RIO DE JANEIRO
The _Orissa_ is an old coasting steamer of the Pacific Line, which
calls at the western ports of South America, beginning at Callao, and
passing through the Straits of Magellan, pushes as far as Montevideo,
whence Santos and Rio de Janeiro are reached on the way to Southampton,
the end of the journey, with a halt at La Palice. The _Orissa_ is not a
rapid boat, but she is very staunch, and if her internal arrangements,
of the oldest description, be not more than rudimentary, the voyage I
made in her was very agreeable, thanks to the company of the captain,
who I found knew India well. A heavy sea and a head wind made us a day
late--a fair record in a journey only supposed to cover three days.
The greatest trial on board was the music that played at mealtimes,
when, without any provocation, three old salts, of pacific aspect as
befitted servants of their Company, made daily distracting attempts to
draw piercing discords from instruments which proved a cruel test of
the harmony of our constitutions. One blew wildly into the little hole
of a metal rod which shrieked in response; the second scraped furious
sounds from his strings; while a piano, built probably about the time
of Columbus, vainly endeavoured to bring the others into tune. It
took an alarming quantity of ginger and Worcester sauce to settle the
nerve-cells so cruelly exasperated by the rapid absorption of food in
the discordant tumult of this orchestra. We know the ancients believed
in the soothing influence of divine harmony. I wondered whether the
_Orissa's_ fife might not have had something to do with the saraband of
the wild waves we encountered. I lay the doubt before the directors of
the Company.
One thing is certain; at dawn, with no music at all, and (remarkable
coincidence) with a sea that had suddenly calmed down, we entered the
Santos River. A long arm of the sea between low-lying shores ending
in a vast bay framed in high mountains; marshy plains covered with a
tangle of tropical vegetation, or a low line of hill buttresses; all
that is visible of the land seems to be sending upwards to the blue
sky its tall shoots of foliage, which testify to the effect of the
vivifying orb on the quivering sap of the tropics. On all sides, under
the swaying lacework of green leaves, there appeared brightly painted
cabins, which set a note of bold colour in the sea of verdure.[42]
_Pirogues_ made from the hollowed trunks of trees and painted in the
crude tones beloved of savages glide up and down the transparent
waters. Nothing here that recalls Europe. This is where the curtain
rises on the New World. Shadowy forms, in strange draperies, pass to
and fro before the little cabins whose colouring gives them a strong
resemblance to children's toys, and then suddenly disappear as though
swallowed up in the luminous mystery of all this foliage. The relative
proportions of all things are new here. Nature has broken her usual
limit in these countries and developed immoderately, leaving man, by
comparison, dwarfed and insignificant. Too small, he appears in a world
too large. But already he is engaged in taking a revenge, as is shown
by the disappearance of the yellow fever from the marshes of Santos. We
know that no other town has been more cruelly tried. The simple fact of
drying up the marshes when the harbour was building sufficed to destroy
the scourge. The low shores of Santos Bay are still covered with salt
marshes where little scarlet crabs clamber amongst the brushwood, but
every trace of fresh water has disappeared, and we know that it is only
in fresh water that the dangerous mosquito can live.
The _Orissa_ moored alongside the quay, amongst the large cargo-boats
down whose yawning holds long lines of porters were flinging bags
of coffee. Each in turn advanced with alert step along the swinging
plank, and as soon as the man in front of him had deposited his sack
the same movement of the shoulders, repeated immediately after by the
man behind, gave an uninterrupted cascade of yellow bags,[43] falling
from the docks, where were heaped the mountains of berries, to the vast
bosom of the ship. You, who, like me, have heard Creole laziness abused
a thousand times, learn that the "lazy" Brazilian only relaxes this
hard labour for the period strictly necessary for rest; and not even in
the hottest part of the summer, when the sun is at its fiercest, does
he indulge in so much as a _siesta_. In Brazil, indeed, the _siesta_
is unknown. I do not mention the fact in order to reproach Europeans.
My only intention is to do justice to the toilers whose reputation has
suffered at the hands of the ignorant and foolish.
