Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-04-08
AMONG THE BRAZILlANS.


scenes In the Marketable 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
unattractlve There are scanty and ILL
managed displays of meats. The poor
i've on jerked beef of inferior grades. OF
nsh there is larger assortment, but
fresh vegetables are lacking. Even the
display of tropical fruits is disappointing.
BAHIA oranges are delicious, but not SUI
perlor to the best Florida oranges seen
In the New York market. Mangoes are
abundant and cheap. Bananas are
smaller, but more delicate in flavor, than
those seen in the Northern market. The
most delicious fruit to be found in Brazil
Is the pineapple. Northerners who eat
TINS fruit weeks after it has been picked
In It's green state have only faint idea
OF Its sweetness, lusciousness and de-
hc1ous flavor. Here the pineapple is
picked when the tropical sun has per-
fected its chemical work and the fruit
is ready to melt in the mouth. 1t would
be an affront to nature to sprinkle surar
upon it when sliced. 1t is mellow, over
running with juice, and of incom parable
flavor The finest pineapples are those
M lln 1,,,t H., -
grows almost everywhere in Brazil.
1here are other fruits, such as alligator
pears, melons, chirimoyas and sapotes,
ana great variety of tropical
nuts. Fruit is cheap here, the finest
plneapples being sold for three or
four cents to the experien native,
and for ten cents to the unwary travel
or. Parrots arc also inexpensive in tho
bazars adjoining the market. The bird
does not seem to acquire the Portuguese
tongue readily, for among the many
have seen l have not found one accom-
pished linguist The plumage, how
ever, is of bewildering brilliance and
beauty when hundreds of them are seen
together. The parrots are exhibited 10
close proximity to monkey-cages, the
American tradition of a monkey-and-
parrot time apparently not having be-
come current in Brazil. The monkeys
are 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 we'll 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 Pernambuco. A good able
dhotc dinner of half a 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
refs, 1000 of which make milreis,
worth, apart from exchange, about 60
cents. The lowest nickel coin is 100
refs, worth cents. Below these are
copper coins, 90 reis being the smallest
l have seen-equivalent to cent. If
one dimes with a friend at a restaurant
the score will amount to I, 500 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
in. Reversing the process one pays g.
900 reiS to boatman to go shore from a
steamer, 1000 reis, or a milreis, for
bottle of beer and some cheese, 500 reis
to a guide for a ride on a street-car, 100
reis 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 1OO-reis nick
ell is dropped into his cap.
For the American who comes
South with 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 eigh teen milreis are only
equivalent to S9-that is to say 81 has
been sacrificed in the exchange. To
complete his dissa tisfaction 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
a heavy premium. -Bahia Letter in N
Y. Tribune.