Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1901-05-30
BRAZILIAN LETTER.
History and Customs of the Great
Southern Republic.
$40 PAUIo, BRAZIL, March

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Southern Republic.
$40 PAULo. BRAZIL, March 80, 1901.
My DEAR PARENTS: The steamer Col
endge was in Yesterday and only got one
letter and bundle OF papers from home,
and half OF the boys got nothing at all, so
the mail has gone astray again and they
will have To wait for the next steamer,
which is quite hard to do sometimes.
And now for our trip to Parnahyba
pronounced Par mar hee barr where the
hydraulic part of the electric plant is loeat-
ed. We left town at 5. a. m ON narrow
gauge train that threatened to leave the
track any minute, and went to Tapa where
we found horses for the party, and rode
two miles TO the first camp on the pole
line. where we had breakfast. Then we
made IA miles more on horseback to Par
nahyba over as wild a country as you can
imagine. Several of the new men had
never ridden horse and their experiences
were decidedly new, being hit by the low
branches OF the trees, crossing brooks,
their horses falling down, mud, etc, but
we all got in safely at noon. The crowd
of engineers at Parnahyba have house TO
themselves. an American cook and the
best OF food, moreover everyone Is from
the West and they gave rs western
greeting and all had a right good time. At
5 D. m. We started for the station, seven
miles away. on DuchhuhIua Win tNb s8dAs
and three mules apiece, and wilder ride
l never care to take. Over hills and down
mountains, like that at Tunbridge near /.
W. Smiths, round curves and all on the
muddiest OF roads, and then after all the
hurry to reach the train it was two hours
late, after the fashion of most roads in
this forsaken land, but il will be a para
disc sometime when the right people get
here.
April 5th:-Today is Good Friday and
total holiday. No one works here today
and as the railroads are not running, we
cannot get out OF town and will spend the
time writing letters. 1t is holy day, and
there have been numerous church process
sions, headed by band,with their banners
and images, priests, women and children,
for nine-tenths of the men have nothing
to do with the church. In fact the church
question is one which is likely to bring on
a serious conflict here most any time, and
the priest will get the worst of IT, for the
sentiment and laws have steadily been
growing against them ever since Dom
Pedro was driven out. At one time they
held one-third Of all the valuable lands,
but these have been confiscated and the
liberals viii ultimately separate church
and state and the former Will go to the
wall Nearly all the educated men here
are atheists, or AZ least hostile to the
Catholic church, which is run by Italians
with the members nearly all women.
Some OF the customs of the church seem
very funny to us, but cannot tell you OF
them for II Is difficult to put in the local
color Unjust relate one incident, how
ever. A few DAYS ago there was a process
sion and on boat borne by four men was
a statue OF some saint in real armor which
must have been heavy. The float tipped
over and the saint hit and killed one man
and injured another, and to punish the
saint for his bad conduct they have put
him out Of sight and will not carry him in
the procession for six months. Rather
peculiar for the Goth century is it not 2
AS / have the time today and may not
again soon, will write little history of
this place. First, either this city or Bahia
is the oldest permanent settlement by
Europeans in the Western Hemisphere,
and the date is somewhere near 1920, and
Just out OF town still stands a chapel with
a Latin inscription and the date 1908
upon il. From 1865 to 50 1t was the pro-
visory place first OF the Spanish, then OF
The English, or rather its port, which is
now destroyed, and was the most southern
port of the 5. anish main. Hither came
Drake, Frobisher and Howard and Others,
who made the seas of the Spanish main
for all but English ships.
Here also was the first mission OF the
Jesuits, who, brave men as they were, went
10 the interior Tribes when were then.
and and probably now are, cannibals. In
his very state Of Sac Paulo, which is the
size of all New England, exist today tribes
Df Indians as fierce and wild as three
ago, and their weapons are still
Of stone with the bow and arrow. None
of them are ever seen in town and they
hold no intercourse with other races. The |
coast Indians OF different race were long |
ago absorbed in the other races, and some
)f the proudest families boast descent from |
Portuguese conquerors and the Indians |
Hike. From my window | can see the |
Ayenida where few hundred English |
under Howard stood off hundred thous- |
md bows and arrows, and finally cut their |
way through to the ship, distance to the |
Did harbor of 30 miles.
In this same place independence from |
Portugal was declared in 1S22 and one of /
the battles occurred here. Here later 1
came Garabaldi and learned that guerrilla |
warfare which freed Italy in after years |
And again the expulsion OF Dom Pedro |
was planned here, for Rio was. and is to- |
day rOyalist city. Sac Paulo has sup |
piled two of the three presidents since the |
republic was established, and in the COM
ing election will probably have third in |
Bernadino de Campos, whose son is the |
legal advisor. Here are the |
best schools, sanitation, lights, transport |
Iation and all that goes to make a good |
city, and is the best city in Brazil and |
second only to Buenos Ayres in South |
America A.GS
To be continued