LAST DAYS IN BRAZIL. 239 



The Carnival. 



This is well kept up, and lasts for three days, beginning 

 on Quinquagesima Sunday. There are masked balls at all 

 the theatres ; every one appears to have taken leave of their 

 senses, and I fear the proceedings are bacchanalian and 

 heathenish. There are processions organized by three car- 

 nival clubs — the Fenians, the Democrats, and the Lieutenants 

 of the Devil (Tenentes do diabo). Every kind of horse-play 

 is exercised. Numerous mulattos, called Capoeiros, dance 

 about and run " amok " with open razors strapped to their 

 hands, with which they rip people up in a playful manner. 

 The police are always on the look-out for these gentlemen, 

 and rush out on them with drawn swords ! The carnival 

 taking place in the summer, there is often much rain. I saw 

 one of the comic papers this year, which was sent up to 

 Brumado — the Revista Illustrada, a paper which, alas ! 

 often turns religion into ridicule. In it were a series of 

 well-drawn sketches of the procession. Amongst them was 

 one depicting it struggling through a surging sea ; beneath 

 was the remark that this display resembled the passage of 

 Pharaoh's host into the Red Sea. The final sketch was a 

 boy kneeling, with a serio-comic expression, grasping a huge 

 codfish, and underneath was written " Lent has begun, We 

 must now welcome the catholic and apostolic baccalhdo 

 (salt cod) ! " In Brumado, where I was at that time, there 

 was no carnival, and the priest would inevitably have 

 stopped any proceedings which the least bordered on 

 profanity. 



Lotteries. 



I must not conclude these notes without a word about 

 the public lotteries, which form a very important part of 

 the amusement of the people. They are tolerably frequent. 



