Part 2

Brazil was discovered April 22, 1500, by Pedro Alvarez Cabral, a Portuguese explorer, but no definite attempt was made to settle it, or assume governing power by the Portuguese until 1549, fifty-seven years after Columbus had been to America, when Portugal awoke to the great possibilities of the country and dispatched her first Governor General in the personage of Thome de Souza.

During the century following the arrival of its first constituted governor, Brazil became the scene of numerous attacks and invasions on the part of the French, Dutch and British, each one desirous of acquiring portions of its territory, having been attracted by the current stories of its great wealth and latent resources. For a time both France and Holland established themselves in a small way within its boundary, but ultimately abandoned their outposts.

From 1640 to 1808 Brazil was governed by a Viceroy, who resided in Rio de Janeiro. The victorious armies of Napoleon and their progress across the Spanish Peninsula ultimately caused King John to abandon his capital in Portugal and flee to Brazil, where he established himself in Rio de Janeiro (in 1808), and ruled Portugal from this one of his possessions. This is the only instance in history of any portion of Europe ever being ruled from the western continent. When peace came to Europe, King John returned, leaving Brazil under the regency of his eldest son Dom Pedro, who in 1822, proclaimed Brazil independent of Portugal, and established himself in power as Emperor, the first and only instance of such a form of government in South America. Dom Pedro was forced to abdicate in 1831 in favor of his son Dom Pedro II, who after reigning through a regency assumed the throne on becoming of age in 1840. It is unnecessary to detail the causes that led to the bloodless revolution of November 15, 1889, which ended his reign and by means of which Brazil proclaimed herself a republic, adopting a constitution patterned after our own and a government comprising a President, with legislative powers vested in a Congress composed of two bodies, a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies.

Brazil is so immense, situated between the fifth degree north and the thirty-third degree south, and its topography so varied that it has all kinds of climates excepting extreme cold. Lying in the temperate and tropical zones one would incline to the belief that it would be more or less warm, but its many rivers and mountains, its high table-lands and plateaus exert a beneficial influence in this regard and materially modify what otherwise would be extreme degrees of heat.

More than half of Brazil is an elevated plateau, varying from 2000 to 3000 feet in altitude. It has four distinct mountain ranges, which deflect its rains and form vast watersheds for irrigating the fertile lands at their base. The eastern and central portions are elevated while the chief characteristics of the north and west are its fertile plains and valleys.

The coast of Brazil straggles along for over 5000 miles and is provided with numerous natural harbors, where the earlier settlers established cities which have grown and prospered, the principal ones from the north to the south being Belem, or Para, San Luiz, Parnahyba, Fortaleza or Ceara, Natal, Parahyba, Recife or Pernambuco, Maceio, Aracaju, São Salvador or Bahia, Victoria, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, Paranagua, São Francisco, Rio Grande do Sul and Porto Allegre. As a rule each of these ports is the terminus for a railway system penetrating the interior, designed solely for the purpose of bringing the products to market and carrying supplies and necessities to the part of the country dependent upon it. There are practically no trunk or interstate lines, but plans are now formulated to overcome this condition.

Manaos is an inland port of Brazil, famous as a trading depot and one of the centers of the rubber industry. It is located on the Rio Negro, at its mouth where it empties into the great Amazon, one thousand miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and maintains direct steamship connection with the United States and Europe as well as the other ports of Brazil.

Perhaps no other country in the world is so well provided with rivers as Brazil. The mighty, muddy Amazon, the greatest river in existence, practically traverses the country from east to west in its 3850 miles journey to the sea. Some idea of its strength and volume may be gained when I state that its yellow waters color the Atlantic for over 100 miles beyond its mouth, and freshen the salt water for a distance of 180 miles. Emptying into this Queen of Rivers are more than 200 tributaries, over 100 of which are navigable, the famous Rio Roosevelt or River of Doubt forming one of the number. There are over 10,000 miles of navigable waterways for ocean vessels and 20,000 miles for light-draft boats.

Brazil is a pastoral country and the indications are that it will always remain so. Its vast savannahs and fields have formed ideal locations for raising cattle and sugar, while its mountain sides and plateaus are unparalleled for the growth of its staple product—coffee, the average yearly crop of which is the enormous amount of 1,596,000,000 pounds. Rice, cotton, sugar, tobacco, matte (a species of tea for native use), mandioca (a starchy tuber from which a bread is made much liked by the native) and cacao are also extensively grown. India rubber, the use of which was early known to the Indians of Brazil, to whom it is indebted for its name, is the second leading product of this remarkable land. The tree, the juice of which produces this twentieth century necessity, grows wild in the northern portion of the country, although it can be successfully cultivated. No effort is made to preserve the trees when once tapped, and the rubber prospectors are continually going farther and farther into the interior in search of new districts. The trees are from three to twelve feet in diameter, of slow growth, indigenous to the region of the Amazon and its tributaries, growing wild, scattered through the jungles and tropical shrubbery.

