| Show LIVING IH BRAZIL Queer Tilings to Eat and Ways of Eating Them LIFE IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS Bow Planters Families Pa s Ikbir Time Windowless Sleeping Booms Yonns Ladies Under lock and Key Special correspondence of TUE HERALD BOM Jsscs DA LArA Brazil July 20 ISJ2 So wide is the contrast between city living liv-ing and country living in Brazil that the foreigner having penetrated a few leagues into tho interior can hardly believe himself him-self among the same race of people While I many Pazenderas of the better class like I the squatters of Australia and the landowners land-owners of How Zealand who were often I scions of some of the noblest families in I I the United Kingdomare gentlemen of education and refinement familiar with the best society in their own and other countries and maintaining comfortable homes on their rural estates thero is amore a-more numerous class who live but a degree better than the pigs they raise and while tho former have risen above the prejudices bequeathed to ahem by Portuguese ancestors an-cestors particularly as regards the treatment of women the wives and daughters of the latter are not much better off than those of tho Turks But all Brazilians high or low I are alike in showing unbounded hospitality toward the stranger within their gates and though a traveler comes to them without with-out introduction or recommendation of any sort he is welcomed literally with open arms and plied with the very best the I I house affords long as he can be induced to remain proving that the hostess customary cus-tomary greeting This casa is yours all in it is at your disposal and 1 am vou ser un19 not entirely an empty form We have visited a number of cotton coffee and bugar fazcndu in various parts of the country and the aggregate result of our experience among the middle class planters in the remote rural districts may be fairly summed up in an account of the last visit from which we just returnedto an extensive exten-sive sugar estate situated half a days journey by carriage from Bom Jesus and named Batalhain remembrance of the grand old abbey in Portugal After having bumped across the surrounding prairie ivith its innumerable mantraps in tho shape of armaailla holes and ant hills and deserted diamond washings our route lay along a road bordered by orange fronted by hedges overrun by blossoming creepers interspersed by mango and breadfruit trees The last named trees are no longer much cultivated in Brazil the use of their fruit having been supercoded by farinha but they are still planted for shade and ornament or-nament as they grow rapidly and to great size Their large bright green leaves are much indented at the edges and tbe hugh bright green fruit which is apparently seedless and has aurface that looks like networkis by no means to be despised an article of food when baked and eaten with salt Perhaps owing to its pretentious name we formed some rather erroneous ideas of Batalha We found a typical Brazilian manorhouse and chapel rs essentially es-sentially Portuguese in construction and arrangement as if they stood in some interior inte-rior valley of Portugalwith traces of the Moors thrown in very large square mansion man-sion two stories high with walls of plastered plas-tered brick and overbanging roof of In dianred tiles thickly coated with mold i and parasitic plants It Is surrounded on all sides by a clumsy sort of veranda or moro properly speaking by a series of deep arched niches built into the walls floored with brick and topped by a leanto roof of tiles The tiny unglazed windows are set close up under the eavesas if the architect were as averse to fresh air as Noah must have been when ho built the ark and only the upper rooms ate inhabited that is by humans The ground floor is partly used for stabling and storage but most of windovrloss doorless and desertedis given over to stray piss sheep and fowls toads centipedes centi-pedes snakes and other wandering abominations abom-inations The great bare unventilated rooms of the upper story seem to be more than sufficient for the needs of the family yet the guest chamber to which I was conducted with a figurative flourish of trumpets had all its corners occupied by sundry piles of pack saddles panniers of dried beef oderIferous casks of codfish kits of mackeral and goodness knows what and was as innocent of any sort of window or other aperture leading to outside out-side air as of the ordinary toilet articles that most people consider indispensible Vindowless sleeping apartments are common com-mon throughout Brazil even in some of the grandest but older palaces in Rio owing probaby to the Portuguese idea that night air is unwholesome As in most country houses the partitions at Batalha are carried car-ried only about half to the roof so that the rooms without windows receive a modicum of light and air from the general supply of the house so to speak and whatever maybe may-be going on in one apartment is distinctly audible in all the others We arrived so Jute in the evening that there was time for nothing but