Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-10-10

am now writing. Here the men looked
over the country and bought lands,
paying about IS an acre or less. They
did not settle as colony, but scattered
about over the country, each man max
ing his own purchase and paying for
his own tract according to his means.
There was no community interest ex-
cept that of being ellow-Americans.
That was almost fifty years ago, and
since then a great number. of the set
tiers have made their homes here.
Some have become disguised long since
and gone back to the states. Others
returned home only TO come hack TO
Brazil. finding that they preferred the
conditions here to those of the new
regime in our country. number
have stayed and become Brazilians.
here with their families are the fol-
lowing:
Mr.. William Pyles from Georgia, Mr..
William Reese from Mississippi, Mr..
Alonzo Reese from Mississippi, Mr..
William Prestidge from Alabama, Mr..
Wilbur Mcknight from Texas, Mr..
Ezekiel Pyles from Georgia, Mr.. John
Rowe from Mississippi. Mr.. McAlpin
from Alabama. Mr.. Charles C. Finley
from Mississippi, Mr.. John Carlton
from Virginia and others.
Mr.. Hall now lives in Americana, al
though he has a number of large farms
In the country nearby. He has sugar
plantations and cattle ranches, and is,
l judge, man of considerable wealth.
l called upon him at his home, and met
some of his children, who are now
grown up. The young ladies have been
educated in the United States, and the
family is a delightful little slice of
America transplanted to the heart Of
Brazil. Mr.. Hall did not come with the
party from New Orleans, but on a later
steamer. which carried several fami-
lies from Alabama and elsewhere. The
first settlement near Santos was at the
town of Iguape. and Mr.. Hall said the
colony contained a preacher by the
name of Ballard Dunn, who returned to
America and brought out more people.
When the Iguape colony became dis
gusted Ballard Dunn left them and
went back to the United States. After
that the exodus occurred, and the
people climbed to the highlands, many
of them on foot. None Of the colony
cheap, and those who held on have
found that their investments have
auadrupled and quintupled in value,
although l doubt whether the land has,
on the whole, increased more thansimi-
lar lands in those parts of the United
States from where they came
And still there are not many parts of
the world more beautiful, more fertile
and more salubrious than these high
lands Of Sac Paulo. The land is about
1000 feet above the sea. 1t is about
twice as far south of the equator as
Panama is north of it, and the climate
Is something like that of southern
Florida or northern Cuba. The scenery
is beautiful. The country is rolling and
1t reminds me of the Shenandoah val
ley of Virginia or the famous blue grass
lands of Kentucky. There are great
meadows with trees scattered here and
there through them, and you have
succession of views at every spin of
your motor car.
The soil is rich and it will raise corn,
cotton, sugar cane and rice. Some of
the cotton lands now under cultivation
are producing bale and half to the
acre. and sugar cane grows luxuriantly.
There Is a great deal of rice raised, and
there are four rice mills near villa
Americana. Not long ago some of the
Americans started planting water
melons. They were doing, well when
the Italians came in and competed,
cutting the prices to such an extent
that the Americans had to give up the
business. The Italian immigrants are
They live on almost moth
ing, a large part of their food being
and mush. One of the Ameri-
cans tells me they eat the mush and
smell the sausage and this suffices.
In connection with the agricultural
conditions of this part of Brazil, can
not do better than describe my visit to
the farm of one of the Oldest Of the