# The Knickerbocker/Volume 64/Number 5/Brazil and Brazilian Society

←Chapters 8 & 9
Brazil and Brazilian Society
Originally appeared in French as "Le Brésil et la Société brésilienne," in Revue des Deux Mondes, 2e période, tome 46 (July 1863)
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BRAZIL AND BRAZILIAN SOCIETY.
TRANSLATED FROM THE REVUE DES DEUX MONDES, BY ASHER HALL.
CHAPTER TENTH.
RIO JANEIRO.
I had heard the imposing beauty of the roadstead of Rio Janeiro much vaunted; but accustomed by long experience to find, in most cases, the reality in perfect contrast with the pompous descriptions of travellers, I did not set much value upon the wonderful spectacle which had everywhere been promised me, At length I entered the roadstead on one of those bright mornings of the tropics, and, for the first time, perhaps, I found the picture excelled the description—so impossible is it for the exaggerations of man to contend against the exaggerations of nature. Imagine an immense basin, surrounded on all sides by a girdle of granitic mountains, covered with the richest vegetation ever dreamed of by man, and you will form a faint idea of the roadstead of Rio Janeiro, It must be added, however, that there is another roadstead still more beautiful, more grand, more majestic, namely, the roadstead of San Francisco.
In spite of the yellow fever, which, for the past few years, has established its quarters here, Rio Janeiro is the first city of South-America, both in commerce and population. Itis to this point that almost the entire current of European emigration converges. Hence, the traveller finds himself jostled every moment by French, Germans, and Italians, I have been assured that the number of the former reached ten thousand, I think these figures exaggerated; but I can affirm that there are whole streets where nothing but French is spoken. It is here that are found those luxurious stores that give birth to all the requirements of the most refined civilization, and especially that retail trade in novelties in which the Parisian excels, Every branch of industry requiring taste and skill seems to fall exclusively to his lot. Clothing is the specialty of the Germans. The large commercial houses are kept by Portuguese. The Italians, as usual, reserve to themselves the departments of plaster images, hand-organs, and vermicelli.
Before this ever-increasing influx of foreigners, there is no custom, however inveterate, that does not finally get broken in upon; consequently the old Portuguese peculiarities tend more and more to disappear. Gas has begun to take the place of oil-lamps, and the urubus are relieved of a part of their work; unpaved streets are becoming more and more rare; here and there sidewalks are observable—of scanty proportions, it is true, for the circumstances will not admit of much width. As in all towns in warm countries, the streets are narrow, and it is an object to exclude the sun as much as possible. This sometimes gives rise to grave inconveniences, During the summer solstice, when avalanches of water come down into the city, the streets are changed into brooks, and the lower rooms are often invaded. Though this rain-water is far from being cold, it is necessary to avoid it. A German, who took a fancy to bathe in a stream that a rain had improvised before his door, having entered a venda, before changing his clothes, to relate his emotions, which reminded him of old Germany, was seized with chills on the following night, and expired the next day a victim of yellow fever.
UNHEALTHINESS OF THE CITY.
Will all the efforts that are being made to render the city healthy diminish the figures of mortality? I am afraid ​not. The belt of mountains that encircles the city forms a cup, as it were, at the bottom of which the sun's action is added to the humid emanations of earth and sea. Besides, ever since the yellow fever visited the eastern coast, there seem to have remained germs of disease, which, according to the old inhabitants, did not exist previous to the advent of that terrible malady, and which cause fearful ravages among the unacclimated. I will first mention pulmonary phthisis, or consumption, which alone, according to the records of the Rio Janeiro hospitals, carries off a fifth part of the patients. The greater part of these are persons between twenty and thirty years of age, particularly among the Portuguese. Emigration affords us a key to the phenomenon. It is at this age that the emigrant leaves his country to seek a fortune elsewhere; and Portugal sends the largest number of emigrants to Brazil. Some physicians attribute the predominance of this disease to the pressure of the liver upon the lungs. Every one knows that the liver acquires immense volume under the influence of warm, moist climates. Without rejecting this explanation, I think the principal cause may be found in the imprudences too often committed by strangers at nightfall. The first hours of the night are fearful under the tropics. The sky being serene, the ground quickly cools, and sometimes the thermometer descends from one hundred to fifty degrees Fahrenheit. The effluvia that had risen into the atmosphere during the day rapidly descend and poison those who are so imprudent as to expose themselves.
YELLOW FEVER.