enthusiastic greetings before being shown to bcdor rather hammock for in this hot country bugharbor ing couches and mattresses are not much in favor Too much can no foe said in favor of the hammock in such a climate as this being not only cooler and safer but a much more tidy article of furniture than a bed for these can be washed as easily asa as-a sheet The commoner varietiesof snowwhite cotton woven at home and quite durable cost 5 or 6 others are striped v plaided with blue or red with deep borders of crochet work and sell from 10 to 20 and there are others large square homewoven of strong linen with a halfyard wide border of handmade lace which are cheap at 50 They last a lifetime ana no bed covering is necessary for one may wrap himself in the surplus width and utilize the lace for a mosquito nettinpv Speaking of the words boa noilc good night I should add that they do not always signify the time for retiring retir-ing It is the quaint custom in most welldisciplined Brazilian families for all its members to bid each other good night as soon as the lamps are lit as a reminder that evening has come They may be sitting sit-ting at dinner or entertaining visitors but everybody pauses in the midst of conversation conver-sation to exchange this salutation and the children rise and kiss the hands of their parents saying A HpXCAO liEU PAT your blessing father as in patriarchal days At sunrise the family was astir and its female members flocked into our room en masse ostensibly to bring the beforerising cup of coffee and bid good morning and also it seemed to curiously inspect our belongings even trying on our shoes and experimenting with the toilet articles Country coffee by the way is excellent though made in a peculiar manner man-ner Some unbrowncd berries and sugar are stirred together and then roasted in a covered pan so that when the sugar melts and cools it Is candied over the coffee grains A spoonful of this is pounded in a motar put Into a beg of coarse linen and boiling water is poured over it cups being held beneath to catch the drippings and the beverage is ready Coffee pots are not used but each cup is thus made separately Boiled milk is generally gen-erally added in the morning but never at any other time The usual breakfast hour in the rural districts is 10 oclock and tha menu does not vary much year in and year out There is always augua sort of thin porrlge black beans stewed In lard fried meat cooked with garlic and fariuha or xiiEndioca meal eaten raw or stirred into the augu and perhaps by way of extra dishes for company there maybe Jambs I head a fowl smothered in rice or a lump ot bacon boiled with cabbage While the j host and guests sit at the table the wife remains outside looking on or cats at a separate table with the smaller children and later the house servants serv-ants take their turn Immediately after C breakfast thb serious occupations of the r 1 day begin at least so far as the family rEf < f I concerned the servants having been at I theirs since daybreak The master of the mansion goes out Jor a stroll about bis own premises or along tho highway or to a game ofcards or a little cheerful gossip with th neighbor for his oyerseers re < I ltec him from responsibility concerning concern-ing affairs of theestate Tho wife goes to her neverending embroidery or mends her own her husbands or her childrens clothirig The housework all falls upon I the servants and as a rule she knows no more about it than the strangerguest The children return to school if there is any in the vicinage 1 say return because be-cause in Brazil school sessions are a perpetual I perpet-ual penance beginning at six a m An hours intermission is allowed for breakfast break-fast but no other recess until the school day is over at three or four clock Dinner Din-ner is usually served at 4 oclock like the breakfast to the guests and male members the family only the wife and daughters as before waiting respectfully outside or eating at a separate table I Everybody has two plates set before him both piled to the outside rim one with the inevitable stew of dried meat the other with pairo The latter is an unotious sort of pudding made by mixing mandivea with the highly greased and garliccd broth in which the meat was boiled These constitute the main cart of the meaL Besides the center of the table is perhaps graced with a dish of bacalao codfish cod-fish which has been baked on embers or boiled in oil flanked on one side by a bowl of sauce for itselfof oil and vinegar mixed with chili pepper and sliced garlic and on tho other side by a sauce for the meat made of broth lime juice and bruised chilipeppers Every body helps himself to the codfish which is served in long shavinglike strips and to the sauch with his own knife and fork If he has any or if as is often the case those unnecessary implements are supplied cnly to the foreign guests who are known to have singular habitsthe rest assist themselves with the apparatus supplid by nature It is done with neatness and dispatch dis-patch in this way Each selects with his fingers strip of codfish