Latin History

captain Richard E Burton trauered 2,000 mites through Braz,, much of thejourney b1 canoe, from fune to rJouember laoz o, pnrt of a thire-yea, stay in the country. ir{::::'

firesident of the An,topotogicar sotcietl 0f Lindon, Burton was a meticurous

i1 LIFE OF A PLANTER, FROM BURTON, EXPLORAI,OI,S OF THE HIGHLAND OF BRAZIL The life of the planter is easiry told. He rises ar dawn, and his slave-varet brings himcoffee and wash-hand basin rvith ewer, both of solid sirver. After stroiling about themill, which often begins at 2 e.l.r- and riding over the esrare ro see that the hands arenot idling, he returns ben'een 9 and il wi"th his family, and if a bachelorwith hishead men, to breakfast. The sunny hours are passed either in a siesta, aided by a glassof English ale-there

::_.i::1. ,*ing Engtiih in it but tt . ,,u*._in reading thenewspapers, or in receiving visirs. l]he drnnJr is befween s,.r. u.r; a p.M._sometimeslater; it is invariably followed by coffee u'Jiouu..o. often tn"." i, anorher relay of

coffee before setting down to tea, biscuits and butter or conserves, and the day endswith chat in some cool place. The monotony of this vida de Frade-Friar,s rife-is broken by an occasional visit to a neighbot or to the nearest country town. Almost ail are excellenr sporrsmen, good rideis, and very fond of shooting and fishing. They are..a]so doctors, great ar administering sarsaparilla and other silples, and"at pre_ scribing diet. In Gardner's time Buchan's "Domestic Medicine',, translated into por_ tuguese, rvas the book; now the Formulary of Chernoviz must have made a littlefortune; it is part of our grandfathers. Homao.pathy throughout the Brazil is in high ?":."1-""a senerally preferred to the "old r.hool'l and th'e ;."g.,tu. mode of prac- tice". The choice is the result, I presume, of easy action upon tn! high nervous tem_peramenf of the race, and the chemist who deals in the similia similibus, makes more money than his brother the allopath.

* This is stiil the custom of rurkey, Egypt, and persia. on the Rio das verhas metal is preferred to the more frangitle Literial; for everywhere in the Brazil negroes break whatever they handle.

xx rhe establisher of homceopathy in the Brazil, who corresponds with Dr. B.Mure' a Frenchman, a most active ind energetic proselltizer, who'rvorked the press*.th ::y:"ned energy. 'you and I are rhe o.rly *.., who iove homcopathy for its own

sake," Hahne..r".r.r ruid to him. He died I beiieve on the Red sea, riding his favourite hobby-horse towards and for the benefit of India. The ,,Instituio Hom.opatico do Brasil" published his "practica Elementar," and it has reached several editions.

RichardF Burton, Exph^rationsof theHightnndsof BrazitwithaFullAccounrof theGolland.Diamond.Mina.Yol.II: Greenwood, l969. London, Tiniley Brot'hers, lg6g.

INDTANS, FRoM KosrER r-:;r;;;;; ;;^;;;""" """-

The Indians of these villages, and indeed of all those rvhich I passed through, are Christians; though it is said that some ferv of them follow in secret their orvn hea- thenish rites, paying adoration to the maracri, and practicing ail the customs of their religion. \Ahen the Roman Catholic religion does take root in them, it of necessity degenerates into the most abject superstition. An adherence to superstitious rites, whether of Roman Catholic ordination or prescribed by their own undefined faith, ap,Pears to be the only part of their character in rvhich they shotv any constancy. Each village has its priest, who is oftentimes a vicar, and resident for life upon the ipot. A director is also amached to each village, who is supposed to be a white man; he has great power over the persons lvithin hisjurisdiction. If a proprietor of land is in want of workmen he applies to the director, who agrees for the price at which the daily la- bor is to be paid, and he commands one of his chief Indians to take so many men, and proceed with them to the estate for rvhich they are hired. The laborers receive the money themselves, and expend it as they please; but the bargains thus made are usually belorv the regular price of labor. Each viilage has nvo juizes ord,inaries or may- ors, who act for one year. one juizis a lvhite man, and the other an Indian; but it may easily be supposed that the former has, in fact, the management. These juizeshave the porver of putting suspicious persons inro confinement, and of punishing for small crimes; those of more importance u'ait for the correi7door circuit of the ouiidor of the captaincy. Each village contains a to\lTr hall and prison. The administration of justice in the sertd.o is generally spoken of as most u'retchedly bad; every crime ob- tains impunity by the pa)ment 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 power- ful patron. This 6iroceeds still more from the feud.al state of the country than from the corruption of the magistrates, rvho might often be inclined to do their dury and yet be aware that their exertions would be of no avail, and would possibly prove fatal to themselves. The Indians have likervise their capitiies-m6res, and this title is con- ferred for life; it gives the holder some power over his fellows, bur as it is among them unaccompanied by the possession of property. . . .

