CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Gift of Herbert Fisk Johnson '22 Cornell University Library F 2621.M95 Rio Grande do Sul and its German colonie 3 1924 020 651 869 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020651869 EIO GEANDE DO SUL LONDON : PKISTBD BT SPOTTISWOODB AND CO., SBW-STBEET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET LONDON : PKINTED BY SPOTTIS^VOODH AND CO., SHW-STnEET SQUARE AKD PARLIAMENT STREET EIO GBANDE DO SUL ITS GEEMAN COLONIES. BY MICHAEL G. MULHALL. LONDON: LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 1873. All righti reserved. PEEFACE. Last summer I made an excursion to Eio Grande, where I was astonished to find so man^ thriving German colonies, of which little is known in the Eiver Plate or in Europe. The only works I could find referring to so interesting a part of the Brazilian Empire were a pamphlet written in German and reproduced in French at Paris some twenty years ago, and a 'Cuadro Estadistico' by the engineer Camargo, published at Port Alegre in 1868. My impressions and notes of travel through the colonies were too voluminous for reproduction in the columns of a daily paper, and for that reason I publish them in the present form, including some letters which have already appeared in the Buenos Ayres ' Standard.' To my readers I a Tl PEEPACE. will only say, that for a pleasure-trip diiring yaca- tion I can strongly recommend Port Alegre, its beautiful scenery and kindly people, so little known to the outer world, although, only twenty days from London by steamer, and three from the Eiver Plate. Passengers from England would have to change at Eio Janeiro from the ocean-steamer to Lamport and Holt's line, and again at Eio Grande to Proudfoot's lake-steamer 'Guayiba.' Those from the Eiver Plate can take Lamport and Holt's fort- nightly steamer from Monte Video, the passage to Eio Grande averaging thirty hours. The artist or sportsman will find plenty of occupation ascend- ing the Jacuhy, Sinos, Caby, and other fine rivers which have their confluence at Port Alegre. .: Should this little book be of any utility, my recol- lections of a vacation spent among the German colonies will be aU the more pleasurable. M. G. MULHALL. Buenos Ayees : June 10, 1872. CONTENTS. PAGE Preface v Introduction ......... 1 CHAPTEJi I. Peovince of Eio Grande 12 II. City op Pio Grande 39 III. Eio Geandb to Port Alegre . . . .49 IV. Poet Aiegee . . 55 V. The Suburbs of Poet Alegee . . . .09 VI. English Enterprises in Port Alegee . . .05 A'll. The Ne-sv Hamburg Eall-way 72 VIII. The Coalfields of San Jeronimo . . . .78 IX. Excursion to San Leopoldo 85 X. Inauguration of the San Leopoldo Eailtn-ay . 9i XI. A Eide theough the Colonies . . . .105 XII. Eeom the Wateefall to the Devil's Glen . .Hi Xin. German Colonies — History and Progress . . 123 XIV. Aeelal and Pelotas . ' 153 XV. Yaguaron and Lake Mini 173 VI. Geeman Colonies in Santa Cathaexna . . .187 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. INTB0DT7GTI0N. The Empire of Brazil has made great strides in the last few years, not only in all branches of ' material progress, but also in the enlightened policy which has found such strenuous supporters in Dom Pedro Segundo and his minister, Viscount Paranhos do Eio Braneo. The Emancipation law of 1871 is now beiag followed up by an extensive programme of English and German immigration, and a great effort to diffuse instruction among the lower orders of the people. It may not be out of place to give the reader an outline of this immense and fertile region, which occupies the half of South America, and contains twenty provinces, each of which is larger than an empire or kingdom in Europe. The largest, Matto Grosso, is ten times the size of B 2 mo GEANDE DO STTL. England ; the smallest, Espirito Santo, is almost as big as Belgium and Holland put together. The coast-line on the Atlantic is nearly 4,000 miles long. The water-cotirses are unrivalled; steamboats can navigate theiA-mazon and tribu- taries a length of 22,000 mil^, and for the last twenty years a regular line of "Reamers has plied between Para and Tabatinga, on the Amazon proper, a distance of 1,800 mil%. Numerous mountain chains are met with, the highest being Serra Itatiaia, over 10,000 feet in eleva%)n. Forests cover a great portion of the interio^ft and the mineral wealth, especially in gold and did,monds, is very remarkable. The population is putidown at 11,000,000, including 1,400,000 slaves, and 500,000 untamed Indians. By the new Emaneip'a- tion law, which provides for gradual abolition, there will be no slavery by the close of this century. The institutions of the country are extremely liberal, the Government being a kind of Federal Republic, with an Emperor instead of a President. The established religion is the Roman Catholic, but the utmost liberty and equality may be said to exist in this and aU other matters affecting foreigners, who find also the greatest protection for life and property. The INTEODUCTION. 3 army, in time of peace, counts 25,000 men; the navy, consisting chiefly of iron-clads and gun- boats, is manned by 5,546 sailors. The growth of the national revenues is pro- digious : at the accession of the present Emperor, in 1832, they amounted to 11,000,000 mr. (say 1,100,000Z.) ; in 1864 they had risen to 60,000,000, and in 1871 to 94,000,000, or 9,500,000Z. sterling, the budget for this last year (at 10 milreis per £) standing thus : — Eevenue Import duties Export „ Licenses . . Hallways . . Property tax . HiscellaneouB £5,250,000 1,896,000 1,080,000 400,000 350,000 424,000 :£9,400,000 Imperial household :fil40,000 Senators and deputies 70,000 Army and navy . 2,150,000 Justice 340,000 Foreign affairs . . . 80,000 Interior 177,000 Eailways and steamers 700,000 Post and telegraph . 130,000 Immigration . . . 85,000 Public institutes . . 300,000 Worship 125,000 Finance 1,600,000 Interest on debt . . 2,332,000 Surplus ..... 1,171,000 £9,400,000 The Emperor's salary is 40,000Z. per annum, that of the Empress 4,800Z. The budgetfor 1872 puts down 93,000,000mr. for income, and 86,000,000 mr. B 2 4 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. for expenditure, leaving a surplus of 7,000,000 mr., or 700,000Z. sterling. The national debt amounts to 650,000,000 mr., or 65,000,000Z. sterling, of which one-half has been caused by the Paraguayan war, its growth being as follows : — 1865 . . :£30,800,000 1869 . . £59,000,000 1866 . . 38,100,000 1870 . 64,400,000 1867 . . 50,500,000 1871 . 64,900,000 1868 . . 58,000,000 The national debt is made up thus : — Millions Bterling Poreign loans 16 GoTeTiunent stock or home debt . . 30 Paper money 15 Orphan fund, &c • 2J War bills unpaid 1 J 65 millions Henceforward this debt will go steadily down- wards, as the budget each year shows a surplus. Meantime a debt of 65,000,000Z. sterling is only trifling when compared with the revenue or popiilation of the empire, being only seven years' income, or equal to 61. per head of the popula- tion. Brazil has no fewer than seven loans in London, the balances due on each standing thus : — INTEODUCTION. 1852 .... £685,800 1858 861,500 1859 . . . . 335,200 1860 .... 944,100 1863 3,035,700 1865 .... 6,573,600 1871 3,459,600 £15,895,500 It will be seen that two-thirds of the money borrowed in England went to the expenses of the war, the total cost of which is officially stated at 39,000,000?. sterling, so that about three-fourths of this amount was raised in the country by home loans, paper money, or taxation. It is right to note here that besides 151,000,000 mr. in Government notes the bank of Brazil has an issue of 36,500,000, and other banks 2,000,000 in paper money, making the total of paper cur- rency 189,500,000 mr., or 19,000,000L sterling. So far from the Paraguayan War causing the trade or products of Brazil to fall off, the increase in that period was wonderful, as will be seen in the three great staples which make up the exports of the empire, comparing 1870 with 1860, thus : — 1870 1860 Coffee . . 186,841 tons . 151,794 tons Sugar . . 129,243 „ . 115,210 „ Cotton . . 41,188 „ . 14,295 „ 6 EIO GEANDE DO SUX. This shows that, in spite of the war, the products hare increased enormously, viz. — twenty-four per cent, in coffee, twelve per cent, in sugar, and nearly two hundred per cent, in cotton. Of this last ritaple San Paulo alone yielded last year 30,000 tons. If we compare the returns of the year (1864) previous to the breaking out of the war with the subsequent ones, the result is equally satisfactory. The tables are in arrobes of thirty-five lbs. each. Tear Cotton Sugar Coffee India-mbber 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1,350,465 1,726,015 2,899,004 2,689,206 3,386,692 8,016,127 7,483,107 • 9,158,065 8,167,685 8,719,023 8,183,311 10,806,336 9,940,566 13,048,464 14,546,770 23 ,235 232,417 230,900 325,636 343,422 Thus we see that in four years the produce of the country almost doubled, the increase under the various headings being — in cotton one hundred and fifty per cent., sugar nine per cent., coffee eighty per cent.. India-rubber forty-four per cent. If we take the four items iu one bulk we find Brazil exported in 1864 about 300,000 tons of produce, and in 1868 over 450,000 tons. The value of these four items in 1864 was 54,000,000 hard doUars, and in 1868 was 74,000,000. INTRODUCTION. The imports and exports of the various pro- vinces in 1869 stood thus : — Imports Exports £ sterling * sterling Rio Janeyro . 9,000,000 9,000,000 Pernambuco 2,560,000 2,310,000 Bahia . 2,350,000 2,160,000 Para 820,000 1,080,000 Rio Grande do Sul . 770,000 856,000 Maranhao 520,000 607,800 Ceara 326,600 488,800 San Paolo 230,000 1,780,000 Eight other provinces 84,400 1,986,000 £16,660,000 £20,268,600 Brazil takes half her imports from England, one- fourth from France, and the rest from the River Plate, United States and Portugal. She exports half her produce to England, one-eighth to Prance, one-eighth to North America, and the rest to other countries. Her coasting trade, not included above, stands for about 5,000,000Z. sterling, being carried on by 3,200 vessels, averaging 200 tons each, and manned by 45,000 sailors ; besides 120 coasting steamers. There are eighteen banks in Brazil, which may be briefly set down thus : — EIO GRANDE DO S&L. Capital Observations Bank of Brazil . . £3,300,000 Emission 4,000,000?. London and Brazilian . 1,500,000 Branches at Bahia, Santos, &c. English Bank 1,000,000 Branches like above Eural Bank . 800,000 Deposits 2,000,000?. Commercial Bank 1,200,000 One-sixth paid up Campos Bank 100,000 Dividend 1 1 per cent. Bahia Bank . 800,000 Emission 180,000?. Bahia Beserre 400,000 Half paid up Bahia Mortgage . 120,000 Dividend 7 per cent. Bahia Savings 300,000 Dividend 7 per cent. Bahia Commercial 560,000 Dividend 7| per cent. Bahia Economy . 62,000 Dividend 7| per cent. Pernambuco Bank In liquidation Al^oaa Bank 30,000 Dividend 12 per cent. Maranhao Bank 100,000 Dividend 13| per cent Maranhao Commercial 200,000 Half paid ■ Para Commercial . 80,000 Deposits 200,000?. Eio Grande do Sul 100,000 Dividend 1 1 per cent. The prosperous condition of Brazilian finances and trade, causes tlie national securities to be in great request as well in England as in Brazil. The Brazilian bonds on the London Stock Ex- change are usually above par, and the Home Debt six per cents, at Rio Janeyro may be quoted at par, while the ' gold bonds ' are at ten per cent, premium; the last amount to about 3,000,000?. sterling, with coupons payable in specie instead of paper money, which causes them to be a favourit* investment with people abroad, as it gives them five and a-half per cent for their ' INTRODUCTION. 9 ^ money. Besides the local six per cents., there are also a series of four and five per cents., the entire home debt being, as above stated, about 30,000,000?. sterling. There are four principal lines of railway open to traffic, besides numerous branches or lines of less importance, and about 1,800 miles of telegraph actually working. The Pedro Segundo Railway was begun in 1857, and the first section, 30 miles, opened in the follow- ing year to Queimados. At present more than 150 miles are open to traffic, and the line is being pro- longed to the Tocantins river. The Government has expended over 3,000,000L sterling on this line : the gross receipts average ten per cent, and the net proceeds more than six per cent, on the cost of construction. The San Paulo line has already cost over 2,500,000Z. sterling, and belongs not to the State but to an English Joint Stock Company, the Imperial Government possessing shares to the value of 100,000?. The net proceeds average over five per cent., and when the new branches are open the traffic will be much increased. The working ex- penses are only one-third of the gross receipts. The Bahia line was opened in 1860, and its 10 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. traffic was so small that for nearly ten years the- annual receipts did not cover working expenses ; the deficit had to be made good out of the seven per cent, guarantee of the Imperial Government. At the close of 1868 the aggregate deficit for eight years amounted to 120,000Z. Since then the affairs of the line have been every year improving. The Government shares represent 20,000Z. The Pemambuco line cost 1,825,000^., being fifty per cent, over the original estimates upon which the Government guarantee was given, on a length of 80 miles. The Imperial Government holds 700,000Z. worth of shares. The working expenses are two-thirds of the gross receipts, and the share- holders' dividend chiefly depends on the Govern- ment guarantee. There are no fewer than fifteen lesser railways or branches being constructed, besides numerous roads, canals, bridges, docks, and other public works of the most useful description. At the same time a submarine cable to unite Brazil with Europe is being contracted for by Baron Mana, who engages to have it complete before the end of 1874. Another great enterprise is the diversion of Bolivian trade from the Pacific to the Amazon by means of Colonel Church's Mamore and Madera INTRODUCTION. 11 Eailway, wliich will connect the settled parts of Bolivia with the head-waters of the chief affluents of the Amazon. But far surpassing all other schemes in magni- tude is that of importing thousands of Germans and Englishmen to colonise the splendid provinces of Eio Grande, San Paulo, Santa Catalina, &c. Messrs. Crawfurd, Kitts, and Hodgskin have arrived in Eio Janeyro to arrange for sending out 150,000 English emigrants in batches up to 10,000 yearly. At the same time contracts have been concluded for 40,000 Germans to San Paulo, 60,000 to Eio Grande, and other smaller numbers for elsewhere ; showing that colonisation is now the great aim of the Brazilian Government. la EIO GEANDE DO SUL. I. PBOVmOB OF BIO GRANDE. At the soutliem extremity of the vast empire of Brazil we find the rich and favoured province of Rio Grande do Sul, otherwise called San Pedro, which, although one of the smallest provinces of Brazil, is yet three times the size of England, hav- ing an area of 8,925 square leagues (of 16 square miles each), or 142,800 square miles English, Its situation between the twenty-ninth and thirty- fourth parallels of south latitude, gives it a finer and more temperate climate than any other part of the empire. It is bounded on the north by the provinces of St. Catherine's and Parana, on the south by the republic of Banda Oriental, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the Upper Uruguay, which separates it from the Argentine Misiones and Corrientes. By the treaty of 1852, PEOVINCE OF EIO GRANDE. 13 the frontier with the Oriental Republic was defined as the mouth of the Chuy on the Atlantic, and the mouth of the Quareim on the Uruguay. The fron- tier line had been a constant bone of contention in the time of Spaniards and Portuguese, and no fewer than three special commissions, in 1759, 1789, and 1790, were sent to mark the limits on the part of the two Crowns, and at last agreed to the mouth of the Pepiry-Guassu, which is now the point of demarcation between the Brazilian and Argentine territories. Its greatest measurement from east to west is 500 miles, and from north to south 400 miles. A range of hUls, called the Coxiiha Grande, traverses the country from north to south, forming two water- sheds, the eastern with an area of 4,325, the west- ern 4,600 square leagues. At the same time an equally remarkable bisection of the country is made by the Serra Geral, running east and west, aU the northern half being high and mountainous, the southern low but undulating. The Serra Geral is sometimes called Serra do Mir, and all the other ranges, Serra Herval, Tapes, Pinhal, San Javier, are so many ramifications. The country is magnificently wooded and watered, and the mountain ranges add to its picturesque 14 EIO GEAlfDE DO SUL. appearance, although no higher than the hills of Derbyshire. The highest point of the Sierra Geral is Passo Santa Victoria, 3,200 feet over the sea- level. The principal rivers are — the Jacuhy, Gravatahy, Sinos, Cahy, Guayiba, Camaquan, San Gonzalo, Taguaron, Qnarahim, Pepiry-Guassu, Ibicuhy, Upper Uruguay, and tributaries. The Jacuhy is the most considerable of the four affluents which form the splendid estuary of Guay- iba. It rises near Cruz Alta in the Serra Geral, waters the towns of Cachoeira, Kio Pardo, Santo Amaro, Triumfo and San Jeronimo, and debouches in front of Port Alegre : it has often a width of 700 feet, and the current sometimes runs up to five miles an hour. It is navigable for steamers to Rio Pardo (120 miles), and in times of high water to Cachoeira, 80 miles higher up. Among its tributaries are — Rio Pardo, which bathes the Santa Cruz colony; Taquary, the most rapid water-course in the province; and Arroyo dos Ratos, famous for its coal-fields. The Gravatahy rises in the Cosdlha das Lombas, and is only navigable about 20 miles, but in high water, boats go up to Aldea dos Anjos, 30 miles from the embouchure at Port Alegre. PROVINCE OF EIO GEANDE. 15 The Eio dos Sinos is 120 miles long, from its head-waters at Pedras Blaneas to its mouth, and takes its name from its sinuous course. It is the most important river in the province as an indus- trial highroad, being the great outlet for the pro- ducts of San Leopoldo and many of the other colonies. It is navigated by steamers daily, at all seasons, from Port Alegre to San Leopoldo, 66 miles, and, unless at low water, as far as Mundo Novo, 60 miles higher. The Cahy has its head-waters at Cima da Serra, and runs 120 miles, being navigable for half that distance, from Port Alegre to Port Guimaraes ; one of its tributaries, the Cadea, has a waterfall of 730 feet perpendicular near the Herval colonies, and is navigable some 20 mUes up to Hortense- schneitz. The Marata, which washes the Parley and other colonies, is also navigable for lumber- boats. Several other tributaries water numerous German colonies in their course. The majestic Guayiba, formed of the above four rivers, forms a beautifiil estuary or inland sea, in the midst of which rises the picturesque promon- tory on which stands Port Alegre, the capital of Eio Grande. Afber a course of 35 miles it de- bouches into Lake Patos, where its mouth is 16 EIO GKANDE DO STTL. guarded by the peaks of Stapoa and Morro da Formiga. The Camaquan rises in Santa Tecla hills near Bag^, and has a rapid course to Lake Patos, de- bouching by three mouths. The San Gonzalo is a canal 60 miles long, con- necting the two great lakes, Mirim and Patos, and watering the important city of Pelotas. It is the medium of an active trade -with Eio Grande and the outer world, and the dredging of the bar, which is now going on, will facilitate its naviga- tion to vessels of large burthen. The Arroyo Pelotas is a tributary navigable for 20 nules, and the Piratiniri, which debouches 35 miles above the city of Pelotas, is remarkable for a grand stone bridge recently erected by Government. The Yaguaron rises in the Serra Assegua, near Bag&, and falls into Lake Mirim, afber serving for frontier limit between Brazil and the Kepubhc of Uruguay. Twenty miles from its mouth is the important town of Yaguaron. The Quarahim, or Cuareim, which serves as the frontier limit vrith Banda Oriental, is an affluent of the Upper Uruguay. The Pepiry-Guassu is the limit between Brazil and the Misiones of Corrientes, and falls into the • PEOVINCE OF RIO GRANDE. 17 Uruguay about four miles above the waterfall known as SaJto Grande. The Ibicuy, wbich has no fewer than thirty-five tributaries, debouches into the Uruguay a little above the town of Uruguayana. The Uruguay in its entire length has a course of 1,000 miles, from the Serra do Mar, in the pro- vince of Sta Catarina, to its confluence with the Parana in forming the estuary of La Plata. It flows for 600 miles through Brazilian territory until reaching the mouth of the Cuareim : this portion may be termed the Upper Uruguay, inac- cessible to vessels unless in great floods, there- being numerous rapids and waterfalls. At Ca- choeira do Mulato three barriers of rocks are met with, each about 30 feet high; at Xapec6 the rapids extend for two miles, and are generally impassable; at Portal eza a wall of rock runs across the river, and in flood-time the central part looks exactly like a fortress. But the finest of all is the Salto Grande, which is 35 feet in height and 2,500 yards long, running not across the river but longitudinally, leaving a channel of 45 yards on the left bank : in other words, a river of 700 yards in width is here compressed into this narrow channel for half a league. A scientific c 18 RIO GEANDE DO SUL. expedition sent hither in 1863 discovered cylin- drical cavities in the rocks similar to those men- tioned by Lyell as found near Norwich in 1839, and known in France as 'puits naturels.' From Salto Grande, descending the Uruguay, sundry small cataracts are met with before reaching the mouth of the Cuareim. In flood-seasons, steamers of light draught ascend from the Eiver Plate and Lower Uruguay to the city of Uruguayana, near the mouth of the Ibicuy. That part of Misiones traversed by the Uruguay in its earlier course is mountainous and thickly wooded : at times, basaltic rocks rise on either side of the river, which has an average width of from 300 to 500 yards, and runs seven miles an hour. The first signs of habitation are met with at Passo Fundo, where there are sugar and yerba factories, and here also the muleteers of San Paulo cross the Uruguay, which is about 35 feet deep. Then a stretch of 400 miles, through varied scenery, is wholly uninhabited till reaching the town of San Borja, opposite to which is the old missionary village of St". Fome, in Corrientes. Lower down are the town of Itaquy and city of Uruguayana. Besides its great river system, Rio Grande pos- sesses two immense lakes which are also conve- PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE. 19 nient liigli-roads for commerce. Lake Mirim, called by the Indian and Spanish, settlers Mini, is a vast inland sea 115 miles long by 15 wide, fed by the rivers Tagnaron, Taquary, and twenty lesser streams, one- half of which have their rise in the Banda Oriental, between which country and Brazil this lake serves as frontier, but its waters are declared Brazilian territory by the treaty with Monte Video. Lake Patos, like the former, is at the same level as the ocean, from which it is only separated by a strip of low sandy territory, and is larger than Mirim, its greatest length being 140 miles, and its greatest width 40. The two lakes communicate by the San Gonzalo river, and the waters of both form the estuary of Eio Grande, which runs 50 miles to the sea, washing the sea- port city of the same name and debouching into the Atlantic over a dangerous bar. The entire coast-line of the province is low and sandy, beaten by the Atlantic, and without any accessible port or entrance save the dangerous one at the bar. The geological formation of the country plainly shows that the coast-line of the Atlantic formerly followed the Serra do Mar, Itapoa, and the Tapes and Herval ranges ; the low-lying sandy forma- tion about Lake Mirim and Eio Grande is more c2 20 EIO GEAUDE DO StJL. recent. The city of Eio Grande is only 28 inches over sea-level. Geologists might be able to fix the period at which all this portion of the country was covered by the Atlantic, from the fact that oyster-shells have been found at Itapoa Hill, 14 feet above sea-level. Along the sea-shore there is a line of dunes, or sand-hills, which shift their position under the action of the wind. Mr. Frederick Sellow reports the hiU-ranges of Herral and Tapes to be of primitive formation, and all the country north and west of basaltic rock, be- sides transition porphyry in many places, adding that this is the only part of Brazil where basalt and porphyry are found, and that geologists for a long time denied the existence of such formations east of the Andes. Another geologist, named Plant, says the mineral wealth of this province holds out promise of a glorious future. Iron and coal are found in many places ; the western hUl- ranges are rich in metals ; gold abounds in the Cunapiru district near Banda Oriental. At the same time the forests which cover almost the entire country, and the navigable rivers in all directions, offer every incentive to industry, and present (says Mr. Plant) such a combination of favourable circumstances as would indicate that PEOVINCE OF RIO GEANDE. 2i. Providence had destined Eio Grande to play & conspicuous part in the world's progress. The minerals are as yet unexplored for the most part, but two companies have just been formed in London for the working of the coal-fields of Candiota and Arroyo dos Eatos, which were first discovered in 1809, and have at various times been worked at intervals. Near the Uruguay and its affluents are found quantities of agate, cor- nelian, rock-crystal, opals, &c., which are ex- ported to Europe. Councillor Correa Camara gives a list of minerals found at various places, which may be summarised thus : — Grold at Piratiny, Encrusilhada, and San Ga- briel. Silver, iron, and granite at Piratiny ; also nitrate of potash and Glauber salts. Copper in the Misiones, bordering on Upper Uruguay, and at Ca9apava. Marble and malachite at Ca9apava, Bag^, and Eio Pardo. Iron at Encrusilhada, Ca§apava, and Cachoeira. Coal at Candiota, Arroyo Eatos, Curral Alto, and Cachoeira. There is little or no trace of volcanic agency in any part of the province, but the inhabitants of 22 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. Port Alegre say there was a shock of earthquake in that city in 1811 ; and a water-spout, accom- panied by a loud report like cannon, occurred at the mouth of the Jacuhy in 1822. In the vegetable kingdom this province is extra- ordinarily rich. The late distinguished Austrian botanist, Martins, classified the chief products iu his work on the Flora of Brazil. The woods which cover the Serra Geral and its branches, and which are so luxuriant in the valleys of the Uruguay, Jacuhy, Taquary, and other rivers, abound in excellent timber for building, such as cabriuva, angico, cedar, guajuvira, timbanba. grapia-punha, a9outa-cavallo, iron-wood, black and brown caneUa, rose-wood or jacaranda, ipe ortecoma speciosa, peroba, cambosin, pinhojtajuba, cangerana,capororoca, sobragy,louro, caroba,pine, vinhatico, &c. The largest trees belong to the genus known among botanists as dycotyle- dons, embracing the various families of urtigacea, euphorbiacea, laurinea, leguminosa, myrtacea, &c. In the forests are also met with, in great profusion, ferns, orchids, bromelia, convulenlacea, aroidea, bignonia, cipo, paniflora, lichen, lUiacea, and an infinity of creeping plants. Among the brushwood are shrubs of some estimation, such as araucaria braziliana, cocus flexuosa, schinua terebinthifolius. PEOVINCE OF KIO GRANDE. 23 balsam, agave, bromelia bracteala, malvacea, apocynea, &c. The medicinal plants are numberless, the principal being — quinine, ipecacuanha, rhubarb, sarsaparilla, cipo mucuna, paraguay tea, poaia, &c. The fruits of the tropics as well as of cold climates thrive admirably, such as the orange, lime, banana, apple, pear, fig, Damascus cherry, plum, apricot, grape, lemon, amygdalus pessica, jaboticadeira, pitangeira, goyabeira, ananazeiro, marmello, jambo, araza, ameixa, amora, melon, gabirova, cidra, melancia, &c. The cereals and crops com- prise — maize, mandioca, beans, rice, tobacco, sugar, cotton, arrowroot, indigo, wheat, barley, flax, potatoes, linseed, oats, oil-plant, &c> The soil is so rich as to be inexhaustible, and needs no manure. Fully one-half the province is stiU covered with virgin forest, and in the water-shed of the Uruguay there is a tract of 40 miles in width by 400 in length, where the timber is gigantic. The climate is what an Englishman would con- sider rather warm, but mild and agreeable compared to that of India, or even to the temperature of the northern parts of Brazil. It is not unlike that of Sicily or Algiers, but probably not so dry, and proves exceedingly healthy not only to native Brazilians but to the thousands of German colonists. 