Ten months in Brazil with notes on the Paraguayan war

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL:

WITH

NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR,

BY

JOHN CODMAN.

SECOND EDITION,

NEW YORK:
JAMES MILLER, PUBLISHER,

('.47 BKMAIHVAY.
1872.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND AMERICAN
EDITION.

THERE have been some changes since the first edi
tion of this work was published.

St. Thomas has been devastated by earthquakes
and hurricanes ; the Paraguayan war has come to
an end; slavery is being abolished in Brazil.
Otherwise, the value of the book, whatever that
may be, remains the same.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PA<ZB

Commencement of the Voyage. — Sailors' Superstitions. —
Tossing in the Gulf Stream. — Effects of Sea-sickness^

— Arrival at St. Thomas. — Condition of the Negroes^52'

— Results of Emancipation. — Female Coal-carriers. —
A Black Squall. — The Captain in Peril. — Rescue by

an African Goddess il

CHAPTER II.

Climate of St. Thomas. — Yellow Fever. — Modes of
Travelling. —A Ride to the Hills. — A Little Den-*^
mark. — Visit to Santa Anna. — His Appearance and
Conversation. — His Prophecies 22

CHAPTER III.

Trade at St. Thomas. — Departure on the Voyage. —
Passing the Islands. — Ocean Currents. — Crossing the
Equator. — Visit from Neptune. — The South American
Coast. — Arrival at Pernambuco. — Pleasant Surprise.
— Passage to Rio de Janeiro. — Sale of the Steamer. —
Change of Flags 31

CHAPTER IV.

Effect of the Telegraph. — Distant Places brought near. —
Brazil still remote. — Increasing Interest in the Country.

(5)

CONTENTS.

— Various Descriptions thereof. — Agassiz and Fletch
er. — Origin of the present Work 40

CHAPTER V.

Climate of Rio de Janeiro. — Intense Heat of the Weath
er. — Trips to Santos. — The Sea Breeze. — Refreshing
Change. — Beauty of the Coast. — Configuration of the
Country. — Rivers of the Table Land. — Island of .St.
Sebastian. — A Terrestrial Paradise. — Dream-land. . 43

CHAPTER VI.

Santos. — A quiet City. — Noise banished. — Advan
tages unimproved. — Impediments to Commerce. —
Brazilian Want of System. — Swarms of Office-holders.
— Bribery and Corruption. — Incessant Rains. — A
Dutchman in Despair 48

^
CHAPTER VII. v/

A Decayed Town. — Brighter Prospects. — Cultivation of
Cotton in Brazil. — Advantages therefor over the United
States. — Mutations in Planting. — Cotton, Coffee, Su
gar. — Opportunities to make a Fortune. — Primitive
Modes of Conveyance. — Mules and Muleteers. — Cru
elty to Animals 55

CHAPTER VIII.

Railroads in Brazil. — Natural Obstacles Encountered. —
Dom Pedro Segundo Railroad. — A Stupendous Work.
— Excursion by Rail to San Paulo. — Precipitous
Grades. — Frightful Chasms. — Queer Sensations. —
Aspects of Nature in the North and South. — City of

CONTENTS. 7

San Paulo. — Institutions of Education. — Return to
the Plains 61

CHAPTER IX.

Trip on the Dom Pedro Segundo Railroad. — American
and English Engineering Compared. — Dismal Swamp.
— Terminus of the Road. — Future Extension. — A y
Negro-loving Philanthropist. — Laziness and Cunning
of the Negroes. — Unprofitable Servants. — The Plan
a Failure 73

CHAPTER X.

A Brazilian Plantation under Yankee Management. —
Description of the Fazenda. — Sunshine and Shade. —
Brazilian Cookery. — Ride over the Estate. — Working
of the Negroes. — Freedom and Slavery. — Compara
tive Advantages and Disadvantages. — Moral Reflec
tions 79

CHAPTER XI.

Cultivation of Mandioca. — Its Importance to Brazil. —
Process of Manufacturing it. — An old Roman Catholic
Chapel. — Negro Worship therein. — Muscular Piety.
— Barbarous versus Fashionable Devotions. — Return
to the City 88

CHAPTER XII.

Wearisome Monotony. — Visit to an Imperial Domain.
— History of the Estate. — Incidents of the Journey. —
Hard Supper and harder Beds. — A Morning Ride. —
Golden Fruit. —The Estate of Santa Cruz. — The Em-

CONTENTS.

peror's Wines. — Bad Economy. — Splendid V.ew from
the Dome. — Inspection of the Palace 93

CHAPTER XIII.

i/

The Imperial Philanthropist. — Giving the Black Man a •
fair Chance. — School of Negro Children. — Music by '
a Juvenile Band. — Compensations in Life. — Failure
of the Santa Cruz Experiment. — A Sanitary Scheme.
— The Emperor's Obstinacy. — Cultivation of Tea in
Brazil. — Fruit Gardens 103

CHAPTER XIV.

Rival Beauties of Nature. — Bays of Naples and Rio de
Janeiro. — Description of the Latter. — Sublimity of a
Thunder Storm in the Bay. — Ascent of Mountains near
Rio. — Adventure of two British Middies. — A Shrewd
Dentist. — Sharp Practice. — Summer Resorts. — Route
to Petropolis. — Pleasant Illusion. — A Sea of Fog. . 109

CHAPTER XV.

Petropolis and its People. — The Palace and Gardens. —
The Coffee Trade. — A Profitable Road. — Among the
Rivers. — Paying a Visit. — A Pleasant Drive. — A Bit
of Sentiment. — Change of Carriages. — Plague of
Flies. — Unwelcome Companions. — Jubilant Negroes.
— A Jolly Englishman. — Mark Tapley outdone. . . .118

CHAPTER XVI.

Immigration to Brazil from the Southern States. — Con
tradictory Accounts. — Benefit to the Country. — Evils
of Amalgamation. — Swiss, German, and French Set-

CONTENTS. 9

tiers. —A White Slave Trade. — Islanders returning
Home. — A Pleasant Picture 129

CHAPTER XVII.

History and Government of Brazil. —Unquiet Condition
of the Spanish-American States. — Government of the
Country by the Portuguese. — Emigration of the Royal
Family to Brazil. — Their Return to Portugal. — Inde
pendence Declared. — Abdication of the First Emper
or. — Accession of the Present Ruler. — Powers of the
Emperor and me Parliament 138

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Monroe Doctrine. — Forms of Government. — For
eign Enterprise in Brazil. — Improvement of the Cap
ital. — Gratitude to a Benefactor. — Iron-clads and Tor
pedoes. — A " Confederate " Speculation. — A " Slow "
People. — The three Professions. — Adaptation of Re
ligions. — Missionary Effort in Brazil 143

CHAPTER XIX.

XL

Influence of the Catholic Religion. — Its Power in Bra- '
zil. — Character of its Ceremonies. — Morals of Clergy »
and People. — Illustrative Anecdote. — Mixed Blood. — *^
The Census. — Slaves Drifting Southward. — Extent of
Coffee Cultivation. — Political Parties. — Anti-Slavery
and Republicanism. — Succession to the Throne. —
Character of the Emperor 150

CHAPTER XX.

The War with Paraguay. — Disappointment and Dis
couragement. — Religious Toleration. — Festival af St.

10 CONTENTS.

George. — A Military Saint. — Rank and pay. — His
Saintship Tried and Punished. — The Emperor in Farce. —
Brazilian Superstitions 161

CHAPTER XXI.

Religion as an Amusement. — Habits of Brazilian La
dies. — Female Education. — Women in Low Estimation.
— A Comical Mistake. — The Steward's Blunder. — No
Fish on Friday. — A Good-natured Bishop. — Light Pen
ance. — Professors and Students. — Source of Brazilian Vice.
— Theatricals in Rio de Janeiro 170

CHAPTER XXII.

Personal Observations. — Writers on Brazil. — Ewbank,
Fletcher, Agassiz. — Inducements to settle there. —
Southern Coasting Trade. — Unsuccessful Attempt to
Re-open it. — Sale of Steamer Tejuca, and Return Home.
— Southern Colonists in Brazil. — Drain of Men and
Money by the War. — Dangers to flow therefrom. — A
Word of Caution 179

CHAPTER XXIII.

Abolition of Slavery in Brazil. — Free Labor and Free Trade
for all the World.— The Slave Trade Twenty Years ago.
— England's Disinterestedness. — The Necessity of obtain
ing Laborers from Africa 187

CHAPTER XXIV.

Plan of Emancipation. — Kindly Relation between Masters -yL
and Slaves. — Intercession and Forgiveness. — Future Wel
fare of the Freedmen considered. — Du Chaillu's estimate
of the Negro Race. — Conclusion 199

NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR 205

APPENDIX 215

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

CHAPTER I.

Commencement of the Voyage. — Sailors' Superstitions. —
Tossing- in the Gulf Stream. — Effects of Sea-sickness. —
Arrival at St. Thomas. — Condition of the Negroes. —
Results of Emancipation. — Female Coal- Carriers. — A
Black Squall. — The Captain in Peril. — Rescue by an
African Goddess.

ON Friday, the 2d of December, 1864, the steamer
"Cotopaxi" lifted her anchor and proceeded to
sea, from New York. All the world knows that
Friday is an " unlucky day." I should be ashamed
to admit a belief in the superstition, but I will con
fess that if I had the choice of a sailing day, it would
not be Friday. A sufficient reason is, its depressing
influence upon a crew when any accident occurs.
If it be a serious one, calling upon all their energies
to save the ship, one last effort, which might have
been successful, may not be made, because of the

(ii)

12 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

remembrance that " she sailed on Friday." The in
fluence of the day was not perceptible upon the
comfort and pleasure of the voyage to St. Thomas.
The passengers were generally tropic birds, who had
flown to the north for a summer visit, and were
driven home by the first blasts of winter. There
were some pretty Spanish girls among them, who
were returning to Porto Rico. With them the young
gentlemen managed to while away the passage of a
week so agreeably, that they wished it might have
been a month or a year.

On the second day after leaving New York, we
entered the Gulf Stream. As the ship was light,
and her coal stowed below, she was excessively
uneasy ; for the wind had freshened into an easterly
gale, and a boiling cross-sea was the consequence.
Passengers and dishes, negro waiters and baggage,
were knocked about indiscriminately. Lamps were
upset, and the oil mingled with the water as prayers
mingled with curses. " O Lord," prayed old Mrs.
M., " have mercy upon us ! Here we are, in the
Gulf Stream, at the mercy of the winds and waves,
and the captain has gone to sleep ! O Lord, have
mercy on us ! " Libellous old woman, to tell the
good Lord such a story about me ! Was I not, at the
moment you gave utterance to this, — was I not then
in the state-room next to yours, holding the head of

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 13

the charming Matilda, and telling the lovely Rosita
that there was no danger, notwithstanding all your
noise?

There is no better master of ceremonies on ship
board than sea-sickness. It is a leveller of all dis
tinctions. An immediate intimacy springs up among
a crowd of passengers, which is promoted by the
absence of all those artificial barriers which society
on shore has erected to keep social intercourse with
in bounds. Sea-sickness demolishes all these at a
blow. Hoops, head-dresses, and sometimes false
teeth, disappear for the time being, and ladies
change from dolls to women. Age and youth are
much alike then in appearance and in attractions.
Thus it was that my attention to the lovely Spanish
girls was purely Platonic and philanthropic. I would
have done as much for Mrs. M., if she had not in
sulted me in her devotions.

Having been thus introduced to each other in the
Gulf Stream, the acquaintance of the passengers
ripened into friendship, with a dash or so of love,
under the genial influences of the balmy trade-
winds, and of that lovers' lantern, which, from time
immemorial, has hung in the heavens for their theme
of poetry. A few musical instruments and many
musical voices contributed to the pleasure of all, as
we danced merrily along over the silver-crested waves.

4 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL

The miseries of the Gulf Stream were forgotten, and
those who there looked back upon the comforts of
home, envious of the friends they had left behind,
were now happy in their own enjoyment, con
gratulating themselves upon escaping the winter
which others were obliged to endure. Thus pleas
antly passed the last five days of our passage. On
the morning of the 9th of December, the high lands
of St. Thomas and Porto Rico hove in sight, and
after threading the somewhat intricate channel to the
eastward of the latter island, we entered the harbor
of " Charlotte Amelie," on the south side of St.
Thomas, and anchored soon after noon.

St. Thomas is a Danish possession, and with Santa
Cruz and a few rocky islets, most of which are un
inhabited, constitutes the great West Indian territory
of the large and important kingdom of Denmark.
Santa Cruz may still be called a Danish island, where
the Danish language is spoken. From its fertile
soil a considerable revenue is derived for the Danish
crown. Those of our passengers who were bound
thither to spend the winter according to their custom,
described it as almost a paradise, with a luxuriant
vegetation and a salubrious climate, so that we could
not but regret that it was not in our power to pay it
at least a flying visit. The communication between
the islands is, however, irregular and uncertain, for

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 15

lack of steamers. It is confined to small schooners,
which sometimes make the passage across in a few
hours, and sometimes in a few days. From all that
we could learn, the island is a very desirable residence
in the winter for invalids, and the line of steamers to
Rio de Janeiro, touching at St. Thomas, being es
tablished, Santa Cruz will doubtless become a fash
ionable resort.

The Island of St. Thomas, though small in extent, —
about fifteen miles long and five miles wide, — contains
a great deal of arable and fertile soil, little of which
is now cultivated. The inhabitants depend upon the
neighboring Island of Porto Rico for nearly all their
cattle, poultry, fruit, and vegetables. Before slavery
was abolished, not only did St. Thomas supply all
these for their own consumption, when the population
for exceeded the present, but it produced thousands
of hogsheads of sugar, molasses, and rum for ex
portation. Riding over the island, we constantly
passed the ruins of plantation-houses and sheds, of
sugar-mills and distilleries. The negroes are said
to have been well treated, and not overworked, and
were, therefore, in accordance with what was con
sidered their place upon the scale of creation, in the
possession of such happiness as their limited faculties
would permit them to enjoy. They have now nearly
disappeared frc n the back country. A few miserable

1 6 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

wretches remain, scattered here and there, who live
upon wild fruits and roots, and by thieving. When
these resources fail, they descend to the town and
obtain employment, which they can always do with
ease. They will work long enough, and no longer
than is necessary to insure them against starvation for
a month or so ahead, and then they return to their
huts. Labor is at all times remunerative in the town,
and it is mainly on this account that the plantations
are universally abandoned, as the planters have found
it useless to compete with the slave labor of Porto
Rico, or the free labor of Santa Cruz, where no
such facilities for obtaining high wages are enjoyed
by the blacks.

St. Thomas, from its situation in the group of
Windward Islands (being in the track of trade
between Europe and the other West India Islands,
Mexico, Central America, and the Spanish Main),
cannot be otherwise than of great commercial im
portance. Its harbor is the best in all the Wind
ward Islands, and is secure from the danger of the
terrible hurricanes which prevail chiefly in the sum
mer and autumn. For these reasons, whenever a
ship is heard of in distress anywhere upon the broad
Atlantic, the next news from her may be expected
from St. Thomas. When the sails are blown to
shreds, the pump-bolts worn with friction, and the

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 17

crew " used up," the captain is at length discouraged
and down-hearted with useless beating and banging to
the westward. Then, in a tone of despair, he gives the
order, " Up helm and square away for St. Thomas."
Down glides the tired ship through the fairy regions
of the gentle trades, where the zephyrs of eternal
summer blow. The captain, passengers, and crew
creep out into sunshine, and as the ship rolls along
under her tattered rags, they spread themselves lazily
upon the decks, and dream dolce far niente-\y of
pineapples, oranges, bananas, and all the number
less luxuries of the tropics. The underwriters at
home, when they hear of it, sleep with nightmares on
their breasts, and with visions of poverty on their
brains.

The discharging and reloading of these vessels
in distress furnish employment for hundreds of
negroes. Many of the more intelligent are en
gaged upon the repairs. All are well paid, as the
enormous profits gained by the contractors' agents
and mechanics enable them to share a part of their
gains with their laborers. For the most common
work the pay is one dollar and a quarter per day
in silver.

The work upon coal at St. Thomas is done ex
clusively by women ; and when the number of
steamers calling at this port, and of ships which

1 8 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

bring their supplies, is considered, the labor which
the women perform is almost incredible. When
we were ready for our coal, and the stages rigged,
these women threw into the hold on the first day
over three hundred tons. Each of them brought
upon her head a basket of the average weight of
eighty pounds. They came in single file, in one
continual stream, like an army of black ants.
As they dumped the contents of their baskets, they
passed around the hatchways, and returned to the
dock by the other plank of the stage, avoiding those
who were coming on board. Most of them were
horrid hags. The absence of good-looking women
among them is readily accounted for by the loose
morality of the people, which enables such to support
their existence in better accordance with their own
tastes. In our country we have heard much of the
licentiousness emanating from slavery. It remains to
be seen if the morals of our blacks will be improved
by its abolition. If there was greater depravity in St.
Thomas in the days of bondage than now, a degree
of comparison beyond the superlative must be used
to express it. With the exception of these women,
who were too ugly for such employment as others
found most congenial, and were accordingly used as
beasts of burden, it is not far from the truth to say
that every black woman on the island is a prostitute.

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 19

There are exceptions to all rules ; and when I speak
of the seventy-five women employed on the " Coto-
paxi," I do not include as among the uglies the tawny,
shining, bright-eyed, straight-limbed combination of
the African Venus and the Grecian Minerva, Joanna.
What though she carried a basket of coal upon her
head — it was a crown of black diamonds there !
though her classical only garment was but a strip
of gunny cloth encircling her loins — it left un
adorned nature free to display the charms of her
rounded contour. Joanna, my African princess,
decked with the shining dust from the gems of
Newcastle and of Cardiff! was I in love with thee?
No ; but I am grateful ; and gratitude to woman is
best shown by praising her personal charms.

Some of the women brought more dirt than coal in
their baskets. For a t'ime I remonstrated with the
contractor, who still persisted in sending on board
this refuse of the coal-yard. Without reflecting upon
the excitable nature of women in general, black wo
men in particular, and of seventy-five black women
combined, I went upon the loading stage and at
tempted to arrest the further entrance of the Ama
zons. I stood merely upon the defensive. But they
were not to be stopped in this way. One lady
pushed a lady against me ; another pushed her ; till,
losing the equipoise of the baskets, several of them

20 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

went over into the water together. With the splash of
the coal there went up simultaneously a tremendous
black squall — seventy-five women became seventy-
five Hecates ; and these were seemingly multiplied
into seven hundred and fifty hell-cats ! The white
overseer came running on board, and besought me
to go below, for the attacking column was pressing
on to the decks, each virago with a lump of coal in
her hand ; so that my days seemed to be numbered.
In such a crisis, reason quickly balances different
courses of action. Run or stay? Run! If there
were seventy-five men in front of one, there were
illustrious precedents in the Union and rebel ranks
for " retreating in good order." Run ! Retreat be
fore one woman in a matrimonial battle? Yes,
occasionally — generally — I may say, always. But
in this case, where I had engaged myself for life to
no such obedience — no ! never ! So I stood my
ground, — my deck, — fronting the glaring eyes of
the women, and the uplifted missiles of coal. The
storm was about to burst, when Joanna threw her
self before me, and stretching forth her arms, as when
the form of Webster or of Clay arose before the chat
tering magpies of the Senate, she produced silence
ere she spoke a syllable. Then she began with an
eloquence of words and of gesticulation which, as
it ran on in a stream like that of a leaping cascade,

TEN MONTHS IX BRAZIL. 21

caused one lump of coal after another to drop. Rage
changed to hysterics; hysterics, like the after-squalls
of a gale, subsided with gentle showers to a calm,
and all was peace. The women went again to their
work. The contractor sent us no more dirt, and a
substantial expression of gratitude to my deliveress
was not wanting on my part.

We were told that, a few weeks before, on account
of some insult, real or fancied, offered to one of the
women by an officer of a Spanish gunboat, which
was coaling at this wharf, four or five hundred of
these female savages, who were at work on different
vessels, dropped their baskets, rushed on board the
man-of-war, and obliged the whole crew to take to
their boats, some of them being severely wounded.

22

CHAPTER II.

Climate of St. Thomas. — Tellow Fever. — Modes of Travel
ling. — A Ride to the Hills. — A Little Denmark. — Visit
to Santa Anna. — His Appearance and Conversation. —
His Prophecies.

\ LTHOUGH it was now the month of December,
J_jL the weather was intensely hot. We were left
to imagine what it might be in summer. The town is
situated at the head of a small bay, the entrance to
which is from the south, so that the sun, striking
upon the glassy water in front, and reflecting from the
high hills in the rear, which entirely shut off north and
east winds, makes the little settlement the focus of his
direct and inverted rays. Yellow fever is an annual
visitant, and is merciless in its attacks upon strangers.
Even now it had not entirely disappeared, for it pre
vailed among the shipping, some of the vessels having
lost their entire crews.

There are about fifteen thousand inhabitants upon
the island, most of whom are concentrated in the
town. A long, narrow street runs by the water
side, with warehouses and wharves on one hand,

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 23

and retail shops upon the other. All the business
is transacted here. Three little hills are in the back
ground, towards which run steep alleys, some of them
cut into steps, and all of them impassable by carriages.
Of these, there are not more than a half dozen on the
island. What little travelling is done, is upon horses
or mules. Behind these three hills, one of which is
surmounted by the governor's palace, and the others
clustered upon by the wealthier inhabitants, rise the
high peaks, upon which graze the only cattle that are
kept on the island, and where a few gentlemen, not
too lazy to climb, have perched themselves and their
families, with a due regard to health.

Mr. Sonderburg, who lived upon the highest point of
St. Thomas, asked us to breakfast with him one morn
ing. The traveller goes to Europe and finds his en
joyment in the Louvre, and in the palaces and galleries
of Florence and of Rome. A thousand times more do
I prefer such a morning's ride after a week's voyage.
The freshness of the open air, instead of the confined
atmosphere of a palace ; the song of the birds, instead
of the rustling of catalogues and of dresses ; the clatter
of hoofs, instead of the noiseless carpet tread ; and,
above all, the great panorama of nature — the sun ris
ing from his water-bed, shaking off the drops in slant
ing showers, then breaking out and multiplying himself
a million times in rain and dew-drops, throwing ever-

24 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

varying shadows and streams of light from mountains
into valleys, and over the waves — how immeasurably
superior is such enjoyment to the admiration of the
best imitation of it with paints and brush upon a few
feet of canvas !

It was something, too, upon arrival at the cottage
on the hill, to forget the woolly heads, and the taw
ny, yellow, molasses-tinted faces of the hot plains
belowr, and in the fresh air of the mountains to see
the brown hair of the pretty wife of our host blow
ing away from her blue eyes, like sun-lit clouds
chased over spots of clear sky. Here they lived all
the year, and found their enjoyment in health and
good air, and in the cultivation of the ground, upon
which, in his leisure from business, Mr. Sonderburg
employed himself, and had succeeded in producing
peaches, strawberries, cherries, and all the vegeta
bles of temperate climes. "Not that he cared for
them," he said, " but they made him think he was
in Denmark"

Upon one of the three little hills of which I have
spoken, there lived a man illustrious or notorious, as
his friends or his enemies may estimate his character.
Robinson, in his " History of the Chieftains of Mex
ico," published in 1848, devotes a large space to him,
and sums up all with, " Such is Santa Anna, whether
good or bad — what his country has made him. A

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 25

chapter of his history has yet to be written, which will,
perhaps, display him in yet more brilliant colors ; or,
it may be, record another reverse, from which he will
be unable to recover himself." His unfortunate coun
try, where anarchy has reigned more than rulers or
people, has not been favorable to the growth of politi
cal virtue, if there is such a thing anywhere. Of the
thirteen generals whose lives are sketched in the little
book referred to, no one, unless it be Iturbide, seems
to have been actuated by real principles of honor or
honesty. Even he, like Caesar, was ambitious, and,
like him, was murdered by the friends who once
cringed at his throne.

Another chapter, comprising a period of seventeen
years, can be written in the history of Santa Anna,
and it would tell of him in brilliant colors again and
again ; many times would it tell of reverses from
which he has recovered, and it may close with one
from which it would seem that he will be unable to
recover himself. But he may yet emerge from his re
tirement ; it is not too late for one more chapter to be
written, that may display him in his most brilliant
colors at his death.

When the French invaded Mexico, Santa Anna was
sent into exile ; and he had chosen St. Thomas for his
place of retirement — for what possible reason no one
can imagine. It was not because of its climate, which

26 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

is bad ; nor for its luxuries and gayeties, of which there
are none ; nor could it be from motives of economy,
for he is rich, and is not niggardly. It was not because
he was among friends, for he was sometimes hissed
when he appeared in the streets. Seldom, however,
does he leave his own grounds. It was said by the
virtuous gentlemen in town, whose means are not ade
quate to wholesale licentiousness, that he had a harem ;
and it struck me that their hatred of him \vas partly
made up of envy. I had a curiosity to see the man,
and accordingly sent a servant with a note, saying that
the captain of the American steamer just arrived would
esteem it an honor to be received by His Excellency,
and asking him at what hour he would be disengaged.
To this I received a reply, couched in true Spanish
courtesy of language. As translated, —

"December 12, 1864.

" DEAR SIR : In reply to your polite note of to-day,
I have the pleasure to say that, recognizing your deli
cate attention, I shall have the greater satisfaction in
seeing you in this {your) house, at five o'clock this
afternoon.

"Without more particulars, I subscribe myself, at
tentively,

" Yours, faithfully, Q. B. S. M.,

" A. L. DE SANTA ANNA."

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 2j

I accordingly presented myself, accompanied by one
of our passengers, at the hour appointed, and was
received by his secretary, in a well-furnished parlor
of his modest, but large and commodious one-story
house. In a few moments the general came in.
walking so easily without the aid of a cane, that it
was impossible to distinguish his natural from his ar
tificial leg. His carriage was military and erect, and
he had the appearance of excellent health and condi
tion. He is rather over than under six feet in height,
and does not stoop at all. He wore white pantaloons
and a dress coat with brass buttons. Notwithstanding
the extreme heat, he kept this buttoned nearly to
the throat. He was neatly shaven, and evidently just
from his toilet, where some rejuvenating compound
had blackened his hair. His complexion is rather
dark, his eye piercing, but kindly, and his mouth firm
ly compressed, but not stern. When in conversation,
his features were animated, and even handsome.
There was nothing in his physiognomy to indicate a
tyrant, brute, or sensualist. He extended his hand
with great cordiality, and, by his affable manner,
caused us to feel so much at home that there was no
barrier to conversation. This took an extensive range,
commencing with affairs at home, which were intro
duced by giving him some papers with the latest
news of the war. I must accuse him of a little disin-

28 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

genuousness, for he declined to converse in English,
from alleged inability to speak the language ; and thus
forced me into Spanish, which I spoke very imper
fectly indeed ; but he was kind enough to utter his
words slowly and distinctly, so that we might under
stand all that he said. Perhaps it was as well, for it
placed the burden of the talk upon him, where we
wished it to be.

" I am a poor exile," he said ; " but from my little
watch-tower of St. Thomas I look all around." Then,
sweeping the horizon with his arm, and pointing to
the north-west, he continued: "I see the people of
your great republic. They were once my enemies.
I wish now that, instead of fighting among them
selves, they and we were united to drive European
despotism away from America." And his clenched
fist came down upon the table, so that the whole room
rattled. . His feelings were clearly with the North, and
he believed that the North would be finally victorious,
but that " the Union would not be restored. It would
be subjugation under military despotism. Over there
in Europe," he continued, as he pointed to the north
east, " I see them disputing, and fighting a little. That
does not concern us. They fight about their eternal
balance of power, which never stays balanced. Let
the big 'dogs and little clogs fight. Down there in

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 29

South America, the Spaniards and Peruvians are quar
relling. It will not amount to much. It will soon be
settled." And then he reverted to Mexico, discours
ing with mingled sadness and humorous irony upon
the condition of affairs there. He looked upon the
Austro-French empire as a very temporary affair.
He described his ejection most amusingly. " Those
French are a very polite people," said he ; " very
polite indeed. We talk, you know, of everything
' a szi disposition ' to our friends, but we don't mean
that literally. They do. That Bazaine told me that
a sea voyage would conduce to my health, and he
furnished me with a steamer. He told me to go where
I pleased, but not to come back to Mexico. That was
the only condition the pleasant fellow made. Look
here," he added, his voice, face, manner, everything
changing him to another man, "perhaps I -may yet
have the opportunity of reciprocating such atten
tions!"

