CRUZ DAS almas: a BRAZILIAN VILLAGE — PIERSON 



61 



Five women in the village and two farm 

 women "^ add to the family's living by doing sew- 

 ing, cutting out, and stitching together such items 

 as simple cotton dresses and men's trousers and 

 coats. Five village women wash clothes for fam- 

 ilies other than their own, on those infrequent 

 occasions when the wife is incapacitated by reason 

 of childbirth or illness. One farm woman occa- 

 sionally makes saddle blankets. A married woman 

 and two widows eke out a precarious living by re- 

 ceiving men, as part-time prostitutes. 



There are two school teachers in the village : one 

 came this year from Silo Paulo, the other from the 

 same city 15 years ago, shortly after which she 

 married a young man in the village and continued 

 to live in the community, to whose way of life she 

 has now been almost completely assimilated. The 

 work of the school teachei's, like that of the tax 

 collector, the tinsmith, the registrar of vital sta- 

 tistics, the postmistress, and one of the part-time 

 barbers, is carried on in private houses ; in all cases 

 except those of the barber and the teachers the work 

 is done in the worker's own home. 



In general, the men are expected to provide for 

 their families by doing most of the work on the 

 farm, especially' the heavier tasks, or engaging in 

 some other occupation which will at least provide 

 the food, clothing, shelter, and other necessities 

 for their families. The women have the responsi- 

 bility of caring for young children and doing the 

 housework. Tliey may also work in the fields, and 

 especially in the gardens, and they usually help 

 raise poultry and livestock. Hunting, fishing, 

 and trapping are exclusive occupations of the 

 men.^^'' The children early in life begin to help 

 their mothers, especially in caring for the younger 

 children, bringing in firewood and water, and soon 

 are also assisting with at least the lighter tasks 

 in the fields. 



AGRICULTURE 



As has been indicated, the basic means of sub- 

 sistence in this community is agriculture. The 

 principal crop is maize. Of 17 farms visited dur- 

 ing the growing season, for instance, all but one 

 had maize in production, the area per farm rang- 



*3^ One is a widow wlio also washes for other womeii, la a 

 "blesser" and, occasionally, acts as a midwife. 



^^ The wife of one of the village officials sometimes accom- 

 panies her husband on an overnight fishing expedition to the 

 river, "because he doesn't like to coolt and make cafi." 



ing from 11 alqueires (65.6 acres) to 16 tarefas 

 (2.9 acres). The fields of maize represented 61.7 

 percent of the total area in cultivation. 



Beans are the second largest planting in the 

 community. Of 17 farms, all but one had beans 

 growing, the area ranging from 51^ alqueires 

 (32.8 acres) to 1 tarefa (0.18 acre) per farm. This 

 represented 16.7 percent of the total area in culti- 

 vation. Sugarcane was being grown on 14 farms, 

 rice on 10 farms, onions and potatoes on 8 farms 

 each, manioc on 7, peanuts on 6, sweetpotatoes on 

 4, card on 3, and tobacco and coffee on 2 farms each. 

 Unfortunately, statistical data on production in 

 the area in recent years is given only by muni- 

 cipios, so that it is not possible to know the 

 extent to which these various crops are gi-own 

 on all farms in the community, as well as the total 

 production. 



It is clear, however, that the area is not a one- 

 or two-crop area as many regions in Brazil have 

 been in the past and, in several cases, still are. 

 On the contrary, considerable diversification is 

 evident. Of 17 farms, no farm had less than two 

 crops planted; the average number of crops was 

 6 and the maximum, 11. In addition, all farms 

 except three had at least a small piece of ground 

 in pasture for livestock. On the farm which had 

 only two crops, beans and sugarcane were growing. 

 One of the four farms with eight crops had in 

 production maize, beans, rice, onions, manioc, 

 sugarcane, peanuts, and tobacco. On the one farm 

 with 11 crops, there were growing maize, beans, 

 rice, potatoes, onions, sugarcane, peanuts, sweet- 

 potatoes, tobacco, card, and coffee (three trees). 



The size of fields, however, is comparatively 

 small ; in fact, the areas cultivated ordinarily have 

 more the character of plots or patches than of 

 fields, as known, for instance, in the United States. 

 The largest crop planted on the 17 farms was 

 only 65 acres, and this was divided into 10 dif- 

 ferent plots. Of the total of 101 plantings, 22 or 

 approximately a fifth, were only a tarefa, or less, 

 in size. In six cases, the amount in cultivation 

 was measured in number of plants: "25 sweet- 

 potato plants," "120 manioc plants," "150 tobacco 

 plants," "200 manioc plants," "3 coffee trees," "20 

 coffee trees." 



The amount of land under cultivation at any one 

 time also is not large. Two of the 17 farms visited 

 are fazendas being cleared of timber and sown to 



