MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



409 



estates. The change of situation 

 would lead to the same conse- 

 quences ia any race of human 

 beings, and cannot be accounted 

 peculiar to the mixed casts. I 

 have seen mulattos of free birth 

 as kind, as lenient, and as for- 

 bearing to their slaves and other 

 dependants cis any white man. 



Marriages between white men 

 and women of colour are by no 

 means rare, though they are suffi- 

 ciently so to cause the circum- 

 stance to be mentioned when 

 speaking of an individual who has 

 connected himself in this man- 

 ner ; but this is not said with the 

 intent of lowering him in the 

 estimation of others. Indeed the 

 remark is only made if the person 

 is a planter of any importance, 

 and the woman is decidedly of 

 dark colour, for even a coasidei- 

 able tinge will pass for white ; if 

 the white man belongs to the 

 lower orders, the woman is not 

 accounted as being unequal to 

 him in rank, unless she is nearly 

 biack. The European adventurers 

 often marry in this manner, which 

 generally occurs when the woman 

 has a dower. The rich mulatto 

 families are often glad to dispose 

 of their daughters to these men, 

 although the person who has 

 been fixed upon may be in indif- 

 ferent circumstances ; for the co- 

 lour of the children of their daugh- 

 ters is bettered, and from the 

 well-known prudence and regula- 

 rity of this set of men, a very Luge 

 fortune may be hoped fur even 

 from very small beginnings. 

 Whiist 1 was at Jaguaribe, I was 

 in the frecpient habit of seeing a 

 handsome young man, who was 

 a n&tive of the island of St. jNIi- 

 chael's. This person happened to 



be with rae on one occasion when 

 the commandant from the Seitam 

 was staying at my house. The 

 commandant asked him if he could 

 read and write, and being an- 

 swered in the negative, said, 

 "Then you will not do," and 

 turning to me, added, " I have 

 a commission from a friend of 

 mine to take with me back to the 

 Sertam a good-looking young 

 Portuguese of regular habits, who 

 can read and write, for the pur- 

 pose of marrying him to his daugh- 

 ter." These kind of commis- 

 sions (encommendas) are not un- 

 usual. 



Still the Brazilians of high birth 

 and large property do not like to 

 intermarry with persons whose 

 mixture of blood is very apparent^, 

 and hence arise peculiar circum- 

 stances. A man of this descrip- 

 tion becomes attached to a woman 

 of colour, connects himself with 

 her, and takes her to his home, 

 where she is in a short time even 

 visited by married women ; she 

 governs his household affairs, acts 

 and considers herself as his wife, 

 and frequently after the birth of 

 several children, when they are 

 neither of them young, he mar- 

 ries her. In connections of this 

 nature, the parties are more truly 

 attached than in marriages be- 

 tween persons who belonged to 

 two families of the first rank j 

 for the latter are entered into 

 from convenience rather than from 

 ajfection ,- indeed the parties, on 

 some occasions, do not see each 

 other until a few days before tlie 

 ceremony takes place. It often 

 occurs, that inclination, necessity, 

 or convenience induce or oblige a 

 man to sei)arate fiom the person 

 witli whom he has thus been con- 

 nected j 



