The evangelical invasion of Brazil

Front matter

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

Rev. SAMUEL R. GAMMON, D. D.,

Lavaras, Brazil.

Preface

South America seems to be coming into her own. The "Neglected Continent" has at last attracted the attention of the world. Formerly, one never saw a magazine article about South American countries and affairs; but within recent years, she has had her share of them. Travelers who formerly knew of only one tourist's route — that which follows the sun — have now learned that certain roads lead north and south; and not a few long to ''Round the Horn." This revival of interest, or to be more acurate, this birth of interest has affected the students of Missions, too, and recently, when Dr. Gammon spent a few months in the United States, he was urged by pastors, by leaders of Missions Study Classes, and by the Secretaries of Mission Boards, to prepare a book giving some account of Brazil as a Mission field, a;nd telling the story of "Missions in the Land of the Southern Cross."

It was the purpose of Dr. Gammon to prepare a volume which would present not only the work of the Southern Presbyterian Church with which he is connected, but would be serviceable as a text book in the hands of all the denominations now represented in the mission work in Brazil. The time of preparation allowed him being so short, and mission stations in Brazil being distant from each other, it was impossible to secure data as complete as was desired; but the reader will still find that the author's purpose was quite fully realized. Mem-

6 Preface

bers of all evangelical churches will find interesting information concerning their own work in Brazil, as well as general information concerning the land and the people, and the needs of evangelical missionary effort. The detailed statistics of each mission's work as far as they could be secured, will be found in the Appendix ai ranged in compact form. A map giving the location of most of the mission stations adds greatly to the completeness of this feature of the work.

It was the author's hope to have the work appear during the summer of 1909, inasmuch as the subject of special study in connection with the Young People's Missionary Movement, and with the Woman's United Study Course would be during the Fall and Winter, South America. The issue of the book during 1909 would also have been timely, because the year 1909 marks the semi-centennial of the beginning of Presbyterian mission work in Brazil, and so this would be pre-eminently the time to call the attention of Evangelical Christendom to the needs of the great Southern Republic. For reasons which need not be detailed, the publication has been delayed somewhat so as to put it early in 1910.

The work in its original plan had the hearty approval of the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of the Southern Presbyterian Church, and it was largely through the encouragement of the Secretaries of Missions, Drs. Chester and Reavis, that Dr. Gammon consented to undertake so arduous a task. After the book was put into the hands of the Presbyterian Committee of Publication to prepare for the press, it was found that considerable revision of some parts of the work would

Preface 7

be necessary in order to give the book its final shape. It would have been far better if this revision could have been done by the author himself, but Brazil and Richmond are far apart, and time was precious, so it was left to the Editorial Superintendent of Publication, the present writer, to do this necessary work of revision. This has given him an opportunity to become very thoroughly acquainted with the book which follows, and he considers it an honor and a privilege to have had this slight connection with it.

The reader will find the book thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. It furnishes in very brief, yet fascinating form, just the information we want to have about the geography, the natural resources, the history of the country and the character of the people. It will be specially interesting to the student of missions as furnishing a much needed text book upon Missions in Brazil; not confined in its scope to any one denomination, it affords the knowledge which very many desire upon the work of all the evangelical denominations there. One special point of interest about the book is its fair and dispassionate, yet powerful presentation of the need for missionary work in Brazil, and indeed, in all Roman Catholic countries. Taken all in all. Dr. Gammon furnishes a strong plea, both for the continuance and wider extension of "The Evangelical Invasion" of our sister Republic in the South. He thrills us with the story of what Protestant Missions have already accomplished, and issues a trumpet call to continue and enlarge the work.

R. A. Lapsley

Richmond, Va.

CONTENTS,

Chapter I: The Land

Rio and its Environs — Physical Characteristics of the Country — The Mountain Ranges dividing the country into three great Physical, Divisions and into four Hydrographic Basins ; the Amazon Region, the La Plata Region, and the Oriental Region containing avo hydrographic shub-divisions — ^the Sao Francisco Valley and the Seaboard Section — the Geology and Mineral Wealth — the Flora — the Fauna — Chief Products : Cereals, Lumber, Cotton, Cane, Rubber, Coffee, Cattle — Possibilities of great Commercial and Industrial Development: all the Material Resources, Means of Transportation, Population, Climatic Conditions 13

CHAPTER H: THE PEOPLE.