To return to Santos. We are impelled towards the quay in the first
place by a strong desire to penetrate to the very heart of the
marvellous landscape, and scarcely taking the time to shake the French
hands outstretched to us on the landing-stage, we set out for the beach
of Saint Vincent. Oh, surprise! A French hotel, all white, and redolent
of the modern watering-place, where there awaits us a table decorated
with orchids. But behold a tramway that runs to the end of the beach!
In these countries to be in a tramcar is to be in the open air. So
we follow the wide curve of silvery sand, bordered with villas whose
gardens are enchanting with flowers and unexpected plants, whilst on
the rocks of the small wooded islets, a cable's length from the shore,
high waves are breaking stormily to melt softly away at our feet. The
first impression is one of vigorous vegetation. In my first delightful
surprise it seemed this could never be surpassed. We stop at Saint
Vincent, and then return.
According to the legend, it was in the little Bay of Saint Vincent that
Calval with his warriors and monks first landed on these shores, thus
discovering Brazil, which it only remained to conquer and convert.
Naturally the event has been commemorated in stone and bronze. But
Calval himself has reminded us that, if we would land in time, we must
first catch our boat. A hasty lunch, and we are again on board the
_Orissa_, which to-morrow at sunrise will enter the bewitching Bay of
Rio.
The entry is triumphal in this inland sea encircled by high mountains,
with bristling summits like rocks in battle array, but relieved by
sunny shores, with flowery and mysterious islands, where the dazzling
lights of sky and sea are blended under the sensuous sunlight in the
clear shade of lofty leafage. At four o'clock I was already on deck.
Haze, a fine rain--there will be nothing visible at all. Jagged rocks
emerge from the mists, which all at once conceal them from view. We
are moving through a cloud. Two forts, the São João and the Santa
Cruz, guard the entrance for the sake of appearances. In one of the
recent revolutions they bombarded each other for a whole month for the
entertainment of the inhabitants of Rio, who used to come out to the
quays of an afternoon to criticise the firing. At the moment they are
in a spasm of peace. Farther away, we are shown the soft outline of
the _Minas-Geraes_, the redoubtable _Dreadnought_ which--but we must
not anticipate the story. Then come the hideous steeples of Gothic
sugar-icing which the Emperor Dom Pedro II. felt himself called to
place on the most ridiculous palace that ever disgraced a small island.
We stop here, for the quays are not sufficiently extensive for us to
draw up alongside. Now we can see the town, with its spots of bright
colour on the misty background of swelling green hills. We have reached
Rio de Janeiro--the January River--so called by the first comers from
Portugal, who took the bay for a river as the Spaniards had done for
the La Plata estuary. Perhaps in January--that is, in the height of the
summer--these explorers had like us the excuse of a fog, for tropical
vegetation is only possible when there are alternations of rain and
sunshine such as the climate of Rio abundantly supplies. It is the
rarest of phenomena to see the horizon perfectly clear. The distance
is invariably wreathed with a light haze which softens the violence of
the colours. After the fierce sun, a refreshing rain; after the shower,
the joy of warm light. For the moment we are enjoying a fog. A bark
hails us, the national flag flying at her bows. She brings a delegation
from the Senate, with their Speaker at their head, come to offer a
brotherly welcome to their French colleague. Next arrived the brother
of the President of the Republic, who acts as his chief Secretary, and
who was accompanied by an officer of the military household of the
Minister of the Marine. Many complimentary speeches were made as usual,
and a handful of brother journalists followed, having among them M.
Guanabara, editor of the _Imprensa_. What touched me most was the way
in which they all spoke of France and her _rôle_ of high civilisation
which she plays in the world. The President of the Senate, M. Bocayuva,
whose son is just now Brazilian _chargé d'affaires_ in Paris, is a
Republican of the old school and unanimously respected by all parties.
One realised as one listened to the heartiness with which he called up
a picture of the moral authority of France that he was in close harmony
with the traditions of the French Revolution. In this way are we in
full communion of mind and heart with the main currents of thought
and feeling which are carrying the nations of the world towards the
better forms of justice and liberty. Here in Brazil, too, I shall find
once more my country, as I quickly discovered in the course of the
conversation I had with Señor Bocayuva during our drive from the Farou
Quay to the handsome house which the Government has done me the honour
to place at my disposal.