Perhaps he will reciprocate. Revolutions are no
new things in Mexico. "Another chapter has yet
to be written." Santa Anna is not yet too old for the
battle of life. His sixty-five years sit lightly upon him,
and with his wooden leg he may yet dance over the
graves of his enemies. I have nothing to say of the
character of Santa Anna. There are better and worse

30 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

men than he, undoubtedly ; but he is a pleasant gen
t.leman, and I thank him for his kind reception, and
for two hours of his agreeable conversation, although
I felt a little vexed when I heard afterwards that he
understood English perfectly well.

CHAPTER III.

Trade at St. Thomas. — Departure on the Voyage. —

the Islands. — Ocean Currents. — Crossing the Equator. —
Visit from Neptune. — The South American Coast. — Ar
rival at Pernambtico. — Pleasant Surprise. — Passage to
Rio de Janeiro. — Sale of the Steamer. — Change of Flags.

WHEN the steamers from Europe, Laguayra,
and Havana meet here, as they sometimes do,
St. Thomas is quite gay. The news which they bring
seems to be of immense importance to everybody.
The little six-by-four newspaper comes out extra, and
the hotels, two of which are very good and well kept,
reap of the harvest. By the establishment of merely
nominal duties and slight entrepot charges, Denmark
has made this island the commercial exchange of the
West Indies. Upon the true principle of small profits
and large business she has acted, and thus made St.
Thomas a much more profitable colony than when it
was at the height of its agricultural prosperity. At
this time, shortly preceding the Christmas holidays,
there were swarms of traders, mostly Jews, who had
come from all the leeward Islands, Venezuela, and

32 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

Mexico, to make their purchases. There is no bet
ter proof that all European merchandise can be
afforded cheaper here than anywhere else ; and the
importance of steam communication with the United
States is clearly demonstrated. English, Spanish, and
an incomprehensible negro patois are the languages
spoken. The governor, the three officers and seventy
soldiers (who compose the army), and the coilector of
customs, speak Danish.

Having received on board all the coal required, we
left St. Thomas on the i6th of December, to continue
our voyage. The trade-wind from the eastward was
very fresh, and the ship, being deeply loaded, made
but slow progress at first. She was very wet and
uncomfortable. But the breeze soon moderated, and
we steamed along through the Caribbean Sea, passing
close to the southern shore of Martinique, leaving
Santa Lucia on our starboard hand. Daylight af
forded us a near and enchanting view of the well-
cultivated valleys and extensive plantations of the first
named island, which charmed still more by contrast
with the jagged cliffs and the barren volcanic peaks
of the latter. At night we passed Barbadoes, so
near to the town of Bridgetown, that we could see
the lights in the houses, and hear the music which
the land breeze wafted off for our serenade. And
then, for ten days, no more land.

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 33

We traversed the ocean in its most unfrequented
expanse, for no sailing vessel can make headway
against the powerful current which sweeps around
Cape St. Roque, and rushes on till it reaches the
Gulf of Mexico. The ocean is no unmoved body of
water, whose only pastime it is to make its wild leaps
in the storm, and rest from its sport, basking in the
rays of the sun. It is full of mighty rivers in its
length and breadth, some moving so slowly that the
line of their watery banks is imperceptible. Oth
ers, like this broad equatorial stream, more rapid as
its channel narrows at the eastern point of South
America, and at different times the navigator's hope
and fear, are distinctly marked. So is the river
current, which, doubling the Cape of Good Hope,
gives the Indian Ocean an outlet into the South
Atlantic. More famous than all is the Gulf Stream,
which carries the warm water of the tropics so
rapidly along, that it cannot cool till the polar river
plunges into it, bearing along its islands of ice. Then,
from the banks of Newfoundland, the united stream
is deflected to the south, until reaching the equator, it
is joined by the now sluggish current from the Cape
of Good Hope. Uniting with this, and impelled by
the force of the unfailing trade-winds, the great river,
in which we find ourselves, rolls on again towards the
3

34 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

American continent, and thus the circuit of the ocean
streams is complete.

Approaching the South American shore, where
the Amazon and the Orinoco pour their floods into
the sea, we observed the discolored water before
seeing the land. We passed through a fleet of logs
and uprooted trees, and perceptibly experienced the
force of the current which pushes the ocean from the
coast. The salometer also indicated a greater fresh
ness of the water, though this was not apparent to
the taste.

On the evening of the 27th December we crossed
the equator. Hints had been given, for some days
before, that Neptune would pay the ship a visit,
and that the customary ceremonies of the occasion
might be expected. As these have been so often
described, a repetition of particulars would be of little
interest.

The divinity was personated by one of the stoutest
seamen, who had got himself up admirably for the
character, with a wig of Manila hemp, and a shaggy
garment, which completely disguised him. Hailing
the ship from under the bowsprit, he was invited to
come on board. He accordingly marched aft with a
pair of grains, which well represented a trident, in his
hands, and accepted a chair and a glass of wine upon
the quarter-deck. Having asked if I had any of his

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 35

children on board, he received liberty to search for
them. There was one cockney young gentleman from
New York, who had been loud in his expressions
of contempt for Neptune, or for what he might do.
No barking cur, with a whip held over him, ever
subsided quicker than did this doughty hero. He
said no more about whipping Neptune, but meekly
walked before the awful apparition to his barber's
shop upon the forecastle. The sight of the tub of
grease and the iron hoop made him tremble at the
idea of such lathering and shaving, and he begged to
be allowed to capitulate. This favor was accorded
him, and he then took a malicious pleasure in witness
ing the sufferings of those victims from among the
crew who could not, like him, afford the means of
escape.

This practice is very generally discontinued. It is
true that it has sometimes been carried to an extreme
of roughness ; but, as ordinarily conducted, it has
been a great source of amusement. The true reason
for its rare occurrence is, that " the monarch of the
peopled deck," having no more taste for youthful
sport, considers every attempt at fun to be an infringe
ment of discipline, and because a sailor is considered
by him a brute, whose business it is to labor, and
nothing else. Many captains never can be made to
realize that " all work and no play makes Jack a dull

36 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

boy." Such treatment as they too often receive
causes sailors to seek for their only amusement on
shore, where, when they " dance," they dearly " pay
the fiddler."

In order to escape the course of the current, after
crossing the mouth of the Amazon, we ran close in to
the north shore of Brazil, and made the land a little
to the eastward of Maranham. Thence coasting
along shore, we had before our eyes a constant pan
orama of green lowlands, with a background of blue
mountains. We could see the cocoanut groves and
plantain trees which shaded the lazy little fishing
villages, and occasionally the bare white walls of
some oven-built town, such as those wherein the old
Portuguese delighted to roast themselves. They built
them because they had such at home ; as the Dutch
built Batavia in a swamp, and dug canals through it,
because it therefore looked like home ; as English
men stuff themselves with roast beef and porter under
the tropics, because they do so at home.

As we rounded Cape St. Roque, giving it a wide
berth on account of the reef, we saw numberless cat
amarans. These little rafts are constructed of logs
lashed together, upon which the adventurous natives
make long voyages along the coast, and often go far
out of sight of land in search of fish. As the water
is always awash over the logs, the crew of three or

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 37

four men are perched up on what resemble counting-
house stools, where at least the upper part of their
bodies can be dry. Baskets for their fish and pro
visions are similarly slung out of harm's way. They
carry a large lateen sail, and in the early morning,
as they are seen coming out of the harbors, they
appear like a flock of white gulls upon the water.
Like them, too, they are shy, and will not allow any
one to approach them. It is said that their dread of
strange ships arises from the treatment they have
sometimes received from the American whalers, who
frequent this coast. These vessels, being in want of
men, have been known to run down the little craft
purposely, and then, under pretence of saving the
crews, have kidnapped them and impressed them into
their service.

On the last day of December, and of the year 1864,
at ten o'clock A. M., we anchored off the city of Per-
nambuco. Our object was to obtain a supply of coal
for ship's use, if it could be advantageously bought.
The town and its surroundings make a very pretty
appearance from the sea. As for what is within, we
had little opportunity for observation. It was an
intensely hot day, and when we landed it seemed
like entering a furnace. It is a pleasant thing to
meet a familiar face in a strange land ; and thus, when
an old acquaintance, now established in business here,

38 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

welcomed us upon the wharf, the unexpectedness of
the meeting enhanced our gratification. Finding that
the ship drew too much water to come into the inner
harbor, and that a long time would be occupied in
coaling outside, we were obliged to' forego our inten
tion. So, after a visit of a few hours to Pernambuco,
we proceeded on the same evening upon our voyage.
While the purser was busy in the market, looking
after fruit and vegetables, of which he procured an
abundant supply, we employed the time in a drive to
the country house of our friend. Those who live on
the shore, and were never at sea, cannot realize the
delight of that hour's drive, of the walk in the shady
garden, and of the company of trees, fruits, and
flowers. Look in your books. You will find all
about Pernambuco — the number of its inhabitants, its
trade, productions, climate. I know nothing of these
excepting of the latter, which would have troubled
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Notwithstand
ing that, we had a delightful time. Remembrances
of it, with the delicious fruits, lasted us to Rio de
Janeiro. Nor in the four days' passage, though the
bouquets from the lovely little garden began to fade,
did we forget, or shall we forget, the charming frag
ment of a sejour at Pernambuco.

From Pernambuco to Rio de Janeiro, the distance
is about eleven hundred and fifty miles. The weather

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 39

was fine, and nearly calm. Over the smooth sea we
steamed rapidly along, and on the morning of the 5th
of January passed under the high headland of
Cape Frio, as the day broke, throwing its sunlight
upon the naked peak of the Sugar Loaf, the square
tower of the Gavia, the crested Corcovado, the pin
nacle of Tijuca, and all the familiar mountain faces
which stand there the sentinels of ages, looking down
upon the loveliest expanse of water in the world —
the bay of Rio de Janeiro !

There, at noon, we anchored ; and thence, under
the stars and stripes, the " Cotopaxi " never sailed
again. She was sold to the Brazilian government.

Returning to the United States, we sailed again in
the steamer " Tejuca," arriving in Brazil in the au
tumn of 1865, In accordance with the plan proposed,
all the details of this ship's journal are omitted, as
uninteresting, until the date at which the subsequent
narrative begins.

CHAPTER IV.

Effect of the Telegraph. — Distant Places brought near. —
Brazil still remote. — Increasing Interest in the Country.

— Various Descriptions thereof. — Agassiz and Fletcher.

— Origin of the present Work.

OUR estimates of distance have been greatly af
fected by the general introduction of the mag
netic telegraph, by which not only the extremes of
the largest empires, but even continents separated by
oceans, are enabled to exchange instantaneous com
munication.

While London and San Francisco are thus made
to seem within easy reach, Brazil, which occupies a
large portion of our western continent, is yet, practi
cally, as distant as the unfrequented islands of the
Pacific, or the frozen regions of the polar latitudes.

It is true that a circuitous line of steam navigation
to Rio de Janeiro has been recently established ; but
the voyages, though made with a certain degree of
regularity, are not more rapid than those often accom
plished by sailing vessels. The capital of Brazil is

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 4!

still four thousand eight hundred miles in distance, and
one month in time, apart from New York.

Nevertheless, Brazil has latterly attracted no little
attention in the United States. Scientifically it has
been explored by the enthusiastic Agassiz ; volu
minously it has been described by the imaginative
Fletcher, as seen through his glasses of couleur de
rose; and alluringly it has been placed before the
ruined South of our land, by speculators, who care
not if the deluded emigrants are ruined again.

It may be that these few pages, written with no
pretensions to scientific or literary merit, and with no
view of gain from " magnificent grants," will be read
because they are not many. Brevity is a recom
mendation to which, in this instance, a fair claim can
be made.

My observations have not been so extensive as
could be wished. Still, they are all that I have to
offer. There are those who, by a long residence in
Brazil, should be better qualified to advance opinions
upon the religion, morality, and pursuits of the peo
ple ; but, as has often been observed, writers who are
disposed to be candid are sometimes totally at variance
in their judgments, even with the same opportunities
of life-long observation.

These are merely the notes of a captain of a steamer,
trading on the coast of Brazil. They are not made

42 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

up from books, but from such rambles about city and
country as time and opportunity permitted, and from
intercourse with all sorts and conditions of passen
gers, with whom it was my fortune to associate at sea.

The voyages between Rio de Janeiro and Santos,
sometimes extending to Paranagua, were made be
tween the months of January and September, 1866.
It was not till May, however, that the idea occurred
to me, that it might be useful to others, as well as
pastime to myself, to commit these observations to
paper.

It is thus that my journal commences somewhat
abruptly.

43

CHAPTER V.

Climate of Rio de Janeiro. — Intense Heat of the Weather. —
Trips to Santos. — The Sea Breeze. — Refreshing Change.
— Beauty of the Coast. — Configuration of the Country. —
Rivers of the Table Land. — Island of St. Sebastian. —
A Terrestrial Paradise. — Dream-Land.

MAY 6, 1866. — At this season of the year, which
should correspond with the November of north
ern latitudes, instead of the cooler weather we might
reasonably expect after the terrific and unusual heat
of the summer months, we are again dissolving. The
heat in Rio de Janeiro is not to be measured by ther
mometers. Indeed, the mercury is seldom above 8^°
Fahrenheit ; but there is a humidity in this heated
atmosphere that kills all oxygen, and makes the air in
and about the city more oppressive and exhausting
than my experience can call to mind elsewhere, except
ing in Algeria. There, the sirocco was wont to drive
us to the stone floor of the bath-room, and leave us
panting like the hart after the water-brook, till the
three days' agony was over.

But the African sirocco is only an occasional

44 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

misery. Here, a similar heat has been constant,
though less intense, with scarcely an interval since
our arrival in December. Day after day has been a
dog-day, as the murky, inactive clouds have hung over
the city ; and the nights, intolerable on shipboard or
on shore, so far from bringing relief, have left us un
resisting victims to those birds of prey that penetrated
through the nets where air could scarcely enter. As
a physician has truly said of this climate, the liver
must inevitably suffer, for it is obliged to do double
duty — for itself and for the lungs.

Our trips to Santos have afforded some relief to this
lassitude and debility. The moment the bows of the
ship looked beyond the " Sugar-loaf," an oppressive
load was removed from the lungs and from the
brain, and there was a day's vacation for exhausted
nature.

If anything could be worse than the air of Rio de
Janeiro, it was that of Santos ; and we were rejoiced
to leave that port again, so that in fact the only enjoy
ment we had, was at sea.

Added to the pure air of the ocean there was a supe
rior mental tonic. We were exhilarated by the beau
tiful and picturesque scenery of the route, embracing
a view of near and distant mountains, and of a coast
lined alternately with sterile rocks, wild verdure, and
cultivated soil. For this distance of two hundred

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 45

miles, the character of the coast is peculiar to Brazil,
excepting an occasional variety which enhances the
charm of the general outline. The meadows from
the border of the sea stretch back on a level for ten or
fifteen miles, and then there is an abrupt, sometimes
almost perpendicular rise to a height of three thou
sand feet, to what is called the " Serra." This level
attained, the generally very even country is some
times varied by little hills and valleys, never rising
nor descending many feet, until it reaches the base
of the Andes, on the western side of the continent.

Rivers flow sluggishly along this vast prairie —
rivers that could be navigated by steamers, if they,
like the salmon, could jump up thither from the
ocean. Little do these lazy streams imagine what
is before them, till, rolling along to the very brink of
the Serra, they take their tremendous leaps ; and,
spreading themselves now into broad cascades, then
into silver threads, and often into scarcely more than
misty vapor, they tumble and dance over rocks, and
half float in the air, till they find their level on the
plains below, and there, gathering their scattered
waters again, become rivers once more, and, as such,
surrender themselves to the ocean.

The high and richly cultivated Island of St. Sebas
tian lay in our track, with a channel of one or two
miles in width between it and the main land. Out-

46 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

side or inside, the distance was nearly the same ,
but, whenever daylight permitted, it was our favorite
enjoyment to pass through the narrow inland passage.
Excepting the Bosphorus, there is nothing in my
memory that equals these shores in loveliness. In
some respects this strait is even superior to the Bos
phorus, though the latter is adorned by palaces and
kiosks, which are wanting here. But for these we
have a compensation in the deep, unfading green of the
tropics, and the innumerable cascades which sparkle
with silver threads upon the upper rocks. The table
land on the summit of the island seems to hold a
perpetual reservoir of water, and every plantation
and garden on the slope has its own little river or
brook. Pretty, too, in the distance, — and it is only in
the distance that Turkish or Brazilian towns are
pretty, — are the little villages which hang upon the
hills, and the abodes of the fishermen upon the shores.
The island always seemed to us to be a sort of
dream-land, for there was never a sign of life upon it.
We passed close to the banks of the channel, fired
guns, and blew the shrill steam-whistle ; but the only
response was the echo from the hills. Everything was
silent, and we wondered how the little brooks dared to
roll over the stones. No one appeared to work or to
be active in these pleasure-grounds of the Castle of
Indolence. Even the fishermen seemed to have no

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 47

lines, as they leaned dreamily over the sides of their
canoes, and they would scarcely have moved a paddle
to save themselves from destruction. They were all
Brazilians on St. Sebastian, and God treats them as
He treats the lilies of the field — He lets them grow
and thrive.

48

CHAPTER VI.

Santos. — A quiet City. — Noise banished. — Advantages
unimproved. — Impediments to Commerce. — Brazilian
Want of System. — Swarms of Office-holders. — Bribery and
Corruption. — Incessant Rains. — A Dutchman in Despair.

SANTOS is approached by first passing a rocky
islet, whereon is a lighthouse, and where, in for
mer days, was a semaphoric telegraph station. For
some reason, notwithstanding that trade has increased,
the telegraph has been discontinued. Many things
march backward in Brazil, and among the people
there is a great dread of improvement. We were ac
customed to fire a gun on our arrival in the river ; but
we were notified not to do so again, under penalty of
a fine, because it awoke those who were taking their
siesta. On the last 4th of July, the American admiral,
wishing to celebrate the day by saluting at every port
on his station, ordered the United States store-ship
" Onward" to Santos for this express purpose. The com
mander was waited upon by the authorities, and at their
earnest solicitation he consented not to make a noise.
After rounding the lighthouse island, we enter a

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 49

magnificent bay, at the head of which is a hard beach,
circling around for miles. Its upper limit is fringed
by low woods, from which peep out white " chaca-
ras," or country seats, surrounded by pretty gardens.
These are the summer residences of the wealthier in
habitants, and, as it seemed to us, the only comfortable
abodes for anybody, either in summer or in winter ;
for the houses in the town are the opposites of all our
ideas of dwelling-places, so small, damp, and cheerless
do they appear.

Beyond the eastern end of the beach, across the
river, is the fort, which nominally defends the harbor.
This work is an antiquated Portuguese pile of brick
and mortar, which in its best days would scarcely have
withstood musketry, and is now, of course, useless for
defence. The river is a narrow stream, not more than
a quarter of a mile in width, but of sufficient depth
for the largest class of ships. It winds prettily through
a low plain, covered with forest and guava trees, till
the town of Santos is reached, at a distance of seven
miles from the fort.

Nature has here supplied every convenience for
commerce, such as a civilized people would gladly
accept and improve. In our turn, when it came, the
steamer was visited, entered, and at last permitted
to discharge ; and this discharging must needs be
done at the custom-house wharf, — a privilege which
4

50 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

likewise came in turn, and was of course very un
certain.

I have said that Brazil steps 'backward ; and she is
doing this while she professes a wish to " open trade
and to encourage immigration." Let us take our own
case as an illustration of the way in which she will be
likely to accomplish these objects. On a coastwise
route like this, of two hundred miles, in the United
States, we could have made the round trip at least
eight times monthly, receiving and discharging full
cargoes. Here, owing to no other cause than the
vexatious impediments offered by the government, we
could scarcely make three trips in that time. In the
first place, the custom-house is closed on all holidays
and saints' days ; and there are holidays many, and of
saints' days an unknown number, which is continually
increasing. By and bye, when there come to be more
than three hundred and sixty-five of them in the calen
dar, the daysmustbe divided, one saint taking the morn
ing and another the evening. As it is now, the festival
days only occupy about half the time. On these days
no business is done. On the secular days the custom
house hours, within which ships are permitted to load
and discharge, are included between seven A. M. and
four P. M., out of wThich one hour is taken for break
fast and two hours for dinner. However active a crew
may be, they are obliged to conform to the slow

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 51

movements of the custom-house employees, who make
a pretence of working at the same time.

After the loading is completed, there generally
follows a day's work to clear at the custom-house.
Thence, after signing a multiplicity of documents, —
I counted them once ; there were ninety-six, — the
captain is at length released. After being visited by
health-boat, police-boat, and guard-boat, we finally
proceed to sea. When we enter port at the other end
of our route, the same ceremonies are again to be ob
served ; and if the boarding officials are at breakfast,
we may remain at anchor two or three hours blowing
off steam, until their convenience is suited. And all this
nonsense, be it remembered, applies not only to foreign
trade, but more especially to the coasting trade, which
Brazil has so recently thrown open to all nations. As
I was the first to take advantage of the permission, and
have followed the business for nearly a year, I feel com
petent to assure others that, with all the annoyances
and the small profits, le jeu ne uaut pas la chandelle.

There is no true idea of system or order among the
Brazilians, at least in public affairs. The post-office
is quite as badly administered as the custom-house.
There is no certainty whatever that your letters will
be despatched, or that your correspondence from home
will reach you. There is a chance of success, and
that is all. Bushels of letters are scattered about in

52 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

the post-office of Rio de Janeiro. You are invited to
enter and help yourself; and it may readily be sup
posed that in this way some people find the letters of
others, if they cannot find any of their own. Some
years ago, when, Mr. Gordon, who had previously
filled the office of postmaster in Boston, was consul
here, he offered to place the Brazilian post-office upon
an American footing, saving, it is to be hoped, the bad
feature of rotation in office. His well-meant proposal
was declined. Like the Chinese, the Brazilians cling
to " olo cussum ; " and it is a very peculiar old custom
that in part accounts for the vexations of which we
complain.

In England and in the United States the relation
of " godfather," although nominally a very responsi
ble trust, is generally a sinecure. There is a promise
that the child, whose parents thus pay a sort of com
pliment to the person who acts as sponsor, shall be
religiously educated, and shall say his Catechism like
a good boy, which promise the godfather proposes
to trouble himself very little in keeping. In Brazil
this ceremony means a very different thing. The rich
and influential are begged to assume the honor, and
can seldom refuse to take upon themselves this obliga
tion for their poor relations. They make all sorts of
religious promises ; but these are interpreted to mean a
care for the child's advancement in this life. As the

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 53

godfather naturally wishes to accomplish his vows
with as little expense to himself as possible, what bet
ter can he do than to provide the young man, as soon
as he is of suitable age, with an office under the gov
ernment? And if government has not a sufficient
number of offices at its disposal, how can the influ
ence of the Duke, Marquis, Baron, or Comendador
be retained more easily than by creating new offices
for new office-holders? Thus these men in office go
on and multiply, till the cap-bands and stripes are be
coming so numerous that the people will soon be like
the company of a down-east schooner — captain, mate,
cook, and no crew. And so the system becomes not
only an expensive arrangement for the Brazilians
themselves, but likewise a burden and an intolerable
nuisance to foreigners, and a serious impediment
in the way of commerce.

Moreover, it may be readily seen that where so
many are feeding from the public crib, there must be
a scarcity of fodder for all. Hence proceed bribery
and corruption, according to the scale of office, mount
ing upwards from a milreas to the colossal figure some
times reached at Washington.

The city of Santos is the principal seaport of the
province of San Paulo. It was settled at a very early
period in the history of the country, by the Portuguese,
who were at no loss to perceive the advantages of its

54 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

situation for commercial purposes ; and these are all
the advantages to which it could ever lay claim.
Nothing but the love of money could entice one to
live there. It lies on a low, alluvial soil, half the
-^ time submerged, — so that walking is impracticable,
— and, for a portion of almost every day, is deluged by

1 torrents of rain, which cease for an hour or two only.

Then comes forth, in this brief interval, a burning sun,
to exhale the moisture from the spongy ground, and to

p pour down a heat which renders the stifling air little

•w)

better than the fumes from a charcoal furnace.
^ I could fully credit the story told of a Dutch captain,

whose race is generally so phlegmatic. His vessel was
chartered to load a cargo of coffee, and a certain num
ber of " working days " were stipulated for, " rainy
days not included." It did not suit the convenience
of the merchant to ship the cargo until the price had
fallen, which time seemed afar off. And so the honest
Dutchman remained at his anchor day after day, week
after week, and month after month ; for it rained so
often that scarcely a day could be counted against the
inexorable coffee-dealer. At length the skipper's pipe
and his patience gave out together, and he became
raving mad. There was time to obtain a new captain
from Amsterdam, it is said, before coffee fell and the
rain ceased to fall.

55

CHAPTER VII.

A Decayed Toivn. — Brighter Prospects. — Cultivation of
Cotton in Brazil. — Advantages therefor over the United
States. — Mutations in Planting. — Cotton, Coffee, Sugar.
— Opportunities to make a Fortune. — Primitive Modes of
Conveyance. — Mules and Muleteers. — Cruelty to Animals.

SANTOS, with its decayed landing-places and
dilapidated warehouses, reminds one of New-
buryport, Salem, and other such towns at home, that
were once busy commercial marts, but have long since
lost their trade, and have become neglected and forlorn.
But now it would seem that a new and brighter era
may dawn upon the city of Santos. (Wherever in the
world cotton can be grown, its cultivation has received
an impetus from the late American civil war. Vari
ous nations have begun to compete for the cheapest
production of this absolutely necessary staple, and
none have a fairer chance of success, in building their
fortunes upon our ruin, than Brazil, if her people can
display sufficient energy. The most sanguine planters
scarcely hoped to do more than to make large profits
while the war continued ; but they now see an unlim-

56 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

ited future of prosperity before them. They are quite
sure that the labor system of the Southern States will
be much more expensive than heretofore, and that
this climate, even with free labor, which all anticipate
eventually, will give them every advantage over us.j
Their reasoning is simple, and not easily refuted.

For example, in the province of San Paulo, of which
Santos is the seaport, there is no winter, properly so
called, although it is within the limits of the southern
temperate zone. Something is produced from die soil,
in alternate crops throughout the year, and there are
generally two crops of cotton annually, or, at least,
three crops in two years. There is no season in
which the laborer need remain idle. He can always
be producing something for his employer or for him
self. In either case it is the same, for it enters into
the cost of raising cotton, as the price of remunerative
labor. Nor, like the southern negro, whose service
cannot be made available in the winter, does the
laborer here require warm clothing, if any at all ; for
clothing is a luxury indulged in only on Sundays and
holidays. Slave labor, or free labor, is, then, un
deniably cheaper here. Moreover, the expense of
cultivation is infinitely less with the proper tools, of
which the Brazilians are so slow to learn the use.
Cotton with us is planted yearly. Here the plants
last from five to seven years without renewal.

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 57

When slavery existed in the United States, cotton
could be raised for seven cents per pound ; and then
Cotton 'was King. What a fall he has had from his
throne, dragging down his ministers and his immedi
ate vassals with him, involving in the ruin those
who were obliged to dethrone him ! The kingdom of
Cotton is changed into a world-wide republic. Many
nations will be the gainers, while we are losers. At
this time, with our present transition of labor systems,
it is estimated that cotton cannot be raised for less than
twenty cents per pound. Doubtless, in the course of
years, either by the utilization of black labor, which
the hopes of some anticipate, or by the influx of emi
grants, this condition will be improved. But, mean
while, the outside world will get a prodigious start ;
and it is difficult to conceive, that, with all the appli
ances we can bring to bear, we can reduce the pres
ent cost of production one half — to ten cents. To
this must be added the internal revenue tax of three
cents, and the export duty, if our government is so un
wise as to place any further restrictions upon industry.

