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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[August i, 1891J 
The as those beloaglrig to Minaa are 
oalled, are a very happy and oonteotod lot of people; 
they supply nearly all their own domestic wants, not 
only as regards food, but also clothing. Go every farm 
there are rude appliauoes for turning ooltou and 
wool into cloth, and it is made of ditlHreut thickuesBes 
from fine calico to thick conulcrpanes. Trousers’ 
stuffs msda in Minas on the farms aro in great de- 
mand in other parts of Brazil. They are strong and 
the colours are fast. Troopers from the inh rior take 
often large quanties of those to the Province of IS. 
Paulo for Bale. The manipulation and manufacture 
of these textile fabrics gent^rally devolves on the 
female portion of the establubmcut. The lady of tlie 
house takes charge of the women and cbiUIreu, from 
whom she exacts a fair amount of work between 
seyen and ten o’clock at night. I fear that now 
that forced labour ia abolished and railways are bring- 
lug Kuropeau goods that will prove a eubstitate, this 
interesting industry will be neglected. 
1 mentioaod before that slavery had not such a 
stronghold in the so parts as in some uibers, but 
there are many balf-oastcs between Portuguese aud 
Indian, who work in gangs on the large ootfeo 
estates- The ccuiditiou of these is being very much 
improved by their beiug allowed to build a house for 
themselves, and plant a piece of grouutl with pro- 
▼isions. Formerly marriage amongst this class was of 
rare occurrence, but families were reared all the 
same and couples lived happily together during their 
lives. The blame for this want of regard lor the 
nuptial ceremony must bo laid at the door of the 
oburcb, for so mauy confefsions and preparatory 
eatecbizings had tj be gone through, for weeks 
before the marriage could take place, people evaded 
it* Civil marriage had been for some time in the 
programme of advanced liberals, and the re 
publican Government at once declared for it, and 
made civil marriage tbo only one recognisable, by law 
and have also made it a crime punishable by ftne aud 
imprisonment for any prieat to celebrate a religious 
marriage before be has assured himself that the civil 
has been properly, that is to say leizally, performed 
The custom after that decree has been to marry oiviiy. 
to make it legal, aud thoso who want to keep right 
with the oburch are aflorwards married spiritually. 
This will ameliorate considerably the moral state of 
the class I am now referriug to. The improvement 
in this respect will also extend to the c]as« who were 
formerly slaves, for the law of 1871, while prohibition 
the sals of any one member a family, away from the 
other members, lost this salutary effect as regards the 
slave, if tbe father and mother were not married. 
The oonsequonoe was that, aa a slave could not marry 
without bis master’s coneenr, and the master allowing 
him to marry depreciated the fliave'a market value, 
the rule was for masters to forbid marriages. 
Manyanug little homes have sprung up on the estates 
since tbe emancipation law of May 13th, 1888, which 
abolished slavery for ever in Brazil, was passed ; an I 
mauy dark-coloured couples, to whom the ma«ierbofore, 
or the priest later on, denied this civilized right are 
being by the civil law made man and wife and their 
chubby childreu aro legitimized. While referring to 
these *‘libertos'’ asth^ysre now called, 1 must meu' 
Hon that the effect of aboliiion has not been so dis- 
astrous to agriculture as mauy predicted. A great 
many have left tbe old plantations, but are working 
on some other, and aro very orderly. They preft-r 
to work ou piece work by thouiselvos rather than 
tbe old system in Urge gangs, romiuding them 
of the time when they were driven like oxen or 
mules by a mau with a whip behind them. Laeb 
year there was not much coffeo lost owing to the 
t>Uck« not working. Tbs obango has been most 
f»lt lu tbs bonaehold eatabliabmenl, indoed it hn up.ot 
domastic arrangmentB terrib'y. Formerly tba housa 
Qsed to be full of negra and inuUta woineu aud girls, 
over whom the miitress of the house used to rule with 
rigorous exactitude, and whether it was owing to tliH 
poonliar tempur of tbe lady pr the wilful obstimacy of 
tti« female captU'e a great many authorities agree in 
li— yingi that punishnieut was more severely dealt on 
•at poor mifoitunatee inaida, than on those outside the 
house. The instrument of torture wis not a whip but 
a “ palmntorio,” a piece of wood shaped like a flat 
spoon with a few snnll holes bored in it: this was 
applied to tbe palm of tbe liatid; one poor innocent was 
told olf to apply it to the olender. I am inclined to 
think stories like tbete have been luuclt exaggerated 
f(»r no cysa of such treatment has p.isaed under my 
observation ; on tlio contrary I have known many kind 
and considerable Uruzilian ladies, who gave much in- 
dnlgenceto the females under their charge, and I do 
not wish to join in this libel again.st the Brazilian fair 
sex. At tbo same time on visiting Fazendoiros’ houses 
at tile present lime there are many exensea made for 
want of bettor treatment to a visitor in tbe form of 
having BO few servants now, to do particular work. In 
many iustinoes the mistress of the honso 
or the daugliters will bring the usual cup of black 
oofTee, which everyone gives to a via tor Iiere, bo tlie 
vititor or the bou-eliolder ever so bumble. 
