# The Knickerbocker/Volume 64/Number 4/Brazil and Brazilian Society

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Brazil and Brazilian Society
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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 EIGHTH.
THE CIDADE.
The cidade, or the town, does not exhibit to us in so clear a light as the fazenda and the rancho, Brazilian society in the past—in that struggle between civilization and barbarism, of which the interior of the empire is the principal theatre. In the town contrasts multiply; European activity, almost everywhere visible, is seen sometimes overcome by and sometimes overcoming local influences. The people among whom we are about to conduct the reader are not entirely unknown to him. In the cidade of Brazil new wants have given rise to manners not very different from those of the Old World. Political passions also prevail here, and sometimes manifest themselves in pronunciamientos. To the rustic distractions of the plantation succeed business, patriotic festivities, processions of irmandades or brotherhoods; and to the unhealthy miasmas of the clearing the terrible visitations of yellow fever. It is especially in the three large metropolitan cities of the coast, Pernambuco, Bahia, and Rio Janeiro, which form as it were the three great ocean marts, that may be studied the secrets of that Portuguese civilization forcibly planted in a new country, and which goes on modifying itself more and more before the irresistible current of progress.
DISTANCE LENDS ENCHANTMENT.
In order to form an idea of the contrast that exists in the equatorial regions between the interior of towns and the picturesque aspect they present to the traveller at a distance, one must visit Pernambuco. On landing near the city, I was charmed by the splendid landscape. Scarcely had the watch called out that land was visible, when we saw in the horizon a dark, undefined line. Gradually the coast became distinct; to the dark masses succeeded bluish tints, and soon charming villas, ensconced in clusters of palm-trees along the verdant terraces bordering on the sea, revealed to us the approaches to a large city. Negroes of athletic form, wearing nothing but pantaloons, came out to get the passengers in small boats filled with bananas and pine-apples for those that remain on board. The sea is often rough in these regions, and one who wishes to go ashore is not at all reassured at witnessing the careless way in which the boatmen toss the passengers into their light craft, and face the waves, which at every moment threaten to throw them upon the rocks that line the entrance to the harbor. At first the passenger is lowered in a chair by the aid of ropes and pulleys, to the level of the boats; there he remains for several moments suspended over the water, till a wave tosses a boat to his side. A stout negro instantly seizes him in his brawny arms, deposits him in the boat, and rows swiftly away toward the granitie wall, against which the waves are breaking. He sports with the billows with wonderful skill, suddenly glides into an opening, formed as it were by a miracle in the gigantic causeway that protects the city, and you enter the bay. After re- signing yourself to the chair, the negroes, the skiff, the sea, and the rocks, at the end of half an hour you arrive safe and sound at the inevitable custom-house.
Scarcely are you landed when you hasten into the city with all the feverish eagerness of a man, who wishes to ​lose nothing of the spectacle he has so long been dreaming of. And now begin the deceptions. The background of eternal verdure that you admired before reaching the city, suddenly disappears to give place to s scorching sun. Streets filled with negroes and ammoniacal effluvia greet the eye and the smell. You then remember that you are treading upon soil where free labor is proscribed as dishonorable. Have the inhabitants gained or lost by the change? That long file of slaves that elbow you, each carrying a bundle upon his head, is the most eloquent reply that can be made. It takes twenty of these wretches to do the work that a single European laborer would perform with his horse and cart. But of what use are such simple means of transport, when one has negroes at his disposal?
FEATHERED SCAVENGERS.
The negro is not the only object that excites your wonder. If you walk along the port, you will soon encounter another character not without some analogy in manners and color to the African slave, and which will no less strike your attention; this is the The people venerate this bird as the visible instrument of St. Anthony, the patron saint responsible for the public health; and many people place the lieutenant above the chief. In this land of God, as the Brazilians call it, man—I mean the white man—has only to fold his arms; every thing comes to him from heaven.
What need, then, is there of scavengers and grave-diggers? The urubu supplies their place and necessitates no expense, and that is so much gained. But what is the urubu? It is a winged biped of the vulture family, (coregups urubu,) larger than a crow, shabbily feathered, black, stinking, and verminous, Its municipal functions render it as sacred to the Brazilians as the ibis or ichneumon formerly was to the dwellers on the banks of the Nile. What takes place at Pernambuco or Rio Janeiro perfectly explains what took place at Thebes and Memphis. Every animal that destroyed grasshoppers and crocodiles' eggs, the two scourges of Egypt, was cherished, caressed, and carefully maintained.
