At last we reached a waterfall which was, it appears, the limit of our excursion. On our way back we came to a difficult crossing, and as my horse was even more exhausted than myself by the rough treatment he had given me, he was taken out of the shafts, and a swarm of some eleven negroes pulled and pushed me along, with bursts of laughter at their performance. But for their chuckles, I might have fancied myself some Roman victor arriving in triumph. It lasted only ten minutes, but I should have been covered with confusion had some chance cinematograph been on the spot to reproduce the scene. This misfortune was spared me. Thanks to the fact, I take the pleasure of holding myself up to ridicule.
The ceremony of inaugurating the Montmartre coffee-plant took place half-way. The operation is less difficult than might be thought. I climbed up a slope from whose top I could see rows of holes, with heaps of coffee-plants, their roots carefully wrapped up, and each in a small basket by itself, lying at intervals over the preparedground. One of these baskets with its young green stem was offered to me, I stuck it in the first hole that came handy, and thus the glory of Montmartre, like that of Brazil, reached its apogee.
I do not know what will become ofmycoffee enterprise at Santa Alda. It is more certain that Señor Soarès has begun to manure his land instead of merely scattering the shells of the berries over it. It is possible that the Brazilianfazenderoswill be a little worried by this example, seeing in it only a way of increasing expenses. But the established fact that Señor Soarès's coffees are in great demand seems a curious coincidence, for no one can suppose he amuses himself in this way for the fun of losing his money. When I left Santa Alda, I carried with me a pretty collection of canes made from the finest woods produced on thefazenda, and on board thePrincipe Umberto, which brought me back to Europe, I discovered a chest of coffee, which enabled me to give my kind hosts the authentic testimony of a consumer.
ThePrincipe Umbertois in every way like theRegina Elena, as indeed she ought to be consideringher origin. There are the same comfortable arrangements, the same excellent service, the same Latin courtesy from the officers. We had two adventures on the voyage. A madman threw himself into the sea one night. The siren shrieked the alarm. A boat put off but returned after a fruitless search. I was told that this was a typical "return" case. On the way out Hope holds us by the hand. To make one's way back, after disappointments, is for human weakness perhaps a sore trial. We do not all get to Corinth. Let us pity those who make this an excuse for never setting out. The commissary told me the story of one third-class passenger, all in rags, who deposited with him when he came on board the sum of 150,000 francs. There are evidently compensations.
The second adventure was more general in interest. It took the form of a strike among the coal-heavers of St. Vincent. The harbour, with its border of bare rock, lay still and deserted. A few saucy niggers dived for our edification after coins flung from the ship. But that was all, neither white nor black man appeared, for the order had been given that no one shouldcome off to meet us and we on our side were forbidden to land. We need not be astonished if the first lesson learnt by the blacks from their white "superiors" is that of violence preached by grandiloquent politicians, trembling inwardly with fear, but, none the less, tenacious in their inglorious arguments. The negroes have the excuse of having reached our civilisation late in the day. Are we too exigent when we implore the whites to preach by example?
We coal at Las Palmas, the capital of the Grand Canary. As other boats are there ahead of us, we are obliged to spend an entire day in harbour. We land, therefore. The "Happy Isles" have inherited from the ancients such a reputation that some disappointment is inevitable. Seen from the sea, the Canaries show only a cluster of arid rocks devoid of vegetation. Las Palmas is a picturesque town whose palms can but inspire an amiable benevolence in people who have seen Brazil. The country is purely African in character. Square white houses without windows, banana-groves down in the valleys, hills of calcined stones. After an hour or two along a road that is thick with dust, you reacha pretty restaurant standing in a garden whose exotic vegetation would be charming if one had never seen the Riviera. The canary of the islands that is said to abound revealed itself to me in the guise of a vulgar chattering sparrow. Yet the boatmen who boarded our ship offered authentic canaries in cages hung from a long rod, but I was told they had been procured from Holland. These birds have a particularly sweet song, and they sing to order, oddly enough. It is enough to shout to the seller, "Your canary does not sing," for the birds to burst into a flood of trills and turns. It is the triumph of a songster with the imitative faculty. Buyer and seller both are taken in and the greatestserin(canary, also used to mean "duffer") is not the one you might think.
