RAILWAYS IN BRAZIL.--COFFEE PLANTATIONS.--MANDIOCA AND ITS
CULTURE.--TERRIBLE FAMINES.--SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION.
There are several railways running out of Rio de Janeiro, of which the
longest and probably the most important is the Dom Pedro Segundo, so
named in honor of the emperor. The first section of the line was opened
in 1857; it was started by a private company, with a government
guarantee of seven per cent. interest, but the capital was speedily
absorbed, owing to the enormous extent of the outlay beyond the
estimates. Instances of this last have happened in other countries than
Brazil, and will probably continue to happen until railways are
superseded by other modes of travel and transportation. The first
hundred miles took all the capital of the company, and then more money
was needed. In 1865 the government bought out the stockholders, and
since then the railway has been run as an imperial concern, like many of
the railways on the continent of Europe.
The present length of the railway is about four hundred miles. The main
line is extended every year or two, and branches are built whenever
their value as feeders can be demonstrated. The road has been of great
benefit to the coffee planters in the region it penetrates; in fact, the
line was built for the transportation of coffee, and the people or goods
dependent upon it. Nearly every passenger is in some way connected with
the coffee interest, and nineteen twentieths of the freight has some
relation to it. Take away the coffee business and the road would require
government aid to pay the cost of the fuel for its locomotives. At
present it returns to the government about five per cent. upon the
capital invested in the line, without counting the indirect benefits of
the development of the country's industries.
The other railways of Brazil are less profitable than the Pedro II., and
some of them would be given up altogether were it not for the aid
received from the government. Freight and passenger tariffs are very
high, and the limited amount of business renders it impossible to fix
low rates. The passenger fares are from four to five cents a mile,
first class, and about half these figures for second class, while
excursion tickets, limited in time, and not transferable, are sold at
twenty-five per cent. discount from the double tariff. Every pound of
baggage beyond that carried in the traveller's hand is charged extra,
and a fair-sized trunk costs as much as a passenger's ticket. Live-stock
may be said to "ride their heads off" if carried by railway in Brazil,
and for this reason horses, oxen, cows, and goats are rarely shipped by
the trains.
[Illustration: NEGRO HUT NEAR THE RAILWAY.]
The freight on a sack of coffee (133 pounds) is about one cent a mile;
coffee coming from the end of the Dom Pedro railway must pay four
dollars a sack, which is about one third of its value, when delivered in
Rio. From Rio to New York the freight rarely exceeds sixty cents a sack,
and is often no more than twenty-five. Fifty miles of railway
transportation in Brazil costs more than five thousand two hundred miles
on the ocean.
A few of the planters send their coffee to market by mule trains, and
say it is cheaper than by railway, and there have been several schemes
proposed for organizing a system of mule transportation on a large
scale, in the hope of making a material saving of money. Of course, the
government would not favor such an enterprise; and as it could not be
extensively conducted without imperial sanction, the experiment is not
likely to be tried.
Our travelling trio made a journey over the great railway line, and had
an interesting ride. The engineering was found worthy of the praise that
has been given by others; the passage of the mountains near Rio
presented many obstacles which were successfully met by the English and
American builders of the road. The line was begun by Englishmen, but
since the first section was opened the work has been in charge of
engineers from the United States.
Frank and Fred were disappointed in the amount of business over the
road, as they had been told it drained a large district which produced
coffee in abundance. The Doctor came to their relief with the following
explanation:
"You must bear in mind," said he, "that there is a vast difference in
the producing power of land, according to what is raised upon it. You
cannot raise more than five hundred pounds of coffee from an acre of
ground under the best conditions, while you can get five or ten times
that weight in corn or wheat, especially the former. One gentleman who
has studied the subject (Mr. Herbert H. Smith) says, the coffee district
drained by the Dom Pedro railway and another line near it does not give
one thirtieth as much freight as would come from the same area of ground
in the western states of North America. The large plantations are very
widely scattered, and their products do not afford sufficient business
for the railways; much of the land held by the planters is uncultivated,
and, besides, their laborers are mostly slaves, or people who have very
few wants beyond what the country around them will meet.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO A COFFEE PLANTATION.]
"A coffee plantation requires nothing but the machinery for tilling the
land and preparing the coffee for market, the furniture, and some
provisions for the house of the owner, and possibly a few bales of cloth
for the garments of the slaves. The food of the negroes is grown on the
place, their houses are built of bamboos, also grown there, and they
raise enough mandioca and corn for their food. Those who have looked
carefully into this matter say that long lines of railway in Brazil
could not pay their running expenses if they were built for nothing.
