In Paraná, the famous and valuable maté is largely grown, and the leaf of this small shrub—not unlike the ilex, or evergreen oak, is exported far and wide to Argentina, and other lands of the Plate, and to Chile, across the Cordillera. For Paraná, the maté is what coffee is for San Paolo.
COFFEE HARVEST, BRAZIL.
Vol. II. To face p. 150.
"Maté is not cultivated. It grows freely in the forest, and in the forest its leaves are harvested. As soon as plucked the leaves undergo a first preparation, which is designed principally to diminish their weight before transport, but also to prevent their fermenting or turning sour. They are dried at the fire, and are then packed in sacks which are sent to Curitiba, where improved mills reduce the leaves to powder, separate the various qualities, and deliver the product ready for consumption. Some colonists, more fortunate than others, found on their allotments large numbers of maté-trees; this meant for them a small fortune acquired without labour. The maté-leaf, or the leaf, as they call it in Paraná—a light but precious merchandise—bears the cost of transport more easily than maize; so that the owners of lots upon which maté is found are able to make a profit by the sale of their leaves. Such good fortune is unhappily rare.
"The great hervaïs, as they call the forest cantons where maté grows abundantly, are nearly all in the interior of the State; beyond the colonies, on that portion of the plateau which approaches the Paraná River; a country little known to geographers, but which, thanks to maté, is not lacking in importance nor economic vitality. At the season for plucking 'the leaf' it is intensely animated; a veritable army goes into camp, and all the forest paths are busy. From the eastern border the pack-mules carry their loads of leaves as far as the roads which lead to Curitiba, capital of the trade; and to the west the paths are no less busy. There are Paraguayans, coming to take part in the harvest, and Paraguayan smugglers, who seek to cross the river without being sighted by the Customs officials; for a large portion of the harvest is destined for the border regions of Paraguay and Misionès.
"In the hervaïs—whether public or private lands—the harvest is farmed out to contractors, who undertake to organize it. They employ a numerous staff. Each contractor constructs a hearth for drying the leaves, and this hearth becomes the centre of the little ephemeral world which lives for a few months in the heart of the forest, leading an isolated and laborious existence. Four or five tons of leaves are often prepared in a day. Some of the workers prune the trees; the others dry the leaves. The gangs are recruited from all over the State, and from the first day of harvest the Polish colonies furnish a good number of recruits. The men alone leave the colony, the women remaining to take care of the allotments. Some of the Poles are simple workmen, while those with more initiative are themselves contractors. All bring from the forests the money representing their wages or their profits, and on this money the colonies have managed to live."[30]
Here is a picture of the negroes on the sugar-producing lands and elsewhere.
"A small proportion of the land belongs to negroes. Small ownership among the negroes dates from before the abolition of slavery. The masters who freed slaves often gave them, with their liberty, a piece of land to ensure their subsistence. The negroes who have inherited these small holdings are to-day the best element of the black agricultural population. They form the majority of a class of peasant proprietors, tilling their land with their own hands, which also comprises mulattoes and even a few whites. This class is unfortunately too restricted.
"Taking them all in all, the negroes in the sugar-producing regions like Minas form a type of labourer of very indifferent economic value. The very sun assures them of many alimentary products, obtained without agricultural labour. Fish swarm in the marshes of the coast. A child will catch in one day enough to feed ten men. The fish, indeed, save the blacks from the obligation of regular labour. Although by no means the whole of the soil is under cultivation, certain sugar-producing districts are thus able to support a population of extraordinary density, swarming like ants in an ant-hill.
"In Bahia the sugar plantations have entirely disappeared. In Pernambuco the majority of the negroes live, as formerly, on the plantations. A large number, however, have crowded into the towns; for the negroes, who, in order to show their independence, have scattered far from the fazendas on which they used to live, none the less hate solitude, and are very eager for an urban life. In Pernambuco and Bahia the urban population is too large for the business capacity of the cities and the activity of the harbours. Around the cities properly so called stretch immense suburbs, vast villages where the negroes live, without very appreciable resources, among the mango and bread-fruit trees. It is amazing, on crossing a fazenda in Minas, or a Campos plantation, to see the number of negroes who can lodge and feed themselves on a minimum quantity of work. One feels the same astonishment in the large villages of the north. If you desire a boat, twenty boatmen dispute your custom. In Pernambuco market I remember having seen twenty merchants who had between them a stock of fruit which could have been carried in two baskets.
"To sum up: the moral and economic inferiority of the negro population of Brazil is incontestable. The puerility of the negroes is extreme. They have no foresight, and are innocent of any form of ambition, the sole motive-power of progress. They are modest in their desires and easily satisfied. Whoever has heard, in the streets of Bahia, the sincere, sonorous, joyful laughter of some negro woman cannot fail to have experienced the mixture of contempt, indulgence and envy with which this nation of children inspires the Caucasian. Their imagination is strong and nimble; their sentimental life active; intellectual life they have none. They are superstitious, and their devotion has supported and still supports the four hundred churches of Bahia.
"They amuse themselves with ardour. More than half their life is devoted to amusements and festivals. The circus is their favourite amusement. The wit of the clown keeps them happy for hours. Some of their festivals are connected with their agricultural labours. They were formerly celebrated on the fazenda by the slaves; they have survived slavery. In Minas the black workers still come, when the coffee harvest is over, bearing in their hands boughs of the coffee-tree, which they ornament with multi-coloured ribbons of paper, shouting for the master to give the signal for the rejoicings to commence."[31]
In Southern Brazil we may still see the picturesque figure in an old industry—the gaucho of the cattle-plains. The gaucho, or "cowboy," is a product of his calling, a creature of his kind. From childhood he has lived on horseback; has early learned all feats of wild horsemanship, including the throwing of the riata, or lasso, and the boliadeira, the latter a thong with a ball at each end which, dexterously thrown, winds around the legs of a fleeing animal and brings it to the ground. This form of lasso is peculiar to the South American gaucho, and is unknown to the vaquero of Mexico, whose marvellous exploits with the ordinary noosed lasso, or riata, we may have witnessed. Again, the gaucho will stem a charging bull by striking it across the muzzle with a short whip, and he seems quite fearless at the animal's onslaught upon him.