The sun had scattered some of the fog by the time we reached the
Avenida Central, a magnificent highway which would be the pride of
any capital city,[44] and as the motor-car sped swiftly down it or
along that equally fine promenade above the quays jutting into the
bay, whose features now grew gradually visible, and the gay villas
with their frame of gorgeous foliage, we got a highly attractive view
of the town, softly caressed on one hand by the luminous waters with
their ever-changing horizons, and on the other, ever threatened by
invasion of the tropical forest, struggling with the eagerness of
the builder, whose efforts are ever hemmed in by parks and gardens
and trees of all sorts that spring up from the soil at haphazard,
evidences of the irresistible force of life that is here in Nature.
Since the day when the sea brought man to the country, the struggle
for existence has continued between the encampment of the budding city
and the impenetrable thickets that ever repelled the invader. On the
spurs, the ledges of the round green hills, everywhere the painted
cabin has obtained a footing facing the bay, cutting out for itself
with the axe openings through which may enter the daylight. Below,
the town, which spreads out to the beach, would appear to be cut up
by the farthest buttresses of the mountain range, and, pending the
time when they will be tunnelled, the _Flumineuse_[45] will still
be obliged to make many a long _détour_ to reach any given point.
But why linger in the city, except to mention the Municipal Theatre,
which cost far too many millions, and the pleasing Monroe Palace built
for the Pan-American Congress? Even the parks, whose extraordinary
trees draw loud exclamations of surprise from us every minute, cannot
compete in interest with the forest. We can never get tired, however,
of the wondrous promenade on the quays, seven kilometres in length,
and presently to be doubled. Following the graceful lines of the sea
front, with its array of flowers, whence at every moment we get a
new view of the bay, we drink in the ineffable light that makes the
sea palpitate and the mountain leap in a single voluptuous rhythm.
In the distance a white line, Nicterchy, the capital of the State of
Rio (40,000 inhabitants); at the entrance of the bay the tall cone of
granite known as the "sugar-loaf"; then the green islets, the rocks,
the mountains that melt in the blue gauze of the horizon, and if you
turn round, the high "Corcovado," hovering over the city, from whose
summit the whole expanse of the bay will be revealed to us--rapidly
changing scenery whose excess of living quality defies pen or pencil.
The infinite variety of the Rio Bay (140 kilometres in extent[46]) with
all its hidden indentations in which lie screened from view so many
richly wooded shores, where new forests are in process of formation, is
beyond all possibility of description. I have said enough: I have seen
it, and my dazzled eyes will not soon forget the picture.
My first visit was, of course, to the President of the Republic, who
was about to yield his place to Marshal Hermès da Fonseca, whose visit
to Lisbon, planned in all ignorance, was destined to coincide with
the Portuguese Revolution. A warm reception from Señor Nilo Peçanha,
who showed me round his fine park, where royal palms which are one of
the glories of Rio de Janeiro form a gorgeous avenue down to the very
shores of the bay. The Baron de Rio Branco (a family ennobled under the
Empire),[47] Minister of Foreign Affairs since 1902, was at one time
Consul-General in Paris. He knew many of our public men and received me
with the cordial simplicity of a friend. "The Baron," as he is commonly
designated, enjoys sovereign authority in all matters pertaining to
the external policy of the country. Friends and foes unite to leave
him a free field in this respect, and all unite, too, in praise of his
remarkable talents as diplomat. He does not conceal the fact that
his sympathies are with France, though his admiration is reserved
for Germany. The German Military Mission to Brazil was his idea, but
it came to nothing. Some one in his immediate entourage told me he
considers the German instructor to be specially capable of instilling
into Brazilian troops the sense of military duty. Too many instances
of insubordination--some very serious--have indeed shown the urgent
necessity for such teaching. But can Señor de Rio Branco really think
it possible to instil into the mind and manners of a democracy the
doctrine of absolutism in military duty such as William II. has laid it
down in repeated public utterances? If such absurd stress had not been
laid upon the supposed rivalry between the States of Saint Paul and Rio
de Janeiro, I believe that Baron de Rio Branco must have admitted like
every one else the merits of our admirable French Military Mission to
Saint Paul, of which I shall have occasion presently to speak again. If
I may speak freely, I do not consider it diplomatic for France to leave
so important a post as Rio for more than one year in the hands of a
simple _chargé d'affaires_, no matter how experienced.