Before I take my leave of the reader, I want to say a word for the creation of a line of fast ships making the journey between France and South America. So little space remains to me that I cannot treat the subject as I should like. The case is simple; formerly the French line was very popular, but it has allowed itself to be entirely outdistanced by other companieswho have built more rapid boats while we continue to send our old vessels over the sea. The contract held by the Messageries Maritimes expires in 1912. By some culpable negligence no steps have been taken to improve the service or even to continue it. The matter cannot rest there. If we are to enlarge our dealings with South America, it is of capital importance to France to have a service of rapid boats fitted up on the most comfortable of modern lines.
I shall venture to make a brief extract here from a report that I got my friend Edmond Théry to make out for me, since his authority in matters economic is universally known.
For the last twenty years there has been a prodigious increase of production and public wealth in the two Americas. This fact accounts for the enormously increased proportion of travellers to Europe drawn from North America, Mexico, Brazil, the Argentine, etc. The proof is that the luxurious hotels springing up anew almost daily in Paris and on the Riviera to cater for this class of customer are always crowded.
Brazil and the Argentine Republic have moreespecially profited by the rise in value of their land. In the course of the last ten years, from 1900 to 1909, their working railways have gone up from 14,027 kilometres to 19,080 in Brazil, and from 16,563 to 25,508 kilometres in the Argentine Republic.
These 13,998 kilometres of new lines (46 per cent. increase since 1900) have opened the door to agriculture, cattle-breeding, forestry, in immense and hitherto desert regions, and the results of this may be traced in the increase of their foreign trade:
Foreign Trade of Brazil and the Argentine Republic in Ten Years.
Thus during a short period of ten years the exports—i. e., the surplus of home-grown articles after supplying the needs of the country—have increased in value by 770 millions of francs, 90 per cent., for Brazil, and 1214 millions, or 157 per cent., for the Argentine Republic. As for the total value of the foreign trade of the two countries, it has risen 1071 millions of francs for the former and 2161 millions for the latter: in other words, an average of 107 millions of francs per annum for Brazil and 216 millions for the Argentine.
These startling figures show clearly enough the importance of the economic advance the two countries are making, and we may say that French capital has built up this prosperity.
We ought now to seek to retain the advantages to be drawn from our financial intervention in the new Brazilian and Argentine undertakings, and one of the best ways to attain this end is to make sure of rapid means of communication between France and the two great South American Republics, which shall be up-to-date in every way and luxurious enough to induce Brazilians and Argentinos to come to Europe and returnto their own country in French boats rather than in English, German, or Italian vessels.
Such means of communication are already in existence between France and the United States, but are wholly lacking in the direction of Brazil and the Argentine Republic.
The French boats which call at these stations have been a long time in use, and their fittings are in no sense in conformity with modern ideas of luxury such as the class of travellers to which I have already alluded invariably expects. As for their average speed, it certainly never goes beyond fourteen knots, for they make the journey from Bordeaux to Rio de Janeiro, with the different scheduled stops by the way, in a minimum of seventeen days, and if they go on as far as Buenos Ayres, in twenty-two days.
The distance between Bordeaux and these two ports being 4901 and 5991 nautical miles respectively, it is only necessary to have boats capable of doing twenty knots as an average, or twenty-three miles an hour, for the journey to Rio de Janeiro to be performed in ten days and five hours, and that to Buenos Ayres in twelve days fifteen hours.
There is nothing to add to this clear statement of the case.
And now, how can I resist the temptation to draw some sort of conclusion from these rambling notes, made with the sole desire to make use of the knowledge acquired for the benefit of French extension, and this in the interest of humanity at large? In every calling there is but one road to success—work. When Candide returned from Buenos Ayres, he brought back from his travels the lesson that we must work in our gardens. Since his days our gardens have grown considerably, and since we are ourselves the first elemental instrument for all work, the first condition of improvement must be the improvement of the material. Therefore let us work.