As for the yellow fever, it may be said its appearance is now only an accident; and of every three cases of the disease, there is generally but one that proves fatal, and that most frequently belongs to a person of the laboring class. A want of cleanliness, the poor food, and the imprudence of the laboring population explain this result. It is most liable to attack Europeans, especially Portuguese, and most frequently expends its violence on young persons from fifteen to thirty years of age. We have given an explanation of this fact above, Below we give a list showing the nationality of those who died of yellow fever at Rio Janeiro from December first, 1856, to the thirty-first of May, 1857. By this table a pretty correct idea may be formed of the relative number of emigrants sent to Brazil by the different nations of Europe:
It is seen that the Portuguese form more than half the whole number, the French one tenth, and the Brazilians only one seventeenth. Five sixths of the number are young people. The number of females is only one hundred and thirty-four. The small number of female emigrants and the sedentary life of the Brazilians explain these numbers, The most dreaded month is March, either because the atmosphere is no longer purified by the electrical discharges that daily shot through the air in the preceding months, or because the miasmas brought on by the rainy season then reach their highest development. It may be added that the yellow fever only visits the towns upon the sea-shore, and does not attack the negroes, It has its principal seat in the stomach, and manifests itself by headache and intense heat. Cholera, on the contrary, which by many is confounded with this disease, breaks out either on the coast or in the interior. It selects negroes for its victims in preference to whites, has its seat in the intestines, and its special characteristic is the coldness of the nervous centres. The first thing to be done in both cases is to try to restore perspiration. Infallible remedies are not wanting. Every body ​has his own. I knew a mascate, or peddler, who, not being very successful in disposing of his wares, one day improvised one of these heroic potions, and having provided himself with half a dozen certificates signed by Brazilian doctors, set out for Europe, expecting to obtain 'the cross.'
Without regard to these occasional epidemics, however, it must be observed that Europeans, and especially those lately arrived, have to keep constantly on their guard, if they would not become victims to one of those terrible maladies which the earth, the sun, the atmosphere, and moisture seem to rival each other in engendering. On my departure for southern lands, I only saw upon the ship's deck young men with cheerful faces, full of life and vigor. On my return to Europe, I found many women clad in black, They were widows, and told me their misfortunes. Pneumonia, malignant fevers, and violent enteritis, caused by sudden chills or imprudent exposure, were the burden of their story. All their husbands had been laborers, and it is hard for these brave fellows to persuade themselves, in the ardor of their work, that they are in a country that is ungrateful to the artisan. This mortality contrasts painfully with the invariable health of the quiet fazendeiros, who, in their opulent dwellings, have nothing to fear from rain, sun, or fatigue.
ATTRACTIONS OF THE CITY—THE MUSEUM AND BOTANICAL GARDENS.
Once at Rio Janeiro, one is inclined to forget the unpleasant influences of the climate. The city presents aspects that cause the traveller to forget the new country in which he finds himself, and remind him of the monumental wealth of European cities. It is true one sees few monuments in Brazilian cities. The conquistadores were soldiers of fortune and not artists, and the pursuit of gold and slaves absorbed all their attention. Nevertheless, there is at Rio an aqueduct that would compare with those left behind by the Romans, and a hospital that would be no discredit to London or Paris. Two other establishments also deserve attention—the Museum and the Botanical Gardens. Many of the European capitals might covet the Museum; yet it is far from representing the wealth of the country, or satisfying the curiosity of strangers. It is not an easy matter to make a complete collection of the arms, the costumes and ornaments, and the various utensils used by the Indian tribes before the arrival of the Portuguese; nor of specimens of all the wild animals that people the American forests, and samples of the different varieties of diamonds and precious stones, gold-bearing quartza and other minerals contained in the dl of this immense empire. It may be added that the founder of the Museum is the Baron d'Uba, whose name is so dear to the savans and artists who have visited the country.
The establishment of the Botanical Gardens is due to the King Dom João VI. of Portugal. That unlucky prince sought to beguile the hours of his long exile in superintending and promoting the progress of this magnificent establishment, situated a short distance from the city. An omnibus runs regularly between the two points. The entrance is imposing, and fully accords with the majestic forests that surround it. It is formed by an immense alley, bordered with gigantic palms, whose branches seem to raise their thick fan-like foliage and clusters of fruit into the very clouds, In the side-alleys are found all the plants of the tropics remarkable for their beauty or the products obtained from them—camellias, tea shrubs, cacao trees, pears, nutmegs, vanillas, cinchonas, bananas, cocoas, llianas, orchids, etc. Some trees bear fruit of extraordinary size. It is fortunate that La Fontaine did not know of this garden. If he had seen the enormous cocoa-nuts, and calabashes still more gigantic, proudly swinging in the air in response to the fresh ocean breeze, and threatening the heads of the promenaders, Garo could ​not have made his philosophical reflections upon the acorn, and we should have been deprived of one of the most charming fables of the immortal story-teller.
THE EMPEROR.
