The developed part of Brazil is only a small part of the whole country. It constitutes a fringe along the Atlantic coast, and bears about the same relation to the whole country as the original thirteen states do to the United States as at present constituted. There are few large cities, but numerous small towns of from five to twenty thousand, and many villages are scattered over the land. No part is overpopulated, the most densely populated being the states of Alagoas and Rio de Janeiro, with an average of perhaps twenty-three to the square mile, and there is no danger of even those states being overpopulated for some time yet. In a land where all the year around is a growing season this is a very small population, even considering the mountainous character of most of the country. If peopled as densely as France, Brazil would have a population of not less than three hundred and twenty million. It is almost purely an agricultural country, although some advancement has been made in manufactures through government encouragement and high customs duties. Especially has this been true in cotton goods, and there are many small factories of these textiles scattered over the land, most of them run by the water power which is so abundant in most sections. Some other factories have been started through concessions being granted, but by far the greatest part of the goods used are imported from the manufacturing nations of the world. This governmental assistance causes many of the factories to feel that to some extent they are government enterprises. The same policy has been followed with railroads of guaranteeing returns instead of making grants of lands, which would be an incentive to the railroad to aid in development. The São Paulo-Rio Grande Railway is one exception to this rule, and it is prospering. The Central Railroad, which has over a thousand miles of main track, is owned and operated as a government institution, and this method has not been a success any more than the Lloyd Brazilian line of national steamers. Money goes in from all sources, but the government treasury is compelled every year to make up deficits.
Brazil was discovered in the year 1500 by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral, who took possession of it in the name of his sovereign. It was first named Terra de Santa Cruz, the Land of the Holy Cross, but the name was changed to that of the dyewood which had been in use before. The French soon after began to trade with the natives, but they were driven off by the Portuguese. The Huguenots of the country likewise attempted to establish a free religious colony at what is now Rio de Janeiro, but this attempt was also frustrated, and Rio did not become an important place until the middle of the eighteenth century. The Jesuits sought to make a religious settlement out of São Paulo, but the energetic “Paulistas” rose in their might and drove them into the Spanish territories.
The Portuguese began to colonize the country, and established a number of settlements along the coast. Pernambuco was founded in 1526 and Bahia in 1549, as compared with New York in 1614 and Boston in 1621. The country was divided into fifteen capitancias, each with fifty leagues of coast, and stretching inland in parallel lines to the westernmost limits of the country. These were granted by the king to Portuguese nobles. Numerous struggles took place with the Spaniards, who tried to seize all of South America, and were in actual control of nearly all of the rest of the South American coast. The political outline was finally determined by natural configurations. The Portuguese kept in control of the district penetrated by the Amazon and its tributaries, as far as they were navigable, and the Spaniards got control as far as the Rio de la Plata was navigable on the south; and between these two boundaries the land was kept in the hands of the Portuguese. Where navigation was impeded on the Paraguay, Paraná and Uruguay Rivers, there Spanish domination ended. On the remainder of the coast the Spaniards maintained their supremacy, except the small Dutch, French and English settlements in Guiana. It speaks well for the indomitable perseverance of a small country like Portugal that they acquired and maintained for three centuries such a vast empire, when the mother country is smaller than one island at the mouth of the Amazon.
When King John brought his court over to Brazil, in 1809, a national spirit was engendered. After he returned to Portugal, it was not long until an independent spirit arose and revolution was in the air. Then came a new-world empire, during which the Dom Pedros, I and II, reigned. Each was expelled from the country; the first with rejoicing, the second with sadness, and, perhaps, many a tear. When one considers that the republic only reaches its majority in this year of 1910, and that slavery was abolished only twenty-two years ago, both of these changes being accomplished without bloodshed, the progress of the country can be better understood, and many of its shortcomings more easily overlooked. Furthermore the early advance of the country was stunted by the lust for gold of the first Portuguese colonists. Everything was sacrificed to immediate results, in order that they might return to the homeland and live in luxury. It was different from the motive that influenced either Puritan or Cavalier in our own land, for they sought liberty. The evil effects of this early exploitation have been felt during the intervening centuries, not alone in Brazil, but throughout all of South America.
CHAPTER II
ALONG THE COAST TO THE CAPITAL
It is a delightful journey of a little more than two weeks from New York to the capital of Brazil. In a little more than twenty-four hours after leaving that metropolis, even in the middle of the winter, the vessel is ploughing through balmy seas, and the passengers are sitting on the spacious decks of the comfortable steamers with all wraps discarded. As the route of these steamers is east of that of vessels bound for the Caribbean seas, few boats are sighted, and day after day is passed without the sight of a sail. For thirteen days our ship, the Vasari, sailed through stormless waters, with only one full-rigged schooner coming within our horizon, and no land to be seen.
It was not until near the equator that even a rain storm clouded the skies, and then fleeting showers chased each other across the skies, and peals of thunder and flashes of lightning occasionally created a diversion. The sunsets were wonderful. As evening approached, dark clouds seemed to gather near the horizon; the sun slowly approached them, and then dropped suddenly out of sight. Streaks of red and crimson, silver and gold shot out, and these diffused and melted into each other with the constant variations of the kaleidoscope. The contrast of bright hues with the dark, ominous-looking clouds was striking. There was no twilight, and darkness immediately followed. It was the time of the full moon also. Just a little while after the setting of the sun the moon would rise on the opposite side of the boat. An immense and luminous ball the Queen of the Night appeared, and rapidly climbed up over the bank of clouds; and then, as it dwindled in size, it increased in brilliancy, until the dancing waves were covered with a silvery sheen. Never have I seen such beautiful scenes as we witnessed for several nights when near the equatorial line.
Watches were changed each day since we were constantly travelling eastward, as one will see by consulting a map. New York is situated in longitude seventy-four degrees west, while the easternmost coast of Brazil is in longitude thirty-five degrees west. At last the sandy shores of Rio Grande do Norte are sighted, and the vessel rounds Cape San Roque. Far out at sea little sails appear in considerable numbers, and when near enough to see them it is found that they are simply rafts made of logs fastened together. These are the “catamaran” fishing boats, from the port of Pernambuco. The adventurous boatmen will sometimes venture out a hundred miles to sea in these simple and frail-looking crafts, and they are seldom lost.