The Indians . . . lives are certainly not passed in a pleasant manner under the eye of a director, by rvhom they are imperiously treated; consequently it is not sur- prising that they should do all in their power to leave their villages, and be free from an immediate superior; but even rvhen they have escaped from the irksome domin- ion of the director, they never settle in one place. The Indian scarcely ever plants for himself, or if he does, rarely rvaits the crop; he sells his maize or manioc for half its value, before it is fit to be gathered, and removes to some other district. His favorite pursuits are fishing and huntins; a lake or rir,ulet rvill alone induce him to be sta- tionary for any length of time. He has a sorr of independent feeling, which makes him spurn at any thing like a rvash to deprive him of his or,vn free agency; to the director he submits, because it is out of his porver to resist. An Indian can never be persuaded to address the master to rvhom he may have hired himself, by the turn of Senhor, though it is made use of by the rvhites in speaking ro each other, and by all other free people in the countv; but the Negros also use ii in speaking to their mas- ters, therefore the Indian rvill not; he addresses his temporary master by the term of

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a\lrc or partdo, protector or patron. The reluctance to use the term of Senhor may perhaps have commenced with the immediate descendants of those who rvere in slavery and thus the objection may have become traditional. They may refuse to give by courtesy what was once required from them by law. Horvever, if it began in this manner, it is not now continued for the same reason, as none of those with whom I conversed, and theyrvere very many, appeared to know that their ancestors had been obliged to work as slaves.

The women however do not, among these semi-barbarians, perform the prin- cipal drudgery; if the husband is at home, he fetches water from the rin-rlet and fuel from the wood; he builds the hut while his wife takes shelter in some neighbor's shed. But if they travel, she has her yottng children to carry, the pots, the baskets, and the excavared gourds, while the husband takes his rvallet of goatskin 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 men and the women are cleanly in many of their habits, and particu- Iarly in those relating to their persons.

Henry Koster, Trauek in Braztl. Carbondale: Southern University Press, 1966. London, 1 81 6.

German Carl Sartorius (1796-1872) migrated to Mexico in 1824, nentually settling in the state of Veracruz, where he ouned a sugar plantation. He became an aaid obsenter of the plants and animals of the region uith connections to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He wrote the book, in 1850, from which we haue taken a number of selections. Sartorius was not one to present a faaorable picture of the lower classes. But in his description of the modest Indian dwelling, one can almost detect ad,miration.

INDIAN DWELLING, FROM SARTORIUS, MEXICO ABOUT I B5O

The Indian's dwelling is in keeping with his simple person. In the rvarmer, weli- wooded regions he generally builds his hut of rvood. Unhervn logs support the beams and roof, are driven into the ground, and creeping plants which nvine around them, supply the place of frame-work. Strarv or palmJeaves constitute the roofing; the wails are made of sticks of bamboo, or slender stakes rvhich afford the light free ingress to the interior. The roof on one side is commonly prolonged into a porch, supported upon posts. This main building is ordinarily about twenty five feet long, and fifteen wide, without partitions within. A smaller one is often joined to this to answer the purpose of kitchen.

Upon the higher table-lands the houses are built of unburnt brick (also of stones plastered tvith mud) with a flat roof constructed of beams laid close together with a covering of finelywashed clay, which is stamped with great care. In the moun- tains one often sees roofs covered with shingles, and in the plains where the agave abounds, the flower-stalks and leaves of this plant are used for the purpose, while the walls-so-called dry walls-are built of stone without mortar.

Inside the hut, upon a floor of earth just as nature formed it, burns day and night the sacred fire of the domestic hearth. Near it, stand the metateand metalpile, a

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?t BURTON, EXPLORATIOI{S OF THE HIGHLANDS OF BRAZIL

I proceed now to give my account of the black miner as I found him at Morro Velho'

Without including 130 children of hired blacks, arid who are not under con-

tract, the establishment consists of 1450 head, thus distributed: company's blacks, 254 (1,09 men, 93 lvomen, and 52 children); cata Branca

blacks, Z+f Qg men, 87 u,omen, and 62 children); blacks' hired under contract, 951.

