Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-10

orally do, and stayed on ahore until the
very last minnie before the ship Is to sail
The common price, each way, is 1900 rels
though two passengers are often carried on
the one fare. The law requires all boats to
public vehicles and carregadores (poftefs)
in the city, and it is well to make note O
these In case Of any Misunderstanding shall
arise.
While we fingered. on the massive stone
dock that lines the water front Of Rio, we
| noticed . curious steam yacht close by,
painted white, with open galleries and .
strange flag flying. We wondered with
languid interest what it could be, but did
not inquire, there being none but Portu-
guese-speaking people at hand.
| Danger in an Unusual Form.
Presently an ambulance drove down to 1t,
and litter, with sick man on 1t, was
hauled out by some uniformed persons and
put on board. Everybody fell back with a
most surprising show Of respect, (every-
body but ourselves, We wanted to see what
was going on), utter silence fell for mo-
ment upon the noisy throng, and thought
within myself that had never seen wharf
loafers display 50 little intrusive curiosity.
: Was it some member of the royal family
some noble but invalid relative Of the late
Dom Pedro going out tor an airing in his
private yacht? Just then the purser, look
ing somewhat pale, came hurrying up. "For
| heavens sake" he cried, "why didn't you
get out of the way when that thing went
| by?"
"what thing?" we innocently asked.
''Why the hospital yacht, to be sure,
loaded down to the guards with smallpox
| and yellow fever"
The first place on shore that foreigner
generally seeks is the establishment of some
money-changer, in order to convert his
| American gold or English sovereigns, or
the coin of the last country he visited, into
the circulating medium" of Brazil. And
very much astonished will he be when the
| changer hands over huge pile of metal
copper, brass, iron and nickle, that looks
like old pewter plates, stove lids and the
ponderous brass tags that landlords some
times attach to door keys to prevent them
| from being carried off in the pockets OF
their patrons.
A Few Dollars Are q Big Load.
A very few American dollars, exchange
added, when converted into the currency of
this country, requires cart, rather than q
pocketbook, in which to take 1t away.
Brazil still adberes to the old Portuguese
system of financial enumeration, in which
| it takes 1000 reis to make what we call half
dollar, the word "reis"being the plural Of
| real When reis are at par, 100 Of them are
worth about 5 cents American money.
What hard time of it Brazilian book
keepers must have OF it, withthe long lines
of figures which represent the ordinary COM
mercial transactions of banking or mer-
camille house. For example, real, the
unit OF the monetary system, is written
0S001 and is equal to the value of one twen-
tieth Of the United States cent. There is
no such coin in circulation, the smallest be-
ing 10 reis. There is copper coin of 40
reis, and nickle coin of 100 reis, and another
of 200 reis., Next comes the paper money
in notes, of 900 reis, called milreis There
are milreis 5, 10, 20, 80, 30 and 100, to a
maximum of 500 milreis, numerically ex-
pressed this way-50OsOOO. Then there is
an imaginary denomination named conto,
which means 200 milreis, and is expressed
on paper 1:000$ The par value of the paper
milreis is equal to about "a cents American
money, but of course it varies with the
times On the day Of the revolution. No
vember Is, 1889, 1t was at par, and has never
been since. A while ago it was down to II
cents, and to-day is up to 90 cents.
Financial Figures That stagger One.
A copper coin Of the old monarchy worth
half cent still circulates largely In North
ern Brazil, which is fit only to use In driv-
ing nails, or for paper weights, being alto
gether too heavy to carry in any pocket
Though they lay around ever so carelessly
nobody ever steals them, being too burden
some to get away with. On inquiring the
price OF living at an hotel you are at first
amazed to find that 1t is so many milreis per
diem and are absolutely staggered when the
laundry bill is presented in six figures.
Fancy a full proportiohed bank note
worth cents 1t takes eight of these hun
dred milreis bills to pay tor horse-car ride
out to the botanical gardens and back. In
course Of that rather long drive you will
observe that the conductors pockets and
the breast OF his coat bulge out more and
more with these bank notes, till by the
time he is oppressed with 81 30 he looks
like carelessly stuffed scarecrow.
One Of the bills closely resembles the
"greenback' that is 80 dear to our souls,
and has engraved upon its back, sides, mar
gin and four corners the satisfying figures
500. The possession of few of these
makes one feel like q bloated bondholder-
until he learns from sad experience how
little they will buy.
Dom Pedro's Face Is Everywhere.
This Brazilian greenback bears the words,
"Quinhentes Refs, Imperie de Brazil" and !
an excellent Likeness of poor Dom Pedro, |
as does nearly all tne paper money OF the |
country, though even the bilious looking |
flag, all green mold and yellow fever color.
with its cross of the Order of Christ and
the sphere of the old Portuguese explorers,
has changed somewhat since the monarchy
was murdered.
Speaking of these deceptive bills reminds
me of story that is told of late United |
States Consul to Bahia, Brazil, which is
worth repeating. AS the departing Consul
stepped aboard the steamer he handed to
his ''tenderfoot" successor One Of those
tempting looking "5OO'' bills.
''Take it, take it, he said with sympa-
thetic feeling. when the other would have
rejected so much protfered wealth. 'Set-
tie with my creditors, ii leave any be-
hind, and never mind about the change.
Just treat the boys in my name whenever
they call and keep my memory green
1t happened that a lot of ssthe boys"
dropped in that afternoon, and the Joke
cost the new Consul the value Of pocket
ful of those bills, they being worth at the
time exactly % cents each.
So far as am aware there is but one cur
.ency in the world more infinitesimal than
hat OF Brazil, and that is the antediluvian
small shells called cowries, which circulate
Is money in Africa and India-a cowrie be-
ng equal to about one.fftieth Of an Ameri-