Rio Grande do Sul

“ The coast is one great sand beach, broken only at one point—that of the outlet of the two lakes, called the Rio Grande, which affords an entrance to navigable inland waters and several ports. There are two distinct river systems in Rio Grande do Sul—that of the, eastern slope draining to the tide-water lakes, and that of the La Plata basin draining westward to the Uruguay. ”

“ Several of, these colonies, such as São Leopoldo, Novo Hamburgo and Conde d’Eu (now Garibaldi) , have become important towns and are, no longer under colonial administration. Italian colonies were subsequently established, also with good results, but an Irish colony founded at Monte Bonito, near Pelotas, about 1851, failed completely. The capital of Rio Grande do Sul is Porto Alegre at the northern extremity of Lagôa dos Patos, and its two next most important cities are Rio Grande and Pelotas, both at the southern extremity of the same lake. ”

“ The only parts that are as yet comparatively well-peopled are the coast strip and the fertile valleys debouching on that strip, some inland districts in the state of Minas Geraes, and in the southern states of São Paulo, Santa Catharina, and Rio Grande do Sul. Even in these the population is still far below the capacities of the country. ”

“ By a coasting steamer, one will first visit the State of Rio Grande do Sul, the most southern in Brazil, well away from the tropics, hence with a temperate climate, much like that of Georgia, and largely settled by Germans. For a State with considerable seaboard, the location of its three chief cities on a fresh water lake or lagoon may at first appear curious, yet of course there is a reason. The coast being flat and generally sandy the best harbor is the lagoon, separated from the sea by a sandy spit of land only a few miles wide. ”

“ Rio Grande do Sul has a much larger population of German descent than any other state in Brazil. The main reason why so many Germans settled in this state we may attribute to the climatic conditions which are here more favorable to Germanic peoples than in any other section of the country. ”

“ Germany became for about twenty-five years the very best recruiting ground for Brazil.
The second official colony was founded in Rio Grande do Sul, and consisted entirely of Germans—one hundred and twenty-six persons originally—who came in 1825. The colony was named São Leopoldo, used the water highway of the Rio dos Sinos until a railway line was built connecting it with Porto Alegre and with new colonies to the north, and has developed into one of the chief towns of the state, with forty thousand inhabitants. ”

“ After holding several military commands, he was appointed in 1886 governor of the province of Rio Grande do Sul. In this position he threw himself heartily into politics, espoused the republican opinions then becoming prevalent, and sheltered their exponents with his authority. ”

“ It was once cultivated in Rio Grande do Sul with some success, and it has been grown in Minas Geraes and São Paulo, but in no case have the returns been sufficient to give it a permanent standing among the productions of the country. The great majority of the people are unused to wheaten bread, using the coarse flour of the mandioca root instead, consequently the demand for wheat and flour is confined to the large cities, which can obtain them from Argentina more cheaply than they can be produced in the country. ”

“ In point of numbers, Santa Catharina is next to the most important state in Brazil so far as German colonization is concerned.
RIO GRANDE DO SUL.
São Leopoldo, a state colony, was founded in 1824. The first settlers came from the Hunsrück section. To-day its population is estimated at more than 50,000, mostly of German descent. [32] We may designate São Leopoldo as the center of the "Deutschbrasilianerthum" of Rio Grande do Sul. ”

“ Horses are used to some extent for riding, but very little for carriage and draught purposes, consequently there has been no great incentive for their breeding. They are largely used and raised in Rio Grande do Sul, but in the warmer regions of the north only to a limited extent. The hardier mules are generally employed for draught, carriage, and saddle purposes in every part of the country, and their breeding is a lucrative industry in the southern states. ”

“ Impressment is commonly employed to fill the ranks, and in cases of emergency the prison population is drawn upon for recruits. The president is nominally commander-in-chief of the army, but the actual command is vested in a general staff in the national capital, and in the general commanding each of the seven military districts into which the republic is divided. The most important of these districts is that of Rio Grande do Sul, where a force of 11,226 men is stationed. The principal war arsenal is in Rio de Janeiro. ”