In this district of San Paulo, cotton can be raised for
very little more than our present revenue tax and the
proposed export duty ; and this even with the anti
quated tools and the slow energies of Brazilians. In
many parts of the empire the experiment has proved
unsuccessful. Especially is this true of the country

58 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

near Rio de Janeiro, where the plant is often utterly
destroyed by worms.

I know an American gentleman in charge of a large
fazenda a few leagues from that city, who has lost his
entire crop for the three years since he commenced
planting, and whose almost indomitable perseverance
has been at last forced to succumb. He is now suc
cessfully cultivating sugar-cane. (Sugar was formerly
the chief product of the district of San Paulo. It was
abandoned some years ago, when the world's demand
for coffee suddenly became so great ; and then the
cane-fields became green with the beautiful coffee tree.
At present there is not sugar enough made here to
supply the wants of a single village. It forme'd the
bulk of our cargoes from Rio de Janeiro, whence it
is reexported, after being landed from Bahia and
Pernambuco.

Now, in their turn, the coffee trees in San Paulo are
neglected, and the fields are white with cotton, des
tined to occupy the ground, at least for some years,
until some other great change comes over the wants
of the world.

With this prospect in view there is a splendid future
for the city of Santos. Already a direct trade is opened
between that city and Liverpool by the screw steam
ers, which touch monthly on their route to and from
Montevideo. All that is wanted is energy. For

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 59

Americans, if there are any who can endure the detes
table climate, there are sure opportunities offered
for amassing wealth.

This city has scarcely more than four thousand
inhabitants, its population having decreased within
a few years. The price of land and other real estate
is just now very low. ^Emigrants will find it advanta
geous to settle near the seaboard, rather than in the
interior"}) whence it is so expensive to bring produce to
market. This has hitherto been brought for hundreds
of miles on the backs of mules. It is still necessarily
thus transported to the city of San Paulo, distant from
Santos about forty-five miles by the railroad just com
pleted. So slow are the Brazilians to see the advan
tages of this mode of conveyance, that most of them
still adhere to the old method of carriage for the
whole distance.

Every mule brings on his back two bags of coffee or
two bales of cotton. The bags of coffee each weigh
one hundred and twenty-eight pounds, and the bales of
cotton one hundred and twelve pounds. They make
long and slow journeys, averaging about sixteen miles
per day.

The entrance of a " troop" of mules into the city is
a lively sight. They are always preceded by a white
horse, with a string of bells upon his neck, all the
mules obediently following this leader. Sometimes

60 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

troops of several hundreds arrive on a morning ;
and again there are days with no arrivals. Most of
the muleteers are rough, shaggy Western islanders, or
half Indians. They are finely formed men, with hand
some features, but a devilish expression — such as one
would prefer to meet in town by daylight, rather than
on the mountains by night. When the pack-saddles
are taken off, the mules are pitiable objects. The con
tinual sawing of their loads for a long journey of hun
dreds of miles not only abrades the skin, but grinds
off the raw flesh down to the very bones. It is hard
to imagine that self-interest, to say nothing of human
ity, can permit such cruelty.

CHAPTER VIII.

Railroads in Brazil. — Natural Obstacles Encountered. —
Dom Pedro Segundo Railroad. — A Stupendous Work. —
Excursion by Rail to San Paulo. — Precipitous Grades. —
Frightful Chasms. — Queer Sensations. — Aspects of Na
ture in the North and South. — City of San Paulo. — In
stitutions of Education. — Return to the Plains, &c.

AT last that inevitable institution, the railroad, has
found its way to Brazil, as it will, doubtless, one
of these days, reach Timbuctoo. In no country has it
more natural obstacles to contend against than here.
There are several small railroads in the northern prov
inces, running on levels, a few miles from the cities ;
but there, and at Rio de Janeiro, they have, until
lately, been content to stop without any effort to
overcome the hills.

The first great work undertaken — and it is really
a stupendous work — was the Dom Pedro II. Railroad.
By the aid of English capital, and the skill of Ameri
can engineers, — the Messrs. Ellison, who should be
held in everlasting remembrance here, — this road has
already been carried one hundred and twenty miles

62 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

into the interior from Rio de Janeiro. A way has
been found to climb precipices ; bridges have been
thrown over deep chasms, and solid mountains have
been tunnelled, in one instance for the distance of two
miles. No better masonry can be seen in the world ;
and it is admitted by Europeans and Americans who
have passed over this line, and are qualified to judge
of it in comparison with others, that it is a most
complete triumph of engineering art.

Another road is just completed, — the one already re
ferred to, between Santos and San Paulo, — which will
do a vast deal to open trade, and will save the back of
many a poor mule. It is to be continued farther in
land ; and mules, if they could pray, — and their
prayers would have a better chance of being heard
than those of their drivers, — should pray for its
speedy extension.

The road is scarcely yet in running order ; but as
we were desirous of seeing a work which has been so
much lauded, and also of visiting the city of San Paulo,
we accepted the invitation of the superintendent to go
over the route. Owing to its unfinished condition,
we could have accomplished the distance much more
speedily and pleasantly by diligence, or on horseback,
by a good mountain road ; but we should not have
seen what we did see under some difficulties. The
connections were intended to have been made ; but un-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 63

fortunately they were not made, so that we were thirty
hours in accomplishing our forty-five miles. We thus
made a speed, including stops, of one and a half mile
per hour, which rate it is intended to increase by
and bye.

Our first stopping-place was Mugi, a village fifteen
miles from Santos, and at the end of the low level.
Making a virtue of necessity, we passed a very
pleasant afternoon and night at this collection of
adobe huts.

At such places, the " vendas? or grog-shops, gen
erally do duty as hotels ; but here a German landlord
has established himself, and really keeps a very com
fortable inn. His chief customers are the English
employees of the road, from whom he makes no little
profit on beer and brandy. Mr. Sharp, the contractor,
has a good two-story dwelling-house, which is sur
rounded by quite a little settlement of his countrymen.
The aristocracy consist of Mr. Sharp and a Scotch
doctor and his family. The plebeians are the engine-
drivers and understrappers. Glad enough to hear our
own language spoken, we accommodated ourselves to
both extremes of society, and thus whiled away our
time as best we might.

In the morning we recommenced our journey by
being drawn up the inclined plane to the "Alto," or
top of the Serra, which is twenty-seven hundred feet

64 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

above Mugi. This part of the trip is a pleasure
which, taken once in a man's life, is, as a pleasure,
sufficient. The grade is one foot in ten, and the
ascent is effected by stationary engines, four of which
are placed at nearly equal distances apart. A large
wire rope is attached to the train, when the invisible
power, a mile above, commences operations. Slowly
wre begin to move upwards on the track, which winds
along the brink of an ever-growing precipice.

Uncomfortable is a very mild word to apply to the
sensation produced ; and, as we go up, up, up, this feel
ing naturally increases — a possible fall being calculated
to be more and more like annihilation in proportion to
the ascent gained. These queer sensations arrive at
their greatest intensity on the last stretch, when, look
ing from the window, we perceive a chasm yawning
beneath, the remembrance of which makes my pen
quiver even now.

It is admitted that the road is dangerous. And thus
it will continue to be for some time, at least until the
banks settle so that they wrill not be washed away, as
they frequently are now, by the heavy rains. Fortu
nately the " slides " have taken place when no train
was upon the track ; but this immunity cannot always
be counted upon. A passenger must have the un
pleasant reflection that he may be called upon to
" assist " at the first fatal catastrophe.

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 65

But all these perils — at least for those who have
never made the ascent before — are more than counter
balanced by the exhilaration of the mountain air, and
by the wonderful magnificence and beauty of the
scenery. The fields below " stand dressed in living
green ; " the mountain-tops, the hill-sides, and the
valleys are all alike of this color, in different shades
of their own verdure, and all perpetually changing,
as the dark or fleecy clouds throw their shadows
over the scene. Even the rocky cliffs and precipices,
steep down for hundreds and even thousands of feet,
scarcely show their barrenness, being covered, as are
also the forest trees, with thick-hanging parasitic flow
ers. All else that Nature deigns to wear to vary and
display more forcibly her everlasting mantle of green,
are the silver-white ribbons of the streams, which
scatter themselves far and wide over the slopes, and
add another charm to what would already seem per
fection.

There are landings on this great staircase, which we
ascended, where the cars are attached to the engines
above. Each of these engines turns a shaft, around
which is wound the wire cable, that draws up one
train while it gently lowers another. These " down
trains " are not absolutely necessary, but when conve
nient they are used as aids to the engines.

Just before we reached the summit, heavy clouds
5

66 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

began to gather around us ; and when we arrived at
the "Alto" it was in the midst of a pouring rain,
while everything below was smiling in sunshine.
And now came the " winter of our discontent," for
again there was no connection of trains ; and in default
of it there were no pretty Scotch girls, as at Mugi, to
dispel the dreariness of the day before us. So we
crept into a miserable venda; and there, in a miscel
laneous company, listening to all sorts of oaths and
jargon, breathing the aroma of caxache rum, garlic,
unwashed Portuguese, undressed negroes, and the
general stench of humidity, we waited till evening,
when the train arrived.

As the afternoon advanced, the mist cleared away ;
and when we were at length upon our road to San
Paulo, it was that beautiful hour when daylight dies,
and when the shadows of night are seen creeping
along to its funeral. The change was scarcely
perceptible, so nearly alike were the half-clear day
light and the night illumined by stars. Our eyes
revelled in perfection when the moon rose, far away
beyond the vast plains, over which we were so rapidly
whirled. Thanks to those powerful engines, we had
been elevated into another atmosphere — a different
world ! Below, in Santos and on the plains we had
left, the " pale moon, with sickly ray," was scarcely
penetrating the miasmatic fog, and the stars were

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 67

glimmering like lights from the attic windows of some
pest-visited city. Here, all bright and clear, the night-
lights of heaven danced through an air which was the
breath of electric life. It was like the glowing Octo
ber of Vermont. What a month that is ! And how
faint and feeble, in comparison, was this scene, that
reminded us of it ! There is no such pure atmos
phere, no such variety of view, and, above all, no
such fresh coloring, in the tropics as in our northern
climes. Here we pass through immense tracts of
wild woods, where the trees of perennial green are
giant garden plants, blooming with flowers. We
cannot but love and caress Nature, as, thus gaudily
dressed, she is forever smiling upon us ; but she is
like the women of this clime — lovely, languid, in
expressive, always the same.

In these regions, Nature, animate or inanimate, is
alike lazy, — almost too lazy to die as she dies with us,
only to live again, — throwing around herself such a
pall of beauty, that, when we look upon her autumn,
the idea of our own death is robbed of its terrors.

Yet this was a near approach to a temperate climate ;
and the contrast with the deadly, sickening heat we
had so long endured was so great, that the sensations
caused by unaccustomed pulsation were for a time
almost uncomfortable.

The country through which we passed was generally

68 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

level, and partially cleared, affording, one would think,
excellent pasturage, and good land for growing wheat
or corn. And yet no cattle are raised near the coast,
no butter or cheese is made, no wheat is grown,
and Indian corn is not produced in sufficient quantity
for home consumption. The reasons assigned are,
that cattle can be had for almost nothing far in the
interior. So they are driven down to the sea, and
what the flies and the u bichos " leave is consumed
by the people. They are grateful that these destroy
ers cannot eat the hide and the bones, which are
nearly all that is left. As for wheat and Indian
corn, they say there is more profit in raising coffee
and cotton, and they can better import these grains
than raise them. They obtain very good fresh cheese
from the province of Minas ; and they rather prefer
the butter which has become rancid, when imported
from Europe or the United States, high as the price is
compared with what they could afford it for themselves,
— for a Brazilian is as fond of grease as a Russian.

The people here all believe that milk is an unwhole
some article of food. It is a fact that two cows supply
the whole city of Santos. Every morning these, and
these only, may be seen driven about the town, each
with her muzzled calf tied to the end of her tail.
The milk is drawn off at the doors of those who
require it, the procession of cow, calf, and milkman

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 69

passing through whole streets without a call. When
a customer is found, he is fully supplied from a small
measure containing less than half a pint.

At a late hour of the evening we were landed at the
station, which is in the outskirts of the city of San
Paulo. Thence we walked to the Hotel d'Europe,
through clean, well-paved streets, bordered with low
houses, neat, at least outwardly.

In almost every foreign place we have found a
u Hotel d'Europe ; " and as it has so often happened
to be the best in the town, we decided to trust our
selves to it here. Nor were we mistaken or disap
pointed. The hotel compared favorably with any
yet seen in Brazil, and was superior to those of
the capital. The table was good and abundant,
and the prjce for transient guests was only three
milreas (one dollar and fifty cents) per day, including
vin ordinaire. In a French hotel, by the by, this
is indispensable. Were Frenchmen on a wreck with
an allowance of a crumb of bread and a drop of
water, they would expect the vin ordinaire to be
included. Fruit was abundant here, the strawberries
and grapes being particularly fine. I believe that
cherries are unknown in Brazil. We were told, by
an English resident, that the peaches, in their season,
are equal to those of New Jersey ; but when he
added, " They are not hup to those we have in Hing-

70 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

land," we knew that he was not qualified to make
the comparison.

The city of San Paulo contains twenty thousand
inhabitants, and has a great deal of trade with the
interior. For the present the terminus of the railroad
is here, and thus for some time San Paulo will be
the depot of all the merchandise going to and from
the seaboard. But when the road is opened, as it
soon will be, into the rich district of Campinas, this
r^ place will lose its commercial importance. Railroads
terminating in small villages sometimes convert them
into great cities ; by passing through large towns they
often cause them to dwindle down to small villages.

The people of this province are called Paulistas.

V" They are generally of a purer race than their more

^ northern countrymen, having less negro blood in their

7> veins ; nor are they so much mixed with the Indians

as the inhabitants south, in Paranagua. The women

are often pretty, and not unfrequently of fair, clear

o

complexion, through which blushes, unknown else
where, may occasionally be seen. Well located 1/1 San
Paulo are the chief literary institutions of the empire.
It enjoys the finest climate in Brazil, and suielypure
air enters into the production of clear brains. The
course of education in law, physic, and divinity is
very complete, occupying terms of seven years. It
was vacation time, and the three classes of students,

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 7 1

who form a lively and important part of the popula
tion, being away at their homes, the town was con
sidered dull. These young men, belonging almost
always to the richest families of the empire, disburse
a great deal of money among the Paulistas, who are
consoled in their absence by the reflection that when
they return they will bring with them all the money
that can be wrung out of their " governors." It being
therefore " the dull season," we could please our
selves only with viewing the outside of the college
buildings.

We had no letters of introduction, and so wre made
no acquaintances, excepting those of our very civil
landlord and of an American dentist — for American
dentists find employment in all Brazilian towns, and
in the mouths of almost all Brazilian women who
can afford to avail themselves of their services.
Pleased with what we had seen, and invigorated
by our short sojourn in these upper regions, we
trusted ourselves again to the wire rope, and were
lowered down to the hot plains below. Soon again
we found ourselves on the deck of the steamer, and
on the next day sailed for Rio de Janeiro.

CHAPTER IX.

Trip on the Dom Pedro Segundo Railroad. — American and
English Engineering Compared. — Dismal S~<.vamp. —
Terminus of the Road. — Future Extension. — A Negro-
loving Philanthropist. — Laziness and Cunning of the
Negroes. — Unprofitable Servants. — The Plan a Failure.

BY invitation of Mr. Ellison, engineer-in-chief
of the Dom Pedro II. Railroad, we had a favor
able opportunity of travelling over this magnificent
work to its present terminus, one hundred and twenty
miles from Rio de Janeiro. We could not avoid
comparing it very favorably with the San Paulo
road, and feeling pride that the American style of
construction was, at least in this one instance, so
immeasurably superior to the English.

This road follows for a greater distance the low
level, which on this part of the coast extends about
forty miles before the inevitable Serra is reached.
The Serra, or upper platform of land, may average
three thousand feet high for its whole extent. For the
first ten miles the road passes through the beautiful
and highly cultivated suburbs of the city, leaving on

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 73

the right, the palace and grounds of San Christovao,
and cutting through the gardens of the numerous
chacaras inhabited by the wealthy citizens. For the
rest of the level, as far as Belem, at the foot of the
Serra, the land is divided about equally between
plantation, pasturage, and morass, with here and
there a village at the railway stations. The cars
are mostly of the American pattern, which is gen
erally preferred in this warm climate.

For ten miles before arriving at Belem (or Beth
lehem), we passed through a most dismal swamp,
indeed. The waste of human life in the construction
of this short section waS horrible, and the few
laborers and overseers who survived the inevitable
fever of this pool of abominations, are now tottering
to the grave with ruined constitutions.

P We had no such discomforts here as on the San

^ Paulo road. Although the rise from the coast to
the Serra is the same in both places, we were not
obliged to change seats or to feel that our lives
hung by a thread, or even by a wire rope. Not-

- withstanding that in some places the grade could not
be reduced to less than one foot in fifteen, the stal
wart American iron horse jogged along, slowly, it

: is true, and straining his muscles to the utmost, but
carrying us bravely through the notches and along
the sides of the hills. There was a feeling of perfect

74 T£N MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

security as we surveyed the solid masonry and stone
walls — seemingly as durable as those of the Simplon,
or of the road over Mount Cenis. We could not but
marvel that Americans should have so far surpassed
in a foreign land anything that has been done at home.

The scenery is of the same character as that of
the Serra farther south, but more beautiful in variety.
Lost for a moment in wonder at the giant forest
which surrounded us, the next instant opened a vista
through which we looked far down on the valley of
Macacos, extending for miles between two spurs of
the Serra — every foot of it a fruitful garden.

Rhodeo is the first station, about sixty miles
from Rio de Janeiro, and nearly at the " Alto " of
the Serra. From thence, after rising three hundred
feet more, until a height of three thousand feet is
attained, there is a more gradual descent to the
valley and river of Parahiba, where is the present
terminus of the road for traffic. It is partially
completed, and will soon be opened as far as Entre
Rios, where it crosses the celebrated " Uniuo e
Industria " carriage road. For some forty miles
across the valley the grade is comparatively level,
and there are few natural obstacles to be overcome

But the march of the Dom Pedro II. Railroad is
onward. Its future progress is over and through
mountains and rocks, till the great mining district of

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 75

Minas, now the journey of weeks, is brought within
two days' communication with the capital. Govern
ment cannot well spare the money, depleted as the
treasury now is by an unprofitable war ; but as it has
assumed the responsibility of finishing the road, it
will be done. The investment will, at all events,
prove a better one than that in Paraguay, where life,
as well as treasure, has been so uselessly sacrificed.

Returning towards the city, and passing Rhodeo, we
wrere landed, by the kind invitation of Dr. Gunning,
at the platform a few steps from his chacara. Charm
ing as is this beautiful retreat, perched in the moun
tain wilderness, looking through its clearings down
on the lovely valley of Macacos, there is something
more charming in the character of our amiable hosts.

Dr. Gunning is a ^practical negro-loving philanthro
pist. Although his schemes have been failures, and
his efforts for the improvement of the black race have
been entirely without success, he is yet as sanguine
as ever, still persevering, in spite of misfortune, and
even of ridicule, so much harder to bear.

Coming as we did from a country where we knew
too well how much of the pretended love for the
negro has emanated from that political ambition
which has made him the mere tool for the purposes
of party and of power, we could not but admire and
love this disinterested enthusiast.

76 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

Dr. Gunning left a high position in the Medical
College of Edinburgh, sixteen years ago, and came to
Brazil for the improvement of his health. Here, in a
short time, his skill as a physician, and some profitable
investments in the mines, secured him an ample for
tune. Had his constitution permitted him to return
to England, he would, doubtless, have found full scope
for his benevolence among the poor whites there ; but
as he was obliged to remain in Brazil, he naturally
turned his attention to the prevailing color. In short,
as an individual, he resolved to devote his time,
talents, and property to the experiment which nations
have tried in vain. He would raise the black to the
level of the white race, by a practical trial of a theory
not new, but variously attempted — that of "giving
the black man a fair chance."

With this object steadily in view, he purchased
some thirty-five or forty negroes. He bought a tract
of land nearly two miles square on the railroad which
was then building, about six years ago, and on it the
pretty cottage at which we were so hospitably enter
tained now stands.

In its neighborhood he built comfortable huts for his
negroes, and gave to each as large a garden spot as he
required. At that time the planters and other slave
owners were gaining enormously by the labor of their
negroes upon the railroad, so that the value of a slave

TEN MONTPIS IN BRAZIL. 77

was soon cleared. The good doctor asked himself the
question, " If a planter can clear a negro, why cannot
a negro clear himself?" A woman's answer, "Be
cause — " -would have been more to the purpose than
his own. At any rate, the negroes did not clear
themselves, and they remain on hand to this day.

The doctor commenced a perfect system of book
keeping. Each colored gentleman had his name at
the head of a page, with Dr. on the left and Cr. on
the right : Dr. to his first cost, interest on the same,
and subsequent expenses for food, clothing, &c. ; Cr.
by cash received for his individual labor. When the
accounts balanced he was to be free. But none__of
the accounts ever came to be balanced.

The negro is often not so much of a fool as his
white apologist. He would have no objection to free
dom if it could be had for nothing, for the days of
idleness before him are a tempting luxury. But these
fellows had the sense to see that with such a master
as Dr. Gunning, freedom would not be worth working
for. The result was, that they were nearly half the
time drunk, or sick in the hospital, and when they
did work, they worked so unprofitably that the rail
road company dispensed with their services.

The doctor is now using them in clearing and plant
ing his own grounds, and crediting them with their
daily labor. In this way he promises himself that

78 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

they will eventually earn their freedom. His neigh
bors say that the work would be done in a cheaper
and better manner if he gave them their freedom at
once, and then hired the slaves of others.

In the mean time the doctor submits quietly to the
robbery of his hen-roosts, the stealing of his fruit and
vegetables, the surreptitious milking of his cows, and
the other annoyances, great and small, which the
presence of these vagabonds entails upon him. His
corn is gathered early, but it is not gathered for him ;
and his crop of green coffee is large for others, while
that of ripe coffee is small for himself. The black
lilies " toil not, neither do they spin," and the slaves
are hard masters, " reaping where they have not
sown."

When our excellent friend first made his investment,
he was very inconsiderate in the explanation of his
plans to the negroes. One morning after instructing
them in the mysteries of book-keeping, he added that,
in case of his death at any time, they would be free at
once. On the same night he was attacked in his bed
by a negro with an iron bar, and seriously beaten over
the head. Fortunately the generous Scotchman's head
was harder than his heart, and the only result of the
blow was an enlargement of the organ of caution.

CHAPTER X.

A Brazilian Plantation under Yankee Management. — De
scription of the Fazenda. — Sunshine and Shade. — Brazil
ian Cookery. — Ride over the Estate. — Working" of the
Negroes. — Freedom and Slavery. — Comparative Advan
tages and Disadvantages. — Moral Reflections, &c.

THERE is a fazenda on the line of the railroad,
about twenty miles from Rio de Janeiro, which
belonged to a Portuguese family for many generations.
At last the family decayed, and the plantation like
wise went to ruin. The old stone buildings began to
crumble, and the brush-wood, starting up in the place
of neglected sugar-cane, soon became a young forest,
where the cattle ran wild, and the negroes became
very much like them. At length, by mortgage, this
property fell into the hands of Baron Maua, the great
est capitalist and banker in Brazil. The baron had
an adopted daughter, and she had a lover from the
land of the Yankees ; and the baron, like the sensible
man he is, favored the love of the young people, had
tfiem married, and then turned over this plantation of
four thousand acres to Mr. Hayes, for him to " im
prove."

So TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

It looked "seedy" enough, although that wculd
seem an improper term for implanted land — five years
ago.y But now the desert is beginning to blossom, and

xm five years more the empire will not contain a more

\r

flourishing or better conducted estate.
*-»

We were cordially welcomed at the station by our

countryman, and, mounting a chariot which he had
* exhumed and renovated, — a curiosity, indeed, of
^ Portuguese antiquity, — we were driven off to the
^ fazenda.

A " fazenda " is, properly, a plantation ; but the
name is applied also to the house upon it. These
houses are all in very much the same style. From
V a distance a fazenda, with its outbuildings, has the
S- air of a fortress, being arranged quadrilaterally, with
a large area within. This area serves as a play-
-^ ground for young darkies, a promenade for sheep,
goats, calves, and pigs, a drying-ground for clothes,
a receptacle for firewood, charcoal, vegetables, old
tools, bottles, broken wagons, empty barrels, wash-
tubs, and a vast quantity of filth, which might be of
considerable service if incorporated into the land out
side. In this instance foreign habits had very much
improved upon native untidiness.

The front face of this fazenda was at least one

<s, hundred and fifty feet in length, being mostly of one
f^

story, with another added, sufficient for a few sleeping-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 8 1

rooms, over the middle of the long range. At one end
was the kitchen, at the other the chapel. Between
them ran a long, wide gallery, hung with family por
traits. This served for hall, salon, and general purposes
of family gathering, the dining-room and sleeping-
rooms opening from it, and looking out upon the area.

There could not be contrived a more comfortable
house for a hot climate. But there was an absence of
piazzas and shade trees. Strangely, these are always
wanting to Brazilian houses. There is no way of
accounting for this singular omission other than by
attributing it to the influence of negro blood, more or
less of which runs in the veins of so many of the people.
A negro, and only a negro, luxuriates in the sunshine
of the tropics. All other natives of hot regions — the
Bengalese and Malays, for examples — take every pre
caution against the sun's rays. When a white fireman
on board of a steamer comes up from his watch, he
always leans over the rail in the shade, where he can
get the air. But the negro fireman comes up at noon
day, under a vertical sun, and throws himself down to
sleep upon a deck which would blister the skin of a
rhinoceros.

This want of shade gives all Brazilian houses a
forlorn and forbidding exterior. It must be oc
casioned by an Ethiopian love of sunshine.

A different taste is very noticeable among the people
6

52 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

of Montevideo and Buenos Ayres. In a climate of
so much higher latitude, the luxury of shade does
not seem so indispensable as it should be in Brazil.
Nevertheless, their " quintas " are as tasteful as these
fazendas are repulsive. There we find the most re
freshing coolness in the very sight of the verandas,
awnings, and shade trees, which are the invariable
protectors against summer heat. Among those de
scendants of the old Spaniards there is no negro
blood.

Arriving at the fazenda, we were kindly received by
the charming hostess, whose agreeable manners made
us immediately at home. Hospitality is a Brazilian
virtue, and we were not surprised at meeting a numer
ous though accidental company around the table. It
was not unpleasant to find that while the taste of her
Brazilian guests had been duly consulted, the English
education of our young hostess had qualified her like
wise to please the palates of her husband and his friends.
So we had a nicely prepared English dinner, while
the Brazilians, neglecting our dishes, held to their
carne seca, torcinho, feijaos, and bacalhao.

The first three of these articles are served together,
carne seca being, what its name implies, dried meat, or,
as we term it, " jerked beef," immense quantities of
which are cured in Buenos Ayres, chiefly for the con
sumption of West India negroes and Brazilians. It

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 83

has long been an article of commerce, giving employ
ment to a large fleet of vessels. Torcinho is clear pork,
or the fat of hogs, from which lard is made. Feijaos
are black beans. These three articles, with various
concomitants, in which garlic is never wanting, are
stirred together and stewed, and thus form the omni
present national dish. Bacalhao, or salt codfish,
ranks next. Professor Agassiz told us that the people
about the Amazon are so fond of it, that they will not
use the delicate fish of their own waters, if they can
get this greater delicacy from Newfoundland. Beef
and mutton are generally tough and lean. When
these meats are seen upon the table, they are so much
cooked that the little juice they contained is dried up,
and the meat is blackened like charcoal. In this state
it is served as part of an olla podrida, with yams, cab
bage, and garlic. The Brazilian cuisine by itself is an
unmitigated abomination !

Early on the next morning we were all on horse
back, prepared to take a survey of the plantation.
We trotted leisurely through the cotton, cane, and
mandioca fields, and then galloped over the pastures,
and through the shady lanes, which intersect the forest
not yet brought under cultivation, passing on our way
the gangs of negroes going to their work.