24 RIO GRANDE DO SUL. Slimmer commences with January, autumn with April, winter with July, and spring with October ; but the seasons are not so clearly defined as in Europe, and may be properly divided into the cold and warm. In the higher lands the cold season is sometimes accompanied with snow ; and when the Minuano, or icy wind from the Andes, blows you will often see a thin coating of ice on the lakes, which, however, melts before the noon-day sun. The month of May is remarkable for what is termed Veranico de Mayo, which something resembles the Indian summer of North America. The coldest months usually are June and July. In summer the average temperature of the hottest months, January and February, is 72° at 6 in the morning, 90° at noon, and 81° at 6 p.m., but it sometimes touches 95° at noon. In winter it ranges from 50° at sunrise to 65° at noon, and 60° at sunset. The days vary little in length all the year round, as is a necessary consequence of the latitude. The greatest variations of tem- perature occiu- usually at 2 in the afternoon and the same hour in the morning. Fogs are very common in May and August, lasting till about 11 A.M., and often followed by heavy rain, with thunder. After the west wind, or Minuano, has PEOVINCB OF RIO GKAKDE. 25 blown the atmospliere clears up, and frost ensues, tlie ice in such elevated points as Cima da Serra lasting for three or four days. The north-east wind begins at the close of winter, usually in October, and lasts till January or even March. It clears the atmosphere of the miasmas which arise from the overflow of lakes and rivers in the winter, and often brings rain and thunder for a couple of days. The north and nor'west winds bring a rise of temperature, with rain and thunder. The south and east winds are unhealthy and variable, the former sometimes blowing for two or three days consecutively in winter. The west wind is known to blow ten or fifteen days without intermission. The Atlantic sea-board is lashed with frequent storms. Eainy weather is generally accompanied with thunder, at all seasons ; hail-storms are rarely seen. The naturalist or sportsman would find abun- dant occupation in this country, the forests, rivers, and mountains teeming with animal life, and offering the same rich and varied fauna as the rest of Brazil, for the most part strange to an European. Among the larger animals we find the ape, ounce, wild boar, carpincho or river-hog, tatu or dasypsus, raposa and guara of the wild 26 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. dog species, quati or iiasua solitaria, tamandtia or myrmecopliaga ; among the reptiles, the rattle- snake, crocodile, surucucu and jararaca snakes, the latter very deadly, and known as trigono-cepha- lus, with numbers of frogs and toads. Among the fishes are — piaba, dourado, bagre, suruby, trahira, cara, &c. The dourado is of the carp species, and well known in the River Plate waters ; in the estuary of Eio Grande are found ?rabs and other salt-water fish. The birds are in bound- less variety, including cardinals, sunbirds, cana- ries, humming-birds, partridge, duck, turkey, os- trich, jacii, jacutinga, urubu, gaviao, pintasilgo, coleiro, prince, sabia, &c. The sunbird is called by the natives ' urutao,' from, a sound which it makes, and keeps its eyes fixed steadily on the sun from early morning till sunset ; it is found ia the woods of the Uruguay valley, and is also known in North America. Among the insects we find silk-worms, bees, ants, and scorpions. AU the domestic animals of Europe are in great abun- dance and thrive admirably. The Indian tribes that were found here by the Jesuits when the country was first settled were the Minuanos and Charruas in the lower grounds, and the Tapes and Coroados in the mountains, PEOVINCE OF EIO GRANDE. 27 all of which waged a fierce war with the Portu- guese untU many of the natives were converted to Christianity, and formed into seven reductions under Jesuit rule, near the valley of the Uruguay. After the expulsion of the Jesuits most of the converted tribes, as elsewhere in South America, relapsed into barbarism, but there are still numer- ous vestiges which show the handiwork of the natives under such masters, and the degree of advancement they had attained to. At present the remnants of the above tribes are found in a savage state among the woods of the Serra Geral or the Uruguay, from which they sometimes make incursions on the nearest farm or settlement ; or else you may see a few scattered groups of ' civi- lised Indians ' in the villages of Nonohay- and San Nicolao. The number of aborigines is not known, but is relatively small. A census taken in 1814 showed the Indian population of the seven missions of Uruguay to be as follows : — Population San Miguel founded in 1632 706 San Luis Gonzaga „ » 1,412 SauNicolao ,, 1627 1,5+5 San Francisco Borja „ 1690 1,424 San Lorenzo ,, 1591 434 San Juan Baptista „ 1698 554 San AnJQ „ 1707 320 6,395 28 RIO GKANDE DO SUL. When the inhabitants of these missions were subsequently scattered, the Government tried to form new reductions with Franciscan and other friars, but their success was very different from that of the Jesuits. In 1860 there were six Indian villages, San Vi- cente, San Nicolao, Nonohay, Sta Isabel, Guarita, and Pontam,with an aggregate population of 2,107. At present there are only two, Nonohay and San Nicolao, and the inhabitants are described as naked, filthy, and squalid ; the first has 590, the second 212 inhabitants. The unreduced savages of Serra Geral occasionally give annoyance to the colonists; in 1867 they murdered a German family, and carried off some children. The Co- roados are one of the most savage tribes met with in Brazil, and are supposed to be descended from an ancient powerful tribe known as Goytakazes. Some of the earliest Portuguese settlers came into Kio Grande in 1680 from the neighbouring settle- ments of San Paulo and San Vicente. The character of the present inhabitants is observed to partake much of the Spanish nature, owing to the proximity of this province to the dominions that belonged to the crown of Spain. The first census taken was ia 1803, by Governor PEOVINCE OF ElO GRANDE. 29 Paulo Da Silva Gama, at the direction of the Portuguese Cabinet, and it showed 36,721 in- habitants, without including infants under twelve months, the troops of the line, and about 4,000 peons who had no fixed residence, but went about from one saladero to another : the returns were thus : — Port Alegro . Viamao . Triumpho Dos Anjos Rio Grande Estreito Mostardas Villa Principe Sant Amaro Taqnaiy Cachoeira San Antonio . Vaccaria Arroyo . 3,927 2,065 5,037 2,718 8,390 1,713 1,187 3,739 1,661 916 3,283 2,199 815 1,041 In 1814 the population was found to be 70,656, made up in this manner : — Whites . . .... 32,300 Slaves .... . . 20,611 Indians ..... . 8,655 Free coloured people . . . 6,399 Infants under a year 3,691 70,656 During the following thirty years it doubled, but the increase was still more rapid after the 30 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. close of tlie ten years' civil war; and, in Dec. 1862, the return showed 392,725, of whom 77,419 were slaves, or one-fifth of the total population. The districts were as follows: — Port Alegre San Antonio Ei" Pardo Ca^para Alegrete . Cruz Alta San Boija Piratiny . Eio Grande Army, &o. Free Slaves 77,872 17,924 25,875 5,333 30,385 9,467 15,231 3,285 16,316 5,837 20,304 4,564 39,114 5,976 17,272 2,396 24,846 11,266 41,969 11,371 6,122 — 316,306 77,419 If we allow an increase of twenty-five per cent, for the past decade it would give the present population of the province at 500,000 souls, which is rather under than over what I believe is the reality. It is more than the Republic of Uru- guay can boast, and about the same as the popu- lation of the province of Buenos Ayres. The troops of the line in the various cities and frontier posts usually number 4,000 men. The national guards comprise 26,000 cavalry, 17,000 infantry, and a small battery of artillery. The favourite occupation of the native inhabit- • PROVINCE OF RIO GRANDE. 31 ants is raising cattle, the first estancias having been marked out in 1715, when Juan de Magal- haes came hither with a band of adventurers by order of the Governor of Santa Catharina. The killing of cattle for the exportation of hides and jerked beef also gives employment to thousands of persons in the various charqueadas or saladeros at Pelotas and elsewhere. Agriculture is almost exclusively left to the German colonists, who number about 80,000 souls, spread over forby-two colonies, chiefly in the valleys of Jacuhy, Sinos^ Cahy, and Taquary. A large number of native Brazilians devote themselves to the raising of yerba-mate in the forests of the north and centre. Others act as boatmen and carriers on the nu- merous rivers, bringing down lumber and produce. Mining industry is in its infancy; some trifling gold-washings at Sant Antonio das Lavras, and the coal-fields of Candiota and Arroyo dos Ratos. Official papers show that a concession for digging coal was taken out so far back as 1809 ; the industry is now being renewed simultaneously at both the above places, and a railroad, eight miles long, will connect San Jeronimo with the Arroyo dos Eatos coal-fields. There are three shafts from 180 to 200 feet deep, and it is estimated the coal- 32 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. deposits amount to 7,000,000 tons. The forests are being turned to good account by the estab- lishment of numerous steam saw-mills on the estates of wealthy proprietors. The great drawback is the want of roads, which paralyses the industry of the colonists, although they supply potatoes, butter, cheese, maize, farinha, &c., to Port Alegre and Rio Grande, and even export large quantities to Rio Janeyro and other distant ports. The rivers in some cases supply the want of roads ; thus the Jacuhy offers 200 miles of easy traf&c for the towns of Rio Pardo, Cachoeira, San Jeronymo, and Port Alegre. The last-named place being the centre of the fluvial system and capital of the province, it is proposed to draw hence three great highways ; one by the Jacuhy valley to San Barja on the TJniguay ; another from Port Alegre to the seaport of Des- terro, which is the capital of Santa Catharina; a third by the Taquary or Cahy valleys to Cima da Serra. The river highways are navigable for steamers as follows — Miles Eio Grande . 40 San Gonzalo . 48 Lake Mirim . 96 Jaguaron . . 20 Lake Patos . 144 PEOVINOE ar RIO GRANDE. 33 Miles Guayba ... ... 36 Jacnhy ... 192 Taquary ... ... 24 Cahy 60 Sinos 56 Maquine . . . . 44 Cadea ... . . 20 GravataBy ... . . 20 Pelotas , ... 20 Piratinin .... 24 TJiniguay ... 336 There are three steamboat companies on the line between Eio Grande and Port Alegre, a distance of 240 miles ; two plying between Eio Grande and Monte Video : two of Lamport and Holt's steamers every month to E,io Janeyro ; and a multitude of small steamboats on the rivers above enumerated. The various cities, towns, and villages of the province, with the date of foundation and present number of inhabitants, are as foUow: — A.D. Inliabitants San Borja . 1698 2,000 Viamao 1741 400 Bio Grande 1737 18,000 Concepcion do Arroyo 1742 700 Sant Antonio da Patrnlha . 1760 1,000 Rio Pardo .... 1769 2,000 Port Alegre 1772 40,000 Caxoeira .... 1779 2,000 Taquary .... 1795 2,000 Triumpho .... 1795 1,500 Encrucilhada 1799 1,600 34 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. Piratiny Pelotaa CangusBU . San Josfe do Norte San leopoldo Camaquam San Gabriel Cruz Alta ■ Bocca do Monte . A.D. Inhabitants 1810 1,800 1812 2,500 1812 13,000 1812 1,800 1820 800 1824 3,000 1833 1,200 1837 1,800 1834 3,000 1837 1,000 1833 1,500 1838 1,000 1837 1,500 1846 6,000 1846 3,000 1846 2,500 1847 200 1848 1,000 1851 1,000 Saumschneitz . San Patrico de Itaquy Yagnaron . Uroguayana Alegrete Passo Pimdo Sant Ana do LiTramento San Jeronymo . The more important of these towns will be fully described in subsequent chapters. They are well proTided with churches, hospitals, schools, and other public institutions. The Bishop of Port Alegre is diocesan of the province, which is divided into seventy-five parishes. There are 168 public schools, and ninety-two private ones, which are attended by 11,932 children, two-thirds boys. The hospitals and orphan asylums claim the admiration of strangers : at Port Alegre there are five hospitals, including the French, German, and Portuguese ; the latter have also hospitals at Rio Grande and Pelotas. There are four fine establishments fo^ PEOVINCE OF RIO GRANDE. 35 orphan girls at Port Alegre, including tliat of the Sisters of Charity; and another is at Pelotas. Besides the State bank at Port Alegre and the Bank of Brazil and English Bank at Rio Grande, there are branches of the Maua Bank at Pio Grande, Port Alegre, Pelotas and Bage. Baron Maua is a native of this province, and has laboured much for its advancement. The revenue and expenditure of the province are small, say a dollar a-head, or one-fourth of what the provincial budget of B. Ayres amounts to, with an equal population. The revenue averages llOjOOOZ. per annum, showing a small surplus each year, viz. : — President and staff :e3,500 Provincial legislature .... 3,600 Bishop and clergy 800 Schools 17,500 Police 13,500 Collection of taxes 15,000 Emigrant subsidies . . . 6,000 Conversion of Indians .... 600 Half-pay servants . . 2,000 Orphan asylums .... 2,000 Hospitals .... . 4.500 Arsenal boys ... . . 800 Subsidies, &c 14.000 Interest on public debt .... ll.OQO Sundries ... . • 8,000 Surplus . . ... 8,300 110,000 D 2 36 WO GEAl?rDE DO StTL, The Imperial revenue derived from the Custom- houses of Eio Grande at Port Alegre averages 350,0002. per annum, of which two-thirds from import duties, one-sixth from export, and the rest from other taxes. The trade with England, Hamburg, and the United States is considerable : the value of imported merchandise is about 600,000Z., of which one-third is from England, an almost equal ratio from Hamburg, and the rest from France, United States, and Eiver Plate. The value of exports may be put down at 760,000L, of which one-half is to England, one-fifth to the United States, the rest to Prance, Portugal, and La Plata. This does not include the coasting traffic with Rio Janeyro, Pemambuco, Bahia, and other ports of the Empire, which is quite equal to the whole of the direct foreign trade. The exports to foreign countries consist almost exclusively of hides. The exports to other parts of Brazil are largely made up of cereals from the German colonies. The port of Eio Grande represents two-thirds of the total trade of the province, and Port Alegre one-fifth, the only other market of any magnitude being Uruguayana. The first-named despatches yearly a million hides, and from 30,000 to 40,000 tons of dried beef. The PEOVINCE OF EIO GEANDE. 37 Capitania returns show that one-third of the ton- nage is British, one-tenth Brazilian, and a like ratio corresponding to each of the three flags, German, Dutch, and Portuguese. E,io Grande was the first seat of goyernment, and was founded by Governor Silva Paes of Eio Janeyro, in 1737, who remained here two years and was succeeded by four governors, tiE 1768, when iiio Grande was invaded by Ceballos, and the seat of government removed to the village of Viamao in the interior, near where Port Alegre now stands. Four governors ruled at Viamao in the short in- terval of ten years, one of these being Colonel Sepulvedo, who was banished from Portugal for having killed a foreign officer in a duel and con- demned to serve in Brazil under the assumed name of Marcelino Pigueiredo, but at last obtained per- mission to return to Portugal, and died governor of Tras-os-Montes, ia 1808 : he was the first governor at Port Alegre, having removed the seat of power thither in 1773- Eight governors sat at Port Alegre, from General Camera, who annexed Misiones in 1780, to Brigadier Daun (now Duke of Saldanha in Portugal), who refused to acknow- ledge the independence of Brazil and was expelled in 1822. Since then the province has been ruled by 38 EIO GRANDE DO StTL. forty-two presidents, from Viscount San eopoldo to tlie present enlightened statesman, Homem de Mello : the only interruption was in 1835, when the civil war broke out, and President Femandes Braga removed the seat of government to Eio Grande, while Vice-President Pereyra Eibeyro assumed power at Port Alegre. The actual President has been a staunch supporter of Viscount Rio Branco in the abolition of slavery, and his programme of government is — railways and immi- gration. CITY OF EIO GRANDE. 39 II. CITY OF BIO GRANDE. Kio Grande, November 13, 1871. The ' Camoens ' entered port early this morning, and I found the city in unusual bustle owing to the inauguration of the Gas-works. Whatever side you turn you meet English engineers, some belonging to the water-works, some to the gas company, some to the Pelotas Dredge, some to the Government enterprise for deepening the Eio Grande bar : and as a natural consequence every stranger is immediately put down for an engineer. I have been asked more than once if I am for the Gas or the Water-works, and have not yet made up my mind which. The hotels are so crowded with English engineers that I should have been compelled to take up my quarters in a cockloft over M. Pascal's kitchen, had not a hospitable countryman received me with open arms and pre- sented me with the freedom of his house. 40 EIO GEANDE DO SUL'. Eio Grande at first sight is a poor-looting place, the approach for several miles from the bar being an interminable vista of sand-hills. It is a por;t of considerable trade, vessels of 250 tons coming to moorings alongside the shore : here yon see the black peons shipping hides for England, yonder they are discharging Chilian flour from M. Video ; some of these negroes are slaves, others are free and possess much money, but all are happy, good- humoured-looking fellows. The streets are clean, irregular, well paved, and lined with houses in the Brazilian style, some four or five stories high, the fronts decorated with blue and white porcelain tiles, which saves one's eyes from the dreadful glare of Spanish whitewashed towns. The interior of the better class of houses reminds one of European comfort, but the most striking feature is the spacious dimensions of the rooms, which have, moreover, numerous windows, and are delightfally cool and agreeable. The house of Proudfoot & Co. is one of the best, situ- ated in the Eua Pedro II., or main street; and close by is a handsome square building (with shops in the lower story) which cost 30,000Z. sterling, 1 and was erected last year. Nearlyin front of the Custom-house is the shop CITY OF EIO GEANDE. 41 of Messrs. Halliwell, chemists and druggists, a faTOTirite rendezvous of strangers. The Foreign Club, with many- windowed saloons of vast size and cool temperature, looks out upon the port and lake, commanding a view of the fertile Ilha dos Marinheiros and the aquatic suburb of San Jose do Norte. The fruit market, as in most Brazilian towns, is well worth a visit, having abundance of fruit, vegetables, fish, &c., from Marineros Island ; the market-people are mostly coloured, and one old woman is said to be owner of six slaves of her own colour; there are rows of trees through the market which give it a pleasant look. The plazas and some of the streets are also planted. Near the chief square is the Town-hall, a quad- rangular building, where the municipal fathers meet ; also the printing office of ' Echo do Sul,' one of the principal morning papers. This small city of 17,000 inhabitants boasts five daily papers. There is a little theatre called ' 7 de Setiembre,' in honour of the anniversary of Brazilian Inde- pendence. But the finest edifice is the hospital, which is large enough for a city like Buenos Ayres. It is admirable how much the Brazilians excel in their situations for the relief of suffer- ing humanity. The churches are small,*and the 42 EIO <}EANDE DO SUL. three I liave seen possess nothing artistic or notable. The police and public officials are courteous, res- pectable, and well dressed. In fact, at every turn you see the signs of healthy administration and good government ; although I cannot omit to men- tion that the custom-house officers left us waiting half an hour in the sun, because the ' Vista ' was at his breakfast. The hotels are small and un- comfortable, but the cuisine is good ; charges reasonable, ventilation imperfect. Notwithstanding the sand-hills round the town, the temperature is generally cool, owing to the almost daily sea-breeze ; and in winter the cold is said to be intense. A few miles inland there is luxuriant vegetation. Mr. Crawford's quinta of Arrial, nine miles distant, reminds one of the shady avenues of Aranjuez, in the desert plateau of Old Castile; it produced last season 100,000 oranges. Numerous steamers ply to Pelotas, Porto Alegre, Yaguaron, and other ports of Lakes Patos and Merim: the finest is the ' Guayiba' (in which I leave to-day for Porto Alegre), which was built ia the Clyde for Messrs. Proudfoot & Co., the great Eng- lish house wherewith the trade and progress of CITY or EIO GRANDE. 43 Eio Grande is identified. There are also two lines of steamers connecting this city with the ocean ports of Brazil and La Plata. Nothing can surpass the elegant accommodation of ^Messrs. Lamport & Holt's coasting steamers 'Calderon' and 'Camoens,' built specially for this trade, and carrying the Brazilian flag as mail steamers of the imperial service. During the six months they have been running, they have never yet lost a day by the Eio Grande bar, which was often so formidable to the old line of steamers as to keep them a week inside or out at sea before they durst venture over it. This bar is a great obstacle, but the Provincial Legislature is desirous of removing it. Tug-boats are kept in constant service ; and once inside the bar, the port is sheltered and secure for shipping. The principal trade is in the hands of English or Germans, but the native merchants are also intelligent, active, and well educated, some of them speaking English as fluently as ourselves, although most of them have never been outside the bar of Eio Grande. This province has produced some very remarkable men ; Baron Maua, father of Bra- zilian steam-navigation, was born near Pelotas ; Marshal Osorio, the 'preux chevalier of the empire, comes from the same locality; and the present 44 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. military governor of tlie city, General Salustiano, gained much distinction in the recent campaign. There are two banks, those of Mana & Co., which has its branches all over Brazil and the River Plate, and the London and Brazilian, estab- lished some four years ago. There are many wealthy capitalists here, and money is held as cheap as in the River Plate; the currency is almost exclusively paper, at a discount of ten per cent., which may be regarded as the fixed rate. Interest rules about twelve per cent, per annum, but some people prefer building for an invest- ment. The place wiU be much improved when it pos- sesses water-supply and gas. The contractors, Messrs. Upward & lUingworth, who arrived here some four months ago, representing the San Pedro Brazilian Gas Company (limited), made the preliminary arrangements with the promptitude characteristic of our countrymen, and the streets were opened to-day at noon in front of the Cus- tom-house to put down the first pipes. The municipal and other authorities were present, besides a large number of citizens, the editors of the local papers, and the chief English and Ger- man residents. General Salustiano, Colonel Ran- CITY OF EIO GRANDE. 45 gel, and tlie staff-officers of tlie garrison were in full uniform, the 7tli battalion of the Line form- ing a guard of honour, and the military band playing national airs. An Irish sub-contractor with a gang of workmen deposited the pipes, and Mr. Upward advancing, presented a silver mallet to Don Francisco Jose Cunha, mayor of the city, who gave the pipes two strokes with the mallet and declared the works duly begun. Mr. "Upward addressed the Mayor in English as follows : — ' Most worshipful mayor and city councillors of Rio Grande, right worthy representatives of this flourishing population, I come on behalf of the San Pedro Brazilian Gas Company to congratu- late you on .this happy occasion of laying down the first pipes to light your city with gas. I trust that before long, your streets, squares, and build- ings will be illuminated, and that this great im- provement will be, as it is elsewhere, the fore- runner of such additional comfort and progress as to insure the prosperity and advancement of Rio Grande. The directors will spare no efforts in the matter, counting on the decided assistance of the Brazilian Government.' The Mayor replied — 'Illustrious Senhor Up- 46 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. .ward, I salute you as the distinguished engineer of the San Pedro Gas Company. The town council accept your invitation with pleasure, to assist at the inauguration of these works under your able direction, and all my fellow-citizens rejoice with me at the prospect of so great an improvement as lighting our town with gas. May Divine Providence protect the company and pour his choicest blessings on this our native city ! ' Cheers of ' Long live Dom Pedro,' ' Viva Brazil,' 'Viva la Compagnia Ingleza,' &c. rent the air, simultaneous with rockets and strains of martial music, amid which the meeting dispersed, and some of the English strangers remarked that it looked irresistibly ludicrous to see so many um- brellas on a fine sunny day; but the heat is already sufficient to call for such shelter. In the afternoon Mr. Upward left by mail-steamer ' Camoens ' for Eio Janeyro en route for Europe, and was accompanied aboard by the most of the leading citizens, Mr. Consul Callendar, and others. I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the Consul, who is much esteemed here, and of most of the foreign residents. The city of Eio Grande has little attraction for an idle visitor, but is the chief commercial em- CITY OF EIO GRANDE. 47 poriutn in these waters. I am told that Port Alegre, 20 hours or 180 miles distant by water, is a terrestrial paradise, in the midst of the most delightful scenery ; it has a larger population than this city, and is the residence of the chief authorities as well as of numerous German mer- chants. Before closing my remarks on Rio Grande, I may observe that the place is proverbially healthy. Last evening I visited the English and native cemeteries, and chanced to meet the Town Clerk, Mr. Saa, a polished gentleman, who speaks Eng- lish fluently, and who assures me that often a day or two passes without a single interment, al- though the average mortality for a place of 17,000 souls might be expected to range at 12 weekly. The only English names I noticed were Mr. Thomas Messiter, who died in 1860, aged 68 years, and Mr. Wm. M'Crae in 1862, aged 39 years. Both cemeteries are well kept. The land side of the city is protected by a strong wall with bastions and demi-lunes pierced by two gates, but in some places the sand has risen to a level with the top of the battlements. Wild dogs burrow in the sand and live there. Betuming from the cemetery you pass the bar- 48 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. rack, wliicli holds 300 cavalry, and tlie Portu- guese Hospital of Beneficencia. The Caridad, or city hospital, is a massive structure on the water's edge, of which I have already spoken. There are three public and as many private schools, but many people send their children to be educated at Eio Janeyro or elsewhere. Strangers coming to Rio Grande should procure a letter of introduction to Messrs. Proudfoot & Co. as their best passport, for under the protec- tion of Mr. Crawford they can be wanting in neither advice nor assistance. EIO GRANDE TO PORT ALEGRE. 49 III. BIO OBANDE TO POET ALUGBH. The immense inland sea known as Lagoa dos Patos, nearly 200 miles across, is navigated by numerous steamers plying between Eio Grande, Pelotas, Port Alegre, Taguaron, and otber ports of the interior. The cMef trade is between Eio Grande and Port Alegre, wMch. maintains three lines of steamers, affording bi-weekly communica- tion. T took my passage in the ' Guayiba,' the finest vessel in these waters. We had over forty first-class passengers, and the accommodations were admirable, but the fare (twenty-five milreis or fifty shillings) seemed to me very high, and I am not surprised to hear that she has already given a handsome dividend. The engines are on the compound system of high and low pressure, burning only about four tons of coal daily. , We left our moorings at the company's wharf at twelve o'clock sharp, and as we bent away north- 50 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. wards by a circuitous route to avoid sand-bants, a slight shower of rain fell, which served with the light sea-breeze to cool the atmosphere. On the north shore, right in front of Eio Grande, is Mr. Proudfoot's farm of Coquemto, where he made several efforts to plant cotton some seven or eight years ago, laying down considerable tracts of land, and putting up cotton-jins and machinery; but although the soil seemed suitable and the plants came up healthy and vigorous, they would not ripen in season, and the scheme had to be aban- doned. The farm is now used for growing mar- ket produce, and managed by a Scotchman. Mr. Proudfoot has two other farms in the neighbour- hood ; in fact, wherever you turn you hear or see evident signs of the energy and enterprise of this representative man, one of the earliest foreigners who developed the resources of this part of Brazil, and who even now, while enjoying the fruits of a princely fortune in his native hills of Scotland, has his attention so fixed upon the progress of these coimtries, that every year he embarks in some new enterprise of steam-boats, telegraphs, railways, gas, &c., to aid in the march of pro- gress. The desolate hamlet of San Jos^ de Norte is EIO GEANBE TO POET ALEGEE. 