99 
better himself, or out of a berth, say to himself ''Here 
is a paradise for a coffee plautf r, I will go and try foe a 
billet." Unless a man knows Dutch laoguage and cus- 
toms and at least one dialect of Javanese, he will have to 
begin at the foot ot the ladder on a salary of eomething 
like sixty rupees a month. Preference is alto givea 
to a man who has lived for a time either in Holland 
itaelf ; or in Netherlands Indies. The etiquette in Dutch 
officialdom is somewhat complex: and a planter is 
frequently brought into contact WJth the officials both 
in regard to his land End other taxes, his labour, and in 
many cases his water-supply. These dealingH require 
much tact and "a deal o' salutin." Do you know 
that etory ? Well, here it is. In a certain British 
colony a tew years ago wse a Padre who used to ride 
40 miles to take three services every Sunday, and the 
planters in each district used to help him by reading 
the lessons for him. On one occasion it fell to the 
lot of a grod man, but somewhat rougb in the cut, to 
read XVI Romano. He got through the first two 
verses when he stopped and said audibly " Humph ! 
There's a deal o' salutiu here !" Glancing down and 
set ing that all the chapter was more or less of the same 
description, he read the last vei'se only, when he shut 
up his book with a bang saying " Here eadeth the 
Second Lesson." 
Here also erd I — Singapore Free ress. 
LETTERS FROM BRAZIL. 
LA.WLBSBKESS AT S. JOSE' — CLIMATE AND CONDITION 
OF THE COUNTBY TO THE SOUTH OF THE STATE OP 
MINAS GEKAES — KAILWAYS — LABOUB dOESTION — DEAW- 
BACKS TO EUEOPEAN IMMIGRATIOiV— COFFEE CULTIVA- 
TION — WANT OF SCHOOLS ]?0R EDUCATION UF CHILDKEN — 
THE " MINBIROS "—HALF-CASTE LABOUUERS ON COFFEE 
ESTATES— JIARRIAGE LAWS— RESULTS OP THE AB .LITl N 
OP SLAVERY- THE LATE EBVOLUTION— HobPlTALITV O? 
THE PEuPLE OF THE EbTAD > MINAS — GAME AND SPORT 
— AN ITALIAN COLONY— NOTES BY THE WAY. 
I think my chronicles were brought up to onr 
arrival at the Travellers' Retreat" at Quaxupe at 
Jose. We got very bad accunnta of the lawless- 
ness of tbe people in these parts and Ananias tcld 
that a man had been murdered in the open street a 
fev7 days before, and that was the latest news he had 
gjt from that quarter. We were now snugly lodged 
in the " Travellers' Retreat " iu this same village, and 
we found the people of the place quite tauie, and 
not at all a disorderly lot. However, on enquiry wo 
found that the headman of a troop of pack-mules 
had been coolly put to death by a band of some 
six or S4iven persons under the oidere of the local 
justice of peace. A warrant had been issued to im- 
prison one of the mule drivers, he was not found 
among his oompaniona when the justice went to serve 
the warrant, and on the plea that the head-trooper 
had let the man who was " wanted " escape, with 
very little ceremony the gang at the order of tho 
Magistrate "despatched" the same head-trooper with 
ever ao many cuts with the sharp-poiuted knives 
which all the male population carry openly in every 
part of Brazil- In justice to the administration of 
the law, nowevor, we mnst add that the most of the 
fellows were captured, but the justice of peace was 
allowed to hide amongst his friends. While waiting 
for trial the whole of the prisoners escaped out of 
jail, and nothing more was lieard of the case up to 
the time I le t these quarters. 
