14 BRAZILIAN COTTON 



The largest number of people are found along the coast. 



Though the number of inhabitants may be small in comparison to 

 the size of the country, yet we must have regard to the rate at which 

 it has grown during the last 50 years in order to realise the developments 

 which are taking place in this country. In 1872 the population was 

 stated to be 10,123,054, in 1890 about 20,000,000. For the years 

 1913-1917 we have the statement of the Director General of Statistics.* 

 (See Table, page 13). This table shows that during the last three 

 years, an increase of three million people has taken place out of a 

 total increase of ten millions in thirty years. 



The Brazilians are a very prolific race. Every European 

 visiting Brazil is surprised to find such large families, 10 in number is 

 quite a common occurrence, and in the North, especially in Ceara, 

 families of 20 are frequently met with. 



Many Europeans have the impression that Brazil is populated 

 by black races. This is not the case. Although exact statistics as to 

 the number of coloured people are not available, it suffices to say that 

 the blacks are merely the remnants of the African slaves who were 

 introduced into Brazil shortly after its discovery in the early part of 

 the sixteenth century. We now meet them mostly in the sugar- 

 growing regions, especially in the districts of Pernambuco, Bahia and 

 Campos, where their forefathers had worked as slaves. A number 

 are also found in Rio de Janeiro, but in the interior of the other 

 States the negro is scarce and performs generally low menial work. 

 There is absolutely no colour question in Brazil, the white and black are 

 on an equal footing. Brazil, before the Portuguese occupation, was 

 inhabited not by negroes but by Indians, whose skin ranges from 

 dark brown to light brown, almost yellow, and if one may speak 

 at all of a Brazilian race one can probably say with some justi- 

 fication that the Portuguese immigrants and the women of the Indian 

 tribes laid the foundation of it as far back as the mediteval ages. 

 Then came admixture with the Spanish, Dutch and French, during 

 their various occupations of parts of Brazil. The African slaves 

 have also left distinct traces in the race. The effect of the Dutch 

 occupation is visible not only in the construction of the houses in 

 parts of the North but in many of the northern races, for one notices 

 there blonde people with blue eyes and perfectly white skins. Some- 

 times two or three children of a family are quite European whilst the 

 rest show the Indian-Portuguese or even the negro type. 



Portuguese is the official language and the Roman Catholic 

 religion prevails throughout the Republic, though the State does 

 not recognise it by subsidies. 



Eighty per cent, of the nation are said to be illiterate, but 

 enormous efforts are being made by the Government and most of the 

 cotton mill owners and other industrials to remedy this evil through 



*As a general remark applicable to all kinds of statistics for Brazil I wish to 

 impress upon the reader the necessity of regarding such figures merely as judicious 

 estimates. The country is too vast and the means of communication are too few to 

 ensure anything like a reliable set of statistics for the entire country. 