51 half buried in the sand-hills facing the port of Eio Grande, and sailing-boats make the run across in half an hour. We pass near enough to see that most of the houses appear untenanted, except some on the beach, one of which bears the legend, 'English ship store.' A good-sized church is in the background, but some day I fear a sand-slip will overthrow the place. One of the passengers remarks that these arid sands and white houses remind him of Suez, which is about the most inhospitable place known; yet we are told that half an hour's ride from San JosI takes you into a pleasant country where there is plenty of shooting, and here and there a chacra or farm- house. Passing a lighthouse and some cottages, we enter the Lagoa dos Patos, and see a magnificent sheet of fresh water without other land on the horizon than the Sierras of Pelotas. At the foot of those hills an Irish colony was established some twenty years ago, but it proved a failure ; whether owing to the country, or the colonists themselves, I will not venture to say. Some of the settlers remained only a few months, alleging that they could not eat ' sawdust,' as they called the farina ; others removed to Buenos Ayres after a trial of E 2 52 RIO GEANDE DO STJX. one or two seasons, and a stray vestige of tlie colony alone remains. Our passengers on board are mostly Germans, for Port Alegre is in a manner a German settle- ment, the first colony having been fixed there in 1825, and now there are 60,000 Germans in the province. They never think of returning to Europe, but become, like the Irish in North America and Buenos Ayres, permanent settlers in their adopted home. Still they preserve the warmest recollections of the Fatherland, and in language, sentiment, and traditions are as true to their native country as if only travellers in a strange land. As the sun was setting behind the Pelotas range, one of the passengers struck up the ' Wacht am Rhein,' and the broad waters of the lake echoed to the chorus — Fest steht imd treu Die Wacht am Khein. Memories of the Fatherland, traditions of the Ehine, stories from the recent battle-fields whiled away the hours of twilight, and the * young May moon ' was far on her midnight course ere we retired to sleep. Before sunrise I was again on deck to see the panorama of Itapoa, where the EIO GEANDB TO POET ALEGEE. 53 estuary of Guayiba communicates with the great lake. Hiils covered with forest come down oU either side, leaving only a narrow channel, where the lighthouse of Itapoa stands. To the left is the rounded promontory of Barba Negra, where the old lighthouse stood. I inay observe that the coasts of this lake have several lighthouses, and some of the narrow channels are regularly buoyed. The Guayiba estuary is formed of four rivers — the Taeahuy, Lacuhy, Sinos, and Gravitahy ; the whole, as seen from a neighbouring hill, resemble a man's hand, for which it is called Viamao. Nothing can be imagined more picturesque and delightful than the ranges of wooded hills sur- rounding this second lake, the banks of which are lined with farms and country-houses nestling in luxuriant foliage, and the shadows thrown by the clouds chase each other from hill to hiU, while the alternations of light and dark green, the murmur of waters gently breaking on the shore, and the distant view of Port Alegre crowning yonder hill, form a picture fuU of charm and varied attraction. Arriving within cannon-shot, we reach Pedras Blancas, where the powder-maga- zine is kept, an island of immense loose stones, 54 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. piled one on another so fantastically, that you would fancy a person could push some of them down, though weighing several tons each. The city and port now unfold themselves before us in a picture of surpassing loveliness. POET ALEGEE. 55 IV. PORT ALEGBE. None can have an idea what a paradise this place is. I have never seen anything so charming as the scenery by land and water all aromid. On Wednesday we rode out by Baron D'Omano's villa to a hill commanding the plain of Viamon, Sierras, and the wood of Matto-grosso ; and yester- day Mr. CoTilborn, contractor for dredges, &c., took us in his steam-launch up the Jacuhy. To-morrow there is another excursion fifty miles by water, and on Tuesday we start for the Colonies; the nearest, San Leopold©, is forty miles distant, and Messrs. Smith, Sawers, Turner, &c., are now making the railway from this city. Port Alegre is a thriving place, and since the invasion by English engineers vrithin the last few months the change is marvellous. The gas- works were inaugurated last week, and when the 56 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. railway and other works are completed, it will go ahead very fast. A concession is granted for a railway hence to Sta. Catalina (200 miles), to have a new and better port than Eio Grande. This city has double the population of Eio Grande, probably 40,000 inhabitants, several fine shops, a splendid theatre, treasury, townhaU, arsenal, college, &c. The Brazilian and Portu- guese hospitals, German clubs, cathedral, plazas, &c. are also very fine. The water . supply is admirable ; fountains play in the streets, and every house has pipe-water service^ by mains brought six miles from the mountains, and laid down in 1805 by a French contractor. The con- cessionaire of the gas is Baron D'Ornano, a Corsican related to the Bonaparte and Colonna families, and late French Consul here, -who sold his concession in London. Delightful country- houses surround the city, the finest being those of Sor. Inocencio, manager of the Maua Bank, Sor. Lisboa, an army contractor. Baron Gravitahy (whose house was the emperor's residence during his stay here), and numerous others. Messrs. Gardner Brothers have established a foundry where they make saw-mills, coffee-mills. POET AXBGKE!. 57 &e., for the fazendas in the interior, Messrs. Armishaw have a large English house of business, and the other residents are Messrs. Dillon, Thompson, Maguire, &c. The wonder of the province are the German colonies, summing up 60,000 people, who have converted virgin forests into waving corn-fields, interspersed with neat farm-houses and all the appliances of agricultural life : the first, San Leopoldo, was founded in 1825, and there are now many similar; there are three newspapers published in German, and the advancement of the country is mainly due to these industrious settlers. Even the negroes often talk German ; in fact it is a German principality in the heart of the Brazilian Empire. The Eio Grandenses are the nicest Brazilians I have met vrith, very kind and obliging to strangers, many of them talking English and French fluently. The signs of good government and administration are visible on all sides ; the arsenal, city prison, &c. resemble what you would look for in England. But that the steamer goes to-day I could write whole pages about this interesting and delightful 58 EIO GEANDE DO SXJL. place. In my excursions on horseback or steamer, Messrs. Conlbom, MacGinity, Armishaw, Archer, &c. have kindly promised to accompany me. Mr. Coulborn is M.A. of Oxford. I have been ex- ceedingly fortunate to fall in with such pleasant companions. THE SUBURBS OF POET ALEGEE. 59 V. : THE SUBURBS OF PORT ALEGRE. ExcTJESioiirs by land or water in the vicinity of tliis city reveal such a variety of enchanting scenery that one might spend months here with- out satiety, visiting every day some new point of beauty, for the panorama of Port Alegre is like a kaleidoscope with so many changes of lovely vistas. Last Wednesday I rode out with some friends towards the Caixa de Agua or reservoir, a few miles from town. The moment we passed the Caridad Hospital we got a view of the Guayiba valley and lake, and the splendid wood- land scenery stretching away to Dos Irmaos and San Leopoldo. The country-houses in the out- skirts are surrounded with gardens and orange- groves. The roads are good, but sometimes steep, with hedgerows on either side as in England. Green lanes, park-like wood and meadow, mur- muring streams, tall palms, and at intervals a 60 EIO &EANDE DO SUL, wood-cutter's rude waggon or a troop of mules from the mountain ; these are the characteristics of the country;, but now and then you instinctively halt your horse to gaze upon the lovely landscape, in which the five rivers, like bands of silver, intersect the wooded valleys and enhance the tropical vegetation around. The sun was setting as we gained the ridge overlooking Matto-Grosso, a thick forest which was much infested with robbers a dozen years ago. Returning towards the city we passed the country-houses of sundry noble families, and alighted at that of Baron D'Ornano, a Corsican, who received us with great courtesy : the Baron is a good linguist and speaks in high terms of the scenery and natural resources of this pro- vince, all of which he has travelled over during a residence of fifteen years. He showed us the records of his family for 1,200 years, and added that the long line ended with himself: he lives in an unfinished chateau that looks like the Castle of Otranto, some rude boards answering for the hall-door; and the chapel wing being used for out-offices : the owner died before finish- ing the structure and left his family but scanty resources. The ball-room and dining-hall are THE SUBURBS OP PORT ALEGEE. 61 splendid apartments, and from tlie turrets is obtained an extensive view. The Baron lives with a few servants and a little blue-eyed boy whom he has adopted. On Thursday Mr. Coulborn invited me with a few other friends to an excursion in his little steam-yacht up the River Dos Sinos. The day was fine, with a cool breeze over the lake, and as we awoke the echoes of the Guayiba we had occasion to admire a long coast-line of elegant country-houses, among which that of Sor. Lisboa, a contractor during the late war, was remarkable for architectural taste. The line of railway to San Leopoldo and New Hamburg will run along this coast-line. Yonder is a neat villa with gardens in front; it is a second orphan asylum (besides Sta. Theresa) and accommodates forty little girls. The orange-trees are laden with fruit, and the negroes sing at their work as we pass. Ascend- ing the Sinos we enter upon beautiful river scenery, the woods forming fantastic vistas and every shade of foliage from golden to dark green. At times we come upon cottages with a row of palms in front, or nestling in orange-groves, the children playing on the green sward, forgetful of alligators. Last year a German gardener who 62 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. lived hereabout lost a little boy of seven years old, a yacare coming up from the river and carry- ing off the child before the distracted parents could run to its rescue. Large square-buUt viUas are passed as we ascend, for some of these places are the property of wealthy ' fazendeiros.' At last we arrive at a bend of the river which dis- closes a handsome country-house and plantations, the residence of D. Bento Cyrio, an Italian baker, some forty years a resident of Port Alegre, where he amassed a large fortune and gained the reputation of a model citizen for honesty and persevering labour; he now lives with his numerous family in baronial affluence on his estate, and this is a favourite place for pic-nics by water. We went some miles higher, meeting a steamer full of passengers from San Leopoldo and several sailing craft laden with lumber or other produce. By a circuitous route through the islands we got into the River Jacnhy, and returned this way to the city, coming out near the old powder-maga- zine in the islands. To form a proper idea of the city we steamed round to the southern bay in direction of Santa Theresa. Looking towards the lull of Santa THE STTBUEBS OF POET ALEGEE. 63 Anna, where the citizens often go on holidays, we see the chapel of Menino Deos or the Infant Saviour, famed for the religious festivities cele- brated here every Christmas, and lasting some twenty days. Nearer town is the seat of the late Baron Gravitahy, who earned his title in the war of Independence; the Emperor resided here in 1845, when he first Arisited this province ; the architecture and plantations are the result of combined wealth and taste. Close by is the Vnia of Sor. Inocencio, manager of the Maua branch-bank; other houses and gardens fill up the background. We double the extreme west point, on which the prison stands, and land at the Custom House, after a delightful day's travel. The steam-yacht is a miniature vessel, the first of its size on the combined principle of high and low pressure, and goes easily twelve miles an hour (with the current we made four- teen), while the whole amount of coal for a day's excursion would fit in a small market basket ; she requires only one man to mind the engine and another to steer, and can carry a dozen passengers or more. Mr. Coulbom says the cost, placed in South America, is about 500^., and indeed no- thing can be imagined more suitable for a private 64 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. family for pleasure parties. I forgot to mention that amongst our company was the editor of the 'Eio Grapdense,' Mr. Berlink, a gentleman of varied information and a good French scholar. Another pleasant ride from town is to the chapel of Menino Deos, overlooking the southern bay of the Guayiba estuary. The view at early morning is delightful, the mists slowly rising from the water, over which the shadows of the clouds sweep in fantastic forms, while the rising sun shines upon the white cottages embosomed in luxuriant vegetation, and the wooded hiQs behind seem to shut out all cares of the exterior world. It is only perhaps in the golden bay of Palermo, or from the hill which commands the 'lower lake' of KOlarney, that such an atmosphere of repose, blended with all that is most beautiful to the eye, steals over the enraptured senses and hushes the very pulsations of your heart in mute admiration. If you ascend to Morro do Cristales or Belen you will also find lovely panoramas, as indeed you wiU from any commanding point in this earthly paradise. ENGLISH ENTERPRISES IN POET ALEGRE. 65 VI. EXGLISR ENTI1BPBI8E8 IN PORT ALEGBE. 'Railways, dredges, gas-works, coal-mines, foun- dries, &c. are tlie order of the day, all new enter- prises in the hands of English engineers, the neces- sary capital in most cases being also raised in England. It is easy to predict a great and rapid development of industry in this part of the Brazils, the most favoured in soil and climate of all the vast empire. The eminent engineers, Messrs. Sawer and Turner, whose names are already favourably known in connection with the Bahia and Pernambuco lines, are constructing the New Hamburg Railway, which will open up an important trade between the German colonies and this city, which at present maintains three distinct lines of steamers, the distance by land being twenty-eight miles. When the first steamer was put on, a few years ago, it was doubted whether it would prove a paying business, F 66 EIO GEANDE DO SUl. but before long a second was started, and tbe trade so much, increased that further competition sprang up, and now the daily steam traffic is well sup- ported. The originator of the New Hamburg Kailway is Mr. John MacGinity, an old Scotch resident, who has a hand in every enterprise of progress in and about Port Alegre ; he began life in Eio Janeyro as overseer of a department of Maua's iron-works, and has since held responsible posts under the Brazilian Government in connec- tion with steam-boats and machinery,besides taking contracts in construction of the prison, arsenal, &c. of this city, making surveys of the adjacent lakes and rivers, and using every effort to push forward the San Jeronimo coal-mines. Mr. MacGinity returned from England a few months since and is now superintendent of the railway works ; he is also United States' Vice-Consul and agent for several Englisb firms and insurance offices. He is a large landed proprietor, and offers free land- grants of 100 acres to each settler, on lands situate between two of the most flourishing German colonies. The prospectus of the New Hamburg Railway, published at London last January, shows the capital of the Company at 292,500Z. sterling, in shares of ENGLISH ENTEEPEISES IN POET AXEGEE. 67 20Z. eacli, with, a guarantee of 5 per cent, for sixty years from the Government of Eio Grande. The directors comprise the Brazilian Minister in London, Lord Claude Hamilton, Messrs. W. Austin, r. FurreU, Captain Eennie, and G. Steward. The engineer-in-chief is Mr. James Brunlees, whose representative here is Mr. Cleary, a gentleman of long experience in Brazil. The contractors, Messrs. John Watson and John Bevan Smith, have agreed to construct the line for 280,000L sterling, or 10,000?. a mile, of which they take one-third pay- ment in ordinary shares. This will be the cheapest line ever made in the Brazils, the San Paulo having cost 24,000Z. a mile, and others even more ; as the San Paulo is now yielding 5|- per cent., it may be predicted that the New Hamburg line will give more than double. This is the more pro- bable when we see the steam-boat companies to San Leopoldo and Eio Grande givejn many cases regular dividends of 30 to 60 per cent, per annum. The Government reserves the right of purchasing the line at the expiration of thirty years. The company's privilege prevents any other line being constructed within twenty miles. It cannot be doubted that the railway wiU tap a rich and increasing trade, the number of German F 2 68 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. colonists being estimated at forty thousand, or nearly lialf the population of the department of Port Alegre. Besides grain and vegetables the colonies produce tobacco, butter, pork, &c.; and the settlers are so much pleased with the genial climate and well-ordered mode of Brazilian adminis- tration, which gives them security, tranquillity, and free land-grants, that they never return to Europe, but fix all their interests in the land of their adop- tion. The railway will certainly give a great stimulus to the colonies and a good return to the shareholders ; the cost of construction is compara- tively low, seeing the mountains, rivers, &c. to be passed ; in some cases the cane-brakes are so thick that it is a work of some days to cut a passage through. The scenery along the route is magnifi- cent. The Government of Eio Grande, being sensible of the immense importance of facilitating com- merce by clearing away bars and sandbanks between this port and Eio Grande, and deepening the river of Guayiba and its five grand tributaries, have just got out from the Clyde two powerful dredges and a steam tug. The former are being put in working order by Mr. Coulborn, the con- structor, who came hither in person to do so. ENGLISH ENTERPRISES IN POET ALEGEE. 69 These dredges are independent of two others (smaller) which arrived this wefek at Eio Grande for Mr. Albert Smith, to clear away the bar at Pelotas, besides others used for deepening the Bay of Eio Grande. Mr. Coulborn's dredges are adapted to raise each 300 tons an hour ; they are 50 horse-power nominal, or 250 effective, and may be also used as screw steamers, the engines being on Elder's principle of high and low pressure combined, which makes an important saving in coal, each of these dredges consuming only 4| tons in twenty-four hours. The merit of this inven- tion of the ' combined system ' is due to a Swedish engineer named Wolff. Mr. Coulborn's dredges steamed out from England to this port in iiffcy-three days, encountering dreadful weather ; strange to say, the}' sighted each other only once, entering St. Vincento within half an hour, arriving off Eio Grande at a difference of only two hours. The firm of Henderson, Coulborn, & Co., of Eenfrew, is one of the greatest on the Clyde, the workshops covering 18 J acres, and employing over two thou- sand men ; at present they have fourteen steamers building, with an aggregate tonnage of 17,000 tons, and 6,000 horse-power, representing a value of a million and a quarter sterling ; the establish- 70 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. ment was founded by Jolin Henderson & Co. in 1860. Mr. Coulborn is a young man, little over thirty, and not only a clever engineer, but a good scbolar, having taken M.A. and honours at Oxford. His father-in-law, the new Provost of Glasgow, is well known in that city for his munificence, having given 10,000Z. for the new Glasgow Library. Mr. Coulborn has built some steamers for the Eio Janeyro and Corrientes trade, and intends visiting the Eiver Plate next month, before returning home. We lately witnessed the inauguration of the gas-works for this city by Messrs. Upward & lUingworth, who are contractors for the Company formed in England to light Port Alegre, Pelotas, and Rio Grande, the concession for which was taken out three years ago by Baron d'Ornano. The works at Eio Grande were inaugurated at the same time, and the lighting of these cities with gas will be an incalculable improvement, and pro- bably give results as advantageous as ia towns of even smaller population, such as Eosario de Santa Fe. The coal-fields of Candiota, so much spoken of by Messrs. Nathaniel Plant and G. Law, and to which a railway is projected, are said to be much ENGLISH ENTERPEISES IN POET ALEGEE. 71 inferior to those of San Jeronimo or Arroyo de las E.atas, for which a concession obtained by Mr. Johnson hss been recently disposed of in London. Mr. Plant has also arranged respecting the Candi- ota mines with the banking house of Bischofifsheim &Co. Messrs. Gardner Brothers have just established, close to the Arsenal, an English foundry, which promises to do a great and profitable business, owing to the demand for machinery in the ' fazen- das ' of coffee, &c. in the interior. Although only two months working, they are already putting up a saw-mill for Don Leonardo Macedonio, of Caxoeira, 200 miles inland, and a coffee-grinder and saw-mill for Messrs. Pontoura & Mariante, at Taquary, 100 miles distant, besides a brick- making machine and other works elsewhere. At the foundry I observed a shearing and punching machine, by Craig & Donald, of Glasgow, a screw- cutter. Shields' patent fan, &c., the whole driven by a six horse-power engine of Marshall & Co., of Gainsborough. Most of the workmen are English, with native apprentices. This foundry is sure to do a gi'eat business, and will be most use- ful for the increasing steam-boat traf&c. 72 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. vn. TEE NEW HAMBURG RAILWAY. This will be the first railway constructed in the province of Eio Grande, and seems destined to be the main trunk from which other lines wiU branch out towards the Atlantic and the Uruguay. The distance from Port Alegre to San Leopoldo by rail will be only 22 miles, or half the present route by water, and hence to New Hamburg is almost 6 miles, making the entire length 28 mUes ; the cost of construction will be unprecedentedly low (lOjOOOL per mile), the narrow gauge of 42 inches being adopted, as best suited for a moun- tainous country with light traffic. There are some engineering difficulties to be overcome, three rivers to be crossed, the Sapocaia range of mountains to be traversed, some woods and cane-brakes to be cleared, and an embankment to be formed along that part of the Guayiba at the foot of the city of Port Alegre. None of these, however, can be con- THE NEW HAMBURG RAILWAY. 73 sidered formidable, and although the bridges are designed for a double line, the biggest of them will hardly cost 10,000Z. About 5 miles from Port Alegre occurs the first bridge, crossing the Rio Gravitahy, with a central span of 80 feet, and two others of 48 each, in all 176 feet. It will have longitudinal wrought-iron girders on cast-iron piers with stone abutments, the height of the bridge being 5 feet over flood IcYel. There are several culvei-ts of much cost and laboiir, but the alleged swamp, which was the bugbear of the line, turns out harmless and easy to cross. At Sapocaia there is another iron bridge, with a span of 30 feet. The greatest work on the line will be the Sinos bridge at San Leopoldo, en route for New Hamburg, half a mile above the former town : it will have 7 spans, the longest of 60 feet, in all 244 feet, the river-spans constructed the same as the Gravitahy, the iron- work weighing 250 tons ; it will be 15 feet over ordinary water-level. As I have said above, all these bridges are to be for a double line, though at present the railway will be laid down a single one. The line is straight for more than half its entire length, the remaining portion being a series of curves, but generally so easy (1,200 to 1,500 feet 74 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. radius) as to give no anxiety. Tlie sharpest is 819 feet radius, wMcli in England would be thought tolerably easy. It is necessary, to make this sinuous route in order to avoid the hills, which must otherwise be either ascended or tunneled. The line crosses the Sapocaia range at its lowest pass, 2^ miles from San Leopoldo, and here of course occurs the greatest incline — 1 in 50 — which is much less than found in England, where there are some even of 1 in 30. The ascent from the Port Alegre side stretches over 1,000 yards, and the descent towards San Leopoldo 1,200 yards, the maximum height attained being 150 feet over the San Leopoldo station. The deepest cutting is 29 feet, the deepest bank 30. The sleepers employed are of one or other of the ten hard woods of the country already enume- rated. At a place called Steinkopf is found a serviceable red sandstone, of which the abutments of the bridges and other works will be composed. The line will traverse, besides jungle and forest, a number of German farms, the prettiest of which is Spiegelberg, close to San Leopoldo. The con- tractors expect to open the line thus far in twelve or eighteen months. Messrs. Watson & Bevan Smith are also in THE NEW HAMBUEG EAILWAY. 75 treaty with the Municipality of San Leopoldo for an iron road bridge over the Sinos river in front of the town, which would cost about 10,000L having 3 spans of 93 feet each. The Piratiny bridge, not much larger, cost nearly four times that sum. Mr. John MacGinity has published an interesting and minute map of the colonies and that portion of the Province which the present railway must open upon its projected prolongation from New Hamburg to Caxoeira and Uruguayana, a distance of nearly 300 miles, to be completed in annual sections over a period of about ten years. As it is supposed, with good reason, that the traf&c between New Hamburg and Port Alegre will pay a handsome dividend to the shareholders (by taking up the present remunerative trade which maintains three lines of steamers), it is intended after the first year to ask the Government to transfer the 7 per cent, guarantee to a prolonged line to Taquary, via Port Guimaraens, and so on successively to Eio Pardo, Caxoeira, St. Angelo, Santa Maria, San Pedro, San Vicente, San Fran- cisco, Assis, Alegrete, and Uruguayana. These sections (except the last two, which are very long) average 25 miles each, passing through towns and 76 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. agricultural districts of great importance. The statistical returns show that most of the districts settled by colonists have a regular increase of 20 per cent, every year over the revenues of tlie preceding one. Cheap, narrow-gauge railways can be made along the entire route at the cost of the iN'ew Hamburg line {10,000Z. per mile) ; and as the Gov- ernment will always be ready to devote 30,000 L per annum for subsidy or guarantee, this can be put forward every year for a new section according as the previous ones become self-supporting. Another projected railway of great importance is that traced out from Port Alegre to Torres, on the Atlantic, in the Province of Santa Catalina, a distance of nearly 100 miles : this would cost 1,000,000 L sterling, and the harbour works at Torres are estimated by the engineers at half that sum. It would have the effect of opening up a trade at present too remote from the port of the Eio Grande. The advancement of the Province of Eio Grande is of course mainly due to its German colonists, who have earned for it the name of ' Granary of the Brazilian Empire.' Its finances meantime are so THE NEW HAMBURG BAILWAY. 77 flourisliiiig thatlast year it had a surplus of 17,600Z. sterling, and being unburthened witli any debt, it can devote every energy to the furtherance of rail- ways, which are destined to increase the public and private wealth in a remarkable degree. 78 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. VIIT. TEE COAL-FIELDS OF SAN JEEONIMO. On Sunday morning we set out in Mr. Coulborn's steam-yaclit from San Jeronimo, a village some sixty miles up the Jacuhy, at the mouth of its tributary the Taquary. At short distances along the route we saw farmers' and country-houses, indicating a thicker population than in the Eiver Plate countries, and the inhabitants seeming to enjoy a comparative affluence. We met several craft with large square sails coming down stream, laden with timber or castor-oil nuts ; the boat- men were in all cases natives, and sometimes had their wives and families aboard. There is nothing different from the scenery of wood and water already described of the Sinos, the first place of note being a charqueda, or saladero, near the mouth of the Arroyo dos Ratos, after which we pass the ruined mansion of the Alves family which was bombarded during the Garibaldi wars THE COAL-FIELDS OE SAN JEEONIMO. 