It is natnral to suppose that the coloured house-ser- 
vant girls sighed for a liome of tlioir own, and mauy 
of them left to marry tboce who bad been refused to 
them before. A great mauy were trained to do first- 
olaaa needle.work ami lady's-maid work, and all omid 
do laundry work, aud cooking, and in the towns both 
before emincipotioa nml stern th*rewaa and is always 
a large demand for those whtt can hire ibemselves out 
for euoli naeful work. 
The natntal inclination of tlie coloured servant girl 
seems to bo to get marri'-d to one of her own raco 
and co'our, and they soom to inaks their homos oheer- 
ftil and comfortable after marrying. Those who 
thought that the members of the coloured races after 
emsucipation would gradually allow Ihemsalves to 
sink into social vices and degradations have hoof 
woefully midaken. They certainl;. both sexes o 
them, spend a great deal in ontward adornment, and 
in tbo exercise of this the taste often lends towards 
the gaudy and ridioulou.-, but this ia the nature ot the 
African race. 
Our housewivea hero will gradually settle down to 
do without the oolourcd servant, and be contented with 
theltalian, Portugue-e and German maids; and when 
tlie mistresses come to get ncqiHinted with the treat- 
ment of white girls, things niil got again into some 
sort of order in the old homes of the coffee aud cane 
planters. 
During my sojourn in these par's the so-oalled 
llevoiuliou came off. Dorn Pedro II. was quietly 
sent away to Europe and tbe army and navy took his 
place of power, appointing a provisional Government 
of Minlateri amongst people w>ll known beforehand 
tor their renublioan sympathies. In iho interior the 
news was received with perfect indilferenoe. 
The leading republicans in the vsiions dihtiiota were 
the first to move in the matter of receiving authentic 
news and propag.itiiig it. Thooonatitutod authorities re- 
mained still aud sllowod tbe others to do as they liked 
aud toon came appointments by the central Guveniment 
of new municipal oounoillors etc. to substitute the old 
and regularly eltoled mnnicipHl counoidora had to’ 
retire before the Government nominations, and 
those sslectious were made by the oentrul authority for 
all appointuieuls from the presidents of the provinces 
down to tbe postmaster of the smallest village. 
Poor people who could not road newspapera got the 
news from those who could read. It was not considered 
fasliiouable nor was it safe to oppose tliusu holding 
Ooveriimeut views, and those in huratde condition were 
made to believe that the new republioan form was essen- 
tially a poor man s Government. 
As far as my observation went, the deposed Emperor 
had a grrut deal of sympathy from among the lower 
classes. They never could find out what evil he had 
done, but they all remembered of his being olteu pub- 
licly extolled tor groat and good actions. 
I need not go a second time into the causes that 
led to this. I may repeat tliat they were various, but 
the principal one was that many great mi ilary aud 
naval oflloers thought themselvea slighted, and gra- 
dually got tlie two services to promise to take port 
in tbe change, and thus it was effected— without 
bloodshed — for could there ho any when alt the 
people who had arma were in favour of the changer' 
