Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-12-29
A Mobilian's Experience in Brazil.

We had the pleasure OF visit yester-
day from Mr.. James j. Selby, an intslli-
gent Mobile youth, who has just returned
from Brazil, whittier he went in 1867.
Mr.. Selby landed first at Rio and took
passage from there for Para, in the gov
ernment steamer, for the purpose of join
/ ing the colonists who went from Mobile
under the guidance Of Major Hastings,
and had settled some distance up the
| Amazon.
The Brazilian Government had pledged
itself TO transport emigrants from this
country to any part Of Brazil where they
might wish 10 settle. The experience of
Mr.. Selby of the manner in which that
pledge was kept was anything but graft
! flying After great trouble and numerous
delays he secured ticket and went on
board the steamer. During abe passage,
which lasted twenty days. he was night
and day in the open air, and was not
afforded shelter from sun or rain. He
was furnished two meals day of ferina,
which were served in huge basin set
out upon the deck for the accommoda-
ton of the deck passengers en- masse
There were about hundred and Fifty of
these--negroes, Indians and half-breeds
the very scum of creation, lousy and
filthy, and all fed together, helping them
selves by the handful at a time.
The passage from Para to the Hastings
colony, occupying three days, was of the
same nature as that from Rio to the first
mentioned place So much for the trans
portation.
The colenists v bc went out with Hast
ings were prom ized supplies for ak
months or their equivalent in money with
which to purchase supplies where they
might deem proper. How that promise
was kept may be appreciated from the
following:
The official charged with furnishing
the settlers with suppliesis named Pinto.
He is Vice President of the province of
Para, and proprietor of harem which
turns him out annually fair crop of
half-breed Indian and negro offspring.
With the money that Pinto had re-
ceived from the government for the pur-
pose designated, he established o store
on the bank of the river, filled it with the
cheapest groceries he could obtain, and
forced the settlers to buy from him al the
highest cash price, or starve.
The settlement is distant from the river
about eight miles, sandy desert without
shade intervening; and once there the
settlers had to trudge under tropical
sun, bearing on their bf.cks the poor but
costly groceries supplied by the enter
prising Pinto. Delicate women from
Alabama had often to perform that fear
| full task.
The land in the Hastings settlement,
and the Valley of the Amazon generally,
is inferior in quality to that of our own
country; and whatever is planted is
speedily devoured by the myriads Of in
sects that swarm in those tropical regions.
And not only do those pests attack veg
etable life, but man and beast as well:
An insect called by sailors " the jigger,
lies in wait at every turn, ready TO make
lodgmcnt in the foot of the pedestrian,
and form q colony of "jiggers " in his
flesh. The feet of hogs are so infested
by these insects, that the animals never
get fatter than an ordinary lath.
Scorpions, centipedes, tarantulas, ants
an inch and half long, and whose bite
is like the combined sting of dozen
bald.fa hornets, ticks as large as
mans thumb-nail, that 60 through human
flesh like mole through freshly spaded
earth, are some among many of the Anna
zonian blessings that endow a man with
the power of despising such trifies as the
clouds of mosquitoes and sandfies that
prevail there. Comparatively speaking,
the vampire is the mosquito of the ANA
zon Valley. Whether the vampire is
really blood. sucker, is a question that
has given rise to some disputation among
naturalsts. We remember reading, sew
eral years ago, magazine article whose
object wss to defend the great South
American bat against the serious charge
that was generally believed to be founded
in fact. Mr.. Selby sets that matter ut
rest. BE has killed vampires in the act
of sucking mis- blood. Horses in the
Amazon Valley suffer greatly from these
blood-sucking bats. and have to be kept
we'll protected from them at night.
OF the families that went out with
Hastings, only four remain at the settle
ment, the rest having gone to Para as q
first step toward getting back home.
Those that remain are the following:
Vaughn, Mendenhsll, Steel and Emmett.
The health Of the country is about on
par with our swamp lands.
While the Hastings colony has beer
reduced to q remnant all the other
American colonies have been utterly
broken up; the colonists coming in as
best they could to the nearest seaports-
generally in an absolutely destitute con-
dition.
The result of the Brazil fever" sad
as il has proved to those who yielded 20
its attacks, will stand as a warning to the
Southern people against the hasty aban-
donment OF their native land. Even the
greatest curse thst can fall upon uS from
the foul womb ofRAdioal hate-the curse
Of mongrelism-cannot be avoided by
going to Brazil or any other South Ameri-
can country. In ell of them the nasty
fruit has ripene5, and pollutes earth and