Brazil is a much larger and more populous country than Argentina. Its
area (3,209,878 square miles) is as large as that of all the United
States, less half of Alaska. A great portion of this area is of
superlatively tropical richness of production. But, unfortunately, the
most fertile parts of Brazil are the parts least fit for settlement by
white men. The population by the last census is approximately
14,500,000, but less than 4,000,000 of this population are pure
whites. The negroes that were lately slaves number over 2,000,000, and
there are supposed to be about 1,000,000 Indians. Intermediate between
the Indians and negroes and the white population are the numerous
mixed races or half-breeds. Agriculture is the chief industry, but is
of two kinds: the tropical agriculture of the central and south
central seaboard, which is carried on principally by negro and mulatto
labour, and the agriculture of the temperate region of the extreme
south, which is carried on mainly by colonists from Europe, the recent
European emigration being almost wholly directed toward that region.
Almost the whole of the interior of Brazil still remains unsettled and
untilled. The COFFEE yield of Brazil is enormous and is its principal
product. The production amounts to 8,000,000 bags or over
1,000,000,000 pounds annually, which is more than two thirds of the
total amount of coffee used in the world. Labour for coffee
cultivation is scarce and dear, and in the earlier stages of the
production of the berry the Brazilian coffee gets badly treated. But
machinery is used wherever possible, and in the later stages of the
production the Brazilian coffee gets the best attention that skill can
devise. As a consequence the coffee product of Brazil is rising in the
estimation of coffee-users. The shrubs are cultivated under palm-trees
so as to keep them from the intense heat of the sun. Three or four
harvests of berries are obtained in a year. Rio Janeiro and SANTOS are
the two chief centres of the coffee industry. Next to coffee the chief
tropical product is SUGAR, the export of which is about 250,000 tons
annually, principally from Pernambuco. Other products of the tropical
area of Brazil are COCOA and COTTON, from the cultivated coast
regions, and RUBBER and Brazil-nuts, from the dense forests of the
lower Amazon; also DYEWOODS and CABINET WOODS, drugs, and diamonds.
For many years Brazil was celebrated for its diamonds--obtained
chiefly from a town in the interior named Diamantina. The present
diamond production is not large. From the temperate agricultural
region of the south, dried beef, hides, and tallow are the chief
exports. The greatest customer of Brazilian produce is the United
States, which takes $70,000,000 worth. Great Britain is next, with
$35,000,000 worth (in rubber alone in 1896 $15,000,000). Brazil gets
her goods principally from Great Britain, the United States, France,
and Germany--from Great Britain $20,000,000, from the United States
$13,000,000. The imports include almost all articles needed for
domestic and manufacturing purposes--particularly cottons and
woollens, ironware, machinery, lumber, flour, rice, dried meats,
kerosene, butter, and fish. There are, however, 155 cotton factories
established in Brazil, with capital to the value of $50,000,000, and
cotton manufacturing is protected by very heavy duties. But
agricultural machinery and such like manufactures are very lightly
taxed. The principal food of the people is manioc flour (tapioca).