1 830.] Anecdotes of Brazil* 621 



in its dull course in the society of her slaves, to whom in point of intellect 

 she is little superior; but her manners are soft and gentle, and her sen- 

 sibilities, when roused, have all the fiery energy of her native clime. 

 Interesting, rather than beautiful, her sedentary life tinges her cheek with 

 a sickly hue ; while early marriage gives to her figure an exuberant em- 

 bonpoint, which, however, in the oriental taste of the country, is con- 

 sidered the beau ideal of beauty in both sexes. In this precocious 

 climate ladies are grandmothers at seven and twenty. Female education, 

 I have already remarked, is an absolute nullity ; that of the other sex is 

 not of a more elevated character. With the exception of those who have 

 pursued their studies abroad, it is extremely rare to meet with any one 

 who possesses even elementary knowledge on any branch of science or 

 polite literature. Few among them ever take the trouble of reading 

 their own beautiful Lusiad. Indolent, addicted to gambling, and a slave 

 to the grossest sensuality, which but too often degenerates into the most 

 criminal excesses, all the finer feelings of our nature are early blunted 

 in the mind of the Brazilian, who bears the loss of his nearest and dearest 

 friends with an indifference amounting to apathy. As if to veil the 

 ( native deformity of vice, his manners are courtly in the extreme : he 

 repeatedly reminds you that every thing he possesses is at your disposal, 

 and on leaving his house after a morning visit, you are bowed out to the 

 very door, often at the imminent risk of breaking your neck down the stairs 

 in wheeling round to correspond to the courtly inclinations of your polite 

 host. There is, after all, much that is good and generous in his nature, 

 systematically debased by political misrule and religious superstition. It 

 is to be hoped that the wide field of honourable ambition, thrown open to 

 him by the revolution, will elevate his character in the scale of civilized 

 man. 



From this picture of the moral degradation of our species, the mind 

 turns with pleasure to the contemplation of the singular and somewhat 

 more favourable specimen of humanity presented by the population of 

 the two mountain provinces, Minas and Sato Paulo. Left by their isolated 

 station to the undisturbed workings of their own hearts, their characters 

 are such as might be expected. Stubborn both in truth and error, con- 

 fined from the cradle to the grave to the consideration of few objects, they 

 never reach that tractable state of feeling which extensive knowledge of 

 the world can alone produce. Their bigotry, when called into action, makes 

 them ardent in their thoughts and deeds. Their jealousy and revenge 

 are proverbial even in Brazil. The following anecdote, which I had 

 from an officer, an eye-witness of the event, is highly illustrative of the 

 former passion. A young officer, on a tour of inspection, arrived on the 

 eve of St. John at a small villa in Minas. On the following morning, 

 he accompanied the coptao mor of the district to the celebration of high 

 mass. During the ceremony he was forcibly struck with the beauty of a 

 young female kneeling near the altar. Young, ardent, and impetuous, 

 he expressed his admiration with all the indiscreet warmth of licentious 

 passion. The innocent object of his aspirations was the wife of the cap- 

 itao mor, who, however, vouchsafed no answer to his anxious inquiries ; 

 but his brow grew dark, and even as he bowed down before the ele- 

 vated host, he meditated a deed at which the blood runs cold. On leaving 

 the church he framed an excuse for leaving the officer during the re- 

 mainder of the day ; but in the evening he rushed into his apartment, 

 and, holding up a knife reeking with blood, exclaimed with a hysterical 



