CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE PIERSON 



47 



passes through a pipe in the firebox of the pold. 

 The house is wired for electricity, which is fur- 

 nished by a small generator, located on the fazenda 

 which lies at the edge of the village. Only three 

 or four other dwellings in the community compare 

 favorably with this house. 



The furniture in the dining room is of a quality 

 superior to that seen elsewhere in the village or 

 surrounding area and is better cared for. There 

 are a factory-made table, six chairs with imita- 

 tion-leather seats, two buffets (the only ones in 

 the community), one of the two wall clocks in the 

 village which strike the hours.^"'' a china cabinet, 

 and the only radio in the community."' A long 

 corridor leads from the outer door to the dining 

 room, from which another door opens dii'ectly into 

 the space behind the counter in the owner's store. 



There is a set of furniture in the bedroom, in- 

 cluding a bed, a wardrobe, a dressing table, and a 

 chair, and also a child's bed, all of which are fac- 

 tory-made. In the kitchen, there is a paid covered 

 with tile which has an oven, an unusual occurrence. 

 There is also a small sink, with running water, 

 both hot and cold, and a factory-made table, chair, 

 and two medium-sized cabinets for keeping uten- 

 sils and supplies. In the bathi-oom, there is a small 

 porcelain bathtub but no lavatory or stool. In the 

 house live the storekeeper, his wife, and two chil- 

 dren. 



One of the least adequate houses in the village, 

 which is similar however in most respects to a 

 number of other houses, is 16 feet long, 12 feet 

 wide, and measures 7l^ feet to the eaves. The 

 walls are of pau a pique, without either plaster or 

 calcimine. In several places, the di-ied mud has 

 broken and fallen off, leaving small holes through 

 which insects and rain can enter. There are three 

 rooms : a small bedroom, a tiny kitchen, and a 

 small front room. The floors are of earth. The 

 rooms are all without ceilings, the under part of 

 the roof, which is of tile, being exposed. The two 

 doors are of plain boards and the two windows are 

 merely vacant spaces, with wooden shutters which 

 are swung 023en during the day to admit light and 

 air. The kitchen stove is a small, crude /;ow'. The 

 only utensils are a cast-iron pan and an enamel 

 kettle. The bed is a narrow, cheap, factory-made 



bed, with a corn-husk mattress and a worn cotton 

 blanket. A box in the corner is used to keep the 

 clothes of the family. A broom, made of fresh 

 green branches tied around a pole, leans in a corner 

 of tlie kitchen. There are no chairs. In the front 

 room there are a box, a small table made of old 

 boxes, and, leaning up in one corner, a hoe. A 

 small unpainted shelf about 5 by 16 inches is above 

 the table, on which are a few cans and a small 

 mirror. In the house live a young couple and their 

 C-month-old child. 



FUEL AND LIGHT 



All families in the village and on the farms use 

 fii-ewood for cooking. In most cases, the supply 

 is gathered from day to day, in a nearby piece 

 of timber, usually by the women and children. 

 Dead limbs and sticks are picked up from the 

 ground and carried home in bundles on the head 

 (pi. 7). Occasionally, the foice ^"^ and the ax are 

 used to cut the larger limbs into convenient 

 lengths. 



Many women enjoy this task. "I like very much 

 to go after firewood," said a woman in the village. 

 "If we don't need any at the house, I go with the 

 other women. It's a long way and there's a hill 

 so steep you have to rest three or four times climb- 

 ing it. But if I see someone coming back with 

 firewood and they haven't asked me to go along, 

 I don't like it at all." 



All families in the village have either to bring 

 firewood from nearby patches of timber or, in a 

 few cases, to purchase it from someone who is 

 clearing a piece of land. Of 17 farms visited, 13 

 have an adequate supply of firewood. One farm 

 is without a piece of timber and the family has to 

 buy all the wood used. On the three other farms, 

 the supply is nearly exhausted and at least part of 

 the firewood has to be bought. Corncobs and 

 corn husks are used for kindling, and matches 

 to set them afire. To economize on matches an 

 attempt often is made to keep wood burning con- 

 tinually, at least during the day.^"* 



In all farmhouses visited and in all houses in 

 the village except two, light is furnished by kero- 

 sene lamps, lanterns, or lampannas. The lamps 

 and lanterns are few. The lamparina consists 

 merely of a small bottle or tin can about 6 inches 



lofl The other is owned by the storekeeper's father. 

 "' Since this was written, another village storekeeper has in- 

 stalled a radio with a battery set. 



"" See Tools and Other Equipment, p. 50. 



109 Pipes are often lighted with a burning twig from the fire. 