The palace of the Emperor presents the aspect of a barracks or a hospital. Such, at least, is the effect it produces on strangers who do not know its character. It is the ancient residence of the Viceroys of Rio Janeiro, and the royal family remain there only a small portion of the time. They pass the summer in the charming villa of Petropolis, situated on the hills that surround the bay; and in winter, in the magnificent residence at St. Christopher, a short distance from the capital. The Emperor visits the city only upon important occasions. He is a man of large figure and very fine appearance. He is German on his mother's side, who was an Austrian archduchess, and there is nothing in his physiognomy that indicates his Portuguese origin; form, features, and manners all announce a Germanic nature. His broad, high forehead bespeaks great intelligence, and his mill eye a sincere and generous heart. His tastes are those of a savant. A Latin library, which he daily enriches with the best works in French, English, and German, forms his principal and favorite distraction. Letters and the sciences are equally familiar to him, All foreigners who visit him are unanimous in acknowledging his great learning and superior intellect. It is a noteworthy fact that in Europe it is not generally princes, who take the lead in progress. In the New World, if a revolution breaks out, it is because the ruler advances too rapidly, and the country refuse to keep pace with him.
THE PRESS.
It is not uninteresting, in this conneection, to cast an eye upon the Brazilian press, When the first insurrection broke out at Pernambuco, in 1817, it was necessary to have recourse to the French and English soldiers in the harbor in order to get the proclamations printed, Since then, it would seem, the Brazilians have made up for lost time, for at the present day the Brazilian newspapers exceed in size many of the journals of the continent. Unfortunately, however, whoever glances over one of these sheets is soon compelled to see that he is amid an infant society, whose elements have not yet been regularly classified. The Diario, or daily, besides an account of the sittings of the Congress, contains little but insignificant correspondence, pieces of verse, etc., and a mass of advertisements of all kinds, which the skilfully graduated rates place within the reach of every purse. If it is desired to give prominence to a leilão (auction) or to a newly-established depot of the fashions, the advertisement is surrounded with a border, printed in large type, surmounted with an immense attencão! (attention!) If the advertisement comes from the domain of shop-keepers and merchants, an attencão alone does not suffice; recourse is had to the superlative muita attencão! (particular attention!) with a flowered border, Upon important occasions, borders, large type, and the attencão are abandoned, and lithography is resorted to. In fact, nothing is so effective to seduce the reader as to speak to his eyes. If he sees a villa surrounded by palm trees, he knows that a country-seat is for sale. If he wishes to replenish his stables, he glances at the third page to see if some horse or mule is not pawing the ground in impatience for a purchaser, The last columns, and the most numerous of all, are consecrated to the purchase and sale of negroes. Thus the same journals that, as. M. Ribeyrolles forcibly expresses it, 'sometimes lament upon their first page over the sacred misfortunes of Poland and Italy,' end by advertisements addressed to slave-dealers.
EDUCATION.
Several attempts have been made to establish French journals at Rio Janeiro, ​and even at Petropolis, the summer residence of the court and the wealthy denizens of the capital; but there is a serious obstacle to the success of these journals; it is impossible for them to approach questions of general interest. In Brazil, all discussion soon degenerates into personal debate. The true remedy for such a state of things, would be a better system of education, which is lamentably deficient. If Rio Janeiro, Bahia, Pernambuco, and São Paolo have for some years had schools of law and medicine, it must on the other hand be confessed, that the population of the interior are victims of the most deplorable ignorance. The fault, to speak the truth, is not altogether that of the inhabitants. Previous to their independence, it was to a certain extent forbidden them to instruct themselves in their native land, The young people whe desired to obtain an education were compelled to cross the sea and obtain their degrees at Coïmbra, This condition of affairs has left sad traces among Brazilian families, that were in the very best position for introducing new customs into the country. If you ask a fazendeiro if he is not going to improve his son's mind by instruction, he will frankly tell you that in order to plant coffee and make sugar, his children have no need to know more than himself. Hence, scarcely any, except the few families that frequent the court, or a small number of the wealthy merchants of large towns, consent to send their sons to Europe.
BRAZILIAN APATHY.
In the early part of my stay at Rio Janeiro, I thought the example of the French would cause the Brazilians to wake out of their apathy, and give them the taste of exterior life. I was not long in becoming disabused. The Brazilian takes his siesta, smokes or plays in his rooms, The theatre might be a place of , but originality is here absolutely wanting. The pieces are nearly all taken from the French repertory, and most of the artists come from Paris.
A MILITARY REVIEW.
