The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-08-04

| = = = 4 4 y 4 y = = y y + \ y y y
= M. M. Murtaugh, the writer of =
= the accompanying article, is a \
= consulting hydraulic engineer of =
= this city, who has lately return =
= ed from Brazil, where he has =
= been for more than a year en- =
= gagged in building a dam and wa =
= ter power electric plant near y
y Sac PauIo, in the Brazilian state y
= of that name. During his resi- =
Z dence in Brazil Mr.. Murtaugh =
= employed at various times thou =
| q sands of natives. \
2 = = y = I > = = ~ =
geous plunase, but they do not sing
/ In Brazil the gentlemen saturate them
selves With expensive perfumes. The
women of Brazil use no perfume al
al, When native 'BTaZilians meet one
another they say goodbye. When they
depart from one another they say, How
do you do or words TO that effect
Their gestures OF salutation are the
reverse OF ours. They get off the
world it is that prevents them from
breaking their necks every time they
do 1t Is puzzle 1 was never able Ii
solve. The only thing that surprised
me in this topsy tUrvy land was the
fact that they did not begin their din
ners with . demi tasse and end them
with sop. That would have made the
picture absolutely perfect.
For Doliteness I must award the
palm TO the BrGzilia brother. He
Salutes his women friends by raisinl
his hat. but when he meets a male
acquaintance ne gees through most
elaborate ceremony. He places his
right arm over his friends left Shout
der and the left arm under the right
arm, tho friend performing similarly.
/ Then the two embrace each other sew
Feral times at the same time patting
each other gently on the back Il they
meet each other 4 dozen times. d day
the same performance. lasting several
minutes, is gone through with
Brazilian gentlemen have one habit
that gives the American woman a dis
tinct shock. although it must be said
that the Brazilian means only to be
polite If he sees a woman wearing
a particularly pretty gown, no matter
whether he knows her or not, he is
quite likely to walk up to her, remove
his hat. and with an elaborate bow
say 'Munti bonita the same meaning
very pretty. He simply cannot resist
this chndnke expression of his appTc-
citation.
Gambling the National Vice.
The Brazilian national vice is not
oYerindUlgence in intOxicants. In my
stay down there l saw the little po-
licemen--it takes half a dozen of them
to handle q full grown man-arrest .
hummer of men for drunkenness, and
I must regretfully say that in only
one or two instances were the offend
ers Brazilians. IN practically every
instance the drunken man was & for
eigner. And how some of the big for
eigners did toss the policemen around
But the policemen never failed to stay
with their man until they landed him.
The national vice is gambling, lot
terry gambling. Every Brazilian
whether he is ricil or poor, must have
his lottery tickets. 1t is a custom sc
general that foreign nousekeepers have
come to regard it with equanimity fol
the servants always to hold out
enough of the money you give them
for the purchase of supplies to invest
in lottery tickets. The lottery is a
national institution, backed by the
government anu
some revenue. The capital prizes, Of
fered three times a week, are very
tempting, for they run from $4,000 to
s45.OO0. with a total distribution OF
from s65,000 to 100000. Tickets cos;
anywhere from 6 to 20 cents. The for
eigner who doesn't eventually purchase
lottery ticket now and then on the
quiet is strong-willed indeed.
Let me illustrate by story how
great a party the lottery plays in the
everyday life of the nation. One morn
ing between, 9 and 10 o'clock, 1 was
going by trolley to my office. The car
was crowded to the footboards when
we passed a street intersection and
were hailed by a native half a block
away. The car stopped and he saun-
tered towards it. Thee foreigners on
board waited impatiently, but the ma
tives saw nothing unusual in the per-
Torrance. At last the fellow reached
the ear, but just as he was about to
board it a lottery ticket man came up.
The tardy passenger calmly halted
and leisurely looked over the tickets.
After what seemed an interminable
time he found two numbers ne liked,
bought the tickets, boarded the car
and then we started again. Can you