Brazilians

“ The Brazilians, who truly loved their country, never intended, however, to subject themselves to a constitution in which all had not a voice, and whose views were to convert them at once from free men into vile slaves. ”

“ The upper classes of the Brazilians are a well educated and cultivated people. Most of them have been schooled in France, and speak the French language almost as fluently as their own. In Paris there is always a goodly sized Brazilian colony, and the boats passing between Rio and Europe always carry a number of Brazilians to and from that European capital. They find the atmosphere of the French capital more congenial, and full of the simpatica which means so much to the Latin people. ”

“ Turning from these anticipations, and glancing beyond the Brazilian life which is already familiar to us, we catch glimpses of another population connected with the Eastern Brazilians only by the necessities of commerce and production. In this inland society are mingled—under some strange and many picturesque aspects—several distinct varieties, of which the early creole, the aboriginal, and the negro races are the original types. Any rapid material progress will bring changes into this strange society, and already is it entering on a transition stage. ”

“ Naturally, in a young country like Brazil—I am speaking of new Brazil, now wide awake, not of the Brazil which has been asleep for some decades—perfection cannot be reached in everything in one day. It is really marvellous how much the Brazilians have been able to accomplish during the last ten years or so in their cities, on or near the coast. ”

“ THE HISTORY OF BRAZIL Brazil and the Brazilians cannot be understood without knowledge of their history, for here as in no other part of Latin America the past has led up to the present without any violent upheaval. ”

“ It was realized that a change would come about with the passage of years, when the second or third generations grew and mingled in a common society, Brazilians born and bred, and that meanwhile Brazil was too big to fear the effect of these nucleos with their strong retention of foreign loves and habits. Broadminded enough to sympathize with such feelings, the Brazilian knows that no man worth his salt forgets his native land ”

“ Life in Brazil, if in Rio, was very gay; life at São Paulo was very like a farmhouse life, with cordiality and sociability with the other farmhouses, and some of the good Brazilian society was very charming. The Brazilians are to the Portuguese what the Americans are to us. The Portuguese is heavy; the Brazilian is light, active, nervous, spirituel. Their parties are much enlivened by music and dance. ”

“ The class of Brazilians of whose mode of living the foregoing conveys a slight idea is fast disappearing before the rapid strides that civilization is making in the country. The majority of the planters of the present day are [115] intelligent, and free from most of the prejudices inherited from the old Portuguese settlers. ”

“ Before the coming of the Germans, South Brazil was almost totally neglected; demand for tropical produce such as sugar and tobacco had kept the attention of Portuguese and their mixed-blood descendants for over three centuries to North Brazil, where negro slaves multiplied on the warm coast; the grassy uplands of the south attracted few Brazilians, and these chiefly bandeirantes whose main business was to keep out Spaniards from the Plate, and whose wild cattle strayed and bred on the natural pastures. ”

“ Brazilians have their own way of thinking, which is not ours, and which is to us almost incomprehensible. [11] They are most indirect in their thoughts and deeds—a characteristic which is purely racial, and which they themselves cannot appreciate, but which often shocks Europeans. ”

“ The Brazilians are impetuous, and very ready to embark upon great undertakings, many of which are only practicable in their fervid imaginations. They have been held back by the long, unprogressive policy of their mother country Portugal and the severe handicap of slavery. ”

“ Yet with the best will in the world the Brazilians know comparatively little of the interior of their own country. It is necessary to collect all that is known from a variety of sources, and then to combine it as well as may be, so as to form an organized plan. ”

“ Perhaps it is owing to their enervating climate, but the Brazilians do not seem to work or play with a will. They have not the activity which, while it makes life a restless fever with our people, gives it interest also ”

“ The Brazilians are an interesting people. I like them. They are always courteous and polite. Men often tip their hats to each other and kiss each other's hands. In Rio de Janeiro nearly everyone is well dressed. ”