In traversing a street or road in Brazil, one ere long finds himself suffocating with pestilential emanations, Soon a black, winged squadron is seen circling around the putrifying carcass of a mule. These are the agents of public health, performing their work. They are so conscientious in doing their duty, that they do not seem to notice the approach of man, and quietly allow themselves to be observed in close proximity. You see them alight one after another upon the carcass, seizing it with their claws and beaks, tearing off nameless fragments, which they carry to a little distance and devour at leisure, while others take their place. This continual going and coming is kept up until the bones are entirely cleaned, There are no cries, no disputes; all passes off in order, as becomes a disciplined band. The feast being ended, the sun and a few flaps of the wings suffice to dissipate the atmosphere of vermin and putrefaction that envelopes them, and they go to take a siesta, or seek another repast elsewhere, if the first was insufficient.
Notwithstanding the privileges that it enjoys, this bird-jackal does not always suffice for the exigencies of the service, If we may believe the newspapers, the inhabitants of the cities are daily obliged to grumble at the inspector of police, for what he cannot help, not yet having at his disposition any electric apparatus that will enable him to transmit his orders to his winged agents. Not that the latter are reluctant at the work—far from that, their gluttony is insatiable But they are too few in ​number. Many a time does it happen, at a turn in the road, that one finds the body of a mule lying in the midst of an infected atmosphere. I should incline to think that this bird has secret enemies that destroy its eggs. But perhaps its gluttony causes it to neglect procreation.
THE WOMEN OF BRAZIL.
It is not, however, the negro and the urubu that constitute, in my opinion, the most peculiar feature of the Brazilian cidade; it is rather the complete absence of women, or at least of white women. The latter newer leave their houses, where they are confined with pitiless jealousy. The physiognomy, which this custom impresses on the town, is especially striking to a traveller habituated to Castilian manners, and who comes from the Andes or the Banda Oriental. In Brazil, owing to long peace and to the stream of colonists that the winds of each year waft to its shores, men are far more numerous than women, and the seclusion of the senhoras renders the contrast still more striking. In Spanish America, where women mingle freely in society, immigration is not so great, and the continual wars that have desolated these unhappy republics for half a century, have caused a sensible predominance of the female sex.
CLANDESTINE INTERCOURSE.
Under the influence of an independent life, the Hispano-American senhoras are more amiable, lively, and attractive than the creole ladies of Portuguese origin. The latter live as prisoners, we have said; yet, however vigilant the jealousy of the inhabitants, their vigilance is daily outwitted by feminine cunning, Though the doors of the Brazilian gynecæums have been constantly closed to me, I convinced myself by attentive observation, and through a few indiscretions of my companions, that such slavery is not always acceptable, and that the fair captives contrive to have intelligence with the outside world. One of their principal means consists in the symbolical language of flowers. A young man wishes to interrogate a senhora whom he has seen upon a balcony.He passes beneath her windows, at a time when he thinks her alone, with a certain flower, carried in s certain manner. An imperceptible sign tells him whether his homage is agreeable, or if he came too late. If the response bids him hope, he continues his manœuvres, and the dialogue is kept up thereafter with new flowers. I was several times shown the key to this native mode of telegraphing, but never having had occasion to employ it, I have forgotten every letter or its graceful alphabet.
This simple method has a powerful auxiliary in the processions. The procession, in Hispano-Portuguese America, is the indispensable complement of every festival. To this free men only are admitted. Regimented and gowned into a large number of brotherhoods, or irmendadea, the mass devoutly follow, with tapers in their hands, the Madonna or saint borne in triumph through the streets. If the patron of the day is a warlike character, he is put on horse-back, with vizor lowered and lance in hand. I was at Rio Janeiro on the occasion of the procession of Saint George, the patron of the city. The saint, firmly pinned to the saddle, was mounted upon a superb courser from the stables of the Emperor. His costume, flashing with gold and precious stones, strongly reminded one of the warrior-kings of the middle ages. A pikeman on foot led his steed, Twenty squires, likewise on foot, formed his escort, each leading a richly caparisoned horse. A choir of native musicians, accompanied by all kinds of primitive instruments, at intervals greeted the festivities with their notes, in which the shrill whistling of the fife contended with more vigor than ​harmony against the crashing tones of the brass instruments. Both sides of the street were lined with brotherhoods; the whites came first, then the mulattoes, then the pariahs, the bondsmen, and the negroes, The slow and grave movement of the procession gives to the senhoras, who are stationed on the balconies, all the time necessary for the exchange of a glance or a symbolic dialogue with those whom they quickly recognize beneath the robes of the brotherhoods.
