[A Woman’s Journey Round the World by Ida Pfeiffer]@TWC D-Link bookA Woman’s Journey Round the World INTRODUCTION--ARRIVAL--DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN--THE BLACKS AND THEIR 30/34
The other kinds of fruit are not worth mentioning.
Lastly, with the two very necessary articles of consumption, milk and meat, the former is very watery, and the latter very dry. On instituting a comparison between the Brazils and Europe, both with respect to the impression produced by the whole, as also to the separate advantages and disadvantages of each, we shall, perhaps, at first find the scale incline towards the former country, but only to turn ultimately with greater certainty in favour of the latter. The Brazils is, perhaps, the most interesting country in the world for travellers; but for a place of permanent residence I should most decidedly prefer Europe. I saw too little of the manners and customs of the country to be qualified to pronounce judgment upon them, and I shall therefore, on this head, confine myself to a few remarks.
The manners seem, on the whole, to differ but little from those of Europe.
The present possessors of the country, as is well known, derive their descent from Portugal, and the Brazilians might very aptly be termed "Europeans translated into Americans;" and it is very natural, that in this "translation" many peculiarities have been lost, while others have stood forth in greater relief.
The strongest feature in the character of the European-American is the greed for gold; this often becomes a passion, and transforms the most faint-hearted white into a hero, for it certainly requires the courage of one to live alone, as planter, on a plantation with perhaps some hundred slaves, far removed from all assistance, and with the prospect of being irrevocably lost in the event of any revolt. This grasping feeling is not confined to the men alone; it is found among the women as well, and is greatly encouraged by a common custom here, agreeably to which, a husband never assigns his wife so much for pin-money, but, according to his means, makes her a present of one or more male or female slaves, whom she can dispose of as she chooses.
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