“ The Brazilians feel of more importance, their native soil now gives law to the mother country; their spirit, long kept under severe subjection to ancient colonial rules and regulations, has now had some opportunities of showing itself,—has proved, that though of long suffering, and patient of endurance, it does exist, and that if its possessors are not treated as men instead of children, it will break forth, and rend asunder those shackles to which they have forbearingly submitted. ”

“ The free population of Brazil at the present time consists of Europeans; Brazilians, that is, white persons born in Brazil; mulattos, that is, the mixed cast between the whites and blacks, and all the varieties into which it can branch; mamalucos, that is, the mixed cast between the whites and Indians, and all its varieties; [387] Indians in a domesticated state, who are called generally Caboclos; and those who still remain in a savage state, and are called generally Tapuyas; negroes born in Brazil, and manumitted Africans ”

“ Apparently, the very considerable additions to the Brazilian population by immigration during the last hundred years have made little difference to Brazilian society; it is true that the Englishman with his tennis 78and football and his rowing-clubs has introduced and popularized sport, so that today there are thousands of young Brazilians taking part in these pleasures and it is true that the influx of artistic French in the reigns of the two Emperors affected and stimulated sculpture, painting and writing in Brazil ”

“ The European has asked for Brazilian raw products, brought ships to carry them, built ports for the ships to lie in and railroads to freight the products to the ports; has sold manufactured goods and lent Brazil the money with which to pay for them, and established banks for financial operations connected with the business created. Millions of hardy and industrious people have gone to live in Brazil and to bring the land into cultivation, to educate their children as Brazilians and help in the mental progress of the country. ”

“ The whites, Portuguese and Brazilians, are a relatively more numerous class here than in other settlements, and make great pretensions to civilisation; they are the merchants and shopkeepers of the place; owners of slaves, cattle estates, and cacao plantations. ”

“ Paid for by the rich man of the party. The Brazilians are of a pale Indian color, without a particle of red and with a very aged expression. They are very polite and obliging. All wear black beaver hats and glossy black frock coats, which makes them look like des épiciers endimanchés. ”

“ Tobacco and cocoa are grown largely, especially in Bahia. The exports consist solely of the raw produce of the soil.
People.—The inhabitants of Brazil, as of other parts of South America, present three great elements—that of the aboriginal Indians, that of the European conquerors and colonists and their descendants, and that of the Africans [675] introduced as slaves. The most important section of the Brazilians are the descendants of the Portuguese settlers. There are, however, several flourishing German and Italian colonies in the southern states. ”

“ A few have moved to other parts of Brazil, and others have intermarried with Brazilians; but, in general, they have remained true to their Americanism. Some of the original families purchased slaves and worked their plantations in that way, until that institution was abolished in 1888. A few have prospered very much, but many others have done just fairly well. One of the wealthiest men made his little fortune out of watermelons. Others have sugar plantations and make brandy, or raise coffee; and still others do general farming, similar to what they were accustomed in the Southern States. ”

“ The women dress with good taste, but their styles have no uniqueness about them, for they wear the same high-heeled, uncomfortable-looking shoes, and the same large Parisian-shaped hats that have driven men to despair the world over. As their years increase, however, they have a tendency to become stout, due perhaps to hearty eating and lack of exercise. I must say that the Brazilians are particularly fond of eating, and in this hot climate will devour much more food, and especially meat, than those from colder climes ”

“ In the distance huge trees were still blazing, around us was a waste of ashes and of half-consumed boughs, and the falling rain seemed only to quicken the dying conflagration. In some of the great green holes were fearful gaping wounds through which the sap was oozing, while some tall trees still stretched to heaven their triumphant crown of foliage above a trunk all charred that would never sprout again. The Brazilians contemplate spectacles such as this with a wholly indifferent eye, and, indeed, even with satisfaction, for they see in the ruin only a promise of future harvests. ”

