BRAZIL. 



105 



Austrian Steamer Lines. The speculators for a 

 rise in wheat at New York and Chicago ran up 

 that cereal to such a point in 1888 and thereby 

 enhanced the price of flour so much that Hun- 

 garian flour has sold more advantageously than 

 at Rio, giving rise to regular steamship 

 lines from Trieste and Fiume direct to Rio. 

 The magnitude of this flour interest in Brazil 

 will be best understood by referring to the 

 amounts shipped thither from the United 

 States in the past sixteen years, aggregating 

 9,462,648 barrels, there *being a 21-per-cent. 

 increase during the past eight years, as com- 

 pared with the shipments of the preceding 

 eight years. 



Emancipation. Prior to the resignation of the 

 Cotegipe Cabinet, in March, abolitionists were 

 still exposed to persecution at the hands of the 

 men in power ; but Jose de Patrocinio and 

 Senators Joaquin Xabuco, Dantas, Prado, and 

 Joao Alfredo have persevered undaunted in 

 their endeavors to bring about the immediate 

 abolition of slavery. The bill passed both 

 houses on May 13, the recommendation of the 

 new Cabinet and the law was signed the same 

 day by the Princess-Regent, and promulgated. 

 Full returns had at last been obtained of the 

 slave registration of March' 30, 1887. The to- 

 tal number was 723,419, of the declared value 

 of 485,225,212 milreis. It was estimated, how- 

 ever, that emancipations and deaths had re- 

 duced this number to 000,000. The entire 

 bill, as framed by Senator Prado, consisted of 

 five brief articles, as follows: I. Declaring 

 free, from date of the law, all slaves in the 

 empire ; II. Relieving from further service the 

 free-born children of slave mothers: III. Lo- 

 calizing the new freedmen within their county 

 for two years; IV. Empowering the Execu- 

 tive to issue the necessary regulations; V. Re- 

 voking all contrary provisions. 



Judging from experience in other countries 

 where slavery has been suddenly abolished, 

 there was some apprehension that it would be 

 difficult to secure the coffee-crop, then in its 

 prime, and get it properly prepared for mar- 

 ket. The freedmen have worked steadily, and 

 there has been no disorder. The crop has 

 come in a little more slowly, and is, perhaps, 

 a little less carefully prepared. The planters 

 have been sullen, but resigned. The rise in 

 coffee in the past few years has benefited the 

 planters. Sugar has also advanced consider- 

 ably, and the central sugar-house system had 

 prepared this branch of industry for the in- 

 evitable event for years past. The " Centre 

 da Industria e do Commercio do Assucar," an 

 association of sugar-planters and exporters, is 

 actively at work to introduce the diffusion 

 process of extracting the sugar from the canes, 

 instead of the almost antiquated centrifugal 

 system, together with the latest and most ap- 

 proved American and European methods and 

 machinery, and a more rational system of 

 cane cultivation. 



Immigration. The number of immigrants 



landed at Rio in 1887 was 31,310, 17,115 ot 

 them being Italians, 10,205 Portuguese, 717 

 Germans, and 274 Austrian?. There al.-o ar- 

 rived at Rio 4,134 in transit for Santos and 

 405 for Sao Francisco, constituting a total of 

 35,849 immigrants as compared with 25.741 in 

 1886 and 30,135 in 1885. Adding to the land- 

 ings at Rio the direct arrivals of immigrants at 

 outports, 20,151, the aggregate gain of popu- 

 lation in 1887 was 56,000. The Provincial 

 Assembly of Sao Paulo has passed a law au- 

 thorizing extension of aid to immigrants from 

 abroad, to the number of 100,000 per annum, 

 for five consecutive years, while the province 

 of Minas-Geraes has contracted for 30,000, to 

 be procured during a twelvemonth. 



Industries. Great enterprise and activity 

 were displayed in many localities to foster and 

 create a variety of industries. A firm in Sao 

 Paulo has begun to turn out an article of wax 

 matches, competing with the imported Swed- 

 ish. Sulphuric acid is being manufactured 

 from Sicilian brimstone, both in the province 

 of Sao Paulo and at Rio. Rio and Porto Ale- 

 gre have each a glass - factory, and at Rio 

 Grande do Sul artificial guano is made. There 

 is also a glue-factory. Tanneries are numer- 

 ous, using the valuable domestic materials that 

 abound. At Rio there are refineries of cotton- 

 seed oil and castor-oil. The Government has 

 three powder-mills, but gunpowder for hunting 

 and mining is still imported. At Macacos, 

 near Rio, dynamite is manufactured. Soap of 

 all grades is made at Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre, 

 Pelotas, and Rio. Composition and stearine 

 candles, vying with the best European and 

 American makes, are turned out at Rio and 

 Pelotas. Brazilian vegetable wax carnauba 

 is used for a similar purpose, and seems to 

 have a promising future. 



Most of the cotton - weaving factories in 

 Brazil do their own dyeing. At Sao Paulo 

 calico-printing is carried on successfully. At 

 Rio Grande do Sul there is a large woolen 

 factory connected with a dyeing establishment. 

 Steam sugar-refineries are in operation at Rio, 

 Bahia, Taubate, and Rio Grande do Sul. Sev- 

 eral rectifying distilleries exist at Rio. Arti- 

 ficial wines, liquors, and cognacs, are chiefly 

 made at Rio. There are many breweries, and 

 some Brazilian beers have been awarded a 

 premium in Europe, having stood the trip 

 across the Atlantic admirably. 



At ltd, in the province of Sao Paulo, a 

 paper-mill is to be equipped and one at Maran- 

 hao. Creditable paper-hangings are printed at 

 Rio on imported rolls. 



There were in operation, on Jan. 1, 1888, 36 

 central sugar-bouses, the Government guaran- 

 teeing the interest on 35 of them. Nearly all 

 of the machinery was imported from France. 

 Since Jan. 1, 1888, all machinery and tools in- 

 tended to be nsed for manufacturing have been 

 admitted duty free. 



Viticulture. In 1887 the province of Sao 

 Paulo produced 5,000 hectolitres of wine, sell- 



