revolution extant which will not demand remodeling 
 in consequence of the publication of this. Whether we like the book or not, the 
 world is better for this able presentment of the other side of the question of cur 
 Revolution."— iViei^ York Times. 
 
 THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAINTS. A Full and Complete 
 History of the Mormons, from the First Vision of Joseph Smith to 
 the Last Courtship of Brigham Young. By T. B. II. Stenhocsk. 
 niustrated with Steel and Wood Engravings. 8vo. Cloth, $5.00 ; 
 Bhcep, $6.00 ; half morocco, $7.50. 
 
 New York : D. APPLETON k CO., 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street. 
 
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