79 ■and has never been restored. After six hours' steaming we sighted San Jeronimo and Triumfo, two Tillages on opposite sides of the river. The latter, on the right, is older than Port Alegre, and was of some importance in the last century ; it presents a handsome appearance, crowning the hill-side with a twin-turreted church in the centre and several well-built houses. We land at San Jeronimo, on the left, as this is the nearest point to the fields, and find it a straggling place of 800 or 900 inhabitants. An old Welshman, named Thomas Jones, gives us a cordial welcome, and prevails on us to pro- ceed to his house on the top of the hill, about a mile off. On the route we fall in with Major Marcos, an old Brazilian officer, who speaks French, and offers his services in any way he can be useful. We halt at a tavern kept by a Ger- man, and find a crowd of fifty persons, Germans, Brazilians, negroes, &c., engaged in a brutal cock-fight. A little farther we come to an exten- sive factory belonging to M. Daixon, a French- man, who carries on the whole yerba trade of the district, employing a great number of people. The factory being closed, and the villagers amusing themselves, we called to pay a visit to 80. EIO GRANDE DO SUL. the Frenchman, who received us very kindly, and talted about the coal-fields, yerba, &e. I learn from Major Marcos that M. Daixon was a hatter, and came here some fifteen years ago, but instead of following his trade, he got into partnership with a French merchant of Eio Grande, who gave him funds to start this business, now the sole trade and support of San Jeronimo: it has proved highly lucrative, and M. Daixon is reputed to be worth over 30,000Z. sterling. Arriving at Mr. Jones's cottage we rested under the shade of his orange-trees till dinner was ready : he is the only Englishman in the village, and has resided here twenty years. There are, however, some Welsh and Irish families ten miles inland, who were formerly occupied in the coal- fields before they stopped working. A coal-wharf still exists at San Jeronimo, where the steamers used to take in their supply. Efforts were made by Mr. MacGinity and his friends to pump out the water which flooded the mines, but owing to the want of proper miners the works had to be abandoned. Mr. Johnson, a Cornishman of some experience, has obtained a new concession and prevailed on parties in England to advance him money for another trial, with which purpose he THE COAL-FIELDS OF SAN JERONIMO. 81' lias just arrived in Eio Janeyro to be followed by a staff of miners. These mines, usually called of Arroyo dos Eatos, must not be confounded with those of Candiota for which Mr, Nathaniel Plant is concessionaire. On Monday morning we were up before sunrise to start for the coal-fields, eight or ten miles inland. Major Marcos kindly lent us a couple of horses. Before setting out we had occasion to admire the splendid view from Mr. Jones's door, looking down at the meeting of the waters of the Jacuhy and Taqnary, nearly a mile wide. We were all well mounted, our party comprising Messrs. Bevan Smith, Sawer, MacGinity, Jones, Coulborn, and myself. The country was undulat- ing, almost bare of timber, and thickly settled, our road lying across a high range of hills. After two hours' ride we got sight of the coal district, sloping down from a hill-range to a Wooded valley ; and we halted at the house of a Welshman named Davis, whose wife expressed great joy to see us. Her husband was away near Pelotas. The house was neat, though poor ; and Mrs. Davis told us of a series of misfortunes which had befallen them since their arrival, eighteen years ago. Her eldest boy, with two G 82 Eio geande bo sul. others of an Irish family, was blown up in a powder explosion near the works more than ten years ago. At another time her house was burnt down, and aU the family stock of books, clothing, &e. consumed. Again, when the mines stopped working they were thrown out of employment, and ever since eked out a living by raising veget- ables. Last year the poor woman tried her hand with a small grocery shop 5 but the natives, who were her customers, proved so dilatory in their cash payments that she had to close the door. Her children and grand-children had the bright eyes and flaxen hair of Britain, but no other lan- guage than Portuguese, although I believe they understood a little of what they heard in English or in the old Erse tongue of their parents. I observed a Welsh bible and some family portraits, which they had saved from the fire ; and it was pleasant to see how the old woman's eyes bright- ened when we spoke of the old land, to which her heart still yearned as when she first left its shores, although she can hardly entertain a hope of ever again seeing her native hiUs. She told us that another Welsh family lived in the district, as also an Irishman named Peter Logan; and another, Patrick Garraghan, on the other side of Arroyo THE COAL^KBLDS OF SAN JEEONIMO. 83 dos Eatos. I thought to myself, how hard the lot of these folks, after twenty years' separation from their country-people spent in persevering labour, in comparison with the flourishing con- dition of the Irish sheep-farmers in Buenos Ayres ! Leaving Mr, Davis's cottage, we proceeded to the mines, where pieces of machinery were lying about near the abandoned works. I picked up samples of the coal, which seemed to me very slaty ; but it is said to answer when mixed with a better description. I am glad to say that Mr. MacGinity yesterday prevailed on the President to subscribe for 10,000Z. in shares. As yet it is premature to descant on the immense advantages which these coal-fields may yield to Brazil and to the commerce of this part of South America. It seems that Messrs. Johnson and Moura have sold their interest for 30,000?., the new Company being called ' Imperial Brazilian Collieries, Limited,' capital 100,000Z. The concession is for thirty years, and it is proposed to raise 300 tons a day, the present seam being 4 feet 8 inches thick, and estimated at 6,000,000 tons. This coal took a prize at the Paris Exhibition. A tramway will o 2 84 EIO GEANDE DO STIL. be laid down to San Jeronimo, and Johnson obliges himself to place the coal on board in that port at seven shillings a ton, which the Company will sell at twenty-four shillings at Port Alegre, whereas English coal costs sixty shillings. EXCXJESION TO SAN LEOPOLDO. 85 IX. EXGUBSION TO SAN LHOPOLBO. On Friday morning we left Port Alegre in tlie steamer ' Balastraca,' the oldest on the line. As- cending the Eio dos Sinos we soon began to feel the sun very hot, the thick woods on either side excluding the breeze, which moreover was from the north and came on us at intervals like a puff of the Sirocco. The captain of the steamer was a German, and treated us to a breakfast of trout and roast-beef, the former quite as good as what Gil Bias speaks of in his travels. About twenty mUes from Port Alegre, we passed, the charming fazenda of Bento Cyrio, and higher up came to a place where they were making bricks. The river has innumerable bends, the scenery being a continued luxuriance of vegetation which at last almost wearies you. Poliage of every shade, beautifully blended, forest 86 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. openings here and there, umbrageous trees lite sycamores, wild cane-brakes that suggest tiger- jungles, tapering palms, and the lofty 'timba-uva' with orchids and other parasites in its highest branches ; aU these, interspersed with wood- cutters' huts, hedges of rhododendron, canoes with children fishing, and various lands of water- fowl, make up the picture of aU or any of these rivers. Sometimes you come on a clump of burned trees where the negroes have begun clearing a patch of ground. In many places the banks of the river have given way and large forest trees fallen into the stream, their trunks or branches often sticking out in the middle of the current, which must make night travelling very dangerous. It would be easy for the Government to employ a small steamer to drag away these snags and clear the rivers. The high-water mark of the flood-tides is ob- servable on the cottages that we pass, some 8 feet over the present level. The current is about 2 to 3 miles an hour. Most of the wood that Hues the river-side is said to be comparatively valueless, but the Province of Rio Grande can boast at least ten good qualities of timber, chiefly hard wood, viz. ipe, black caneUa, cangerana, cocao, lauro, ta- EXCUESION TO SAN LEOPOLDO. 87 rama, cabri-uva, tajuba, angico and grapiapuno of wMch. the railway sleepers are made. Tbe sportsman would find abundance of game in all variety, from tigers to water-hens, and the follower of Isaac Walton might open up new kingdoms in the piscatorial world, for the rivers teem with the finny tribe, and Professor Agassiz reports two thousand new kinds of fish as proper to Brazilian waters. Of amphibious animals the yacare has a coat said to be impervious to rifle-ball, and the best chance of shooting him is when he opens his ponderous red jaws to yawn, as he basks in the sun ; there is also a kind of river-hog called capibari, not different from the carpincho of Ar- gentine waters ; lizards of great size are also seen ; these animals seem to prefer the swamps, where there is no noise of steamboat to disturb them. All, even, the tigers, will flee at the ap- proach of man, but the sportsman who goes tiger- shooting should have complete confidence in his rifle and the steadiness of his nerves, or it may fare ill with him. A large tiger-skin is worth even here 31. or 41. sterling. The water-fowl com- prise divers, boobies, cranes, guUs and vultures ; I saw some of the last-named feeding on the carcase of a lamb that was floating down stream. 88 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. Sometimes ttrough wood-openings, we get a glimpse of Mount Sapocai, the TiYet making so many bends tliat the peak is one time before us, another right astern, and the sun shifts in like manner till you fancy the mariner's compass has gone quite out of order. At one place, where a saw-mill is working hard by, the turn is so sharp that the steamer has to force its way through the branches of the trees and hug the shore. At last we come upon scattered cottages of neat exterior, and flaxen-haired children run out to look at us, just as the Gothic spire of San Leopoldo comes in view, with an opening vista of the town. San Leopoldo, founded in 1837, is famous for children and potatoes, in the same way as Kidder- minster for carpets, Naples for macaroni, or Sevres for porcelain. I had heard this ever since my arrival in Rio Grande, and was not surprised, when our vessel got abreast of ' John MuUer's tan- nery,' to see a troop of chubby-faced little boys marching past under the direction of a priest. The moment you land you are struck with the neat German cottages on all sides, and the incredible number of children. But for the tropical luxuri- ance of the gardens you would fancy yourself in some pleasant country-village of Northern Europe : EXCUESION TO SAN LEOPOLDO. 89 the windows have wHte curtains, between wMch. you see some fair-haired girls or house-wives peep out at the strangers. We proceed to Ernest Koch's hotel in the main-street, which recalls a thousand associations of Fatherland. In front is Her Meitzell's ' bierbrauerei,' next door Julius FUlman's bakery, further on Mr. Huhnfleisch the hat-maker, another shop belonging to a ' buchbinder,' and the large two-story house is the oflBce of the ' New Hamburg and Port Alegre Railway Works.' You hear nothing but German spoken around you. The atmosphere is German, nor can you realise that you are hundreds of miles in the heart of Brazilian forests. Saw-mills wherever you turn, and the hum of industry, giving assurance of peace, progress, and civilisation. The Germans are a wonderful people : you may call them phlegmatic or what you will, but Nature evidently intended them for colonists par excellence. In the United States there are 5,000,000 German settlers (including their children), aU thriving farmers, as Mr. Maguire testifies in his work on ' the Irish in America.' They are steady, peace- able, and industrious, and it is not a small merit in a new country that they are eminently domestic and rear up large families in the manner to form 90 EIO GBANDE DO SUL. good citizens and useful members of society. The German who visits the Port Alegre colonies will find reason to be proud of his countrymen, who form one of the largest and most flourishing com- munities on this continent. They are also the happiest people on the face of the earth, and you see it depicted on their countenances. Long may they enjoy the Golden Age of their Arcadian sim- plicity and virtue ! While we were seated at dinner in the hotel. Major Johann Schmidt, commander of the district, came in to pay us a visit accompanied by Mr. Philip Matte, one of the richest colonists ; neither of them spoke English, but we got on alternately with German and Portuguese. Mr. Schmidt was born here, bnt paid a visit to Germany in 1865, and was a spectator of the battle of Skalitz, in Bohemia. He gave me a great deal of information about the colonies, of which more hereafter. A friend of Matte's came in while we were pla3ring billiards ; each of these men, I am told, is worth over 20,000Z. sterling. It is a lovely moonlight evening, and a number of children are playing on a heap of shavings in the middle of the street, of which presently they make a bonfire, dancing round it with German EXCUESION TO SAN LEOPOLDO. 91 cries and interjections. My bed-room in tlie upper story is the neatest thing imaginable, and I lie down to dream of Easselas and the Happy Valley, the Tillagers of the Ehine-gau, and the sunniest recollections of a life of travel. The bell which summons the workmen to their labours, ^from the neighbouring Gothic steeple, awoke me about sunrise. I saUied forth to have a view of the place, and after a stroll on the river's bank, my attention was called to a refrain sung by children's voices in the church already mentioned. It was a Litany which some 80 boys and girls were singing, under the direction of a Jesuit father, who played the organ, just as we may suppose the Psalms and Litanies to have been sung in the Misiones in the last century, before the expulsion of the Jesuits. The children were all Germans, and their morning prayer echoed in the vaulted aisles of the Gothic building, which was supported by 8 pillars, and lighted by stained glass windows. I remarked that each of the children brought a bunch of flowers and left it in the portico of the church. There is a Protestant church at a short distance, and the foundations have been laid for a Municipal Hall. The saw-miUs were busily working, and the 92 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. children going to school with books and bottles of milk, when the town clock struck eight, and the heat was already excessive. I saw strange waggons (12 feet by 3) driven by boys, with loads of timber. Here and there I looked into the shops, which seemed weU stocked, until the scorching sun drove me for shelter to the hotel. As soon as the stately palm-trees began to cast their evening shadows athwart the streets the case- ments are again thrown open, and the little house- holds seem to breathe the cool air with enjoyment. There is a sudden bustle in our street, as a pro- cession of nine or ten couples, the men wearing white gloves, and the women in gala attire, came out of the Evangelical chapel, having just regis- tered the vows of a bride and bridesroom, who lead the procession, and are the observed of aU ob- servers. They are young, honest-looking people, just the beau-ideal for colonists, and are followed by old ladies and gentlemen who have probably watched this Paul and Virginia couple from earli- est infancy, and now accompany the bride to her new home, wishing her a long career of health and happiness such as has made up their own simple annals. I learn that the harmony between Ca- tholics and Protestants is so great that intermar- EXCUESION TO SAN LEOPOLDO. 93 riages are frequent, and you will often find tlie good man of the house a Catholic and his help- mate a Protestant, or vice-versa. In numbers the two persuasions are about equally represented, many of the colonists coming from the Rhenish or other Catholic provinces of Germany. I have learned a good deal about the colonies from Mr. Curtius, editor of ' Der Bote,' and Mr. Philip Leopold Matte, which will form the subject of a separate chapter. 94 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. INAUQUBATION OF THE SAN LEOPOLBO RAILWAY. Sunday, November 26. The little town of San Leopoldo has been all astir since before sunrise, on account of the inaugu- ration, which takes place this afternoon, of the railway works to Porto Alegre, The steamer yesterday brought numbers of people from the capital, who were at some difficulty to find quarters for the night, and sundry merchants and others from Porto Alegre availed themselves of the fine moonlight to make the journey on horseback, a ride of four hours, arriving here in the small hours of daylight and keeping our hostelry in a state of noisy excitement. By the first streak of dawn you might see the Germans and natives coming in on horseback from the neighbouring hills while the church-beU was ringing for Mass, and the railway people were hurrying about in final preparation for the fetes. INAUGURATION OF SAN LEOPOLDO RAILWAY. 95 The President, Bishop, and party, in three steamers, were expected from Porto Alegre by 11 o'clock' the Municipality to receive the distinguished guests, at the water-side, and conduct them to the church and sing a Te Deum. Mr. MacGinity had fixed 7 o'clock a.m. for starting from Porto Alegre, but possibly the low state of the river has caused a delay, as up to the hour I write (2 p.m.) the steamers are not yet in sight. The church is tastefully decorated, with garlands of evergreens hung between the nave and sanctuary and around the high altar. The villagers are aU ia holiday costume, numbers of farmers are mounted on steady nags, wearing white ponchos and pon- derous silver spurs. All the factories and saw-mills are still, as becomes the Sabbath morning; but the shops and houses are open to receive the crowds of country visitors. Yonder comes a cavalcade of horsemen and women, crossing the river nearly abreast of the church ; the water barely reaches to the horses' bellies. The scene of the day's celebration is the tem- porary station, about a mile hence, which has been fitted up in admirable style. The buUding measures 70 feet by 22, and is surmounted at one end by the Brazilian, at the other by the British, 96 HIO GRANDE DO StTL. flag; all the enclosure of four acres round is decorated with flags of various nations flying from high poles, and in the middle is an awning, where President MeUo, after receiving the Bishop's benediction, is to lay the foundation-stone. A stand- house in front, covered in from the tropical sun, is set apart for the ladies who grace the occasion. Just outside the enclosure is a ' ramada' of green boughs, under which the ' came con cuero,' or beef in the hide, is to be roasted for the multitude. The interior of the station is fitted up as a banquet- haU, with four tables for 160 covers, the walls around being hung with bannerets. Over the President's chair are suspended the Brazilian flag and a crown of flowers and bay-leaves ; in front is the chair for the Bishop, the rest of the table being arranged for the local authorities. At one end of the hall is a large German flag, at the other the stars and stripes of the great republic. The silver trowel and spade for the occasion are of elegant workmanship, made at Porto Alegre, the handles being of a dozen kinds of inlaid native wood. The mortar-board is a beautiful piece of cedar, highly polished. Nothing can be imagined more charming or picturesque than the view on aU sides from the INAUGURATION OF SAN LEOPOLDO EAILWAY. 97 station. Northward are ranges of wooded hills, terminatiag in a line of ' cerros,' the loftiest of which are known as the Dois Irmaos, or Two Brothers ; eastward the woods come down so close as to shut out the view, but as we carry our eyes to the south, it rests on the mansion of Spiegel- berg, nestling in a plantation which extends to the summit of the hill behind ; to the west we descry the Gothic spire of San Leopoldo over-topping the orange-trees of the suburbs, among which also peeps out Mr. MacGinity's chacra, or country-house. The town is not visible through the luxuriant foliage, though barely 700 yards distant. 3 P.M. The squire of Spiegelberg gives a grand ball this evening, besides two others in San Leopoldo. The brass band of the town is playinglively airs through the streets, and the policemen are letting off rockets; but the President is not yet come. The steamers have just arrived, and the Presi- dent, Bishop, and party are gone to sing Te Deum in the church. The heat is so excessive that the inauguration is put off till six o'clock. At the appointed hour the scene of festivity is crowded with three thousand persons, chiefly Germans. Major Schmidt has the police force of 98 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. the town (six men), guarding tke triumphal arch. The military band from Port Alegre announces the approach of the President and Bishop, who are received at the entrance by Messrs. MacGinity, Beyan Smith, Cleary, Sawer, Turner, &c., and conducted to the place where the stone is to be laid. The President wears the uniform of Senator of the Empire with the Star of the order of the Rose ; the Bishop has a purple soutanne under a lace rochette, and is accompanied by a Jesuit priest and some others. The stone is a ponderous slab of red sandstone. The Bishop gives the signal to uncover and pronounces the usual prayers on such occasions, lasting about ten minutes, after which the police let off rockets, the band strikes up the BrazUian hymn, and the people cheer. His Excel- lency President Mello next delivered a very appro- priate and eloquent speech, expatiating on the benefits which the enterprise was destined to pro- duce, wishing every success to those Englishmen under whose intelligent direction it is to be carried out, and promising his steadiest co-operation to- wards prolonging the line to the Argentine frontier. Mr. Kiug, a clever photographer, takes a view of the ceremonial at the moment when Messrs., MacGinity and Bevan Smith are depositing a box INATJGUEATIOX OF SAN LEOPOLDO EAILWAY. 99 in the liollow of the foundation-stone containing coins, local newspapers, and such like. Then the laying of the stone is gone through, the engineers presenting the silTer trowel to the President of the Province, and the spade to the municipal guild of San Leopoldo, the inscription on the latter being — 'This spade was used by Pres. Mello to turn the first sod at San Leopoldo, of the New Hamburg Railway, in presence of John MacG-iaity, concessionaire; H. Bleary, engineer ; Bevan Smith, contractor; and an assembled multitude, this 26th day of November, 1871.' We now proceed to the banquet-hall, where the tables were sumptuously spread, and I chanced to be placed near the President and Bishop. During the dinner the President assured me that General Mitre was highly respected in Brazil, as well as our actual chief magistrate. President Sarmiento. The first toast was given by Mr. MacGinity — 'The Government of President Mello, under whose administration every enterprise for the advancement of Rio Grande found the most cor- dial support.' (Cheers.) This was warmly received with three times three, the band playing a Portuguese melody. Mr. Thompson, an Anglo-Brazilian, in propo- H 2 100 EIO GRANDE BO SVL,. sing the next toast said — 'On an occasion like tlie present we must not forget the claims of the Legislature of Eio Grande, which came forward with a liberal subsidy in the form of a guarantee on the capital, to stimulate the introduction of railways into this Province. It was a purpose which enlisted aU their sympathies and patriot- ism, for the legislators felt that the locomotive was the great civiliser of new countries, the conqueror of modern times, uniting peoples and communities, founding societies where before was desert, and therefore more glorious than the destroying cannon which men are too apt to re- gard with honour. He trusted all present would unite with him in toasting the Legislature of the Province.' Dr, Guzman, Secretary of State, said — ' There is yet a meed of honour due to one now absent, I mean ex-President Sartore, who contracted for this great work, and whose health I give you.' (Cheers.) Dr. Teofilo Eibeyro, Secretary of Government, rose and said — ' Ladies and gentlemen, I look on this happy festivity as the inauguration of a new era of peace and labour stiU more prolific than any we have yet seen in Eio Grande. The whistle of the engine will awaken the echoes of our virgin INATJGUEATION OF SAN LEOPOLDO EAILWAY. 101 woods, and at tlie same time our telegraph sys- tem, already connecting this Province with Eio Janeyro, is now pushing forward rapidly towards the countries of the Eiver Plate; while the growth of our German colonies is marvellous and our immigration spontaneous. May Divine Provi- dence continue His blessings to this favoured land! ' The last speaker having made allusion to the Eiver Plate, of which I was the only representa- tive present, I felt bound to say a few words. I assured the Rio Grandenses that their neighbours of La Plata would feel most happy to learn of their progress in enterprises like the present, for which I offered them the warmest congratulation, adding that I hoped this railway would be pushed on, as proposed, to the frontier of the Argentine Eepublic, to unite neighbouring peoples in the, lasting bonds of international traffic. The next toast was given by Dr. Perraz, ' To the foreigners who came among us to develope the resources of the country, and make Eio Grande a free, prosperous, and enlightened State.' Some one next proposed the Fourth Estate, coupling with it the names of Guttenberg and the Eio Grande Editors. 102 RIO GRANDE DO SXJL. President Mello rose to tliank Mr, MacGinity in the first place for having proposed Ms health, and then begged the company to join him in a toast to the Paranhos Cabinet, for having carried out two of the greatest measures that could fall to the lot of any statesman, the Judicial Eeform and the Abolition of Slavery; the latter by far the greater, since it consecrated the precepts of the Gospel which regarded aU men as entitled to equal rights. This great measure, he repeated, would immortalise the name of Viscount Eio Branco. The toast was drunk, all standing, with three times three. Mr. MacGinity, in a very graceful manner, pro- posed the Municipality of San Leopoldo, expatiat- ing on their civic visitors, and afterwards gave the health of Mr. Bevan Smith, of the firm of Watson Smith, contractors for the line (cheers). Mr. Guzman proposed the Engineers, and es- pecially Mr. Cleary. The latter replied in a finished Portuguese speech, and proposed ' The ITew Hamburg Railway Company.' Mr. Bevan Smith proposed 'The Ladies, who cheer our rugged road of life, and help to keep us in the track of honour and duty.' (Enthusiastic cheers.) INAUGUEATION OF SAN LEOPOLDO RAILWAY. 103 President Mello, in conclusion, gave the health of His Majesty the Emperor and the Imperial family. ' Every Brazilian had reason to be proud of Dom Pedro, the first citizen of his country and a model ruler. In his present journey through Europe, he has been everywhere received as a liberal monarch, sound statesman, and advanced scholar, while he is still better known in Brazil as a man of domestic virtues and polished taste, an encourager of industrial enterprise, a friend to the poor, and a true patriot. May he long be spared to pilot the destinies of the vast empire over which he rules.' The band struck up the Brazilian hymn, and the feast concluded at 8 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. The President having invited Mr. Smith to remain till this afternoon and accompany him to Port Alegre, I am enabled to add a postscript. Whilst I write, the band is playing a march to the riverside, where His Excellency lays the foun- dation-stone of the bridge to be placed for public traffic over the Eio dos Linos. Afterwards the school-children have some amateur theatricals in reference to the Eailway Inauguration, at which President Mello and the Bishop will assist. The 104 EIO GEANDE DO SXJL. balls last night were brilliant and well attended. Some of tbe principal townsfolk are sending in mineralogical curiosities and otter little souvenirs to Mr. Bevan Smitb to take witb Mm to England. All tbe neighbours evince the liveliest interest in the railway. The engineers accompany Mr. Smith to Port Alegre, and I start in the morning for three days' ride through the woods to the great waterfall in the Tea-forest. A RIDE THEOUGH THE COLONIES. 