There have been several schemes for extending railways into the Matto
Grosso province; at the present rate of freight it would cost eight
dollars to bring a sack of coffee to Rio, which would be two-thirds of
its value. The product of the land would not pay the cost of exporting
it to a market."
"But why don't they raise corn or wheat instead of coffee?" one of the
youths asked.
"They have talked of doing so," the Doctor answered, "and some parts of
the interior provinces are well adapted to the culture of our American
staples. But they have not the right kind of a population for such work,
and even if they had it, the cost of bringing grain or flour to Rio
would be greater at the present railway tariffs than transporting it
from the United States. I am told it has been carefully figured out that
wheat from Wisconsin or Minnesota could be laid down in Rio cheaper than
wheat from the end of the Dom Pedro railway.
"While we are on the subject of railways," the Doctor continued, "you
may be interested in knowing that Brazil owes some of her railway lines
to a calamity."
"To a calamity! how can that be?"
"In the past hundred years," Dr. Bronson explained, "there have been
several famines in some of the interior and coast districts,
particularly in the Ceara. One of the worst began in 1790; it lasted
three or four years, and when it ended the province of the Ceara was
nearly depopulated. Another followed in 1824-25, and another in
1844-45, the latter being less severe than its predecessor.
[Illustration: VICTIMS OF THE FAMINE.]
"The next, and thus far the most terrible, _secca_ or famine was in
1877-78. There was an excess of rain in 1875 and 1876 which caused great
losses in consequence of the floods. Lands could not be tilled, as they
were buried in water, and many cattle on the estates were drowned.
"The excess of rain was followed by a drought that dried up the streams
and withered the grass and trees. The seed placed in the ground did not
sprout, as there was no moisture to give it life, and month after month
passed without rain. All this time the tropical sun poured its heat over
the land, and you can easily imagine how it could change the rich forest
into a desert of withered and blasted trunks, and the open country to a
desert.
"The people left the plantations and flocked to the villages, many of
them dying of hunger on the way. Thousands perished at their homes; they
remained there hoping for rain until too weak and famished to move. As
long as the cattle lasted there was no hunger; the herdsmen killed the
animals for their hides, and meat was abundant for all who would come
and take it. Of course this could not last long, and when the herds were
killed the people began to perish of starvation.
[Illustration: DYING FOR LACK OF FOOD.]
"In a little while all the produce of the country was gone, and an
appeal came to the government for aid. There was little law and order in
the midst of the famine, and many people were killed in the struggle for
existence; thieves were numerous, and desperate men wandered about
taking food wherever they could find it; when they met the trains of
provisions going to the relief of the famished district they exercised
the right of might, and even killed the horses and mules that were laden
with food.
"When the horrors of the famine became known in the cities of Brazil an
appropriation was voted by the government for the relief of the
sufferers. Fairs were held, subscriptions raised, and a large amount of
money was obtained, which went for supplying food to the survivors. The
government sent engineers to lay out lines of railway and employ the
people; in this way they obtained relief, and the country was provided
with iron roads that will develop the country and be of practical use in
transporting provisions in case of another drought.
"That was the way the calamity helped the building of railways," said
the Doctor, "just as famines have led to similar public works in India
and other countries. In the beginning of the distress the government and
the public contributions supplied food to the people free of charge; the
result was that they soon looked upon it as their right, and refused
work when it was offered. When the government began operations on the
railways it was ordered that no one who declined to work should receive
either money or rations, and in this way the indolent were compelled to
do something."
Frank asked what was the mortality in consequence of this famine?
"According to the figures at my command," said the Doctor, "there were
in 1876 about nine hundred thousand inhabitants in Ceara. In 1877 and
1878 five hundred thousand people died, or more than half the whole
population!"
"Did they all die of famine?"
"Not all; but the greater part of the mortality was the result of the
famine. Fifty thousand died of starvation and disease in 1877, and about
two hundred thousand in the first four months of 1878. Then small-pox,
fevers, and other diseases appeared, and numbered their victims by many
thousands, in addition to those who perished directly for want of food
in the remaining months of the second year. Many persons moved away to
other provinces and will not return to Ceara; the periodic occurrence of
droughts will make life there very uncertain, and the probabilities are
that it will never be prosperous.
"But enough of this sad subject," said the Doctor, with a sigh; "let us
talk of something else." His suggestion was adopted, and Fred called
attention to a patch of mandioca near the station where the train was
coming to a halt.
[Illustration: A TROPICAL RAILWAY STATION.]
"That is one of the staples of Brazil," said Dr. Bronson, "and it
figures in her exports in the shape of tapioca. Mandioca is as necessary
to the native of Brazil as the potato to the Irishman, or beef to the
Englishman; mandioca flour, in this country, fills the place occupied by
wheat flour or corn meal among ourselves."