Component Elements of Population : Indians, Europeans Africans — Four Classes: Pure Whites, Pure Blacks,'Pure Indians, Mixed Race — Proportions of Each — Number of Inhabitants — the Brazilian Physically : His Size, his Food, his Dress — His Characteristics : Courteous, Obliging, Emotional, Demonstrative, Mentally Alert and Precocious — Their Literature, Journalism — the Brazilian prefers Towrn to Country Life, the Club to the Home — the Brazilians a Nation of Diplomats — Brazil a Country of Contrasts — Her Future 32

10 Contexts

Chapter Iii: Their History

Three Periods : Colonial Brazil. 1500-1822 — ^the Capitanias Independent — the Central Authority. Governors-general — the French Invasion and Colonies — the Spanish Domination — the Dutch Invasion — ^Republican Conspiracy of the Eighteenth Century — ^Tiradentes — ^Brazil a Kingdom of the Royal Family — Imperial Brazil, 1822-1889 — ^^Tindependence or Death" — ^Reign of Pedro I. — Reign of Pedro n. — Paraguayan War, Emancipation, Bloodless Revolution of 1889 — ^Republican Brazil — ^^lilitary Regime, Civil Regime 49

MISSION FIELD.

The Skepticism as to Brazil's Need — Eftect? of R:!r'r.:?m after Four Centuries : Unbelief s. :: 1 5 u^ t r 5 : i . : : r. — R : .r. e Responsible — ^Her Docrines Drive Men intc Skepticism — Her Attitude toward Free and Progressive Institutions has same e5e:: — Rome's Influence Seen in Brazil: especially in Ecuador — Her Influence on Moral Life of People 68

CHAPTER V: THE NATION'S NEED— BRAZIL AS A MISSION FIELD (Continued)

Rome Leads the L'n.ertered ^Masses into Superstition and Idolatry — ^In its Form. Romanism is Pagan — Romanism Compared with Buddhism, with Pagan Rome's Religion, with Religion of Aztecs of Mexico— Relation between Romanism and Paganism of Babylon — ^L^ity of all Man-made Religions — ^Rome Pagan also in Spirit : Her Teachings Subversive of Fundamental Doctrines of Biblical Christianity — Specimens of Devotional and Sermonic Literature of Rome — ^Brazil Needs the Gospel, and can get it only through the work of Evangelical Missions. . . S6

Contents ii

Chapter Vi: The Evangelical Invasion Of Brazil— The Forces In Action

The French Huguenots in the Bay of Rio — the Dutch in Pernambuco — Modern Missions : Methodists in 1835 — Dr. Kalley, 1855 — Presbyterians in 1859 — Southern Presbyterians in 1869 — Southern Methodists in 1876 — Southern Baptists in 1882 — Episcopalians in 1889 — South American Evangelical Mission — Rev. Jushtus Nelson — the Young Men's Christian Association — the Bible Societies — the Work wisely begun and wisely developed — an Unusual Policy 106

Chapter VII : The Fruits Of Victory

Fifty Years Ago and Now — Presbyterians, Northern and Southern — Independent Presbyterians — Methodist Victories — Baptist Trophies — Episcopal Successes — Other Victories of Other Forces — ^the Native Churches — A Native Congregation — Rio — Publication Work of Missions: the Papers — Educational Work, Presbyterian — Methodist — Baptist — Invisible Results that Cannot be Tabulated 124

Chapter Viii: Papal Brazil's Appeal To Protestant America

Reinforcements Needed — Enlarged Equipment — Brazil asks Help from America — Not Lion's Share, but Her Just Share — the Commercial Bonds Emphasize the Appeal — Political Affinity adds Emphasis to It — Brazil's Part in the Future of America and the World Emphasizes It — America Final Battle-ground between Papal and Protestant Christianity — Brazil's Spiritual Hunger is

12 Contents

Brazil's Call — Brazil our Samaria — Brazil's Special Claim on Protestant America — ^the Success of the Work Strengthens the Appeal — Recapitulation 198

Appendix I, — Statistics, 169

Appendix 11. — Missionaries and the Native Church, 173

Appendix III. — Industrial Education, 177

Rev. EDWARD LANE, D. D., Pioneer Missionary of the Southern Presbyterian Church.