105 XI. A BIDE THROUGH THE COLONIES. The traveller who would visit each and all of the German settlements in the district of Port Alegre must devote at least a month to the task ; but as the whole forty-fOur are very similar in character, it will be enough to mate a tour of four or five days from San Leopoldo through the Baum- schneitz valley, New Hamburg, Acht-und-Vierzig, Tea-forest, Cafiee-Schneitz, and intermediate ' pi- cadas,' under the guidance of a good ' vaqueano,' to form an accurate idea of the colonies. With- out a personal visit of this kind it is difficult to realise the nature and importance of these settle- ments. Imagine to yourself, reader, a country nearly as large as Belgium or Holland cut out of these Brazilian forests, where the inhabitants are exclusively German, and speak no other language ; where chapels and schools meet you at every open- ing in the wood ; where the mountain-sides have 106 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. been in many cases cleared to make room for corn-fields; where women travel alone througli the forests in perfect security ; where agricultural and manufacturing industry flourish undisturbed ; where crime is unknown and public instruction almost on a level with that of Prussia ; in a word, where individual happiness and the welfare of the commonwealth go hand-in-hand, surrounded by the rich, tropical vegetation of Brazil, and fa- voured by the great advantages of a healthy climate, and the blessings of peace, order, and good government. Among the townsfolk of San Leopoldo, few are more obliging than Herr Philip Matte, and through his agency I found an excellent guide, one Cornelius, who also provided horses for the journey. At 6 a.m., on November 28, we started, under the auspices of a cloudy morning, aM crossed the Eio dos Sinos near where the proposed bridge is to be built, the water being above the horses' bellies ; in wet seasons it is im- passable. On the opposite bank are some neat cottages, and a large house belonging to one Schmidt. Emerging from the town, we find an open country of some extent, with a half-moon of hills in front, and on the left a series of undulat- A EIDE THROUGH THE COLONIES. 107 ing woods. Yonder is a stone cross in memory of Johann Stievenbacli, who was dragged with a lasso from San Leopoldo, and murdered on this spot by one of the contending factions in the civil war of the Tarapos. My guide tells me of several deeds of atrocity in that dreadful time. The Germans had hoped to be left undisturbed in their little farms, but first the rebels, and then the government troops, dragged them away from their homes and fami- lies, impressing them for the war. In this manner it often happened that father and son were ranged on opposite sides. The colonists were ruined, and had no means of escaping from the country, which was a scene of bloodshed and desolation for more than ten years, till the pacification of 1845 put a stop to these horrors, and allowed the colonists to pursue peaceful pursuits. Ascending the slope of Lomba Grande, we meet some waggons bound for San Leopoldo, with a blue-eyed /ra^Zem sitting on the sacks of Indian com ; and now we get in view of Hamburger Berg, crowned with a little chapel, behind which we soon discern the roof-tops of New Hamburg. This picturesque village covers the hill-side, and down in the valley my guide points out the house 108 RIO GEANDE DO SUL. of the richest colonist, a mixture of Swiss cottage and English farm-house. The village inn is neat and comfortable ; in the parlour there is a picture of Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man. Passing the Protestant chapel, and a fine house belonging to an apothecary named Kastrup, we emerge from New Hamburg, the terminus of the first sectiou of the Port Alegre railroad, and enter at once into a woody and mountainous country. We are now in the Schwabe-Schneitz, so called from the Swabians who made the first clearing here. At intervals we come upon water-mills, rustic school-hous6s, troops of mules carrying graia to San Leopoldo, and at every wood- open- ing we see the colonists, men and women, busy at their daily labours in the field. The usual hours for work are from six to eleven in the morning, and two to seven in the afternoon, thus avoiding the intense heat of mid-day. At some of the steepest passes the colonists have made a paved road, practicable either for mules or the peculiar little cart of the country. Prom one of these points we have a splendid view of the surrounding country, generally known as Bom Jardin, with the twin peaks of Dos Irmaos, A EIDE THEOUGH THE COLONIES. 109 and in the distance New Hamburg and San Leo- poldo. The forest scenery varies at every turn, in weird vistas of grandeur and solitude. Wild orange and fig trees appear at times among the thick woods of valuable timber of a dozen different kinds, and brushwood and creepers are so closely intertwined that it would be difficult to force your way through. We begin to descend, and a view opens upon us of the Baumschneitz Valley. As we enter the village a bridal procession sallies forth from the Catholic chapel, just such a building as you see on the Ehine, with a wooden belfry : the bride is young and fair, and the whole cavalcade start off to acconipariy the happy pair to their new home in the woods. At Baumschneitz there 'is a good inn, kept by Carl Merkel. Travellers going to the Tea-forest and Waterfall generally finish the first day's journey here, as the route over the mountains is very fatiguing. Nevertheless, as the day was cloudy, I resolved to make a double day's journey and push on for the Waterfall. The main street of Baumschneitz is lined with orange trees. The houses are models of neat- ness. At the farther end we find the Protestant 110 EIO GEANDE DO SUL, cliapel and minister's house ; then the houses are more scattered and less tasteful. The better kind are of bricks, with a wooden half-story under the sloping roof Many, however, are of mud and canes, or made in a species of framework, with the large cross-beams conspicuous, as in most of the hamlets of Germany. Beneath the cottage, how- ever humble, is a basement used for storing imple- ments, which keeps the habitations very dry. No bars or bolts are visible, and the windows are often without glass. Crossing Millersberg, we see the mountains around us cultivated to their summits, and ahead of us, perched hke an eagle's eyrie, is WoolfPs Nest, a well-known wayside inn. Away to the left the hills recede till lost in an outline of woods in the direction of Caffee-schneitz. Not far from thence it is proposed to estabhsh an Irish colony, and Mr. MacGinity, concessionaire of the railway and other enterprises, intends to give settlers free land grants of 100 acres. The soil is excellent, and peculiarly favourable, it being so near the railway now in construction. Ascending Fritzberg the road becomes little better than a dry river-bed. Wood-pigeons abound here. At last, after arduous toiling up hiU, we A EIDE THKOUGH THE COLONIES. Ill reach Woolff's Nest. What a lovely panorama ! In the foregroTind the Dos Irmaos and Sapocai, at our feet the peaceful valley of Baumschneitz, and on all sides a diversified picture of woods, plains, farm-houses, and undulating hills, till the blue line of the horizon is broken on the far right by the white buildings of Port Alegre, fifty miles distant as the crow flies. Herr Woolff and his wife are hospitable people, and do a thriving business, their house being a general store of dry goods, groceries, &c., and on Sunday evenings the neighbours meet here to dance. The ball-room measures 40 by 36 feet, with a corner set apart for the orchestra. Everything about the place bespeaks neatness. The woods close it in on either side, while the mountain rises up precipi- tously behind. A steep ascent conducts us to the summit, where a cross-road occurs, and now we are on the top of a ridge commanding a delightful view, whichever way we turn. The road to the right leads into the Tea-forest. Before many minutes we seem plunged in the heart of dense woods, which create a feeling of silence and solemnity, as if you were beneath the vaidted roof of some old Gothic cathedral. We journey on for nearly an hour in this manner, and suddenly come 112 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. upon a cavalcade of a dozen persons. -It is the Grafin von Eberstein, a German baroness of sixty summers, who is at present making a tour of the world a la Ida Pfeiffer, and whose arrival last week at San Leopoldo caused some sensation. She is attended by an ugly maid-servant, 'a muscular courier, three or four of the colonists, a guide, the parson of Baumschneitz, and some others. She rides a strong cob, seated in a kind of arm- chair, and has made a difficult journey to and from the Waterfall, apparently without fatigue. We are again in the depths of the forest. What splendid ferns ! What stately trees, all interlaced with creepers and parasites ! Emerging from the forest we saw the sun descending behind the woods of the Eosen Thai, when our road diverged to the right and left at a little chapel, near which there was no house for us to ask which way we should foUow. Beside the chapel was a tasteful churchyard, or ' God's acre,' as the Germans call it, with sundry stone crosses and flower-beds. My guide resolved on taking the lower road, to the left, with some uncertainty as to whether we should have to pass the night in the woods. But before darkness set in we came to a turn in the mountain which disclosed a group of A EIDE THROUGH THE COLONIES. 113 cottages. Passing a small cloth-mill and another chapel, we began to ascend another range of hills, for my guide now remembered the locality, and said we should have to pass the night at the shanty of Herr Eost, near the Waterfall. At times the path was so precipitous and full of loose stones that we had to alight and lead our horses. The full summer moon was sailing on her course as we reached Herr Eost's, where we found a frugal supper and clean beds of Indian com straw, after a long day's ride of thirteen hours. 114 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. XII. FBOM TEE WATEBFALL TO THE DEVIL'S GLEN. It was my purpose to see the first rays of the sun fall on the Gate cascade, and some time before sun- rise we were making our way through Herr Eost's wood-clearing, where patches of beans and flax alternated with felled timber. The descent into, the ravine is no longer so dangerous as formerly, but you must beware of the loose stones. The first view of the waterfall disappoints you, the quantity of water being insignificant; its height by degrees impresses you, for it is 375 feet over a sheer precipice, the woods on either side coming down to the brink, while the waterfall like a silver ribbon descends to the valley; there is no visible outlet for the water, which is caught in a pool that has never been sounded, and the neigh- bours have a tradition of a man who fell in and was never seen to rise, his body having been probably FEOM THE WATERFALL TO THE DEVIL'S GLEN. 115 carried away by some subterranean current. At the falls of tbe Anio, in Tivoli, there is a similar pool, called Neptune's Grotto, with a subterranean outlet. A thin vapour rises from the cascade, which as- sumes many colours as the sunbeams fall on it. An Englishman took a photograph of this water- fall some time ago, and to give an idea of its height, he caused twenty men to stand in a line with their hands joined, over the precipice. The noise of the fall is trifling, but in winter the volume of water is much greater, and often carries down cattle with it. From the waterfall my route lay again through the Tea-forest to Baumschneitz,, from which I in- tended making a detour by the Devil's Glen and Acht-und-Vierzig. In the middle of the forest we met two women on horseback; as a rule the women in these colonies ride like o-en, for the same reason as in the mountainous parts of Italy, since side- saddles would be very insecure. The only birds you hear in these forests are the Tanzen-Vogel or Danciag-birds, the 'blacksmith,' ' carpenter,' &c. The dancing-birds are blue with red tops : five of them perch in a line on the branch of a tree, the leader sines, and the others hop backwards and I 2 116 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. forwards like soldiers on drill. The blacksmitli is a wliite bird with black top : the noise he makes seems at a distance like a hammer striking on an anvil. At rare intervals you see a monkey. Descending from Woolff's to the valley we meet numbers of children coming from school, two on each horse, boys and girls, making their way through the woods homewards. We arrive at Carl .Merkel's inn at Baumschneitz in time for dinner, and halt here for the night. The landlord was formerly a soldier of Rosas in Buenos Ayres, some ■twenty years ago, and came hither just before the campaign of Caseros which overthrew that ruler. About sunset I took a stroll through the quiet village, where the housewives were throwing open their doors and windows, the children were play- ing under the orange-trees, some fowlers were coming home from the forest with bags fuU of game, and a group of people was gathered at the smithy watching the operation of shoeing a res- tive horse. I turned into the graveyard of the Catholic chapel and read the inscriptions which tell th6 simple annals of the first settlers, some bom by the North Sea sands, some by the foaming Danube, some iu the Black Forest, some by the sunny Ehine ; the oldest date I could find was 1837, FROM THE "WATERFALL TO THE DEVIL'S GLEN. 11 V showing that this colony must have been ten years after San Leopoldo. An avenue from the grave- yard leads to the Jesuit glebe hard by, where half- a-dozen fathers reside belonging to the surround- ing settlements. There is neither doctor nor apo- thecary in the village, no prison or police ; the in- habitants are simple in their habits, marry young, have large families, and are usually long-lived. During the Paraguayan war bhe place had to fur- nish a contingent of twenty-six men, of whom only five returned. It is pleasant, as the shades of night descend, to watch the wood-cutters' fires, or the lights from the little homesteads on the moun- tain sides. The fire-flies flit about, and the village is settling down to repose ; the smithy is shut, and the moon rises, pouring her silvery light upon wood and mountain. It is worthy of note that the fire- flies in the River Plate carry the lantern in their tails, but here it is on their heads, and the light is clearer. An hour before sunrise I was again on the road, by moonlight, leaving the valley of Baumschneitz behind. At a short distance the path plunged into a dense forest, and before we emerged from it we could see the first beams of morning shining on the tree-tops. The magnificent woodland scenery 118 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. fully compensates for the difficulties of the path : every now and then we have to bend low or side- ways to avoid the species of wild vines that hang like ropes from the lofty branches, forming the most fantastic network from tree to tree. After a couple of hours' riding, in which we met nobody, a forest-opening occurred, and we saw a field of magnificent palms, passing which we were again in the woods, until the crowing of a cock an- nounced that we were near some human habita- tion, and presently we found ourselves at a com- fortable farm-house, the owner of which, in reply to my guide's questions, pointed over a thickly- wooded ridge towards Acht-und-Vierzig, adding that the way was almost impracticable. He sent his little girl to open for us the gate of the fence which separated his holding from the glen. The descent at once began to be steep,the path stony and difficult, and before a quarter of an hour I almost repented not having taken the farmer's advice and turned back. At one place it was like descending a rickety stone staircase, as we led our horses gently by the head, and even so the poor beasts stumbled so often that at times I feared they should fall on us. At last we reached the foot, where a valley spread out ahead of us, the steep FROM THE WATEEFAXL TO THE DEVIL'S GLEN. 119 sides being clad with thicke^st timber, and a small river running in the middle of the low ground, which we stirted. A peculiar noise called my at- tention, and I was puzzled to think what it might be, until my guide said it was caused by apes holding a morning confabulation ; the din being caused by the animals striking their mouths with their paws. The colonists see little of the apes, which gene- rally make their haunts in secluded woods, near fresh water, and dislike the proximity of human •beings. Crossing the stream we came to a large cavern or hollow of the mountain, that leans over the path as if ready to overwhelm the travel- ler. On the top of the cliff are farm-houses in- visible to us, and yonder we see some little boys with satchels making their way afoot to the school of Acht-und-Vierzig : the woods are still thick, and the scenery charming at each fresh vista* Here we come upon a fine orange-grove near the ruins of a house ; a woman is driving a cow before her. As the valley again opens we see in the distance, overtopping the woods, the turret of the village chapel, which crowns the hill-side. The river running through the valley is crossed by a massive stone bridge, 400 yards long and 30 feet 120 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. high, which cost over 30,000Z. Formerly iramhers of colonists and others perished in trying to cross here in rainy seasons, and whether from this cir- cumstance or from the gloomy scenery around, the place is called the Devil's Glen. A steep ascent leads from the bridge to the village on the hill. The principal trader of the place is Herr Kossel ; a good shop is also kept by Frau Blauet : the inn is clean and comfortable, and as usual there is a large ball-room, 40 feet square, with a gallery for the musicians : here the villagers have their monthly balls. The ehapel- is built in the same style as all the rest in the colonies, but it is to be noted that the Protestant chapels have no turret or belfry. The graveyard has but few tombstones, and in a meadow hard-by we see a Jesuit reading his breviary. Eliding through the village we attract the notice of the inhabitants, and as we pass the school the children seem well-ordered at their tasks. As we ascend Bergsmerberg, a long and gentle acclivity, we observe gardens, cottages, and a Protestant chapel, in a very diversified landscape. Half-an- hour farther finds us in dense woods, where we meet two ladies unaccompanied and riding side- saddle. As the woods open we come out on a FEOM THE WATERFALL TO THE DEVIL'S GLEN. I2l' cloth-mill built over a little stream, -with a jolly- looking mauler and comfortable residence. A couple of miles farther we come to a wayside shop kept by a smart-looking woman, who kindly gave ns permission to rest, for the sun was now hot. She had neither meat nor eggs, but sent out her little boy to dig some potatoes for us (these people ■ are great vegetarians),, and offered to borrow some hay from a neighbour for our horses. As we were, however, very hungry, having had nothing all day but a cup of coffee at Acht-und-Vierzig, we re- solved to push on to San Leopoldo for dinner. Wild, bare mountain scenery succeeded, affording us a fine view of the country : to the left we are leaving behind us the Dos Irmaos, and to the right lies the Caffee-schneitz, while ahead of us is the Farapoi Wood, famous for guerilla combats in the civil war. Below the wood is a pleasant valley, and yonder snug farm-house belongs to Carl Wilk. A few paces from our path we are startled to ob- serve the body of a man : as we proceed to dis- mount, Cornelius remarks to me that he must have died of a fit or exposure to the sun. The body was not quite stiff, but to all appearance dead, until Cornelius exclaimed, ' It is warm, he cannot be dead ; ' and turning up the face, we saw it was 122 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. a poor old negro slave, wlio presently opened his eyes. The smell of cashaso was intolerable, for the old fellow had been on a drunken spree, having probably obtained a holiday from his master, Herr Wilk. Had he remained there a few hours longer the sun must have killed him. We meet several waggons returning to the hills, most of them with oil casks, having left their produce at San Leopoldo, the church of which is now distinctly visible. Traversing some miles of low, sandy groimd, from which the glare of the sun is most distressing, we reach the Eio dos Sinos and wade it at a depth of five feet, arriving at Koch's comfortable hotel in time for dinner. THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIR ORIGIN. 123 XIII. TEE GEBMAN COLONIES: THEIR OBIOIN, GBOWTH, AND PBE8ENT CONDITION. The first colony was that of San Leopoldo, establislied by the present Emperor's father, Dom Pedro I., in the fertile lands of the old Teitoria Eeal de Canhamo (Royal flax factory), still called Teitoria Yelha, on the banks of the Sinos river, now forty-seven years ago. The first batch of settlers, comprising 26 families and 17 unmarried persons, arrived on June 25, 1825, to the number of 126 souls, and were followed some months later by 157 families numbering 909 persons. In the four sub- sequent years the arrivals reached 3,701 ; but the civil wars which ensued put a stop to immigration until the renewal of peace in 1844, the number of arrivals in 1846 amounting to 1,515. A census taken in 1854 showed the colonists to number 11,172 souls, including 3,680 children born in the country, occupying 2,083 houses. The increase by 124 EIO GEANDE DO SUl. births over deaths was amazing, and the mimber of colonists was also increased by the disbanded battalions of German chasseurs and grenadiers after the war, who received, like the soldiers of Augustus, free land-grants, that they might turn their swords into reaping-hooks, and each man sit down under the shadow of his own fig-tree. In 1866 the Inspector of Colonies reported the number of Germans (including children born in the country) at 25,000 in the single district of San Leopoldo, and their farm-lots ranged in value from 10 to 28 contos (say 1,000Z. to 2,800Z. sterling). When we bear in mind that the colony at the very outset had to encounter a civil war which lasted nearly twenty years, and in which the colonists themselves were forced to take part on opposing sides, it is simply marvellous what pro- gress San Leopoldo has made, now ' the richest, most productive, and most populous district in the Province of Rio Grande.' The first settlers received free-grants each of 130 acres uncleared land, besides farming-imple- ments, seeds, and a subsidy for their support : this subsidy consisted of apataca (about a shilling) ahead per day for the first year, and half a pataca the second. The total number of immigrants alive in THE GEEMAN COLONIES: THEIE ORIGIN. 125 the colony in 1854 -was 7,492, tlie rest having either died naturally or perished in the wars, at the conclusion of which in 1846 San Leopoldo was found to be only a heap of ruins. Peace, however, no sooner smiled upon the country than the growth of this colony was pro- digious, and it has gone on increasing since the formation of the municipality in 1854. Now every year hundreds of young men leave San Leopoldo for the districts of Triumfo, San Jeronimo, Taquary, Bocca-do-Monte, forming new settlements which radiate in all directions, clearing away the virgin forests and extending the fruits of industry far and wide. In 1854 the exports of San Leopoldo represented 91,200?. sterling ; in 1867 they were estimated at nine times that amount. In 1854 the commerce maintained 282 flat-boats ; now it requires steam- boats and railways. In 1854 the lands of the colonists were valued at 600,000?. sterling, but now they represent ten times that figure. In 1854 the manufactures of San Leopoldo comprised 67,000 sets of harness and 3,300?. worth of tanned hides. At present it would be impossible to enumerate the saw-mills, oil-presses, breweries, tanyards, distil- leries, sugar-presses, and manufactories of hats, fire- 126 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. arms, iron-work, &c. established at San Leopoldo, Hamburgerberg, Feitoria, Hortensio, and the country round. All the saddlery for the army, farmers, &c., is made here, as well as the lances, spurs, and accoutrements; and tanned hides are sent to all parts of the empire, while San Leopoldo also supplies Port Alegre with butter, eggs, fowls, pork, &c. The of&cial report estimates the produce of San Leopoldo alone at 10,000 contos or one million sterling per annum. Of late years the colonists have begun to culti- vate vines, and now the yield is over a thousand pipes of wine yearly. They are also giving some attention to bees, for the production of honey and wax ; and as flax and cotton are easily cultivated, there is an increasing home manufacture of these staples with the rudest and simplest appliances. At an exhibition of arts, products, and manufac- tures for the Province of Eio Grande, in 1866, more than three-fourths of the prizes fell to German colonists. Meantime it is thought that the colonies would have made even greater progress if more care had been given to their first establishment. Major Schaeffer, who engaged the first colonists in Germany on the part of the Brazilian Govern- THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIE ORIGIN. 127 ment, did not select the most suitable persons, such as small peasant farmers, but took them all as they came, and to the present day we jB.nd among the old colonists a mixture of shoe- makers, coopers, saddlers, charcoal-burners, &c., ■who in the beginning felt so little disposition for agriculture that when some of them were settled down here they sold their grants for a bottle of brandy. Then again the authorities had not properly measured and marked out the ground, which was considered a trifling matter ; but when land subsequently became of value, the number of disputed titles was so confusing that a special commission was at last sent by Government to re- store order and confirm rights, but not before some of the most industrious colonists had thrown up their farms in disgust and removed to the new German colonies that were being formed on the Eiver Plate. The municipal returns of San Leopoldo show that the exports of the district have almost trebled in sixteen years. The amount of duties levied in 1854 was about 800L, and in 1870 was 2,200Z. sterling. The municipal revenue of San Leopoldo is said to exceed that of Eio Grande city, and the imperial blue-books of the Eio 128 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. Janeyro speak of San Leopoldo as tlie most flourish- ing agricultural department in Brazil. Tlie exports for the year ending June 30, 1870, were as follow : — Beans, sacks 34,852 Maize , 42,783 Potatoes 5,972 Starch , 177 Bacon, lbs 220,000 Lard „ 460,000 Tobacco 105,000 Bark „ 2,400 Yerba-mate, „ 8,500 Hair „ 110,000 Saddles 3^629 Lombillas . 3,651 Caronos 3,918 Sandals, pairs 71,630 Slippers „ 30,371 Cowhides . . . . . , .11 169 Swine, heads 172 Aguardiente, pipes 120 Firewood, measures ..... 5 426 Lumber, value £2,356 Add to this such important items as butter, eggs, poultry, &c., which are free of duties and not included in the above. To the general reader, who may be anxious to know what Lombillas and Caronos are, we can only say that they are parts of harness or saddlery which the colonists make especially for the army and exportation to the northern provinces. THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIR OEIGIN. 129 Tlie colonies -whicli have grown out of San Leopoldo, or been subsequently established in Eio Grande, are now 43 in number, mostly radiating around the first settlement and promising to. rival it in prosperity : they are — Lomta Grande Larangeiras New Hamburg Marata> Costa da Serra Bocca do 'Monte- Baumschneitz Bom Jardin Dos Irmaos Novo Petropolis Campo Bom ■Germania Caffee-schneitz Silva Achtundviersig-schneitjz ElEey Hortense-sclmeitz Santa Cruz Picada Eeliz Mont Alverne- Picada Volimtaria Soledade Picada Solitaria Sant Angelo Picada Demanda Cima da Serra; Sommer-schneitz Sinimbu Capibary-schneitz Camaquam Montravel San Lorenzo Mundo Noyo Estrella Conventos Tres ForquilHas- Morro dos Bois San Pedro Costa Cahy Teutonia Padre Etemo Parley. Two of the above,, namely Tres Forquilhas and San Pedro, are nearly as old as San Leopoldo, having been founded in 1826, but have not been so prosperous. The position chosen for them was remote and unsuitable, on the margin of Lake K 130 EIO GEANUE DO SUL. Itapebe, separated by 120 miles of forest from San Leopoldo, and near tlie projected seaport of Torres between Sta Catalina and Eio Grande : the twin colonies were founded in this way. Ninety families were selected, and 53 of these (Protestants) were located at Tres Forquilhas, the remaining 37 (Catholics) being placed on a site called San Pedro de Alcantara, nearer Torres. The proposed harbour of refuge was never constructed (although official surveys have -again been made recently), and the two colonies were cut off from all communication till 1849, when a road was made from the valley of Tres Forquilhas to Cima da Serra, where the river from which the colony takes its name has its head-waters. A little after the foundation of Tres Forquilhas many of the colonists became very much disgusted, and 17 families returned to San Leopoldo, the other 36 remaining to contend with the diffi- culties of their situation. For a quarter of a cen- tury they had neither roads nor communication with the rest of the province : their progress was, therefore, slow, but not the less certain. Latest returns show its population to have quadrupled, being 80 families or 700 souls, with 75 comfortable houses, a Protestant chapel and pastor, 2 schools (one paid by the State), 4 shops, 8 tanyards, 3 THE GEEMAN COLONIES: THEIE OEIGIN. 