196 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
sovereign as enlightened as he is humane. I must have 
been blind to everything except my science, had I not a 
word to say of Brazil as a nation, of her present con- 
dition and her future prospects. 
There is much that is discouraging in the aspect of 
Brazil, even for those who hope and believe as I do, that 
she has before her an honorable and powerful career. 
There is much also that is very cheering, that leads me to 
believe that her life as a nation will not belie her great gifts 
as a country. Should her moral and intellectual endow- 
ments grow into harmony with her wonderful natural 
beauty and wealth, the world will not have seen a fairer 
land. At present there are several obstacles to this pro- 
gress ; obstacles which act like a moral disease upon the 
people. Slavery still exists among them. It is true that it 
is on the wane ; true that it has received a mortal blow ; 
but the natural death of slavery is a lingering illness, 
wasting and destroying the body it has attacked. Next 
to this I would name, among the influences unfavorable 
to progress, the character of the clergy. In saying this I 
disclaim any reference to the national religion. It is of the 
character of the clergy I speak, not of the church they rep- 
resent. Whatever be the church organization in a country 
where instruction is still so intimately linked with a state 
religion as it is in Brazil, it is of infinite importance that the 
clergy themselves should not only be men of high moral 
character, but of studious, thoughtful lives. They are the 
teachers of the people, and as long as they believe that the 
mind can be fed with tawdry street processions, with lighted 
candles, and cheap bouquets ; and as long as the people 
accept this kind of instruction, they will be debased and en- 
feebled by it. Shows of this kind are of almost daily occur- 