The Brazilians have no peculiar feature except the processions and public ceremonies. I select for an example a review of the national guard, On the seventh of September, 1859, the anniversary of independence, every body was in line at Rio Janeiro when I arrived, and things all passed off very well, with the exception of the bursting of a piece of artillery. Nobody, however, seemed to be surprised, as if these little accidents were only a part of the programme. The whites, much more numerous than at Bahia, bore themselves irreproachably, It is impossible to say as much of most of the mulattoes and free blacks. Behind the ranks followed a troop of negroes whom I at first took for simple spectators, I soon saw that their presence was due to another cause. When the signal to break ranks was given, each of these blacks approached his master in uniform, who handed him his musket, sabre, cartridge-box, cap, etc. A number of the mulattoes and negroes even took off their shoes, Those who had no slaves requested their more fortunate friends to lend them the shoulders of their servants, and the poor Africans were soon bending under the weight of half a dozen equipments each, As for the brave defenders of the nation, thus relieved, they went to rest from their fatigues in the neighboring vendas, where they told over the exploits of the morning, interrupting themselves from time to time to sing a patriotic song.
MILITARY ELEMENTS—GARIBALDI.
The Brazilian is no soldier. It cannot be said, however, that military elements are wanting in this immense empire. Far from it. If you continue ​southward, you will soon encounter the sturdy people of Saint Paul, Saint Catharine, and Rio Grande do Sul, who rival the terrible Gauchos of the Banda Oriental, and who may be considered the finest horsemen in the world. It was in this rude school that Garibaldi commenced his career. I saw a letter from the celebrated General, addressed to one of his old companions in arms, in which he regretted not having at his disposal a squadron of those centaurs of the wilderness to break the ranks of the Austrians.
CHAPTER ELEVENTH.
FUTURE PROSPECTS.
One cannot remain long in Rio with- out being led to reflect upon the politi- cal and social future of the empire, of which this great city is to be the civilizing centre. Don Pedro I. gave Brazil a constitution strongly marked with the progressive spirit of the age, and which would insure the prosperity of the empire, if it were possible to rely upon the energy of the officials charged with administering the law. Unfortunately, in so vast an empire, without roads, and covered with impenetrable forests, strict government is almost impossible. On the other hand, among a mixture of races so different, a very high order of social habits cannot be expected. The towns upon the coast, constantly vivified by European contact, present every appearance of civilization. An attentive eye can nevertheless detect through this exterior the signs of deep depravity. Looseness of manners seem so natural to the country, that the Creoles themselves confess the fault, and attribute it to the influence of the climate. Travellers repeat this excuse, and to-day, in the eyes of the respectable world, the warm climate of the equator is the cause of all irregularities of conduct between the tropics. These two facile conclusions ought to be rejected, Far from provoking the development of the passions, the extreme heat would rather tend to moderate them.
LICENTIOUSNESS.
The principal cause of the licentious character of South-American life has always seemed to me to lie in the system of slavery. What, in fact, is likely to happen with an opulent man, whose prejudices of caste keep him from every occupation, surrounded by a seraglio of two or three hundred negresses or women of color? Shamelessness attains its extreme limits on the plantations of the interior, where, the slave being accounted only as an animal, the Creole has no one to recall him to a sense of human dignity. Such examples naturally bear their fruit. The negro, proud of imitating the white man’s vices, exceeds him in them, and transmits them to his children, of whom he is the only preceptor. The abhorrence of labor, and the scorn that would be visited upon one who descended to such an occupation, is the first lesson, and we might say the only one the Brazilian is taught from the time he leaves the cradle. The consequences may easily be imagined. The slave will work only under the rod of the feitor, As for the freedmen, who wish to enjoy the privileges of the whites, they give themselves up to the most deplorable idleness.
EXAMPLES OF LAZINESS AND PRIDE.
A French traveller tells of a negro whom he had in his service, and whom, being slightly unwell, he released from all duty, directing him to take some medicine. In the evening, upon inquiring as to the effects of the remedy, the sick man gravely replied that he was unable to follow his prescription, as the Indian Firmiano, who acted as servant to the caravan, had not been to the rancho, and he therefore could get no water. A small stream ran directly before the door.
I regarded this anecdote as the best illustration of the prevalent disposition to idleness; but it was afterward my fortune to witness an instance no less singular. A negress who had just received her freedom, once chanced to be ​with us under the veranda of her former master. She was sitting upon her heels, waiting for her meal of feijão. A dog a little to her left annoying us with his whining, the fazendeiro asked her to turn it out.
'Si, senhor,' she answered, rising, and turning to her right, she started, to my astonishment, toward the room where the negro servants were. Thinking she had misunderstood the request, I stepped to the dog, and with a kick, sent him away. The fazendeiro, who was used to the subtleties of the negro code, did not seem at all disturbed at seeing the freedwoman move away from the animal. A moment after, the negress returned, followed by two assistants of her own color, Not seeing the dog, they supposed it had left of its own will, and all three returned to their places with the air of having done their duty.
FEUDAL CUSTOMS—PATRONAGE.