131 carpenters, 6 shoemakers, 3 boat-builders, &c. ; besides ten flour-mills, 8 distilleries, and 28 ' atafonas ' for grinding mandioca. Tbe colony is. at present in a highly flourishuig condition, the lands being well cultivated and yielding large quantities of sugar-cane, mandioca, and rice for exportation, not to speak of maize, beans, and potatoes for home consumption. Coffee is also found to thrive here, as well as the cotton plant. The colonists at the same time occupy themselves in handicrafts (as in each and all of these German colonies), and at every house you find a sugar-mill or distillery for aguardiente, or some of the family busy in making ' rapaduras,' of which they export 250,000 yearly. The other annual products include 3,000 bushels of man- dioca, and about 500Z. worth of minor articles, such as pork, cotton, &c. San Pedro or Torres has a similar history to Tres ForquUhas, and since the 'renaissance' of 1849 has made the same remarkable progress, the latest returns showing 511 souls (in 86 families), of which there were 264 males and 247 females. The school is attended by 50 children. The colony is situated 12 miles from Torres Point, and counts 29 sugar-mills or distilleries, 31 'atafonas' for X 2 132 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. mandioca, 1 beer-brewery, 1 tanyard, 2 oil-mills, 1 saddlery, 6 stops, 6 blacksmitlis, 3 shoemakers, 3 carpenters, and a doctor. The annual pro- duce of the colony includes 382 pipes aguar- diente, 250 cwt. of sugar, 4,850 sacks man- dioca, 100 sacks polvillo, 500 sacks maize, 200 sacks beans, 250 sacks rice, 150 sacks potatoes, 40,000 tiles, 60,000 bricks, 190 sets harness j 1,000 lbs. glue, &c. There are no tables extant of the amount of money laid out by the Imperial Goyernment on the three colonies of San Leopoldo, Tres Porquilhas, and Torres, the settlers of which received their lands free, besides an absolute gift in the way of farming implements, provisions, &c. It is, how- ever, admitted that any such outlay has been repaid a hundredfold in the income and duties from the single district of San Leopoldo. If the proposed railway from Port Alegre to Torres be carried out, the other two colonies wiU soon be equally prosperous. The sons of the colonists of San Leopoldo soon spread themselves and formed the following new settlements, at short distances from San Leopoldo: — Capibary-sehiieitz . 14 farms, distance 12 miles Sommer-schneitz . . 63 „ „ 20 „ Picada Demanda . . 45 „ „ 20 THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIR ORIGIN. 133 Pieada Solitaria . Picada Voliintaria Mono dos Bois . Costa Cahy . . , Padre Eterno . . Larangeiras . . Santa Maria or Bocea do Monte 40 farms, distance 30 miles 30 50 18 200 100 1 100 30 12 25 12 20 200 Bat even before these there were Tomba Grande, New Hamburg, Costa da Serra, Bom Jardin, Dos Irmaos, Baumschneitz, Campo Bom, Achtand- viersig, Cafifee-sclineitz, Picada Hortense, Cuatro Colonias, and Picada Feliz : these twelve settle- ments are very prosperous and count no fewer than 23 churches and 46 schools, the latter attended by 1,045 boys and 697 girls : 81 of these schools are maintained by the colonists, and 15 by the State. In 1849, after the conclusion of the civil war, the Provincial Government of Eio Grande, under President Andreas, endeavoured to revive the above system of German colonisation, marking out free land-grants at Santa Cruz, 100 miles from Port Alegre, and 20 from the town of Rio Pardo, on an affluent of the River Jacuhy, The lands were fertile, the site excellent, and the colony has been a brilliant success. The first batch of set- tlers, thirteen in number, arrived in December 1849, two others in the ensuing year, and the 134 EIO GEANDE DO SUL, beginning of 1851 counted 145 souls in the colony, including thirty colonists' sons from San Leopoldo. The same year a contract was made by Vice-President BeUo with Peter Klendgen to bring out 2,000 Germans in two years, the latter proceeding to Germany and offering land-grants, with the sole obligation of repaying advance for implements and supplies : he could not fulfil his contract — the people that were willing to come not being able to pay their passage. At last, in November 1854, a new colonisation-law was passed which gave an immense impetus to the rising settlements: the Government of Eio Grande advanced 51. sterling per head for the passage of immigrants, and sold them the land at reasonable prices, payable in five yearlyinstalments, along with the above 61. At the close of 1854 the colony only counted 891 inhabitants, occupying 304 land-grants, the Government having expended over 9,000?. in their assistance ; each successive year saw the colony progress rapidly, and latest returns show 5,083 settlers, occupying an area of 240,000 acres. They have 3 Catholic and 4 Pro- testant chapels, 13 schools (including 3 supported by the State), 11 flour-mills, 2 ' atafonas,' 11 sugar- mills, 5 oil-presses, 5 tanyards, 1 soap-factory, 1 THE GEEJVTAN COLONIES: THEIE OEIGIN. 135 yerba-factoiy, 1 rope-walk, 1 chandlery, 2 cart- wrights, 11 blacksmiths, 26 tailors, 47 shoe- makers, 3 saddlers, 51 carpenters, 41 stone- cutters, 26 shopkeepers. The total population is 4,794, of whom 2,403 are Catholics and 2,394 Protestants : they compose 988 families, with 1,584 children. Most of the colonists are in the prime of life, only 180 being over fifty years. The exports of the colony are estimated at 18,000L sterling, and the imports at 16,500^ Their annual crop is valued at 25,000Z., of which one- third stands for tobacco, one-fourth maize, and the rest beans, potatoes, barley, wine, sugar-cane, rice, flax, &c., including 5,000 pounds of cotton^, and an equal quantity of honey. E-incon del Eey was founded about the same time as Santa Cruz (1850), not by the State, but by Dr. Israel Barcellos, who induced a number of German families, chiefly from San Leopoldo, to settle on his lands near the town of Eio Pardo, which they supply with milk, butter, eggs, honey, vegetables, &c. : this colony is flourishing. Mundo Novo was also founded in 1850, by a gentleman named Tristan Monteiro, on lands which he bought a few years before on the Arroyo Santa. Maria, 30 miles north-east of San Leopoldo. 136 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. He sold the farm-lots at 301. each, and soon found colonists, not only from San Leopoldo, but also from Germany, the situation, being well chosen, on the high-road to Cima da Serra. Its progress has been wonderful : in 1 853 it had only 4 shops, a,nd now its import trade represents 45,000?. per annum, while its exports of maize, tobacco, wine, sugar-cane, beans, brandy, &c., are still more valuable. There are 2 churches ; St. Mary's (Protestant) and St. Eose (Catholic), besides 12 mills for sugar, oil, and flour; 8 distilleries, 2 ' atafonas ' for grinding mandioca, 2 saw-mills, 1 brewery, 4 tanyards, 1 tobacco-factory, 7 black- smiths, 11 shoemakers, 6 tailors, 3 waggon- makers, 3 carpenters, 1 hatter, 1 stone-cutter, and 40 shopkeepers. There are 9 schools. Catholic and Protestant, most of the inhabitants being of the latter persuasion ; of the total 259 families, there are 195 Protestant, 54 Catholic, and 10 mixed. The colony includes, besides the village of Paquara, six ' picadas ' or farming districts, between Cima da Serra, Padre Eterno, and the rivers Sinos and Tocano. Although this colony has been such a brilliant success, it is said that the founder did not make a great fortune by it. Conventos was founded in 1853 by Pialho THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIR OEiaiN. 137 Pereyra & Co., and is now tlie property of Tialho and Vargas, wlio brouglit out a number of fami- lies from Germany, gave them liberal advances for food, implements, and otber necessaries; tbe colony was located in the fertile valley of the Taquary, on the Arroyo Porqueta, an affluent of that river, about 90 miles north-west of San Leo- poldo, and 40 from the town of Taquary. Messrs. Vargas are said to have lost money in the enter- prise, but the colony is getting on well, com- prising 83 families, chiefly dedicated to the cultivation of beans, maize, wheat, and flax, from which last they manufacture some good home- made fabrics. They also produce annually some pipes of wine for their own consumption; the exports consist of maize, potatoes, and beans. Silva was founded in 1854 between Conventos and the town of Taquary on an area of 30,000 acres belonging to a wealthy Brazilian ; and two years later Mariante and Estrella, all in the same rich valley, within easy reach of the great water- courses which form such easy highways. All these colonists are thriving. Marata also dates from the same period (1856), and takes its name from the Arroyo on which it is situated, an affluent of the Eio Cahy. The 138 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. lands in question were purchased by Andreas Kochenburger and Peter Scbreiner (in 1865), who divided them into 120 farm-lots, which they dis-' posed of to countrymen of theirs : the colony comprises 88 families in 3 picadas, or groups — St. Catherine, St. Andrew, and Grood Hope, the total population being 560 souls. There are 42 Pro- testant, 37 Cathohc, and 9 mixed, families ; the school is attended by 70 children. The colony possesses 6 oil or flour mills, 3 distilleries, 1 brewery, 2 atafonas, 3 carpenters, 2 shoemakers, and 3 tailors, besides 2 large shops. Marata is 30 miles north-west of San Leopoldo, not far from Port Guimaraens, to which the New Hamburg Railway will probably be prolonged. Santo Angelo derives its origin from a decree of the Provincial Legislature, dated November 30, 1855, which also ordered the establishment of another colony at Nova Petropolis. The first batch of settlers, 119 in number, arrived from Ger- many in 1867, being joined by 7 Germans from San Leopoldo. The locality of Santo Angelo was admirably chosen, in productive soil, between the Rio Jacuhy and the slopes of Sierra Geral, 50 miles from the town of Caxoeira, and 200 from ^ort Alegre : the Jacuhy is navigable the whole THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIR ORIGIN. 139 way from tlie colony to Port Alegre, and the colonists have two roads, one to the town of Caxoeira, another to the Jacuhy ford, 25 miles distant. The colony is supposed to cover 20,000 acres (29,500,000 square brazas), but barely one- fiffch is actually settled on, the rest stiU awaits colonists. Farm-lots of 120 acres may be pur- chased for 451. sterling, and smaller lots of 80 acres (100,000 square brazas) at 30Z. Since the commencement the colony has been under the immediate and personal direction of Baron von Kalden, who is highly spoken of. The present population is 825, of which number one-third are German-Brazilians, and the rest from the Father- land, except 22 from the Netherlands and France. There are 304 men, 245 women, and 276 children; forming 194 families. More than two-thirds (568) are Protestants, to whom the Legislature gave the sum of 400?, to build a chapel; the Catholics also have one, and there is a school for the children of each persuasion. There are 6 mills, 6 shops, 2 tanyards, 5 shoemakers, 2 tailors, 2 blacksmiths, 19 carpenters, 4 cart- wrights, 1 saddler, and 5 stone-cutters. The annual exports of maize, tobacco, beans, rice, sugar-cane, &c. exceed 1,700?. in value, and the 140 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. imports 1,300Z., leaving a balance of 4,001. in favour of the colony. The stock comprises 313 horses, 473 horned cattle, 3,811 pigs, 25 sheep, 8 goats, and 5,938 poultry. Several of the products were sent to the Paris Exhibition, and the to- bacco obtained a premium, being considered quite equal to that of the Sta Cruz colony. The latest annual returns show 42 births, 7 marriages, and 12 deaths. Novo Petropolis was founded on the part of the Provincial Government by Counsellor Ferraz, between the Eio Cahy and Sierra Geral as an entrepot between Port Alegre and Cima da Serra ; about 32 miles north of San Leopoldo. In 1858, the first batch' of 80 settlers arrived from Ger- many, the terms offered being the same as in the Sta Cruz colony, viz., each family purchased a farm-lot of 80 acres for 301., payable in five yearly instalments, and the colonists to repay in like manner any advances made in their favour, be- sides the cost of transport from Rio Grande to the colony. The situation is well chosen, and there are three roads ; to Picada Feliz, 12 miles, and Port Guimaraens, 30 miles, both on the Eio Cahy; and to San Leopoldo. The area is 140,000,000 brazas, or 100,000 acres, of which THE GEEMAN COLONIES: THEIE ORIGIN. 141 one-fifth is actually under tillage. At first, mueh confusion was caused by tlie appointment of an improper manager, named Vidal, wlio was at last removed in March 1860, after wasting much money: he was succeeded by Mr. Frederick William Barthelemay, who restored order, marked out the boundaries of the settlers, and devoted much labour to the making of roads. There are now 344 farms, distributed in 8 groups or picadas, as follow : — Olinda 76 Imperial ..... . 120 Piraja 55 Ejachuelo ....... 8 Barros Pimentel 30 Sebastopol 26 Christino . . . . ■ • ■ 17 Nova Petropolis . . ... . . 12 These numbers do not include a group of 75 Americans, to whom the Imperial Government has given a land-grant between Barros Pimentel and the Arroyo Sinimbri. Many Americans, however, as well as others sent to Santo Angelo, left the colony in disgust; but they were not suitable people, being for the most part unmarried, unaccustomed to country work, and displeased with everything. The Government gave them a subsidy of 25 cents a day for their support, but they refused even to 142 EIO GKANDE DO SUL. help in clearing roads through the forest for the colony. The Government tried to oblige the German colonists to pay for their lands in this way, by employing them in forest-clearings and deducting half their wages on account of the sums (in all about 9,000Z.) they owed the State ; but the colo- nists flatly refused, alleging that they were so poor as hardly to be able to support their families, much less work for half wages. Since then the State has spent a good deal of money on roads, the average cost for a clearance 20 feet wide being about 50L sterling per mile. The first settlers received some annoyances from the Bugres Indians, and even so late as 1867 a band of thirty of these savages kept for some time prowl- ing about the colony, at last making an assault on Michael Kerber's mill, where they were re- pulsed with such spirit that they retired without having done injury. Between the colony and Cima da Serra is a place known as Campo dos Bugres, where these Indians formerly lived. It is proposed to prolong the road from Cima da Serra to Nonohay, in the direction of Matto Grosso. The lands of Novo Petropolis are too elevated for cotton or tobacco, being nearly on a THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIE ORIGIN. 143 level with tlie Sierra Geral table-land; but all kinds of -wheat, flax, colza, maize, beans, &c. do remarkably well, and the colonists obtairied numerous prizes and ' honourable mentions ' at the Paris Exhibition. They raise as much flax as to suffice for all the home-made linen necessary for their own uses. The lands between the rivers Jacuhy and Cadea are found peculiarly suited for cereals. The population of this colony is re- turned at 991 souls. Cima da Serra, otherwise called San Luis, is another of the colonies founded by the legislature of the province : it is situated in thick woods, and distant nearly 300 miles from San Leopoldo. San Lorenzo was started by Mr. Jacob Reingantz, near Pelotas, in 1858. The Government pays a premium of 21. a-head on whatever immigrants he brings out, Mr. Reingantz paying their passage from Germany, giving them supplies for the first year, and selling them farm-lots payable in instal- ments. The colony has been very successful, and comprises 1,637 souls, in 340 families, who cultivate 872 farms and raise large quantities of grain and vegetables for the Pelotas and Rio Grande markets. The colonists are as 3 Protestants to 1 Catholic and have two schools : they have a little steamer 144 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. to carry produce to Rio Grande, tlie colony being advantageously situated on the slope of Serra dos Taipes, on tlie banks of the navigable river Camequan. The State has founded a colony called San Peliciano on the same river ; it is still in its infancy, and these two are the only colonies in the southern part of the Province. Santa Maria da Soledada, like so many other enterprises of this kind, was ruinous to its founder. Count de Montravel, who obtained a concession from the Provincial Legislature in 1855, and, along with some capitalists of Port Alegre, marked out the new colonial settlement between the Eio Cahy and its tributary Perromeco. The first settlers arrived from Europe ia 1857, and in the beginning he would only have Catholics, which caused the colony to lose its German character, being largely mixed with Dutch, Swiss, &c. The Count also was too lavish in his expenditure, and when the colonists were heavily indebted to him he found himself ruined and gave up the enterprise, then taken in by the other shareholders with the assistance of the Imperial Government. The colony now prospers, having raised last year 83,000 bushels of grain, 240 cwt. of tobacco, and a large quantity of yerba, sugar, flax, and cotton. There THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIR ORIGIN. 145 are 7 mills, 4 cliurclies, and a state school. The farming stock comprises 7,300 head, besides 7,224 pigs and 22,000 poultry. The colonists are 1,571. in number (330 families), nearly two-thirds Catholics, and three-fourths of the whole number Germans, the rest from Switzerland or the Low Countries. The colony lies some 40 miles NW. of SanLeopoldo, and 20 N. of Port Guimaraes, the proposed station of the prolonged New Hamburg Eailway. Monte Alveme was founded by the Eio Grande Government in 1859, on lands adjacent to Santa Cruz, close to the Arroyo Castelhano, an affluent of the Taquary. It was at jBrst treated as a branch of the Santa Cruz colony, and the colonists for some years suffered great poverty. They have a public school, and are about equal in number, Catholics and Protestants. San Francisco d'Assis and San Nicolao were founded by the Provincial Government in 1859 5 the first on the head-waters of the Ibicuy, the second near Encrucilhada, besides a third far in the interior on the banks of the Upper Uruguay ; but none of these have made progress owing to the distance and impenetrable woods. Teutonia was founded by a company of German merchants who bought some lands on the Taquary L 146 RIO GRANDE DO SUL. and imported 40 families to settle on them. There are now 600 farm-lots occupied or marked out, and as the soil is good and the situation favourable, this colony promises to be a great success. It is 20 miles from the town of Taquary and 12 miles from the river, being close to the colony of Estrella already mentioned. Sinimbu was founded by Messrs. Holzweissig of Port Alegre in the district of Maquine, far north- ward, on the line of the proposed railway to Santa Catalina ; but until some such means of communi- cation be established the colony must suffer from its extreme isolation. Caseros is a kind of military colony established by the Imperial Government, near Lagoa Ver- melha, 120 mUes N. of San Leopoldo. It counts 65 men, 48 women, and 76 children, who have a chapel, school, and 46 wooden houses. Their stock consists of 104 head, and their crop consists chiefly of maize, besides 176 bushels of wheat and beans, and 12 cwt. of tobacco. The inspector of colonies gives a shocking de- scription of the immigrants engaged in New York by Mr. Bocayaba, in 1867, and brought to Brazil at the expense of the Imperial Government. A contingent of 157 of them was sent to Port Alegre THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIR ORIGIN. 147 to be distributed among the new colonies in forma- tion. A few that wei-e married turned out well, but tbe rest are described as idle, worthless vaga- bonds, of whom only 13 were native Americans, and the others a mixture of English, Irish, Scotch, French, and Germans, that the police-authorities of New York (as the inspector insinuates) prevailed on Mr. Bocayaba to ship for Brazil with the hope of reforming them in the southern hemisphere. They arrived half-naked and shoeless, and insisted on the Government providing them with clothing : they refused to cook their own food and obliged the authorities to find them a cook ; they bartered their bread for liquor, and to complete their misconduct burned all the benches, doors, and windows for fuel. On their way to the interior they committed some robberies and caused much trouble^ and arriving at Nova Petropolis repeated their vandalism in the emigrants' house by burning all the wood- work and 100 yards of fencing. Some delay occurred in the payment of the subsidy promised them daily, and they proceeded to intimidate the authorities. Six of them were sent to Santo Angelo, where farm4ots and houses were given them, besides 21. each in tCash, but they took the earliest opportunity to run away, going probably to the Banda Oriental : 85 L 2 14-8 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. were sent to !N"ovo Petropolis, most of wliom also deserted. The inspector of colonies rejoices at this circumstance, for, he says, if they remained they would cause endless confusion. His report may be rather exaggerated, but it is impossible to shut our eyes to the fact that this kind of colonists was wholly unsuitable and the effort merely a waste of money. Very different are the inspector's remarks on the German settlers, and I gladly add my testimony to the truth of what he says : — ji ' German immigration is the only kiad that has done well in this province, and the success of these people is due to their patient and persevering industry in tilling the little farms they are proud to call their own, which they never could do in Germany. They are not only laborious, but also economical and able to bear privation or hardship, and hence their progress is sometimes slow, but always sure and steady. Look at what the first settlers had to go through in clearing the forests, facing the wild beasts and Indians, suffering want, exposure, and the effects of a new climate. But they overcame all obstacles, and in spite of ten years of war founded a vast and flourishing colonial system throughout our virgin forests. It is this THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIR ORIGIN. 149 plodding perseverance, patience under privation, and simple mode of life whicli make tlie Germans superior to any other kind of settlers in a new- country. ' Meantime they have some defects, and the principal is a habit of routine which makes them averse tO any change such as improved methods of agriculture or the use of machinery. In the United States, it is true, they imitate what they see around them and are carried along by the tide of improve- ment ; but with us, who are rather sleepy in such matters, the German remains as conservative of old ways as if the world never advanced, and along with his simplicity of life and character (which is so admirable) he perpetuates the retrograde system of agriculture of past ages. ' Tl^e German settlers as a rule speak their own ' language exclusively, their children preserving this bond of nationality the same as if born in the Fatherland, but they also understand Portuguese perfectly. I do not share in the apprehensions of those who say it is injudicious to have so large and powerful a foreign element in the province. The settlers and their children have a warm regard for the country and speak of the Emperor with almost child-like affection. Neither are they of a trouble- 150 EIO GBANDE DO SUL, some or ambitious character, but entirely devoted to tbe care of their little families and farms, for- getful of returning to the Fatherland, and making themselves heart and soul identified with their adopted country, as happens in the United States and Australia, where they are esteemed among the beat and most useful citizens. ' The Swiss .are everyway as good as the Germans, possessing the same character and qualities, which fit them for colonists. The Portuguese have also many things to recommend them, being sober, steady, industrious people, fond of agriculture and the labour of vineyards. In Sen-a dos Quevedos, near Camaquan, there is a thriving Portuguese community, remarkable for its fine crops, its spinning and weaving industry, and orderly habits, which make it an example to our own native people of the surrounding country who are plunged in indolence and barely raise enough food to support life. And if we make an excursion to Faxinal de Cangussu, we find the grand-children of a lot of Portuguese settlers who came hither in the eight- eenth century and perpetuated habits of order, virtue, and industry which are now well preserved by their descendants. When speaking of Portuguese I would also include people from the Spanish pro- THE GERMAN COLONIES: THEIR ORIGIN. 151 vince of Galicia, who are very similar and equally laborious.' For sorae years previous to 1860 the number of German arrivals averaged nearly two thousand, the Government paying a subsidy of 21. per head to Messrs. Martin Valentin of Hamburg and Steinman & Co. of Antwerp on all such passengers. In 1860 this subsidy was suspended, and the immigra- tion fell away more than half, at last dwindling down to 105 in 1 866. During the Paraguayan war not much attention was given to colonisation, but at present a new era has begun which promises to increase largely the German and producing ele- ment of Eio Grande. The legislature has become convinced that whatever sums it expends in this way are speedily reimbursed by the enhanced revenue and productions of the colonists' industry. Several contracts have recently been signed for the introduction of German or Swiss settlers; one with Messrs. Holzweissig is for 40,000 immigrants. The Imperial Government has also contracted for 100,000 English colonists, at the rate of 10,000 yearly, to be sent out by a Bristol firm, and it is possible many of these will be settled in Rio Grande on account of its favourable climate and soil. Most of the Germans who come hither are from Pome- 152 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. rania or the Rhine-land, and one little district called Hunds wag, on the Rhine, has sent thousands. Last year it was stated to Government that there were two thousand families in Pomerania anxious to come outj if the Government would pay their passage. The colonists now coming out will receive farm-lots in the same way as those who came before : they will have to clear away the dense forests which are the only obstacle to the husband- man. The province is large enough for the aggre- gate population of half-a-dozen of the smaller kingdoms of Europe. ABEIAL AND PELOTAS. 153 XIV. ABBIAL AND FEL0TA8. Feom San Leopoldo returning to Port Alegre I halted a few days at tlie latter place and obtained from the Government a pamphlet published on the province by an engineer named Camargo, with much statistical and general information. Being desirous of visiting Pelotas, I took passage in the ' Guayiba ' to Eio Grande. The night was so rough on the lake that almost everyone on board was sea- sick. After a day's rest at Rio Grande I started with Mr. Crawford and his brother-in-law in a whale- boat for Arrial, and in three hours we cast anchor in view of Mr. Crawford's farm. The only incident on the voyage was shooting some black swans, which line the coast in thousands opposite Ilha dos Marineiros ; but we could not pick up those we killed, for the sea was running so high and a stiff 154 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. breeze filling our sails, that the boat was almost unmanageable and at times threatening to cap- size. Our sailors were two good-humoured Por- tuguese, who knew their business well. As the wind was favourable we scarcely altered our course the whole way, keeping almost equidistant between the low sandy range of the mainland and the verdant island of Mariners, on wliich some neat farm-houses are observable. The coast-line from Rio Grande to Arrial is a succession of sand-hills for 20 miles without a sign of animal or vegetable life, and so heavy for riding that the voyage by whale-boat is the usual way of travelling. Abreast of where we have cast anchor is the fazenda of Senhor Brun, who is believed to be de- scended from some English settler, possibly named Brown : the farm-house is a snug one, and the owner is said to be a very worthy old gentleman. While the sailors are wading in the shoal water, about to transfer us to a smaller boat, a market waggon comes down on the beach and Jose (for it is Mr. Crawford's gardener) drives into the water and takes us aboard a long narrow vehicle, such as one sees in the German colonies. After reaching terra firma, we meet old Mr. Brun on horseback, a hale-looking man for eighty summers. AERIAL AND PELOTAS. 