The Evangelical Invasion of Brazil.

Chapter I. The Country

The stranger, on his first visit to Rio, as he sweeps around one of those graceful curves of the matchless bay, will receive a distinctly pleasant impression as he comes suddenly into a small but beautiful public garden, and sees in the centre of it a handsome bronze monument standing upon its gray pedestal of granite. This monument was unveiled in 1900 to commemorate the discovery of Brazil just four centuries before. The central figure of the group is Pedro Alvares Cabral who, in the year of grace 1500, gave to Portugal and to the world a vast empire in the western hemisphere. Cabral, following in track of his illustrious countryman, Vasco da Gama, was sailing from Portugal to India. Advised by his king, Dom Manuel, to veer to the west so as to avoid, the calms off the coast of Africa, he was caught by the equatorial current and borne across the Atlantic. On the twenty-second day of April, he sighted a mountain near the coast of what is now the southern part of the State of Bahia. Two days later an excellent port was found, and the mariners went ashore. After ten days, Cabral proceeded on his way to India, sending back to Portugal one of his ships to announce to his monarch the discovery of the new land.

Our navigator supposed that he had found an island, and he named it ''the Island of the True Cross," Little did he dream that the land he had discovered was part of a vast continent, and that it was to become the home of a great nation owning one-fifth of the American continent and a fifteenth part of the land surface of the globe, of a people destined to play an important part in the world's history.

(In the pages that follow, the reader will be made acquainted with this wonderful land and with its attractive people. He will be asked to consider the religious conditions and needs of the people ; and will be informed as to what has been done and what should be done to meet these moral and spiritual needs and to plant in the nation's heart that tree whose leaves are for the nation's healing.)

The majority of those who visit Brazil receive their first, most pleasing and most abiding impression of the physical beauties of the country from their entrance into the bay of Rio, and no book that attempts to speak of Nature's pleasant moods, as revealed here, can fail to mention the charm of that wonderful harbor. What must have been the impression of Amerigo Vespucci, who came as pilot, if not as commander, of the first two expeditions sent by Dom Manuel to explore the country discovered and reported by Cabral, if he forced the prow of his ship through the narrow opening between Sugarloaf Mountain on the left and the bluff promontory of Santa Cruz on the right, and rode into that most beautiful of bays? The mariners entered the bay on the first day of January, and as they sailed through its narrow entrance they supposed they were entering a river. In commemoration of the day, they called it

"o rio de Janeiro" — the River of January — and the misnomer has held good ever since.

The bays of Naples, Sydney and Rio are confessedly the world's most beautiful harbors. The saying "See Naples and die" has become classic; but if human art has done more to beautify the Italian; port, Nature's hand was more lavish at Rio. Well does the writer remember the day, almost twenty years ago, when he stood upon the top of Corcovoda — a mountain peak in the suburbs of Rio — and drank in the wondrous and varied beauty of that incomparable scene. Such a combination of earth and sea and sky, of busy human mart and calm and restful mountain view will hardly be found elsewhere. On one hand, to the north and west, the city with its busy life and gay coloring, and the bay dotted with islands and alive with its shipping lay at the traveller's feet, while in the distance the Organ Mountains in their indigo hues and with their bold sharp pinnacles piercing the sky formed the background of the picture. On the other hand, to the east and south, the majestic ocean stretched away until the blue of the sea was mingled with the blue of the sky.

But not all of Brazil is like Rio and its environs. There are many beautiful and picturesque landscapes, but there are also many stretches of dreary and unattractive country. The country, speaking generally, offers the same contrast, as compared with the United States, that the United States offers, as compared with England. There are great stretches of outlying, uncared for lands, and this gives to the country that unkept, unfinished, or even neglected appearance common to new and sparsely populated lands. The impression received as we look upon the broad expanse is very pleasing;

i6 The Evangelical Ixvasiox of Brazil

but when we examine a smaller part of the landscape in minute detail, we often find it disappointing. There are sections of the country under a very high state of cultivation; but speaking of the country generally, it may be said that we miss the clean smooth meadows, the well tilled fields, the finished lawn, the velvet sward.