In spite of the constitution of Don Pedro I., and notwithstanding the efforts of enlightened minds, one meets at every step with some old feudal custom imported by the conquistadores. As in ancient Rome, every citizen of the lower classes attaches himself to a wealthy person who can aid him in misfortune, and protect him in the troubles that occasionally happen between him and the law. Prudent parents often choose a patron for their children in advance, by selecting him for their godfather, This title is obligatory, and there is not an instance of a Brazilian ever having refused such an honor, in view of the responsibility it entails. Such, however, are the deviations of human prudence, that this custom, so moral in its principle, since it has no other object than that of placing the weak under the protection of the strong, often degenerates into scandalous abuse and crying injustice. If the protector is a person of some importance, his wishes are above the law, and his recommendation assures impunity to the malefactor. Justice, being powerless, has then only to shut her eyes and allow things to proceed.
A MAUGIHTY OLD MAN—A MALEFACTOR SET FREE.
A few years ago, an inhabitant of Rio Janeiro rendered himself culpable for some crime which I do not now recollect. The charge was a grave one, and condemnation inevitable. There remained for the criminal only one means of escaping cither the gallows or the prison, and that was to obtain the influence of some powerful protector. Recollecting that the judge's grandfather was his godfather, he sent his wife to inform him of his situation.
'Tell my godson to be more careful hereafter, and that he shall be released to-morrow,’ answered the old man without hesitation; and taking his umbrella, he proceeded to visit his grandson. The request of an old man is not a prayer, but a command; as he had said, the request, exorbitant as it was, encountered no opposition. Great, then, was his surprise when, two days afterward, the woman came and told him her husband was still in prison. Without allowing her time to finish her story, he left the Two days afterward the judge was astonished to see his house visited by the notabilities of the city, dressed in full mourning. They had come, upon letters of invitation, to be present at his funeral. The master of the house was stupefied with surprise, and the wonder of the funeral guests was no less great, However, after a few words of explanation, and the establishment of his identity, the judge easily got rid of his visitors, making some apologies for a mystery of which he was himself the principal victim. He resolved to find out the authors of the trick, and bring them to punishment; but his efforts were useless. After all sorts of conjectures, he at last recollected the request of his grandfather, and his own forgetfulness, and thinking he now had a clue to the matter, he set out for his residence, He found him sitting in an easy-chair, ​with a charuto or cigar in his mouth, quietly waiting for his dinner.
'Good-day, grandfather,' said he.
The old man gazed at him without making any reply.
'I came to ask you, with all possible respect, if it was not by your direction that letters were sent a few days since to all my acquaintances, asking them to assist at my funeral?'
'Ah, jilho du ———!' instantly replied the irascible old man, 'you at last remember me! Are you not aware that a child who forgets his duty no longer exists to his parents? I will teach you good manners!' And seizing his cane, he darted at the unfortunate judge, who, anticipating some hostile demonstration, had not left the neighborhood of the door. The same day the criminal was set at liberty.
THE LAW OF THE WILDERNESS.
In the interior, justice is administered in a still more expeditious manner, Every one there acts for himself. If he has a personal affair to settle with one of his neighbors, he conceals himself near the road by which his adversary is to pass, sends a ball through him as soon as he gets within easy range, and returns to his cabin as quietly as though he had shot an armadillo, The urubus soon cause all trace of the crime to disappear, by picking the victim to pieces and scattering his bones. It sometimes happens that the dead man has relatives or friends who determine to avenge him. Divining, with the instinct of a wild animal, the source from whence the fatal blow proceeded, they in turn ambush their victim, and soon invite the urubus to another feast. The law of the wilderness is always eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and blood for blood, Instead of one murder there are two. But people are not so particular in a country where slavery exists, Besides, murderers have charming euphuisms to justify their conduct: they tell you that it was necessary to appease the angry soul of their unfortunate relative; that society demanded justice; and that they have only: sent the murderer before the tribunal of the Sovereign Judge.
THE FREE NEGRO.
The freed negro is not much more considered than the slave by that blind divinity called justice, Nevertheless, the law gives him the right of voting at elections.
ELECTIONS.
Since we are upon the subject, the reader may be curious to know how elections are carried on in Brazil. A single example will suffice to give an idea of the political education of the great South-American empire.
By the terms of the Brazilian Constitution, every free man who is not absolutely a beggar has the right, at certain periodical times, to cast into an urn, tastefully decorated with ribbons, a slip of folded paper. There, as everywhere else, are found two parties, classed under the denominations of Conservative and Opposition—the former earnestly defending the past, while the latter, with equal earnestness, talk of liberty and progress till at length they come into power, when they in turn defend the true ways of their predecessors with more zeal than even their former opponents. As everywhere else, too, the electoral multitude separates into camps, according as the word constituicão or Oppositião sounds best to their ears. In one of their elections, which I now forget, a ministerial candidate asked ​one of his friends, a rich planter of the province, to give him the votes of all the free men upon his estate. The rendering of such services is never refused among the cultivated classes in Brazil, where the old traditions of chivalry seem to have taken refuge, being gradually driven out of the Old World by the incessant march of revolutions. It was therefore agreed that all the people of the fazenda should be invited to a banquet a few days before the elections, and that they should be reminded of the day fixed for voting, their quality of free men, which gave them a right to approach the ribboned urn, and the name of the candidate whom they were to support.