No one will suppose that they were hurrying with
any great alacrity to their forced labor ; but there was

84 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

no appearance of suffering among them, nor were the
overseers cracking whips over their backs. They
were generally singing cheerfully, and they invariably
saluted Mr. Hayes, pleasantly as well as respectfully.
" God be with you ! " they said to us, and " God be
with you ! " we replied to them ; neither black nor
white man thinking of the full meaning of this fre
quent benediction, or how much the divine presence is
needed by both alike !

When each reflects upon the condition of the other,
/ we think that we can appreciate the sorrows of the
I slave ; but we cannot counterbalance these with the
bliss which springs from ignorance and from the ex
uberance of mere animal life.

On the other hand, while the slave must often look
upon the white man with envy, — chiefly because he is
better fed and clothed, and has less labor to perform
than himself, — how very far he is from any possible
sympathy with the \voes which civilization entails !
— disappointed ambition, unrequited affection, society's
poisonous breath of slander, loss of property, the fruit
of that very tree of knowledge which we are all so
anxious to reach, and which, when attained, so often
disagrees with our mental digestion, sometimes chan
ging the faith of childhood to scepticism in maturer
years ; even the wisdom which grasps " star-eyed
Science," receiving in return her " message of de-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 85

spair ! " Is freedom from all this misery nothing to
set off against the white man's superiority ? And of
these evils how little does the slave know in his own
person ! Therefore it is that he pities us as little as
we envy him.

God be with us all, and give us all His greatest
blessing — contentment ! for most assuredly it cannot
be otherwise than that happiness and misery are equi
tably distributed, according to our capacity for enjoy
ment or suffering.

It was a delightful morning, but the sun was already
blazing far up in the eastern sky, so that we could not
see all that we wished with comfort. But we were
satisfied that our enterprising friend deserves and will
attain success.

His system of labor is different from that of the
good philanthropist of Rhodeo. His negroes are
literally " wrorked," his theory being that, as labor
is their condition, the greatest amount of work com
patible with their health and fair endurance, is to be
got from them. With this end in view, there is a
judicious distribution of rewards and punishments.
A sufficiency of rest and of time for meals is allowed,
and Sundays and certain holidays are their own, but
laziness is not encouraged in any shape. The result
of this treatment, combined with an active super
intendence, is, that this plantation " pays," while thai

86 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

of Dr. Gunning and that of Santa Cruz, which we
afterwards visited, do not ; and there is unmistakably
a better and a happier look among the negroes of Mr.
Hayes than among the others.

As we rode homeward, towards noon, we were sin
cerely glad that there had not yet been found time to
cut down the forest trees ; and it must be confessed that
the breakfast-table was one of the very pleasantest of
our morning views.

In the evening we were called out to see the negroes,
of whom there were one hundred and thirty, of both
sexes and all ages, at supper. We had dined sump
tuously, and our dinner had been moistened by the
flow of pleasant conversation, as well as by that of
champagne. These negroes were feeding on carne
seca and farinha, enormous quantities of which they
washed down with cold water. As they sat upon
their haunches on the bare ground, their huge mouth-
fuls were constantly interrupted by guffaws of laughter,
the tops of their cocoa-nuts falling backwards, and
their unswallowed food seeming to lie in a deep ebony
dish with ivory borders.

And yet, poor devils, you are but little more than
brutes, as you seem to us ! But to-morrow is Sunday.
You will put on a few clean white rags, and you will
wear gay red and yellow turbans, and ribbons of all
colors. You will drink caxachfl^if you can get it;

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 87

at any rate, you will dance and be jolly. We shall
talk, read, and swing in our hammocks. We will all
be happy — will we not? — in our way. On Monday
you shall take up the shovel and the hoe, and trudge to
the cane-fields. We shall go to town and be plagued
by our business. We shall all go to our work, and
have a hard time — shall we not? — in our way.

88

CHAPTER XT.

Cultivation of Mandioca. — Its Importance to Brazil. —Pro
cess of Manufacturing it. — An old Roman Catholic
Chapel. — Negro Worship therein. — Muscular Piety. —
Barbarous versus Fashionable Devotions. — Return to the
City.

AFTER all that may be said of coffee, sugar, and
cotton, mandioca is the most important pro
duction of Brazil, for by it the whole people live. In
some of its various shapes it is always on the table of
the rich and the poor. The root of this exceedingly
prolific plant externally resembles the sweet potato, or
the yam. Its vine is like a bush, and grows to the
height of several feet.

When eaten raw, the mandioca root is poisonous ;
but when boiled, it is wholesome and palatable. Thus
it is used in the everlasting olla podrida of carne
seca, lard, and black beans. But its general use is in
the shape of farinha, which is made after the juice is
expressed.

On entering the shed where the negroes were at
work, we saw the first process of grinding the root in

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 89

an ordinary mill. All the juice obtained by this
means was conducted into a vat. A great deal more
was afterwards extracted by squeezing the pulp in a
machine precisely like a cider-press. The remainder
was then dried in an oven, and afterwards broken and
sifted. The coarse flour thus obtained is called
farinha. It is used without further cooking, serving
the place of bread upon the table ; and it is moreover
made into a thick porridge, and thus eaten at all times.
The juice is first converted into starch, and then, by a
heating process, is hardened and granulated, and so
becomes tapioca.

On Sunday morning the chapel bell called the ne
groes to worship. Certainly the church of Sapo-
pemba was of the independent order. In old Portu
guese times, the baronial lords of these domains were
aristocrats in religion as well as in all else. Then the
chapel had the usual fittings of images, pictures,
and silver candlesticks, and a chaplain conducted
services according to the ritual of the Roman Catho
lic church. But the riches of the proprietors took to
themselves wings and flew away, and they themselves
are mouldering under the slabs of the chapel floor,
where they cannot see the desecration over their
heads.

The pictures and ornaments are gone, but the saints
in the niches still hold on, without arms and without

90 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

legs ; and a faded figure of the Virgin, now dressed in
gay Ethiopian mode, still presides at the altar. For
years there had been no religious services.

The present occupant of the fazenda, a descendant
of those whose boast it was that they came to New
England for the sake of religious freedom, cannot
conscientiously do otherwise than allow this same
inestimable privilege to his negroes. So they have
organized a church of their own, and have chosen a
priest from their own number. No bishop ever laid
his hands on the pate of this venerable Uncle Ned ;
nor are his vestments of the approved priestly pat
tern. His change from a secular to a clerical cos
tume was made by simply wearing his shirt outside of
his trousers. This style, with the addition of a large
black handkerchief around his neck, sufficiently dis
tinguished him from the congregation.

The services were opened by a general shout, and
then a long, silent prostration of all hands upon the
floor. Then, at a signal from Uncle Ned, about a hun
dred blackbirds arose at once, as if from a cover, and
commenced a chattering song, which must have been
first sung in their native wilds. Sitting upon their
haunches, which favorite position they have assumed
as an innovation upon kneeling, they clapped their
hands, wagged their heads, and rolled their eyeballs
to this savage melody. The words were African, with

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 91

the exception of the chorus of "Sancta Maria, ora pro
nobis."

The clergyman managed his part easily, without
the aid of books. After the conclusion of this act, he
crossed himself in every direction, whirling about like
a dervish, then threw himself down, and rose again
with an elasticity evincing an acquaintance with " leap
frog " in his younger days.

Music again, and that always vocal, while the
congregation, standing, beat time both with hands and
feet, like David " praising God in the dance." Why
not? It is His appointed way to receive homage from
these poor ignorant creatures. When their uncouth
ceremonies were ended, they rushed out upon the
green, yelling and tumbling over one another, in a
very indiscriminate way. But the turbaned wenches,
who displayed extra finery, were " upon dignity,"
or they feared to injure their toilets. In some in
stances these were quite elaborate, and their wool
was braided and kinked d la Mozambique. 'Some of
the mulatto girls were still more barbarous, for they
carried behind their heads those unnatural excres
cences termed " waterfalls."

We thought of the liveried coachmen and footmen,
and the splendid equipages, waiting at the door of
an " upper-tendom " Church, — of the fashionable
ladies sailing out with gilt prayer-books in hand, as

92 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

they enter the carnages to go home, with such " sim
plicity and godly sincerity," talking of what they had
seen, instead of what they had heard. Why not? It
may be His appointed way, likewise, for them to wor
ship, for they seem to know no better.

Dispersing on the green, the negroes went their
way, some to their quarters, while others strolled into
the road and went to visit their acquaintances on other
plantations. They are accustomed to walk many
miles to pay their visits on Sundays, notwithstanding
their hard labor during the week. On the following
day we returned to the city, delighted with our ex
cursion, and grateful for the kindness and hospitality
with which we had been entertained.

93

CHAPTER XII.

Wearisome Monotony. — Visit to an Imperial Domain. —
History of the Estate. — Incidents of the Journey. — Hard
Supper and harder Beds. — A Morning Ride. — Golden
Fruit. — The Estate of Santa Cruz. — The Emperor's
Wines. — Bad Economy. — Splendid Vieiv from the Dome.
— Inspection of the Palace.

THE variety afforded by occasional visits to the
country was a relief to the tediousness of a
life which was becoming very monotonous.

The novelty of coast sceneiy had worn off, and
the mountain landmarks, losing much of their sub
limity, were regarded as little more than aids to navi
gation. The same classes of passengers were going
and coming, a further acquaintance with their lan
guage not improving our estimate of their character ;
and, worse than all, the freighting business became so
dull that it was often less unprofitable for the steamer
to lie still than to be employed.

So it happened that I was quite ready to join two
captains of the American squadron, with some other

94 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

gentlemen, who had planned an excursion to the
imperial fazenda of Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz is now the private property of the
emperor. It originally belonged to the Jesuits, who,
at an early period in the history of the country, ob
tained a grant of this immense domain from the
Portuguese government. On a rising ground in
its centre they built the present edifice, which, with
its various extensive apartments, served them for all
their religious, educational, and secular purposes, of
which last they made no little account.

When the grandfather of the present emperor es
tablished his court in Brazil, he found the Jesuits a
strong antagonistic power, and accordingly he drove
them out of the country, and confiscated their property.

Among other large possessions, this fazenda of
Santa Cruz, with all its improvements, slaves, and
cattle, fell into his hands. It was then, and for a long
time afterwards, an immensely productive estate, the
land being rich, adapted to pasturage and the raising
of every variety of produce. It is agreeably diversi
fied by rolling country, meadows, hills, and woodland,
and nothing can be imagined as offering better in
ducements for profitable cultivation. The Jesuits had
also a due regard to health, and must have taken
this important consideration into account in selecting
Santa Cruz as their place of residence.

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 95

Old King Jofio availed himself of all these advan
tages, and not only enjoyed an enormous revenue
from the confiscated lands, but so improved the inter
nal arrangements of the building, that he made for
himself a spacious and comfortable palace. Here,
sensible old king that he was, he passed most of
his time, until he went home again to Portugal.

His son, Pedro I., the first emperor of Brazil, like
wise lived here very comfortably, and derived many
milreas from the sweat of the negroes and the hides
and tallow of the cattle.

When the present emperor ascended the throne, he,
too, delighted in Santa Cruz. Here his first children
were born ; but here, also, his first-born little prince
died ; and from that day, very many years ago, neither
the emperor nor the empress has entered the doors
of the palace.

This, in a few words, is the history, as it was told
us, of Santa Cruz.

The distance of the fazenda from Rio de Janeiro is
about fifty miles. In former times, when it was a
royal residence, it was connected with the city by a
good carriage road, which at present is sadly out
of repair, and for the last few miles has dwindled
down to little better than a bridle path.

The first part of the journey is made by railroad.
We left the cars at Sapopemba, whence the diligence

96 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

conveyed us six miles to Campo Grande, a small vil
lage with a large name. According to the literal
meaning of the words, it is in a " large field." The
public buildings consist of one church, and the private
property of one venda. The inhabitants are many
— the landlord, his wife, two or three sons and daugh
ters, and millions of fleas.

We ordered a supper of boiled eggs, for these are
the only articles of food that a Brazilian cook cannot
spoil. Grease and garlic cannot penetrate the shells.
But even eggs are unreliable. These people have no
idea of a difference in them, but they use them in all
conditions of age, and sometimes in the transition
stage of being. Coffee is always good, and generally
at the vendas hard biscuit is to be had. Rice is
abundant, but no persuasion will prevent the cooks
from flavoring it with lard and garlic : unfortunately,
it cannot be boiled in a shell.

We managed the supper pretty well ; and though it
was inclined to " lie hard upon our stomachs," it did
not lie so hard as our backs lay upon the beds, which
were surely spread with boiler iron sheets. We would
not have cared so much if they had been level. It was
of the ridges, which lay across them like crow-bars,
that we complained.

At night the population came out en masse, de
lighted to welcome us with the gayest hop-skip-and-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 97

jump imaginable. It will be remembered that sailors
seldom swear ; but on this memorable night there
were certainly some expressions of impatience.

Morning dawned upon us not a whit too soon.
After the refreshment of a bath at the fountain, that
partly compensated for the want of sleep, we were on
horseback at daylight, prepared for a ride of twenty-
eight miles. It is thought that sailors do not appear
to advantage on horseback ; but we suffered less than
in those detestable beds, and, being more accustomed
to deprivation of sleep than our companions, we were
fresher for the work, and "blew" them all in the
course of the day.

We galloped off the first twelve miles before break
fast, and arrived at another little village, called San
Antonio. While our meal was preparing, we walked
out into the orchard belonging to the venda. It was a
perfect little forest of orange trees in full bearing, for
it was then the height of the season. A more beauti
ful intermingling of gold and green I never saw. The
dew of the morning, yet upon the fruit, gave it a re
freshing coolness, such as no orange can have even a
few hours after being gathered, much less after being
carried across the sea. There are no better oranges
in the world than those of Brazil ; and it seemed to
us dusty and thirsty travellers, that none in Brazil
could equal those of San Antonio.
7

98 . TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

After breakfast we continued our route. Fortu
nately the road was well shaded, protecting us from
the sun, even at noonday. The ground was gen
erally level, and easily got over. Much of it was
pasturage, with here and there a small fazenda. Most
of the land had been cultivated in former years, but
was now run out, the planters caring very little about
keeping it up. The soil, being generally thin, is soon
exhausted ; and as there is plenty more to be had,
they seldom take the trouble to restore it by manuring.
Orange orchards abounded by the roadside. The
fruit was to be had for the asking. Even that cere
mony was dispensed with, the trees themselves doubly
inviting us as we availed ourselves of their shade, pay
ing us with their golden offerings to rest beneath them.

Long before arriving at Santa Cruz we sighted the
dome of the palace, and by and bye we came to the
long avenue along which the chariot of old King Joao
was wont to roll. Now, it is so badly washed by the
rains, that majesty, or any kind of humanity, would
be seriously inconvenienced to get over it on wheels.
But our animals, smelling the stables afar off, cleared
the big boulders at a rapid pace, and at four o'clock
they brought us to the door of the hotel. It is really
a hotel, and a very nice one, too, that is kept by the
superintendent of the fazenda.

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 99

Having first enjoyed the luxury of a bath, we were
served with a capital dinner ; and, as I do not sup
pose the emperor will ever read this, it can harm no
one to say that the wine was excellent, for the palace
cellars are well stocked, though his Majesty never
comes hither, and would never drink wine if he did.

Pedro II. is a poor economist. He receives four
hundred thousand dollars per annum from the state,
besides his own private income, and yet he is always
as poor as he is generous. A great deal too much does
his " charity begin at home." With his revenue he
keeps up several establishments — his chief residences
are at San Christovao, the city palace, and at Petrop-
olis. Each of them, as well as this fazenda of
Santa Cruz, has its attaches in greater or less num
ber, for whom he must provide. But it is certainly
requiring too much to ask him to furnish such choice
wines, especially if they are to be sold as well as
used.

The fazenda is the nucleus of a small town. One
of the chief buildings is that of our landlord. Others
are occupied by his deputies, the superintendents of
different departments. The smaller houses, in long
adobe blocks, are inhabited by negroes, bond and free.
The scene was quite lively in the evening. Music and
dancing were going on in various quarters, the bright

IOO TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

moonlight giving a very picturesque appearance to
the groups of negroes.

Early on the next morning the palace was thrown
open for inspection. Our first thought was to ascend
the long ranges of staircases leading to the dome or
belfry, whence we were sure to obtain a comprehen
sive view of the country. Every other consideration
of it was surpassed by its beauty.

As we looked eastward, the sun was just rising,
throwing his rays across the plains over which we
had travelled yesterday. We were embayed in the
mountains. The Serra, generally running north and
south, about thirty miles from the coast, here bends,
like an ox-bow, to the westward, and then returning to
its line, continues its course. In the south-east was the
ocean, glistening like a mirror in the morning light.
The lands of the fazenda were embraced in the bight
formed by the bend of the Serra. Far away in the
distance, from west to north, and thence to north-east,
extend the plains and meadows, until they come to the
base of the mountains, which look down upon them,
and water them copiously with their streams. On
these the sun now threw his light, bringing them
seemingly nearer, so that we could trace them leap
ing over the cliffs before they attained their quiet level
in the fields. There on their banks were feeding the

TEX MONTHS IN BRAZIL. IOI

immense droves of cattle that run wild over most of
the estate. Certain districts are allotted to planta
tions ; but by far the greater part is in undisturbed
possession of the grass, and of the animals feeding
upon it.

The negroes were beginning to crawl out from their
quarters, and were travelling off at a slow pace to
their labor on various parts of the farm.

Descending from the dome, we wandered through
the apartments of the palace. These were large and
airy, without any pretensions to splendor, or even to
what we call comfort in our colder climate. Some
of the floors were covered with carpets, which, so little
used as they are, will long defy the ravages of time,
as they have done thus far. The furniture was all
of foreign manufacture. Part of it doubtless belonged
to the original proprietors of the fazenda, and all of
it must have been brought from Europe many years
ago. High-backed chairs with faded gilding, toilet
and card tables with spindle shanks, long-posted
bedsteads, great oval mirrors with tawdry decorations,
and many more such evidences of antiquity, occupied
the rooms. The banqueting hall was the unaltered
refectory of the Jesuits, and their immense kitchen
required no change.

One room is sacredly guarded from the intrusion of

102 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

strangers ; only the door was opened, that we might
see the bed whereon died the little prince. Perhaps
his parents believe the story that he was poisoned,
and this may account for their aversion to the place.
Not an article of the furniture of the room has been
disturbed since the sad event ; not even has broom or
dusting brush been there.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Imperial Philanthropist. — Giving the Black Man a fair
Chance. — School of Negro Children. — Music by a Juve
nile Band. — Compensations in Life. — Failure of the Santa
Cruz Experiment. — A Sanitary Scheme. — The Emperor's
Obstinacy. — Cultivation of Tea in Brazil. — Fruit Gar
dens.

THE emperor is trying a grand philanthropic ex
periment at Santa Cruz, on a system somewhat
different from that of Rhodeo, vastly more extensive,
but unsuccessful in about the same proportion. At
Rhodeo there are thirty-five negroes — here there are
two thousand four hundred. In his way the emperor
proposes to " give the black man a fair chance." The
slaves are allowed Saturdays, Sundays, and all the
principal holidays for their own time. According to
a calculation of the superintendent, they thus have
rather more than half the year to themselves. Instead
of being fed by their owner, they have a daily allow
ance in money, according to age, sufficient for their
support. Particular attention is given to the educa
tion of the children.

104 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

Passing down the grand staircase, we entered the
basement, which is used as a school-room. At that
early hour it was not occupied by the pupils for study,
but a band of thirty or forty of them, of ages varying
from six to sixteen, saluted us with music which
would have been creditable to many an orchestra.
They played the national airs of Brazil, the United
States, England, and France, and several pieces of
their own composition. One little darkey, of eight
years, made a veiy comical figure under the lee of
an enormous bass drum, upon which he played with
great dexterity, keeping time, as all did, with his
eyeballs. Music is the negro's inherent gift. When
we think of his sufferings and degradation, we may
offset a little of our sympathy by remembering that he
always has this divine emotion : —

" Whose soft, celestial accents steal

So soothing through the realms of woe,
That suffering souls a respite feel
From torture in the depths below."

Be this true or not, music is no slight alleviation to
the woes of the present life. Happy the man who
can always call upon this constant friend ; happy the
negro who can whistle and sing at his work, and
dance to music when his work is done !

There are several teachers employed in the school,

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 105

some of them priests. They seemed very intelligent,
and devoted to the work in which they are engaged.
Their observation corresponded with that of the teach
ers we met at Hilton Head during the war. They
say that the young black children receive impressions
more readily than the whites ; that they are better
scholars, and develop more rapidly up to a certain
age, when they suddenly stop, and not {infrequently
relapse into their former barbarism.

The men and women are employed in various
duties about the estate. Many of them have the care
of the cattle, of which there are eight thousand head,
besides horses, mules, and sheep. Others are em
ployed in agriculture and gardening, and many are
hired by the neighboring planters. But there is a
prejudice against Santa Cruz negroes, and they are
employed only when other labor cannot be obtained.
Mr. Hayes, at Sapopemba, says that they have been
very unprofitable to him, as they teach laziness to his
own people.

Notwithstanding all their religious and educational
privileges, they are a bad set. The plan of giving
them an allowance for food does not seem to answer
well. They keep the money, and then dig their
mandioca and yams out of the emperor's land ; they
kill his cattle, and occasionally, when they are inter
fered with in this mode of getting an honest living,

106 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

they kill an overseer. Many of them have taken to a
gipsey life, " squatting " about on different parts of the
domain, and, if disturbed, hiding themselves in the
mountains.

The consequence is, that this exceedingly valuable
property, instead of producing an immense income, is
a burden and expense to its good-natured owner.

The slaughter-houses of Rio de Janeiro are in the
outskirts of the town, so that when the wind is from
their direction a pestiferous air is breathed by the
people. The beef that is daily killed, to supply the
four hundred thousand inhabitants of that great city,
is nearly ready to die before the slaughter is com
menced. The poor, tired animals, having arrived
only the previous day from their journey of hundreds
of miles, starvation and the flies have left but little
life in them. The quality of the meat may be
imagined.

It is said that corporations have no souls ; but here
is one that, with all its schemes of profit, which would
doubtless be large, has more genuine philanthropy in
its head than ever entered the kind heart of the em
peror. It proposes to hire the Santa Cruz estate,
paying for it from one to two hundred thousand dol
lars yearly, with the privilege of connecting it by a
branch with the Dom Pedro II. Railroad. According
to this plan, the slaughter-houses near the city would

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. IC>7

be discontinued ; all the cattle from the country would
be first driven hither, and pastured till they are fat
tened ; then they would be slaughtered, and an ex
press train would take the meat to the city in an hour.
But the emperor will not consent. So much the
worse for everybody. Were this scheme carried out,
much sickness would be avoided ; nearly half a mil
lion of people would get good meat daily, instead of
skin and bones ; immense droves of cattle would
have an elysium of green grass before their death ;
capitalists would invest their money profitably for
themselves and for the public ; and the benefits
would be great and general. By the emperor's re
fusal, all these advantages and a princely income are
thrown away, and twenty-four hundred negroes are
kept in laziness, for the sake of an experiment.

Several years ago, when the production of coffee
exceeded the wants of the world, the Brazilian gov
ernment turned its attention to the cultivation of tea,
and incurred no little trouble and expense in introdu
cing it among the planters. For a while it flourished,
and great hopes were entertained that it would become
an important article of export. But notwithstanding
the high duties on Chinese tea, the cultivation of the
domestic plant has fallen off, so that the home supply
forms but a small part of the consumption. Coffee
had again taken a start, for all the world suddenly

IOS TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

began to require more of it than ever before. Accord
ingly the tea-plant withered and died. There is still,
however, a large plantation of it at this fazenda, and
it is perhaps as profitable as any other crop raised
upon it. Especial care is taken in curing it, and it has
a high reputation throughout the country. We were
served with some of it for breakfast, and it really
seemed equal to the " celestial flowery pekoe," which
old Houqua poured out for us at his hong in Canton,
years ago.

Oranges, lemons, grapes, and strawberries abound
ed in the gardens. We were told that these were for
the imperial household. If so, the imperial household
is large, and we were happy to be included in it for a
time. So we cheerfully paid our landlord's bill, " ask
ing no questions for conscience' sake," but acknowl
edging our indirect indebtedness to the emperor for
the pleasant trip, and for the many good things to be
had at Santa Cruz.

IOQ

CHAPTER XIV.

Rival Beauties of Nature. — Bays of Naples and Rio de
Janeiro. — Description of the Latter. — Sublimity of a
Thunder Storm in the Bay. — Ascent of Mountains near
Rio. — Adventure of two British Middies. — A Shrewd
Dentist. — Sharp Practice. — Summer Resorts. — Route to
Petropolis. — Pleasant Illusion. — A Sea of Fog.

THE bays of Naples and of Rio de Janeiro are the
rival beauties of the world. For thousands of
years there was none to dispute the supremacy of the
first. It is still as lovely and as grand as ever, for
" time writes no wrinkle on its azure brow." Cities,
villas, and temples still sit smiling upon its shores, and
the burning mountain at night throws its lurid glare
upon its waters, changing the serene sunlight to the
almost infernal grandeur of illumined shade. All these
years it had reigned alone. The bay of Rio de Janei
ro, like a school girl kept from view, was blooming
and bright, ready to " come out," as she has done, to
eclipse the reigning belle. Now that they are both
known to the lovers of the romantic and the pictur
esque, the western rival is more and more appreciated

110 TEN MONTilS IN BRAZIL.

and admired. It is vain to institute a comparison
between them. They are alike neither in locality,
shape, nor coloring ; only in the general undefined
characteristic of beauty.

To one coming from sea by night, and rinding him
self anchored in the harbor at morning, there has
been a loss not to be estimated — that of the most
sudden change from Nature's bold sublimity to her
softest look of loveliness. Most voyagers arrive from
the north ; but those are most fortunate who first see
the entrance of the bay when coming from the south,
where the coast is more mountainous and abrupt.
Steaming along under these towering cliffs, almost in
the surf which beats against their base, there is no
sign of habitation, or of even the smallest nook for
shelter, — nothing, till, suddenly whirling around, the
overhanging " Sugar Loaf" seems ready to topple
upon us from its height of two thousand feet. Then
appears, on the opposite side, the fort of Santa
Cruz, the guardian of the port, between which and
the "Sugar Loaf" is the narrow channel. Here,
where two ships can scarcely enter side by side, is
the entrance to a bay fifty miles in circumference,
with the great city seated in the lap of its verdant
garden ; all else — its islands, shores, and mountain
slopes — dressed in summer's never-fading color. It
is only at the harbor's mouth that the mountains ap-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. Ill

proach the shore. There, they stand as outposts.
Within the bay, they recede for ten or twenty miles,
keeping guard beyond the garden spread out at their
base.

But, at times, what a change comes over this
quiet scene ! Vesuvius, with all its forces of fire,
cannot hold us in such wonder and realization of
sublimity. No description can portray a thunder
storm in this bay — none but that in Byron's thrilling
words, when he stood upon the banks of Lake Le-
man, and saw, and heard, the u live thunder. " So it
plays and echoes here. Not losing itself, as in the
Alps, and becoming silent in the far distance, — it goes
from mountain to mountain ; not across, but around
the whole circuit. Now it bursts with startling crash,
echoing loud, then faint, and fainter still, till it has
reached the distant " Organ peaks ; " then, leaping
from one summit to another, it comes back again
along the chain on the other side of the bay, and at
last dies away on the shores of the sea.

The black clouds seem to have climbed up the
mountains from their slopes beyond, and now roll
over upon the plains in bodies of water, coming in
big drops, then in streams, and at last in cataracts.

Suddenly, more suddenly than the storm came,
does it pass away. The sun bursts forth with re
newed splendor, and almost instantly the glistening

112 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

tears of Nature are dried, and she smiles again, as
fresh, and joyous as ever.

At a short distance from the city is the Tijuca
Mountain, which, from its easy access, is one of the
favorite resorts for summer. The railroad ends at the
base of the hill, and thence the ascent is made on
horseback. Bennett's hotel is reached in little more
than an hour from the city. Beyond is a very cele
brated cascade, which, unfortunately, at the time of
our visit, was deficient in the most important requi
site for a cascade ; yet the little straggling streams
were playing over the great, smooth rock, which was
generally the floor for the dancing of a large and noisy
company of waters.