THE BRAZILIAN AT HOME.
Beyond these public ceremonies, the inhabitants of towns seldom come together, and in regard to a stranger this distant humor takes the character of actual distrust. It is difficult for a European to gain admittance to the interior of a Brazilian house. Yet, when one has lived for some time among the creoles, it is not impossible to form an idea of the occupations of the senhor. The time not taken up by business, irmendades, visits, and politics, is consecrated to the siesta or to gaming. The wealthy people have chacaras, or villas, outside the city, upon the sea-shore, which form a terrace, like those seen on the way from Pernambuco to Olinda, where the air is purer than in the interior of the city. The furniture is generally as simple as the dwelling, and one is frequently struck with the modest external appearance of some residences that shelter senhoras who are worth their millions, Nothing is more easily explained, however, when creole manners and the origin of Brazilian society are considered, The early Portuguese colonists came to this El Dorado for the purpose of acquiring a rapid fortune. To return home as soon as possible, and enjoy their wealth in peace, was their only ambition. Of what use, then, the building of sumptuous dwellings in which they did not intend to remain? A small number only were destined to realize this dream. Through various causes, the greater part of them never returned to Europe, and their descendants, having only the Indian's hut and the rancho of the negro as points of comparison, regarded their old Portuguese habitations as the ne plus ultra of architecture. There is a consciousness, however, that these buildings, massive and close on all sides, are not in harmony with the nature that surrounds them. The circulation of air is insufficient within their bare, thick walls. Instead of these middle-age fortresses one would prefer to see erected those light, spacious pavilions so consistent with the needs of a tropical country; but Iberian tradition, creole indifference, and Brazilian jealousy are satisfied, and that is enough.
THE BRAZILIAN AT BUSINESS.
Since we are interdicted from penetrating the interior of private residences, let us visit the stores; we shall there find types that would be sought for elsewhere in vain. This pale and beardless young man, who approaches you in the store, after laying aside his cigar (charuto) and placing his pen behind his ear, came originally from the Azores, his only property consisting of the shirt, vest, and pantaloons that scarcely sufficed to conceal his nakedness. His family, unable to support him, had confided him to a vessel bound to Rio Janeiro. The proprietor of the store sought him out at the port, and, having paid the price of his passage, took him as an apprentice. You now behold him as the confidential agent of the senhor. A ​model of sobriety and of Portuguese perseverance, he has resisted all the distractions and pleasures of his age, and it might be said that his life has been an uninterrupted succession of labor and privation; but he is rewarded by his prospects in the future. He knows that if yellow fever (febre amarella) or consumption does not bar his way, he will one day be a fazendeiro, and perhaps a commendador.
GENTLEMEN BEGGARS.
While you are conversing at the counter, you see a horseman stop before the door. After alighting, he places his bridle in the hands of a negro who attends him, advances to the door, and calls a clerk by a pshioú! or clapping his hands. You take him for a customer in quest of goods. The proprietor, who recognizes him, takes a few vintens from his pocket, and hands them to an employé, who, knowing what it means, at once takes them to the cavalier. This customer is only a beggar, or at least would be termed one with us; but every nation has its own ideas of mendicity, Could one recognize a vagabond in a man dressed in an irreproachable manner, and having a negro and a horse at his disposal? Besides, alms are not dishonorable in a country where the soil is so prolific and where hospitality becomes so easy; therefore begging is considered by those who practise it a regular profession. Each beggar has his patrons, and knows just how far to go without becoming importunate, His visits are generally made weekly; but with generous people or rich planters he ventures two visits a week, but never more. Upon meeting him after his round, you see a hearty gentleman, who knows how to procure himself the comforts of life. If he is moderate in his expenses, he expends his income in slaves, which he puts out at a profit, and at length, having become well off, patronizes in turn those who aided him to live. But of these the number is few. This profession is especially followed by self-styled students, who only need a few milreis to enter into orders. The most singular anecdotes are told in regard to these, one of whom, the Senhor Maranhouse, has elevated the profession to a veritable science.
SCIENTIFIC TOURS.
