Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/491

* BRAZIL. 433 BRAZIL. abound ; but the mining of these metals is im- pelled by lack of cheap fuel and labor. Several attempts have been made in recent years, not only to mine iron and other ores, but to smelt thera and even convert them into the finer manufac- tured products: but most of the smclting-work.s, blast-furnaces, and rolling-mills had to shut down on account of the difficulties mentioned. Some bituminous coal is mined in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catharina. and lignite in some of the other States; but neither the quality nor the <iunntity is such as to encourage mining on a large scale. Marble and other valuable building- stones are found in abundance. Kock salt, phos- phate of lime, kaolin, and hot mineral springs add to the natural mineral wealth of the country. .VoRici'LTrRF.. Only a small portion of the surface of Brazil is under cultivation. This is in great measure due to the unfertile character of the country as a whole. large tracts being wholly unproductive or subject to long-continued droughts. Again the agricultural population is small, as a rule, and the farms and planta- tions are tilled in a very primitive manner, in many parts the gathering of forest products is preferred. The most profitable crops — coffee and sugar— naturally have the largest areas ■devoted to them, tobacco and cotton coming ne.xt. The coffee-plant is most extensively grown in the States of Rio de Janeiro, ilinas Geraes, and Sao Paulo, but can be grown in nearly every part of Brazil. The annual yield inerea.sed from 4.600.000 bags (of 132 pounds each) in 1890 to 11.000,000 in 1900. Nearly all the coffee used in the United States comes from Brazil, which is the largest coffee-producer in the world. The Atlan- tic States yield the sugar supply, especially Bahia and Pernambuco. Cotton of excellent quality is produced in every State, but Pernambuco and Maranhao are said to be best fitted for it. The tobacco is inferior to that of the West Indies. The greater part of the tobacco exported is grown in Bahia. Maize is one of the leading products of Minas Geraes and Silo Paulo, but not enough is raised for home consumption ; and the same is true of rice. The small grains do not flourish. Among the more common food products are sweet potatoes, yams, beans, and the farina prepared from the root of the manioc or cassava (q.v.). Cacao is giown in northeastern Brazil, and the holly, or ilex, which yields the mat6 (q.v.), or Paraguay tea, is cultivated to some extent in the extreme southern States, where it is in- <ligenous. Pumpkins, squashes, cabbages, okra, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and other vege- tables are raised. The raising of cattle and the breeding of horses give occupation to many in the southern State of Kio Grande do Sul. Although Brazil has many kinds of durable woods, timber for making railroad-ears is im- ported from India. Large quantities of salt fish are brought from the United States, when Brazil might easily supply her needs by improving her own fisheries. Maxufactitbes. Long occupying a subordi- nate place as compared with agriculture, min- ing, and the collecting of forest products, manu- factures arc becoming more important. They are taking the natural course of development, those industries thriving most which are de- voted to the manufacture of girods from the nat- ural agricultural and mining products of the country. Thus, the textile industry is the most important, cotton spinning and weaving taking first rank, followed by woolen manufactures. There were more than 150 cotton-factories at the end of the century, scattered all over the coun- try, the majority and most imjrartant of them being located in the States of Rio de .Janeiro, Minas Geraes, and S."io Paulo. The same is prac- tically true of the location of the woolen-mills, whose number, however, is small. Sugar-refin- ing is the next industry in importance. In the States of Bahia anil Pernambuco and else- where the refining of sugar is extensively car- ried on by the diffusion process, and in remote districts by somewhat primitive methods. Sev- eral kinds of rum are distilled in the sugar dis- tricts, and cigar-niaking is an important indus- try. The smelting of metals, the manufacture ot steam-engines and agricultural tools, the tan- ning of leather and working of hides, and the manufacture of salt, straw hats, soap, and can- dles employ many hands, and within recent years the list of artificial products has been length- ened by the addition of paper, calicoes, powder and djTianiite, glass, wines, beer, cotton-seed oil, castor-oil, wax matches, and sulphuric acid. Ship- building is carried on in several parts. Transpoetation' and Commuxicatiox. The first railway in Brazil was opened to traffic in 18,54. It was only 10 miles long, and connected Porto de Maua, on the Rio de Janeiro Bay, with Ruiz de Serra. The line was a purely private undertaking. In lSo8 the first private line built under a Government guarantee was constructed, the same year having witnessed the opening of the first Government railway. Since then the Government has taken an active part in railway development, so that at the close of the century the Government operated nearly 65 per cent, of the entire railway mileage of the country. Of this one-fourth was owned by it, and the rest was leased to it by private companies. Of the remaining 35 per cent, of the country's mileage, nearly 30 per cent, had the payment of interest guaranteed by the Government. Thus only about 5 per cent, of the railway mileage of the country is under absolute private control. The growth of railways in Brazil has been as follows: 1860, 80 mile's; 1870, 4.50; 1880, 1984; 1890, 4742; 1899, 8718. In addition, there were under construction in the last year nearly 5000 miles. SHTPPixn. In 1S90 the merchant marine of Brazil included 115 steamers and 149 sailing vessels; in 1898 the number of steamers was 229. or double that of eight years before, with a tonnage of 94.262 tons, and the sailing vessels increased to 344,, or more than 130 per cent., with a tonnage of 88,000 tons. This remark- able growth of Brazil's merchant marine, which far oiitstripped the increase of its commerce, was in irreat part due to the new law which came into force in 1896, excluding all foreign vessels from the coasting and river trade, as well as the system of subsidies granted by the Government to native shippers. In the dosing years of the century Brazil was annually visit- ed, on the average, by more than 1000 foreign steamers of nearly 2,000.000 tons burden. The chief port is Rio de .laneiro, the Xew York of Brazil, receiving more than one-half of Brazil's imports and sliipping more than one-third of its exports. Other important centres of foreign