The forests of Brazil are practically virgin. They abound in dye, cabinet and hard woods and the opportunities for the development in this field alone are enormous. Due to the fact that the country has a wonderful series of aqueous arteries the transportation problem to mills and markets is easily solved and the waterpower can be used in preparing the timber for shipping.

Brazil has at present more local factories than all the other Latin American countries combined, forty per cent. of her manufactured articles being cotton goods, which find a ready market. In the Federal District of Rio de Janeiro, five of these mills have eight thousand operatives, producing yearly about 80,000,000 yards. Petropolis has four mills and São Paulo twenty-five with a total output of nearly 100,000,000 yards. The number of establishments in this industry alone amounts to 3664, giving employment to 168,760 hands, with a total yearly output of 275,000,000 yards of goods.

Of late the shoe-making industry has developed extensively. In 1913 there were in all of Brazil 4524 factories employing ten or more operatives, with a total invested capital of $18,857,000. These plants are nearly all operated by American machinery, many of them under American superintendents, the demand for American equipment being sufficiently large to warrant the big shoe machinery and shoe-finding houses of New England in maintaining their own offices and carry their own stock in the larger cities devoted to this business.

Brazil is wonderfully rich in mines of precious and semi-precious stones. Among the semi-precious stones to be found are achroite, actinolite, agates, amethysts, analcime, anatase, andalusites, anthophyllite, apophyllite, apatite, aquamarines, cymophane, citune, columbite, desemine, iolite, jasper, opals, ruby, sapphires, spinel, topaz, tourmalines. There are many deposits of minerals, such as copper, iron, silver, gold, arsenic, barium, bismuth, cinnabar, cobalt, galena, manganese, nickel, platinum, tin, and wolframite. There are also rich veins of asbestos, coal, soapstone, sulphur, salt, marble, mica, and evidences of petroleum.

Gold has been mined in Brazil for over 300 years, the principal deposits being in the State of Minas Geraes. A mine near the Honario Bicalho station produced from 1888 to 1912, over $26,000,000 worth of gold and as late as 1911, paid a dividend of 10 per cent. An English authority has estimated the total output of gold to date from all mines at $1,000,000,000.

Brazil is reputed to be the second largest diamond-producing country in the world, the Brazilian stone being considered fifty per cent. better than others owing to the constant attrition it has undergone in prehistoric days. At one time more than 40,000 men were employed in this industry in Minas Geraes alone. The best diamond fields extend from 10 degrees to 25 degrees south latitude and many enormous and high-grade stones have been discovered, the total amount exported in 175 years or up to 1903, being estimated at four tons. Edwin Streeter in his book on precious stones, says that “The State of Minas Geraes produced in the first twenty years 144,000 carats. Up to 1850,—5,844,000 carats worth $45,000,000 were sold and some $10,000,000 stolen from the mines by employes.” As an evidence of the fact that these mines are still productive, there were registered 456 claims in 1909 in the Diamanta Districts, which produced $1,000,000 worth of gems. In 1911 there were registered in the State of Minas Geraes 437 claims.

Travel along the coast and to the cities located on the railway lines is comparatively convenient and comfortable although very expensive. In the interior and from the beaten paths it is difficult and filled with hardships.

Living is high—much more so than in the larger cities of the States or Europe. Hotels are far from the standard one is accustomed to in towns of corresponding size, throughout the world—a statement equally true of all Latin America.

At first the monetary system of Brazil may confuse one, its currency being on the gold exchange basis. A _milreis_ is the unit of value and while it is subject to fluctuation, may for all practical purposes be reckoned as worth .33⅓ cents, or three _milreis_ as the equivalent of a United States dollar. The symbol for the unit is $ and the value of our dollar would be expressed thus 3$000. A _conto_, or about $333.33 would be written 1000$000. The banking of Brazil is chiefly controlled by the British, while Germany is their closest competitor, both France and Italy being represented each by a bank. The National City Bank of New York has recently established a branch in Rio de Janeiro, with sub-agencies throughout Brazil, so that direct exchange on New York may now be bought.

Brazil imported in 1913, $326,428,509 worth of goods, of which sum the United Kingdom supplied $79,881,008; Germany, $57,043,754; United States, $51,289,682; France, $31,939,752; Argentine, $24,293,712.

In the same period of time she exported goods to the value of $315,164,687, the United States taking about one-third of the total amount or to be exact, $102,652,923; Germany, $44,392,410; United Kingdom, $41,701,815; France, $38,685,561; Holland, $23,252,700.

