River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-04-10
AMONG THE BRAzlLIANs.
Scenes In the Markets Life at Hotels
An Elastic CURRENCY.


Among the most interesting novelties
TO the traveller in Brazilian city are
markets and the bird bazars. The mar
ket is ordinarily to be regarded as The
pulse of the town. If it be well-served,
clean and orderly the blood circulation
of the community may safely be con-
sidered as excellent. Judged by this
test there are few if any coast towns in
Brazil in which there is sound digestion.
The markets are dirty, disorderly and
unattractive. There are scanty and ILL
managed displays of meats. The poor
live on jerked beef of inferior grades. OF
fish there is larger assortment, but
fresh vegetables are lacking. Even the
display of tropical fruits disappointing
Bahia oranges are delicious, but not SUI
perior to the best Florida oranges seen
in the New York market. Mangoes are
abundant and cheap. Bananas are
smaller, but more delicate in favor, than
those seen in the Northern market The
most delicious fruit TO be found in Brazil
is The pineapple. Northerners who eat
this fruit weeks after it has been picked
in its green state have only faint idea
of its sweetness, luscioJsness and de-
licious flavor. Here the pineapple is
picked when the. tropical gun has per-
fected its chemical work and the fruit
is ready to melt in the mouth. Ii would
be an alfrOnt to nature 10 sprinkle sugar
upon it when sliced. 1t is mellow, over
running with Juice, and of incompatible
flavor. The finest pineapples are those
found in Pernambuco, but the fruit
grows almost everywhere in Brazil.
There are other fruits, such as alligator
pears, melons, chirimoyas and sapotes,
and a great variety of tropical
nuts. Fruit is cheap here, the finest
pineapples being sold for three or
four cents to the experienced native,
and for ten cents to the unwary travel
er. Parrots are also inexpensive in the
bazars adjoining the market The bird
does not seem to acquire the Portuguese
tongue readily, for among the many |
have seen | have not found one accom-
plished linguist. The plumage, how
ever, is of bewildering brilliance and
beauty when hundreds of them are seen
together. The parrots are exhibited in
close proximity to monkey-cages, the
American tradition OF monkey-and-
parrot time apparently not having be-
come current in Brazil. The monkeys
IRE of all ages, sizes, colors and species,
but nearly all that are seen in the
bazars are unframed, the purchasers be-
ing expected to begin as well as to com
plete the process of education.
Hotels are few and ill-conducted in
Brazilian coast towns, but there are ex-
celent French and German restaurants
in Bahia and Pernambuc \ good table
d'hote dinner of half dozen courses is
served, and excellent wines are to be
had at reasonable rates. When one has
the bill to settle he finds that the score
runs into the thousands. The basis of
the currency is an imaginary unit, the
reig, 1000 of which make a milreis,
worth, apart from exchange, about 60
cents. The lowest nickel coin is 100
reii, worth cents. Below these are
copper coins, 90 reis being the smallest
/ have seen-equivalent to cent. If
one dimes with a friend at a restaurant
the score will amount to 800 reis-a re-
suit startling TO the uninitiated.
When real-estate transactions are
conducted the figures rise into the mill
ions, and when trade statistics are COM
puted billions and trillions are brought
in. Reversing the process one pays p
600 reis TO bOatman to go shore from
steamer, 1000 reis, or milreis, for a
bottle of beer and some cheese, 500 refs
to a guide for a ride on street-cac, 100
refs for turn on the lift from the upper
to the lower turn, and another 100 reis
for having his boots BACKED. This
financial system must tend TO impart
elastically to poverty, for even beggar
must have some consciousness
of affluence when a 100-reis nick
ell is dropped into his cap.
For the American who comes
South with a feeling of honest
pride in the fact that specie payments
have been resumed in his country, and
that paper money there is as good as
gold, an hour of humiliation is in re-
serve. When he exchanges his shining
$40 gold piece into Brazilian currency
he receives for at current rates of ex-
change eighteen milreis-that is, IS, 900
reis; but the eighteen milreis are only
equivalent TO S9--that is to say 81 has
been sacrificed in the exchange. To
complete his dissatisfaction the paper
money is exceedingly dirty and ire
deemable in coin. Gold and silver are
never seen here, yet are heavily dis
counted when foreigners bring them in,
an inconvertible currency commanding
heavy premium. Bahia Letter in n.
Y. Tribune.
ABOUT STUFFY HOUSES.