THE BRAZILIANS 



Surfaces of broken turf, extensive quarries, and gaping wounds in 

 the red earth give the landscape a mean and infertile aspect; all 

 the more so as no luscious foliage fills the intervals with its verdant 

 veil. In Brazil, even more than in Ceylon, I always found that 

 the discords which man introduces into the landscape are sensibly 

 greater than in Europe. Land which is devoted to a single crop, and 

 cultivated solely with an eye to profit, or land which has already 

 been abandoned and is lying waste, may, if for hours it lies on either 

 side of the Une, make a railway-journey a positively painful ex- 

 perience. One breathes more freely when the train once more 

 passes a section of untouched forest. Cool, refreshing rain after long 

 drought is not more welcome. 



For these reasons it is most important that the Brazilian Govern- 

 ment should create a special department for the preservation of 

 natural beauty. This should advise not only the rural authorities, 

 but also the cities. In some of the residential quarters the architects 

 have been guilty of positive orgies of building. Here stands a house 

 with Moorish arches and a turret, as though the owner had acquired 

 a harem ; beside it rises a Florentine palace, then a Roman dwelhng, 

 and an Old German timber-framed house. These harmonize neither 

 with one another nor with the capital of Brazil. What a different 

 aspect would Rio have worn had she adapted her architecture to 

 the incomparable landscape ! The best foundation for a harmonious 

 renaissance of the cities of Brazil is the simple, fine old Portuguese 

 Colonial style (Plate 32). 



How often Brazilians have said to me, full of pride : "Isn't Sao 

 Paulo quite a European city?" I have always replied that it was 

 not desirable that Brazil should be an echo of Europe, but that one 

 would, on the contrary, have reason for pride if a Brazilian city 

 were genuinely Brazilian in appearance, and as little European as 

 possible. For Brazil has a personality of its own, and the value of 

 this personality is such that it ought to be stamped upon the whole 

 country. 



If we compare Brazil with Germany, we note the following points 

 of difference : 



The German people has been settled for thousands of years on 

 its own soil. From the German forest it emerged into the light of 

 history; in the forest its personality and its character were formed. 

 The forests and rivers, the mountains and valleys of the Fatherland 



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