The Corcovado (or Hunchback) is often ascended.
From its crest can be taken in, at one view, a fine
panorama of the bay. The excursion is made by the
romantic on moonlight nights, in order to be ready to
see the sun rise. Practical people, too, who wish to
avoid the heat, often adopt this method. It requires
but a few hours to "do" the Corcovado; so it was
one of the things to be done " at any time," and con
sequently one of the things we never did.

The " Sugar Loaf" is so nearly perpendicular that
its ascent is very rarely attempted. Some years ago,
two midshipmen of a British frigate, wishing to honor
Her Majesty's Birthday, started on the evening before,

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 113

and ascended the Sugar Loaf by moonlight, cairying
a flag and staff with them. In the morning the Eng
lish flag was seen flying at the staff on the very pin
nacle, while the two scratched and bruised middies
were reposing from their labors on the sick list. The
admiral had heard of their exploit, and sent for them
to come to his cabin. The boys were at first much
elated by his compliments upon their patriotism and
perseverance, but were somewhat chopfallen when
they were ordered to display their perseverance again,
out of respect for Brazil. They were obliged to re-
ascend the " Sugar Loaf" at once, and bring down
the flag. Since this exploit, no other similar attempt
has been made to take possession of the country.

Across the bay, which in front of the city is three
miles wide, are the suburbs of Praia Grande and St.
Domingo. Many of the foreign residents have their
dwellings in these towns, so closely and pleasantly
connected with the city. An enterprising Yankee,
Dr. R., who, as a dentist, made a fortune from the
teeth of the people, is doing the same thing " in spite
of their teeth," again, by the monopoly of the ferry.
He originated a company, procured all needed privi
leges from the government, and ordered ferry-boats
from home, which, fortunately, arrived safely, notwith
standing all their top-hamper and apparent unsea
worthiness. They are now in successful operation,
8

114 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

the sharp practitioner being the agent and pursuing
the tactics of an accomplished stock-broker. He
plays the shares up and down to suit his own pur
poses, beautifully bamboozling the innocent stockhold
ers ; and he gains more money in this way than in a
regular course of business. The doctor is one of
the celebrities of Rio. He is universally liked and
disliked, and the pleasant smile with which he receives
the money and the curses of the people at the same
time, is a study in physiognomy.

Small steamers run often to the various suburbs and
towns on the bay. There is one of great speed and
conveniently arranged for passengers, which leaves
every afternoon on the route for Petropolis — that
most desirable of all the summer resorts. This town
is situated on the top of the Serra, at a distance of
forty miles from Rio de Janeiro. The climate is
delightfully cool in the morning and evening of the
hottest midsummer days, and is delicious in winter,
when only occasionally fires are needed. It is, how
ever, subject to heavy showers of rain, that come with
little warning. Here is the summer palace of the
emperor, and the foreign ministers, with their at
taches, make it their permanent residence.

No change can be imagined more refreshing in the
heat of summer than a sudden transition from the
tropical languor of the city to the bracing atmosphere

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 1 15

of these mountains. The time spent on board the
steamboat is but an hour, while we are carried four
teen miles on the bay, passing many pretty islets and
the large Island of Governador. This is the most
extensive and the most fertile of them all. Very
picturesque were the faluas, some of them laden with
fruit, as they passed up and down along our route,
some working sharply to windward, and others with
their lateen sails wing-and-winged, flying like birds
before the sea breeze.

Arriving at the end of the steamboat route, we take
the cars upon a short railroad line of twenty miles,
carrying us over a level, swampy country, abounding
in mosquitoes, to the foot of the Serra. Again we
have a transfer, and by far the pleasantest. The car
riage road for the remaining distance, built by French
engineers, is a wonderful triumph over natural ob
stacles. The Serra is here very steep, but the road is
laid out in a zigzag style, like the working of a trench
in the approach to a fortress. It is perfectly smooth,
being macadamized throughout. The outside is pro
tected by a wall five feet in height. To each carriage
are harnessed six mules ; these trot briskly up the
continuous ascent of eight miles, changing but once —
a performance of which no horses would be capable.
It matters not on which side of the carriage you take

Il6 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

your seat, as at every few rods there is a turn admit
ting a full view of the magnificent prospect below.
This is equally captivating, whether ascending in the
evening or returning in the morning.

Generally the weather is more clear in the after
noon. Then, at every turn, the bay and its surround
ings come into full view, and frequently -the shadow
of the mountains, falling over part of the land between
their base and the water, makes one of the prettiest
pictures imaginable. It is a favorite walk from the
town of Petropolis to the brink of the Serra, where
this may be seen in perfection.

On the descent there is a charming illusion pro
duced by the fog so frequently hanging over the bay,
at the same time that the air on the heights of the
Serra is perfectly clear. Then the bay seems to
extend to the very base of the mountains, and to be
directly under us. The lower peaks and spurs of
hills become rocky islands in this sea of fog. The
illusion is most perfect to a stranger who sees it for
the first time. For him it is a reality that he cannot
doubt, until he descends into the mist which he so
surely thought to be the sea.

Having reached the " Alto," three thousand feet
high, there is a slight descent to the village. Then
there is the evening excitement, as a dozen coaches

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 1 17

rattle furiously down the street, with a blowing of
bugles and a cracking of whips. Groups of ladies
are waiting upon the verandas of the hotels, to " see
who has come," and those who have come are quite
ready for the clothes-brush, the wash-stand, and their
dinner.

CHAPTER XV.

Petropolis and its People. — The Palace and Gardens. — The
Coffee Trade. — A Profitable Road. — Among the Rivers. —
Paying a Visit. — A Pleasant Drive. — A Bit of Sentiment.

— Change of Carriages. — Plague of Flies. — Unwelcome
Companions. — Jubilant Negroes. — A Jolly Englishman.

— Mark Tapley outdone.

IN the town of Petropolis there are not more than
fifteen hundred or two thousand inhabitants. Most
of these are Germans. Many more live on the out
skirts of the village, cultivating their little farms and
vineyards. It is delightful to stroll about among
them, and to transport yourself, with the air of a
very little imagination, to the vine-clad fields of Ger
many.

The palace and gardens are shown to the public
with much civility and attention when the imperial
family are absent. The building is more convenient
and comfortable than large or showy. In some of the
rooms the floors and ceilings are beautifully inlaid
with the various colored woods for which Brazil is
celebrated. The gardens were laid out by French-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 119

men. In most of the public and private gardens of
the country the French taste predominates. In all of
them there is a distressing characteristic of patch
work regularity. They are often made up of circles,
squares, and triangles, the favorite borders of these
little nuisances being inverted glass bottles. France
is sometimes called " the garden of the world," but it
is quite as true that England alone can furnish gar
deners.

Petropolis derives some benefit from the immense
traffic in coffee, which passes through, on its way from
the back country to Rio de Janeiro. This will soon
leave it when the Dom Pedro II. Railroad is con
tinued and opened. It is connected with Juiz de
Fora, a frontier town of the province, by an excellent
macadamized road of one hundred miles. This
road belongs to the " Uniao e Industria" Company.
Stage-coaches run the distance daily in ten hours, and
carry many passengers over the road, which, at pres
ent, forms the only communication with the mines
of Minas Geraes.

But the chief profits of the company are derived
from the tolls on wagons bringing produce and
returning with merchandise. In the last year there
were carried over the road twelve thousand tons of
coffee and twelve thousand passengers. The com
pany owns one hundred and fifty wagons and two

120 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

thousand mules. Besides these, the fazenderos often
use their own teams in the transportation of their
produce. When the Uniao e Industria road was
undertaken, the government guaranteed seven per
cent, interest per annum on the capital. The invest
ment proved better than was anticipated, for the
stockholders have realized fifteen per cent. ; and now
that the traffic will be so much injured by the exten
sion of the railroad, the government liberally proposes
to assume the road at cost.

The town, or rather the post-house, of Entre Rios,
in the Parahiba valley, is one half the distance to
Juiz de Fora. For these fifty miles there is a gradual
descent, and then commences a rise till the same
altitude is attained at Juiz de Fora as at Petropolis.
Down the slope from Petropolis runs the Piabana,
and down from Juiz de Fora runs the Parahibtma.
Here at Entre Rios (among the rivers) they both
tumble into the Parahiba, which flows through the
extensive valley of the same name to the ocean. The
whole length of the Parahiba, from its source to its
mouth at Campos, is eight hundred miles. For the
last part of its course it is not navigable. Navigation
commences two hundred miles from the sea, and
continues uninterrupted for two hundred miles inland.
In connection with the railroad, a large business will
be opened for steamers, which of course must be

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 121

built inland, to suit the convenience of this very pecu
liar river. At this place the railroad will soon
intersect the turnpike.

The town of Parahiba do Sul is eight miles distant
from Entre Rios. In the city we had often met Mr.
W., an English engineer engaged in constructing
this section of the line. He had urged us, in a very
cordial manner, to visit him at his delightful quarters
in this charming little town of Parahiba do Sul. The
present was a good opportunity to do so, and at the
same time to enjoy a drive over the justly celebrated
Uniao e Industria road. Unfortunately for me, if not
for himself, my friend Captain G. was too ill to ac
company me.

I left the hotel at Petropolis on a summer morning,
the air so fresh that overcoats were needed on the top
of the coach. It was exhilarating to be rattled along
at such a slashing pace over this splendid road.
Winding along through gorges in the Serra, continu
ally descending, yet scarcely seeming to do so, we
followed the stream of the noisy Piabana. Skipping
and dancing along, now looking poutingly up from
the deep glens, and then laughing gayly in the bright
sunlight, this little coquette kept in our company all
the way, babbling her pretty nonsense and playing
her music on the pebbles. Little Piabana ! I had
no one to talk with but you ; so I fell in love with

122 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

you, and often wished myself in your arms on that
warm day !

For the first part of the distance all was a wild
forest. Sometimes we were walled in by perpen
dicular cliffs, hundreds of feet high, the rocks scarcely
visible, so covered were they with cactuses, shrubs,
and flowers. After every ten miles we changed our
mules. In each team there are generally one or two
wild animals, harnessed with the others to be broken
in. There is, therefore, a grand " splurge" in start
ing from a post-house, each of the six mules being led
off by a groom. When they let go, at a word from
the driver, there is a jolly kicking scene enacted for
the first quarter or half mile, till at last they all get
settled down to a comfortable gallop.

As we descended into tropical regions, we came
among numerous coffee plantations, extending far on
both sides of the road. The formation of the land is
very peculiar. It is made up of little hills, so that
there is scarcely a level spot of five acres anywhere.
The northern or sunny sides of these hummocks are
generally devoted to coffee, while the southern, being
more shady, are better suited to Indian corn. It is so
much more profitable to raise coffee, that, although
corn grows well, there is not enough of it raised for
consumption on the road. Mr. Morrit, the president
of the company, had this year imported two cargoes

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 123

from the Black Sea, and two more were on their way
from the United States.

As the day drew on and we continued our descent,
the sun became scorchingly hot. Nevertheless, the
rapid gait of our mules kept us in a breeze, and we
were uncomfortable only for a few moments while
changing at the post-houses.

At noon we reached the station of Entre Rios, and
I left the coach, in order to diverge to Parahiba do
Sul, the delightful quarters of our friend W. I was
not sure of finding him at home, as his occupation
often called him away ; but he had told us that Mrs.
W. was always at home, and if by any chance she
should be out, the servants would show us our suites
of rooms.

There are three houses in the town of Entre Rios,
one of which is the venda, and serves as the station-
house. This is surrounded by open stables, wherein
are quartered three or four hundred mules. The con
sequence of their close neighborhood is, that the flies
swarm in countless millions. These nuisances, added
to the intolerable noonday heat of one hundred de
grees, made our sojourn of two hours as far from
agreeable as it could be. The invariable meal of
carne seca, fat pork, and beans was served ; but
who that was anticipating a dinner of French or
English serving, with its champagne accompaniment,

124 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

could dine from this horrible mixture, stirred in with
flies?

At last the coach for Parahiba do Sul was ready.
It was a two-horse affair, with a back seat protected
from the sun by a hood. This seat was already in
the possession of a Brazilian lady and gentleman.
They had a large quantity of luggage, and were evi
dently returning from a journey. Some of the boxes
were upon the front seat, where there was also a little
live piece of black female baggage. A bandbox was
removed, and I was accommodated with a seat by her
side. I regretted having left my cologne on board the
ship. The hood of the vehicle was unfortunately at
such an angle that an umbrella could not be brought
to bear effectually, and I believe that the attraction of
the little black wench at my side made the sun hotter
than ever. My fellow-passengers seemed to consider
me one de trop, and I certainly thought them three
too many. As we went broiling along, the dust fell
thick upon us, especially upon the colored young lady
and myself. She began to assume an appearance of
pepper and salt, as the yellow sand adhered to her
shiny skin. We sweated (perspired conveys no ade
quate idea), choked, and panted; and there were
maledictions not a few vented in Portuguese and in
English, till the eight miles were finally accomplished.
Then we entered the dirtiest little town imaginable.

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 125

We drove up to the door of our Brazilian passen
gers. They were most boisterously welcomed by a
troop of darkies. The pleasantest thing that I had
seen for some hours was the affection of these poor
negroes. It paid in part for my sufferings, for I love to
see the milk of human kindness, be the source from
which it is drawn white or black. Bright shone their
eyes, and what a display was there of ivory !

They fairly seized their mistress — who was a portly
lady of more than two hundred weight — in their
arms, and " toted " her off into the house, hugging
and kissing her, screaming and dancing as they went.

My companions having left the carriage, I had the
back seat comfortably to myself for the remaining
distance of about twenty rods.

The coachman knew the " Senhor Ingles," for he
was the only Englishman there. So he drove at once
to his " delightful quarters." His dwelling was simply
a one-story adobe house, containing two rooms and a
closet, the whole concern not exceeding in space that
of a ship's cabin, and with somewhat less than a hun
dredth part of its convenience or comfort !

Had he "sold" his guest? No; he fully believed
that he lived in a sort of paradise ! His wife was ill
in one little room ; the other apartment was the dining-
hall, parlor, library, and everything else. The closet
was the " spare room," in which he lodged his guests

126 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

(I was glad that G. did not come), and the kitchen
was the largest of all, for it had earth's remotest
bounds for its walls, and its ceiling was the sky.

W. was a combination of Micawber and Mark
Tapley, hopeful and jolly under all circumstances,
and most jolly when any one else would be most
miserable. His reception was enthusiastic in the
highest degree.

I was glad to find a basin of water in my " suite of
apartments," and was soon ready for dinner.

Now, W. was fully persuaded that he lived not only
very comfortably, but in considerable luxury. He
had a singular preference for canned provisions and
salt herrings. There was no meat to be had in the
market; but he thought that " fresh meat was bad in
this climate." He seemed to entertain a different
opinion at the hotel in the city. It is true there was
very little air in the dog-hole where he lived ; but the
" air always gave him the rheumatism." He was a
very healthy-looking subject. He had no stable for
his two mules ; but the " rain did them good, as it also
helped to wash the cook's dishes." Society ? " Pooh ! "
said he, " if we had our own countrymen to talk with,
how should we keep up our Portuguese ? And as to
church, I do love my religion ; and when I return to
England, how I shall enjoy it, from having been so
long deprived of its comforts ! "

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 127

To all appearance I fell into his vein for the time,
and pretended to enjoy everything hugely, being pri
vately as miserable as Mark Tapley himself could
desire. Poor Mrs. W., to my great regret, crept from
her bed, and did the honors of the dinner-table. Still,
I thought that perhaps she was glad to see me. W.
is off sometimes for weeks upon the railroad, leaving
her alone, with only a black servant, and not a person
who can speak her language in the place. " What
singular creatures women are ! " said W., as he smoked
his pipe, after dinner. " Do you know, my wife is
sometimes discontented here? For God's sake, what
more can a woman want than she has, with every
comfort about her ! "

In the evening we walked out, and called upon
some of elite of the town. One of them kept a
billiard-room, containing a half-clothed billiard-table.
Another, who was the merchant prince of the place,
occupied one room for his dwelling and his office.
We found him asleep on a pile of bean bags, in the
midst of his other stock of coffee and carne seca,
with the aroma of which the apartment was pene
trated. The ladies we saw were chiefly Ethiopian.

On retiring to my " suite," W. cautioned me to
close the window, awfully hot as it was. " They are
a good, honest set of people here," said he, " but it is
not well to place temptations in their way. In fact, I

128 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

left my window open once or twice, and everything
was stolen out of the house." As it was impossible
to sleep with the window closed, I left it open, and
sat by it all night, studying a treatise on engineering
as attentively as the mosquitoes would permit. In the
morning, not wishing to be subjected to such carriage
inconveniences as on the previous day, I accepted the
offer of a mule from my friend's " stables," and thank
ing him for his hospitality, — which he begged me
" not to mention," — I trotted off to Entre Rios, and
there awaited the arrival of the return coach for
Petropolis.

I29

CHAPTER XVI.

Immigration to Brazil from the Southern States. — Con
tradictory Accounts. — Benefit to the Country. — Evils of
Amalgamation. — Szvt'ss, German, and French Settlers. —
A White Slave Trade. — Islanders returning Home. — A
Pleasant Picture.

THESE sketches of excursions into the country
have been given, not only with the intention of
amusing, but with the hope that some practical hints
may be taken from them.

Much has been said in Brazil of the prospect of
colonization from the Southern States of the Union.
Doubtless there will be an immigration to some
extent, but it cannot be as large as many who are
interested would have us believe. Up to this time
(September, 1866), the number of immigrants has
been so small as to be quite insignificant. There
have arrived at Rio de Janeiro scarcely more than a
dozen families, and there are probably not more than
a hundred individuals in all. Some of these have
already become disgusted, and have returned to their
9

I3O TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

old homes. Others seem determined to persevere,
and are confident of success.

On our route between Rio de Janeiro and Santos,
the going and returning immigrants were occasionally
among my passengers. The stories told by them
were of a very opposite kind. Individual tempera
ment, rather than a disposition to be untruthful, in
fluenced many of these reports. According to some,
who had been " prospecting," and were returning
to procure furniture and agricultural tools for their
new homes, here was " a land flowing with milk
and honey." f All that was needed was to clear out
the Canaanites, and to have a colony of their own,
with their own laws and customs, when they were to
be independent of all the world)

The disappointed homeward-bound men told us
that it was " a country not fit for a dog ; " that the
bichos destroyed the cattle, the ants ate the seed faster
than it could be planted ; there was either too much
rain or not enough ; the Brazilians were bad neigh
bors ; no labor was to be had ; there were no churches
or schools ; all, all was discouraging and cheerless !

We could hardly believe both ; so we looked into
their faces to find a solution for these discrepancies.
Some of the men were young, rosy, blue-eyed, and
cheerful; others were older, sallow, and morose.
Accordingly we attributed these contradictions to the

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 131

regular and irregular action of bile. Doubtless we
judged correctly ; for the centre of thought and mo
tive is not the head or the heart — it is the liver!

A number of American immigrants have settled in
Campinas, where they have already commenced the
cultivation of cotton. More have gone farther south,
upon the Iguape and Ribeira Rivers, having there, as
a company, purchased a large tract of land, which
they intend to plant with sugar-cane. Be these im
migrants few or many, their presence will have some
influence in developing the resources of the country.
They will introduce machinery, and will bring their
experience", which is a mighty power as opposed to
the old, inherited customs of this slowest of slow
nations. The Brazilians are already beginning to
avail themselves of this by letting their fazendas on
shares to those enterprising northerners ; but they will
not trouble themselves to be learners. All Brazilians
are not deficient in energy. Far from it. Among
them are shrewd bankers, astute lawyers, and far
seeing politicians. But the fazendeiros who are rich
have generally blundered into their wealth, or nature
has showered the golden rain upon them, so that
they could not very well keep out of its way.

But we speak of the Brazilians as a nation. Time
only will decide upon the correctness of these opin
ions. It does not seem that this people can compete

132 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

with the Anglo-Saxons, or with that pure Latin race
from which they originated, and from which they
have degenerated. If God did make " of one blood
all the nations of the earth," it was a long time ago ;
and now, the blood is so certainly not the same, that
He alone can restore it to its original purity. All the
endeavors of miscegenationists have proved failures.

No people has attempted the experiment more
recklessly than the Brazilians. Wherever their an
cestors, the Portuguese, have gone, this has been their
character. Thus, in India and in China, they have
brought the human race down to a level scarcely a
step above the orang-outang. In those regions the
name of " Pariah Portuguese " signifies all that is
low, vile, and beastly. Will Brazil rise from her
present condition to be a fit member of the great
family of nations, or will she sink lower and lower,
until she reaches the depths of degradation? The
world is now so shaken up that nothing can stand
still upon it, any more than the earth itself can stop.
If this people of Brazil cannot drag along their car
of improvement, others will do it for them.

Years hence, it may appear that one of the results
of our civil war will have been the repeopling of this
land from the starting-point of the few dozens of
Americans who have landed here. The first Ameri
can colonists are now to take their turn in the experi-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. \ 133

r-i — — .

inent of civilizing this empire. More than twenty
colonies have settled in it within the last thirty years
— mostly Germans and Swiss. Few of them have
been successful.

The Swiss are proverbially a homesick people.
Many of these have returned — at least many of such
as could afford to go home, have done so. Some
few have accustomed themselves to their circum
stances, and these have all settled in the mountain
ous regions, where they do not care to become rich.
They are content with their old pursuits, such as
they loved in their native land. Here, too, they
can find rugged mountains and green valleys. True,
there are no glaciers or avalanches of snow, but there
are hail-storms and mud-slides, and goitres are almost
as common here as in Switzerland. Happy Swiss,
who can find so many things like home !

Nor are the Germans more enterprising than the
Swiss. They have their little market gardens, and
vineyards, and they can have sauerkraut and beer, as
in Vaterland. As a people they do not care so much
for the old home as the Swiss, but are more ready
to make an old home of the new. Here they main
tain their former customs in dress as well as in living.
Hard, leather-faced-looking men they are, who wear
their heavy frocks and blue woollen stockings, regard
less of the thermometer ; and straight, up-and-down

134 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

women, with yellow, braided hair, — uncovered in
rain or sunshine, — with short dresses and feet heavy
enough to ballast them against the loads carried upon
their heads. They all drink their lager beer, and
gallop like troop horses at their Sunday night balls.
They are happy in their way, without a thought of
coffee, cotton, or sugar-cane.

France has her representatives, too ; but they are
scarcely better suited to grand purposes than the
Swiss or Germans. Yet they perform their mission
of introducing civilization of the French sort. They
teach the people style in dress, music, dancing,
economy, refinement, and last but not least, cookery.
If they can make a revolution in this one particular
alone, they will do their share in the work of regenera
tion. France has reached the highest mysteries of
the cuisine, while Brazil is wallowing in its very
pig-troughs.

But Frenchmen are not good colonists, in the sense
in which we are just now considering the advantages
from colonists required by this country. They are
not enterprising; they do not care for plantations;
they are seldom found asking for railroad or steam
ship contracts, or concerning themselves in any way
with public affairs. They live together, love to
gether, and quarrel together, in and about the Rua
Ouvidor, in Rio de Janeiro, where there are the

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 135

finest shops in the city, — a miniature Rue de la Paix.
It has its restaurants, cafes, and billiard-rooms, and
near it is the public garden. What more can a
Frenchman want, unless it be his boulevards ? These
he cannot have, and so he sometimes sighs for them,
and dreams, as all Frenchmen dream, of the day
when his " little commerce " shall have made his
fortune ; pictures to himself the return voyage, and,
as the Indian thinks of his far-ofT happy hunting-
grounds, so the jolly little Frenchman makes himself
happy in this present life in Brazil with the hope
of a heavenly one — in Paris !

The French congregate mostly in the cities ; but
they wander about the country as pedlers, and are
often met upon the road, trudging along under their
packs of fancy goods, gayly singing to themselves, and
talking to their dogs. What care they to think how
bugs, priests, ants, custom-houses, and all other
nuisances standing in the way of civilization and
progress, are to be overcome !

The Italians cannot be considered as colonists.
They come with their hand-organs, buy monkeys,
grind away for a few years, and go home.

There is something very like a white slave trade
going on with the Western Islands, but generally
there is nothing objectionable in it. Now and then
a Portuguese ship arrives with a company of these

136 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

islanders. Notice is given in the papers that she is
anchored off the Isle of Cobras. The intimation is
sufficient. Immediately she is surrounded by boat
loads of eager purchasers. The cargo, mostly of
young men and girls, is taken on board by the captain,
with the understanding that on arrival they shall be
temporarily sold for the price of their passages. It
is just to these poor people to say that they are
generally faithful to their engagements, seldom leav
ing the masters to whom they are bound until they
have earned their freedom. They then commence
work upon their own account, and labor with the
greatest energy and perseverance to accumulate their
little fortunes.

As might be expected, there is occasionally some
immorality in these transactions. But many of the
females come over with the express purpose of thus
disposing of themselves, having very correct ideas
of the morality of the country that gives them so good
a chance of success. Many of the more respectable
class marry and settle here, but the men generally
expect to return. When there are enough of them
who are satisfied with the results of their labor, they
frequently charter a small brig to take them home.
There is something very pleasant in the scenes of
these departures.

The picture of the Plymouth pilgrims austerely

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 137

going to sacrifice themselves in a wintry desert to
a religious idea, is familiar to us all, but it does not
make us cheerful. I wish I could paint the scene
of one of these little brigs getting under way, upon
a canvas large enough to give expression to each
happy face, and to the tearful, half-envious looks
that peer up from the boats alongside ; and then the
waving of handkerchiefs, that last adieu, as the top
sails feel the breeze ! It would be a good picture :
for it would always be seen in the sunlight of a
smile.

138

CHAPTER XVII.

History and Government of Brazil, — Unquiet Condition of
the Spanish-American States. — Government of the Coun
try by the Portuguese. — Emigration of the Royal Family
to Brazil. — Their Return to Portugal. — Independence
Declared. — Abdication of the First Emperor. — Accession
of the Present Ruler. — Powers of the Emperor and the
Parliament.

IN the early part of the present century, the history
and government of Brazil would have been mat
ters of greater interest than is felt for them now. At
that time public attention was drawn to the South
American colonies, which were imitating our ex
ample in throwing off the yoke of the mother coun
try and acquiring national independence. This they
gained, and we have seen how little some of them
deserved a liberty which they so speedily desecrated
and converted into anarchy.

Revolutions, " pronouncings," and " declarations "
have succeeded each other so rapidly, that we are
tired of hearing of them ; and the politics of the whole
southern continent are regarded by us with less
interest than the triumph or defeat of a temperance

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 139

law in one of our own states. Indeed, it is quite use
less for people to waste their time in reading about
these oft-repeated convulsions ; for a single year may
give a different aspect to the whole, and it would
require a good memory to treasure up the story of
all their counter-revolutions. Such a faculty might
be more usefully employed.

Still, the history of these states affords a lesson to
such enthusiasts as think to revolutionize the world
in a day ; to those who expect to reap the fruits of
liberty without planting the seeds and watching their
growth.

But the empire of Brazil differs from the others, in
asmuch as its emancipation from colonial dependence
was more gradual ; and the result thus far has con
sequently been more satisfactory. In common with
all her neighbors, although not like those of Spanish
origin claiming the name of a republic, her constitu
tion is modelled after that of the United States.

It is nearly four centuries since Brazil was dis
covered, and though now entirely independent of
Portugal, it has always been governed by the same
royal family. For a period of its early history, the
occupation of some of its seaport towns was disputed
by the French ; but they were finally driven off, and
the country was ever afterwards governed as a vice-
royalty of Portugal, until, in 1807? the two countries

140 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

singularly changed relations, Brazil becoming the
seat of government.

Portugal temporized to no purpose with Napoleon,
having yielded to his pretensions until warned of the
futility of such measures by the example of the un
successful servility of Spain. Then the royal family
of Braganza took a step which astonished all Europe.
It was regarded as cowardly, but in their helpless
condition it was certainly politic.

