The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1876-05-19
The Land He Left Behind Him.

| Dom Pedro, next to the emperor of al
the Russian, rules over the largest con.
tiguOus territory under one government
on the globe. Official reports give it an
area of 1891 1894 square miles, more Or
less. Its greatest length is 1900 miles
and its greatest breadth is 2,470. To GO
all over it in an ordinary lifetime one
would need to travel as fast as its emperor
has been doing while in this country. 1t
is divided into twenty provinces and one
Independent municipality, each of which
has local capital.
The empire claims population of II :
10000 but some authorities claim that
it does not contain more than 1000, 900
people of all races. The whites number
about one-third of the entire population,
and are chiefly of Portuguese descent
In the seaboard cities there are many
French, Germans and English, most of
whom are engaged in trade. Nearly one
third of the inhabitants are Indians.
They represent all degrees of civilization,
and no civilization worth speaking of.
Some of the interior tribes are cannibals.
They practice jerking the meat obtained
from enemies bodies and storing it up
for rainy day. In this respect they
show more foresight and thrift than the
natives of the Cannibal Islands. Most Of
the Indians, however, are very quiet and
friendly. They subsist for the most part
on game and wild fruits. They require
little by way of houses. Their favorite
clothing is red paint. The country con-
tains nearly 100000 negroes. The re-
mainder of the population consists Of
mixed races. Some of the races are very
decidedly mixed, having the blood of ne
groes, Indians and whites in their veins.
Since Brazil was discovered, in the
year 1900, and settlements were COM
menced shortly afterward, it seems some
what remarkable that it has not larger
white population. This may be ex-
planned by the fact that the country was
long tributary to Portugal, which did not
contain inhabitants enough to people Sd
vast country. During the past twenty
years Brazil has made strenuous exer-
tious to procure settlers from foreign
countries. They have not only been Of
fered land without cost, but in some in
stances have had half of their passage
money paid. The Germans have availed
themselves of these liberal offers to the
greatest extent of any people. Accord
ing to official reports there are fifty colo
nies in the empire containing on an aver
age 1000 persons each. At the close of
our civil war quite a number of confed-
crates removed to Brazil. AS rule, the
foreign settlers do not take kindly to the
country. Quite likely this is owing to
the circumstance that soil, climate, pro-
ductiOns, language and institutions of
Brazil are very unlike those of the coun-
tries from which settlers have been OBJ
tained. Considerable time is required
for foreignerstO accommodate themselves
to the new order of things.
All intelligent travellers who have Wis
tied Brazil speak in the most glowing
terms of the country. Prof Agassiz re-
garded il as the most productive and in
teresting country on the globe, and the
one in which it is the easiest to obtain
livelihood. Some who have sailed up
the Amazon declare that a vessel can be
loaded with Brazil nuts at an expense of
only few cents per bushel. These con-
stitute a valuable article of commerce,
while the oil extracted from them is very
desirable. All the tropical fruits are pro-
duced in Brazil almost without cultiva-
ton. The soil in many parts of the
country will produce twenty successive
crops of cotton, tobacco, or sugar cane,
without the application of manure. No
country in the world approaches the land
of Dom Pedro in the variety of its forest
productions. Prof Agassiz states that
he saw III different kinds of valuable
woods that were cut from a piece of land
not half a mile square. They represented
almost every variety of color, and many
of them were capable of receiving high
polish. One tree furnishes wax that is
used tor candles another pith which is
used for food and still another yields a
Juice which is used in the place of intox
icating liquor. There is a single variety
of palm from which the natives obtain
food, drink, clothing, bedding, cordage,
fishing tackle, medicine and the material
they manufacture into dwellings, wea-
pons, harpOOns and musical instruments
Doubtless the day is not distant when
the valuable woods of Brazil will be used
for various useful and ornamental pur-
poses. Brazil is not only wooden
country" but country that produces
the most beautiful woods in the world.
If one does not want to cut wood that
is nearly as hard as ivory, with tropical
sun exactly overhead, there are other
things he can busy himself about. For
instance, he may shovel up diamonds, or
rake together sapphires, emeralds and
rubies. He can also quarry limestone
that is so sonorOus that it makes good
church bells. So, too, he may engage in
loading carts with honey, some sweet,
and some sour, which is collected by bees
that have no stings, but which work all
the year long. In short, if any one
wants to go south and grow up with a
good country, let him make the acquaint
ance of Dom Pedro and accompany him
Times.