If you are an artist, or desire to make a scientific excursion, you must in the first place organize a caravan. You request your city friends to tell you where you can obtain a good muleteer. They take you into a suburb of the city which the urubus seem to have chosen as a domicile, and where the catinga or negro odor takes powerful possession of the olfactories. Soon you see a negro approaching with important airs, wearing a poncho, or short cloak. This man, if you are to believe him, is acquainted with the whole of Brazil. His figure makes a good impression, his straightforwardness inspires you with confidence, and you are upon the point of making a bargain with him, when a rival comes up and informs you that the pretended guide is only a tropeiro of bad reputation, who generally deserts his senhor in the middle of his journey with the finest mule of the outfit, When at length you have obtained your cicerone, and appointed the day on which he is to get the animals ready for departure, he gravely tells you he is a guide and not a tocador, (driver;) that it is not the business of a free man to take care of mules, and that your excellency must furnish him an assistant. Again you set upon a hunt, and if you are not careful the chances are that you will hit upon a fugitive slave, who will be taken from you by the police just as you are about to depart.
You at length set out; but if you have not taken the precaution to buy the trunks of the country, namely, canastras, or wooden chests covered with ox-hides, your journey again becomes impossible. The first time I travelled in the serras of Brazil, I saw the guide suddenly alight from his animal's back, and tighten the girths, under the pretext of adjusting the load, which became ​constantly displaced by jolting, and the stumbling of the beasts over the rough road. As these attentions to the load grew frequent, I began to fear for the bodies of the mules, and ventured to mention my apprehensions.
'Never fear, senhor,' replied the tropeiro; 'the tighter a mule’s girths, the surer his step.'
At the first halt I thought I saw something like the thread of a screw marked upon the leather of my trunks; the next day the covering gave way, and had it not been for the assistance of a fazendciro, who placed his canastras at my disposal, I should have been obliged to return, leaving my baggage on the road.
SECESSION PROCLIVITIES.
As in all cities distant from their political centre, the inhabitants of Pernambuco have been for a long time bent upon a fixed idea—separation from the central government. This city is in fact almost as far, practically, from Rio Janeiro as from Lisbon. Before the establishment of regular steam communication, several months sometimes passed by without any news from the capital, The central government scarcely made itself felt except in levying duties, and the Pernambucans indulged in bitter reflections on this subject. On the other hand, their adventurous character impelled them to bold enterprises. Whether it was that the Dutch, who long made war in that region, had left some germs of their independent nature, or that relations with the continent had revived the old Portuguese blood, it is certainly true that it is in this city that one finds the most liberal aspirations. Hence, within about half a century, the inhabitants of Pernambuco have at various times attempted to shake off the yoke of the metropolis and realize their double dream of a republic and independence. Though several of these insurrections were serious, I do not think the desire to be emancipated, of which they were the evidence, can ever be gratified, The province of Rio Grande de Sul, situated at the other extremity of the empire, and which, for analogous reasons, attempted to constitute itself a separate State, likewise failed, and yet the Brazilians had to deal with men knowing the worth of liberty, inured to fatigue, and reputed the best horsemen of South-America. Let us add that these secession tendencies are every day diminishing. The constitutional government of the Emperor no longer gives rise to political recriminations, The steamers that constantly plough the Atlantic render the hand of power more impressive, and constantly destroy the old isolation by facilitating communications, and thus make known to Pernambuco that she is at once too weak and too strongly impregnated with the Portuguese spirit to form a separate State like Montevideo.
CHAPTER NINTH.
BAHIA—BEAUTIES OF THE COAST.