During the time my commission lasted, I travelled 
over the most part of the south of tbe State of 
Miuas Qeraes. A, finer climate one ooald scarcely 
imagine. The elevation is from 2,000 to 2,500 feet 
above sea-luvel. The temperature is seldom above 
88'3 Fahr. even at the hottest time ot the year 
aadi the nights are always cool. The country is 
hilly, tho hills being covered with virgin forest, 
except on the parts which are planted with coffee, 
uffee ia subject to damage from frost, in the 
oUowe, bat on these rane and cotton can be 
grown luxuriantly. Tobacco ia largely grown, 
both for consumption iu the country and for ex- 
port. A large part of the land is in campO; 
or common grass land. The grass is of a coirso 
common kind, with little feeding qualities in it, but 
many farmers are planting the sweet grass OJ'-lled 
" capim melada," and where this has once got a good 
hold on auy patch of ground, it spreads with amazing 
rapidity, and soon becomes almost a pest. It being 
something of tho nature of your Mauritius grass, its 
roots spread rapidly. It seeds once a year, the seed 
being light, it is carried by the wind to many abandoned 
clearings and uncultivated prices of land. I am sure it 
would grow well in your Ceylon pataaas, and if land 
leeches would allow of the practicability of sending 
cattle and horses to graze, it might be of value to 
your country. This reminds me that I long ago pro- 
mised to procure seed for Mr. Wbyte of Nuwara Bliya. 
The rains here fall regularly, being heaviest and most 
frequent in September, October. November, and Febru- 
ary, March and April. I should say the rainfall would 
be equal to that of the Province of Sao Paulo, say 80 
inches a year. 
The soil ia of a chocolate colour, and not considered 
equal to the Terra-rocha ol Sao Pauloj but coffee comes 
quickly into bearing and continues to Kive heavy crops 
for six or eight years, when it falls off a little. On 
Terra-rocha on the contrary, coffee estates are often 
spoken of as forty years old, and bearing equal to 
young coffee. What one observes ail along the south 
of Minas, and which they are very scarce of in Sao 
Paulo is the abundance of water for driving machinery. 
This is owing to so many well wooded hills. 
Railways are being projected all over these parts, 
indeed all over the interior of Brazil ; and if the 
•finances of the country hold out, of which many are 
doubtful, tratisport will by-and-by be made easy. 
Tiie capital for the making of these Railways has to 
be found in the country. Some consideration ought 
to be given to the fact that while they expend so much on 
these UEOf ul works they will have less left to spend oa 
what is really urgent, the supply of labour for agri- 
culture, and which, by-and-by, will be the great 
burning question in Brazil. 
The south of Minas would do well for European 
immiijration, but, there are difficulties in turning ii 
to good account on tmall farms. Capital amongst 
small farmers is scaice, and there is a great defi- 
ciency of means for furnishing the three indes- 
pensible necessaries in starting an European colony 
on a coffee estate, namely, tile-covered houses, well 
enclosed pastures for cotos, and cash to advance the 
colonist for nine mouths or a year, for domestic needs, 
until he can procure food from his own patch of 
ground, so that these necessary conditions can only 
be implemented by wealthy Fazendeii os. One finds here 
and thsre small colonies located on coffee estates, 
and those are doing equally well compared with others 
in the wealthy Province of Sao Paulo. Whatever may 
be said against European emigration to Brazil, — by 
agitators in some of the countries which supply the im- 
migrants—the agricultural lo/bourer in the ooffee-grow- 
ing districts ot Brazil is much better off than he was 
in Europe, and he has a prospect at no distant date 
after his arrival, of becoming a land-owner himself. 
The only draw back I see to the system, which one 
may say is now past the experimental stage, is the 
want of schools tor the education of the colonists' 
children. On large farms the owner supplies a school, 
master, but the small farmer cannot afford it, and 
although the Government is very liberal in giving free 
education where a certain number of scholars can be 
guaranteed, and schools for primary education are 
established in cU populous centres, many of the small ■ 
farma are scattered, and at far distances from those 
schools, anil what with the occasional heavy rains, 
incurring danger to the little onesin crossing swollen 
streams, and the need of the children remaining pretty 
often at home to help in the harvesting of the 
various crops, educational advantages cauuotbemuch 
availed of. 
As the country gets populated there will be improta- 
ment in this. 
