CHAPTER XII. 



URUGUAY BASIN AND ADJACENT SEABOARD. 



State of San Pedro or Eio Grande do Sul. 



ESPITE its relatively small extent, this region, named from an inlet 

 which the first navigators mistook, as they had mistaken the Bay 

 of Rio, for a great river, is one of the best adapted, by its natural 

 resources, to constitute an independent State. It has often, in 

 fact, played an independent part, and its position as a border 

 land towards the Spanish domain gave it too much importance under the 

 Portuguese rule to be granted as a fief, like so many other provinces of Brazil. 



But, although it had consequently always been governed directly by the 

 crown, its inhabitants were none the less enthusiastic in hailing the proclamation 

 of independence. Then feeling the yoke of Rio as much as they had before 

 felt that of Lisbon, they attempted to set up for themselves, and a fierce civil 

 war was waged for nine years (1835 — 44) between the farrajws (republicans) 

 and the canununis (monarchists). This was the heroic period in the history of 

 Rio Grande, associated with the name of the great guerilla chief, Garibaldi. 

 It required all the resources of the vast empire of Brazil to wrest the little 

 " republic " of Rio Grande from the band of adventurers led by this famous 

 captain. 



Since then the soulhern province has had, from its very position, to bear the 

 brunt of the border warfare carried on at one time against Ai-gentina, at another 

 against Paraguay. Lastl}^, since the proclamation of the Brazilian republic, 

 Rio Grande, true to its traditional hatred of centralisation, has begun a fierce 

 struggle for its local autonomy. Here was struck the first blow against the 

 military dictatorship of Rio de Janeiro, and from this region the revolution 

 gradually spread to a great part of Brazil. Long after the surrender of the rebel 

 fleet, in the spring of 1894, the revolt was kept alive in Rio Grande. 



