The Newtown bee., 1880-03-03
Slave Life in Brazil.

Brazil being the only civilized coun- try in which slavery exists in full force, but which even there may be reckoned in few years as 8 thing of the past a sketch of slave life may not be unin- teresting.
 The staple produce of Brazil for ex- portation is coffee, which is the result of cultivation on plantations, known as fazemdas. When ripe for market, the coffee beans are forwarded in bags to Rio Janeiro for sale and shipment The real interest in the work on planta- Cions is centered in the method of slave labor, which, though doomed to ex- tinction, is still in full force. A law passed in 1870 declared that after 1871 the children of slaves should be born free; so at the present moment there are no slaves under eight years of age. An average fnzeaadG in Brazil will have from 200 to 300 slaves-men, women and children. These live in quadrangle or qatadro, divided off into a number of small rooms, each room being inhabited by one or two slaves. The first bell rings about 3 80 o'clock in the morning, when they get up and make some coffee. At four o'clock the second bell rings. when they have to form that is, they are drawn up in line and inspected, to see that none is missing. The field l laborers are then marched off, each one with basket on his back. The work | that these have to do is the hardest; toiling all day in the hot sun, hoeing | the weeds. between the coffee trees, planting Indian corn or picking coffee. They work in gangs of eighteen, each one with 8. fe6tor or overlooker, who is himself generally Il slave, and is pro- vided with whip and pala1latorao. | This latter instrument is made of wood, shaped like the palm of the hand. and fastened to handle about a foot long. | The wood is about half an inch in thickness, and has three small holes bored through it. and is a common mode of punishment, especially for the women and children. The field hands are out all day, stopping an hour and halffor breakfast, and an hour for din- ner. But the slaves who work in the fields are not more than twenty-five per cent. of the whole number; the rest being carpenters. blacksmiths, machine hands or infirmary patients. Though slavery still exists in Brazil, it is, per- haps, less unendurable than that which exists in certain other countries, inas
 much as a good man has the chance of getting on and ameliorating his posi- tion. He may become feator, and then | he would have separate place to live | in; or he is put to work about the house or in the garden; while the most intelli- gent boys are made to learn some trade, and often turn out good blacksmiths, stone masons, etc. At 7 30 o'clock the bell rings to leave off work. Until nine o'clock they can do as they like; then l the second bell rings, and they are l locked in for the night.
 1 The punishment mostly used on faz- endas, and one which the blacks stand 1 most in dread of, is the. stocks. Each I plantation has two pair-one for tue men, the other for the women; and it l is most. curious the dread the blacks have for them. They would much rather be beaten than pass one hour in them; and accordingly this punishment is reserved for grave offenses, such as stealing and fighting in fact if it were not for this latter, the stocks would
 have very few occupants. But the slaves are very quarrelsomc; hardly a day passes but two blacks have set-to,
 which ends in one going to the infirmary and the other 10 the stocks. Most fnsen6las have chemists shop or botscG
 and two infrmaries, one for the men
 and the other for the women. A great many slaves suffer from rheumatism and heart disease. The former comes from the exposure they have to endure. The slaves are also good hands at sham ming they look upon a week in the in firmary as a sort of holiday, and once or twice year each man is seized with a pain in the head or in some part of the {, body, which gets wonderfully better to- ward the end ot the week. The own CTS do not mind them shamming now then; they say they work the better for it l.afterward. Chambers Journal.