FOOTNOTES:[54]"Brazil," by Pierre Denis. Translated by Bernard Miall. London: T. Fisher Unwin.[55]The reader who desires further information will find it in the article written by my travelling companion, Dr. Segard, on the Butantan Institute.
[54]"Brazil," by Pierre Denis. Translated by Bernard Miall. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
[54]"Brazil," by Pierre Denis. Translated by Bernard Miall. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
[55]The reader who desires further information will find it in the article written by my travelling companion, Dr. Segard, on the Butantan Institute.
[55]The reader who desires further information will find it in the article written by my travelling companion, Dr. Segard, on the Butantan Institute.
AAborigines of Patagonia,n.52-54Agricultural Society of Buenos Ayres, the shows of,78-79Agriculture:Waste entailed by system in vogue in the Pampas,364Wasteful Brazilian methods,364-66,376-78SeeCattle, Cereals, Coffee, Horses, Pampas,etc.Alcorta, Señor Figueroa, President of the Argentine Republic,180Algeciras Conference,67Alienism,seeOpen Door, TheAmerica, South:Impressions of,iiiCities of,vii,viiiArchitecture,viiRaces of,viiiEarly culture,ixPeople of, unjustly ridiculed,62-63Produce of,73-75America, United States of,64Americans, South, characteristics of,11-12Anarchists,85Russian,86Oppressive measures against,88-89Argentine Exposition,69-70Argentine Republic, The,18-20Arrival in,27-28Maté, trade of,45-46Agricultural produce,75-76Foreigners in,81Patriotism,91-93Powers of assimilation,94-97Officials,113-14Types and manners,142-74Women of,151-56Exaggerated conventionality of society,155-56Girls of,158-59Fathers,160Gambling,161-62Land speculation in,162Cookery,173-74Politics,175-203Parliament,184-86The Executive,188-89The Press,191-92Society,201-3The Pampas,204-32Argo, Alpha of,16Aristocracy of Brazil,355-56Armadillo, The (tatou),114Army, The Brazilian,342Arrowheads, Primitive,n.53-56Arts, The, in the Argentine,58-62Asylums:Excellence of, in theArgentine,114For aged,123For widows,124For lunatics,124-35Avenida Central, Rio,325BBacteriological research,345-47Ball, Official, at Rio,359Band, Oriental,18SeeUruguay.Bangu, Factories at,364-65Battleships, Extensive purchases of,291Belgrano, General,n.59Betting in the Argentine,166-67Black Pot, The,14Bon Vista,368Botanical Gardens:Of Buenos Ayres,38-40,44Of Rio,368Bouvard, M.,57Brazil,144, (226-425)Recent troubles in,178Domestic architecture,n.318,321French culture in,331Products of,333Politics,337Federal Government,342Saint Paul,341-42Society,352-63Planters,356Women of,358Agricultural methods,364-66SeeCoffee, Rio de Janeiro, Saint PaulBrazil, Dr., his antitoxins for snake-bites,403-4Buckle, his prophecy relating to Brazil,143-44Buenos Ayres,26-141Elevators of,26-27City,28Architecture,29Docks,32-33Slaughter-houses,34-35,74-79Excessive population,85Schools,115-16Asylums and prisons,98-140Buenos Ayres, Fair of,79Butantan (Sero-therapeutical Institute),403CCabred, Dr., alienist,128-29Calval,321Campo, The Argentine:Men of,207-9Drought in,213-14Fauna of,220-21Morals of,225Canaries, The,420Cape Verde Islands,5Cattle:Exaggerated sums paid for,74,163Herds of the Argentine Pampas,206-9Decimated by drought,213-15,246,264Cedar, False,76Cereals,74,75,260Cerro, The,24-25Church, The, in Brazil,374Cinematograph, The,198Clover, Giant,75Coal, Absence of, in the Argentine,31Coaling at St. Vincent,10Cobras, Las (island), Mutiny on,335,342Coffee (389-94)The