28 



IN'STITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION N'O. 1 2 



munitj' who were Brazilian-born were native to the 

 State of Sao Paulo. In other words, of a total 

 population of 3,780, only 70 persons had been born 

 in other Brazilian states. Of these, approxi- 

 mately two-thirds had come from the neighbor- 

 ing States of Minas Gerais (38), Parana (4), Rio 

 de Janeiro (3), and Mato Grosso (1). Ten in- 

 dividuals had come from the Federal District, 

 about 300 miles away. The other 14 persons were 

 from 7 different states: Santa Catarina, Rio 

 Grande do Sul, Bahia, Sergipe, Piaui, Ceara, and 

 Para. 



Of 17 farms on which systematic data were col- 

 lected, 6, or approximately one-third of the heads 

 of families had been born on the farm where they 

 are now living. The ages of these men were, 

 respectively, 48, 46, 43, 38, 31, and 27 years. Of 

 the remaining 11 heads of families, each had spent, 

 respectively, on the farm now occupied the fol- 

 lowing number of years: 31, 26, 25, 20, 20, 18, 

 10, 6, 4, 2, and 1. 



Of these 11 heads of families, 7 had been born 

 in the community; consequently moving to the 

 farm now occupied reflects merely migration 

 within the connnunity. Of the four other men, 

 two had come from a nearby community about 

 30 years ago, and one somewhat more recently 

 from the neighboring State of Minas Gerais. 

 The other man was born in Italy but was brought 

 by his parents to Brazil when only 3 years of age 

 and came to this community a number of years 

 ago. 



Of the 331 persons in the village, 249, or approxi- 

 mately three-fourths, were born there. The other 

 one-fourth has been in the village an average of 

 14 years for each person. Thirteen have resided 

 there from 35 to 55 years, and 26 others from 4 to 

 30 years each. 



The remaining 43 persons have been in the vil- 

 lage only from 6 months to 2 years. With the ex- 

 ception of four unattached individuals, however, 

 they belong to only eight families. The heads of 

 four of these families have come to work on the 

 fazenda that lies at the edge of the village, where 

 a considerable acreage of timber is being cut. One 

 family of eight persons is that of the soldado, a 

 police official assigned to the village by the State 

 authorities. The head of another family is a tin- 

 smith. 



Of the persons who have recently come to the 

 village, all but 13 were born in the State of Sao 

 Paulo. Most were born within a comparatively 

 few miles of the village and only one comes from 

 more than a hundred miles away. Nine persons 

 are from other states, five from the neighboring 

 State of Minas Gerais. One person is from each 

 of the States of Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, Ceara, 

 and Rio Grande do Norte. Only four persons are 

 foreign-born : one is from Spain, one from Switzer- 

 land, and two persons, a man and his wife, are 

 from Japan. 



There has been a considerable outward migra- 

 tion in recent years. According to the 1920 Fed- 

 eral census, as we have seen, the distrito at that 

 time had a population of 4,310. The 1940 census, 

 however, lists only 2,723 persons in the community. 

 This is 1,587 less than in 1920 and represents a 

 net decrease of 36.8 percent. If one also takes 

 into consideration the comparatively high birth 

 rate and the yearly margin of births over deaths, 

 it is clear that a considerable migration occurred 

 during the 20 years between the two censuses. 



Presumably the major portion of this outward 

 movement took place in the more recent of these 

 years. According to the State census for 1934, 

 there were at that time 3,780 persons living in the 

 distrito. The net reduction in the population from 

 1920 to 1934 was therefore only 520, or 12 percent. 

 The remaining 24.8 percent of the decrease from 

 1920 to 1940 thus must have occurred between 1934 

 and the latter date. 



Twenty-five persons belonging to village fami- 

 lies are living outside the village. Ten are women, 

 who range in age from 15 to 37 years. Four of the 

 women are living on farms in the same community. 

 Three others have married men who are now living 

 outside the community. Three young women are 

 working as servants in neighboring towns.''' The 

 15 men range in age from 20 to 53 years. Five, 

 or one-third, are living on farms in the community. 

 The mothers of six others are widows who own 

 no land. 



Of 27 peisons whom a villager remembers as 

 having left the community during his lifetime, 

 23 went either to neighboring towns, principally 

 Boa Vista and Sao Jose dos Patos, or neighboring 

 farm communities. Three migrated to communi- 



*^^ Shortly after this wns A\Titten, two of these girls returned to 

 the village after being away less than G months each. 