It was in order to save bloodshed, and with the
hope that the invader would spare his subjects in
consequence of his own unqualified submission, that
Dom Joao, after counselling his afflicted people —
who desired to detain him, and would have main
tained his rights at all hazards — to obey Napoleon
implicitly, embarked in haste with his family. He
bade adieu to the thousands who had assembled to
witness the sad spectacle, and left his native shores
to seek a refuge in this distant colony.

Thus the loss to Portugal proved a gain to Brazil.
She assumed the first rank, and, after the general
peace of Europe, still maintained it, the sovereign
preferring to remain here, and to govern the old
country with a delegated power for some years.

In 1821, the old King Joao VI. had become dis
gusted with the new world ; and his enemy, Napoleon,
having no longer possession of Portugal, he returned

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 14!

to his home, leaving his son Pedro to govern Brazil
as viceroy. But the Brazilians, having once assumed
the first rank, were naturally unwilling to be super
seded again by Portugal. Accordingly, in the follow
ing year they declared their independence, installing
the viceroy as emperor, with the title of Pedro I. The
Portuguese made a show of resistance, but the whole
affair was accomplished without bloodshed, to the
general satisfaction of all parties.

To sum up the subsequent history of the Brazilian
throne, it is sufficient to say, that the first emperor,
on account of his unwillingness to grant the people
a liberal constitution, was obliged to abdicate in
1831. Like his father, he took refuge in the home
of his ancestors. At that time the present emperor
was a child. The empire was accordingly governed
by a regency until the year 1840, when Dom Pedro
II., although only fifteen years of age, assumed the
supreme power.

Upon the abdication of Dom Pedro I. the con
stitution was altered to a more republican form.
The power of the emperor was limited ; for, although
he holds a higher title, and receives a salary fifteen
times larger than the President of the United States,
yet his prerogative is less in many respects. The
veto power amounts to but very little. If an enact
ment passes both houses, he has a right to with-

142 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

hold his sanction at first. It is then sent back to
them, and if they pass it again, even by no greater
majority than before, it becomes a law. The lower
house is elected from the various provinces, very
much as our House of Representatives is chosen, but
the senators are elected for life, or during good
behavior. They are dignified with titles which are
not hereditary.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The Monroe Doctrine. — Forms of Government. — Foreign
Enterprise in Brazil. — Improvement of the Capital. —
Gratitude to a Benefactor. — Iron-dads and Torpedoes. —
A "Confederate" Speculation. — A " Slow " People. —
The three Professions — Adaptation of Religions. — Mis
sionary Effort in Brazil.

JUST now with us there is a great political
catch word called the " Monroe Doctrine." Some
people imagine it to mean the annexation of the
whole western continent to the United States. They
might reflect, from the experience we have lately
had, that a ship loaded too heavily at both ends is
liable to " break her back." But let the Monroe
Doctrine in its modified sense be extended to Brazil.
Let us make an American state of it, without the
process of annexation.

No matter what the form of government may be, for
the theory of this is better than our own, while in prac
tice it is perhaps worse. A limited monarchy of the
mildest type, a Senate elected for life, subject to im
peachment, and a House of Representatives chosen

144 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

periodically by the people, form a system which is cer
tainly free from some of the objections raised against
ours.

But let the government, the custom-house, the post-
office, and the courts be directed by North American
intellects, the soil be cultivated by North American en
ergy and machinery, down will go the tottering relics
of barbarism ; and as th£ Indians have died away from
among us, and the Africans are now perishing, so will
this composite, mongrel, effete race disappear from
the world. It is destiny. Philanthropy, philosophy,
and religions, are but egg-shells on the track of the
irresistible engine — fate !

Even now there is scarcely undertaken an enterprise
of the least importance that is not conceived and ex
ecuted by foreigners. A few years ago there was not
a drain in the city of Rio de Janeiro ; all the filth and
offal were then carried on the heads of negroes to the
water side. The stench was abominable, and frequent
accidents from collisions were seriously ridiculous.
The streets were then rather obstructed than paved
with rocks of various sizes and angles, and melancholy-
looking oil lamps glimmered only occasionally at the
corners. Now, the city is drained very thoroughly ;
many of the streets are russ-paved, and are well light
ed with gas. All these and many more improvements
have been accomplished by foreigners. The natives

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 145

are becoming disgusted with the increasing order and
cleanliness.

But there is one public work to the credit of which
a Brazilian is fairly entitled — the aqueduct. This is
a fine piece of architecture. The grateful country
men of the man who conceived it have deified him.
In the palace square is a monument with an inscrip
tion to this effect in Latin : ." While Phoebus in his
course through the skies was burning up all the land
and the people, Vasconcellos conquered his fury by
introducing water into the city. Return, O Phoebus !
and make your obeisance to this excellent man ! "
This is rather strong language, but it seems not to
affect the sun, for he still shines spitefully hot, and
bakes the ground over the head of Vasconcellos.

All the arms used in the present unhappy war with
Paraguay are imported, and, with trifling exceptions,
the navy has been built abroad. The "so-called"
ironclads are the veriest absurdities of naval archi
tecture. It is just to other foreigners to say that
the contractors who furnished them are Englishmen.
They have provided coffins for the poor Brazilians,
and, if report speaks true, have pocketed more than
half their cost. But then it is only just to the English
to say that they are not concerned in another specula
tion, the credit of which belongs solely to some of
our late " Confederates."
10

146 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

The Paraguayans, wishing to blow up the Brazilian
fleet, employed some of these gentlemen to place tor
pedoes in convenient localities for that purpose. The
Brazilians, naturally desiring their removal, contracted
with other experts to take them away. It was pro
ductive of more business and of easier profits for
these two parties to unite their talents, and to play
into each other's hands. So, in a very quiet manner,
they made a joint stock of both companies. The
sunken torpedoes were then very easily discovered and
removed ; of course it was necessary to replace them
with others, and when these others were taken up, more
were to be laid down. The joint concern therefore
did a very profitable business, the security of the Par
aguayans and the danger to the Brazilians remaining
about the same, at a trifling additional cost to both
nations.

If foreigners conferred no greater benefit upon the
country than accrues from such sharp practices as
these, it were better for Brazil to be left to herself. It
is true that Americans and Englishmen, in the real
good they accomplish, are actuated as much as these
roguish adventurers by a desire of profit. Still, while
they have made fortunes richly deserved, they have
greatly benefited the Brazilians at the same time.

But these people are slow to take advantage of the
improvements almost forced upon them. The Dom

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 147

Pedro II. Railroad has been in operation eight years
for a considerable distance from the capital ; and yet,
if you go twenty miles into the country, you will see
respectable old fogies jogging towards the city on
muleback, at the rate of four or five miles an hour,
and you will meet cart-loads of produce and merchan
dise passing inward and outward. Everything is
slow. The " law's delay," with us a great nuisance, is
rather a luxury here. They enjoy its slow processes,
as a Turk enjoys his prolonged bath. The original
"Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce" was an affair of a day, com
pared to a Brazilian lawsuit. I know nothing from
experience of the native medical practice, but if it is
like their other modes of doing business, it cannot be
easy for the physician to determine upon his medicine
before the patient dies or recovers.

As for divinity, the seven years' study required for
this, as well as for law and medicine, at the University
of San Paulo, is short enough for learning the names
of all the saints, and paying that attention to them
which their worship requires.

In no country could the " three learned professions "
be more advantageously dispensed with than in this.
The law would seem to be only for vindictive people,
\\ ho wish to pursue those whom they hate even to the
third and fourth generations. The medical profession
is much divided between allopathy and homoeopathy.

148 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

The newspapers are full of their discussions, for
which they must have a great deal of spare time ;
meanwhile, the people allow foreign enterprise to
carry the palm away from all these disputants.

More successful than all their windy arguments on
one side of the daily Jornal do Comcrcio, are the
announcements upon the other side, of the wonderful
" pilulas do Dr. Ayer," and those of Dr. Holloway, —
the Yankee quack, by the bye, being considerably
ahead, — and of the various " Sarsaparilla " com
pounds.

Be it remembered that this is a land of sarsaparilla ;
and yet these innocents are so gulled, that, instead of
using their own pure medicine, freely offered by Na
ture, they will pay almost any price for imported mo
lasses, water, and potash.

If the systems of law and medicine are adapted to the
habits of the people, doubtless so is that of religion. It
may possibly be heretical to entertain the idea, but it
really seems to me that systems of religion, like styles
of dress, articles of food and drink, tenements, per
sonal habits, languages, and the local conditions of life,
are adapted by the Creator to given periods and times,
to various climates and races, and that they will con
tinue so to exist to the end of the world, as they be
gaa somewhere very near its commencement.

Missionaries believing in the speedy approach of the

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 149

millennium, and considering themselves commissioned
to hasten it, have been at work in this " field." The
Rev. Mr. Fletcher was one of these pioneer Protestants.
He travelled about the country occasionally, collecting
materials for his book, and, as he tells us, was in the
habit of paying for his food and lodgings with " the
bread of life," by reading to the fazenderos and the
slaves from his pocket Testament. His success was
small, for it is to be feared that the people have be
lieved as little in his Testament as in his book.

There are two or three missionaries still occupied
in the hopeless task of converting the Brazilians. The
Rev. Mr. Simonton, who is stationed at Rio de Janeiro,
is a most enthusiastic and laborious man. He has
acquired such a thorough knowledge of the language
that he uses it fluently in his prayers and sermons, and
publishes a weekly religious paper in Portuguese.
The Rev. Mr. Blackford, at San Paulo, is another
indefatigable missionary.

It is very possible, and even probable, that Protes
tantism may, by and bye, be the prevailing religion of
Brr.zil ; but it seems impossible that it should be the
religion of this present Brazilian people. The whole
tree must be transplanted. It cannot be grafted into
this stock. The nearest approach to conversion of
which the Brazilians are susceptible is reformation
in their own religion.

CHAPTER XIX.

Influence of the Catholic Religion, — Its Power in Brazil. —
Character of its Ceremonies. — Morals of Clergy ana
People. — Illustrative Anecdote. — Alixed Blood. — T/ie
Census. — Slaves Drifting' Southward. — Extent of Coffee
Cultivation. — Political Parties. — Anti-Slavery and Re
publicanism. — Succession to the Throne. — Character of
the Emperor.

THE Roman Catholic religion is a mighty state
engine wherever it prevails, except in the
United States ; and there it is often a scarcely less
powerful engine of party. Governments encourage
its superstitious observances in order to insure the
fealty of the priesthood, and to make themselves
stable by thus binding the people. With us, a stand
ing army of tax collectors, postmasters, and editors,
serves instead of priests, and they manifest an equally
blatant loyalty.

The government of Brazil would not stand one day
without the influence of the clergy. The ignorant
masses would be the dupes of political adventurers,
n nd instead of all this harmless mummery and non-

TEX MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 151

sense, there would be bloodshed and hopeless anar
chy. Still, it is to be regretted that the emperor's
seat is not secure enough for him to put down, at
least, some of the puerilities and absurdities. It is a
humiliating idea that men should be made idiots in
order to be good subjects.

We had seen the Roman Catholic religion in all
parts of the world, and frequently observed how it
was modified or intensified to suit national exigencies.
We had seen it in Rome, where the headquarters of
its ceremonies are admitted to be the headquarters
of its abuses ; but nowhere, excepting perhaps in
Spain, is it so much like child's play as in Brazil.
Elsewhere, sensible and educated men comply with
some of its unimportant observances, from habit or
from interested motives ; but here, the most potent,
grave, and reverend senhors "assist" with beauti
fully pious decorum at the wax-doll exhibitions and
performances of miracles. On these occasions not a
smile is seen, except on the face of a foreigner, or
in the sly twinkle of a priest's eye.

The morals of the clergy are such as would be
considered depraved in any other country than this.
But morals, like other things, are comparative. Little
hills would be mountains in Holland, and some of
our mountains would be mole-hills if one stumbled
over them among the Andes. It is true that the

152 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

priests almost universally keep their mistresses, that
they seduce many fair penitents, and are allowed
all sorts of intimacies with married ladies, about
which the husbands are not much concerned ; for
these people revel in such beastly impurities, that
little priestly sins like these may be fairly looked upon
as venial, and even as evincing rather a high standard
of morality in the clerical profession !

If it is considered that these remarks upon religion
and morality are overdrawn, the reader is referred to
" Life in Brazil," by Ewbank, "Le Bresil tcl qu'il
est" and "Les Femmes et les Mceurs de Bresil" by
Expilly. Ewbank devotes the greater part of his
book to the churches and religious observances in Rio
de Janeiro. He speaks, as I do, from observation ;
but his observation was more general and his oppor
tunities more extended than mine ; and his accounts
are intensified in proportion. They are admitted to
be true.

Expilly had seen some things in Paris. Neverthe
less, this not over-sensitive Frenchman was shocked
by what he saw in Brazil. Here is one of his stories
of an enterprising Portuguese. In a condensed and
expurgated translation I venture to repeat it.

The man was married, and was very poor — all
his property consisting of a negro, a negress, and a
milch cow. He undertook to make money system-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 153

atically, by the increase of his " stock." Even with
the aid of the cow in weaning, he could not expect
more than one black harvest in a year. But mulattoes
are as valuable as negroes. Think, then, by what
double prostitution he succeeded in obtaining two in
each season — one being the half of his own flesh and
blood, the other belonging in the same proportion to
his wife ! So it went on, year after year, the children
being sold when of suitable age ; and by this com
merce the worthy couple lived and prospered ! It
does not appear that the affair " excited remark" in
the neighborhood.

Some years ago, when a census was to be taken,
it was proposed to divide the classes of the commu
nity, and to enumerate separately the white, black,
and mixed. The Brazilians themselves laughed at
the imbecile who wasted his ink in the suggestion.
u Mixed ! " There is black blood everywhere stirred
in ; compounded over and over again, like an apothe
cary's preparation. African blood runs freely through
marble halls, as well as in the lowest gutters, and
Indian blood swells the general current. There is
no distinction between white and black, or any of
the intermediate colors, which can act as a bar to
social intercourse or political advancement.

The whole population of Brazil, according to the
last census, was 9,083,755, of whom 1,357,416 were

154 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

slaves ; of the remaining 7,726,339, called " free," it
was wisely determined to make no further classifi
cation.

The warm and cold regions of the southern hemi
sphere being the opposites of ours, it would naturally
be supposed that the majority of the slaves would be
found in the north. It has been always conceded
thrt if slave labor is profitable anywhere, it is so in
the hottest districts of a country. Thus it was proved
to be in the United States, where it was first abol
ished in the north, from motives of economy rather
than of humanity. In Brazil it would at first appeal-
that the rule of climate is not the same ; but the exist
ence of a greater number of slaves in the more tem
perate part of the empire is easily explained.

The northern provinces have partially freed them
selves from slavery ; not because it was not a paying
institution to them, but because it paid so much better
in the middle and southern parts of the country.
Therefore the temptation to sell their slaves was irre
sistible to the northerners, \vho are now manifesting
a great deal of virtuous indignation at the sins of
the people who paid them so liberally for what, at
the time, they were perfectly willing to consider as
" property."

There is consequently a political anti-slavery party.
It is constantly pressing its views on the government.

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 155

and will doubtless be ultimately successful. It is
made up from the provinces around the equator,
extending from Amazonas to Pernambuco ; while the
more southern districts of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro,
as well as the almost temperate regions from San
Paulo to the borders of Paraguay, still hold on to the
" institution " with South Carolinian pertinacity. In
our contest both sides appealed to the Bible. Here
the church furnishes arguments for either.

Brazil, however, has not such difficulties to over
come as those encountered in the United States.
There is no appalling question of races to meet — no
such problem here as we are now solving — whether
distinct races shall live harmoniously, working, vot
ing, and governing together, or whether the weaker
race shall succumb before the superior. Here the
general fusion, already so far advanced, will be com
plete, and we may predict the annihilation of the
whole unnatural mixture, rather than that of either
of its ingredients.

The diminution of slavery in the northern prov
inces, as has been observed, was owing to the demand
for negroes farther south. This was occasioned by a
sudden revolution of the taste of the world in favor
of coffee, not long ago. Many of us can remember
the time when the chief supplies of this article came
from Java and Sumatra. A very little was derived

156 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

from Mocha, and a larger quantity, though of an infe
rior quality, was grown in the West India Islands
and on the Spanish Main.

At that time sugar was the chief staple of Brazil.
It was made in all parts of the empire where the cli
mate would allow the cultivation of the cane. Then
came a time of great depression for coffee, so that the
price for which it was sold was not sufficient to pay
for the cost of raising it. The production was in
advance of the consumption. The cultivation, ac
cordingly, was very much diminished. So great was
the reaction that coffee soon became scarce, and con
sequently dear. The world seemed to become aware
of its loss, and then began to consider what was be
fore a luxury, to be a prime necessity.

No other country possesses such advantages of cli
mate and soil, and of nearness to American and
European markets combined, for the cultivation and
sale of coffee, as Brazil. All at once the middle and
southern provinces were planted with coffee trees, to
the almost entire abandonment of sugar-cane ; so that
now these districts are supplied from the north with
the sugar they require for domestic use.

In the year 1860 the value of coffee raised in Brazil
was $40,000,000. During our civil war there was a
falling off in the production, owing partly to the fact
that the south-western states of the Union, the great

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 157

consumers of Rio coffee, were shut up. For a long
time the people of the northern and eastern states
consumed very little of it. Nothing but its cheapness
has at length reconciled us to it in a degree. By and
bye, when we become accustomed to it, we may
perhaps prefer it to Java coffee, as they now do in
the west.

The increased demand has so stimulated the pro
duction that it has become difficult to obtain labor.
The domestic slave trade is consequently very brisk,
and the negroes are withdrawn more and more from
the northern provinces. The foreign traffic has been
effectually abolished. Not a cargo has been landed
on these shores for ten years, so severe and so rigidly
enforced is the penalty. The importation of negroes
was connived at before, but Northern influence will
permit it no longer.

The anti-slavery party is already a disturbing po
litical element, which will accomplish its work by
fusing with one of the great parties. Then it will be
no longer a servant or an accomplice, but will aspire
to the rank of master and principal, as it has done in
the United States.

Besides the anti-slavery party, there are now three
others in Brazil, all very powerful and nearly balanced
— the conservative, the radical, and the republican.
The two former are imperialist. They both favor a

158 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

continuation of the monarchy. One is what would be
called in England " Tory." The term " Whig" to a
certain extent would apply to the latter.

The " Republican" party is not so named for clap
trap or ad captandum, but it is bona fide what the
term signifies. It proposes to unseat the emperor : to
do away with all titles and all insignia of royalty or
nobility ; to take — as all the rest of South America
and Mexico have done — the great republic of the
North for its exemplar. This party, again, is sub
divided between immediate and ultimate republicans.
The former are for upsetting the throne at once, and
tumbling the emperor off. The latter are willing
that he should remain for the rest of his life, and then
they propose to overturn his seat before his daughter
has time to climb upon it. If they play this game
they must be very prompt in their operations. For
should that young lady once get established there, her
enemies will regret their temerity or their delay.

The only surviving children of the royal family are
Isabella, wife of the Count d'Eu, a grandson of
Louis Philippe, and Leopoldina, wife of the Duke
de Saxe, one of that great German family whose pe
culiar avocation seems to be the renovation of effete
royalty.

While we were in Rio de Janeiro, the youngest
sister became the mother of a little prince. The

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 159

event was joyfully announced by the ringing of bells
and the firing of cannon. There was greater excite
ment than the occasion seemed to demand, for the
baby is a very distant heir to the throne, even if the
throne shall have an heir. Isabella is the legal suc
cessor. In case of her death without issue, the crown
will be inherited by her sister. The little prince
must therefore rely not only on the poverty of French
stock, but upon the death of his aunt and his mother,
who are both very young ladies, in the enjoyment of
excellent health. By the time that old age carries
them away, the prince himself may die, or, what is
more likely, the monarchy may cease to exist.

The emperor has a merited reputation for scientific
attainments and philosophy. He is an admirer and
personal friend, as wTell he may be, of Agassiz, who
has been with him daily at the palace, giving him
an account of his researches on the banks of the
Amazon.

We attended some of the professor's lectures, which
were delivered before a large audience in the univer
sity hall. The royal family were always present, and
partook, in the highest degree, of the general inter
est. Their eyes were never diverted from the lecturer
or his black-board. The expression on the face of
the Princess Isabella was intense. It is far from
being pretty, for it is masculine ; but, if physiognomy

l6<D TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

tells anything, it speaks of intelligence, energy, and
such firmness as can be dispensed with in the conjugal
relation, but is invaluable in affairs of state. It is
Elizabethan.

Upon some points the emperor is obstinate ; but his
general policy is rather of the laisser-faire descrip
tion. There are many things going on which he does
not see because he turns his head the other way.
When anything perplexes him, he rushes into his
library or his laboratory, or among his bugs and fishes,
and remains till the storm blows over and the discord
ant political atoms settle down, after the little whirl
wind has subsided. If he had merely a few scamps
to deal with, he doubtless has resolution enough to
bring them to order ; but where there are such univer
sal rascality and corruption, he thinks it scarcely
worth his while to combat a system which he can
not overcome.

CHAPTER XX.

The War ivii h Paraguay. — Disappointment and Discourage
ment. — Religious Toleration. — Festival of St. George. —
A Military Saint. — Rank and Pay. — His Saintship
Tried and Punished. — The Emperor in Farce. — Brazil
ian Superstitions.

THE war in which Brazil is now engaged was un
dertaken with high hopes of immediate success.
The activity of the emperor raised the enthusiasm of
the people, and his personal presence gave courage to
the army. For more than two years, with alternate
successes and disasters, this war has dragged its slow
length along, and at the present time appearances
are very discouraging. The Brazilians regret that
they undertook it, but they see no honorable way of
withdrawing without acknowledging a defeat. Even
were they to accomplish the object of increasing their
territory, and could they succeed in trampling Paraguay
utterly under foot, they would be poorly compensated
for all their loss of blood and treasure. The money
that has been expended as much for " shoddy " and pri
vate emolument as for the war, might have been better

l62 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

invested in the internal improvements so much needed.
War is generally a bad speculation for nations. They
always suffer, while individuals on both sides are the
gainers. Brazil has made this discovery.

The emperor still goes about, examining the dock
yards, the ships, and the machine-shops, while there is
an air of dejection upon his face painful to behold.
He is a learned man ; but it must be remembered that
all his knowledge is derived from books and from
foreigners, who are generally unwilling to give him
any information that would be disagreeable, however
useful it might be to him. He has had no opportu
nity for observation abroad. He has told Professor
Agassiz that the great desire of his heart is to visit the
United States, and that he hopes to do so when this
war is over.

Although a strict Catholic himself, he tolerates all
religions. Still, he declares that there must be one for
the state ; and what religion can be better adapted to
Brazil than his own ? Certainly no other. A good
son of the church, he is submissive to the priesthood.
In return for his obedience, they exercise their influ
ence over the people, keeping them loyal to the
government.

One of the great holidays is the festa of St.
George, the patron saint of the empire in general.
Each city has a sort of deputy patron, whose worship

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 163

is duly celebrated on his particular day. St. Sebastian
has especial charge of Rio de Janeiro, and has his
great day, like the rest. But when the annual feast of
St. George returns, every town and hamlet, from the
Amazonas to the Rio Grande, has its greatest proces
sion of the season. The saint has his headquarters at
the capital.

I do not know if this St. George is the same that
has taken England under his protection. Here he is
Colonel St. George ; for, although he died and was
buried ages ago, and Brazil is now enjoying the
advantage of his intercession, his earthly image holds
the rank of colonel in the army, and draws a yearly
pay of three thousand five hundred dollars ! Of
course the priests draw it for him ; and they pretend
that it is all invested in jewels and dress for the idol.

Until the present year this buckram saint has been
mounted on horseback and paraded through the city,
following the " body of God," for his day is likewise
the day of Corpus Christi. To our great disappoint
ment, this part of the ceremony was not observed. It
would be charitable to account for the omission by
attributing it to the advancement of light and knowl
edge ; whereas it is to be explained by a greater
absurdity than the performance itself.

Last year the attendant buckled Colonel St. George's
sword so carelessly that it dropped and seriously

164 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

wounded the toe of a priest. The aid-de-camp and
the saint w-ere both tried for the offence, and both
were found guilty. The officer was sentenced to im
prisonment for three years, and the punishment of the
saint was confinement in his closet and prohibition
from appearing on parade in the procession of Corpus
Christi !

As the expenses of the war are heavy just now, it
might have been better to stop the wooden colonel's
pay ; but this idea was far from occurring to the priest
hood.

So the procession lost one of its chief attractions for
us. It was something, however, to see the emperor
in a new character — something, too, unpleasant and
revolting.

It was a blazing day in May. Long before noon
the procession began to form in the streets. This was
composed of the military and of all the orders of
ecclesiastical and lay brotherhoods. Every individual
was bareheaded, and carried a lighted torch, the flame
of which was scarcely distinguishable in the intense
glare of the sun. The streets and balconies were
crowded with broiling spectators.

Soon after noon the procession moved along
through the Rua Direita, the Broadway of Rio de
Janeiro. At its head we could see, rising and fall
ing, a great silk awning, preceded by boys swinging

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 165

censers of incense. Underneath it walked the arch
bishop, the canopy being held over his head by the
emperor, the Count d'Eu, and the ministers of state,
all bareheaded. This humiliating act was performed
to show the obedience of the civil to the ecclesiastical
power. We were looking on from the balcony of the
hotel, Professor Agassiz standing among the specta
tors. As the emperor passed, he looked up with the
most serio-comic expression that can be imagined.
It seemed to say, " You see, my friend, what I have
to do ; but I am rather ashamed of myself." He must
have been glad that St. George was out of sight,
undergoing his punishment.

The Brazilians treat their saints with a great deal of
consideration, so long as the saints are well disposed
towards them, listening to their prayers, healing their
diseases, and prospering their business affairs. Then
the Brazilian is a grateful being. He adorns the
shrine of his benefactor, dresses his image in costly
robes, presents it with jewelry, and worships it with
the most becoming devotion. But if the saint is un
grateful, the Brazilian knows how to be ungrateful,
too. If he or any one of his family afflicted with
disease does not speedily recover, or if his specula
tions have an unprofitable aspect, he will pray the
good saint with all earnestness to turn the tide of evil ;
he will pray up to a certain point — the very point

1 66 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

of despair. Then comes a revulsion. Prayers are
now exchanged for curses, and genuflections for
square-toed kicks. Thus, literally, is the saint pun
ished for his obduracy.

St. Antonio is the most general saint of the coun
try. He has more people called by his name than
any other ; consequently his image is more com
monly to be seen in their houses and shops. These
images fare well or ill according to the health and
prosperity of their owners. As trouble in this world
is supposed to be more than a balance for joy,
the St. Antonios upon an average have rather a
hard lot. A very common punishment meted out to
the saint is to strip him of his dress and ornaments,
and then to sink him in the well. If the sick person
recovers, or the speculation takes a favorable turn, the
saint is pulled up, has a new suit of clothes, and finer
jewels than before, with plenty of apologies for his
bad treatment; and penances are undergone therefor.
If otherwise, — if the sick man dies, or the money is
lost, — then the saint remains in the well, and is very
liable to have his head smashed with a big stone.

The church in Brazil, holding firmly to all the
original superstitions of Rome, has allowed much of
the African element to mingle with religion, as the
people have mixed it with their blood. It adapts
itself to the ignorance and weak intellects of the

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 167

blacks, and allows them to practise charms and rites
of Fetish worship, which are quite as innocent in their
way as are many of the genuine old ceremonies and
dogmas. The negroes are permitted to worship black
Virgins, as being more to their taste.

