in fact, the management. These Juizes have the power of putting suspicious persons into confinement, and of punishing for small crimes; those of more importance wait for the Correiçam, or circuit of the Ouvidor of the captaincy. Each village contains a town hall and prison. The administration of justice in the Sertam is generally spoken of as most wretchedly bad; every crime obtains impunity by the payment of a sum of money. An innocent person is sometimes punished through the interest of a great man, whom he may have offended, and the murderer escapes who has the good fortune to be under the protection of a powerful patron. This proceeds still more from the feudal state of the country than from the corruption of the magistrates, who might often be inclined to do their duty and yet be aware that their exers would be of no avail, and would possibly prove fatal to themselves. The Indians have likewise their Capitaens-mores, and this title is conferred for life; it gives the holder some power over his fellows, but as it is among them unaccompanied by the possession of property, the Indian Capitaens-mores are much ridiculed by the whites; and indeed the half-naked officer with his gold-headed cane is a personage who would excite laughter from the most rigid nerves.

The Indians are in general a quiet and inoffensive people; they have not much fidelity; but although they desert, they will not injure those whom they have served. Their lives are certainly not passed in a pleasant manner under the eye of a director, by VOL LIX.

whom they are imperiously treated; consequently it is not surprising that they should do all in their power to leave their villages, and be free from an immediate superior; but even when they have escaped from the irksome dominion of the director, they never settle in one place. The Indian scarcely ever plants for himself, or if he does, rarely waits the crop; he sells his maize or mandioc for half its value, before it is fit to be gathered, and removes to some other district. His favourite pursuits are fishing and hunting; a lake or rivulet will alone induce him to be stationary for any length of time.

He has a sort of independent feeling, which makes him spurn at any thing like a wish to deprive him of his own free agency; to the director he submits, because it is out of his power to resist.

An Indian can never be persuaded to address the master to whom he may have hired himself, by the term of Senhor, though it is made use of by the whites in speaking to each other, and by all other free people in the country; but the negroes also use it in speaking to their masters, therefore the Indian will not; he addresses his temporary master by the term of amo or patram, protector or patron. The reluctance to use the term of Senhor may perhaps have commenced with the immediate descendants of those who were in slavery, and thus the objection may have become traditionary. They may refuse to give by courtesy what was once required from them by law. However, if it began in this manner, it is not now continued for the same reason, as none of those with 2 D

whom

RHODES

HOUSE

OXFORD

whom I conversed, and they were very many, appeared to know that their ancestors had been obliged to work as slaves.

The instances of murder committed by Indians are rare. They are pilferers rather than thieves. When they can, they eat immóderately; but if it is necessary, they can live upon a very trifling quantity of food, to which their idleness often reduces them. They are much addicted to liquor, and will dance in a ring, singing some of the monotonous ditties of their own language, and drink for nights and days without ceasing. Their dances are not indecent, as those of Africa. The mulattos consider themselves superior to the Indians, and even the Creole blacks look down upon them; "he is as paltry as an Indian," is a common expression among the lower orders in Brazil. They are vilely indifferent regarding the conduct of their wives and daughters; lying and other vices attached to savage life belong to them. Affection seems to have little hold upon them; they appear to be less anxious for the life and welfare of their children than any other cast of men who inhabit that country. The women however do not, among these semi-barbarians, perform the principal drudgery; if the husband is at home, he fetches water from the rivulet and fuel from the wood; he builds the hut whilst his wife takes shelter in sonie neighbour's shed. But if they travel, she has her young children to carry, the pots, the baskets, and the excavated gourds, whilst the husband takes his wallet of goat-skin and his hammock rolled up upon

his back, his fishing-net and his arms, and walks in the rear. The children are washed on the day of their birth in the nearest brook or pool of water. Both the men and the women are cleanly in many of their habits, and particularly in those relating to their persons; but in some other matters their customs are extremely disgusting; the same knife is used for all pur poses, and with little preparatory cleaning is employed in services of descriptions widely opposite. They do not reject any kind of food, and devour it almost without being cooked; rats and other small vermin, snakes and alligators, are all accepted.

