124 



A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



The rules of the establishment were strict ; no servants 

 were kept, the pupils were obliged to do their own work, 

 cooking, &c., and even to go out into the streets to beg 

 after the fashion of the mendicant orders. One condi- 

 tion only was attached to the entrance of the children, 

 namely, that they should be of pure race ; no mulattoes or 

 negroes were admitted. I do not know on what ground 

 this institution was broken up by the government and the 

 building taken as a school-house. It has still a slightly 

 monastic aspect, though it has been greatly modified ; but 

 the cloisters running around closed courts remind one of 

 its origin. The recitations were going on at the moment 

 of our visit, and as we had seen nothing as yet of the 

 schools, Dr. Pacheco took us through the establishment. 

 A college here does not signify a university as with us, 

 but rather a high school, the age of the pupils being 

 from twelve to eighteen. It is difficult to judge of 

 methods of education in a foreign language with which 

 one is not very familiar. But the scholars appeared bright 

 and interested, their answers came promptly, their dis- 

 cipline was evidently good. One thing was very striking 

 to a stranger in seeing so many young people collected 

 together ; namely, the absence of pure type and the fee- 

 ble physique. I do not know whether it is in consequence 

 of the climate, but a healthy, vigorous child is a rare 

 sight in Rio de Janeiro. The scholars were of all colors, 

 from black through intermediate shades to white, and even 

 one of the teachers having the direction of a higher class in 

 Latin was a negro. It is an evidence of the absence of any 

 prejudice against the blacks, that, on the occasion of a recent 

 vacancy among the Latin professors, this man, having passed 

 the best examination, was unanimously chosen in preference 



