BRAZIL. 



97 



in course of construction were of one- metre 

 gauge, except 125 kilometres of 1*10 metre. 



During the fiscal year 1885-'86, the earnings 

 of railroads in Brazil generally have been on 

 the increase. Thus the Dom Pedro II Gov- 

 ernment line earned (net) 6,917,695 milreis, as 

 compared with 4,960,567 in 1884-'85. On 

 the other hand, the Juiz de Fora-Lafayette 

 line in the province of Minas-Geraes built 

 at an expense of 19,443,801 milreis only 

 earned, in 1885-'86, 377,832 milreis, while it 

 cost 933,894 milreis to work it. On the line 

 from Rio de Janeiro to Parana on the Rio 

 Velho, 321 kilometres distant from Lafayette, 

 there is direct connection with the capital 

 over a length of 462 kilometres. The number 

 of passengers forwarded during the fiscal year 

 1885-'86 was 3,430,263, against 3,125,127 in 

 1884; and there were forwarded on this line 

 into the interior 1,47,654 tons of goods, against 

 143,917 the previous year, while there arrived 

 at Rio 282,233 tons of products, as compared 

 with 270,395 in 1884-'85. 



The Western Minas Railroad Company made 

 in April a contract for an extension of the line 

 from Ribeirao Preto to the left bank of the 

 Rio Grande. The Santa Isabel de Rio Preto 

 Railroad, seventy-five kilometres in length, from 

 the Barra do Pirahy to Santa Isabel, was fin- 

 ished in April. The Great Southern Railroad 

 Company of Brazil finished during the first 

 half of 1886 the road between Quarahins and 

 Uruguyana, eighty-four kilometres. The South- 

 ern Brazil Rio Grande Company had earned, 

 during the year ended June 30, 1886, 5,361 

 net, more than enough to pay the interest on 

 the bonds in England, and declare a dividend 

 of 7 per cent. The capital of the Brazil Great 

 Southern Railway remains fixed at 6,000,000 

 milrei?, on which the Government guarantees 

 6 per cent, dividend. 



Insurance. There has been founded in Rio a 

 domestic Marine and Fire Insurance Company, 

 under the name of the Fluminense, with a capi- 

 tal of 1,000,000 milreis. 



Emancipation. According to the reports re- 

 ceived in September, 1886, more than 65,000 

 slaves, sixty years of age and upward, had 

 been enrolled as free, and it was believed that 

 the number would reach 120,000. There was, 

 furthermore, an impression current that a 

 great many slaves under sixty would not be 

 given in for the registry of slaves then in prog- 

 ress, and would thus become free. The in- 

 stitution was in fact being undermined on all 

 sides, and few if any believe that it will last 

 more than half the term of about thirteen 

 years, to which the law of Sept. 28, 1885, has 

 limited its duration. (See " Annual Cyclopaa- 

 dia" for 1885, page 102.) 



A society has been founded for the purpose 

 of freeing, by purchase or otherwise, the nu- 

 merous slaves belonging to the estates of de- 

 ceased Portuguese residents in Brazil. One 

 Rio de Janeiro planter, Commendador Joaquirn 

 Jose Breves, has resolved to emancipate and 

 VOL. xxvi. 7 A 



locate his 3,000 slaves. The number of slaves 

 in the empire on June 30, 1885, was officially 

 reported at 1,133,228; but it was estimated in 

 September, 1888, that their number must have 

 been reduced to fewer than a million, through 

 death and liberation. At the same date the 

 number of living children born free, by virtue 

 of the law of 1871, was 439,831. 



The Lash abolished. As one result of the 

 scandal caused by the judicial whipping to 

 death of criminal slaves at Entrerios in Minas- 

 Geraes, the Senate, on Oct. 1, 1886, passed the 

 bill abolishing the lash as punishment for 

 homicidal offenses by slaves. The penalties 

 are now to be the same as in the case of free- 

 men, except that transportation and fines may 

 not be imposed on slaves, for obvious reasons. 



Immigration. Statistics up to July, 1886, 

 show that during the first half of the year im- 

 migration was slowly but steadily on the in- 

 crease. The number of foreigners in Brazil, 

 according to the latest estimates published, 

 was as follows: 



Portuguese 800,000 



Germans 180,000 



Italians 50,000 



Frenchmen 20,000 



Englishmen : 15,000 



Poles 2,470 



Spaniards (500 



Other nationalities 5,000 



Total 73,070 



The Italian Government estimates the num- 

 ber of Italians in Brazil at 82,000, instead of 

 the 50,000 credited to that nationality in the 

 Brazilian tables. 



In the province of Sao Paulo a society was 

 formed in June, under auspices of leading 

 planters and capitalists, for promoting the im- 

 migration of agriculturists. The society has 

 made a contract with the provincial govern- 

 ment, which engages to pay 85 milreis for 

 every immigrant over twelve years of age; 

 42^ milreis for children between the ages of 

 seven and twelve years, and 21 milreis for 

 every child under seven years, landed from 

 abroad in the province. The society engages 

 to procure 6,000 ~bona-fide settlers under this 

 contract. This premium on immigration is ex- 

 tremely liberal, and nearly covers the passage 

 from Europe by steamer. There arrived at 

 Rio in May 2,805 immigrants, 1,073 of whom 

 were Italians, 936 Germans, 582 Portuguese, 

 and 95 Spaniards, while there left 536 third- 

 class passengers, leaving the net gain for the 

 month 2,597. 



The German Colonial Congress at Berlin 

 closed its sessions on Sept. 16, 1886. _ Among 

 other resolutions, there was one favoring emi- 

 gration to southern Brazil, and the Congress 

 appointed a permanent colonial committee to 

 carry out, as far as possible, the ideas adopted 

 concerning emigration. There arrived at San- 

 tos, on March 31, a hundred families of immi- 

 grants from the Portuguese island of Madeira, 

 for the great coffee-plantations of Dr. Mar- 

 tinho Prado, Jr., Count de Tres Rios, and 



