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harmony against the crashing tones of the brass instruments. Both sides of the street were lined with brotherhoods; the whites came first, then the mulattoes, then the pariahs, the bondsmen, and the negroes, The slow and grave movement of the procession gives to the senhoras, who are stationed on the balconies, all the time necessary for the exchange of a glance or a symbolic dialogue with those whom they quickly recognize beneath the robes of the brotherhoods.^[1]

Beyond these public ceremonies, the inhabitants of towns seldom come together, and in regard to a stranger this distant humor takes the character of actual distrust. It is difficult for a European to gain admittance to the interior of a Brazilian house. Yet, when one has lived for some time among the creoles, it is not impossible to form an idea of the occupations of the senhor. The time not taken up by business, irmendades, visits, and politics, is consecrated to the siesta or to gaming. The wealthy people have chacaras, or villas, outside the city, upon the sea-shore, which form a terrace, like those seen on the way from Pernambuco to Olinda, where the air is purer than in the interior of the city. The furniture is generally as simple as the dwelling, and one is frequently struck with the modest external appearance of some residences that shelter senhoras who are worth their millions, Nothing is more easily explained, however, when creole manners and the origin of Brazilian society are considered, The early Portuguese colonists came to this El Dorado for the purpose of acquiring a rapid fortune. To return home as soon as possible, and enjoy their wealth in peace, was their only ambition. Of what use, then, the building of sumptuous dwellings in which they did not intend to remain? A small number only were destined to realize this dream. Through various causes, the greater part of them never returned to Europe, and their descendants, having only the Indian's hut and the rancho of the negro as points of comparison, regarded their old Portuguese habitations as the ne plus ultra of architecture. There is a consciousness, however, that these buildings, massive and close on all sides, are not in harmony with the nature that surrounds them. The circulation of air is insufficient within their bare, thick walls. Instead of these middle-age fortresses one would prefer to see erected those light, spacious pavilions so consistent with the needs of a tropical country; but Iberian tradition, creole indifference, and Brazilian jealousy are satisfied, and that is enough.

Since we are interdicted from penetrating the interior of private residences, let us visit the stores; we shall there find types that would be sought for elsewhere in vain. This pale and beardless young man, who approaches you in the store, after laying aside his cigar (charuto) and placing his pen behind his ear, came originally from the Azores, his only property consisting of the shirt, vest, and pantaloons that scarcely sufficed to conceal his nakedness. His family, unable to support him, had confided him to a vessel bound to Rio Janeiro. The proprietor of the store sought him out at the port, and, having paid the price of his passage, took him as an apprentice. You now behold him as the confidential agent of the senhor. A