1883.] The Naturalist Brazilian Expedition. 485 
papers in the city are controlled by a German, who edits them 
equally well, one in German and the other in Portuguese. During 
our stay in the city a “ German Exposition ” was in progress, the 
articles exhibited being agricultural or manufactured products 
directly derived from the Germans of Southern Brazil; the dis- 
play was an exceedingly good one. 
The colonies are either public or private. In the former the 
immigrant is assigned a tract of land without payment, and he is 
under especial official control until such time as the colony is 
allowed to govern itself. The private colonies are the property 
of capitalists, who sell portions of land on credit, the payment 
being commonly in annual installments for five years. This has 
the advantage of giving the settler a choice of land, and of 
relieving him from annoying official supervision. Formerly the 
government paid the passages of immigrants destined for the 
Public lands, but this plan has wisely been abandoned. Of late 
years the German immigration to this province has somewhat 
fallen off, and the Italian is taking its place; this is certainly a 
Poor substitute, but it should be remembered that the Italians 
a0 come to Brazil are generally farmers or rural laborers—a 
very different class from the city refuse which goes from Italy to 
es: United States. In Rio Grande do Sul the Italians are gener- 
ally industrious and frugal, and they are well liked. 
This is, perhaps, the only part of Brazil where immigration 
3 has been completely successful. The Imperial government has 
‘ d vast sums on colonization ‘schemes, some of them vis- 
inary, others badly carried out, many doomed from the outset 
to failure, owing to the poor quality of the colonists. I believe, 
bi, er, that the main obstacle to successful colonization has 
: the Presence of the slave element and the consequent degra- 
dation of labor. An immigrant who has left Europe to better 
ee ' Condition will never be content to work beside an ignorant 
gi much less if he himself is treated as an inferior, hardly 
R than the negro bondsman and only tolerated because he is 
| If he is established in a colony, with ground of his 
- e cultivate, he is still looked down upon by his richer neigh- 
m F he oes his own work instead of ordering servants ; 
ee. he is Subject to unpleasant official supervision, and if 
gn B ea i i i lonies, he 
finds that “scape this by buying a farm without the colonies, 
a all the good land is absorbed in large plantations. In 