We have seen in Pernambuco a city in which the influence of capital is counteracted by many opposite influences. If we desire to become acquainted with a city that more exactly represents Portuguese civilization in Brazil, we must go to Bahia. Of all the cities of the coast, there is none more charming. True, the lower part, which borders upon the shore, is tainted, like the rest, with fever and the negroes; but there is nothing more charming than the esplanade that overlooks the roadstead, and to which the breeze constantly brings the pure, fresh air of the ocean. Those hills that I before saluted at Pernambuco as an apparition of the promised land, I again found at Bahia, and later at Rio Janeiro, always flooded with light and perfume. It is like one garland of flowers stretching along the coast for more than a thousand leagues, bending occasionally before the impetuous course of a wave, and instantly rising again more brilliant than ever, as if to fascinate the eye of the navigator. Nothing can be more majestic than this ​amphitheatre of mountains covered with eternal verdure and overlooking the Atlantic coast. At the first light of morning the forest awakes, shakes its moist crown of foliage, and displays its undulating lines upon the horizon, where they resemble so many clouds floating upon a fluid lake of gold. Marvellous harmonies prevail between the sky, the earth, and the sea, The sea sends back to the hills its bluish hue, and the waters reproduce in their quiet mirror the verdure of thick forests, while the immense vault of azure softens with its delicate tints the savage brightness of the vegetable colors and the reflections of the ocean. When the sun has risen and illuminates the scene, there break upon the view by turns clusters of dark and bright foliage of tall trees with grayish trunks, that remind the traveller of the pines of the misty mountains of the north. The sounds of the forest cease, and every thing seems lulled into inactivity ; the sap alone circulates with redoubled activity, and resolves itself into a disordered shower of llianas, flowers, and verdure. In the evening, when twilight has wrapped its shadows over water, mountain, and forest, gentle breezes spring up loaded with pleasant odors. Soon a fairy scene begins. Thousands of luminous coleoptera suddenly make their appearance amid the foliage of the trees, which they illuminate with their phosphorescent light. To see these moving sparks that flash upon the vision, cross each other, disappear, and then break forth again in a thousand capricious curves, one might imagine a mad racing of stars that had come down to play upon the water, to celebrate the voluptuous temperature of the night, thus joining the smiling beauties of nature to the dazzling splendor of the heavens.
NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY.
I found myself at Bahia on the second of July, in the midst of a national anniversary. It was upon the same day, in the year 1528, that the last remains of the Portuguese army, under the command of Madeira, at last determined to abandon the soil of Brazil. The festival commenced on the evening of the preceding day. Troops of youths and negroes paraded the streets with flags, torches, and music at their head, The songs, or rather patriotic shouts, the noise of fire-crackers, fifes, and drums, the rockets that hissed through the air, continued their tumult far into the night. The next day at: dawn, the people began to decorate the houses and erect triumphal arches at the most prominent points. These preparations being made, all the free men put on their national guard uniform, and long, armed columns were the remainder of the day filing through the streets and promenades, gay with flags and wreaths. Pieces of cannon covered with flowers and banderoles were drawn by hand by youths not yet old enough to carry a musket. A broad band passed like a scarf across the chest, and bearing in large letters the words caizeroa nacionaes, (national clerks,) distinguished the young creoles employed in commercial houses, and representing the aristocracy of the city. The negroes, who formed a vast majority of the national guard, wore the Portuguese costume, and measured their steps with the dignity of free men, who knew the worth of their independence. From time to time a column would halt to allow the pieces of artillery drawn by the youths time to climb the sharp hills of the lofty city. Both sides of the streets were lined with negresses with turbans on their heads, who exchanged signs. with the soldiers they recognized beneath their uniform. In the evening the tumult of the previous evening is renewed with more frenzy than ever. Bands of negroes parade the streets, preceded by torches, shouting, dancing, and gesticulating. Occasionally a rocket set off from a window falls upon the crowd, and the joy is redoubled, The women especially, when hit by the sparks, fly around with loud cries and all manner of contortions to protect their ​large turbans and flowing robes. From time to time the artillery, fire crackers, and rockets of the roadstead would reply to the cannon, fire-crackers, and rockets of the city, and the spectacle then became wonderful. It seemed as if the ocean shot forth sparks that illuminated the city, while the latter launched up lightnings to illuminate the heavens. The festivities would no doubt have continued till the next day, if a sudden storm had not driven the rejoicing crowds in-doors, I have seen many national holidays in the old world, but I never saw enjoyment so overwhelming, nor gayety so frank.
The negroes are very numerous at Bahia, and they have frequently, during political troubles, caused serious anxieties to the Portuguese. The rivalry of tribes, the distinctions of which are carefully kept up, have alone prevented a repetition of the massacre of Santo Domingo.
POPULATION AND MANNERS AT BAHIA.
A traveller who was unacquainted with the in-door habits of the creoles would think, in passing through Bahia, that he was in a negro town, One here meets with specimens of all the African tribes that the conquistadores brough to the shores of Brazil. The athletic Mina seems to be predominant, and to preserve all his primitive freshness and vigor. Slavery has introduced some curious customs, which ore striking to a stranger, Sometimes you see two negroes passing along the street with a heavy, measured tread, clanking upon the flags a large chain riveted to their legs. This sad appendage indicates two fugitives who cannot be trusted, and who are secured together to render any future escape impossible, Further on you perceive a slave with his face concealed by an iron mask firmly locked, very like those formerly worn by the paladins of the middle ages. Your guide informs you that the poor wretch is a dirt-eater, and that he is thus prevented from indulging his outlandish tastes. But it is especially the gigantic Minas negresses that excite attention. Sometimes one might imagine them antique goddesses cut in black marble. It is not rare to meet with these women six feet in height, gravely carrying a banana or an orange upon her head. The abhorrence of work is so deeply rooted in their indolent and sensual nature, that they would deem themselves dishonored if they carried the smallest object in their hands.