THE POLITICAL BANQUET.
On the day appointed there was seen, at sunset, the strangest gathering of human figures that the wildest imagination of a fancy painter ever conceived—old negroes, who, having obtained their liberty upon the death of their former master, had rapidly degenerated into their native indolence; cabocles with glossy hair and of a coppery complexion, calling themselves civilized because they wore pantaloons and drank cachaçga; and lastly the hybrids, resulting from the mingling of all the races that have set their feet upon the soil of the New World, since the time of Pizarro and Cabral, to ravage it with bloody fury or fertilize it with their sweat. These bestial figures, these calloused hands, these feet, whose horny skin defied the bite of serpents, these beards, as untrimmed as the forests from which they came, these strange accoutrements, the aspect of the place, the object of the meeting—all contributed to form an indescribable scene, Nobody was absent from the rendezvous. A banquet to the mountain guests was so rare a thing, and especially a banquet given by the master! Long tables had been prepared in the immense rooms where the coffee was stored, Hogs served up whole, as at feasts in the time of Suetonius, and feijão or beans, in immense earthen pots, and large calabashes of manioc, formed a splendid entertainment to these uncultivated natures. Large pitchers of cachaça were circulated from time to time. Hogs, beans, manioc, brandy, were all soon disposed of. The fazendeiro watched the hearty disposition of his guests, and when he thought the proper moment had come, he stationed himself in the midst of them, and in a few words explained the object of the meeting.
'My boys,' said he, 'I am here to ask a little favor of you. In a week you will go to vote. As you do not trouble yourselves much with polities, the name of the candidate is probably of little consequence to you. Therefore, if you would do me a service, you will vote for Senhor X———, who is my intimate friend, and to whom I have pledged my word in your name.'
He had not yet finished speaking when most of his auditors cried out they would vote that very instant; that the senhor was their father, and that they would refuse nothing to a master like him. It was nine o'clock in the evening, and the town was distant several leagues; yet it was difficult to make these people comprehend that the election was not to take place till the next week, and that a vote before that time would be illegal. They could not conceive why every thing should not give way to their master, whose power had in their eyes no rival but that of the Emperor. The greater part of them at length reseated themselves to finish emptying the pitchers; but the more intelligent profited by the opportunity to surround the planter, and make inquiries about the elections, instructing themselves about the proceedings, the candidates, voting, the constitution, the opposition, etc. The fazendeiro had plenty to do to answer all their questions.
A SHARP MULATTO.
One of these dwellers of the forest, with a patriarchal beard, made himself ​especially conspicuous by the warmth and originality of his dialogue, Placing himself in front of the senhor, he seized one of the buttons of his coat upon each new question, twisted it with his fingers till he was answered, and ended by detaching it. Several buttons had already disappeared, when a mulatto, whose name I think was Mascarenhas, out of patience at the man's questions and at the injury he was doing to his master's coat, resolutely approached him, pushed him aside with his elbow, and took his place. All kept silent to let him speak.
'Senhor,' said he, 'you know my opinions; you know that I am a liberal, and that my political sympathies are with the opposition candidate. (This liberal candidate nevertheless owned five or six hundred slaves.) But you are my master, and I can refuse you nothing. Therefore, however opposite to my sentiments, I will keep my promise; for Mascarenhas is a man of honor. If your excellency will allow me, I will take upon me to refresh the memory of my comrades, who, for the most part, never having left the forest, may forget the day of election and the name of your candidate.'
'How will you manage to remind them of it?' inquired the fazendeiro, charmed with the offer.
'In a very simple manner,' answered the mulatto, 'Let your excellency furnish me a hog, a sack of feijão, the same quantity of manioc, a keg of cachaça, and a little salt. I will collect all these men around me on the evening before the election, and while I am filling their stomachs, I will refresh their memories by reminding them of their promise tonight. I will take care that they do not leave me during the night, and the next day at dawn we will go to town together, where they will vote as one man,'
The delighted fazendeiro called the superintendent of the plantation, ordered him to deliver to Mascarenhas the finest hog in the herd, and to place at his disposal every thing he needed—manioc, beans, salt, and cachaça. Our mulatto waited till his companions had gone away. At daybreak he selected in person the animal that best suited him, loaded two mules with provisions, and leisurely made his way back to his dwelling. On the day of the election he presented himself early before the ministerial candidate.
'Senhor, I suppose my master has given you notice of my coming, together with the rest of my comrades, whom I promised to bring with me?'