shrub,389-90Harvest,390Valorisation of,393Plantations,394-99Columbus,iii-vConscription as affecting the French in South America,97-99Cookery in the Argentine,173-74Corcovado,369-72Creole balls,231Creole beauty, A,279-82Cruz, Dr. Oswaldo, Valuable medical services of,343-48DDances of the Pampas,321Dancing,285Democracy, M. Clémenceau's lectures on,200Divorce in Uruguay,299Dolphins,13EEducation:In the Argentine,114-18In Uruguay,312-14Emigrants:Italian,2,7Yearly,2Syrians,7Emigration to Brazil prohibited on account of abuses,366England:At International Exposition of Buenos Ayres,69-70Her industrial rôle in South America,70English:In the Argentine,100In Patagonia,105-6As builders of railways,183Estancias:Of the Argentine,75Of the Pampas,224,235-47Estanciero, The,237His habit of enlarging his holdings,237-38His life,238-44FFaction fights disappearing,177Family life in the Argentine,150-51Fauna of the Campo,220-21Fazenda, The Brazilian,356,408-17Fazendero, The,356Ferri, Prof. Enrico,107-8Finger-print system,89-90Flax,74Flying-fish,14Fonseca, Marshal Hermès da, President of the Brazilian Republic,328Forest:The South American,276-78The Brazilian,366Destruction of,376-78,414-15Forestry, Need of competent,77France:At the International Exposition of Buenos Ayres,70Failure of her capitalists to realise their opportunity in South America,70Military law of, as affecting the French in South America,96-99French colony, The, in the Argentine,93,94-97As engineers,183French school at Tucuman,287French theatre at Tucuman,286French Military Mission to Saint-Paul,329,386GGame on the Pampas,247-52Gaucho, The,73,207-9,223-24,228-30Genoa, scenes in harbour,1,3Germans in the Argentine,100Gramophones,225Groussac, P.,57His adventures,100-3As a Spanish author,102Founds the public library,102Personality,102-5Groussac, de,101-3Guanaco, The,221Guiraldès, Señor, City Lieutenant of Buenos Ayres,112HHalf-breeds, Life of,271-75,334Harbour works,183SeeRosario, MontevideoHares on the Pampas,247Harvesters, Italian,84Hilleret, M., sugar-planter,270-71,284Horse-racing,165-68Horses:At the Buenos Ayres Horse show,74Of the Pampas,207-8,217-18Curious power of finding their way home after revolutions,228-29Methods of breaking,241-43Hospitals:Excellence of,114,121The "Open Door" for insane patients,103,124-32Rivadavia Hospital,122Hotels,170-71House of Independence, The,286Huret, Jules,257IIdealism, Latin,63-65Immigration,84-85Indian blood in the Argentine,111,145-47Indians, South American,n.53,n.56Individualism, characteristic of South American constitutions,190Insurrections, Danger of, in the Argentine,179International Exposition at Buenos Ayres,69-70Isabella, the Infanta, Visit of,110-11Italians in Brazil,355,396-97JJacques, outlaw and educationalist,101Japanese in Brazil,348-49Jefferson,64Jettatore, Belief in,181Jockey Clubs of Buenos Ayres,163-66LLa Plata,17,25,56-8Lakaluf Indians,n.55Land:Increase of value upon cultivation,75Speculation in,161Las Cobras, Island of, mutiny on,335,342Larreta, E. R., novelist and Argentine Minister in Paris,56Law of Literary Property,199-200Law Schools,120Liguria,4Literature of the Argentine,n.58Llamas,221Locusts,219Lulès,284MManguinhos Institute (sero-therapeutical),345-47Mar del Plato,37Martinette, The,248-52Maté,44-6Secret of growth from seed,45Meat, frozen,79Medicine,120-22French culture of doctors,123Protective regulations,123Sero-therapeutical Institute,345-47Middle classes, Abstention of, from politics,188Military service, French