BRAZIL. 



school is $467 ; and the whole of the public 

 schools cost annually $1,681,000, or about 17 

 per cent, of the average annual revenue of all 

 the provinces. Each of the latter has one 

 private primary school for every five public ; 

 and one school for every 2,404 inhabitants of 

 all classes and colors; and these schools are 

 each attended by an average number of 305 

 children. The total number of scholars en- 

 rolled is 133,950, of whom 125,867 receive pri- 

 mary, and 8,083 secondary education. These 

 figures show a marked improvement as com- 

 pared with the returns of former years: in 

 1868 only 107,483 children attended school in 

 the whole empire, or 26,467 less than at the 

 present time. There are two faculties each of 

 law and medicine maintained at the expense 

 of the Government : the Imperial Academy of 

 Medicine has an annual subsidy of $1,000. 

 To the foregoing should be added an Imperial 

 College of Pedro II., and 29 private establish- 

 ments, in which a thorough course of educa- 

 tion is given ; the Historical and Geographical 

 Institute, with a subsidy of $3,500 per annum ; 

 Academy of Fine Arts ; Conservatory of Mu- 

 sic ; Lyceum of Arts and Professions of the 

 Society for the Propagation of the Fine Arts ; 

 and a school for the blind; as also 11 semina- 

 ries for the education of clergy, subsidized by 

 the state ; a School of Agriculture ; two mili- 

 tary, one naval, one preparatory, one normal, 

 and some other schools. The whole educa- 

 tional system is under the jurisdiction of the 

 Minister of the Interior, and the control of the 

 General Assembly. The English merchants 

 of Rio de Janeiro subscribed $6,500 in 1872 

 for the establishment of a gymnasium for the 

 use of the English-speaking youths of that cap- 

 ital. Besides the libraries attached to the 

 various public scientific and literary establish- 

 ments, there are in Rio de Janeiro 11 public 

 libraries, chief among which is the Gabinete 

 Portuguez, possessing 50,000 volumes, and 

 being visited on an average by 2,314 persons 

 yearly. By the provincial law of December 26, 

 1871, the creation of libraries in all the cities 

 of the provinces of Rio de Janeiro was author- 

 ized; and there are libraries in most of the 

 other provinces in the empire. There is a 

 Dramatic Conservatory, and other institutions 

 for the promotion of literature, art, and sci- 

 ence. The Astronomical Observatory of Rio 

 de Janeiro was the object of important modi- 

 fications in 1872. 



Save in the immediate neighborhood of the 

 capital and other large cities, the want of ade- 

 quate highways is still sensibly felt, and nota- 

 bly impedes the development "of trade and in- 

 dustry, especially in the landlocked provinces. 

 There are, nevertheless, a few exceptions to 

 this rule ; and the Department of Agriculture 

 and Public Works is devoting unremitting at- 

 tention to this all-important subject. Rail- 

 ways are fast multiplying in all the coast prov- 

 inces ; those already established are in pro- 

 cess of extension, and new ones are projected. 



Bills for tbo construction of some dozen lines 

 were passed by the legislature in the course 

 of 1872 ; and telegraphs are united to all the 

 railways in order to facilitate the service of 

 the lines. A project is at present on foot to 

 extend the railway net-work of the central 

 provinces from the capital to the city of Para 

 in one direction, and to Rio Grande do Sul in 

 another ; so that, perhaps by the end of 1874, 

 the traveller can proceed by rail from the 

 Amazon to Uruguay almost without change 

 of train. One line of special importance is 

 shortly to be built, for the transportation of 

 coal from the Candiota mines to the coast in 

 Santa Catharina. 



The following table comprises the Brazilian 

 railways existing before 1872, with their re- 

 spective lengths, and the receipts and expen- 

 ditures in 1870. The first three are subsi- 

 dized by the Government : 



The deficit in the Bahia line is attributable 

 to continual outlays for repairs, and to a seri- 

 ous diminution of traffic that year, during 

 the meagre productions of the province caused 

 by the drought, and the disease in the sugar- 

 cane the year before. The most important of 

 the above lines is the Sao Paulo, from Santos 

 to Judiahy, and deserving of especial notice, 

 from its flourishing condition and brilliant 

 future, due to the wealth and prosperity of 

 the province which it traverses. A railway was 

 opened in Alag6as, on October 1st, from Ma- 

 ceid, the capital, to the interior ; up to the end 

 of the year the carrying powers of the com- 

 pany were taxed by the abundant traffic. A 

 petition was presented to the Rio Grande le- 

 gislature for a 90 years' privilege of a railway 

 from Pelotas to the Sao Lourenzo colony. The 

 Bebadouro Railway bill passed the Pernambuco 

 Legislature ; and the Central Railway Company 

 contracted to complete the Rua da Villa branch 

 from Lazaros to Soledade. There were, at the 

 end of 1872, nearly 1,600 miles of telegraph in 

 operation, and the works had commenced on 

 a line from Sao Pedro to Rio Grande do Sul. 

 But the grandest telegraph scheme hitherto 

 attempted in the empire is that of a submarine 

 cable from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon, the con- 

 cession for which was given August 16, 1872, 

 to the Baron de Maua, conditional on his 

 uniting forces with a Portuguese concession 

 under date of May 16, 1864. A line of telegraph, 

 from the southern frontier to Sao Matheos, 

 had been completed as far as Victoria; the 

 clearing and preparation of that portion of the 



