BAHIA 19 



We found a most interesting city flavored by over four 

 centuries of history. The houses were of the low square 

 Moorish style, made of the inferior native bricks, covered 

 with stucco, and then painted white, cream, yellow, pink, 

 and blue, with the cream predominating. With the 

 luxuriant vegetation and their prosperous look they made 

 a very pleasing impression. The contrast between the 

 ultra modern and the mediaeval is very marked, the narrow 

 crowded streets being traversed by right up-to-date Ameri- 

 can trolley cars, to accommodate which the corner of a 

 house is cut away here, or the front moved back there. 

 Two- and four-wheeled carts, with their bottoms made of 

 rope, lined the streets, the tiny mules in front of them 

 looking lost, but drawing corresponding loads of only 300 

 to 400 pounds. 



Flags, electric lights, and the red and green bunting of 

 Brazil made a gay appearance, as did also the uniforms 

 of soldiers and officials. The cutaways. Prince Alberts, 

 dress suits, and silk hats of the civilians should also have 

 been very impressive ; but the long-legged slim mulattoes, 

 quadroons, and every other percentage of mixture between 

 Negro, Indian, and Portuguese, failed to carry the corre- 

 sponding dignity, partly perhaps, because it rained fre- 

 quently and the damp removed the proper creases and 

 added a host of unconventional wrinkles, and partly also 

 because the trousers were too short for the length of their 

 legs. 



We saw the President arrive at the palace; we dined 

 at the "beehive" and went to the theater where we saw 

 ' ' The Merry Widow ' ' in Portuguese . ' ' Saw ' ' is the correct 

 word, for we could not understand the language, and so it 

 was the people and their costumes which interested us. 

 In that large assemblage our impression of the race mixture 

 was not altered; for it seemed as if scarcely five per cent 

 of the people were pure white, that is, Portuguese, but 

 everywhere the blending of white and black showed the 



