cidentally throw light on the social economics of the Brazilian planter. The priest of to-day believes himself to have fallen on an evil time—that of political independence; and he sighs when he recalls the days of King John VI., for then more masses were required than time sufficed to perform. Now, in order to live, the padre must include many farms in his curacy; and he is often obliged to eke out his stipend by such secular devices as dealing in cattle or mules, or even that of keeping a venda, or store. He performs low-mass every Sunday and fête-day; generally the ceremony is conducted in a warehouse or barn, with a table for an altar, a muleteer as sacristan, and a choir of negroes who contribute some indescribable music. These rustic services, together with the task of baptising the infant negroes, are all the duty that the planter requires the padre to undertake on behalf of his slaves. The priest, although always ready to attend on the freeman for a fee, does not trouble himself with ministrations to the dying negro, nor with any post-mortem services on his behalf. This apparent indifference is not to be attributed to want of feeling, but, on the contrary, may be traced to the mild temper and loose theology of the Brazilian priest. He thinks that the negro having been admitted within the pale of the Church by baptism, his sins may be expiated by his life of hardship and toil, so that for the black, confession and penance are unnecessary. The Brazilian padre is generally married; perhaps to this happy circumstance may be attributed some of the tenderness of his sentiments. Unlike his brethren of Europe, he is not habited like an inquisitor, but dresses like the rest of the Creoles; and his presence must often be an acquisition to the society of the fazenda, for he converses, smokes his pipe, or even dances like the rest of the world.
The medical profession has of late years risen considerably in the estimation of the Brazilian planter, and that owing to very practical reasons. Since the stoppage of the foreign slave-trade the price of negroes has reached a ruinous rate, and in proportion the preservation of their strength, and the prolongation of their lives has become to the planter an object of great solicitude. On every plantation stands an infirmary, with negress nurses and a dispenser of drugs always in readiness. Some of the larger fazendas have a resident doctor, but generally two or three neighbouring planters maintain one conjointly. The proficiency of the surgeons has risen with the increased demand for their services, and new chairs of medicine have been established in the universities of the eastern cities. Epidemics frequently rage in the provinces of Brazil, and at those times the planter spares neither trouble nor expense in his efforts to meet the emergency. The hospital staff is then doubled, a caravan of negroes is sent off into the forest to gather medicinal herbs, and frequently the planter sends for a more skilled doctor from Rio or Bahia. Nor are the efforts of the planter confined to his own dependants. The hospital is opened to all in the neighbourhood, bond or free, who happen to be sick; and should the senhor hear of some poor, proud freeman dying in his roncho (hut), the doctor is sent off on horseback to try to save him.
This solicitude on the part of the planter cannot be attributed solely to his self-interest; his zeal bears evidence of a deeper motive than that. So it is due to the Brazilian Creole to accord to him not only praise for his hospitality, but also the merit which is due to his sincere though impulsive philanthropy. For the rest, he does not forget that he is a slaveholder, and he insists on prompt obedience, and exacts all the labour from the slave which his frame can support, or that his listless will can be induced to perform. Only the needful physical wants of the negro are supplied, and in all minor matters of treatment the slave and his family are at the mercy of a brutal overseer.
Nothing has yet been said here of the senhoras of the Brazilian provinces. To leave them without description illustrates their social position. In deference to a sentiment of excessive jealousy, which the senhor inherits from his early Portuguese predecessors, the women of the fazenda are generally kept in something like Eastern seclusion. They necessarily suffer through their continuous exclusion from the proper position of woman; and in some cases the intellectual faculties of the senhoras are reduced nearly to the mental level of the negresses, who are their sole attendants.
This sketch of the provincial Brazilians has so far referred principally to the semi-civilised and agricultural portion of the population. It has included two of the original races from which that population has sprung,—the Creole of European origin, and the negro of direct African descent, together with the product of both—the mulatto, who now forms a distinct class. There is a third group, however, an original stock of the Brazilians of the interior, which must not be forgotten,—that is, the aboriginal Indian; and with him should be named the hybrid race of mamelucos, or guachos, who chiefly inhabit the south-western provinces of Brazil. This half-wild but energetic people sprang at first from unions between the native women and the early Portuguese invaders, after the Indian warriors of the coast and on the larger rivers had been exterminated. The mameluco is perhaps the most skilful horseman in the world; and with his terrible lasso he is master of the buffalo, the jaguar, and the wild horse of the pampas. His skin is naturally dark, and his countenance sunburnt with constant exposure—his eye glistens as if with an untameable light; but he is not cruel in nature, and his habits and manners are far above those of the savage. Gradually the mameluco has become an important producer, and ultimately he may be gained to the side of civilisation. Formerly, he only hunted the wild cattle for sake of the hides; later, he learned to cure and preserve the flesh, which, under the name of carna seca, is sold as a regular article of provision throughout South America; still more lately, he has begun to melt and sell the tallow. Some mameluci become men of substance, owning herds of cattle and troops of half-tamed horses. In some districts they own flocks of sheep; but as the sentimental occupation of a shepherd does not suit their restless temperament, the guardianship of the flock is entirely entrusted to dogs, which they train with remarkable success.