They had repeatedly seen mandioca growing in patches near the villages,
and in their journey down the Madeira and Amazon they had found it an
excellent article of food. Ascertaining that the train would be nearly
half an hour at the station, they strolled over to the little garden and
learned how mandioca is cultivated.
[Illustration: MANDIOCA PLANT.]
"The plant has several names," said the Doctor, as they were walking to
the garden; "the one most generally used is mandioca, but it is also
called manioc, mandioc, yucca, and cassava, while its scientific
appellation is _Jatropha manihot_. It is a native of South America, but
has been introduced into Africa and other tropical countries, where it
is extensively cultivated. There are two kinds of the plant; one is
called the sweet cassava or sweet yucca, and its roots are eaten raw,
but are more commonly roasted or boiled, and they are as nutritions as
their South American brother, the potato. The other, which produces the
tapioca of commerce and the mandioca flour of South America, contains a
poison so deadly that thirty-five drops of it were sufficient to kill in
six minutes a negro convicted of murder."
"And this poisonous plant is used as an article of food?" Fred asked, in
astonishment.
"Yes. The juice contains hydrocyanic acid; but it is removed by pressure
and by the action of heat, so that the dried flour is perfectly
harmless. It is still a mystery how the unlettered Indians learned the
virtues of the plant, which was in universal use when the Spaniards and
Portuguese first came here.
[Illustration: PLANTATION NEGRO.]
"The Indians have a pretty fable concerning the origin of mandioca," the
Doctor continued. "They say that long ago, in one of their tribes, a
child was born which walked and talked precociously. It was named Mani,
and died when it was only a year old. It was buried in the house where
it died, according to the custom of the tribe; the roof of the building
was removed, and the grave was watered daily. An unknown plant sprung
from the grave; and when it ripened the earth cracked open and revealed
the root. The Indians ate this root, and thus learned the uses of
mandioca. Believing it to be the body of Mani, they gave it the name
_Mani-oca_, the house of Mani."
"A very pretty story, indeed," said Frank. "I will make a sketch of the
plant in remembrance of it."
By this time they had reached the garden, and Frank busied himself with
his pencil, while Fred made note of the appearance of the bush, which
was about five feet high, and had long, pointed leaves at the extremity
of the branches.
One of the plants was dug from the ground in their presence; the roots
were in a cluster, and resembled large turnips, and the aggregate weight
of the half-dozen roots that were taken out was from twenty-five to
thirty pounds. In a shed close by a native was preparing the substance
for use; the process may be thus described:
The roots are washed, and then scraped, with a shell or knife, into a
fine pulp. This pulp is placed in a loosely-woven bag of palm-fibre,
which is suspended from a pole; a weight at the lower end of the bag
brings a pressure upon the pulp, by which the juice is forced out. While
the substance is still damp it is spread on metal plates, and dried
over a fire; and great care must be taken to drive off every drop of the
poisonous juice. During the drying it is stirred and broken into coarse
grains, and this forms the _farina_, or meal of mandioca.
The poisonous juice is placed in a vat, where it deposits a fine
sediment after standing a few hours. This sediment is the tapioca which
is extensively used in Europe and America for the manufacture of
puddings and other articles of food. Arrow-root is another form of the
same substance.
The whistle recalled them, and they returned to the train. From tapioca
the conversation turned to slavery; a very natural turn, as a good deal
of the tapioca which comes from Brazil is grown by slave labor.
"Slavery is in process of extinction here," said the Doctor, "as a
system of gradual emancipation was adopted in 1871. There will be
nothing left of the institution after the year 1892. Many slaves have
been freed already, and it is thought that the northern provinces of
Brazil will anticipate the enforcement of the law, and give freedom to
everybody before that date. Most of the slaves are on the plantations in
the southern part of the empire; some of the coffee-carriers in Rio are
still held in bondage, and pay their masters a certain amount daily for
their time. All they earn beyond that they retain for themselves."
"How does the system of gradual emancipation affect the slaves at the
present time?" one of the youths inquired.
[Illustration: PUNISHMENT.]
"It affects them unfavorably," was the reply, "as you can readily see.
If a man has a lifelong interest in his slaves, he is apt to treat them
well out of regard to his own pocket, by making them useful as long as
he can. But if they are to be free in a given number of years, he is
tempted to get as much work from them as possible during that time, and
leave them broken down and quite worn out at the end. Sell a yoke of
oxen to a man, and he will work them much less than if he had hired them
for a year, and was not bound to return them in good condition, would he
not? This is exactly the position of the slaveholder in Brazil; there
are many humane masters who treat their slaves well, but, unhappily,
they are in the minority. These people have been accustomed to regard
the negroes as their property, and they use them as they would property
of any other kind. Whether the slaves will be well or harshly used
depends very much upon the temperaments of their owners.