Generaliy in the Brazil men are preferred upon the sugar plantations, women

on those that grow coffee, and as they are wanted for domestic purPose it is not so easy to hire them.

The "Company's Blacks" consider themselves the aristocracy, and look dorvn

upon all their brethren. Both they and the Cata Brancas are known by the numbers

on their clothing. The figurei given belorv will show the average of hire: clothing, food, and med-

ical treatment are at the Company's expense. Usually the agreement is for three to

five years, during rvhich period the slave cannot be manumitted. As a rule the Super-

intendent employs only iobust men rvho have passed a medical examination, but he

will take in doubtful lives under annual contract. The slave is insured by a deduction

of 10$000 to 20$000 per annum for a fixed period; and ifhe dies before the lease has expired the onryrei still receives his money-there are actually eighty-nine cases of this kind. Pay ceases only if the negro runs alvay: it is issued every third or sixth month,

and the contractors can obtain one year'S advance, at a discount of ten per cent'

As regards labor, ali are classified according to their strength into first, second, and

third-rate blacks. In 1847 PelTnission to lvork overtime, that is to say, beyond nine hours

forty-five minutes, rvas given to the first-rates. There is another dir,'ision into surface and

unie.grour.d blacks. Th. fo.-". are smiths and mechanics, especially carpenters and

^^orri, rvho work besveen 6 A.M. and 5 P.M., rvith one hour forty-five minutes of inter-

mission for meals. The oldest and least robust are turned into gardeners, lvood-fetchers,

and grass<utters. The regular rvorking day at Morro Velho is as follorvs-

5 e.u. Reveill6 sounded by the gong, and half an hour afterwards the Review.

6 e.u. \A7ork 8.15 e.lrt. Breakfast 9 a..tvt. Work 12.30 p.lt. Dinner 1.15 p.r,l. Work 2 r.tvt. Change guard. Blasting in the mine. 5.30 p.u. Mechanic's work ended, 8.30 p.u. Return to quarters. The slaves cook their own meals and eat supper at home.

Saturday is a haif-holiday: they leave off work at 2.30 P.M., and retire at 9 P.M.

The underground laborers are borers, stope cleaners, trammers who push the

lvagons, kibble-filers, and timber-men: they are divided into three corps, who enter

the-mine at 6 A.u., 2 p.u. and 10 p.ru. on Sunday the gangs shift places, so that only

one rveek in three is night lvork. A rough estimate makes the number of the gang in

the mine at the same time 620, including all hands. When work is over they proceed

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to the changing-house, and find a tepid bath at all hours. They put on their surface- clothes, and leave the mine suits either to be dried in the open air, or by flues dur- ing the rains. The precaution is absolutely necessary though very difficult and troublesome to be enforced: the English miners shirk it, and the free Brazilians are the most restive, though they are well aware how fatal are lvet garments.

The blacks lodge in the two villages situated halftvay berween the bottom of the river valley and the Morro velho hill. Thus, while they escape malaria they are saved fatigue when going to, or coming from, v.'ork. They begin the day with coffee or Congonhas tea. Tireir weekly allorvance, besides salt'andlegetables, comprises 9lb. of maize meal, 4t4-5|b. of beans, 73Xoz. of lard, and 2lb. of fresh beef. Meat of the best quality here averages 3$000 per arroba, or twopence a pound, and the Iaborers purchase, at cost prices, the heads and hoofs, the livers and internals of the bullocks killed for the use of the establishment. The industries have their gardens and clearings: they keep poultry and pigs, fattened with bran, which they receive gratis. Part they eat, the rest they sell to procure finery and small luxuries. "Carne Seca" and farinha are issued when the doctor orders. Nursing women have some- thing added to the six-tenths of a plate of meal, one quarter of beans, and rwo ounces of lard, and children when weaned claim half rations. All the articles are of good quality, and if not a report is made to the Manager of Blacks.