The United States should do a much larger trade with Brazil owing to a preferential duty allowed our nation due to the fact that we are the largest consumers of her leading staple—coffee. According to government decree No. 9323, of January 17, 1912, flour imported from the States pays 30 per cent. less duty than if imported from any other land, while dried fruit, condensed milk, typewriters, rubber articles, and supplies, scales, refrigerators, cement, corsets, school furniture, windmills, watches, desks and printing inks, pay 20 per cent. less duty than similar articles imported from other countries.

Brazil exports coffee, rubber, hides, skins, cacao, tobacco, salt, cotton, sugar, woods, nuts, precious and semi-precious stones and gold. She imports foodstuffs, shoes, machinery, textiles, building woods, ammunition, wheat, automobiles, vehicles, codfish, dried fruits, glass, toilet articles, building and kitchen hardware, cement, scientific instruments, iron and steel, enamelled ware, paints and varnish, haberdashers’ goods, cottons, hats, corrugated iron, galvanized iron, tools, condensed milk, stationery, pipe, printing material and presses, electric machinery and supplies, typewriters, nails, screws and rivets.

American fruits are much in demand in Brazil, and an excellent market exists to-day for apples. Potatoes, onions, beets, garlic and other fresh vegetables would also sell well and a lucrative trade in these necessities of life could be developed without any great effort. The refrigerator ships running from the Argentine to New York with meat could carry as return freight these perishable cargoes at a low rate.

Steamship connections between Europe and the United States, with Brazilian ports are numerous and sailings comparatively frequent and as a rule the accommodations are all that could be desired. From New York the Booth line (English) has two steamers a month to North Brazil and Amazon River towns, touching at Barbados, Para and Manaos, with a ship every six weeks to Iquitos, Peru. One steamer goes each month to North Brazilian ports including Parnahyba, Natal and nearby localities. The United States Steamship Line (American) has one vessel monthly for Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and Santos, freight being redistributed at these ports for intermediate points. The Lloyd Brazilleiro Line (Brazilian) maintains a semi-monthly service between New York and Natal, and Parahiba; and Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, and Santos, with occasional service to other larger ports. These boats do not as a rule carry passengers. They also maintain a service along the smaller coast towns and the rivers leading into the interior of Brazil, even having regular sailings from Asuncion, Paraguay, for Brazilian river towns. The Lamport & Holt Line (English) has weekly sailings from New York to Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Santos, generally stopping at Trinidad and Barbados, West Indies, on their trip north. The Prince Line (British) touch once a month at Rio de Janeiro and Santos, carrying freight chiefly. Other vessels of this line make monthly calls at Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Santos. Numerous tramp ships also sail from American ports on the eastern coast of the States to Brazil.

Brazil has 15,272 miles of railways, federal, state and private, over many of which tickets which correspond to our mileage books are issued, for the convenience of the travelling public. Many new lines are in process of construction or contemplated, and a very decided effort is being made to unite the various main lines by connecting roads, so that the entire republic, including its most remote districts, may be thus reached.

The leading cities, which should be visited for business purposes, are:—

_Population_ Rio de Janeiro 1,128,000 São Paulo 450,000 Bahia 300,000 Belem or Para 250,000 Pernambuco 200,000 Porto Allegre 125,000 Mañaos 60,000 Santos 45,000 Campinas 40,000 Ceara 40,000 San Luiz or Maranao 40,000 Parahiba 32,000 Nichteroy 30,000 Florianopolis, or Desterro 27,000 Rio Grande do Sul 20,000

Some of the States and municipalities of Brazil have a special tax for commercial travellers, which varies from year to year, concerning the payment of which arrangements can be best made when on the ground. A small tax is also levied on trade samples, presumably to be refunded when leaving the country. It is advisable to learn how best to handle the situation from travellers with whom you will meet en route. As a rule, all of these are mere matter of detail and can be advantageously arranged, through the proper channel.

III ARGENTINE

Juan Diaz de Solis in 1508 discovered the Rio de la Plata, otherwise known as the River Plate, while searching for a southerly passage to the Pacific Ocean. In 1525 Sebastian Cabot entered the river and gave it the name it now bears, at the same time erecting a fort near its mouth. A wealthy Spaniard, Pedro de Mendoza, in 1536, in exchange for certain landed rights and governmental privileges, established what is now the present city of Buenos Aires.

