THE BRAZILIANS 



are not without light, as the rooms have no ceiHng, being covered 

 only by the common roof, from which a certain amount of light 

 is reflected into the rooms in the middle of the house. At the back 

 are the kitchen and the dining-room. The back yard is enclosed 

 by a closet and a room with a shower-bath, and a lean-to for the 

 mule or donkey. When I was in Pernambuco such a house cost 

 60 milreis (at that time 30s.) monthly, and could be bought for 

 3,000 milreis {£']^). 



Living was not dear. I noted these prices in a small country 

 town (Rio Branco) : 36 eggs, a shilling ; milk, 2^ litres (over half a 

 gallon) for sixpence; five live young pullets, one and sixpence; a 

 kilogram of pork (about two and a quarter pounds), ninepence. In 

 the large towns food was of course dearer, and since I was in Brazil 

 prices have risen. But by planting fruit-trees, and especially banana- 

 plants, anyone can obtain food at little cost and with little labour. 



Most of the towns and villages are provided with electric light, 

 and so abundantly that they are blazing with light all night. The 

 people light even the outside of the houses, and the churches are 

 picked out with lights at night. The governmental buildings are 

 kept in good repair, but the railway-stations, as a rule, leave much 

 to be desired. Very different were the delightful railway-stations in 

 Ceylon; these were little gems, with an incomparable display of 

 flowers, for which the Government offers annual prizes. And although 

 in the towns there are often very beautiful parks, the rural roads 

 lack the shade-trees which would complete the charm of the open 

 country. In this particular Ceylon is worth imitating. There the 

 country roads are shaded by a wonderfully beautiful tree, whose 

 branches extend, parasol-wise, far over the causeway, bearing an 

 open fohage of pinnate leaves, so that they give shade, and yet not 

 so much as to prevent the roadway from drying. At night the leaves 

 close, condensing the moisture of the atmosphere, shaking it off 

 when they open in the morning, and thereby equably sprinkling 

 the roadway. Ceylon has expended much labour on the planting 

 of these trees, but now, with their soft shade, through which the 

 sun casts splashes of light on the red surface of the roads, they 

 contribute essentially to the captivating charm of the green island. 

 And the comical thing is that the native home of these Guancos or 

 "rain-trees" is Brazil ! 



Nature, in giving the tropics the glowing heat of the sun, gave 

 also the means of mitigation. She has produced fig-trees that spread 

 their boughs horizontally, and over such a distance that they are 



365 