Whatever happens, two features in the Brazilian character will to
my thinking remain predominant. They are democratic idealism and a
consequent innate taste for French culture. This was brought powerfully
home to me at the official reception with which I was honoured by
the Senate. This demonstration was carried by a vote that was almost
unanimous, there being only one against.[48] In a public sitting, the
speaker chosen for the occasion seated me on his right hand and then
made in French a noble speech, in which after the usual compliments he
declared that his country also upheld the glorious traditions of the
French Revolution. Then a senator from the Amazon, Señor Georges de
Moraès, got up to speak, and, also in French, delivered an admirable
harangue on the _rôle_ of French culture in the general evolution of
civilised society towards social justice and liberty. This oratorical
effort was frequently interrupted by the unanimous applause of an
audience quick to grasp the crisp outlines of our splendid dogmas of
Latin idealism. This magnificent homage to my great country, coming
from the highest representatives of the noble Brazilian democracy,
itself invariably attuned to the realisation of humanitarian justice,
touched me profoundly, and I could but say how great was my joy to
hear my nation spoken of with the respect and gratitude due to the
grandeur of its action on the world. I wished I had at my disposal the
same eloquence to express, in my turn, the deep gratitude I felt for
this movement towards France, whose history has, by some fate, been
so grievously checkered by many painful conflicts. What encouragement
there is for us in this brilliant demonstration of disinterested
cordiality! What hopes for the future may be founded on this bond of
union between peoples working equally in the cause of democracy, and
towards a great and universal peace based on the rights of man in all
civilised continents! I endeavoured to make this clear, and the simple
words of brotherly friendliness that sprang to my lips roused unanimous
applause from the benches of the august assembly. I wish I could have
done better. I trust my good intentions will speak for me. Never did I
feel so strongly the influence of the loftiness of human nobility and
its power to raise our minds to the highest aspirations after justice
and liberty. Before bringing the sitting to an end the President called
for three cheers for France, for President Fallières, and for the guest
of the Senate. And all the assembly on their feet, with the gravity of
suppressed emotion, gave three times the cry of "_Vive la France!_"
amid the applause of the spectators.
I am sorry to say I cannot speak of Brazil in the way I should like. I
was there only three weeks, just long enough to recognise how great an
interest is attached to all the developments of this marvellous land in
the different departments of human intellectual and physical activity,
but far too short a time to warrant any opinion of the prominent men
I met there, or on the multiple questions which are raised by the
political and social progress of this democracy. I was able to converse
with only a few politicians, and in my anxiety to see everything, I
touched on too many subjects in too brief a space to have succeeded in
assimilating the very complex impressions which might have enabled me
to speak with some degree of authority. I can therefore only offer to
the public a few rapid impressions for which I claim only the merit of
sincerity.
When I said that the ancestor of my friend Señor Acines de Mello
had given a performance of Voltaire's tragedies in his home, 1400
kilometres from the coast, in 1780, it sufficed to show that neither
general civilisation nor French culture is a new thing in Brazil.
The Republic of Brazil is an "ancient" Latin community which can
show titles of intellectual nobility and lofty social ambitions.
Its economic development, if less sudden in origin than that of the
Argentine, is none the less remarkable in all respects and holds out
no less hopes for the future. Coffee, india-rubber, timber, sugar,
cotton, rice, and mines are a source of wealth that the future will
reveal. There are immense stretches of country that are and must long
remain unexplored. The effort of a fine race has too long been held
in check by slavery, but its incessant activity has already produced
astonishing results. For numerous reasons, one of the principal being
the domination of theocracy, neither Spain nor Portugal has up to the
present been able to give in modern Europe the full measure of their
force. In South America they are making ready a magnificent revenge,
which, however, will not, I hope, prevent their taking and keeping
in Europe the position that is their due. If I may venture to make a
hasty judgment from what I was able to see, the distinctive traits in
this people would appear to be an irresistible force of impetuosity
in an invariably gracious guise, and every talent necessary to insure
the fulfilment of their destiny. I have spoken of the crossing of the
race in the Argentine, where the black element has been re-absorbed.