The instinct, for I know not what else to call it, which the Indians possess above other men, in finding their way across a wood to a certain spot on the opposite side without path or apparent mark, is most surprising; they trace footsteps over the dry leaves which lie scattered under the trees. The letter-carriers, from one province to another, are mostly Indians, for from habit they endure great fatigue, and will walk day after day, with little rest, for months together. I have met them with their wallets niade of goat-skin upon their shoulders, walking at a regular pace, which is not altered by rough or smooth. Though a horse may outstrip one of these men for the first few days, still if the journey conti nues long, the Indian will, in the end, arrive before him. If a criminal has eluded the diligence of the police officers, Indians are sent in pursuit of him, as a last resource. It is well known that they will not take him alive; each

man

man who sees the offender fires, for they do not wish to have any contention. Nor is it possible for the magistrate to fix upon the individual of the party who shot the criminal; for if any of them are asked who killed him, the answer invariably is, "os homems," "the men."

It is usually said, that a party of Indians will fight tolerably well; but that two or three will take to their heels at the first alarm. Some of them however are resolute, and sufficiently courageous; but the general character is usually supposed to be cowardly, inconstant, devoid of acute feelings, as forgetful of favours as of injuries, obstinate in trifles, regardless of matters of import ance. The character of the negro is more decided; it is worse, but it is also better. From the black race the worst of men may be formed; but they are capable likewise of great and good actions. The Indian seems to be without energy or exertion; devoid of great good or great evil. Much may at the same time be said in their favour; they have been unjustly dealt with, they have been trampled upon, and afterwards treated as children; they have been always been always subjected to those who consider themselves their superiors, and this desire to govern them has even been carried to the direction of their domestic arrangements. But no,-if they are a race of acute beings, capable of energy, of being deeply interested upon any subject, they would do more than they have done. The priesthood is open to them; but they do not take

advantage of it. I never saw an Indian mechanic in any of the towns; there is no instance of a wealthy Indian; rich mulattos and negroes are by no means rare. I have had many dealings with them as guides and carriers, and subsequently as labourers, and have no reason to complain, for 1 was never injured by any of them; but neither did I receive any particular service, excepting in the instance of Julio. For guides and carriers they are well adapted, as their usual habits lead them to the rambling life which these employments encourage. As labourers, I found that they had usually a great inclination to overreach; but their schemes were badly made, and consequently easily discovered. I never could depend upon them for any length of time, and to advance money or clothing to them is a certain loss. If I had any labour which was to be performed by a given time, the overseer would always reckon upon his mulatto and negro free people; but did not mention in the list of persons who were to work, any of the Indians whom I was then employing; and on my speaking of them, he answered "An Indian is only to be mentioned for the present day," meaning that no reliance is to be placed upon them.

Like most of the aboriginal inhabitants of the western hemisphere, these people are of a copper colour. They are short, and stoutly made; but their limbs, though large, have not the appearance of possessing great strength; they have no show of muscle. The face is disproportionately broad, the nose flat, the mouth wide, the eyes deep and small, the 2 D 2

hair

hair black, coarse, and lank; none of the men have whiskers, and their beards are not thick. The women, when they are young, have by no means an unpleasant appearance; but they soon fall off, and become ugly; their figures are seldom well shaped. Deformity is rare among the Indians; I do not recollect to have seen an individual of this race who had been born defective; and the well-informed persons with whom I conversed were of opinion, that the Indians are more fortunate in this respect than any other race with whom they were acquainted. All the Indians of Pernambuco speak Portuguese, but few of them pronounce it well; there is always a certain twang which discovers the speaker to be an Indian, although the voice was heard without the person being seen; many of them however do not understand any other language. The Indians seldom if ever speak Portuguese so well as the generality of the Creole negroes.

