Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-04

hotel tables and in the dining rooms OF the
steamers. the black and the white sit
down together. The Rame family may con- (
tain both blacks and whites and one secs
every shade of brown and yellow IA the
compilations of the passersby as he walks
through the streets. There are many coll
ored people of note. When I was In Rio
some years ago one of the principal editors
was as black as my boots. and I met. at
reception given by the American minis
ter. a Catholic bishop of Intelligence and
culture whose skin was a chocolate brown
In the Brazilian Stores.
The American delegates win bring pres
ents home for their friends, and doubt not
Mrs. and Miss Root and the other Amer
lean ladies of the party will spend consider
able time shopping in the ouvidor They
will find plenty to buy The Brazillans are
fond of jewelry. and Rio is said 10 be one
Of The best diamond markets % the world.
Most or their stones come from South AZ.
RIGA, although the mines near Bahia arc
still producing fine diamonds. Among the
purchases usually made by foreigners are
hummng birds set as jewelry. About Rie
there are many such birds OF the most brile
liant plumage. some of which are no bigger
than the first joint of your thumb and soma
hardly as big ones little finger. There
are also egrets and numerous beetles OF
iridescent hues. One can buy beetles by
the pint. of such kind that one set in
gold forms beautiful scarfpin or earring.
showing forth every color of the rainbow.
A queer thing about shopping in Rio is
the price mark. Silks sometimes sell for
f0,000 refs ard cotton at 2000 reis or so per
yard. The sums seem enormous until one
learns that a thousand reis are worth but
n few cents of our money, and that several
thousand go for a dollar. During my stay
in Rio / once took some gold coin to the
bank and got a million and a quarter reis in
exchange. This seems extravagant until
you know that II then took just that many
reis to equal 5000.
VI.
Rio de Janeiro lives well. and its markets
form one of the sights OF the city. Many
of the vegetables are brought from Spain.
notwithstanding the soil of Brazil win raise
almost everything. Among the most i'm
portant of such imports are garlic and
onions. The onions are braided together in
strings and sold by ped'llers who go from
house to house. the strings being thrown
over their shoulders. Fruit Is imported
from Portugal and other countries OF Eu-
rope and apples are brought in from New
England. A good. sound American apple
often sells for 10 cents, and one can get a
half dozen fine oranges for less. Meat is
sold as soon as 1t is killed. Very little is
kept in cold storage, and in most markets.
the price declines from daylight TO
dark. In the morning II may bring 10 cents
a pound. but along toward o'clock II can
be bought for or s. The reason Is that
the hot weather may, cause the meat 10
spoil and the health officials Will then direct
Dried meat often sells for more than
fresh meat. This is especially so of Jerked
beef which is q favorite food of all classes
and which is brought by the ship load rom
the Argentine and Paraguay TO Rio de Ja-
metro This meat has a strong smell and
is very salty: II is largely used for stews.
Another high-priced meat is fat pork,
which is used for cooking with beans.
Americans In Brazil.
Secretary Root will find number OF
Americans in Brazil, and also that the
United States is doing considerable BUSH
ness with that great South American re-
public. We have large exporting houses at
Rio and Santos, whose chief business 1t is
to ship coffee to the United States. Brazil
is the greatest coffee country of the world
and Uncle Sam is It's principal customer.
We drink more coffee than any other peo-
pie In 1894 we consumed almost billion
pounds four-fifths of which came from
Brazil. We bought so0.o00GGo pounds OF
her in 1893 and paid more than S64.oOo,o0U
for 1t. All our great coffee companies have
connections with Rio and Santos. and
many of them prepare their coffee at those
ports for the American market
There is also lot of American money in
vested in railroads and electric plants in
Rio de Janeiro and Sac Paulo. The bo-
tanical garden car lire of Rio was built by
aa American named Greenough. and Ameri-
cans built the first street car lines in-Ma-
cans are interested i'm Sac Paulo and its
electric plants
An American College.
Brazil has a force of American missiona-
ries and quite a number of American school
teachers One of the best female colleges
of all South America Is situated In Pc
tropois, not far from where Secretary
Root is now stopping. The college build
ings are palatial in character. The rooms
have ceilings from fifteen to eighteen feet
high, the kitchen is walled with porcelain
tiles and the bath room has a marble
swimming pool, with shower baths adj
joining. The school rooms are equipped
with American desks and the best of our
modern maps and instruments; and, on the
whole, the college ranks in Brazil some
what as Vassar does in this country. This
school is under the charge of the women
of the American Methodist Church. who
each pay 10 cents week toward IL. It's
teachers are Americans, and the students
are young ladies from the best Brazilian
families throughout the republic
FRANK G. CARPENTER.