[Illustration: IN THE FIELDS.]
"On a coffee or sugar plantation the slaves are required to work about
seventeen hours out of the twenty-four. Some masters are satisfied with
fifteen or sixteen hours, and others exact eighteen hours at least. Here
is the ordinary routine:
[Illustration: SLAVES WITH COLLARS.]
"The slaves are called to work at four o'clock in the morning; coffee is
given to them at six, and their breakfast at nine in the forenoon. The
breakfast consists of dried beef cooked with mandioca-meal and beans,
together with corn-bread; and it is eaten in the field, in an
intermission of not more than fifteen minutes. At noon they have a small
drink of rum, and at four in the afternoon they have a dinner which is
exactly like the breakfast, and eaten in the same way and time. At seven
o'clock they leave their field-work, and go to the mill or the household
until nine o'clock, when they are locked in their quarters, and can
sleep until roused for the next day's toil."
"But do they have no holidays?"
[Illustration: SLAVE WITH MASK.]
"Yes, they have a holiday on Sunday, but it simply amounts to a
cessation of labor for three or four hours; in busy seasons the Sunday's
rest is reduced to one or two hours, and with many masters to nothing at
all. They have no allowance of Christmas holidays, as was the custom in
the United States in the slavery days, and in many respects the life of
the Brazilian slaves is harder than was that of the slaves in most of
the Southern States of North America before the emancipation.
[Illustration: MASK.]
"But, with all the toil of the Brazilian plantations, the life of the
slave is a great improvement upon what it was twenty or more years ago.
The blacksmiths' shops in Rio used to expose slave-shackles for sale as
freely as those of our own country exhibit horseshoes, and the demand
for these things was not small. There were collars to be locked around
the neck, made of round iron an inch in diameter, and provided with
prongs to prevent the unfortunate wearer from turning his head to either
side; there were masks, through which no food or drink could be taken;
shackles for fastening the ankles together, or for binding the wrists to
the ankles; chains to be fastened to the waist or ankles, and attached
to logs of wood, which the wearer was obliged to drag around wherever he
moved; and numberless other devices of cruelty.
[Illustration: SHACKLES.]
"A picture of slavery, drawn by an English clergyman in British Guiana
before England had freed the slaves in her colonies, will apply to
Brazil as it was twenty years ago, and as it may now be on some of the
country plantations. Remember, it is a picture of English slavery as it
existed in an English colony.
"'The cruelty of the lash, which was often steeped in brine, or pickle
and pepper, is something very dreadful to think of. Twenty-five was the
number of lashes laid on the bare back of the slave when a dry leaf or
piece of the boll was found in the cotton, or a branch was broken in the
field; fifty for all offences of the next grade; a hundred for standing
idle in the field; from a hundred and fifty to two hundred for
quarrelling with fellow-slaves; and five hundred, laid on with the
greatest possible severity, for any attempt to run away or escape from
an estate or plantation. The overseers and gang-drivers made the slaves
work with the greatest possible rigor, and their lives bitter with hard
bondage. Up to the day before the slaves were emancipated, or proclaimed
free, the lash was freely used on a plantation near Georgetown, and on
the morning of the emancipation several freed slaves walked up to their
overseer and asked if they were not to be whipped for obtaining their
freedom.'[2]
[2] "British Guiana," by Rev. H. V. P. Bronkhurst.
[Illustration: HOUSEHOLD SERVANT.]
"Emancipation in Brazil is largely due to the humanity of the present
emperor," continued the Doctor. "He urged the suppression of the
slave-trade, and was considerably in advance of his cabinet on the
subject. When this was accomplished, he presented plans for the
emancipation of the negroes held in bondage. He repeatedly sent messages
to the Brazilian parliament on the subject. Progress in the movement was
slow, as four fifths of the members of that body were slave-owners, and
more than half of them planters. But he never gave up the struggle, and
in 1871 the law was passed. He had set the example by freeing his own
slaves, and inducing the members of his family and many wealthy citizens
to do the same. Slaves were allowed to purchase their own freedom, and
in other ways the humane movement was accelerated. In 1855 there were,
in round figures, three million slaves in Brazil. Twenty years later the
number had been reduced nearly one half, and it has been further
diminished since that time. Year by year the number of bondmen is
growing less, and it is by no means impossible that, when the day comes
for the final proclamation of freedom, there will be no one to set
free."
"Let us hope it will be so," said both our young friends. Every reader
of this narrative will echo the sentiment, and give all honor to Dom
Pedro II., the enlightened Emperor of Brazil.
[Illustration: SLAVES GATHERING SUGAR-CANE.]