“ Whilst the Alabama is heaving up her anchor, I deem it [Pg 620] proper to say a word or two, about emigration to Brazil; a subject which has been a good deal canvassed by our people. Brazil is an immense Empire, and has almost all the known climates and soils of the world. Nature has bestowed upon her her choicest gifts, and there is perhaps no more delightful country to reside in than Brazil. But men live for society, as well as for climate and soil. ”

“ Brazil—situated on the ocean-highway to the South Seas and the shores of India, endowed by nature, over the greater portion of her territory, with a salubrious climate, and a soil of tropical fertility, very nearly as large as Europe, and ten times the size of France, and yet containing not above 8,000,000 souls—has, far beyond all other States of South America, concentrated122 on herself, during more than half a century, the interest of the naturalist, as well as of the political economist—of the merchant as well as of the emigrant. ”

“ There were German Lutheran churches and also congregations of native Protestants started by American missionaries; for Brazil, like Argentina and the United States, enjoys genuine religious liberty.
This rich and beautiful country of southern Brazil is part of the last great stretch of country—south-temperate America—which remains in either temperate zone open to white settlement on a large scale; the last great stretch of scantily peopled land with a good climate and fertile soil to which white immigration can go in mass. ”

“ I believe that it will increase the friendship they feel for the people of Brazil; and it is with the greatest satisfaction that I shall feel entitled upon my return to say to the people of the United States that I have found in the republic of Brazil a country to which the laborers of the world may come to make new homes and to rear their families in prosperity and in happiness; that I may say to my people that I have found in the republic of Brazil a country where capital is secure, where the rights of man are held sacred, and the rewards of enterprise may be reaped without hindrance. ”

“ Nearly the whole of the investment of manhood, skill, and gold came from Europe. Brazil’s debt to other parts of the world is small. The African slave contributed more towards the opening-up of Brazil than any other race, and it is almost impossible to conceive of a flourishing Brazil without him during at least the first three centuries after Portuguese possession; the Asiatic only came here in noticeable numbers since the beginning of the present century, and the Oriental is not a strong element. North America has done remarkably little for Brazil. ”

“ Before we speak of the inhabitants of Brazil, however, we shall say a word or two of the country. Scarcely a finer country is to be found on the globe. Its climate is healthful; its soil fertile; its scenery charming, and even romantic; thick forests crown its hills, and perpetual verdure adorns its valleys; noble rivers pass in every direction, and the richest tropical fruits abound in every quarter. Brazil also is famous for its gold and diamonds. ”

“ What all observers are agreed upon is that there are very few families of pure Portuguese blood, and the climate of Brazil, except in the Highlands, is opposed, as has been noticed, to the perpetuation of any European people in its full vigour. It seems difficult to doubt that Brazil will pass more and more into the hands of the negroes; the Indians, perhaps, maintaining themselves, and spreading in the northern and more inaccessible central parts; while the white may continue for a long time to be numerous in the cities, and in parts of exceptional healthiness. ”

“ The greatest number of the colored inhabitants of Brazil are of the negro and European races, called mulattoes. It may be asserted that the inferior classes of the free population are composed of such. If ever there should be a republic, such as exists in the United States of America, as it is the aim of a numerous party in Brazil to establish, the whole class of artisans would doubtless consist of a colored population. ”

“ It is a vast land which we thus approach. Brazil spreads like a giant across its continent. Its arms are flung westwards over South America for over two thousand miles to the base of the Andes, and from above the Equator to beyond the Tropic of Capricorn, crowding its smaller neighbours—if crowding be possible here—into the extremities of the continent, an area in which the countries of Europe might be more than contained, and which is larger than the vast Anglo-American Republic, the United States. ”

“ The Brazilian is in his mental attitude an inheritor not only of Latin tradition in general but of French ideas in particular: Paris is his Mecca, French literature and French science and French art the inspirers of his youth; more cosmopolitan than the Portuguese born, because he is in close touch with all Europe as well as with the Americas, quite minus the feeling that makes the Spaniard love bull-fights, the Brazilian has grounds for his claim as the brightest spiritual heir of Latinity. ”