'Certainly,' answered the candidate, 'and I am glad to see you are a man of your word; but where are your companions?'
'They are waiting for me at the gate, I came ahead of them, because I had something to say to you. The opposition candidate, who had heard of my promise, and who also knew of my liberal sentiments, has secretly offered me a hundred milreis (fifty dollars) if I would vote for him; but Mascarenhas is a man of honor, and if your excellency will pay me those hundred milreis, which a poor man with a family like me cannot conscientiously refuse, I will bring you my men right away.'
'Here are your hundred milreis. Now make haste, lest those tricky liberals entice away your companions while you are absent.'
'Your excellency may be easy on that point,' answered the mulatto, carefully counting his milreis. 'My comrades know only me and the senhor.' Then, putting the bills in his pocket, he proceeded forthwith to the house where the opposition candidate was.
'Senhor,' said he, addressing him, 'you know my sympathy for you, and you also know the influence I possess over my neighbors. I have brought them here with the intention of voting for you. But I must tell you of one thing: my master has promised a hundred milreis if I made them vote in favor of your rival; but Mascarenhas is a man of honor. I refused the money, much as I needed it, knowing that you would not refuse to pay it to me. You know ​my position; such a sum is a fortune to a poor man with a family on his hands.'
'I expected as much of you. I had been informed how it was, but never felt uneasy about you. I have long known that you were a true patriot, devoted to the triumph of the liberals, Here are a hundred milreis; now hasten and bring your comrades. Those ministerial fellows are not so scrupulous but that they would lure your men away while you are here.'
Mascarenhas took this second bundle of bills, carefully counted them, placed them along with the others, went out, and—proceeded home.
The next day the fazendeiro was raging, and would hear of nothing less than flogging Mascarenhas like a simple slave. He therefore despatched two stout feitors with orders to bring him, dead or alive, and made every thing ready for his punishment. The mulatto came without any hesitation, and with all the serenity of a quiet conscience and a well-filled stomach.
'You miserable rascal,' cried the master upon perceiving him, 'you have cheated every body, and kept your word with nobody! A good whipping shall teach you to play your tricks on me and my friends!'
'Your excellency is wrong in being angry with me,' answered the culprit, with imperturbable sang froid, 'I have done my duty. Your friend gave me a hundred milreis in the hope that I would vote in his favor. The opposition candidate, who was my own, also gave me a hundred milreis on condition that I should give the votes to him. If I had voted for one, I should have betrayed the other, and you know Masedrenhas is a man of honor. There only remained one thing for me to do, and that was to remain neutral, Would your excellency have done differently if you had been in my place?'
The fazendeiro in question, was a man very fond of wit, and could not help laughing at this strange logic. The matter ended here; but the senhor made up his mind that in future he would take his men to the polls himself. As for the illustrious convives who, on the day of the banquet, wanted to go and vote in the middle of the night, it is needless to say that their electoral enthusiasm vanished with the last fumes of cachaça, and that not one of them went to the village, Mascarenhas, who knew whom he had to deal with, thought it best to keep the hog and other provisions of the fazendeiro for his own use.
CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.
If we now cast a final glance upon the country taken as a whole; if we observe the results of the occupation of Brazil by the Portuguese race, what inferences are we to draw? It is painful for me to be severe upon a brave people, who have shown themselves for more than a century to be in the vanguard of the Latin races; but it is indeed hardly possible to eulogize the southern peninsula of the New World when compared with North-America. What a difference, for example, between the railroads that streak the United States, and the picadas of the South-American forests! What a contrast between New-York and Rio Janeiro! On the one hand, human activity is carried to its utmost limits; on the other, is seen the most superb indifference, the people contenting themselves with producing a few hogsheads of sugar, and a few arrobes of coffee. Let not the influences of climate be invoked as an excuse. Louisiana is as enervating as Para, and the mouths of the Mississippi are as unhealthy as those of the Amazon. The causes lie deeper; they are to be found in the stolid genius of the Portuguese—that mixture of Arabic fatalism and Iberic asperity suited to the ages of chivalry, but incompatible with industry and science, As soon as the first fever of occupation was over, the conquistadores no longer thought of any thing but to enjoy their promised land in peace. Their descendants ​went further. Abandoning the helmet of their stern ancestors for the sombrero of the planter, and their valiant sword for the feitor's whip, they wrapped themselves in their hidalgo's mantle, and left the conquered tribes to accumulate wealth for them. Disdaining the tardy productions of the soil, so fertile under the tropics, they looked only for gold. To obtain a few ingots of this, they burnt forests, overturned the soil, exterminated Indian tribes, and condemned several million negroes to slavery. They have as yet opened neither highways nor canals. Two of the largest rivers of the world, the Maranhão or Amazon, and the Paraná, which take their rise near each other, and which form in their immense triangle the great arteries of southern commerce, are to-day nearly what they were on the arrival of Cabral. Up to within a few years, a few Indian canoes alone furrowed their waters. If you enter a village in the interior, you will find churches and monasteries by dozens, but not a single school-house. The inhabitants are obliged to have recourse to London or New-York for the simplest engine, and for the smallest stretch of railroad; yet iron is found in many places upon the surface of the soil, and almost in a native state. Finally, a thing almost impossible to be believed, Norway sometimes furnishes building timber for this country, which is the richest in the world for woods of every description.