155 A charming green lane, reminding me of the quiet country scenery in England, with over-arch- ing trees and one or two cottages on either side, conducts us to the manor-hoiiseof Arrial, which is bmlt in the ordinary Brazilian style, a flight of steps leading up to a spacious apartment like a ball-room, from which bed-rooms open off to the right and left : the basement is used for cellars and the like. Mr. Crawford purchased this place a few years ago for the trifling sum_ of 500?.: there are 40 acres of ground, one half planted with fruit- trees, the garden last year producing 100,000 oranges. A magnificent pine-tree, in the centre of the grounds, is ascended by a ladder, and from the branches views may be obtained of the whole country, Rio Grande being clear to the eye. After dinner we stroll through the garden, where some English apple and Monte Videan pear-trees are found among the tropical fruits of Brazil. This place is about fifty years old, having been laid out by a wealthy merchant of Rio Grande for a brother who had lost his reason. The proposed railway from Eio Grande to Pelotas would pass by here, bring- ing Arrial within half-an-hour of the former city. A delightful suburb for summer or winter residence mio-ht be laid out in these lovely green fields and 156 RIO GRANDE DO SUL. plantations. Meantime Mr. Crawford intends to procure from home a steam-yaclit, whicli will run over to Rio Grande in an hour (15 miles), and thus permit him to reside at Arrial if so disposed. The sun was setting as we stood on the high ground at the edge of the estate, overlooking the vast lake, with the jungle and thickets that intervene. This range of meadow-land would be well suited for any number of counting-houses, and Mr. Crawford eijtertains some hope of selling the ground to advantage as soon as the railway is car- ried out. At present he only comes to Arrial for a month in the summer, leaving it all the rest of the year to a Portuguese capataz named Jose, who had recently married a smart Irish girl, daughter of one of the Pelotas colonists, and Mrs. Jose keeps the house in apple-pie order: she was bom at Pelotas, but speaks English as weU as her husband does Portuguese. The programme for the morrow was as follows : Mr. Crawford having to return to Eio Grande, his brother-in-law and I were to start at daybreak for Poro Novo and Pelotas, taking a native guide who would bring back our horses, as we should return by steamer to Eio Grande. Sullen peals of thunder ushered in the morning, and a black cloud to AERIAL AND PELOTAS. 157 northward presaged a coming storm ; but the horses were saddled and we resolved to run our chances, although Mr. Crawford advised us to put off the journey for a day. An hour's riding over heavy sand was very tire- some, and the view flat and cheerless, a house or a few cattle being seen at long intervals. As the sun rose we descried ahead of us a wood, which our guide pointed to, saying ' There is Poro Novo.' When we reached the village it seemed to have no inhabitants : we rode down a long avenue of trees interspersed with ruined ranchos, from which not even a dog started out, and came up to the church in the plaza : the church was closed, but in front was a palperia, where we obtained a glass of cash- ass and a box of sardines, by way of breakfast. The pulpero complained that the place was going to the dogs, and on my asking him what other inhabitants there were besides himself, he men- tioned a shoemaker, or rather a man who used to follow that calling, but had now taken to drink, seeing the wretched state of things. Daring our stay of half-an-hour I did not see a living being about the plaza or church, but our guide told me of a terrible occurrence which happened here a few years ago. The cura, an Italian priest named 358 mo GEANDE DO SUL. Jeronimo, was murdered on the steps of the church after saying the Eosary on Ash Wednesday evening: the criminal was suspected, but never punished. The church, although in decay, is a tolerable edifice of the last century, my guide's grandfather having been christened there: the cemetery is attached, contrary to custom in these countries, but there is little need to consult public health in the dismal group of ruins which bears the inappropriate name of Poro Novo. The storm was visibly rising as we emerged from the thickets into the open country, and our guide despaired of our reaching Pelotas before it came on. Col. Carneiro, a hospitable Brazilian, lived a few miles to the west of our course, and I proposed we should make for the friendly shelter ; but the guide said that in so doing we would expose our- selves to the chance of not reaching Pelotas for some days, as the arroyos intervening would be- come swollen and impassable. From a high slope we could discern the fringe oftimber which marked the course of the Eio San Gonzalo, as the Pelotas river is called. Bleak, swampy country now fol- lowed, with ranches few and far between, whilfe the thunder rolled over our heads, and the rain, like a cloud of dust, came sweeping down from the AKBIAL AND PELOTAS. 159 hills behind Pelotas. It was dismal enough, and we arranged our ponchos to meet the impending storm. At intervals in these swamps we have to ■proceed in Indian file, closely following our guide's steps, who tells us of different persons lost here from mistaking the passes between the lagoons, the bottom of which is generally a thick dark mud. At one place our guide halts in doubt, but speedily adopts the device of the Gauchos, in all such cases, of driving some animal of those grazing near across the stream. We had some difficulty in prevailing on a calf to show us the ford, and indeed it was so bad that I was not surprised at the reluctance of our four-footed ' vaqueano.' The San Gonzalo woods were about 3 miles ahead of us, when the rain came down in torrents. The ground was so bad and uneven that we had to proceed cautiously. Before a quarter of an hour our ponchos were wet through; mine was' guanaco,' and incorrectly supposed water-proof. The rain was very tropical, our poor horses reeling and staggering under its fury, while the thunder broke in deafening peals, and the lightning was so bril- liant and beautiful as to lose its terrors. It cleared up for a while as we reached the woods, through which there are bridle-paths in 160 mo GRANDE DO SUL. many directions, and the trees are so thick that hardly a drop of rain had penetrated. For half-a- mile or more this sylvan scenery was uninterrupted, the paths so narrow that with difficulty could two horsemen pass each other. A large potrero or pasture ground intervened between the wood and ' the river, and we could see vessels going down with produce from Pelotas, the turrets of the church marking the position of that town some few miles higher up. To our annoyance we found a strong wire fence completely cutting us off from the river's side where the boats lay for ferrying passengers over. In one place the wires were partly broken, and after much trouble we got our horses through, regardless of what our guide said, that the owner had men posted to fire at tres- passers. A dozen peons, mostly black slaves, were at work on a kind of causeway from the river- bank to a warehouse close by, and of them we en- quired when we should be able to get a boat ; but they were very insolent and only grinned at us, while the rain poured down again in a perfect deluge. The ground all about was a morass. We hailed boats going up and down, but they heeded us not. Just then a canoe from the opposite bank shot across the river, here some 200 yards wide ; AREIAL AND PELOTAS. 161 it brought food for the peons. After much bar- gaining, the boatmen agreed to pull us up the river to Pelotas for 10 milreis (IZ.)- We had to lie in the bottom of the canoe the better to prevent its capsizing ; and on reaching the middle of the stream we felt the full force of the current, but the boatmen pulled gallantly through and made for the opposite bank, saying they had to fetch something from their house. We found a pulperia or grog- shop, where we were glad to get a glass of cashass, for our clothes were now saturated and sticking to us. From this point to the town was five miles, and I proposed to my companion that we should walk instead of boating it, but as he had a sore foot we had no alternative. Our guide from Arrial had started on his re- turn journey before we crossed the river : the poor fellow was as wet as we were and had eaten nothing that day, but it is incredible what long journeys a gaucho will make on an empty stomach. As we proceeded to re-enter the canoe, one of the men refused to come, saying his comrade could manage the canoe without him. We then found it was the intention to take us up to Pelotas under sail. It was no use our urging the M 162 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. danger of sucli a voyage, for canoes are bad enough when propelled by paddles, bat with a sail the risk is tenfold. The rain still poured down in torrents, and we trusted ourselves to the frail vessel with some such feeling as that even a dip in the river could not make us wetter. The boatman, who told us he was a Portuguese, sat in the stern steering with one hand and managing the sail with the other, while he took off our at- tention from any unpleasant reflections about the bottom of the river by pointing out on the bank the scene of a great battle, at Paso dos Negros, .in the civil war of 1840, and some saladeros : the latter are larger and better constructed than in the River Plate, the city of Pelotas being the centre of this business in Eio Grande, and killing over half-a-million cows yearly. At times the canoe heeled over alarmingly as some bend in the river caused our sail to fill rather suddenly. The current was running very strong down-stream, and I begged the boatman to keep close to the bank, as I was no swimmer. He said the river was not very deep as he was steering, and added that he could not swim a stroke him- self. Just then came a puff of wind, snapping the sail out of his grasp, and as it flapped for a AERIAL a:nd PELOTAS. 163 moment I remained watching events with a con- viction that in two minutes some of us would be holding on to the bottom of the canoe. He tacked — she shook and gave a slight plunge forward, and away we went merrily and without further mishap till reaching a wooden mole at a muddy landing-place where we leaped on shore. The moral of this tedious journey is, avoid canoes in general, but never risk your life in one with a sail. There was no coach to take us up to the town, and as we landed we saw a group of mulatto peons at a pulperia door laughing at us ; they were half-drunk and bore the marks of their calling in the saladeros, so we thought it wiser not to address them, but to ask the owner of the grog-shop to take care of our saddles while we proceeded on foot up town. It was over a mile and in places we had to wade through the pools in the road, all the time keeping in view the turrets of the church. At last we came to a large plaza on the top of the hiU, and soon found our way to the Hotel Europa, which is kept by a fat Portuguese with half-a-dozen lazy waiters. A few doors distant was a clothes-shop where we bought flannel underclothing, and, in fact, a com - li 2 164 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. plete outfit ; but on taking the paper-money out of my pocket to pay for these articles, I found it was almost reduced to pulp from the wetting we had got. The first thing we did in the hotel was to get a bottle of cashass, and, before putting on dry clothes, take a regular bath of this spirit, rubbing it well into the joints to prevent rheumatism or other ill effects. It is indeed a sovereign specific in such cases, as we also experienced on this occasion, for in half an hour we were entirely cured of the awful drenching, and took no cold. Pelotas is a town of about 12,000 inhabitants, with some regular streets, but for the most straggling and only half-built, although in almost every block you come on one or more costly houses representing an outlay of several thousand pounds sterling. The place has an air of opu- lence, active trade, and growing importance, which is fully justified by the knowledge that it is the chief centre of the produce or export trade in this part of Brazil. It is the newest town in the province of Eio Grande, having been founded in the present century. The inhabitants, mostly Brazilian, are thriving, hospitable, and indus- trious, with a good deal of the Yankee spirit of AERIAL AND PELOTAS. 165 going a-head, besides being remarkably -wide- awake in business matters. Before we were an hour in tbe hotel we had three or four invitations, and, accepting the first, went to dine with the principal apothecary, a young Brazilian who studied in England and has his diploma of pharmacy from a London college hung over his fireplace. He speaks English per- fectly, although now three years here, and tells us there is no Englishman in the town except Mr. Stewart, an artist, who is travelling all over the empire, pencil in hand, making short stays in each town. After dinner Mr. Stewart came in ; a quiet gentlemanly youth, with the dreamy look of a poet or painter until he brightened up in conver- sation : he told us he had been over half Brazil on foot, with his knapsack and crayons, and had sketches enough to fill a large album ; everywhere he met with the greatest hospitality and kindness, the planters being loth to let him go. This re- minds me of a German friend of mine in Monte Video, who teld me he was two years travelling in the interior of Brazil without spending a dollar, the planters being only too glad to find a Euro- pean to talk to about the exterior world, and in this way he went from one plantation or ' fazenda ' 166 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. to another, being supplied with horses and attend- ants wherever he went : he also told me of a friend of his who was eleven years travelling in the same manner, and added that such a life has many charms not only from the novelty and free- dom it supposes, but from the magnificent scenery of the country and the kindness you experience from perfect strangers wherever you go. It is a kind of lotus-eating life peculiarly captivating for a young man unfettered by family ties; being, moreover, harmless and free from the temptations of drink and low company ; above all, it is the life for an artist. In the evening we went to take tea with Mr. Cordeiro, the United States Consul, a native of Pelotas, but educated and naturalised in the Great Eepublie. He told us that the flourishing appear- ance of the town and its inhabitants was fuUy borne out by fact, mentioning a score of people each worth from 100,000^ upwards. The house nearly in front of his own belonged to one of these saladero nabobs, who had expended over 40,0002. on it, the front being of white marble. Foreigners who come to Pelotas usually do well, and xh& town is so healthy and picturesque that it is sur- prising there are no English settlers. The AERIAL AND PELOTAS. 167 Italians, -who flood the Eiver Plate countries, are here not to be met with : I saw one, who was playing a hurdy-gurdy. There are some well- furnished shops, belonging generally to Portu- guese or natives. The streets are paved and clean, and as soon as the gas and water-supply, already begun, are completed, the city will have a very respectable appearance. In one of the outskirts is an enormous hospital building, not yet finished, and apparently too large for the place. The great want hitherto felt has been pure water, the only supply being from the San Gonzalo river, a little above the saladeros, which still infected the water more or less. The aque- duct now in construction is some 12 miles long, being drawn from the hills, which form an amphi- theatre on the west side ; and Mr. Cordeiro advised us to drive thither next morning, as it commanded the best scenery in the neighbour- hood. We accordingly made arrangements with a coachman who was to call for us an hour before day, so as to profit of the cool hours of morning. The outskirts of Pelotas have some elegant resi- dences commanding views of the San Gonzalo valley. Our road lay in the direction of the cemetery, and this is the one by which the trade 168 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. ■with the Banda Oriental Eepublic is carried on, sending thither imported goods in return for horned cattle. Here I may observe that the saladero trade in these parts of Brazil is said to be brisker whenever a civil war is going on in the Oriental Republic, the armies on both sides de- voting their energies to sweeping off the cattle, which they drive across the frontier and sell to the saladeristas of Pelotas or their agents at Taguaron. We met numerous bullock-carts with hides and other produce. Passing the handsome villa of Saint Amanda, we saw the sun rising, its first beamS' tipping with gold the outlines of the Cerros before us. The road is of tosca, and a league from town we cross a rivulet called La Fragata, where there are tea-gardens, a favourite resort of the citizens on holidays. About ten miles from town the road branches off in two directions, one towards Yaguaron, the other towards the Cerros, and at this point is a capital wayside inn kept by a French Basque (from Basses Pyrenees) and his wife, who have everything scrupuloiisly clean, their son and daughter being the civilest of waiters, and the cidsine reflecting much credit on madame the old lady. At breakfast we met a German engineer. AERIAL AND PELOTAS. 169 engaged in surveying and marking the route for the new aqueduct. Shortly after leaving the inn we found the sun beginning to be hot, and my com- passion was excited by seeing some poor negroes carrying small baskets on their head and trudging the way to town. I learned that this was a penance given them by their masters for some misdemeanour, instead of flogging them ; and as niggers don't mind the sun, the only hard part was the having to walk ten miles each way, to bring back say a pound of sugar or a newspaper. These slaves very often escape across the frontier to Banda Oriental, and return again in two years, after which period no master can claim them. Cachoeira, or 'the waterfall,' is the name of a picturesque and secluded spot in the Cerros, famous for picnics, and close to the springs from which the new water-supply is being taken. Here we halted for a rest. There is an old mill in ruins, about which snakes are numerous, and the orange-trees have their bark everywhere cut with initials of sentimental idlers : parrots abound here. The stream which forms the waterfall is the S** Barbara; the water is pure and limpid. This locality forms a portion of what is known as the Mendoza chacra or farm. The concessionaire 170 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. of the water-supply is Signor Duran, who esti- mates the oiitlay at 60,000Z. sterling, the aqueduct being simply pipes laid down from this point to the town of Pelotas, the distance being variously stated at 12 to 14 miles. The same gentleman is concessionaire for the proposed railway from Eio Grande to Pelotas (35 miles), about which he intends shortly going to England. Near the waterfall we came upon half-a-dozen men putting up sheds for the workmen who will be engaged in the aqueduct. The foreman told us they were much annoyed with snakes : he expects the water will reach Pelotas before twelve months. Our coachman now took us by a road which goes along a high ridge of the Cerros, with a pleasant and extensive view on either side. Farm-houses, surrounded with orange-trees and herds of cattle grazing in the valleys, succeed each other for some miles, until we descend into a little wood through which flows the Arroyo de Micaela, with rocks rising up on either side among the foliage ; and here we give our horses a rest. From the top of the next slope we see Pelotas, and far away to the left Monte Bonito, where the Irish f^olony was located, one or two families still re- AERIAL AKD PELOTAS. 171 maining. Crossing another arroyo called tlie ' Sauce,' we strike upon the road by which we went out this morning. A small market-cart, driven by an old woman with a cloak over her head, passes us, coming from town ; the coach- man pointing to it, says, ' That woman is a countrywoman of yours.' It was Mrs. Carpenter, one of the survivors of the colony, who was left fifteen years ago a widow with several small children in this strange land, and must have perished of want but for her assiduous industry, trust in Providence, and the kind assistance of many native ladies. She is still poor, but has raised up a respectable family. Yonder she goes in her ass-cart with the proceeds of the butter she has sold in town ; she little heeds the tropical heat of the day, but is thinking of her family and humble cottage at Monte Bonito. For twenty years she has led this life, with many a wish, per- haps, to see again the wild hills of GlengarifF, where she was born; but that is impossible. Those of the Monte Bonito colonists who went down to Buenos Ayres and tried sheep-farming have been for the most part very fortunate, and are now wealthy estancieros. Passing the cemetery we alighted. Some of the 172 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. monuments were of Carrara marble witli bas- reliefs and statuary, tlie cost of which must have ranged as high as 1,000Z. sterling. In the afternoon we went to see the church of Pelotas (there is only one) ; it was undergoing re- pairs and a re-gilding of the ceiling : it is a good- sized, well proportioned edifice. The stranger will find little of interest, iu the absence of public buildings, unless he go to see a saladero at work, which to my mind is one of the most sickening sights imaginable. The cattle are killed, cut up, and the flesh and hides hung up to dry almost as quickly as I can write it ; but the peons are smeared with blood, the ground is a red sea, the smell is also what you must expect in such gigantic shambles, the flies are in myriads ; how- ever, when one is accustomed they tell me it is an interesting and pleasant occupation, and all ex- perience shows that saladeros are healthy places to live in. Before leaving Pelotas, I may observe that Mr. Cordeiro's father has a concession for laying tramways through the town, which are much wanted. From this town the traveller may pro- ceed by steamer either upwards to Taguaron or downwards to Rio Grande. YAGUAI50N AND LAKE MINI. 173 XV. TAGUABON AND LAKH MINI. The voyage by steamer from Pelotas to Ya- guaron, 148 miles, is devoid of interest, except when you enter on Lake Mirim ; the steamers are small and uncomfortable, and the water is often so low that a delay of some days occurs in getting on and off the shoals. Taguaron is a neat, well-built town of 3,000 inhabitants, situated on a hill-slope near the mouth of the river of the same name. The public buildings consist of a church, school, barrack and custom-house, and if you ascend the hill on which the new cemetery is placed, you will obtain a fine view of the Banda Oriental country beyond the river. On the opposite bank is the village of Artigas, belonging to the Oriental Republic, a ferry-boat crossing to and from Ya- guaron every half-hour. During the Oribe wars, lfi42 to 1851, these two towns were very flourish- 174 RIO GEANDE DO SUL. ing and a great business was done over the frontier, especially in killing cattle and shipping the hides, the Blancos and Colorados (alternately) making it a practice in their wars to confiscate the cows and horses of their adversaries. Taguaron declined during the Paraguayan war, a large number of the male inhabitants either being drafted or having gone away. Artigas is said to exist chiefly by smuggling ; but the dealers suffer so much from the contending factions, that it is by no means a thriving place, and once or twice a year the floods of the Taguaron river threaten the lower part of the town with destruction. There are few Europeans in these remote places. An Irishman named Flanagan, who has changed his name to Fernandez, is a master bricklayer at Artigas, and an industrious American, who has lived here thirty years, has a neat residence in the suburbs ; his wife is a native and he has a fine family of sons and daughters. At Taguaron there is an English carpenter named Fulcher, who came here with his wife and daughter in 1868 from Port Natal : there is also an Irishwoman, married to a Frenchman who keeps an hotel. The principal trader is Senhor Paseyro, a native of Old Spain, who has a saladero, tannery, and other establishments, YAGUAEON AND LAKE MINI. 175 on both, banks of the river, his chief house of busi- ness being along the Yaguaron custom-house, but his residence is in Artigas : he is very kind and at- tentive to strangers, and understands some English. From Yaguaron the traveller may proceed inland on horseback to Barge, Alegrete, &c., pass- ing through a very diversified country and meeting with a welcome at whatever estancias he may pass e» route : it is essential to have a good guide. If he wish to see something of Banda Oriental, he can take the weekly diligence from Artigas to Melo, a stretch of sixty miles of the wildest scenery, by Conventos, Corral de Piedra and other localities associated with terrible records of blood. Scarcely a dozen habitations are met on the way, and more timber than cattle, but little of either. It is not uncommon for the coaches to break down, and the conductor generally has a reserve of crow- bars, &c., to splice an axle-tree or the like. The natives along the route have so bad a reputation that people dislike travelling singly on horseback. Before reaching Villa Melo, otherwise called Cerro Largo, there is a fine stone bridge built ten years ago by an enterprising Frenchman, who was murdered soon after by a native who objected to pay the toU. Melo is an interesting town, built by 176 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. the Spaniards in the last century as a kind of head- quarters for this frontier. It has now about 4,000 inhabitants, several good shops, 4 closed banks, an excellent hotel, a prison generally fuU of bandits from the adjacent ■woods, a fine state- school, and some pretty gardens in the outskirts ; an American named J. B. Lockett has a farm on a hill near the town. This place is 300 miles from Monte Video, through a wild and desolate country which is traversed by diligencia in three days, if the rivers be not swollen. The telegraph wires from Monte Video to Yaguaron will pass by here. But the pleasantest trip from Yaguaron is to the Eincon de Eamirez on the banks of Lake Mini. The Indians used to call Lake Patos the Lagoa Guazir or big-lake, and Mirim (which is smaller) Bl Mini or the little ; but the Portuguese adhere to the name of Mirim. It is 120 miles long and 16 wide, is fed by thirty-three rivers, its waters beiag for the most part very shallow : there are three great banks or shoals, Juncal, Zapata, and Sarandy. By the tre^ity of 1863 the lake is declared Brazilian territory ; at present it is virtually closed to com- merce on the side of the Oriental Eepublic, although now and then a boat laden with tiles or lumber, from Yaguaron or Pelotas, may bo seen YAGUAHON AND LAKE MINI. 177 ascending tlie Sarandi or Taquary, -which are navigable for miles. Rincon de Ramirez is a kind of peninsula, with a coast-line of 20 miles on Lake Mini and having the river Taquary for its inland boundary : its area is 500,000 acres, and it takes its name from old Ramirez, a native of Andalusia and shopkeeper of M.Video, who bought this immense property for the sum of 5,000 silver dollars, and came to settle in this wilderness a.d. 1798. Until recently the mud rancho was standing in which he lived for many years, during which strange and varying fortunes visited this part of the country. The wars of Artigas devastated the Banda Oriental to such a desrree that the Rincon de Ramirez was left ba.re of cattle excepb such alzada or wild animals as hid in the woods. Nevertheless so rapid was the sub- sequent multiplication of stock that in 1845 the Rincon counted 150,000 cows and 50,000 horses. The wars of Oribe then ensued, and at their close in 1851 the total stock did not amount to 20,000 head. At present there are 60,000 cows, 160,000 sheep, and 6,000 horses ; the land value of the Rincon is about 200,000Z. sterling. Two-thirds of the area have been broken up and sold to the joint- stock farming companies of Merinos, Mini, and 178 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. Cebollati, of wliicli the shareholders are M. Videan capitalists and English residents. Sor, Eamirez, son of the original owner, still holds about 24 square leagues or 150,000 acres; his estancia house, La Feja, is on the banks of the Taquary; it is well-built and commodious, in the Brazilian style, and if you chance to find the proprietor at home, or any of his sons, you may count on a hospitable reception. A short mile distant is Sagrera's way- side inn and general camp-store, where the people of the Eincon procure clothing, groceries, &c., for which the old man makes a yearly trip to M. Video : during the wars of 1851 he was a captain, but now he leads a retired life here, with his sisters, one of whom has pleasant recollections of a visit to Cork and the banks of the Lee many years ago. Sagrera's daughter