September i, 1883] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



197 



SLAVERY IN BRAZIL. 



(FIIOM A COEKESPONDENT AT JTOJDIAHT, SAO TAULO, TO THE 

 liDNDOx TIMES, July 27th.) 



Brazil is the last remaining civilized land where 

 slavery exists, and not only this, it owns more slaves 

 than any other civilized land ever had that fiefd its 

 slaves by peaceable measures (the serfs o£ Russia are 

 not here included). Slavery has existed in Brazil 

 since the first colonization of South America by the 

 Portuguese in lo31, the first slaves being the abor- 

 iginal races found peaceably living on this wonderful 

 continent. These however piove.l to be t' o physically 

 weak and indolent a race to bear the iron yoke of 

 oppression, so for them were substituted the stronger 

 but more unfortunate African, the Caboclo or aboiigiual 

 becoming thenceforth incorxJorated with the dominant 

 Portuguese colonist. 



From very early days a regular trade in slaves was 

 carried on between Africa and Brazil down to the 

 year 1830, when the Brazilian Government declared it 

 to be piratical. Th,at it was not thoroughly stopped 

 for many years afterwards is well known ; it fact it 

 was still going on clandestinely in 1854, so that even 

 today, more than 50 ye.irs after ihe Governmental de- 

 claration, there are to be found here and there African- 

 born slaves. It may be easilj understood why the 

 f,b.iudonment of the trafficking in slaves was but 

 gradual, because with a cargo so lucrative the slave- 

 dealer could aftord to risk the loss of his ship and 

 human freight and be incorcerated in a fortress for a 

 few years, seeing that a successful trip would make 

 him a wealthy man. 



Sinco the year 1830 many and various endeavours 

 have been made to do away with the system, but 

 it w.'iB not until the 28th of SL-ptembar 1871, thf.t 

 the first note of total abolition was sounded by the 

 passing of the now famous law declaring ail children 

 born of slave mothers after that date to be coutidei ed 

 free-born, with the only ccndition that tlie child 

 should serve the mother's owner as .in apprentice until 

 21 years of age, after which he would be absolutely free. 



More than 11 years have rolled away since the pro- 

 miilgition of this law, and still things seem very 

 much as they were. The slaves, perlaps, are treated 

 more hum.incly ; the young negroes, however, running 

 their term of apprenticeship of 21 years, inlittleseem 

 to ditt'er from their fathers and mothers, being equally 

 uuinstiucted in anything but rude labour; they cringe 

 and crawl to their temporary owners just as the un- 

 fortunate out-and-out slave does, who has no bright 

 light of coming freedom to stimulate him to the end 

 of his time of bondage, and who has no rajsofeweet 

 expectation to gild h:3 dark life. 



At the same time as ti.e passing of the law giving 

 freedom from birth to all children born of slave 

 mothers, and as part of the same measure, was 

 created an annual emnncipition fund, to be formed 

 of ccrtun imposts for the freeing of the . slave 

 fathers and n.others of the fiei-.born child, or for 

 giving frerd' m tj all slaves who would never be able 

 to puri base that blessing. Since the date cf this law 

 the lollowmg results have been obt.iined :— first, there 

 are about 150,000 fice-boin children serving their 

 apprenticeship ; secondly, 11,000 slaves have been freed 

 by the emancipation lund. This latter cannot be 

 considered as a very satisfactory state of things as the 

 result of 11 years, _ but it is in part explained by the 

 fact that some politicians have gone so far as to apply 

 part of the money towards the education of tbeyounw 

 negroes sewing their apprenticeship, instead of using 

 it for giving freedom to so many slaves. Much divers- 

 ity of I , inion exists as to the wisdom of this ajpl c- 

 ation of the funds voted by the Chiimberf. Tlie 

 chii f difficuitj, however, seems to be that it is con- 

 tra! y to the express spirit and disposition of the law 

 26 



of 1871 ; therefore it cannot but frighten thoughtful 

 men to see a Ministerial interpretation of a liuv at 

 variance with its evident meaning, in other respects, 

 if the money were properly used for educational pur- 

 poses (a thing most flifficult to do), then not much 

 objection could be raised. 



Although the official emancipation of 11,000 in eleven 

 yeais caunot be considered as satisfactory, that re- 

 presenting only about one per cent, of the slave popul- 

 ation, to this number must be added the manumissions 

 by private individuals— a noble practice which has be- 

 come the fashionable w»y of showing any extraordinary 

 rejoicing, at which time one or more slaves aro freed. 

 Many owners at their death leave freedom .is a legacy 

 to some of their sl.ives ; and lastly, many truly generous 

 people free theirs from motives of pure charity. The 

 number of private manumissions amounts to .about 

 30,000 for the past eleven years, making, with the 

 ollicial, 40,000 in all, or less than four per cent, of 

 the whole slave population. Frour this it is evident 

 that, even were the unfortunate slaves to have abnorm- 

 ally long lives, the pi-oscnt rate of freeing would 

 allow some hundreds of thousands to reach very ad- 

 vanced ages and still die in bondage. 



After the Birth Kmancipation Law had been in 

 force a few years the planters of the Southern Pro- 

 vinces, finding that the Northern men were sending 

 their elates down south to be sold, commenced to talk 

 of provincial duties on all slaves taken, for sale from 

 one province to another. After being rejected in the 

 provincial assemblies for a year or two the law paesed 

 creating prohibitive taxes of £150 to £200 on inter- 

 provincial slave bargaining, which has been the menns 

 of virtually stopping the trade. The Northern Pro- 

 vinces, however, managed to get rid of so lai-ge a 

 proportion that now there is but one-third of the total 

 number of elaves in the Northern Provinces, whereas in 

 former days things.were the reverse, the South having 

 but few. 



Among the classes of slaves in Brazil the lives of 

 some are so difteieut from those of others that the case 

 of one class cannot be taken to represent the state of 

 the whole. The highest-class slaves are the maids, 

 page.", or va'ets, whose sole work is to attend on the 

 master or mistress to whom they have been dedicated 

 at binh, the custom in many planters' families being 

 to give to each of their children the soundest and 

 best looking slave child Dearest in age and of the 

 same sex. 'i hese little slave maids or valets have to 

 do all the labour raid bidding of all sorts of their 

 young owners, acting as shadows when so required, 

 and as substances when eccasion demands. These 

 children, the one free, the other bond, grow up to- 

 gether, often weaving cords of love and afiectiou, so 

 that whatever may be the lot of the other slaves these 

 remain with their first owners and are never sent 

 away to work in the plantations or elsewhere, except 

 in case of very bad behaviour. The next in favour 

 are the artisans, the br-icklayers, carpeuters, and smiths, 

 who are often hired out, and wl:o are well treated in 

 cons deration of the great revenues they bring to their 

 owners ; in fact, many a hired slave of this class earns 

 for his master from five to ten shillings a d.ay. Then 

 come the houte slaves, the coachmen, the cooks, and 

 the washerwomen ; following these are the town slaves 

 who are hired out to work at any labour, the owner 

 rtceivingBo much per head per day. Last of all come 

 the plantation slaves, who often in appearance look 

 little human, and seem very Calibans in many, many 

 cases. These sad ones are they who earn all the 

 wealth of the land ; the.-e are they who rise before 

 the sun, and after asking in forced formality the bless- 

 ing of Christ from therr lua ter or overseer, are led off 

 in herds to toil till dark, tbe r food being taken to 

 them in carts, and doled out as to a herd of creatures 

 more swine-like than human ; these are they who do 