It is not the same in Brazil, where at every step one comes across the
African half-breed amongst the masses. The Portuguese woman and the
negro seem to get on well together, as is evidenced by the innumerable
young half-breeds to be seen in their serene bronze nudity at the doors
of the cabins. It is difficult to estimate the general results of
this mixture. The negro has the reputation of being idle, childlike,
and kind except in his outbursts of rage. As I have said before, the
vice of laziness cannot be imputed to the Brazilian. It may be that
African blood is partly responsible for the demonstrations of emotional
impressionability and unexpected violence that sometimes take hold of
the populace. I dare not carry this argument too far. Yet, to my mind,
the mutiny of the crews of the _Saint Paul_ and _Minas-Geraes_, as of
the troops of marines in barracks in the island of Las Cobras, was
largely due to the excitable African blood. The "governing classes"
seem untouched by this infusion of blood. But for some reason or other,
their virtues and their defects seem remarkably well adapted to the
corresponding characteristics of the masses. Idealists with a cult
for intellectuality, equally ready for higher culture as for the hard
labour without which nothing is ever achieved, gentle and violent by
turns, or even simultaneously--the variable sons of this soil, less
disunited, however, than one might suppose, may invoke in their favour
with a just pride a work already grandiose though but a feeble embryo
by comparison with what it must in time become.
In every department of modern activity Brazil need have no fear of the
criticism of Europe, for she possesses men comparable with any of our
chiefs of industry. Even a short visit suffices to show that there is
no lack of either intellectual quality or business method. But the
field is so vast that it would need innumerable legions to fully occupy
it. Considered in this light, every effort appears totally inadequate
in comparison with its immense possibilities. Admirable labourers they
are, none the less, hard at work, in their modesty and perseverance,
with no wish to spare themselves, and asking nothing from the struggle
with inanimate Nature but ground for fresh hope. Does this imply that
in certain directions of public action there is no wavering visible?
How happy would modern society be if this could be said only of Brazil!
Politicians are never in very high favour with the intellectuals of
a country. I will say nothing against either the one or the other.
The celebrated retort: "'Nothing' is a wide field: reign there!" may
with some slight modification be applied to the most gifted of men
when they persist in riding the eternal hobby of the ideal heedless
of earthly conditions. Some of the problems with which humanity has
wrestled for centuries have been solved by a single illuminating word
uttered in calm authority by men who would not have shone in _rôles_
that call for a gradual development of character. Politicians, on the
other hand, whatever their shortcomings--and I must acknowledge that,
in a moment of trial, they are frequently disappointing--have yet this
merit, that they play the labourer's part. They have to handle every
kind of problem, not to find a graceful solution that will delight the
intellectuals, but to extract therefrom certain conditions of private
and public life which according to events may make the fortune or
misfortune of the public. It may be that in Brazil they are too much
attached to the higher culture always to give sufficient consideration
to the common necessities of our daily life. It may be that they are
too intrinsically Latin always to be able to resist the temptation of
rushing events. These defects, if they really exist, are being cured.
The politicians with whom I had an opportunity of exchanging views,
both at Saint Paul and at Rio de Janeiro, would bear comparison,
whether as regards culture or systematic firmness in action, with any
in the world. An aristocracy had grown up around the person of the
Emperor, the last remnants of which are now being fast submerged in
the current of democracy. I shall mention no names, for I do not want
these hasty notes to bear the smallest resemblance to a distribution
of prizes. Let me only mention one case--a very rare one in Latin
nations--of a leader who is universally obeyed. I have no doubt that
Señor Pinhero Machado possesses all the qualities of a leader deft in
handling men, but it is less his talents that astonish me than his
self-abnegation, which has brought into line so many politicians of
Latin temperament.
The more momentous political questions of the day relate to
organisation, there being no room for any serious attacks on principles
that have been proclaimed and incorporated in the Constitution of
the Republic. It is in practice that difficulties are apt to occur.
The Empire showed a marked tendency towards centralisation.[49] The
Republic, being, like the United States, a federation of States, is
based on the theory of pure autonomy. But if the autonomy of these
States is to be more than a vain word, some way must be found of
constituting in each province of a territory which is eighteen times as
large as France, and contains twenty millions of inhabitants unequally
scattered over it, a sufficient force of intelligent determination to
create a select governing body which will express the intellectual
and moral capacity in the masses; otherwise democracy becomes only
tyranny disguised. In some States, notably in that of Saint Paul,
there is obviously a superabundance of energy. In others there is not
enough. Time and community of effort can alone remedy this condition
of affairs. Meantime, the balance is destroyed, and the Constitution
enjoys principally a theoretic authority. It is inevitable that the
result should be some confusion in Press[50] and Parliament, although
the strife is rather one of dogma than of action, and lies principally
between Federals and Unionists.
