CHAPTER XXIII.

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of this last have happened in other countries than Brazil, and will probably continue to happen until railways are superseded by other modes of travel and transportation.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.

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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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:

"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?"

"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.

"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.

"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.

"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.