MULATTOS. 



211 



tain degrees of nobility have been conferred 

 upon persons in whose families there is much 

 mixture of blood, this proof cannot be regard- 

 ed as being required against the mulatto or 

 mamaluco part of the population. Thus an Eu- 

 ropean adventurer could not obtain a commis- 

 sion in these regiments, whilst a Brazilian whose 

 family has distinguished itself in the province 

 in former times will prove his eligibility with- 

 out regard to the blood which runs in his 

 veins. He is noble, let that flow from whence 

 it may. * 



The late colonel of the mulatto regiment of 

 Recife, by name Nogueira, went to Lisbon, and 

 returned to Pernambuco with the order of Christ, 

 which the Queen had conferred upon him. t 

 A chief person of one of the provinces is the 

 son of a white man and a woman of colour ; he 

 has received an excellent education, is of a 

 generous disposition, and entertains most liberal 

 views upon all subjects. He has been made a 



* To this statement some explanation is necessary, owing 

 to the regulations of the Portuguese military service. Pri- 

 vates are sometimes raised to commissions by the intermediate 

 steps of corporals, quarter-masters, and sergeants ; these men 

 gain their ensigncies without any relation to their birth ; and 

 though a decidedly dark-coloured mulatto might not be so 

 raised, a European of low birth would. It is to enable a 

 man to become a cadet, and then an officer without serving 

 in the ranks, that requires nobility of birth. 



f The son of this man is a priest. 



r 2 



