The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-07-19
NEGROES IN BRAZIL
Swallowed Livery of the Burn-
ished Sun No Disgrace.
Emancipation Of slavery and the Effect Upon
Social Questions-A Full Equality
Of the Races.

1
Rio DE JANEIRo June 5, S92.-TCorres-
pondence of The SALT LAKE HERALD. j
Had Othello lived in this country he would
not have said '.mislike me not for my COM
piexlon," for no Brabantio would have re-
fused him daughter on that account. In
Brazil one's social status does not depend
upon the color of the CUTS, for in high life
and low, the blood of the aboriginal Brazil
ian, mixed with Spanish and Portuguese.
has been more frequently stained BY that
of the African than notified with Anglo
Saxon. Here 1.-THE Swallowed livery Of the
FURNISHED sun" is no disgrace, however,
intensified. and one often sees in q single
family as many shades OF complexion as
there are numbers In it. Among the
creme de la creme of the aristocracy there
are negro and mulatto families who have
been free and rich, from away back to the
] Senegambian bongo Of their ancestors.
You need not be surprised to meet on the
fashionable Rua do Ouvidor, blonde beau
English parentage, promensning with
negroes whose conspicuously displayed
diamonds seem to light up the square; or
over-dressed senoras, with fattened noses
and hair OF natural crimp, riding in en-
blazoned carriages, Haunting their fnery
in opera boxes and mopoptizing the chois-
est at hotel tables. One of the finest houses
in Rio is occupied by viscount Of fabu-
lous wealth, the complexion OF whose
kinky haired spouse it would be stretch
politeness to call cafe au-lait. The other
day there was fashionable wedding at the
Imperial Capilla ds Gloria, attended by the
elite of the capital; and the bride was the
lovely young daughter of Spanish
planter, the groom burly negro, black as
the ace Of spades
MONEY MORE THAN BLOOD.
Even in slavery days Brazilians were
not very particular about the amalgama-
! ton of colors, SO that man or woman
possessed freedom and worldly goods,
dinhero (mouey) being the standard, rather
than blood. Inc Brazilian constitution
never had anything to say about color as
| basis Of civil rights; hence negro, though
born in bondage, once free, could rise to
any social of political position by luck,
! pluck and energy. And now having abol-
jshed slavery, Brazil has no difficulties to
overcome in settling the social questions
growing out of it, such as have puzzled the
United States, because here the general
fusion was already far advanced and race
preiudices do not exist. Sorue Of the most
intelligent men of the country, who were
educated In Paris at the Portuguese college
| OF Coimbra. are thedescendants OF African
slaves. In the medical college and theolog-
| ical schools of the country no race d1stiEc-
tions are made, and some of the closest
L. .,of,1o +s,A 81
the quiet rooms OF the National library,
one notices that the books and tables are
almost exclusively occupied by woody
headed aspirants after learning; and 1t
must be confessed that 80 far as ambition
and successful mental effort go, it would
seem that the greater the mixture of negro
blood with the Latin, the more satisfactory
the result.
TIE STORY OF ANDRE REBoUCAs,
the best civil engineer Brazil has ever
known-illustrates the entire absence OF
race prejudice in this part Of the world
The profession of engineering ranks among
the highest in Brazil, and while yet
young man Reboucas had filed numerous
positions of trust abroad and responsibility
at bone, and was on terms of intimacy
with all the dlgnatries OF the late empire,
in whose houses he was an nonored guest.
1t happened one time that he was present
at a ball. where among the guests were
several members of the imperial family
and party If tourists from the United
States. Among the latter was a young
lady from Baltimore and the mulatto was
at once charmed by her blue eyes and
golden hair. Seeking an introduction, ne
asked her to dance-and was painfully en-
barrassed by conspicuously indignant re-
fusal This little exhibition of race preju-
dice so common in North America but
hardly comprehended in other countries
was observed by Count d. Eu, husband of
the princess imperial-a brave and noble
gentleman, descended from q line OF
French kinRs-and he at once whispered
something in the ear of his wife. She
smiled graciously, and Immediately there
after was seen waltzing with the dark
skinned engineer. The whisper went
around and the proudest ladies OF the court
We'd with one another in heaping honors on
the blushing Othello-while the fair-haired
American looked on with scorn and amaze
ment. In Brazil, which has never pre-
tended much in the way OF republicanism
Rebpuocas might promenade with royalty
and be hand-In- glove with nabobs and
statesmen; but when he went to the Land
of the Free where the favorite boast is
equal rights and other bosh, he was refused
admittRnce TO hotels, elected from sleeping
cars, and offered other indignities which
tlicting upon large proportion Of their
fellow-citizens.
SLAVERY Az IT EXISTED.
It is only about q quarter OF a century
since there were upwards of three million
slaves In Brazil 1t is said that In 1850,
ltbe year before tbs intervention Of the
British government broke up the
foreign trade) $4,000 Africans were i'm
ported within eleven months The coun-
try planters, born with the idea that the
slaves were as much their own property,
to do with as they pleased, as were their
mules and machinery = considered it
cheaper to use up negro in five or six
years and then replace him by fresh
one, than to take care of him.
But when the traffic from Africa ceased
and the price Of human flesh advanced,
other ideas engendered by selfish interest,
began TO prevail. Yet the best of masters
required slaves to work sixteen hours out
OF every twenty-four, and many exacted
eighteen hours OF toll reouited ouly by
scanty food and miserable shelter. The
ordinary routine was this: The slaves
were called to work at a. M. At 6
o'clock coffee was given to them; and
breakfast at . o'clock. The meal in
verbally consisted OF dried meat cooked
with beans and mandioca meal and some
times corn bread was added. It was eaten
+. - ..ll 4.-4- tr-fr.