Religious questions are practically outside the public domain. The
separation of Church and State in Brazil goes with a papal nuncio,
by means of whom South American innocence supposes the fact adds a
distinction which should dazzle the outer world. I fancied that some
of the public men viewed the activity of the religious Orders with
apprehension, but I will say nothing further on the point.
Laws for the protection of agricultural and industrial workers are
here unknown. The Brazilian Republic will want to place itself on
an equality with other civilised countries on this head as soon
as possible, for already a number of colonists in lands where the
administration has shown itself slow to take action have protested so
loudly against the grave abuses that result that some Latin countries
have been obliged to forbid emigration to Brazil. Take heed lest the
States invoke their sovereign rights, which would be tantamount to
declaring the central authority void. This throws light on the obstacle
which now confronts progress on these vital questions--namely, the
lack of an adequate Constitution in some of the States for the work
of self-government, and of balance between those which have already
a highly perfected civilisation and the districts theoretically on a
footing of equality, but whose black or Indian population can only
permit of a nominal democracy stained by those irresponsible outbursts
which characterise primitive humanity.
As might be expected, the same remarks could apply to public
instruction. There is in certain States--as, for instance, Saint
Paul--a magnificent group of schools which respond to the general
consciousness of a pressing need for the spread of higher education; in
other parts there is a lamentable deficiency.[51]
It was, moreover, inevitable that the Federal Government itself should
suffer from the unequal distribution of its military effectives. The
State of Saint Paul is justly proud of an armed force which it owes to
French instructors. I need not criticise the Federal army, which is
officered by men of fine public spirit; but all agree that the force
needs reorganising. There is no question, of course, of preparing for
war; but the public interest requires that a military force should
be at the disposal of the Government, capable of enforcing obedience
to the laws. To me it seems more urgent than the acquisition of
_Dreadnoughts_, which swallowed up millions of money and gave nothing
but mutiny in return. Naval discipline necessarily suffered by the
amnesty imposed by men who had just massacred their officers. As
we know, this deplorable incident was followed by a mutiny amongst
the marines stationed in the island of Las Cobras, which, however,
for once, was severely put down. I inspected this body of troops at
the manoeuvres arranged for my visit. The young officers gave me an
excellent impression, and the barracks certainly left nothing to be
desired; but there were far too many coloured men in the ranks.
Who can tell the effect produced on these impulsive natures by the
capitulation of the public governing body before a military rebellion?
The rebels cruelly expiated the faults of others by adding thereto
their own.
As regards municipal administration, the greatest services have been
rendered to the city by the Prefect, who interests himself especially
in his schools amongst a long list of other duties. But the man who
deserves the most from his country is Dr. Oswaldo Cruz, who has devoted
himself to the improvement of the sanitary condition of the city and
has instituted a service of sanitary police stationed at every point of
contamination, and who, by dint of unwearying labour, has freed Rio of
yellow fever. The Government has lent him generous pecuniary assistance
in his work, but what is money without the man's perseverance and
zeal? As we know, the disease is propagated by the sting of the female
mosquito (the _Stegomya calopus_) just before the egg-laying season. In
1903 Dr. Oswaldo Cruz, having obtained from Congress all the necessary
powers, began his fight with the fearful scourge. A body of sanitary
police, organised by himself, was charged with the mission of getting
rid of all stagnant water in the streets, houses, courtyards, gardens,
roofs, gutters, and sewers, and from all other spots where the larvæ of
the _stegomya_ could exist. In this he found material assistance in the
scheme of public improvements then being carried out in the city--the
building of the quays,[52] the drainage of marshy land, destruction of
insanitary houses, cutting of new avenues, etc. In the course of the
first year of these sanitary works there were 550 deaths from yellow
fever; in the following year the number fell to forty-eight, and for
the last three years not a single case has been recorded. Needless to
say, the sanitary police brigade are continuing their duties, and in
all parts of the city and in all the houses every trace of standing
water is swept away. This constitutes a never-ending tyranny; but the
result is the complete purification of a city which was once a den of
pestilence, and is now one of the loveliest ornaments of the planet!