Drink is not issued every day, nor may it be brought into the establishment. Awell-conducted negro can obtain a dram once per diem with permission of the chief feitor or overseer. Each head of a department has a supply of "restilio", which he can distribute at discretion, and the mine captain can give a "tot" to any negro coming rvet from duty. It is, however, difficult to correct the African's extreme fondness for distilled liquors, which in this light and exciting air readily affect his head, and soon prove fatal to him. He delights also in "Piingo," here called Ariri, the well-known Bhang (Cannabis sativa) of India, and of the east and west coast of Africa. He will readily pay as much as 1$000 for a handful of this poison.

I never saw negroes so well dressed. The men have rwo suits per annum-shirt, and overalls of cotton for the hot, and of woolen for the cold season; the "under- grounds" receive, besides these, a stout woolen shirt, and a strong hat to protect the head. Each has a cotton blanket, renewed yearly, and if his d.ress be woin or torn, the manager supplies another. The women work in shifts of thin woolen stuff, and. petticoats of stronger material; they usually wear kerchiefs round their necks, thus covering the bosom, and one shoulder, after the fashion of African "Minas", is left bare. In rvinter capes or fed broad-cloth are added to the Review costume.

The slave laborer is rervarded with gifts of money; he is allowed ieave out of bounds, even to Sabard.; he is promoted to offices of trust and of increased pay; he is made an overseer or a captain over his own people; at the Review he rvearistripes and badges of distinction, and he looks forward to liberry.

The chief punishments are fines, which negroes, like Hindus, especially hate; the penalties, which now amount to 400$000, have been transferred to charitable pur- poses, and swell a small reserved trust-fund, intended to support the old and infirm. Other pains are, not being allowed to sell pigs, poultry, and vegetables; arrestwithin the establishment or confinement in a dry cell, with boards like a soldier's guard-room; fugitives are put in irons. Formerly the manager and the head captain, who required implicit obedience from the 500 hands of the underground department, could order

?3 a flogging. This rvas abolished, not, I believe, with good effect. Every head of a depart- ment can still prescribe the "Palmatorio", but he must note and report the punishment to the Superintendent. Only the latter can administer a flogging u'ith the Brazilian cat of split hide; and this is reserr,'ed for confirmed drunkenness, disobedience of orders, mutiny, or robbing fellowrvorkmen. The punishment Iist is sent in every fortnight, and as a rule is small. I especially noticed the cir.il and respecLful demeanor of the Morro Velho blacks, rvho invariably touch their hats to a white stranger, and extend their hands for a blessing. They are neither impudent, nor cringing, nor surly, and, in my opinion, there is no better proof that they are 'rvell and humanely treated. I rvould here formally retract an opinion n'hich I once thoughtlessly adopted upon the rvorst of grounds, "gen- eral acceptation". The negro cannot live in the presence of the civilized man: the Brazil proves that unless recruited from home the black population is not more viable than the "Red Indian". His rule and "manifest destiny" are those of all sa'"'ages.

Richard F. Burton, Expbrations of the Highlands of Braziluith a FullAccount of tfu Gold. and Diamond Mines. \rol. II: Greenivood, 1969. London: Tinsley Brothers, 1869.

SLAVES ON THEIR OWN Not all slaue ounus employd their slaues on their own plantations. Many slaaes, particularll in the cities, worhed at aaious occupations and returned part of their earnings to their owners.

James Wetlrnel| the British Vice-Consulfor Bahia and then Para{ba, obsmted this phenomenon duringthe 1850s.

WETHERELL, STRAY NOTES FROM BAHIA

A Brazilian has slaves, he sends them out to lvork as different trades-to cultivate the land, to sell vegetables, to hire as servants, as boatmen, &c.-in fact, employs them in every way that servants or rvorkmen are required. The master directs the slave to pay him at the rate of, it may be, about one shilling a day; this frequently is the case, and ail the slave can raise above that sum r,vhich his master demands, belongs to himself. In the process of time those rvho are industrious raise sufficient money to pay the price their master values them at, and rvhen such is the case, the slave can claim his freedom. The produce of the labor of the slaves enables the master to live in idleness, and to call himself a gentleman in the proportion of his possessing fir'o to three, hventy to thirry, trvo hundred to three hundred slaves. In a country like Brazil, which produces anlL thing with a very small amount of labor, the land is comparatively neglected; because it is not absolutely required that it should be in a state of high cultivation, as the in- habitans can easily subsist rvithout such, and its very cultivation would cause them trouble, labor, and work, all of rvhich they detest. Thus, so long as the Brazilians can live at ease, without trouble to themsehles, they are content with the present aspect of affairs, careless of the future. The abolition of slavery would sweep away all this, and so, ofcourse, it is their interest, as far as personal feelings are concerned, to prevent it. These remark apply in a less forcible degree to the slave trade.