“ Rhodanus, the Rhine, Rye, Rea, Rhee, Rhea, Rey, Rheus, Roe, Ruhr, etc.; Rio-doce and Rio-dulce (sweet or fresh river) , in opposition to Rio-salada (salt river) ; Rio-branco (white river) ; Rio-bravo-del-norte (the great north river) ; Rio-grande-do-sul (the great south river) ; Rio-negro (black river) ; Rio-tinto (coloured river) ; Rio-colorado, with the same meaning; Rio-de-Janeiro, generally called Rio—so named by the Portuguese discoverer because the bay was discovered on the feast of [165] St. Januarius: the city founded at the place, and now called Rio, was originally named St. Sebastian ”

“ Ackerbaukolonien. Dr. Hermann Meyer's Ackerbaukolonien Neu-Würtemberg und Xingu in Rio Grande do Sul. Leipzig, 1904. (Pamphlet.)
Agassiz, Prof. Louis and Mrs.: A Journey to Brazil. Boston, 1868.
Angerami, Domingos. V. Fonseca, Antonio.
Auswanderer. Central Auskunftstelle für Auswanderer. Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft. Rio Grande do Sul. Berlin, 1904. (Pamphlet.)
Avé-Lallement, Dr. Robert: Reise durch Südbrasilien im Jahre 1858. Leipzig, 1859. (2 vols.)
Bastos, Travares: Questões de Immïgração. (Manuscript in National Library. Rio.)
Blumenau, Dr. ”

“ I have, indeed, no personal knowledge of the other divisions of land west of the Rocky Mountains; yet an acquaintance with gentlemen of character and veracity who have visited those sections, justifies the opinion that none of them abound in those elements of exuberant and permanent greatness so characteristic of the States east of the Rio Grande and the Mississippi. Oregon and Washington territories, Utah and New Mexico are tolerable countries, and, in some respects, superior to California ”

“ Yet still the flat-roofed town, capital of the district in Rio Grande known as Encima de la Sierra, the stopping-place for the great droves of mules which from the Banda Oriental and Entre Rios are driven to the annual fair at Surucaba; the stodgy Brazilian countrymen so different from the Gauchos of the River Plate; the negroes at that time slaves; the curious vegetation, and the feeling of being cut off from all the world, are fresh as yesterday. ”

“ For the governor of Rio Grande, of whom I have already spoken, assured us that in the neighbourhood of this island there were considerable rivers which were found to be extremely rich, and that this was the reason that a garrison, a military governor, and a new colony was settled there. And as the harbour at this island is by much the securest and the most capacious of any on the coast, it is not improbable, if the riches of the neighbourhood answer their expectation, but it may become in time the principal settlement in Brazil, and the most considerable port in all South America. ”

“ The capital, Porto Alegre, is the chief manufacturing centre, and the State is third in such industries. The capital is the largest city in southern Brazil, with a cosmopolitan population one fourth of German descent. An important commercial and industrial centre, it has fine public buildings, colleges, theatres, clubs, good shops, parks, and hotels. The population is nearly all white with a large percentage of Italians as well as of Germans.
Rio Grande is the chief port, 1000 miles south of Rio de Janeiro, and 180 by sea north of Montevideo. ”

“ The city is built on a low sandy peninsula, barely 5 ft. above sea-level, formed by two arms of the Rio Grande projecting westward from the main channel, the peninsula being part of a large sandy plain extending southward. along the coast to Lagôa Mirim. The level of the plain is broken by ranges of sand dunes, some of which rise not far from the city on the south and south-east. The openness of the surrounding country and the proximity of the sea give to Rio Grande unusually healthy conditions, which, however, are largely counteracted by defective sanitary arrangements. ”