The forests are decidedly disappointing. The dense wall or expanse of green is very pleasing and restful to the eye when seen in the distance ; but when approached, it proves to be an impenetrable jungle matted with tangled vines and undergrowth. The impression received in school-boy days when we studied geography and read of the naked Indian cutting his way with difficult}' through these tangled virgin forests is strictly accurate. In the virgin forests, in many parts of Brazil, splendid forest giants are to be found, and in the Amazon region, many of them rival the red-woods of California. But ordinarily we find fewer handsome trees in the forests of Brazil than in those of Xorth .\merica; and when they are found, they are so covered over with vines and so hidden by the undergrowth that we are unable to enjoy their stately beauty.

The traveller who sails along the eastern coast of Brazil will get the impression that the country is exceedingly mountainous. It is not so much so, however, as it appears. A range of mountains skirts the coast most of the way from Pemambuco to the extreme south, and there are many other ranges, as will presently appear; but back from the coast, and in the northern and western parts of the country there are immense plains. Alost of the land in Brazil, though, is more than a thousand feet above the sea level.

The mountain systems of Brazil are very interesting.

and one of them offers the only exception to an almost invariable rule. As a rule, the mountains of the New World presents a striking contrast to those of the Old. In the Old World, almost all of the more important mountain chains follow the general course of east and west, while all of those in the New, with a single exception, run north and south. The single exception to this rule is the Parima chain, running along the northern border of Brazil, separating it from the Guyanas, Venezuela, and Columbia, and dividing the waters of the great Amazon basin from those of the Orinoco and the Caribbean watershed, generally.

On the extreme west, the ice-crowned peaks of the Andes cast their shadows across the deep valleys of the border-land between Brazil and her western neighbors — Peru and Bolivia.

Mention has already been made of the Serra do Mar that runs parallel with the coast from the borders of Pernambuco to Rio Grande do Sul, now and again coming right down to the coast and bathing its feet in the ocean's brine, and at other times receding to the distance of a hundred miles. In some places the summit of the mountains is so' close to the shore that rainfall ten miles away crosses great states, and finally reaches its ocean home through the La Plata at Montevideu. Running parallel with this coast range, and finally merging itself into the longer range in the state of Sao Paulo, near the great seaport town of Santos, is the Serra do Esplnhago (the backbone), the highest of Brazil's ranges except the Andes. The peak of Itatiaia, only about ten thousand feet high, but the loftiest of Brazil's mountains, is in this Espinhago chain. This peak is seen to fine effect as the tourist travels by rail from Rio to i8 The Evangelical Invasion of Brazil

Sao Paulo; only a few miles from the railroad, it lifts its stately head as it stands guard over the beautiful valley of the Parahyba do Sul.

The most interesting of Brazil's mountains ranges, however, is the Serra das Vertentes (chain of the watersheds), so called because it forms the dividing ridge between the great river basins of Brazil and of the states south. This low mountain chain, beginning near the coast on the northeast, describes a vast and irregular semi-circle, sweeping clear across the great country, and finally losing itself in the foot-hills of the Andes.

These mountain chains divide Brazil into three great physical sections, and into four hydrographic basins. A glance at the map will show these physical divisions and these river basins in clear and easy outline.

First, we have in the north the Amazon Region or the Amazon basin. To this basin belongs also the river Tocantins, which mingles its waters with those of the mighty Amazon as they together pour their floods into the Atlantic. This river basin, stretching from the Andes to the sea, and from the Parima mountains, five degrees north of the equator, to latitude sixteen or seventeen south, contains more than half of Brazil's territory, is the largest river basin in the world, and forms the most extensive network of inland navigation on the globe.

Answering to the Amazon Region in the north, and separated from it by the low range of the Vertentes, lies the La Plata basin in the south. This mighty river takes the name of La Plata when it receives its last tributary, the Uruguay, only a few miles above Buenas Ayres. Through most of its course of more than two thousand miles, it is known as the Parana : its head waters are the

Rio Grande, which takes its rise on the slopes of Itatiaia, already mentioned as the highest peak in Brazil.