James \4'etherell, Brazil, Stray Notes from Bahia: Being Extracts from Letters, etc. during a Residence of Ftfieen Years. Liverpool: \{'ebb and Hunt, 1960.

74 THE SLAVE MARKET The inhumanity of slaaery uas nouhere ilhutrated more aiuid$ than in the markets whne slaaes wne bought and sold, oftm put on displ"q likc liaestock. The illustration below depicts a slaae market in Panambuco in Northeast Brazil. Notice thc beatings and threatming \ the guard.s and tfu distress of the Africans presumabfi rectnt$ aniued.

The document is an illustration from Maria Dundas Graham (Lady Maria Calcott) Jounalof aVoygetoBrazilandfusidenceThereDuringPartof theYears 1821, 1822, 1823. "Slaue market in Pernambuco" is the illustration.

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Maria Dundas Graham (Lady Maria Calcott) , Journal of a \/oyge to Brazil and fusidence 7'lrcre During Part ofthe Years 1821, 1822, 1823. NY: Praeger, 1969.

C. S. Stattard proxides a written record of a slaae sak.

SLAVE AUCTION, FROM STEWART, PERSO/VAI RECORD...

On one of these mornings, we entered a common auction-room for a moment, and accidentally stumbled on the humiliating and reproachful sight of a sale of men and women by a fellow man. Not the sale, as till r,vithin a few years past might here have been the case, of newly imported captives from Africa, but of natives of Rio, thus passing under the hammer from owner to owner like any article of merchan- dise. They were eight or ten in number of both sexes, varying in age from beyond

:< and girlhood to years of maturity and middle life. They stood meekly and sub- missively, though evidently anxious and sad, under the interrogations and ex- aminations of the bidders, and a rehearsal and laudation by the auctioneer of their different available rvorking qualities and dispositions: their health, strength and power of endurance. All, in their turn were made to mount an el- evated platform, to display their Iimbs almost to nakedness, and exhibit their muscular powers by various gymnastics, like a horse his movements and action, before the bidders at Tattersall's.

They were rapidly knocked down at prices varying from two hundred to a thousand and more milreis: that is, from one to five hundred and more dol- lars. As we turned away, the indignation of one of our party found vent in the

-exclamation: "Such a spectacle is a disgrace to human nature. It makes one sick at heart and ready to fear that in the retributive justice of the Almighty the time may come, rvhen the blacks here will put up the whites for sale in the same manner!" And why not? Why should the blood boil at the mere sugges- tion of the thought in the one case, and yet flow coolly and tranquilly on, in view of the other?

C.S.Stel'art, ThePersonalfucordof aCruise. NervYork: C.P.PutnamandCompanyI856.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT Equally as inhumane was the harsh treatment meted out by some slaae owners. Maria Dundas Graham described an instance or corporal punishment of slaaes.

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, FROM GRAHAM,

/OURNA L OF A VOYAGE TO BRAZIL 28th -

This morning before breakfast, Iooking from the balcony of Mr. S.'s house, I sarv a white woman, or rather fiend, beating a young negress, and twisting her arms cruelly while the poor creature screamed in agony, till our gentlemen interfered. Good Godl That such a traffrc, such a pracLice as that of slavery should exist. Near the house there are two or three dep6ts of slaves, all young; in one, I sarv an infant of about trvo years old, for sale. Provisions are now so scarce that no bit of animal food ever seasons the paste of mandioc flour, rvhich is the sustenance of slaves: and even of this, these poor children, by their projecting bones and hollorv cheek, show that they seldom get a suf- ficiency. Nolv, money also is so scarce, that a purchaser is not easily found, and one pang is added to slarery: the unavailing wish of finding a master! Scopes of these poor crea- tures are seen at differentcorners of the streets, in all the listlessness of despair-and if an infant attempt to crawl from among them, in search of infantile amusement, a look of pity is all the sympathy he excites. Are the pariots wrong? They have put arms into the hands of the new negroes, while the recollection of their own country and of the slave-ship, and of the slave-market, is fresh in their memory.

Maria Dundas Graham (Lady Ivlaria Calcott), Joumal of a Voyge to Brazil and Rzsidence Thne During Part of the Years 1821, 1822, 1823. New York: Praeger, 1969'

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