It is unnecessary for the purposes of this book to do more than state briefly that the conditions imposed by Spain on all its colonies were outrageously unjust and caused much dissension. Efforts to progress were throttled and the friction between the mother country developed until the conquest of Spain by Napoleon, which gave the many Spanish colonies that had become thoroughly satiated with disgust and contempt for the Madrid Government, a chance to rebel and establish themselves as independent nations. Taking advantage of the condition in Europe and having in mind the successful revolution of the American colonists, the people of Argentine, Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile revolted, and after much fighting finally drove the Spanish troops from their shores. May 25, 1810, the people of Buenos Aires declared their independence. A Congress was held in Tucuman on July 9, 1816, the result of which was the more complete unification of the Argentine people under the title of the United Provinces of the La Plata River. The government in 1860 adopted as its national title “The Argentine Nation” by which it now prefers to be called.

Few know that the British had covetous plans upon this really wonderful country and twice invaded it, once in 1806, and again in 1807. After their fleet had bombarded the capital, the troops landed, and were both times thoroughly defeated, some of the English battle flags which were captured still being exhibited in Buenos Aires.

The government of the Argentine Nation is patterned after that of the United States of America, and has a constitution similar in its important features. There are three branches of government, executive, legislative and judicial; the legislative power being vested in a Congress composed of a Senate and a House of Deputies. The executive power is vested in a President and Vice-President elected as those of the United States, each holding office for the period of six years. Of late the Government has been very stable and there have been less tendencies to overthrow the authorized power than in most Latin American countries. By a treaty with Chile in 1881, the great territory of Patagonia, to the south of the Argentine, was divided between these two nations.

Argentine covers an area of 1,153,418 square miles, or about one-third as large as the United States. To be more specific it is as large as Texas, and all of our territory east of the Mississippi. It is bounded on the north by Bolivia, and Paraguay, on the west by Chile, on the south by a portion of Chile and the Atlantic Ocean. Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay, together with the Atlantic Ocean which washes its shores for more than 1500 miles, constitute its eastern boundary. Over 700,000,000 acres of its land is admirably adapted for cattle raising and the growing of cereals, a fact which argues much for its future development and prosperity.

Its population is variously estimated at from 6,000,000 to 9,000,000 but it can with safety be placed at 7,000,000, a little less than 25 per cent. of its inhabitants residing in the city of Buenos Aires, which has 1,700,000 citizens, a rather unusual condition of affairs. The early settlers of the Argentine were of course Spaniards and their descendants form the bulk of the population to-day. There are comparatively few blacks or mixed breeds, slavery having been abolished in 1813, while the Indians and aborigines are scattered along the frontier. Early in its history Argentine encouraged emigration from Europe, using as an inducement the free grant of public lands, which proved especially attractive to the Italian and Spaniard. In fact the preponderance of the Italian in the business and social life, due to this movement has had a noticeable effect on the Spanish language as spoken in this country. From 1857 to 1913 the total of newcomers amounted to 4,781,653, many of whom became landholders and began at once to contribute to the growth and wealth of the country. The population to-day is 7.8 persons per square mile as against 32.31 per square mile in the United States. More than 300,000 persons migrate to this country each year.

The chief characteristic of the physical formation of the Argentine is its vast pampas or plains stretching from the Rio de la Plata to the west, terminating in the foothills of the Andes, or the Cordilleras. Perhaps no part of the earth’s surface has such flat, smooth, treeless plains as here confront the traveller. The climatic conditions, owing to the fact that it extends over thirty-four degrees of latitude, vary from tropical in the north to practically arctic coldness in the south, the seasons being the reverse of ours,—that is, they have winter when we have summer and vice versa. The greater portion of the country is in the temperate zone, the summers being very hot and the winters typified by heavy rains, especially in the eastern portion, diminishing toward the west where there is often much drought. In the extreme south, in what was formerly Patagonia the heavy snows of winter take the place of rains, which together with the warm summers produce a luxuriant growth of grass, especially adapted for the grazing of sheep.

The Argentine has for some years been one of the granaries of the world and as its available land becomes cultivated is destined to play a more important rôle in this field. Some idea of its rapid development may be gained from the fact that in 1904, 26,000,000 acres were under cultivation, while in 1913 over 60,000,000 were sown. Wheat is of course its chief cereal, last year over 17,000,000 acres being cultivated. The Argentine Agricultural Department states that for the same period of time there were 12,000,000 acres in corn; 4,000,000 in oats and 15,000,000 in lucerne or alfalfa, proportionately large territories being planted with barley, sugar, grapes, rice, cotton and tobacco.

This country has been the second largest linseed producing nation of the world, yielding first place to India. Last year nearly 6,000,000 acres were devoted to the growing of this seed alone.

Comparatively little attention is paid to truck gardening or the raising of kitchen vegetables, fruits or berries, and this offers a remarkable opportunity to one versed in the subject. Conditions for growing these necessities are most favorable but have been neglected in the efforts made to develop other sources of revenue.