The third section of Brazil is the Oriental, east of the Coast Range in the south and of the Serra das Vertentes in the north. This section is quite narrow from Rio south; but from Rio north it widens out and embraces quite a large part of north and north-central Brazil. It includes two of the four hydrographic divisions of thq country — namely, the Basin of the Sao Francisco river, and the seaboard section, which is subdivided into a number of secondary river basins, whose waters run directly east to the Atlantic. The Sao Francisco is a noble stream, having its basin shut in on the south and west by the Serra des Vertentes and on the east by the Serra do Espinhago, it flows north for more than a thousand miles, draining the larger part of the great states of Minas, Bahia and Pernambuco; then turning abruptly east and south, it seeks its ocean home.

In connection with the mountain systems, it will be well that something be said of Brazil's geology and mineral wealth. Brazil's geological history has not been sufficiently studied, and little that is satisfactory has been written on the subject. An able commission, appointed by the federal government, is now at work on the abundant and interesting materials, and large and valuable results may be looked for.

In the mountain chains of the country, we find in abundance the two great systems of rocks — ^the laurentian and the huronian. In the Serra do Mar and in the southern part of the Serra do Espinhago the older formation — the laurentian — abounds, or is found exclusively. Here we find large deposits of iron, and most of the varieties of precious stones are taken from the mountains where the laurentian formation predominates. The other mountain ranges of central Brazil belong to the huronian series; and here it is that the inexhaustible treasures of iron, the rich deposits of gold, the priceless diamond and the topaz are all found. Most, if not all of the Parana basin belongs to the carboniferous age, as do other parts of Brazil, as well. But in spite of this fact, the country is still dependent, in large measure, upon imported coal. In all of the southern states — Sao Paulo, Parana, Santa Catherina and Rio Grande do Sul, coal mines are to be found; but only in two last-named states have these mines been worked to any considerable extent, and even there it seems to be a question still as to whether or not coal-mining will become an enterprise of vast proportions and of great profit. Coal-mines are said to exist also in the mountains on the extreme western borders of Matto Grosso.

Even in early colonial days Brazil's mineral wealth was known to be great. Early settlers from Sao Paulo and Rio journeyed to the interior of Minas, opened mines, and carried back their golden treasure. For more than a century, during the colonial period, streams of wealth from the gold mines of Minas poured into the treasury of Portugal to enrich the mother country. Notwithstanding this, the vast mineral wealth of Brazil may be said to remain practically untouched. Whole mountains of iron ore of the finest quality, rich veins of gold, and precious stones in inexhaustible quantities await the coming of wealth and of enterprise for their development, to the enriching of Brazil and the world.

The limits of this book preclude anything like a full account of the wonderful flora. The fact that it is a tropical country, and one of great rainfall, would naturally suggest that the flora would be rich and varied. Most of the fruits and vegetables of the torrid zone, and many of those of temperate climes, are to be found in Brazil, and the fertile soil produces them in great abundance. An entire chapter would be needed to describe the beauties of the orchids that abound in the forests of Brazil; another would be required to tell of the hard-woods, some of them so heavy that they sink in water; and it would read like a fairy tale were the story told of houses in which rosewood was used for sills and sleepers and door-posts; another chapter still would be taken up with an account of the medicinal plants and the dye-woods that abound in the forests. It was one of these dye-woods, giving a brilliant red color much like the color of a live coal — "braza" in Portuguese — ^that gave the name Brazil to the country discovered by Cabral, and called first Vera Cruz and later Santa Cruz. With comparatively little labor, flower gardens become dreams of beauty, and as the rainy season comes on, the fields are sometimes all but carpeted with wild flowers of the most brihiant hues.

Brazil's fauna, like her flora, is vast and varied. The domestic animals are those commonly seen in Europe and in North America; the savage beasts that roam the jungles of Africa and Asia are unknown. Wild game, both large and small, of the finny as well as of the feathered and furred varieties, is found in greater or less abundance in almost every part of the country; and very frequently, as ''the gray dawn is breaking," "the horn of the hunter is heard on the hill."