There is a favorite and very pretty white image in
the Church of the Gloria. She has performed many
astonishing miracles, and pilgrimages are made to her
shrine from distant parts of the empire. She was a
patroness of the mother of the present emperor.
Many times did the empress visit her, to be healed of
her diseases, and the Virgin was very considerate, pay
ing attention to her most trifling ailments. At last a
serious illness seized upon the empress, so that she
was too ill to visit the temple. A council was held
by the clergy, to determine upon the propriety of
inviting the Virgin to leave the church and visit the
palace. After much debate, it was decided, that, for
the sake of royalty, the innovation might be permitted.
Accordingly, with all delicate attention, as well as
with all pomp and ceremony, the removal was accom
plished, and the Virgin returned the many calls of
the empress. But mark how fearfully she resented the
insult thus offered to her dignity. The empress died !
Certainly, in one sense of the term, the Brazilians
may be called a religious people. Yet it can hardly
be supposed that the better educated classes believe in

1 68 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

the efficacy of all this mummery. Most of these may
be said to be infidels at heart, while they are super
stitious in conscience. As children, they, like all
children, are believers ; and though in mature years
they sometimes go to the opposite extreme, the im
pressions of childhood are seldom entirely effaced.
Thus the Brazilian through life practises the forms of
his early faith, entertaining the possibility of their
efficacy, and seeking consolation from them in the
hour of death. The selfishness of their religion is
exemplified ridiculously in their prayers for deliver
ance when in trouble. In such cases, in order to be
sure of help from some quarter, the Brazilian ad
dresses himself to the sources both of good and of evil.
In a storm at sea, or when passing over a dangerous
bridge, he constantly cries, " Good God, good devil !
Good devil, good God ! " besides invoking the aid of
any saints who may occur to his recollection. When
all is safe again, he is very forgetful of his deliverers ;
and well he may be, as the debt to them all would be
too large for him to pay.

Occasionally, however, his sore distress wrings from
him a vow. True, when the danger has passed, he
regrets his rashness ; but his superstition makes him
honest in its performance. A few years ago, the cap
tain and crew of a brig promised the Virgin that, if
she would keep their mainsail from being blown away,

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 169

they would present it at her shrine on arrival at Rio
de Janeiro. The Virgin having kindly complied, the
sail was unbent from the yard and lugged by these
devotees through the streets of the city to the door of
the chapel. But the Virgin having no particular use
for a brig's mainsail, an arrangement in the way of
commutation was made between the captain and the
priests. The sail was redeemed for a moderate sum
of milreas, and was returned to the brig, where it was
more useful than it would have been in a church.
Many shrines are ornamented with curious memorials
of gratitude for recovery from sickness, and for preser
vation from accidents, attributable to the special inter
position of particular Virgins. There are very many
funny and disproportioned pictures of beds and their
occupants, of capsizing boats and of runaway horses,
occasioning people to be spilled upon the water and
upon the ground. Legs, arms, and skulls have been
broken ; but they have been mended by the Virgin —
with the aid of a surgeon. Accordingly, fac-si miles of
these various parts of the body, done in plaster and in
clay, are among the chapel ornaments. Under each
is a highly descriptive picture, and there is frequently
a detailed account of the perilous circumstances in
which the individual was placed, and from which he
was miraculously rescued. The perusal of these
pious inscriptions was often a source of great enter
tainment.

170

CHAPTER XXL

Religion as an Amusement. — Habits of Brazilian Ladies. —
Female Education. — Women in Low Estimation. — A
Comical Mistake. — The Steward's Blunder. — No Fish
on Friday. — A Good-natured Bishop. — Light Penance,
— Professors and Students. — Source of Brazilian Vice. —
Theatricals in Rio de Janeiro.

THERE is still another view to be taken of reli
gion in Brazil — its use as an amusement. Rio
de Janeiro would be the dullest city on earth without
it. The men in their mournful black clothes, which
they so much affect, would grope about their business
in the daytime and retire to their dens at night, and
the women would merely walk from their beds to
their windows and from their windows to their beds.
But religion comes as a relief to such monotony. The
many chimes of the bells give notice that some solemn
farce is being enacted every day, and the frequent
holidays and festas bring out the whole population into
the squares and the churches. Processions are as
popular and as common as with us on the eve of a
presidential election. In them may often be seen little

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 1 71

children dressed as angels ; and very pretty, though
somewhat dusky, are these tiny sprites, as they dance
airily along.

It is only upon feast days that the ladies show them
selves much abroad. Sometimes they are seen in the
cool of the evening, enjoying the universal feminine
luxury of shopping ; but they are generally little in
clined to leave their homes and their windows. It is
a common practice to send to the shops for such arti
cles as may be needed, that they may make their
selection without the trouble of leaving their houses.
Although laziness originated this custom, it has the
merit of economy, induced by freedom from tempta
tion. The Brazilian ladies spend most of their time
in leaning upon their elbows, gazing listlessly into the
streets, or exhibiting themselves coquettishly within
the half-closed blinds, tantalizing those who pass.
Mirrors are often ingeniously placed at the sides of
the windows, so that the old and the ugly can see
without being seen. The young and the pretty do not
so much resort to this device.

More attention is now paid to female education than
formerly ; yet there is room for a great advance in this
respect. At present, even the better classes are
generally proficient only in music and in dancing.
Perhaps their taste for music is in a great degree
attributable to the African element, and the graceful

172 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

voluptuousness of their postures in the dance may be
owing to the same cause. The consequences of such
general ignorance among them are either a charming
simplicity of manner, or an extreme of vice such as
may be incredible.

The Brazilian women are almost universally re
garded as playthings, and as the means of sensual en
joyment. They advance the fortunes of their parents
by being sold in the matrimonial market when they
should be at school. Differences of thirty or forty
years between husbands and wives are not uncom
mon. Fidelity is promised at the altar as a matter of
form, but its observance is scarcely expected. The
husband is allowed carte blanche, or, better to express
it in an allowable pun, carte noire, in these matters.
At the same time he is very jealous of his wife, as he
richly deserves to have reason to be.

On our first acquaintance with the business of
carrying passengers upon the coast, there were some
ludicrous mistakes. I once incurred the violent anger
of an old army officer, who, with his family, had
been among our passengers, by inquiring after the
health of his wife. Thus we learned that what is
considered ordinary politeness in the United States is
excessive rudeness in Brazil. At another time we
left Santos with a large number of passengers on
board. Among them was a gentleman of about sixty

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 1 73

years of age, accompanied by two little girls — one of
them thirteen years old, and the other two or three
years younger. When the sea became somewhat
rough, the gentleman retired to his cabin, under the
influence of sea-sickness, leaving the children upon
deck. Devoting myself to their amusement, I took
them upon my knees and told them stories about home,
with my thoughts wandering there, as I played with
their silken tresses and enjoyed their pretty smiles.
In the midst of this pleasant occupation the gentle
man came upon deck. With an expression of face
which I at first attributed to the fiend of sea-sickness,
he gazed upon us for a moment, and then inquired,
in a singularly harsh voice, " Captain, are you mar
ried?" " Yes, indeed, senhor," I replied, " and have
a daughter two or three years older than your eldest
little girl, here. She reminds me of her very much,"
I added, as I patted the lovely child upon the cheek.
" That little girl, sir ! " exclaimed my indignant passen
ger, with a severe emphasis on little girl, " that little
girl is my wife ! " I immediately provided a chair for
the gentleman's wife and another for her sister. Soon
afterwards the party went below, and the steward
reported that there was a great noise in their cabin.

That steward, by the bye, was an excellent fellow ;
but his negligence on one occasion might have caused
us serious trouble, had not the easy conscience of an

l*]\ TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

ecclesiastic befriended us. We happened to sail on
Friday, and the steward had forgotten the day of
the week. It was particularly unfortunate, as it oc
curred in the season of Lent. Descending to dinner,
it was found that his otherwise well-spread table
lacked the great essential, fish, which, variously served,
should have been the basis of everything. To add to
my mortification, a bishop was on board, occupying
the chair at my right. There was no remedy but an
honest confession and a cry of peccavi, coupled with a
malediction upon the unlucky steward, who, a Catholic
himself, stood trembling under the enormity of his
offence. The bishop assumed a serious air ; but, after
a moment's reflection, his face beamed joyously as he
exclaimed, " Then I must give indulgence to myself
and to all the passengers ; but you will suffer for it by
and bye. But stop ! " he added. " You may as
well suffer now. I will inflict penance upon you.
Give us all champagne ! " The penance was per
formed with alacrity, and this proved one of the jol-
liest dinners ever discussed on board the " Tejuca."

As our route was that of direct communication
between the capital and the city of San Paulo, where
the great literary institutions of the empire are lo
cated, the professors and students of the college were
frequently going and returning with us. The latter
were from the elite of Brazilian families, and were a

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 175

jolly, rollicking set of fellows, yet gentlemanly in
their manners, and evidently well taught, many of
them being proficients in the classics and in mathe
matics. Most of the secular students knew7 little, and
cared less, about religion ; whereas the young men
intended for the church were trained to their calling
so entirely, that they were ignorant of all else beyond
ecclesiastical observances and the monk Latin of the
Breviary. On being reproached by one of his fellow-
passengers for their general ignorance of what does
not immediately concern religion, a priest told us a
story which conveyed a fair retort. There is a town
in the interior called Belem, or Bethlehem. The di
vinity student said that he had found one of the best
mathematicians in San Paulo so ignorant of religion
that he was obliged to inform him where our Savior
was born. " Ah," said the youth who lived in a
polygon, — " ah, yes, I supposed he was a Brazilian ! "
The clerical students are frequently of questionable
morality, and not unfrequently of unquestionable im
morality. It may be said, in extenuation of their most
common vice, that it is hard for any system of
religion to hold men in restraint when it is opposed
by human nature in a tropical climate. Chastity in
New England is not so high a virtue as it would be
in Brazil, if it existed here, which it certainly does
not, to any considerable extent, in men or women, or

176 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

children who can walk. A clergyman once came on
board accompanied by his son, and the old gentleman
seemed to be as highly respected as if he had denied
the relationship.

It would be unjust to attribute such delinquencies
to the Catholic religion, when we know that they
are not uncommon among Protestants in our own
land. The vices and supineness of the Brazilians do
not emanate from their religion, which, with all its
faults, is the best they can have. Without it, as I have
endeavored to show, there would be anarchy. He
must be a careless observer of society who does not
see that its pest in Brazil is amalgamation — the mix
ing of two bloods which the Almighty never intended
to course in one current.

Actors and actresses, all over the world, are often
regarded as of doubtful reputation. Certainly in our
country this imputation is most unjust. But in Brazil
an actress who is not a prostitute would be shunned,
as unfit for the boards of the theatres. It seems
strange that the city of Rio de Janeiro, containing
more than four hundred thousand inhabitants, cannot
support one respectable theatre or opera-house. I
use the word respectable in reference to size as
well as to morality. There are the large theatre of
Pedro II. and the Italian opera-house, both of which
the government endeavored to encourage. But

IS

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 1 77

neither a correct dramatic taste nor a love for the
perfection of music in acting existed. Both these
houses are large, commodious, and well ventilated, but
they are closed for want of patronage. The crowd
throng to two stifling little dens called the Alcazar
and the El Dorado, where a company of strumpets
exhibit themselves nightly for the public entertain
ment.

Every people must have something to quarrel about,
some parties to uphold, either religious, political, or —
something else. The inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro
do not trouble themselves about high and low church,
abolition, temperance, or women's rights. It would
be amusing to hear any one advocate these two last
Boston notions in Brazil ! But there are the great
Aimee and Lovato parties. The young ladies who
bear these names are rival actresses, both beautiful,
both sweet singers and agile dancers, and each pos
scssing a multitude of lovers. Every play-goer be
longs to the party either of Aimee or of Lovato. As
they both appear together on the boards of the Alca
zar, the rival shouts of, " Bravo, Aimee ! " " Bravo,
Lovato ! " frequently interrupt the performance with
their noisy clamor. The favorites are fired at with
volleys of bouquets, till the stage becomes a perfect
flower garden. Then the young ladies, with a view
to economy, collect the offerings, smile sweetly, upon
12

178 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

their admirers, and pass the flowers out from the side
door, whence they are carried to the front and sold
again. Whole columns of the morning papers are
filled with praises in prose and in verse, as well as
with abusive criticisms of these actresses. The rep
resentation of the previous night is the topic of con
versation on the next day, and gives rise to many
loud words and awful threats, which never amount
to much, for the Brazilians always stop short of blows
and duels.

Besides these little play-houses, where the pieces are
always French, there is a small Portuguese theatre,
which the emperor sometimes, though rarely, at
tends. Such is the staple of theatrical entertainment
for this great city. Religion as truly takes its place
in Brazil with gaudy shows and imposing ceremo
nies, as it serves the same purpose, in many large
New England towns, with class meetings and evening
lectures.

179

CHAPTER XXII.

Personal Observations. — Writers on Brazil. — Ervbank,
Fletcher, Agassiz. — Inducements to settle there. — South
ern Coasting Trade. — Unsuccessful Attempt to Re- open
it. — Sale of Steamer Tejuca, and Return Plome. — South
ern Colonists in Brazil. — Drain of Men and Money by the
War. — Dangers to fioiv therefrom. — A Word of Cau
tion.

I HAVE endeavored, as much as possible, to com
press these observations into a small compass,
and at the same time to give the reader a general idea
of the nature of the country, and of the pursuits and
character of its people, in most respects so different
from our own. It would be unjust to the Brazilians
to pretend that an acquaintance with a comparatively
small part of their vast empire can enable any one to
form a correct opinion of the whole. No one, who
has written upon the subject as yet, has travelled over
its length and breadth. Ewbank was the best obser
ver, and a most graphic delineator ; but his researches
scarcely extended beyond the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Mr. Fletcher has certainly produced the largest book.

I So TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

In a few months Professor Agassiz and his accom
plished wife will gratify the public with an account
of their extensive explorations. Their work will be
welcomed by the scientific, and by all who can appre
ciate unsurpassed descriptive talents.

Those who have read Mr. Fletcher's book will not
fail to notice that either his prejudices or my own in
cline us to take different views. It will be remem
bered, however, that my observations are confined to
particular localities, and the inferences of general
character are chiefly drawn from what was seen at
the capital, and within a few hundred miles of it.
My business was neither that of a tract distributor,
such as Mr. Fletcher's, nor one of scientific research,
like that of Professor Agassiz, nor of colonization,
for which purpose Rev. Mr. Dunn has made his ex
plorations. I had no occasion to flatter the emperor
or his people ; nor could my position or merits
deserve any notice from them, such as was due to
Professor Agassiz, of whom, in passing, I cannot
forbear to relate an anecdote which he may forget to
chronicle. When the emperor was about leaving foi
the Rio de la Plata, at a very critical period of the
war, in order to encourage the army by his presence,
the professor addressed him a note, conveying his best
wishes for his success and speedy return, adding, in a
postscript, " If you have time while there, don't for-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. l8l

get to bring back some specimens of fish from that
river." Dom Pedro complied, and the emperor's fish
are probably in the Museum at Cambridge.

If any value is attached to this little work beyond
affording an hour's amusement, it is that of conveying
some idea of the commercial character of Southern
Brazil, and of the inducements offered to Americans to
enter upon its coasting trade or to settle in the country.
I have not dealt in statistics, as such are uninteresting
to most readers. In wading through Mr. Fletcher's
book, these may be found here and there ; but the best
compendium is a little volume written by Mr. Scully,
editor of the " Anglo-Brazilian Times," published in
Rio de Janeiro. It contains the most accurate infor
mation upon those points.

An American company is now being formed for the
Brazilian coasting trade. A mail contract is guaran
teed to it, and large hopes of its success are enter
tained by those who are interested in it. There are
some towns south of Santos which make large figures
upon the map ; such as Canonea, Iguape, and Parana-
gua. The new American line is to take the place
of a former subsidized line of Brazilian boats, once
running to these ports. That was discontinued for
want of patronage, and the company made a com
plete failure.

Several months had elapsed, during which there had

1 82 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

been no steam communication with those towns, and
the newspapers were continually publishing letters
purporting to come from their people, urging govern
ment or private individuals to put steamers again
upon the route. I accordingly advertised my steamer,
and sent notices to all the ports on the coast, long in
advance of sailing. We made three trips, being de
termined to open the trade again if possible. The
attempt was abortive, for there was not freight enough
in all these voyages to pay for the coal consumed on
one of them. The towns are all wretched little vil
lages, and offer no inducements or conveniences for
commerce. We found the people entirely indifferent
to commercial enterprise. They were glad to see
a steamer, as they preferred her to a sailing vessel,
because of greater speed and better accommodations ;
but they argued that they required no steamers for
cargo. They owned a number of small brigs and
schooners, which they were accustomed to despatch
to Rio de Janeiro with rice, and to Buenos Ayres
with mate (the native tea). On arrival there, the car
go is peddled out from on board. They consider the
saving of storage and of trans-shipment as more than
an equivalent for despatch. On their return the same
little craft bring whatever cargo is offered, the time
occupied being a matter of supreme indifference.
Despairing, therefore, of success under such cir-

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 183

cumstances, I sailed for Montevideo in September
1866, and sold the Tejuca there.

Returning to the United States, we learn that a
greater number of emigrants from the South than we
had supposed, have lately gone to Brazil. The Rev.
Mr. Dunn, a secessionist ex-clergyman, is at the head
of the chief American colony. This is on the Ribeira
River, a stream which enters the ocean near Iguape.
It is navigable for light draught steamers, and if the
representations of the reverend gentleman, who came
up with us on one of our return voyages, can be relied
upon, there are offered great inducements for settle
ment in that vicinity. Cotton, rice, and corn flourish
abundantly, and all that is wanted is protection of
property by government and systematic labor. At
present, jealousy of foreigners makes a residence there
too exciting to be pleasant, and labor is scarce and
uncertain. It is the avowed determination of the
reverend head of this colony, that his people shall
keep themselves separate from Northerners. If any
such should show themselves upon the Ribeira, they
may expect to be driven away, as the Quakers were
once ousted from the sacred soil of New England.

I have already called attention to the progress
which Brazil has made in the cultivation of cotton.
The labor question, however, is as great a difficulty
there as it is in the United States. It is true that sla-

184 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

very still exists in Brazil, giving the native planters a
great advantage. But this is partly balanced by their
lack of skill and energy. A few southern gentlemen,
who have emigrated with money in their pockets,
have bought negroes, and already have large planta
tions in successful operation. But the majority of the
emigrants are too lazy to work, and too proud to beg
for any thing but a passage home.

Soon the pressure of the abolition party in Brazil,
aided by the influence of England and the United
States, will terminate slavery altogether. The shock
upon society will not be so great there as it has been
here, and the absence of distinctions of color will aid
in incorporating the blacks into the body politic.
Abolition will not cause the ultimate extinction of
the inferior race, but the whole agglomerated mass of
mulatto humanity will live together or die together,
as the future may determine.

Labor in Brazil is becoming still more difficult to
be procured, as the country is depopulated by the
hopeless Paraguayan war. This war never would
have been undertaken, had the cost been counted ;
but it is now persevered in through the necessity of
maintaining the national honor. It is already telling
severely upon the vitality of the empire, and is fast
exhausting its financial resources. It was popular
in the outset, when the conquest of Paraguay was

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 185

thought an easy matter. There were some early*
kindlings of genuine patriotism, and the courage of
the Brazilian youth showed itself inferior to none.
But gradually, as the magnitude of the undertaking
became apparent, and the stubbornness of the foe
was experienced, the fire and enthusiasm died out.
Recruiting for each succeeding campaign became
more difficult. The levies are now forced, and the
living material of war is becoming more worthless, as
well as more scarce. The fishermen and the poor
er classes of the seaport towns hide themselves in
the mountains to escape impressment. The motley
crowd of yellow and black vagabonds sent to become
food for the Paraguayans' powder, or for the malaria
of their marshes, excites more contempt than fear.

It may be fairly estimated that less than one half
the money expended is for legitimate purposes ; the
larger part of it going to enrich speculators and pol
iticians. As we are now paying the interest upon a
debt contracted in a somewhat similar manner, we
may sympathize with the Brazilians, who are less
able to afford such luxuries. Heretofore the ex
penses of the government have been met principally
by the custom-house receipts, all other imposts hav
ing been very light. When an internal revenue tax
shall be levied upon the mass of the people, there is
serious reason to apprehend that its enforcement,

1 86 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

added to other disturbing causes already at work, will
bring the government and the constitution into dan
ger. It may be well for those who fear a similar
catastrophe at home to reflect upon this, in consider
ing the advantages and disadvantages of emigration
to Brazil.

NOTE.

The towns of Iguape, Canonea, and Paranagua, which have
been mentioned in this chapter, were founded by the Jesuits,
who established themselves in Brazil soon after its discovery.
The chief evidences of their existence at the present day are
the ruins of old churches and monasteries built by these
zealous missionaries.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Abolition of Slavery in Brazil. — Free Labor a »d Fret
Trade for all the World. — The Slave Trade Twenty
Tears ago. — England's Disinterestedness. — The Necessity
of obtaining Laborers from Africa.

REFERENCE has been made in the preceding
chapter and elsewhere to the system of labor
in Brazil. A further consideration of it is naturally
suggested by the news just received. While the last
pages were in press, we have learned that a project
has been nearly matured for the abolition of slavery
in thirty-three years from this time, and that all
children born after the proclamation shall be free.
The desired end will thus be reached in such a
manner that the community will be better prepared
for it than were the people of our southern states,
and consequently such suffering as has fallen upon
whites and blacks with us will be avoided. Un
doubtedly this action of the Brazilian government
has been incited by England and the United States.
These countries have now only to bring the same
influence to bear upon Spain, and then, be it

1 88 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

advantageous or not to the colonies affected by it, all
nations will be on an equality as regards labor, and
the white man everywhere, as well as the black man,
will have " a fair chance" in this respect. When the
slavery of tariffs and the tyranny of protection are
abolished, another weight will be lifted from the back
of free labor. Then it will arise in all its dignity, and
wherever, on the face of the earth, intellect can nerve
the arm, there will its force and superiority be of right
acknowledged.

As the period of manumission in Brazil is so far
distant, the present cost of labor and production in
that country will not be affected by it ; so that what
has been said upon these points needs no revision.
Even if emancipation had been immediate, it will be
seen that other causes would give Brazil an advantage
over the United States in the cultivation of cotton.
But as slavery is to endure for so many years longer,
whatever economy there is in it is to be added to
these. If, in years past, Brazil had been left to her
self, she would doubtless have continued the importa
tion of slaves in such numbers that, however much it
might have cheapened the cost of her productions, it
would unquestionably have resulted in the extermina
tion of the whites.

It may be excusable, in this connection, to introduce
a view of slavery taken twenty years ago, at a time

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 189

when no hopes were entertained of its speedy death,
either in a natural or in a violent manner. There
have always been various plans of philanthropy afloat
in the world. If this one was somewhat erratic, it
was at least sincere. " The greatest good of the great
est number" is sound republican doctrine; and to
those who regard all races as included in the enumer
ation, this plan ought not to seem very objectionable.
Certain philosophers, however, who pretend to admit
that theory, have taken a very different course of
action from such a one as its natural inferences would
suggest. They seem to have considered that the
best way to civilize the negro and to promote his hap
piness on this continent was speedily to annihilate his
race, even if this desirable result could only be ob
tained by sacrificing half a million of white men.
This costly offering, we all know, was made for the
preservation of the Union ; but there are those ghouls
among us who felicitate themselves that it was for the
realization of their one idea.

On my first voyage to Brazil, in the year 1847, the
following letter formed a part of my correspondence
with the "Boston Journal." The slave trade was, at
that time, carried on in such a barbarous and revolting
manner that any suggestions for its amelioration, even
to legalizing it, did not seem inappropriate. In those
days many of us distrusted the sincerity of England ;

190 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

and this feeling is not yet entirely eradicated from all
minds. It was thought that the British government,
having been compelled by the persistent efforts of
Wilberforce and his associates to abolish slavery in its
own possessions, was urging the same course upon
other nations upon the principle of the fox that had
lost his tail. The sudden change of sentiment, when
lately her own interests were involved, which induced
her to take the part of that section of our country
where slavery existed, fully justifies the opinion of her
time-serving duplicity which we then entertained.

It may be remarked that, when this letter was writ
ten, the author indulged the idea that the African was
capable of self-government, and that he might perhaps
become in all respects the equal of the white man. A
further acquaintance with the race at home and in
Brazil, in the West Indies and in various parts of
their native Africa, has considerably modified this
opinion.

" Rio DE JANEIRO, January, 1847.

" The chief misery of the slaves, after leaving Africa,
consists in their treatment during the voyage. Once
safely landed, who will suppose for a moment that
they are as unhappy here as at home, where they are
born slaves, and made the tools of their savage masters
to fight their battles, and offered up by hundreds at a

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 19!

lime to grace the ceremonies of a feast, or self-sacrificed
on the altars of their own abominable Fetish rites?

" So long as the tide of emigration flows from
Northern Europe to the United States (and thither it
will continue to flow for many years to come), Europe
will not attempt to colonize distant Brazil ; but Africa
will do it, and is already doing so, notwithstanding all
England's hollow-hearted and hypocritical interfer
ence. The doctrine I am about to advocate may seem
strange to many readers ; but wait before you condemn
it. For the sake of humanity, and of eventually civil
izing Africa, rendering its people happy, and spread
ing Christian truth among them, take oft' every restric
tion upon the slave trade between Africa and Brazil ,
for the obstacles thrown in its way render the suffer
ings of the negroes tenfold greater than if the trade
were free. The number annually imported now can
not be ascertained ; but I know that while we were in
Rio (thirty days), four thousand were landed in its
immediate vicinity from five small vessels. We are
not informed how many were landed on other parts of
this extensive coast in the same time. It is scarcely
possible to conceive that one of these vessels of two
hundred tons could have brought one thousand and
five negroes safely, having had on board, probably,
on leaving the coast, about twelve hundred, twenty
per cent, being the usual allowance given to death.

192 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

Who can imagine anything more horrible than their
situation for thirty days, while crossing on the warm
est latitudes of the earth, stowed with the nicest cal
culations of a stevedore in that vessel's hold, living
and dying packed together !

" The slavers are now so closely watched on the
African coast that an owner makes his calculations to
lose one vessel out of three ; and if necessity demands
it, no hesitation is made in throwing overboard cargo
to escape detection ! The consequence is, that the
only requisite quality in a vessel is her sailing, old
ones being generally used in the trade, as subjecting
to less loss when captured. England has the credit
of doing a great deal to stop the trade, from the cir
cumstance that her vessels so strictly watch the slavers.
Well, so they do ; and we see the consequences. But
does she this from motives of humanity? Her people
think so, and so do some of ours. Let us see. She
has now a want of laborers in her colonies. She has
abolished the slave trade. Where, then, shall she get
her slaves, or (if you like a softer name) her appren
tices? By robbing the Brazilian who has paid foi
them, and stealing his vessel, and sending these ne*
groes, with their native land in sight, to be appren
ticed in the WTest India Islands. I have been in St.
Helena, an island but a few days' sail from the Afri
can coast, where five thousand negroes, taken from

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 193

Portuguese slavers (which were broken up or used for
the British navy), were waiting for English vessels to
come and take them away to English colonies —
apprentices! This hypocritical system of slavery is less
defensible than its open practice. These 'apprentices'
are necessarily life-long slaves, for the time never hap
pens to come when, to use a nautical expression, they
have ( worked out their dead horse.' They go on
from year to year increasing their indebtedness to those
who are really, if not nominally, their owners, and only
find freedom in death.

"It is to be hoped that England will yet see her own
interest in doing away with this abominable traffic.
She will then, with a somewhat better claim to speak,
be enabled to lecture Americans upon their c great
national sin.' Even then, it will be well for her to re
member that she introduced slavery amongst us against
our wishes, and refused, when earnestly solicited by the
colonists, to discontinue the traffic.

" I have said that Brazil is destined to be colonized
by Africa, and I think that Brazilians of intelligence
themselves are aware of it. Their country will yet be
peopled and governed by blacks. Then we can intro
duce arts, science, and religion among them on this
healthy continent, while death will always be, as it
has ever been, the doom of the white man who at
tempts to settle in Africa. When this is accomplished,

194 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

the inhabitants will have a commerce of their own
with the opposite coast ; and commerce carries civili
zation with it wherever it goes. First enlightened here,
its influence will be felt across the South Atlantic ;
and that land, impenetrable by us, will have its dark
ness scattered by the sun of righteousness, and its
deserts will blossom as the rose. And this will be
more speedily accomplished if the Brazilian slave
trade is freely allowed.

" By the laws of Brazil, every slave may purchase
his freedom at a fairly appraised value, and the mas
ters are obliged to accept the price. Many negroes
hire their own time, being still fed and clothed by
their owners, leaving, over and above what they pay
them, one half to three quarters of a dollar per diem
for themselves. Thus, in two or three years, they
can, and frequently do, become free.

