THE BRAZILIANS 



changing, and the sooner people adapt themselves to this change 

 the better. 



But as history teaches us, the increasing wealth of a people by 

 no means safeguards its future. More important is the physical and 

 spiritual power that such a people draws from its country. Such a 

 power is a living force, and like all living things, it evolves, organically, 

 from its environment. Brazil must create her own, home-grown 

 civilization, and in order to do this she must re-knit the threads 

 which were broken at the time of the conquest, and bind the new 

 Brazil with living bonds to the old Brazil of thousands of years ago. 



This is by no means a hopeless task; on the contrary, its solution 

 is already silently taking shape. In Rio, August Herborth has 

 endeavoured to awaken interest in the ancient Indian art by his 

 Deutsch-Brazilianischen Illustrierten (Hamburg). He believes that this 

 art, which was born of an incredibly rich imagination in the inven- 

 tion of forms and motives — he has already classified 700 different 

 elements — may now be destined to initiate a new period of national 

 Brazilian art. The virgin forest was the cradle of this art ; and thus 

 we see that many departments of human activity, all rich in promise 

 for the future, are united at their source — which is Nature. In this 

 connection we find that the Indian names of natural objects form 

 a connecting-link with the days of old, and so do many of the 

 customs which have come down to the Brazilian people of to-day, 

 and so does the blood which the present owners of the country 

 have inherited from its ancient lords. The Secretary of State of 

 Parahyba told me that the blood of all three races flowed in his 

 veins; and he added that it should interest me, as a naturalist, to 

 know that Brazil's solution of her racial problem differs from that 

 adopted by other countries. In North America the gulf between 

 black and white is deliberately kept open, and since the negroes are 

 multiplying rapidly, there might in time be a fight for supremacy. 

 In Brazil the black race would be gradually and peaceably absorbed, 

 since it would receive no fresh recruits. As a matter of fact, I was 

 able to observe all the stages of this process. The last vestiges of 

 negro forefathers, as I was able to observe for myself, are often the 

 slightly protruding eyes and the frequent, open-throated laugh. 

 Even among the half-castes, the mulattoes, and still more frequently 

 among the "Morenas," who have one-fourth part, or even less, of 

 black blood in their veins, there are individuals of great physical 

 beauty, especially of the female sex, whose large black eyes and 

 absolutely flawless and beautifully coloured brown skin make a 



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