VISITING.
Towards evening is generally the time when the young people go out to visit each other or to meet at a rendezvous; but their dignity as whites and their creole nonchalance keep them from walking in the streets. They ride small horses of surprising agility, which they urge to full speed, whatever the declivity they are ascending or descending. Men and senhoras of mature years go out only in the palanguin, The latter, indeed, seldom leave the house except on days of festivity to attend mass. This enervating life gradually wastes them away, and it is rare that they can sustain comparison with the voluptuous forms of the women of color, who have drawn from their African blood a wealth of incomparable vigor.
PATRON SAINTS—THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES.
Bahia is the Portuguese city par ezcellence, but lacking in the activity and untiring energy of its founders. The monks predominate here more than in any other part of Brazil, and with them reign all the superstitions of former times, Each individual has his chosen ​saint, whom he considers responsible for every thing good or evil that happens in his house. The most powerful of all these patrons is Saint Anthony; at least it is he who is most frequently met with in the oratories, They pledge him tapers, money, and flowers to adorn his niche, if he vouchsafes any desired success or averts evil fortune; but if he turns a deaf ear, farewell tapers, flowers, and caresses. Being responsible, he must of course resign himself to the punishment. For example, if a negro runs away, the master forthwith hastens to the newspaper office and publishes a description of the fugitive, offering a reward for him of from fifty to an hundred milreis, according to his value. He then makes all haste back to his room, pulls his patron from the niche, takes a chicote, or whip, proportioned to his size, and applies it to his back, accompanying the chastisement with the following monologue:
'Ah! filho da . . . . (Ah! you son of . . . .) that's the way you take care of my slaves! that's the way you pay me for the care I've taken of you, and the tapers I've bought for you! I'll teach you a little good manners!'
After this correction he puts him into the most obscure nook in the house, among the dirt and rubbish that abound in most Portuguese dwellings, and declares he shall remain in that kennel till the lost slave is recovered. If the fugitive is not soon returned, the master loses patience, breaks his idol with a kick, and forthwith chooses another patron, more active and powerful; but if the slave reappears, he replaces the saint in his niche, asking pardon for having been so hasty, and buys any number of tapers to make him forget the past, and in order to continue to merit his protection.
A NEGRO SAINT.
The negroes generally choose a patron saint of their own color, Saint Benediet, of whom they give wonderful relations, This Benedict, in his lifetime, was head-cook in a monastery. Naturally led, like all his countrymen, to a contemplative life, he furtively attended all the services of the monks, and sometimes allowed himself to be so carried away in his mental devotions that he forgot his saucepans. The angels, however, touched by his piety, performed his duties for him, so that the community did not suffer from his ecstatic moments. The first time I saw this patron saint of the negroes, I mistook it for an image of the devil, so horrible was the grimace that the artist had imparted to it, doubtless through his excessive regard for truthfulness. When a man is too poor to construct an oratory in his cabin, he mentally adopts the patron saint of his neighbor, and consecrates tapers to him in times of difficuity in order to obtain his intercession.
A HOG STORY.
In a fazenda in the environs of Bahia I saw a poor mulatto bring to the sacrarium of his master ten milreis, (about $5,) which comprised all his earnings, to reward the saint for having enabled him to find his hogs, which he had lost the evening before. I asked him to tell me the particulars of his loss,
'Senhor,' he immediately replied, 'Saint Anthony is very powerful, and very kind to the poor folks. You see, when I went to attend my hogs last night, they were gone. It could only have been through some evil doings, for they never leave their pen. I vowed I would give my protector all the money I had, if he would help me find them, and, full of confidence, went at hazard the first way it struck me, all the time calling the animals. Seeing my search was in vain, I thought this was not the right direction, and turned back to try another. But my patron, he was not deceived; while I was tiring myself in a vain search, he sent the hogs back into the pen; and as soon as they saw me the poor creatures crowded up to meet ​me, You see, senhor, that when one has so good a saint he ought to keep his vows, instead of doing as some do whom I know, who are in the habit of forgetting their engagements as soon as the difficulty is over.'