" Now, open the trade. It will be then thrown into
the hands of others besides the few capitalists, who
only can now afford to run the vessels ; the trade being
made legal, suitable regulations can be enforced, as
with our emigrant ships, in regard to tonnage, water,
and accommodations. Ship-owners will be satisfied
with moderate profits, and the value of negroes will
come down to so small a sum that the slaves can pur
chase their freedom sooner than England's stolen ap-
prenth es can work out theirs. The slave trade will

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 195

be the same, from competition, as emigration now is
from the Azores and Cape de Verds to Brazil, vessels
frequently arriving from those islands with passengers,
who are sold by the captains into slavery (or any
other equivalent term you may substitute) to wor<
until they have earned a sufficient amount to pay their
passages. They are content, for they are soon free,
and happier than they were at home ; and what hard
ships have they there to complain of, compared with
the African in his miserable home !

" Could suitable means be thus devised for the
negro's emigration, and had they knowledge of how
much better their condition would be here, would
they not gladly flock to Brazil upon the same terms as
these less wretched islanders?"

Now, I do not any longer believe in such a grand
missionary programme as this, but I do believe that
Brazil cannot be supplied with labor unless there
shall be a species of coolie trade between that countrv
and Africa, which in many respects will not differ
from the plan proposed. It is with great diffidence*
and with a consciousness of its little weight, that I
record an opinion opposed to that of my learned and
scientific friend, Professor Agassiz, who thinks that
Brazil is a country adapted to white labor. I do not

196 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

believe that this is true, to a considerable extent, in
regard to any country within the tropics.

In the British East Indian possessions there can
scarcely be found a descendant of the third generation
of pure English blood ; and in those regions a white
man never exposes himself to the rays of the sun
unless protected by an umbrella — an inconvenient
encumbrance when occupied with the shovel and the
hoe. Everywhere, in hot climates, Europeans become
enervated and unfit for toil. Brazil will scarcely
form an exception to other countries of the same lati
tudes.

In the more southern provinces, and on the higher
levels, white colonization may succeed ; at least, if
there is nothing but climatic difficulties to oppose it.
Notwithstanding that an unexpected number have
emigrated from our southern states, it is not to be sup
posed that many more will follow their example, now
that they will find labor so difficult to be obtained.
There is an immense area of land on this northern
continent sufficient to attract our attention, and that
of all Europe, before it is time to pour an overplus
into South America. Black labor from the nearest
market is therefore a necessity for Brazil, even if the
result of its importation should eventually be a black
empire.

There is a race of negroes from Minas, a territory

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

197

on the west coast of Africa, differing from all other
blacks. They are of immense frames, and capable
of great endurance. The women are finely formed,
and by the Brazilians are considered beautiful and
charming. Both males and females display a re
markable degree of intelligence. They are very clan
nish, speaking a language among themselves, unintel
ligible to others, and practising the rites of their
Mohammedan faith from one generation to another,
unallured by the tempting ceremonies of the Catholic
church. As slaves, they are valued at more than
double the price of other negroes ; and as freemen,
they are useful citizens, for they will work of their
own accord as no other blacks will do, with regard to
the future. These "Minas" frequently purchase their
freedom, and return to Africa, often coming back
again to Brazil. They sometimes charter vessels for
this purpose, after the manner already described of
the Western Islanders, who, without having been
slaves, have worked out the temporary servitude into
which they are sold by the Portuguese captains.

Therefore, as the want of labor is more and more
felt, it will not be surprising if emigration companies
are organized for the purpose of bringing cargoes of
these people from Africa to Brazil, as Irishmen and
Germans are brought from Europe to America, in
comfortable steamers, at a small expense. Although,

198 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

if due precautions should not be taken, they might,
like Chinese coolies, be sometimes bought, or " Shang
haied," still there would be a great improvement upon
the old system of the slave trade. The Brazilian
government offers no objection to the modified traffic
in white men as carried on by the Portuguese ships,
which are continually bringing emigrants from the
Azores. It would certainly be impolitic to oppose it ;
for these islanders are the most available and useful
white laborers to be obtained, and they are of real
service to the country ; but the supply from this source
is necessarily limited. There must inevitably come a
more pressing demand for immigration. The Para
guayan war has robbed the country of its best free
labor, and thousands of slaves have been manumitted
to become victims for the same sacrifice.

But peace will eventually come ; and then Brazil
will need all the supplies she can obtain for her re
cuperation ; then, with the permission of England,
whose influence is still supreme, she may be allowed
to import apprentices, coolies, emigrants, — call them
by what name you will, — laborers, at any rate, from
Africa, or, more probably, from China.

i99

CHAPTER XXIV.

Plan of Emancipation. — Kindly Relations bet-ween Masters
and Slaves. — Intercession and Forgiveness. — Futitre
Welfare of the Freedmen considered. — Du Chailhi's Es*
timate of the Negro Race. — Conclusion.

THE following extract from the " Diario " (offi
cial organ published in Rio de Janeiro) of
April 9, 1867, furnishes some details of the plan of
emancipation.

"There is no imprudence in revealing to the public all the
facts we have learned on the subject. Our determination is
to enlighten the people as to the events with which they ought
to be familiar, and not to imitate the sad example furnished
us by some who remain silent upon the most important is
sues of the day.

" In our opinion the project which is to form the ground
work of future parliamentary discussion is now elaborated.
Already is a step made which honors the intentions of the
government, and will cause the country to be the object of
the attention and sympathy of the world. The plan to which
we allude has thus far been canvassed to some extent in the
Council of State, where it was indorsed by an almost unani
mous decision.

" The following, as far as we have been able to ascertain,
are the bases of the plan : —

"First. — Slavery shall cease totally in the year 1900, that
is, in thirt>'-three years hence.

"Second. — The state shall indemnify those citizens who
may still own slaves at that period.

200 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

" Third. — From the date of the promulgation of this de
cree, all children born to slaves shall be free.

"Fourth. — Those children who may be educated in the
houses of their parents' masters shall serve them till they
reach their twentieth year, and will then be restored to,
freedom.

" Fifth. — There will be established courts of emancipation in
all the towns to enforce the law and see to its proper execution.

" Sixth. — A fixed amount will be set aside for the emanci
pation of the slaves of the nation, and the same terms will be
agreed upon to effect the liberation of the slaves owned by
religious orders as may be made to purchase the freedom of
those held by the government.

"Seventh. — There will be appropriated a fund for the
annual purchase of a certain number of slaves, so that but
few may be in bondage when the hour of general emancipa
tion is at hand.

" Such are the features of the plan, and after due considera
tion we can promise its originators the esteem of humanity
and the gratitude of the country.

" The opinion of the Brazilian people on the subject of
slavery is already known. All detest the institution in its
principle. Such demonstrations as have come to our knowl
edge prove that all our citizens are in favor of the spirit of the
plan developed in the foregoing summary. It is looked upon
as a skilful and patriotic solution of the great problem that
has long weighed upon the mind of the country.

" Accomplished by these means, emancipation will be
effected in Brazil without creating either a disturbance or a
financial crisis. And if, concurring with the plan set forth
above, the government favors the idea of spontaneous emigra
tion, and furnishes resources to allow of its development on a
large scale, the country will enter into a new era, and settle
its future destinies upon a firm and glorious basis.

" Instead of an immediate revolution, we favor a slow,
gradual, and easy transformation of ideas, habits, and the
mode of labor. It will have been, not a panic, I ut a peace
ful revolution, the salutary reform, regularly perfected, of a
whole nation."

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 2OI

This is certainly a fair and equitable compromise
between the opponents and the advocates of slavery,
and, what is of more importance to humanity, it
makes political ends subservient to the real interests
and welfare of the negro. Whatever opinion we may
hold of the deficiencies and vices of the Brazilians, as
being in many respects in excess of our own, it is the
result of my observation, and I believe that of every
one who has investigated the subject, that they are
generally kind and indulgent masters, treating their
slaves with much greater leniency than has been prac
tised by any other people, among whom the " institu
tion" has existed in modern times.

I can call to mind many touching incidents of the
kind feelings of masters and servants towards each
other. Intercession, even from a stranger, in behalf
of a slave, however much his owner may have been
provoked, is never in vain. On one of our trips from
Paranagua to Santos, several runaway negroes were
put on board, much against my will, by the police,
with a guard who were to deliver them over to their
owner. They had deserted from his service several
months before, and he had been at great trouble and
expense to get possession of them again. After wan
dering hundreds of miles, they had at length been
captured, and, it may be supposed, were now on their
way to meet with severe punishment. They evident
ly anticipated it, for they appeared so dejected that

202 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

our interest and sympathy could not but be excited.
Encouraged by this, they ventured to ask me to speak
to their master in their behalf, when we should arrive.
Upon a promise to do so, they rose from their de
spondency at once, for they were perfectly satisfied
that they would be pardoned.

On hauling in to the wharf at Santos, the master,
a rather ferocious-looking fazendero (planter), was
found waiting for his slaves. As he stepped on
board, I invited him below, and then asked him to
forgive the runaways. The favor was immediately
accorded. He gave me his word upon it, and I know
that he kept his promise. The happy negroes kissed
my hand as they followed him ashore, and we said to
each other, " God be with you ! " I think we all
felt warm under our jackets, and I cannot tell whose
satisfaction was the greatest — that of the master who
had conquered his temper, that of the slaves who
were grateful for forgiveness, or that of one who, at so
little trouble to himself, was able to effect a recon
ciliation.

And now, in the process of freeing themselves from
the reproach which modern civilization has laid upon
slavery, the Brazilians have manifested the same
spirit of kindness to the freedman of the future with
which they have hitherto treated him in his condition
of servitude. Slavery has been so general throughout

TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL. 203

the empire, that no section of it is ignorant of the
character, disposition, and requirements of the negro.
Consequently, there are no zealous bigots there who
have never had the opportunity to inform themselves
regarding these matters. There was a strong anti-
slavery party, but there were few, if any, of its adhe
rents who advocated immediate emancipation. There
were no demagogues who could ride into power upon
such an issue there, nor was there any disposition to
use the freedman as a shuttlecock to be knocked
about by political battledoors.

The temper of the programme, as given by the
uDiario,"is far different from this. There is evi
dently a sincere wish to make the liberated slave a
useful citizen, if possible. The negro is everywhere
among the Brazilians. They understand him thor
oughly, and have no need to go to Africa to learn
what Du Chaillu tells us, and what universal ex
perience confirms as plain, simple truth, divested of
all pseudo-philanthropy and political sentimentalism.

"Whatever may be our sympathy, — primitive man, cr
rather the least gifted tribes of mankind, must disappear
before the higher intellect. This is not a theory, but a fact.
There are many causes to account for the decrease of the
negro. I think everything tends to show that the negro is of
great antiquity, and has remained stationary. The working
of iron, considering the very primitive way they work it, and
how easily they find it, must have been known to them from
the remotest time ; and to them the age of stone and bronze

204 TEN MONTHS IN BRAZIL.

must have been unknown. As to his future capabilities, I
think extreme views have prevailed among us. Some hold
the opinion that the negro will never rise higher than he is ;
others think that he is capable of reaching the highest state
of civilization — in fact, that he will become a white man.
For my own part, I do not agree with either of these opin
ions. I believe the negro may become a more useful member
of mankind than he is at present; that he can be raised to a
higher standard, but that if left to himself he will soon fall
back into barbarism : we have no example to the contrary.
Though a people may be taught the arts and sciences known
by more gifted nations, unless they have the power of progres
sion in themselves, they must inevitably relapse, in the course
of time, into their former state. Of all the uncivilized races
of men, the negro has been found the most tractable and the
most docile, and he possesses excellent qualities that com
pensate a great deal for his bad ones. We ought, therefore,
to be kind to him, and to try to elevate him. That he will,
in the course of time, follow the lower races of men and dis
appear, I have but little doubt." — Du Chailhts Lecture, as
reported in the " New York Tribune."

The ability of Brazil to make good her promises of
compensation to the slaveholders, and to discharge
her other pecuniary obligations, depends very much
upon the results of the struggle in which she is at
present engaged. An expenditure of nearly a hundred
millions of dollars per annum does not offer a pleasant
prospect for the holders of her bonds. They, at least,
will expect to receive their interest, before the holders
of slaves shall be entitled to the proceeds of a second
mortgage of the empire.

205

NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR.

'T'^HE Appendix furnishes a concise summary of the
progress of the Paraguayan War to the period
at which we left the River Plate. The contest has since
dragged its slow length along, with varied and various
successes and disasters, until now it is generally con
sidered to be closed. When, however, the repeated
announcements of this most desirable end, that have
been given with almost monthly regularity, are con
sidered, there may yet remain a reasonable doubt of it.
Reference has been made to the disastrous effects which
the war had produced on Brazil already. These have
since greatly increased, and if there is not an actual as
well as a nominal termination of the strife, the result
must be a speedy depopulation and bankruptcy of the
empire.

It will be seen that, at the commencement of the war,
the national debt was disproportionate to the resources
of the country, which, moreover, could not afford to
lose a single individual from its nroductive industry.

206 NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR.

The principal revenues of Brazil are derived from the
customs; indeed, it would be impossible to collect taxes
from internal and stamp duties, as is done so readily in
the United States. That nation is even now laboring
under the burden of a paper currency, which all its great
resources have not yet been able to redeem. It can
scarcely be expected of Brazil, that she should come
out from a struggle, which has been so disproportionately
severe for her, with a greater ability to meet her debts,
or to return to specie payments. As in the United
States, so in Brazil, the system of labor has been revolu
tionised. In the one case, slavery has been abolished
without reference to the benefit or the injury of the
negro, as a party necessity. In the other, after volun
teers and conscripts were exhausted, the negroes have
been magnanimously freed in many instances, on con
dition of going to Paraguay to be killed. The two
races who have been engaged so long in this unjust
war, were unequally matched in numbers on the one
hand, and in physique on the other. The hordes of
mongrel Brazilians who swarmed upon the River Plate
were met by a people, few but determined, and possessed
of such heroic patriotism as is seldom recorded in the
annals of the world. There is but little of negro blood
in their veins, for they are descended from the pure
Spanish race, which disdained the beastly admixture of
the Portuguese with the blacks, while it added to itself

NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR. 2OJ

the characteristics of patient courage, and, it must be
admitted, of savage cruelty that belong to the Indians.
From the time when independence of the Spanish
yoke was so easily accomplished, in 1811, Paraguay
has been the most peaceable of all the countries upon
the South American continent. It has been nominally
a Republic, though always spoken of as a Despotism.
But whatever the extent of liberty which its people en
joyed under Francia and Lopez I. and II., they did not
disturb the liberties of others. The great aim of their
rulers seems to have been isolation from the rest of the
world. Unfashionable as this doctrine is at the present
day, determined as we are that it shall be abandoned by
China and Japan, it had made Paraguay prosperous and
contented. Our opinion of the character of Lopez is
at variance with that which has been so generally
accorded to him. It is true, that we had not the means
of judging from personal intercourse; but among all the
Paraguayan prisoners we met at the River Plate, and
of those we transported to Brazil, there was not a
single one who did not speak of him with esteem, and
even affection. It is impossible that a man who could
thus succeed in winning the hearts of his people, so
that every man and every woman among them was will
ing to die for the cause in which they were engaged,
could be so brutal and unworthy, in all respects, as
he is represented by his enemies. Such a tyrant could

208 NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR.

not have lived in the midst of thousands of people, who
are supposed to have been his cringing slaves — such
slaves who formed a nation of heroes !

A glance at the map will shew the position of Para
guay, Brazil, the Argentine Republic, and that of the
Banda Oriental or Uruguay, which three last mentioned
were united in the war against the first. It will be
more difficult to explain, to the satisfaction of all, the
cause of the contest; but it may be summed up, on the
part of Brazil, in the late convenient and widely used
term of a "political necessity." The south-western,
and the richest province of that empire, is Matto Grosso.
It is so difficult of access from Rio de Janeiro, that a
person on horseback cannot conveniently perform the
journey in a month, and the transportation of mer
chandise by land cannot be accomplished without a
difficulty amounting almost to an impossibility. Con
sequently, the whole trade has been carried on over the
waters of the River Plate, and its tributaries, the Parana
and the Paraguay, which latter passes through the
country of the same name.

Complying with the duties and exactions for transit
imposed upon them, the Brazilians had heretofore man
aged to carry on their trade with no slight inconveni
ence. Latterly, as their power increased, their arro
gance and acquisitiveness augmented in proportion,
until it appeared a very natural idea that Paraguay

NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR. 2OQ

should be added to their territory, or at least should
so be disposed of that it should offer no obstacle to her
commerce. In order to carry out this project, it was
necessary that an alliance should be formed with the
other Republics, so that Buenos Ayres and Uruguay
should aid the ambitious designs of Brazil, rather than
unite against her, as they had done in times past. Cir
cumstances favoured Brazil in bringing about this result.
In 1864 there happened to be a great deal of ill feeling
between Buenos Ayres and Paraguay, which was in
sidiously encouraged, for her own purposes, by Brazil.
In Monte Video, the capital of Uruguay, there had
recently been an election, in which General Flores and
his party were defeated. The proper combinations
having been made, a Brazilian merchant steamer, the
" Marquis of Olinda," with a governor of " Matto
Grosso" on board, infringed the Paraguayan laws, and
was accordingly seized. This, excepting some minor
provocations on both sides, was the main casus belli.
Buenos Ayres joined in, according to agreement, and
a Brazilian fleet gave Monte Video the chance of being
bombarded, or of receiving Flores for its president, and
joining the alliance against Paraguay. Monte Video
had no other resource but to submit, and that, perhaps,
not very unwillingly. For in her case, as well as in
that of Buenos Ayres, the war was likely to prove, as
it did prove, a profitable speculation.

2IO NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR.

By the implied terms of the treaty, Brazil was to
furnish all the ships and money, and the great propor
tion of the men, and as both these cities became entrepots
for all sorts of stores, and as they were called upon to
furnish provisions at remunerative prices, immense
wealth poured into them, and they could well afford to
risk their blood, none of which was needlessly spilt.
If Brazil had invested one-half the treasure she squan
dered to enrich these mercenary allies, in constructing
a railroad to Matto Grosso from her capital, she would
have saved for herself her money and the lives of a
hundred thousand of her people, which, like the cash,
she could not well afford to lose. She would, more
over, have saved her good name, and the danger in
which she now is, in her impoverished state, of being
preyed upon by her late friends.

In the meantime, Urquiza, the governor of Entre
Rios, a part of the Argentine Confederation, had pro
mised his adhesion to the tripartite treaty. But his
admirable tactics enabled him to avoid righting alto
gether, and to . sell horses, cattle, and produce, to the
belligerents, to such an extent that his country pros
pered exceedingly. The results of the war may thus
be summed up: Brazil, wretchedly impoverished, but
with the object gained of a free passage to Matto
Grosso; Paraguay, with its population nearly exter
minated, but the remainder unsubdued, and ready, at

NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR. 211

any moment, on the withdrawal of the enemy's forces,
to reinstate their cherished leader; the Argentine and
Uruguay Republics, richer and stronger than ever.
They are not sufficiently grateful to Brazil for the
money she has spent among them, to allow her to
annex Paraguay. It may safely be predicted that the
last condition of the Brazilian Empire will be worse
than the first, and that ere long the four Republics
will unite to keep her commerce out of their waters
entirely; so that Matto Grosso, if it does not become
a conquest of Paraguay, must be approached, as has
been already indicated, by a railway, to connect it with
the sea coast.

From all the evil of war ultimate good will be
educed for [he great dominating race of the world.
The ways of Providence, though inscrutable in their
justice, are evident in their designs. Before the Anglo-
Saxon the Indian of North and South America daily
retreats, and in New Holland and New Zealand the
savage is disappearing. Africa remains the home of
the negro, where he is supposed to roam " free in his
native wilds," subject only to be captured and sacri
ficed to gratify the cruelty of his chiefs. Climate is an
insuperable obstacle to prevent us from exterminating
the natives of these benighted lands, where neither
sword nor gospel can penetrate. There, at least, until
some great revulsion of climate arrives, will they exist,

212 NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR.

as their ancestors existed thousands of years ago, unim
proved and unimproving. All experience teaches that
they cannot compete in the battle of life on equal terms
with white men ; and, therefore, it is a truth, however
unpalatable, that if they must exist among us, it must
be as dependents of some sort, if not as absolute slaves.
In the United States, where they increased more than
a thousand per cent, in that condition, from the settle
ment of the country to the commencement of the civil
war, they have since lost one-fifth of their number ;
and the Chinese emigration, soon to supply with willing
laborers the places of the blacks, who will not work,
will ere long doom the remainder to destruction.

In Brazil, as has elsewhere been remarked, the hy
brids, chiefly composing the population, are an unnatural
effete people who cannot long maintain their ground
before advancing civilization ; and in the Southern
Republics lately engaged in the war, the descendants of
the Spaniards, although immeasurably superior to the
Portuguese half-castes composing the population of
their ally and enemy, are entirely dependent upon
Englishmen and Americans for all that adds refinement
to their lives, and for all that gives the semblance of
progress to their nationalities. There is progress
among them, but it is for the ultimate benefit of their
successors. We have paved and lighted their streets,
covered their rivers with steamers, and opened up

NOTES ON THE PARAGUAYAN WAR. 213

their country with railways, one of which, under the
indefatigable energy of Wheelwright, is now stretching
itself farther and farther, until it will reach and sur
mount the Andes, bringing the rich Pampas, with their
flocks, herds, and produce, to the reach of the indus
trious emigrants who are already populating them.
All this the great Anglo-Saxon race is doing, not for
the benefit of South America, but for the occupancy
of their own children, who, when all these Canaanites
shall have disappeared, will enter in and possess the
land.

APPENDIX.

THE MILITARY PROBLEM ON THE LA PLATA.

THE great war of the allies in South America, having for
its direct object the overthrow of Paraguay, still con
tinues. Of the Uruguay contingent of two thousand, not a
man remains. Five thousand out of the thirteen thousand
kept in the field by the Argentine Republic have lately been
absent, and at San Luis have just given the finishing blow to
one of those internal gaucho revolutions which are periodi
cally waged against the urban power of the republic. The
Brazilians, numbering thirty-two thousand, are patiently
awaiting the return of the Argentine troops, and the attack
of a column of eight thousand men, under Osorio, who are
slowly working their way across the almost impassable wilds
from Rio Janeiro to the eastern Paraguay boundary. It is
evident that the allies are gathering their forces for a final
blow, and we believe if Paraguay stands firm under the assault
she has nothing more to fear.

At the opening of the contest General Mitre declared it
would be a " paseo militar," and that it would take but three
months to reach Asuncion. The Brazilians were no less san
guine. The expression of these ideas indicated a great lack
of military talent on the part of the allied generals ; for they
were to assail a country which occupies an almost impregna
ble position relative to the nations around it. East, west, and
south are streams that will float a frigate, while the northern
boundary is a vast and impenetrable jungle, frequently over
flowed by the freshets of the Paraguay and Parana Rivers.

(215)

21 6 APPENDIX.

The bordering territory, both east and west, is a virgin wild,
while the southern Paraguay margin, selected by the allies as
the vulnerable point, is a swamp whose deadly malaria keeps
their hospitals filled with men, who rarely rejoin their regi
ments.

The internal elements possessed by Paraguay for defence
were scarcely inferior to the external ones which nature has
conferred upon her. Up to 1810, the foreign and native ele
ment had been mingling, until the result was a compact and
homogeneous people ; and the war which the desperadoes
from the Rio Grande province of Brazil had waged against
them had given them a desperate schooling, and conferred a
warlike nature upon the present generation. Francia ruled
from 1813 to 1840, and was followed by a still ruder despot,
Carlos Antonio Lopez, who for a score of years fastened
firmly the despotism in which Francia had trained the people.
At the death of Lopez, his son, the present ruler, came into
power. He found ready at hand a compact nationality, which
had never known any but the channels which a half century
of despotism had carved out for it. Foreseeing the present
struggle, he mobilized the nation, built workshops, founde-
ries, powder-mills, railroads, fortifications, brought the skilled
workmen and science of Europe to his aid, and made the vast
military camp of Paraguay a warlike unit. The country itself
is filled with almost sufficient natural productions to support
life, where the people are so simple in their wants and habits.
Thus the Paraguayan camp of seventy thousand square miles,
containing five hundred thousand inhabitants, was a formi
dable adversary to attack, especially if we consider that there
is but one vulnerable point in its geographical position — a
point which, up to this time, the allies have failed to approach.

Against all this the allies could bring no proportionate
strength. The overgrown jungle, called Brazil, making war
on a water line of over two thousand miles in length, has
been forced to strain its young nerves almost to the breaking.
The Argentine Republic was already exhausted in her civil
contests, and Uruguay had been so depopulated in her wars
that her first effort to maintain a small force in the field was

APPENDIX. 217

also her last. Both- the Argentine Republic and Uruguay also
had to wage war at an immense distance from their base —
nearly twelve hundred miles.

The financial condition of the combatants scarcely varied
from the condition of the other elements of the problem.
Paraguay, at the outbreak of the war, had a general revenue
of $3.750,000; yerba monopoly, $3,000,000; tithes and land
rents, $1,950,000; making a total revenue of $8,700,000. The
floating debt of paper currency was $2,000,000, and of ex
ternal debts she had none. Her accumulated wealth was
immense for so small a state, and immediately available for
war purposes.

On the part of the Argentine Confederation, Buenos Ayres
had to furnish nearly all the cash that came from the republic,
however little in amount. Buenos Ayres had before the war
a home and foreign debt of about $29,000,000, while her reve
nues, balanced by her expenditures, were about $7,000,000.
At the outbreak of the contest, the currency of the Bank of
Buenos Ayres, which had originally been issued at $17 paper
to the gold ounce, had already depreciated to $425 per ounce.

Uruguay was even too poor to give a decent outfit to her
contingents. The state was already loaded with mountains
of debt, which had been piled one on the other during her
civil wars. From her, therefore, the allies could expect only
what they received — nothing.

Nearly the whole allied force, then, was to draw on the
Brazilian purse ; from her were to come the immense expen
ditures necessary to carry on war at such a distance, and
under such adverse circumstances ; but even before the war
she was heavily loaded with a debt of about $125,000,000; and
to this she has added, up to the beginning of the present cam
paign, some $200,000,000 more. To all this she will add at
least $50,000,000 before she gets out of this Paraguay trap ;
and when peace comes she will find that $375,000,000 is a
very rude strain upon her resources — so rude, indeed, that
it is doubtful if her revenues can pay the interest upon the
amount.

Paraguay then was, as she still is, the superior in point of

2l8 APPENDIX.

finances. To maintain one soldier in the field, it costs her
twenty per cent, of what it costs the allies, especially the Bra
zilians. It appears, then, that internally, financially, geo
graphically, and in point of topographical barriers, Paraguay
was and is a compact unit of force difficult to assail.

The first combats of Tuyuti and Curuzu, on Paraguayan
soil, taught the allied army that it had rough work before it.
Curupaity, a very inferior fortification, and a mere outwork,
has long held them in check; this taken, they will find their
labors just commenced; and at Humaita wild work awaits
them. The vast swamp into which the allied troops have
been foolishly thrown is margined by a series of formidable
earthworks, and they are attacking Paraguay where she is the
best defended by art and nature. The only vulnerable quarter
which might have given hope of success was the north-west,
which was and is undefended and open to attack from the
Gran Chaco of the Argentine Republic. Moreover, one of the
parties most interested in the removal of the Paraguayan
stumbling-block is Bolivia. Had she been properly ap
proached by the allies at the outset, a Bolivian contingent
of ten thousand men would have settled the question long
since. It is now too late ; Bolivia is enriching herself in a
very profitable trade of war supplies, which she is constantly
pouring into Paraguay, and which assist in reducing all her
neighbors to her level.

It looks as if the allies were waging a contest that long
since became hopeless. The quicker they close the war by
treaty, the better; for the unnatural alliance between the
Argentine Republic and Brazil, were their efforts successful,
would result in an immediate war between them for the
spoils, which both consider necessary to their territorial
aggrandizement and future progress.

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