The repugnance to labor, the philosophical indifference which the conquistadores always professed in regard to comfort, cannot be attributed to a want of energy; for no people with which I am acquainted ever displayed in the history of the world a greater amount of boldness and stern activity, than that Celto-Iberian race shut in between the mountains and the sea. After rolling back the waves of Islamism, finding themselves too constrained in their narrow belt of country, they were the first to brave the fearful mysteries of an unknown and boundless ocean; and they explored the coasts of Africa, passed around the stormy Cape, opened the great route to the Indies, and established their merchants in Asia; while, on the other hand, Cabral, pushing out to the westward, found the continent that Columbus had sought in vain. It was likewise a Portuguese, Magellan, who, braving the rigors of the South Pole, entered the Pacific by a new route, and procured for his companions the glory of navigating the sea and the earth in their entire circumference, through parts hitherto closed to science and human investigation. Such men could not understand the new spirit. Listen to their rich, sonorous idiom, so passionate in singing the exploits of heroes or the canticles of the saints; it becomes mute when you require a scientific treatise or a work on practical industry. It is the language of knights and not of artisans. As the language, so is the nation. Inheritors of the Roman world, and the last personification of the middle ages, these men of the sword saw in labor only the appanage of serfs. Every innovation that infringed upon that basis was a crime. They replied to the Reformation by the Inquisition. While the Anglo-Saxon races opened their ears to the great voice of Luther, they placed themselves under the patronage of Dominic and Loyola. The two seeds have borne their fruit.
The future of Brazil, however, must not be despaired of; and however slow the action of ages upon human revolutions, a presentiment may already be formed of the changes that time is destined to work in that country. Two things alone are wanting: the fecundating breath of science, and a new infusion of the ardent blood that flowed in the ​veins of the early colonists. Steam and electricity are daily supplying this void. The Yankees of the North, who for years have been gazing with covetous eyes upon the rich lands of the South, and German immigration, which is daily increasing, form a double current which soon, getting foothold upon the continent, will compel the inhabitants, under pain of sinking into insignificance, to abandon their inertness, and openly accept the two great conditions of life in modern times—industry and free labor. We hasten to add that this reproach of inertness applies only to the old routine portion of the people, and to the unenlightened inhabitants of the interior.
Those men who are at the head of the state, or who, by their position, have acquired a just influence over the destinies of their country, are earnestly desirous of progress, and preach by example. Industrial companies are forming in all the great centres, and the interior provinces are calling for railroads and steamboats. It is, therefore, to be hoped that the same progress daily imparted to the cidade by the steamers that traverse the Atlantic, will soon be carried by railways through the fazendas and villages in the mountains, and that the rancho of the mulatto will gradually disappear to give place to the elegant dwelling of the enlightened colonist.
* ↑ It would seem, moreover, that the Brazilians are somewhat too distrustful of their own abilities, if we judge by all those classic editions of Latin and Portuguese authors which, instead of coming from the presses of Lisbon or Rio Janeiro, are sent from Paris.
* ↑ An anecdote taken from the Correio Mercantil of the twenty-sixth October, 1859, is to the point: 'Are you exempt from military service?' inquired a fiscal in a menacing tone, of a poor black laborer at the arsenal of Rio Janeiro, The latter forthwith presented his papers, which dispelled all suspicion as to his character. While reading them, the official observed that the African, in his perplexity, had forgotten to take off his hat. 'Ah! this is a little too much. A negro standing with his hat on! Take him away!' And the poor fellow was dragged to prison for his forgetfulness, After relating his sufferings, the negro added as a commentary: 'Now, I am only a negro, who must take off my hat to every body, and whom every body has a right to abuse. When the elections come, I shall be a free citizen and a voter, and all the candidates will take off their hats to me, and ask me for my vote.'
* ↑ Within a few years railroads have begun to be built, Rio Janeiro, Bahia, Pernambuco, and São Paolo are now at the work. Rio Janeiro, especially, thanks to European Influence, and the efforts of a few leading men like the Baron de Maná, has entered heartily upon the way of progress. At the other extremity of the empire a Brazilian engineer, M. Tavares de Mello Albuquerque, has established a road through the provinces of Para, Maranhão and Goyaz, after enduring fatigues that would have made most European engineers recoil.