and Argentine,96-98Minas Geraes, battleship, mutiny on,335,342Miscegenation,147-48,334Monroe Doctrine,66-67Montevideo,18Docks,20City,21Architecture,21-22Harbour,292Moreno, Moriano,n.59,102Morra,14-15Motor-cars:In the Campo,245Shooting from,248-49Mussurana, a cannibal snake,404OOmbu-tree, The,40-42,219-20Onas Indians,n.55Onelli, Señor, Director of Buenos Ayres Zoölogical Gardens,48-53"Open Door," The, asylum for insane,124-35Ornevo (cardinal bird),221Ostrich, The,51,221Owl, The prairie,223,255PPalermo (racecourse),38,53-54Pampas, The:Life on,204-32Enormous herds of,210-12Pampero, The,17,73Pan-American Congress,65-67Parana, the,26,260Partridges,248-51Patagonians, Account of, by Señor Onelli,n.52-56Peçanha, President,332Pellegrini, President, aninsoumis,99Peña, President,107,182Penguins,50Petropolis,373-74Photographers in the home,198-99Police, Argentine,89Politics,176-77,189In Uruguay,300-1In Brazil,336-39Polyvalent serum for snake-bite,403Pradofazenda, The,394-95Press, Power of the,191-92,193-98,304Prisons,137-41Protectionism in the medical world,123QQuébracho,32,40Quintana, the late President,181RRabat, a method of hunting hares,248Race-course, Palermo,38Railways,183,422Rastaquouère, The,62Reds of Uruguay, The,178Garibaldi's shirt borrowed from,n.300Refrigerator industry, The,79,216Revolution, The French,x.Revolutions:South American, things of the past,179Method of raising men,227,266In Uruguay,300Rio Bay,321-27Rio Branco, Baron de,328Rio de Janeiro,322-51Aspect of city,325-29From Corcovado,371Roca, President,102Rosario:Cattle show at,79,259Docks,262Deficiency of schools,263Rosas, dictator,n.59SSt. Lazare, prison,113St. Paul (Saõ Paolo),379-81Government of,382City,384St. Paul(Saõ Paolo), battleship, mutiny on,335,342St Vincent, coaling station,8,9,418St. Vincent, Brazil,320San Martin,59Santos, Shipments of coffee at,319,398-407Santos Bay,407Santos River,317Sarmiento,n.59,101Schools:In the Argentine,115-18Secondary,119Training College of St. Paul,385-87Sculpture, Abundance of mediocre, in Buenos Ayres,58-60Sera:Preparation of,345-46Snake antitoxins,402-3Sheep, in Patagonia,106Shipping, lines to South America,421,423-24Siesta unknown to Brazil,320Slavery:In Brazil, Abolition of,353-54Evils and advantages of,358Snakes, of Brazil,401-4Soarès, Señor, his modelfazenda,408-9Southern Cross, The,16Spain, influence of her traditions,109-11Sport in the Pampas,248-55Stone Age, The,n.53-54Sugar-cane, Fields of,273TTchuleches Indians,53Telegraphy, Wireless,9Thays, M.:Director of Parks, etc., at Buenos Ayres,38-39His proposal for national park,39,44-55Theatre at Rio,361Theresopolis,375Tierra del Fuego, Natives of,n.55Timber:Lack of, in Argentina,32,76Improvident destruction of,76Trade of Argentina and Brazil,422-23Training College, St. Paul,385-87Tucuman,268,286-87The French at,286-88UUruguay,18, (289-315)Revolutions in,19President of,20,23-24Morals of,22Whites and Reds of,178Curious domestic architecture,295Laws (reformed),298-99Revolutions,300Whites and Reds,300Insecurity of life during political disputes,301The Press,304Idealism,308-9Uruguay Club, The,303Uruguay River, The,26VValorisation of coffee,393Viana, Island of,348-50Voltaire, played 900 miles from the coast in 1780,ix.,333Voyage, Impressions of the,5-10WWhite, Mr. Henry,57Whites, The, of Uruguay,178,300Williman, Señor, President of Uruguay,23-24,297YYellow fever, at Santos, and extirpation of,319The work of Dr. Cruz at Rio,343-45Yerba-maté,44-46ZZoölogical Gardens, Buenos Ayres,48-49