subdivides it by hand into smaller shavings then takes it bit by bit and rolls it in the central dish of sauce For the stewed meat he scoops out a lump of pario tho size of a hens egg with the ends of his fingers puts it in the palm of his hand with a chunk of meat fished out of its broth and the fingers of the same hand working I with a motion known only to Brazilians incorporates both into an elongated bolus which ho conveys to his mouth and swallows I swal-lows in a way which to say the least of it astonishing to those who witness it for 1 the first time Dessert ifthere is any consists bananas ban-anas boiled or firled in lard or a curd cheese with guava jelly preserved potato or some other dulce After which black coffee and cigarettes are handed around and small glasses of rum and water Before Be-fore rising from the table each fills his mouth with water and after going through various suggestive contortions of cheeks and lips squirt it broadcast over the floor Then comes a siesta or period of repose Between six and seven oclock the ladies go out to pay visits if the neighbors are near enou hand h-and the husband goes for another promenade or game of cards or gentle gossip and later everybody walks in the plaza inhere is one till late at night In some families a third meal is served between be-tween S and 9 oclock but in rural districts that is the exception rather than the rule The negroes who swarm about the estate exslaves now hired at a small rate of compensation for working days or given their keep and scanty clothes in return live chiefly on milho Indian corn prepared in various ways They are excessively fond of it in the form of pipokas nnd this is the way to make it Partially fill a clay pot with sand and heat it very hot Then throw shelled corn into the heated sand and stir it around with a long stick until the grains swell and burst the skin becoming what we call popped corn Tno grains are eaten with raw cocoanut bananas farinha or onions In this country when you desire de-sire to remind a meddlesome person that he would better mind his own business you are more polite about it than In Yankeedom and merely request him to Vai PLAXTAS PIPOKAS Go plant roasted milho Mr Bigg Wither an English engineer who was employed em-ployed some years in railroad surveying in Brazil tells some interesting experiences among the landed proprietors in his interesting inter-esting book Being a man he had a better opportunity than I to know how women deport de-port themselves the presence of the other sex Let me quote a few paragraphs pertaining per-taining to a visit he made in tbo valley of Ivahy Senor Andcaao wan an old man and allowed his wife to do most of the talking talk-ing for him when she was in the room One of her first questions was to know whether I was married and on hearing that I am still In the full enjoyment of freedom she proceeded to enlarge upon the delights of married life at the same time informing me that she had five unmarried daughters After this pretty broad hint of nba was expected of course I expressed a wish to make the acquaintance of these fair members of the family Her face became be-came suddenly grave she looked hesitatingly hesitat-ingly at her husband who had remained silently puffing his cigarette during the conversation and he said something whicn I did not understand but which at once dispelled her momentary gravity The old man got up went across to a locked door turned the key and disappeared into a dark chamber within Almost immediately immedi-ately he returned saying the girls are not accustomed to see strangers and are afraid1 Meanwhile the sen hora who was evidently now determined that her daughters should show themselves them-selves had also disappeared into the secret chamber from which now proceeded sounds of whispering and suppressed giggling gig-gling Presently the senhora reappeared leading a very modestlooking damsel of about nineteen years closely followed oy three others apparently somewhat younger All were overwhelmed with intense in-tense shyness and an hysterical desire to laugh After the formal and separate introduction in-troduction of eachbe it noted that the lady is here introduced to the gentleman they all scampered back into the secret chamber and their turned I papa the key upon them At this time I was ignorant the custom which is so general in these outoftheway parts of keeping the women or rather the daughters of the family locked up like wild beasts consequently I did not hesitate to express my wonder and to ask why it was done in this case In reply Senor Andrado said that it was the custom of the country and he never thought of bringing up his daughters in any other way Do they ever go out I asked No never no replied re-plied not now that they are grown They had all learned horseback riding when children but since then they had been shut up in the house according to the custom cus-tom for respectable girls where they must remain until husbands can be obtained for them Poor things it is to be hoped that there are few old maids among the lasses of Brazil FANNiE B WARD |