Dr. Oswaldo Cruz was making ready to go to the Amazon, which is in a
specially wholesome condition; he had already fulfilled a mission there
last year. He will now complete the task of general sanitation already
started, for which the Congress has furnished the necessary funds.
This, perhaps, is the most important part of his project, for it will
throw open an immense region of unlimited productiveness to every sort
of civilised activity.
Such a work would suffice to the glory of any one life, but Dr. Oswaldo
Cruz is one of those men who are capable of continuing indefinitely
their labours. The ex-pupil of the Pasteur Institute was anxious to
endow his country with a similar school of therapeutics and prophylaxy.
In a picturesque loop of the bay there stood a small building which
was used by the engineer of the prefecture in the burning of rubbish.
Dr. Oswaldo Cruz has transformed it into the _Institut Manguinhos_
(Institute of Experimental Medicine), with the special mission to
study infectious and parasitic diseases in men and animals, as well as
hygiene, and to prepare the different serums which modern therapeutics
has adopted. It was hardly necessary, perhaps, to add all the
_fioritura_ of Moorish architecture to a building intended for studies
that call for no flourish of trumpets; still, there is something
about these fanciful lines which harmonises agreeably enough with the
natural arabesques of the prodigal learage. The institute aims at
supreme perfection, and supplies having been furnished without stint,
the results place it beyond comparison. Vast laboratories, comfortable
studies, fitted up with all the latest appliances; operating-rooms for
animals, with the most complete surgical outfits, disinfecting-rooms,
vacuum machinery; lifts everywhere, gas, electricity, pipes for water
and for compressed air; library and magazine-room, with all foreign
periodicals properly classified; separate buildings for the study of
infectious diseases and the preparation of the corresponding serum.
Each building has its own stable, so constructed as to be readily
sterilised, with boxes permitting a close watch over the animal as
well as feeding him without opening the door; and its own hall for
experiments and laboratory, a furnace to destroy all refuse, electric
generating engines, etc.
A group of young Brazilian _savants_ were at work under the guidance
of Dr. Oswaldo Cruz and two German bacteriologists. One of them, Dr.
Chagas, a Brazilian, is well known in the world of science for his
studies in bacteriology and parasitology. There is an immense field
open, for tropical diseases are still uncharted, whilst in the field of
marasitic diseases of men and animals there is fully as much to learn.
The _Mémoires de l'Institut de Manguinhos_ are published in Portuguese
and in German. I was struck by the effort that the Germans are making
to draw towards themselves the medical corps of the country. The heads
of the laboratories and their assistants had all been brought from
Germany, and their scientific method had been cordially accepted. At
the Berlin Exhibition a first prize had justly been awarded to the
Manguinhos Institute. Of late years two French _savants_, MM. Marchoux
and Salimboni, of the Pasteur Institute, have been charged by the
Brazilian Government with a mission to study yellow fever. To-day two
of our army veterinaries are investigating the _morve_ at Rio.
But it is time to leave the abode of the Mosquito Killer (_mata
mosquitos_), as Dr. Cruz is nicknamed. The sun is mounting above the
horizon. In the enchanting light of the bay there are now revealed to
our gaze the serrated outlines of the soft shores where the intensely
profuse vegetation runs riot, the glowing masses of bare rock which
rise high above the water to meet the sun against the filmy background
of the distant mountains, and, lastly, the islands with their rippling
masses of rich verdure, which spring skywards like an offering from the
sea.
Impossible to pass the Island Viana by in silence. On the neighbouring
island Señor L----, the descendant of a French family, has set up
his dockyards for naval construction, which he took us to see with a
modesty that was not without a point of legitimate pride. I shall not
describe what is well known. There was a surprise in store for us,
however, in the form of a colony of Japanese labourers working in wood
and metal, and learning in this distant land a trade to be practised
later in their own. Most diligent of workmen, remarkable by their
gravity and steady application. Amongst them, tool in hand, one of
those small boys whose oblique eyes we have learned to know by heart
through the picture-albums of Nippon; dumb, motionless, the whole of
his mind concentrated with intense force on the work in hand, this
child of some ten years is taking a demonstration lesson in technical
work that, as you see by his attitude, he is determined to profit by.