It must be perfectly understood, that although there may be some unfair dealings occasionally of the director towards the Indian, still this race cannot be enslaved; the Indian cannot be made to work for any person against his inclina tion, he cannot be bought and sold. An Indian will sometimes make over his child, when very young, to a rich person to be taught some trade, or to be brought up as a household servant, but as soon as the child is of an age to provide for itself, it cannot be prevented from so doing; it may leave the person under whose care it has been placed if it be so inclined

Two Indians presented themselves at the gate of the Carmelite convent of Goiana, and requested and were permitted to see the prior. They put into his hands a purse containing several gold coins, saying that they had found it near Dous Rios; they begged that he would order a number of masses to be said in their behalf, which were to be paid for from the contents of the purse. The prior, admiring their honesty, asked one of them to remain with him as his servant, to which the man agreed. The friar was in the habit of going into the country to a friend's house to shoot. On one occasion, after the Indian had served him for some time, he left the convent, and took him on one of these expeditions, but when they were about half way, the friar discovered that he had forgotten his pow. der horn; he gave the key of his trunk to the Indian, and desired him to fetch the powder whilst he proceeded. In vain he waited at his friend's house for his servant, and on his return to the convent in the evening he heard that he was not there. He went immediately to his cell, supposing that he had been robbed of all his money, and whatever else the fellow could carry off; but to his joy he discovered on examination, that the man had only taken the powder-horn, two silver coins of about 48. value each, an old clerical gown, and a pair of worn-out nankeen pantaloons. This story I had from an intimate friend of the prior.

The free population of Brazil at the present time consists of Europeans; Brazilians, that is, white persons born in Brazil; mulattos,

that

that is, the mixed cast between the whites and blacks, and all the varieties into which it can branch; mamalucos, that is, the mixed cast between the whites and Indians, and all its varieties; Indians in a domesticated state, who are called generally Caboclos; and those who still remain in a savage state, and are called generally Tapuyas; negroes born in Brazil, and manumitted Africans; lastly, Mestizos, that is, the mixed cast between the Indians and negroes. Of slaves, I shall speak by-and-by more at large; these are Africans, creole negroes, mulattos, and mestizos. The maxim of the civil law, partus sequitur ventrem, is in force here as well as in the colonies of other nations.

These several mixtures of the human race have their shades of difference of character as well as of colour. First we must treat of the whites. The Europeans who are not in office, or who are not military men, are, generally speaking, adventurers who have arrived in that country with little or no capital. These men commence their career in low situations of life, but by parsimony and continual exertion directed to one end, that of amassing money, they often attain their object, and pass the evening of their lives in opulence. These habits fail not, oftentimes, to give a bias to their dispositions, which is unallied to generosity and liberality. They look down upon the Brazilians, or rather they wish to consider themselves superior to them; and until lately the government took no pains to remove the jealousy which existed between the two descriptions of white persons;

and even now, not so much attention is paid to the subject as its great importance seems to require.

The Brazilian white man of large property, who draws his descent from the first donatory of a province, or whose family has for some generations enjoyed distinction, entertains a high opinion of his own importance, which may sometimes appear ridiculous; but which much oftener leads him to acts of generosity,-to the adoption of liberal ideas,-to honourable conduct. If he has been well educated, and has had the good fortune to have been instructed by a priest whose ideas are enlightened, who gives a proper latitude for difference of opinion, who tolerates as he is tolerated, then the character of a young Brazilian exhibits much to admire. Surrounded by numerous relatives, and by his immediate dependants, living in a vast and half-civilised country, he is endued with much independence of language and behaviour, which are softened by the subordination which has been imbibed during his course of education. That this is general, I pretend not to say; few persons are instructed in a proper manner; and again, few are those who profit by the education which they have received; but more numerous are the individuals who now undergo necessary tuition, for powerful motives have arisen to urge the attainment of knowledge.

I have heard it often observed, and I cannot help saying that I think some truth is to be attached to the remark, in the country of which I am treating, that women are usually less lenient to their slayes than men, but this doubt

less