Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-10
BRAZIL'S BIG BILLS.
You Feel Like a Bloated Bond holder
With Fifty Cents Worth.
THE HARD MONEY Is STILL WORSE.
A Few Dollars Worth Of Change Is ALI .
Strong Man Can Garry.
HALF CENTS USED TO DRIVE NAILS
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DISPATCH,

HALF CENTS USED TO DRIVE NAILS
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE DISPATCH,
Rio DE JANEIRo, BRAZIL, March 15.-
Al in all countries where heavy duties are
imposed on imported goods, Rios port
regulations are extremely rigorous and
often vexatioua All incoming vessels are
required to drop anchor off Port Villegag
non-commonly known as the "Pico"-and
there await the coming of the health and
customs officials.
Those gentlemen take their own leisurely
time for it, and their convenience must be
awaited. however imperative your reasons
for expedition. If the steamer happens to
have arrived near the dinner hour g P. NJ.
Is the Brazilian rule for that most import
ant meal, or near the fashionable time for
promenading in the Rua do Ouvidor-say
an hour earlier--or if fiesta happens to be
in progress, or one of the political demon
stratiaus so numerous in the new republic,
! no attention will be paid to it till some time
next day, and meanwhile no Communication
whatever is permitted between ship and
shore-not even SO much as message to
waiting friends or letters to catch an out
| going mail.
Pleasures of . Quarantine.
Should quarantine be imposed, as it is
more than likely to be during seasons of
| epidemic though there may not be case Of
| sickness on board-the vessel is sent away
back to Ilha Grande, go miles down the
coast. There is no accounting for quaran-
tine regulations, especially in times Of
scare. We experienced their unreasonable
ness to the full few years ago, when sail
ing among the West Indies. Because our
ship had passed place where smallpox was
raging-though no passengers were taken on
there, and nobody went ashore but the
purser on his regular business-we were not
allowed to come within three miles Of any
port Though not soul On board was i'll,
we could not visit Martinique, Barbados,
St. Thomas, nor any of the places we had
come SO far to see, nor send ashore for the
longed-for home letters waiting in the Con-
suls Office, nor dispatch those we had
written during the voyage. Passengers who
must land were compelled to spend Is days
at the quarantine station-a pesthouse to
which were consigned the leprous and dis
eased of every class and all nationalities, in
which the chances were few for a person
who entered in perfect health to come out
alive at the end Of half month.
Sad Story # Pesthouse.
Among our number was q charming
French family, who had been visiting in
Para and were coming to their home at st.
Pierre. OF course they were obliged to dis
embark at Martinique; and q mourntul pro-
cession they made-husband, wife, four
children and three servants, being rowed
away to the desert quarantine island in the
custody of officers, like criminals headed
by the yacht of the Health Commissioner,
with its significant yellow flag. Though
the family were rich and influential and all
in good health, nothing could save them
simply because they. happened to take
passage on a steamer that had stopped at an
infected port several hundred miles below
the place where they embarked. A year
later, happening to meet again the captain
of the same steamer on more fortunate
voyage, inquired after the quarantined
family, and learned with sorrow that the
husband and three of the children died Of
yellow fever contracted at the pesthouse.
About ten years ago the Brazilian author
tiles erected costly quarantine station on
Grand Island (Ilha Grande), and have got
their money back long ago, from the charges
fixed by law, for their compulsory boariers
The rates are as follows: First-class passen-
gers must pay 5000 reis PET diem for semi
starvation or villainous food; second class,
$500 reis; third class, 800 reis; children be-
tween and 10 years old, half rates. and be-
tween and years, one-third rates.
Charges for Disinfecting baggage.
Then all the baggage is disinfected, the
charges being 1000 reis per kilogrstnme-
and the ordinary Saratoga will weigh many
nothing is the matter with your luggage
and you don't want it disinfected-it must
undergo the process, or be dumped into the
bay, and you must pay for it all the same
In cases of merely quarantine ''ubserva-
tion, which Is usually from "a to 4S hours,
the vessel is required to anchor off Juru-
juba Point; but that is no hardship if ones
business Is not urgent, for the glorious
view amply compensates for being COM
PEELED to endure sea food and stuffy state |
room awhile longer.
After permission has been given BY the |
autocrats of the Custom House for free |
practique with the shore, the mails are first |
and then the steamer pro- |
ceeds to the upper anchorage, where the |
and their luggage are dis |
charged Customs officials are at once put |
on board, who remain night and day at |
their posts until the steamer is again ready |
for sea. All baggage is directly sent to the |
Custom House, where passengers can |
claim it at any time between A. NJ. and 8 |
P. NJ Nothing can be passed on board |
without special permission, not even your |
handbag or shawlstrap.
How to Preserve Nerve Tissue.
1t is wise plan to pack the few things
needed for day or two into gripsack and |
leave the trunks to their fate until you are
established in a hotel and equal to engag-
ing In the customary wrestle at the Caes.
One should remember that passports are re-
uuired, both on entering and leaving Brazil,
and no steamship company is permitted to
sell ticket to a foreigner until his pass
port has been properly viseed at the Central
police station. For this no charge is made,
though the passport cost dollar at the De-
partment of State in Washington, and an
other dollar for the oath before notary
that you are not somebody else-a specimen
of ''red tape" equal to that which compels
needy females who are SO fortunate as to Sc
cure $75 clerkship in Uncle Samuel's
Treasury to make oath (and pay for the
same) that they have ''never borne arms
against the government" Recently Rios
police authorities have adopted a regulation
requiring consular wise before their own,
and this involves slight expense. There is
also a port regulation which forbids any
with vessels in the harbor
litter P. M. without a special permit
If yeu are uhacquainted with the
Portuguese language and have gone ashore
merely for q look about town, yeti had bet