I would rather have seen these little chaps playing at ball. I seem to
see them as they show themselves to us, gathering up all their powers,
even at the threshold of life, in order to take possession of the
future. I was told that in the evening schools they accomplish wonders.
The day's work ended, Señor L---- crossed a short arm of the sea and
landed in his own island of Viana, where he has laid out a large park
which at the same time satisfies his love of the beautiful and of
comfort. Each member of the family has a house to him- or herself--and
what a house!--English, or perhaps American in style, with the finest
supply of light and air provided by great bay windows opening upon
that immense expanse of sea framed in beflowered shores and broken by
high blue peaks which lose themselves in the sky. Kitchen-gardens,
flowery meadows, lawns, groves, woods--there is nothing wanting, and
each in turn is planted in the best possible way to take advantage of
the splendours of the views. And to make Viana a world in itself, all
the loveliest birds of Brazil are to be found in this earthly paradise;
and the supreme magnificence of the Brazilian types of winged and
feathered creatures repays in beauty what man's munificent generosity
daily distributes. Here within reach of my hand a large yellow bird
is pouring out its mad and merry song, while two toucans, with their
exaggerated beaks, light up with gold and clear sapphire hues the sober
green of the thicket. I pretend to try to catch them; they barely feign
a retreat. Eden before the Fall! I congratulate Señor L---- on the
artistic way in which he spends the money he succeeded in making in
business--two talents that are seldom found together.
"It is all very well," he murmured in reply, "but you see what happens.
My wife prefers Paris, and my children, who might have found here, at
twenty minutes' run from Rio, a worthy occupation for their time, have
elected to try their fate in the unknown. My eldest son is in New
York. _Ma parole!_ I believe he sells seltzer-water there, or something
of the sort. What do you think of that?"
I said nothing. But I thought to myself that in the pursuit of
happiness not even the most favoured escape some setbacks.
FOOTNOTES:
[42] In Brazil there are none of the half-houses of the Argentine and
Uruguay. The Brazilian eye loves, on the other hand, bright colours.
The houses are therefore daubed with blue, yellow, and red, which
harmonise as they may with the green background.
[43] A sack contains 60 kilogrammes.
[44] Like Florida in Buenos Ayres, Ouvidor in Old Rio still remains,
notwithstanding its inadequate dimensions, the principal business
thoroughfare of the town.
[45] The _Flumineuse_ is the native of Rio. There is no excuse for
people who, knowing that there is no river in Rio, yet insist on being
named after a stream (_flumen_) that is non-existent.
[46] The Rio harbour, built by the English for a French company,
represented in 1907 eight millions tonnage entered and cleared.
[47] The father of Baron de Rio Branco, Minister under the Emperor
Dom Pedro II., is the author of the Law of the _Ventre Libre_, which
emancipated all slaves to be born in the future. In remembrance of this
measure, which preceded the abolition of slavery, a statue has been
raised to him in one of the Rio parks.
[48] The vote of a senator belonging to the Church party.
[49] The Emperor Dom Pedro II. is kindly remembered. Every one speaks
of him with respectful sympathy.
[50] The Rio press is not so fully equipped for news items as the
European or American papers, but it is literary in tone and occupies
a worthy place in the Corporation. The largest circulation is claimed
by _El Commercio_. The _Imprenso_, whose editor is Alcindo Guanabara,
Member of the Brazilian Academy and deputy, is, with _El Pais_, one of
the most important party sheets.
[51] We must do justice to the effort made by the Brazilian Government
to extend education. According to an article in their Constitution,
the "unlettered cannot vote," but I will not swear that the rule is
severely applied. In each State the primary schools are supported by
the municipalities and States themselves, as are also the training
colleges. There are too many calls on the strength of the youth of
a new country for secondary education to be very enthusiastically
welcomed. On the other hand, the different institutions of higher
education attract the rising talent of the land.
[52] At Santos, one of the most severely tried, yellow fever was
entirely stamped out by the building of the quays, which drained off
the marshes.