



214 



MULATTOS. 



daughter." These kind of commissions (encom- 

 mendas) are not unusual. 



Still the Brazilians of high birth and large 

 property do not like to intermarry with persons 

 whose mixture of blood is very apparent, and 

 hence arise peculiar circumstances. A man of 

 this description becomes attached to a woman of 

 colour, connects himself with her, and takes 

 her to his home, where she is in a short time 

 even visited by married women ; she governs 

 his household affairs, acts and considers herself 

 as his wife, and frequently after the birth of 

 several children, when they are neither of them 

 young, he marries her. In connections of this 

 nature, the parties are more truly attached than 

 in marriages between persons who belonged to 

 two families of the first rank ; for the latter are 

 entered into from convenience rather than from 

 affection ; indeed the parties, on some occa- 

 sions, do not see each other until a few days 

 before the ceremony takes place. It often 

 occurs, that inclination, necessity, or conveni- 

 ence induce or oblige a man to separate from 

 the person with whom he has thus been con- 

 nected ; in this case, he gives her a portion, 

 and she marries a man of her own rank, who 

 regards her rather as a widow than as one whose 

 conduct has been incorrect. Instances of infi- 

 delity in these women are rare ; they become 

 attached to the men with whom they cohabit, 



