490 



BRAZIL. 



cruelty and suffering, and behold man in his most hideous and most miserable state. The slaves 

 to be sold are kept naked, and like cattle, in stalls. A crack of the whip brings one out to be 

 shown, and he is made to leap about, and throw out his arms, to test his agihty and strength 

 of lungs. 



It is, however, the great blessing shed in the bitter cup of the African, that his temperament 

 is cheerful, and his sense of enjoyment at his dances and on his holidays, keen. The negroes 

 have several rude instruments of music, as a clumsy guitar, made of a gourd-shell, and even a 

 ruder kind of drum. Some of their music is plaintive and not unpleasing. The first tap of the 

 drum brings together all the unemployed blacks in a neighborhood. They come bounding in, 

 and dance with an hilarity little short of frenzy. On Sunday evening, they assemble in great 

 numbers to dance ; though at the Faciendas, Saturday night is the season for balls. But ro 

 time or place comes amiss. In the streets, when four or five meet, they generally follow the 

 ruling passion, and dant'^e. They drink much caxas, an intoxicating rum, and their little gains 

 always go for this. Many of them are baptized ; in the interior, the usual salutation of such is 

 " Jesu Christo," and the answer, "por sempre." All negroes may enter a church, and kneel 

 promiscuously with the whites. There are many free blacks, and these may have slaves. The 

 slaves are often compelled to support themselves, and to return at night a certain sum to their 

 owners ; and if they fail to do this, they are beaten. Among the slaves are great numbers with 

 skins so fair, that they are not to be distinguished from whites. 



14. Amusements. The Brazilians, though a cheerful race, have few amusements. At Rio, 

 the opera is the principal one, and is supported partly by lotteries, which are perpetual. The 

 people have a taste for music, and are fond of dancing. But the most general amusement is 

 that of sedentary games of chance, in which the shopkeepers are sometimes so much interested, 

 that they will not leave it to serve a customer. At some seasons, there are many sports.* 



15. Education. It v/as not until the present century, that a printing-press was allowed in 

 the country ; and other facilities for diffusing knowledge were much limited. There are now 

 13 periodicals universally circulated, published in one city of a country where it was lately un- 

 lawful to print a leaf. Several books have also been printed. There are few countries where 

 education is more generally diffused among the rising generation, especially in the capital ; yet 

 it is still the custom to advertise a house to be let by pasting up a piece of blank paper, the 

 remnant of a custom that obtained, like the origin of seals in Europe, when few could write. 

 It must be admitted, that the knowledge of the elder Brazilians is not very extensive or correct, 

 especially in geography ; a map of any country, even of their own, is seldom seen in their 

 houses, and it has always been with them a general belief, that Spain, France, and England are 

 inconsiderable portions of Europe, and tributary to Portugal. A better state is, however, aris- 

 ing from the liberal appropriations made for education. At Rio, there are two Lancasterian 

 schools, free to all of any color, but the slaves ; and nine more are to be opened in different 

 parishes Similar schools are established in the Minas Geraes. Primary schools are in almost 

 every street in Rio, with the inscription, that grammar, arithmetic, French, and Portuguese are 

 taught. In these schools, the masters receive ^ 300 a year, and in higher schools, 500. 

 The facility of admission to schools, has filled the army, navy, and church with men from the 



* At Lent, the streets were glowing witli green and 3'el- 

 low hues, as vivid and general as the purple on the hills. 

 This proceeded from vast quantities of balls of colored wax, 

 which filled the shops and large baskets before the doors, 

 of the shape and size of eggs, containing pure or scented 

 water. I could not conceive what they were intended for, 

 till 1 learned by experience in a few days. The Brazili- 

 ans, like all people of a tropical climate and constitution, 

 when the moment of enjoyment comes, deliver themselves 

 up to it with unrestrained hilarity. This is indulged par- 

 licularjy during the intruso, a jubilee which precedes Lent, 

 and the eggs were the principal pastime. A friend brought 

 me to pay a visit, and the first salutation we received was 

 a shower of green and yellow eggs pelted in our faces, by 

 all the fair females of the family. We were then invited 

 to the balconies of the windows, and saw all those in the 

 street, filled with girls peeping out and watching the ap- 

 proach of some victim. When any appeared, he was as- 

 sarted in all directions, and ran off bedewed with water, 

 and his hat and coat covered with green and yellow egg- 

 sliells. If he stopped for a moment, when he saw nobody, 

 «nd took off his hat to remove the wet, some laughing 



girl, perched in an upper window, was ready with a basin 

 of water, which came on him in a sheet; if he ran to the 

 opposite side to avoid it, he received another ; if he took 

 the middle of the narrow street, he probably received both 

 together. Below, in the shops and behind hall doors, 

 crowds of men stood with large syringes and gamellas, 

 which they ejected in a continued circuit in his face 

 and bosom, so that, by the time he arrived at the end 

 of the street, he was as completely drenched as if he were 

 dragged through the bay. Should he, like Swift's pas- 

 senger, " fly, invoke the gods, and turning stop " to scold, 

 he was saluted by clapping of hands and shouts of laugh- 

 ter from a thousand merry faces, from all the windows 

 round him. Sometimes we saw persons thrown down and 

 drenched with water and pelted with eggs almost to suffo- 

 cation, and sometimes whole baskets of flour were dis 

 charged on his wet body till he became crusted all over 

 blacks and mulattoes look exceedingly grotesque when or- 

 namented in this way. The Brazilian girls are naturally 

 pensive-looking and retiring; but at this season, they 

 change their character, and their gravity and timidity are 

 for three days lost in inextinguishable merriment. 