is wife of Sor. Breschi, manager of the Mini estancia, and speaks English perfectly, having been educated by Miss Edye at M. Video. From Sagrera's it is a picturesque ride to follow the course of the Taquary to the farm of Haris- mendy, an industrious Basque, who is. on shares with Sor. Eamirez : his house overlooks the pass of the Taquary where the coach-road crosses towards Artigas and Taguaron, eight leagues distant. Cattle for the saladeros of Pelotas are YAGUAEON AND LAKE MINI. 179 also driven across here : tlie river is about 60 yards wide, vrith steep, banks covered with luxuri- ant timber, the stately palm giving its name to the neighbouring estancia of El Palmar. The Eincon suffered not only from wars but from two successive plagues, first of tigers, secondly of wild dogs. About fifty years ago tigers were so numerous that Ramirez offered 3 dollars a head, besides allowing the hunter to keep the skin, which had a marketable value of six to seven dollars. In one year a fellow nicknamed Tuca-Tigre killed 105, and Juan SUva, between 1825 and 1830, received payment on 200 heads, or nearly half the entire number killed in that period. The wild-dogs were many years later, and Kamirez paid 2 reals (10 pence) a tail, tiU- 20,000 were killed and the plague ceased : he states that in two years, from 1849 to 1851, he paid for 5,000 tails. These wild dogs used to cause much havoc among the calves, and on a few occasions were known to pursue a single rider just like a pack of wolves ; if they overtook a man on foot he was a certain victim. The estancia Palmar, about a league from Harismendy's, has a fine two- story house with a mirador or watch-tower, and stands on the spot where old Eamirez had his rancho in the days of N 2 180 EIO GRANDE DO SUL, contrabandists, Farapos, civil wars, &c., wtien he seldom slept in Ms rancho at nigM, bat bid him- self in the neighbouring thickets of the Taquary. A peach plantation surrounds the house, which is now the abode of a widowed sister of Sor. Ramirez : there is no idea of comfort within, but a cold, almost dismal, look, unless you ascend to the azotea, from which you have a beautiful panorama, the hills of Taguaron being plainly visible beyond the Taquary. Pushing on towards the lake you pass the house of Louis Correa Pintado, whose daughters make excellent bread and keep a tidy home. After crossing some ugly streams yon come in sight of Catumbera, the residence of a kind, hospitable Brazilian named Grimecindo Mattos, who is surrounded by troops of 'children and grand- children" The house is built on what is known as a terre-moto or Indian burying-place (in the time of the Charruas), and here was found a box of bones, which, however, may have been the remains of some Spanish soldiers, who had numerous look- outs against smugglers. The traveller could spend some days very pleasantly with Sor. Mattos, and find plenty of game, from bandurria (a kind of water-fowl) to tigers and ostriches. He must beware of tying his horse under a tree called YAGUAEON AND LAKE MINI. 181 Arueda, wMch has tke effect of causing the body of man or horse to swell if they rest under it, although the native women have herbs for curing the same. It is not so easy to cure the bite of a Vivora de Cruz, a small snake or viper which is often met with and takes its name from a cross on its head. There is a bleak range of country with tufts of pampa grass ten feet high, from Catumbera to Charqueada on the bank of Lake Mini. Here are the ruins of a saladero built by Ramirez, where one or two Indians still remain : these men are splendid swimmers. The last European that lived here was a,n Englishman named E. B. Goss, from Liverpool, who was book-keeper, in 1862, when the saladero was working. The banks of the lake are a succession of low sand-hills, so white and fantas- tically shaped that at a distance they sometimes resemble houses, walls, flocks of sheep, &c. There is no sign of estancias or cattle to be seen for miles : the water is of a light green and so shallow that you may walk out 500 yards before you find it up to your knees. Yon promontory is known as Eabo Fiero, famous for tigers ; and that island, called Isla de Hambre, derives its name from the fact that a band of smugglers who took refuge there died of hunger. Smuggling was not looked 182 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. on as very dishonourable at that time, and it is said some of the first families in the River Plate have records of daring adventures by their ancestors in running the gauntlet of the Spanish guards. If you are in quest of tigers you will be very likely to find some at the mouth of the Sarandi, where there are woods and cave jungles : they generally live by cattle-stealing, and will carry off a fat calf at night to their lair, but if they have once tasted human flesh they will eat nothing else afterwards if they can help it, and are known as ' tigre cebado,' so terrible to the natives that they then turn out in full force and never rest till they have killed him. A tiger that is not ' cebado ' will hardly attack a man, unless in self-defence. On the banks of the Sarandi is a comfortable farm- house belonging to Jose Francisco Larrosa, who has a well-educated family and fine establishment ; his pigs and Eambouillet sheep are famous in this part of the countrv, and his estancia, which he has on halves from Eamirez, comprises 11 leagues or 70,000 acres of good land : he grows sugar-cane to fatten the sheep. His next neighbour, ten miles distant, is an Irishman named John Roberts, from Cork, who has the management of several thousand sheep belonging to Los Merinos- joint-stock YAGUAEON AND LAKE MINI. 183 Company. The Sarandi at Larrosa's is 30 yards wide, and hard to cross after rain. Between here and the lake are some enormous ant-hills, three or four feet high. Arroyo Malo has plenty of water-fowl. Arroyo Lapota is infested with tigers, as you wUl learn if you halt at Majop Muslera's house ; his family also suffer from ghosts, owing to the usual cause, the house having been built on a terre-moto of the Charruas. El Mini is another of the joint-stock farming companies in which Messrs. Eamirez, Jackson, Fernandez, O'Neill, &c. have embarked, and here they have built a fine house on top of a hill which commands an extensive view. The estancia has an area of nearly 100,000 acres (14 leagues), comprising numerous rivers, fringed with timber, debouching into Lake Mini. The company was formed in 1868, with a capital of 55,000Z. Mr. Breschi, the manager, and his wife, are very hospitable. The estancia of Atalaya, where the present Mr. Eamirez resided for thirty years before building La Teja, is on a commanding hill at the entrance to the Eincon, and constructed as a fortress, to prevent freebooters carrying away cattle. The word Atalaya signifies a watch-tower. On one side is the river Taquary, on the other the Arroyo 184 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. Tapota, each about two miles distant, witli a long fringe of timber wbich. abounds in game. The A¥hole territory of the Eincon is spread out at your feet. The house is a solid quadrangle of stone, with an inscription in dog Latin over the entrance to the effect that it was built by Gulielmus Fowler, A.D. 1839, and the exterior has only one window, which is strongly barred and formerly served as a shop, for Mr. Eamirez used to keep a general store to supply the wants of the neighbours, and as passers-by in those times were often unpleasant visi- tants, there was no shop-door, but the barred win- dows always allowed room for a bottle or a pair of boots to be passed through. The flat roof rendered the fortress complete, and the inmates could stand a siege of any odds or duration. But when you enter the court-yard you find Mr. Fowler's inscrip- tion was premature, for the house has not been finished, and the range of apartments on one side has never been roofed, while the doors and windows are wanting in another. Two sides of the quad- rangle are inhabited by the manager, his family, and some Irish peons from South Africa. Ostriches are to be counted by the dozen hereabouts, but you must not shoot or ' bolear ' them without special permission from the owner of the ground ; YAGUAEON AND LAKE MINI. 185 they are valuable not only for the feathers but also for the eggs, which make excellent omelets and often form a portion of the peons' food. Half an hour's ride from the Atalaya is a hill which has been dug up in aU directions by disappointed treasure-seekers, an old native woman of reputed wealth having lived here, and no one ever knew what became of her money, if she had any. The ruins of her house are still standing. From the Atalaya to Yaguaron is a ride of four hours, the distance to Artigas being ten leagues, and then across by the ferry. There are several streams and thickets on the way which were formerly infested by ' matreros,' and one place which now serves as a wayside inn and is kept by a German has the unenviable notoriety of two families who resided there having been murdered successively. The lawless condition of the Oriental Republic is indicated by the iron bars on all the windows, which you never see when you cross the frontier into Brazil. Even at present it would not be well for a single traveller to ride about the Eincon de Ramirez unless he had a trusty ' vaqueano ' or guide, and a good revolver : the thickets or banks of rivers are often dangerous, and only three years ago there was in the prison of Cerro Largo a fellow 186 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. named Fernandez who confessed to have murdered over twenty persons ; he had not the least remorse for it, and was so fond of display that the fringe of his poncho was hung with silver two-real pieces. It is more than probable he is again at large, not 100 miles from these parts. The to^nisfolk of Cerro Largo, when the order came to remit bi-m to M. Video, knowing that assassins invariably got free again in a few months, proposed to bribe the escort to shoot him on the way and allege that he had tried to escape ; but a revolution broke out soon after, and the order for his removal was coun- termanded. It often happens in these revolutions that a 'guapo,' one who has murdered several people, is released from prison and promoted. If time and companions offer, the traveller might make a pleasant journey from Taguaron to the gold-washings of Cunapiru near Sant-Ana do Livramento, which are partly in Oriental, partly in Brazilian, territory. G-eneral Goyo Suarez, Mr. Eogers, and others have establishments there. 187 XYI. GERMAN OOLONIBS IN SANTA CATEABINA AND OTEHB PBOVINGES. Besides tlie colonies in Eio Grande there are others no less flourishing in Santa Catharina, San Panlo, Parana, Espirito Santo, Minas Geraes, and Eio Janeyro. The Blnmenau colony, in Santa Catharina, stands among the foremost for the numbers and wealth of its community, and takes its name from the founder. Dr. Hermann Blumenau, who after- wards transferred it to the State. The Paris Ex- hibition awarded it one of the special prizes set apart for institutions of most benefit to humanity; nor can anything be devised more beneficial for the surplus population of Europe than colonies such as this. Since its transfer to the Imperial Government this colony is known as Itajahy. Its first foundation dates August 4th, 1860 ; it has an 188 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. area of 140,000 acres, of -whicli about 4,000 are under crops. The population is 6,947, of whom two-thirds are Catholics, one-third Protestants, with chapels, schools, and cemeteries for each deno- mination. The annual returns show three times as many births as deaths. Besides such articles for their own consumption as sugar, rice, maize, wheat, and farinha, the colonists raise a large quantity of tobacco, their export returns showing 9001. worth of tobacco in rolls, and 4,800Z. of sawn timber. Their imports amount to 8,5001. The colony counts no fewer than 73 saw-mills, distilleries, &c., and 6 schools. The farming stock is small, viz. — 306 horses, 987 cows, 26 goats, 1,431 pigs, 5,300 hens, and 206 bee-hives. The colonists have made 46 bridges, 48 miles of high roads, and 50 miles of bridle-path through the woods. Dr. Blumenau acts as agent at Hamburg for the Brazilian Govern- ment, and selects the most suitable emigrants, shipping them for even a lower rate of passage than they would have to pay to New York, the Imperial Treasury paying the difference. In 1868 he sent out 9 vessels with 1,097 adults and 489 children for this colony, charging the Government 26 thalers (say 41.) per head for adults, and 20 for children ; but in the following year he reduced GERMAN COLONIES IN SANTA CATHAEINA. 189 it to 23 for adults and 17 for cMdren. Thus the total cost of the emigrants to the Brazilian treasury, when landed in the country, is not much over 31. per head, big and little. Two-thirds are Prussians, and the rest chiefly from Saxony, Hanover, &c., except 3 per cent. Austrians and Swedes. Dona Francisca was founded by the State in 1847. The Hamburg Colonisation Company sends out 400 settlers yearly, at the same time construct- ing a road 160 miles in length, and purchasing from Government at a reasonable price 100,000 acres along the route of the same. The colonists are chiefly natives of Prussia, and nothing can be more flourishing than their condition : they have their own municipal council, and their exports annually rise to a high value. This colony is now more generally called San Francisco. The popu- lation numbers 5,237, iacluding the village of Join- ville, which counts 1,172 souls. They are nearly all Protestants, there being only 734 Catholics. There are pastors of both persuasions, and 12 schools, attended by 561 children. The Minister of Agriculture reports as usual that the colonists are industrious, and crime of any kind is unknown. They have 35 sugar-factories, and 77 mills and 190 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. distilleries, of wMcli three are driven by steam- power. Their exports consist of timber, cigars, arrow-root, butter, hides tanned, rice, sugar, &c. to the value of 21,000^., their imports amounting to 18,000?. They have 2,465 cows and horses, be- sides swine and poultry in great numbers, and 413 bee-hives. There are 110 miles of roads in the colony, and the State spends about 1,200?. a year in making new ones. The great highroad to the Ignassia and Negro vallej'S in the province of Parana, of which 20 miles are made, has already cost 16,000?. An English colony called Priucipe Don Pedro proved a failure. The ship ' Florence Shipman ' brought out in 1868 some hundreds of Irish and English settlers from Wednesbury, who had little or no knowledge of farming. On their arrival at Eio Janeyro they were met by the Emperor in per- son, who conducted them to the nearest church to assist at a Mass of Thanksgiving, and then handed them over to his Ministers to be provided for. The lands unfortunately were ill-chosen, or at least the place where the colonists' huts were put up, for an inundation occurring some weeks after, it washed away the huts, drowned two of the settlers, and so discouraged the rest that the GERMAN COLONIES IN SANTA CATHAEINA. 191 colony was broken up and tlie Brazilian Govern- ment very generously provided the poor people with passage back to England. The province of San Paulo counted 40 colonies so far back as 1859, aU of which were established by Brazilian planters, except Nova Grermania founded by Karl Kruger. Some of them had only from 50 to 100 colonists, and the largest were : — Ibica, founded by Senator Yergueiro San Geronimo, „ Senator Grueiroz San Lorenzo, San Joaquin, Boa Vista, Cauritinza, Angelieo, Independencia, Saranjal, Sete Quedas Morro Azul, Cresciumal Luis de Songa Barros Dr. Lacerda . Benedicto Camargo Dr. Jordan Senator Vergueiro Monteiro and Son Luciano Nogueira Joaquin Amaral Joaquin Camargo Senator Gueiroz 757 567 444 185 173 126 133 121 146 116 116 100 Some of these afterwards burst up, the colonists alleging with much truth that they had been grossly deceived, and that their condition was little better than that of the slaves. As the Minis- ter of Agriculture says in his report to the Legis- ture, it is culjjable to bring out Europeans to work in Brazil unless on their own ground, and the sweat of their toil should never be turned to the advantage of speculators or traffickers in labour. He adds 192 EIO GEANDE DO SUL. that tlie conduct of the San Paulo planters not only disgusted the Imperial Government, but damaged so much the name of Brazil abroad that emigration was greatly checked; The only State colony now existing in San Paulo is Cananeo, which counts 623 settlers, mostly Swiss, who are indebted to Government more than 2,000Z. for advances. Their annual produce, in maize, beans, rice, coffee, sugar, &c., is valued at 3,700^, each settler having a farm -lot of 100 bra- zos square, say 13 acres English. In 1868 some Irishmen were sent here, but they did not like the idea of making roads in the colony, or cutting timber in D. Alfonso Bulhaw's saw-mill at Guaraha for wages much lower than some of their friends were earning on the San Paulo Eailway. They made their way afoot to Santos, where the British Consul at once found them employment, except one Samuel Keats, a musical-instrument maker, who got back to Rio Janeyro and there procured an engagement at his trade. Some Englishmen and Germans were working at the Guaraha saw- mill when the Government commissioner. Dr. Con- tinho, arrived there, but the poor people's wages were so much in arrear that disorders were appre- hended. GERilAN COLONIES AT SANTA CATHAEINA. 193 The San Paulo Government has just concluded a contract for the introduction of several thousand Germans within five years, and as the climate and soil are favourable,it is likely this Province will soon compete with Eio Grande and Santa Catharina in the way of colonisation. An English enterprise with a capital of 250,000L has been recently started, the nature of which is thus set forth in the prospectus : ' The Company has purchased the " Angelica " Estate, situated in the Province of San Paulo, con- taining about 26,000 acres, of which a large por- tion is coffee land of the first quality. The build- ings on the estate compris.e a stone dwelling house, houses for colonists, substantial and large stores, and coffee and saw-mills driven by water power. The estate is under the management of Mr. Karl Koch, a German gentleman, who has had over fifteen years' experience in the management of coffee estates in Brazil. ' The existing coffee plantations on the estate comprise about 780 acres, having thereon 200,000 " bearing trees (which yielded, in 1870, 27,2B9 al- queires = 5,600 cwt. of coffee), and 100,000 young trees. They are at this time chiefly cultivated by colonist families, who will form the nucleus for 194 EIO OEANDE DO SUL. tlie extension of the colony under the Government Emigration Contract. The Company contemplates the employment of 1,200 families in the cultivation of about 8,000 acres to be planted with coffee. The yield from the estate will be annually in- creased as the existing young trees, and those to be planted, come into bearing, and may, when the whole of the plantations are in full bearing, be estimated to reach at least 90,000 cwt. of coffee. The price to be paid for the estate and the Government contract is 126,000?. Of this amount the vendors (the New London and Brazilian Bant) take SOjOOOL in fully paid-up shares of the Com- pany, and guarantee upon the amount paid up on the share capital of the Company an average divi- dend of not less than 7 per cent, per annum during the first three years from the date of allotment. ' For the purpose of encouraging European emi- gration to Brazil, in view of the abolition of slave labour throughout the Empire, the Brazilian Government has granted to this Company impor- tant subsidies, estimated to produce 128,000Z., in addition to an annual payment of 48,000 milreis during five years, which will at the exchange of 2M. amount to 24,000?. The Company will thus be enabled to offer to emigrants more than ordinary inducements and advantages, and it has reason to GERMAN COLONIES AT SANTA CATHAEINA. 195 believe, on the authority of gentlemen of great ex- perience in emigration matters, both here and in Hamburg, that a considerable number of emi- grants will gladly avail themselves of the same. ' The " Angelica " Estate is eminently fitted for the reception of emigrants ; it is watered by two rivers, has extensive woods, with timber suitable for all purposes, and is distant only 60 miles from Cam- pinas, to which town the railway will be opened in the spring, and 10 miles from the thriving town of liio Claro, which has a large German community. ' The Province of San Paulo contains an area of about 100,000 square miles, and is the most celebrated in Brazil for the good quality of its coffee and the large average yield per acre. Its climate is one of the most healthy in the world, and the largest portion of the Provincebeing at an elevation of 2,500 feet above the sea, the heat is not excessive. As regards the progress of the Pro- vince and the fertility of its soil, no better evidence can be given than the figures contained in the latest published ofBcial returns, which show the value of the exports from the port of Santos to have risen from 13'1,443L in the year 1848, to 1,974,919?. in the year 1871. ' As regards the communication between the Es- 2 196 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. tate and the Port of Santos, tlie San Paulo Eailway (the most successful railway in Brazil) runs in a direct line as far as Jundiahy — a distance of 87 miles ; and the extension of this line to Campinas — another 17 miles — will be almost immediately opened for traffic. For the remaining distance of 50 miles to the town of Eio Claro, a provincial company has abeady applied for a concession.' The Imperial Government has concluded a con- tract with an English firm to send out 100,000 Eng- lish agricultural settlers in a period often years, and these will probably be located in colonial groups over the three Provinces of San Paulo, Santa Catha- rina,, and Eio Grande. The Brazilian Consul at Antwerp has, moreover, instructions to give free passages to all farming emigrants properly recom- mended, and send them out by Messrs. Eyde's steamers of the Belgian and Brazilian Mail line. The Province of Parana has two state colonies, besides that of Superaguy, founded by Senor Gentil, with 496 settlers. Assunguy, in xhe district of Coritiba, consists chiefly of French farmers from Oran, in Algiers, whose crops were destroyed by locusts- in 1868. Having sent an envoy, M. Huet, to look out for suitable lands in Brazil, this gentleman went GEEMAN COLONIES AT SANTA CATHAEINA. 197 over the Provinces of San Paulo and Parana, at last fixing on the department of Coritiba. The only lands that could be given gratis were covered v?ith forest; and as M. Huet told the President that his countrymen were more accus- tomed to ploughing than felling timber, and had not money to buy cleared land, the Imperial Government came to their aid and advanced to Messrs. Huet, Imbert, and Schaeffer the sum of 431 L, with which they bought a fine fazenda near Coritiba : the ' Polymnie ' soon arrived from Mar- seilles with the first batch of ninety colonists, who were afterwards joined by others from that port and a small number of Germans. Theresa was founded many years ago by the Imperial Government with 250 colonists, near Ponta Grossa at the confluence of the Ivahy and Parana rivers. Its extreme remoteness has pre- vented its growth, and it is unadvisable to send Europeans so far into the interior ; but the prin- cipal object was to establish a centre of population in so important a geographical locality, which was also on the direct route to the distant inland proviace of Matto Grosso. As soon as roads with the seaboard cities and provinces be established, this place must command an important future. 198 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. Besides tlie Germans there are 17 French, and the total population is 435 : the land is moun- tainous, but they cultivate successfully sugar, tobacco, and cereals. They have a number of mills, distilleries, and kilns for making tUes. The colony is under the direction of Mr. Gustave Eumbelsperger, whose expenses of administration amount to 460?. per annum. The situation of this colony is marked on the map as 24"34 S. lat. and 53"45 W. long. The Province of Espirito Santo has three state- colonies. Santa Isabel was founded some twenty years ago by the Imperial Government, and has now some thousands of flourishing settlers, who have been emancipated from all state-control and formed into a municipal community, after the manner of San Leopoldo and Itajahy. Santa Leopoldiaa is of nearly the same date as the former, and has 2,000 inhabitants ; but its progress has been retarded by the want of roads and the unfavourable nature of the ground, Messrs. Knorr & Co. of Hamburg annually send out fifty or a hundred settlers, at expense of Government, for this colony. Eio Novo was founded several years ago by Major Dias da Silva, and subsequently purchased GEEMAN COLONIES AT SANTA CATHAEINA. 199 by the Imperial Govfernment. As tlie colony- suffered greatly for want of proper roads, the Government caused the Eio Novo to be cleared of obstacles and rendered navigable, since when it has progressed favourably. It is not exclusively European, but includes 328 natives, chiefly co- loured people : the entire population is 734, form- ing 193 families, and cultivating 1,200 acres, under coffee, rice, beans, &c. The total area ceded to the colony is about 12,000 acres. Their an- nual crop averages 100 tons of coffee and 6,000 bushels of cereals. The colonists have petitioned Government for 5001. to put a bridge over the Eio Novo on the road to Itapemerim. A chapel is being built, and better schools are much lieeded, there being 200 children who can neither read nor write : of the adults 140 can read. The colonists are chiefly Catholics, there being only 69 Pro- testants. The Province of Minas Geraes has two state- colonies. Pedro Segundo was founded some twenty years ago by the Union and Industria Company, which opened up the trade of th'is pro- vince by a magnificent highway of macadam, 91 miles long, to Petropolis, whence the Maua Rail- way affords easy transit to Eio Janeyro. .The 200 EIO 6EANDE DO SUL. colony is in tlie picturesque district of Juiz da Fora, and counts over 1,200 Germans, of whom two-thirds are Catholics. There is a resident German priest, and the Evangelical pastor of Petropolis attends to the Protestants, who num- ber 379. The schools a,re attended by 141 child- ren. The colonists have 3,000 acres under tillage, and derive great advantage from the good roads : they stni owe the Union Company 6,700Z. for advances or land sold to new settlers, of whom about fifty arrive yearly. By a contract with the Imperial Government the Union Company con- tinue to manage the colony, besides a Modern Agricultural School, which is well worth visiting. The traveller who may happen to be at Rio Janeyro should make it a point to visit this colony, which is surrounded by magnificent scenery : he can proceed by the Pedro Segundo EaUway to Entre Eios and Juiz da Pora, return- ing via Petropolis, the Maua Eailway and steam- boat to Eio Janeyro. Numerous German settlers are also found about Petropolis ; some of them are famous for the quaint and artistic wallcing- sticks which they carve out of the coffee-tree. One in particular, who lives on a hill overlooking the Emperor's palace, has beautiful chefs-d'oeuvre, including cabinets, chimney-ornaments, &c. Pe- GERMAN COLONIES AT SANTA CATHAEINA. 201 tropolis enjoys a delightful climate even in tlie depth of summer, being at an elevation of 3,000 feet in the Sierra da Estrella, and is the resi- dence of the Corps Diplomatique. Nothing can be more wonderful than the zigzag road, with stone battlements, which is cut as it were in galleries up the steep side of the mountain, con- necting Petropolis with the Maua Eailway. Mucury, in the district of Minas Novas, founded some twenty years ago by a Joint Stock Company, is now managed by a Government director. Dr. Carvalho Borges, and receives yearly 200 Saxons or other ISTorth Germans through Mr. Eobert Schloback of Hamburg. The colony is situate on the confines of Minas Geraes and Bahia, com- prising two groups, one at Eibeiras das Lages, the other at Philadelphia. There are sundry other colonial settlements, some founded by Provincial Governments, some by private parties, and in many of which most or all of the colonists are natives. They may be briefly classified thus : — Province of Eio Janeyro. Colonists, Jacob Van Erven's . . counts 2,354 Wallao dos Veados . . • „ . 540 Independencia, of W. da Gama . „ 318 Sta. Eosa, of Count Beaupendy . „ 142 Sta. Justa, of Carneiro Bellens' . „ 123 202 EIO GRANDE DO SUL. Maranhao. Colonists. Arapapathy, founded by Grovernment . . 368 Sta. Theresa, of M. Bitteneourt ... 140 Pirucana, Joint-stoek Company . . . 112 Bahia. Commandatuta, founded by Government . 290 Engenlio Novo, of Sor. Pereyra . . . 100 The Imperial Government lias marked out 700,000,000 square brazqs, or 836,000 acres, for new settlers: in farm-lots of 40 acres it would suffice for 21,000 families. LONDON : PniNTUD ET sromswooDE and co., xew-street squabe AND PARLIAMENT STREET