The most conspicuous representatives, however, of Brazil's fauna — the most conspicuous both for number and aggressiveness — are those belonging to the class that may be characterized as pestiferous insects. The flying, the hopping and the crawhng varieties are all found in distressing abundance; and oftentimes, in spite of one's efforts at self control, his finger tips, as the Ayrshire bard would phrase it, ''will be notice taking." A much-traveled lady recently "touring" South America told a good story of efforts in an Italian hotel to escape these small but enterprising assailants. That story could be duplicated and improved on by residents in Brazil.

One of the questions most frequently asked in the States of the visitor from Brazil is : What is the principle product of Brazil? A question more difficult to answer could hardly be asked. What would the man from the States answer, if asked in Europe, what is the principal product of his country? If he were from Louisiana, he would probably answer, "sugar-cane" ; if from South Carolina, he would say "cotton" ; if from Illinois,' his answer might be "corn" ; and if from some other parts, he might say "wheat." In a country as large as Brazil, there is naturally a great variety of products, and what is the principal product in one section, is not the principal thing in another.

In some of the southern states, Parana for example, the pine forests have become a very important source of revenue; in many parts of the country, within the last few years, the cultivation of rice has become a very important item; in the state of Bahia, tobacco and cotton are the staple products; while in Pernambuco cotton and especially sugar-cane, hold the first place.

Among the most important of Brazil's articles of export is rubber, and the production of rubber is the great source of wealth in a large part of the Amazon Valley. There are a number of rubber-producing trees in Brazil, and one or another of these varieties is found in almost all of the states from Sao Paulo northward. But the great rubber region is the upper Amazon and its tributaries, where vast forests of the seringueira — the most valuable of all the rubber trees — stretch away in every direction, especially to the south. It is stated in a book quite recently published, "The New Brazil," by Mrs. Marie Robinson Wright, that the rubber-producing area of Brazil covers about a million square miles, or almost one-eighth of the entire territory. What fabulous sources of wealth lie hidden in those forests ! What marvelous possibilities of development of this great industry when an eighth of Brazil's territory will produce rubber to advantage!

"Sermgueira" is the name given to the rubber-tree of the Amazon Valley, and the forest is called a "seringal." It is said that the Indians called the tree "hevi" ; hence the first botanical name "hevea guianensis" given by the scientist who first studied it in Guayana and introduced it to the world ; hence also the modern botanical name "hevea braziliensis." Mrs. Wright, in her book, describes it as a handsome tree, resembling "the European ash in both trunk and foliage."

Dr. Francis Clark, in his book "The Continent of Opportunity," calls Brazil "the world's coffee-cup." So it is, and however much may be said and written of the seringueira with its graceful trunk, its foliage, its blossoms and its useful rubber, the coffee-tree will ever hold its place in the imagination of men as the national symbol oi Brazil ; for unquestionably civilized man thinks far more of what he drinks for his breakfast than of

24 The Evangelical Ixvasion of Brazil

what he wears to protect his shoes from the mud or his shoulders from the showers.

The richest gold-mines of Brazil have not been found in the bowels of the earth, but in the coffee orchards on her hill-slopes and mountain-sides. Three-fourths of the world's coffee is grown in Brazil, and no small part of the world's good-cheer comes from its coffee cup. The centre of the coft'ee cultivation in Brazil is in the state of Sao Paulo, but in the adjoming states of Rio and !Minas, as well as in Sao Paulo, the coffee orchards flourish; and throughout the central part of the eastern section of the country, hundreds of millions of these shapely little trees adorn the hill and mountain-sides, Coft'ee is pre-eminently Brazil's export crop, amounting to about three times the value of the rubber, which comes in the second place among the exports. The value of the annual export amounts to more than a hundred million dollars.

At any time, a well-kept coft'ee orchard is an interesting and an attractive sight. The trees are planted in long straight rows, and, when full grown, have an average height of from twelve to fifteen feet. The tree is rather cylindrical in shape, its long, slender and nimble branches droop gracefully almost to the ground. Ordinarily, the coft'ee orchard has had no cultivation, the planter's only care being to keep the ground clear of weeds and grass ; but now m^any think it of great advantage to have the ground lightly plowed from time to time.