Such is the credulity that prevails among the negroes of Bahia, This simplicity, which is not always unattended by a wild violence of disposition, is a heritage of the early times of the conquistadores,
THE MINING DISTRICTS.
The ancient Brazilian characteristics, so vividly impressed upon Bahia, become more and more marked as you recede from the coast. Before leaving this old civilization of Brazil to observe at Rio Janeiro the first manifestations of a new life, perhaps it would be preferable to contemplate the Brazilian eidade in a state still less advanced than at Pernambuco and Bahia, under the aspect it presents in the interior of the country, and especially in the provinces formerly exploited by the mineiros. It is here, at Ouro Preto, Goyaz, Cuyaba, etc., that the traces of the past are deepest and most striking. There is no longer an exchange; there are no theatres, no museums. Huts of mud suffice the inhabitants, and the ruins of convents take the place of schools. A population become half-savage through the crossing of races and the isolation in which it lives, exists within these creviced walls without employment or any idea of the advantages of life. The most desolate parts of Abruzzia or Calabria can alone give any idea of these regions, which were formerly so flourishing. The creoles no longer strive with each other here, except in ignorance and idleness. The churches, even, built by the piety of their ancient founders, are to-day for the most part as dilapidated as the dwellings of the simplest of the inhabitants. One might sometimes imagine himself in one of those large villages of the Cordilleras periodically visited by earthquakes. Those towns in which the passage of caravans keep up some activity, like São João del Rey, are frequently those that most sadden the European, It is true that the rudeness of the inhabitants is explained by their origin. The first colonists of these provinces were peasants from the mountains of Portugal. Enriched by traffic, they knew not how to profit by their change of fortune, and remained in ignorance, with the addition of pride, The muleteers, who compose nearly all their patrons, are poorly qualified to inspire them with ideas of civilization and progress. When occasionally these Portuguese of the old stamp attempt, in the celebration of some festivity, to improvise a drama, one cannot repress a smile at the spectacle, in which the serious and the grotesque are so strangely blended. It is not rare to see a Greek tragedy represented by painted mulattoes, dressed in cast-off French or Portuguese garments, and with any number of sabres and poniards,
IGNORANCE AND LAZINESS IN THE INTERIOR.
The few men of intelligence and energy to be met here and there among these lost populations, seem to have little hope of drawing them from their ignorance. They express themselves on this subject with singular frankness, to judge by the language used by a mineciro a few years since, in conversing with a French traveller.
'My countrymen,' said he, 'always wear their shirts out at the elbows, because they cannot stand without propping themselves up. On Monday they rest from the fatigue of listening to mass a quarter of an hour on Sunday; on Tuesday they set the negroes to work in their place; on Wednesday and Thursday they are obliged to go on a hunt to obtain a little meat; they must fish on Friday and Saturday, because those are fast-days; and on Sunday they repose after the labors of the week, If a tree falls across the road, they make a path around it through the woods, and come into the road again on the other side. ​It would have taken much less time to cut the tree; but it would have been necessary to use the axe, and in making the path the large trees are left. They content themselves with cutting the bushes, and this requires only the faca, or large knife which the negroes always wear in their belt. If a man has flour to get, he mounts his mule, takes a small sack, and makes half a dozen journeys. He could have brought it all upon the mule's back in a single trip, but in that case he would have been obliged to walk.'
The people of some of the Brazilian provinces differ greatly, it is perceived, from those who have adopted the motto: 'Time is money.' It is difficult for a European, accustomed to human activity, to witness such inertness without experiencing an unpleasant sense of oppression. There are many things essential to civilized life which are here entirely unknown.
A PARADOXICAL JOURNEY.
Being once on my way to a fazenda a few leagues from Rio Janeiro, on the road to Minas, the most travelled highway of Brazil, and fearing the coming on of a storm, I several times inquired of my guide as to the road over which we were to continue our journey.
'Right along on the hill, senhor,' he invariably replied, pointing to the ridge before us.
Desirous of more precise information, I addressed myself to the people we met, on the way.
'How many leagues from here is it to Senhor X———'s fazenda?' I inquired of a mulatto on his way to the fields,
'Dous legoas, senhor.' (Two leagues, sir.)
At the expiration of half an hour, I repeated the same question to a tropeiro.
'Tres legoas, senhor.' (Three leagues, sir.)
This reply was so unexpected that I repeated the question to the keeper of a venda, which we reached a few minutes later, thinking I should now certainly be set right.
'Tres legoas e meia, senhor,' (three leagues and a half, sir,) answered the inn-keeper.
