96 



BRAZIL. 



pacity in the aggregate. Of arrivals under the 

 British flag there were 463 and departures 437 ; 

 French, 114 entered and 119 sailed; German, 

 110 entered and 117 sailed. There arrived coast- 

 wise 1,399 vessels and departed 1,580. The 

 coastwise arrivals under the British flag were 

 93 and the sailings 121 ; French, 30 entered 

 and 27 left; German, 56 arrived and 76 sailed. 



In November, 1885, an importing company, 

 chartered by the Legislature, was organized in 

 Charleston, S. C., for the development of direct 

 trade between Charleston and South America. 

 It began operations by ordering a cargo of cof- 

 fee from Rio de Janeiro, thenceforward to be 

 repeated monthly, so far as to supply Southern 

 and Western markets. The company is backed 

 by a large qapital. 



American Cotton Goods. The export of Ameri- 

 can cotton goods to Brazil has fluctuated of 

 late years. The following tabular statement 

 shows the general movement to countries south 

 of us, in thousands of yards: 



Meanwhile, Spanish America and Brazil take 

 English cotton goods as freely as ever. It is 

 difficult for solid American cotton goods to 

 compete with England, because the common 

 people of Brazil prefer a flimsy, showy, well- 

 dressed cotton cloth that is cheap, to a supe- 

 rior but dearer quality. The enormous con- 

 sumption of Manchester goods in Brazil is 

 thus explained. 



American Locomotives. There arrived at Rio, 

 early in June, three Baldwin locomotives from 

 Philadelphia, for mountain-traction, each of 

 the weight of 45 tons, with six wheels, each 

 locomotive being furnished with Eames's au- 

 tomatic brake. They are to be used on the 

 Cantagallo Railroad. 



Nivy. The Brazilian fleet in active service 

 in 1885 was composed as follows : 



There were building one armored vessel and 

 five gunboats. 



Army. The actual strength of the army in 

 1885, including 1,520 officers of all ranks, was 

 15,048 ; in time of war it is raised to 30,000 

 men. The gendarme corps comprises 6,847 

 men, 1,008 of whom are at Rio. Pending the 

 taking of the new census, the National Guard 

 has been disbanded. 



Postal Service. There were dispatched in 

 1883-'84 12,515,003 letters, of which 85,820 

 were Government dispatches, 49,062 post- 

 office notifications, 11,931,776 ordinary let- 

 ters, and 448,345 registered. There were re- 

 ceived 6,250,729 letters, of which 114,110 

 were Government dispatches, 25,284 post- 

 office notifications, 5,773,564 ordinary letters, 

 and 337,771 registered ones. 



Telegraphs. In June, 1886, there were in 

 operation 10,292 kilometres of telegraph line, 

 with 17,994 kilometres of wire, and 170 sta- 

 tions. The numher of messages forwarded 

 during the year was 367,799, representing 5,- 

 598,816 words. The messages embraced 4,833 

 official dispatches, and 319,467 private mes- 

 sages. The receipts were 700,619 milreis, and 

 the expenses 2,109,571, leaving a deficit of 1,- 

 408,952 milreis. The official telegrams would 

 have cost, at the rate charged 1'or private ones, 

 644,583 milreis. 



On June 11 a new line of telegraph went 

 into operation between Rio and the city of 

 Braganca, province of Para, the line measur- 

 ing 4,500 kilometres. 



The Government telegraph system was com- 

 pleted in June, 1886, as far north as the port 

 of Vizeu (Para), where it connects with the 

 world's cable systems and the Belem land tele- 

 graph, putting into direct communication sev- 

 enteen provinces with one another and the out- 

 side world. 



The Pedro Segnndo American Cable Com- 

 pany was formed in 1886, with a capital of 

 $2,000,000, obtaining valuable privileges both 

 in Brazil and Venezuela, and having for its 

 object the establishment of direct cable com- 

 munication between the two countries named 

 and New York. It was hoped that the new 

 line would be in operation before the close of 

 1886. 



Railroads. The policy of the present Gov- 

 ernment in regard to railroads is to grant no 

 more guaranteed concessions, to purchase the 

 guaranteed lines constructed by foreign com- 

 panies, and to lease, if not sell, all the Govern- 

 ment railroads ; the view being that adminis- 

 tration by the state works badly, and serves 

 chiefly to furnish places for swarms of second- 

 rate engineers and idle employes depending 

 upon political influences. 



We have shown, in the "Annual Cyclopae- 

 dia" for 1885, the Brazilian railroad system as 

 it stood at the close of the year 1884, when 

 there were in operation 5,657 kilometres; in 

 course of construction, 2,402 ; and projected, 

 3,359. Early in 1886 there were in opera- 

 tion 7,062-175 kilometres ; building, 2,267-628 ; 

 total, 9,320-803 kilometres. All the lines then 