“ The Old South rested everything on slavery and agriculture, unconscious that these could neither give nor maintain healthy growth. The New South presents a perfect democracy, the oligarchs leading in the popular movement—a social system compact and closely knitted, less splendid on the surface but stronger at the core—a hundred farms for every plantation,192 fifty homes for every palace, and diversified industry that meets the complex needs of this complex age. ”

“ The gentlemen from Texas have attempted to sustain their claim by the same argument; but, when pressed, they have been compelled to acknowledge that they never had any settlements in the valley of the Rio Grande. One of the gentlemen has said that they raised a company of rangers, which had made incursions into the country west of the desert, and in this way they established their jurisdiction. ”

“ I shall now undertake to show, that the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata possess such a government. Its limits, extending from the south Atlantic ocean to the Pacific, embrace a territory equal to that of the United States, certainly equal to it exclusive of Louisiana. Its population is about three millions, more than equal to ours at the commencement of our revolution. That population is a hardy, enterprising, and gallant population. ”

“ The pine forests of Paraná and Santa Catharina with their flowery carpets were a series of fine pictures, while the wide-spread sunny pastures of southern Rio Grande, a perfect cattle country with a cool climate, are waiting 142for more white immigrants. Herds stray on the sides of gentle grassy slopes and in the valleys where a cluster of green marks the bed of a little river, fields are marked out and a red-tiled house nestles—but these are all too few. ”

“ It dawned upon them that this was, after all, a good country to live in, and a good government to live under, and a good people to live with. And it is this sentiment, grown up slowly but with steadily increasing strength and spreading among all classes of society, even those whose feelings against the Union were bitterest during and immediately after the war, that has made the New South as we see it to-day. ”

“ The labour on the great coffee estates of São Paulo is almost entirely Italian; and in Rio Grande they have become well-to-do peasant proprietors, living in less comfort than their German neighbours, but working just as steadily. ”

“ Later in the year the Southern Commercial Congress, representing ten States, assembled in Washington, and I was asked to preside at the opening session in the large ballroom of the New Willard Hotel. There were three or four hundred people present. I devoted my address to a comparison between the old agricultural South and the new industrial South, pointing out that as the economic interests of the South were no longer sectional but national, it must follow that politically there is no longer a reason for "the solid South." ”

“ In Florida and Texas the people are making commendable progress in restoring their State governments, and no doubt is entertained that they will at an early period be in a condition to resume all of their practical relations with the federal government. ”

“ Nevertheless the cities have become a distinct feature of the New South; and their healthy growth is one of the most hopeful tokens of prosperity. The largest is of course New Orleans, which has now passed the three hundred thousand mark and, in the estimation of its people, is on the way to surpass New York City. What else does it mean when the Southern port in one year ships more wheat than the Northern? But New Orleans is only the fourteenth in size of the American cities, and the Lower South has only one other, Atlanta, which goes into the list of the fifty largest cities of the Union. ”

“ The South, with her natural resources and advantages of climate and soil, feels that she is perfectly able to take care of herself and her affairs, and all she wants is that the legislation of the country, both Federal and State, should be that which will mete out justice to all her citizens, colored as well as white. ”

“ In the modern Southern cities may be found classes of wholesale jobbers, attorneys of great corporations, national bank officers, manufacturers, agents of life insurance and investment companies, engineers, and promoters, who were hardly known in the old South. In the social world these people still have to take their chance, for the foundation stones of society in every Southern state are the descendants of the leaders of the old régime, including many people whose former back-country farm with its half-dozen slaves has become magnified into a tradition of an old plantation. ”

“ Thus far we have traced the progress of Rhode Island, step by step from the first small settlement on the banks of the Mooshausick to the flourishing Colony, which, by its firmness and perseverance had made it mistress of the shores and islands of Narragansett Bay. We have seen it taking for its corner stone a vital principle of human society, unrecognized as yet by the most advanced civilization. ”