Perceiving that I was going farther away from my destination instead of approaching it, I feared my guide was mistaken, and begged my interlocutor to tell me which was the right road. Receiving a formal assurance that I was going in the proper direction, I continued my journey, vainly trying to explain to myself the meaning of these contradictions. I saw only one way to solve the difficulty, and that was to inquire perseveringly of every body I met. The new answers to my inquiries were still more singular than the first.
'Cuatro legoas, senhor,' (four leagues, sir,) said a peddler.
'Não sei, senhor,' (I don't know, sir,) was the reply I received from nearly all the blacks.
'Dous cuartos e meia,' (two quarters and a half.) answered a tropeiro.
'You mean a league?' said I.
'Si, senhor.' (Yes, sir.)
'Why, then, do you say two quarters and a half?'
'He costume.' (It is the custom.)
Seeing a mulatto woman standing in the door of her cabin, I was curious to get her opinion also.
'Tres legous, senor.'
'Oh! it isn't three leagues,' objected her husband, coming out of the cabin.
'São pequenas, mas sāo tres,' (the three leagues are short ones, if you like, but there are three nevertheless,) answered the woman in a tone of confidence that admitted of no reply.
This answer at last gave me a key to the enigma, namely, the total ignorance in the country of the real value of the league, every one estimating it according to his own ideas.
THE BRAZILIAN NOBILITY.
A thing worthy of remark is, that among a people where, by the terms of the constitution, titles of nobility are not hereditary, there is not a beggar who is not of noble descent. Frequently a single ​affix is not enough, and two or three titles are joined together, thus rendering the appellation more sounding. I have sometimes seen the greatest names of Portugal borne by tropeiros following their mules through the picadas or rough roads of the forest. The explanation, however, is very simple. Every freedman assumes at pleasure, the name of either his master, his godfather, or any other protector. The Portuguese is generally born a gentleman. There is not in fact a family whose ancestors have not borne arms against Islamism, in the long struggles for independence; and it is well known that the kings of Portugal, desirous of exalting the valor of their troops, conferred nobility on the battle-field upon all the soldiers of an army that had obtained a victory over the infidels, or carried a Mussulman town by assault.
THE PEACE OF THE EMPIRE.
Another subject of astonishment is that this country, surrounded on every side by people agitated with perpetual convulsions, nevertheless enjoys pro-found peace. The causes of this tranquillity appear sufficiently complex. The Portuguese character, deeper and more positive than the Castilian, is less liable to passing excitement. The immense stretches of wilderness that cross the southern continent, moreover prevent the agitations of the Spanish republics from affecting Brazil. Political feelings nevertheless manifest themselves there, and are especially observable at Rio Janeiro.
* ↑ A curious fact seems to prove that the urubu employs a certain amount of intelligence in his voracity. Alcide d'Orbigny, who was present at a distribution of meat at an Indian mission, saw one of these birds, which, disdaining to walt till bones were thrown to it, tried to snatch them from an Indian's hand. He was told that this monoped (it had but one foot} never failed to make its appearance on such oceasions, which took place every two weeks. A short time after, being at another mission, twen'y miles away, he was witness of another distribution of meat, and behold there was the same bird-cripple, come to claim its share. It visited this Mission with the same regularity as the first.
* ↑ A DISHONEST SAINT. In the evening, as I was relating to a Brazilian my impressions of the day, I asked him why they took an image instead of a man to represent the saint, 'O senhor!' replied my interlocutor, drawing a long breath, 'it ls very plain that you are a stranger, You don't know, I suppose, what once happened at Lisbon? That city also had Saint George as its patron. Each year, formerly, one of the moat sprightly young men of the city was selected to represent him; the King furnished the finest horse in his stables, and all the must precious ornaments of gold and jewelry. But one day Satan intermeddled, and the choice fell upon a reckless scamp, who, in the middle of the procession, galloped for the Tagus, where he had a boat in waiting, and escaped with the horse and costly garb, and they were never able to find him. You see, senhor, when the world is so dishonest, it is necessary to be upon one's guard."
* ↑ The following fact, that I witnessed at the above festival, will give an idea of the sentiments that animate the negroes towards the Portuguese; A belated officer, haying fallen from his horse among a group of free blacks, the latter threw themselves back with laughter at the misfortune of the senhor cavalier, and took good care to render him no assistance, The poor fellow picked himself up the best way be could.
* ↑ When there, I was told it contained only seventy French inhabitants.