BRAZIL 169 BRAZIL NUTS 1578 Brazil fell, with Portugal itself, under the power of Spain, a connection which, besides being essentially detri- mental, speedily threw it as a prey into the hands of the Dutch Republic, and, though Portugal regained its own inde- pendence in 1640, it was not until 1654 that Brazil was entirely recovered from the Hollanders, almost entirely by the efforts of her own soldiers through a war of more than 30 years. In 1807 the royal family of Portugal fled to Brazil; in 1815 the colony was declared a king- dom; and the Portuguese court having returned to Europe in 1821, a National Congress assembled at Rio de Janeiro, and on May 13, 1822, Dom Pedro, the eldest son of King JoSo VI. of Portugal, was chosen "Perpetual Defender" of Brazil. He proclaimed the independ- ence of the country on Sept. 7, 1822, and was chosen "Constitutional Emperor and Perpetual Defender," on Oct. 12th following. In 1831 he abdicated the crown in favor of his only son, Dom Pedro II., who reigned as Emperor un- til Nov. 15, 1889, when, by a revolution, he was dethroned, he and his family exiled, and Brazil declared a Republic, under the title of the United States of Brazil. In recent years Brazil's foreign policy has been of a most liberal char- acter and efforts have been made to ce- ment friendly relations with their neigh- bors in South America and with the United States. Her enlightened atti- tude during the World War and her prompt entrance into it by a declaration of war against Germany, following the example of the United States, resulted in friendly relations between the Allied Powers of Europe and Brazil. This was shown by a visit made to Brazil by the King and Queen of Belgium in Septem- ber and October, 1919. Dr. Epitacio de Silva Pessoa was elected President on April 13, 1919, to succeed President Alvez who was elected in 1918 and who died in office. Dr. Pessoa, who was in Paris at the time of his election, acting as chief of the Brazilian delegation at the Peace Conference, visited the United States on his way to Brazil to take over the office of the presidency. BRAZIL, a city of Indiana, the county- seat of Clair co. It is on the Central Indiana, the Chicago and Eastern Illi- nois, and the Vandalia railroads. Its chief industry is the mining of block coal. There are also manufactures of mining machines, pianos, wire, sewer pipe, etc. Large deposits of clay exist in the vicinity. It has a Carnegie library and other public buildings. Pop. (1910) 9,340; (1920) 9,293. BRAZIL CABBAGE, or CHOU CABrAIBE, names somewhat vaguely ap- plied to various species of caladium and colocasia (natural order, cracese) , which yield edible tubers, and are largely cul- tivated in the tropics. BRAZILETTO, an English name of caesalpinia, a genus of leguminous plants constituting the typical one of the sub- order desalpiniex. The narrow leaved braziletto, C. sappan, furnishes the sap- pan-wood used in dyeing red. C. sepiaria, the Mysore thorn, is so spin- ous that it constitutes an impenetrable fence. Hyder All planted it around fortified places. It is a scandent shrub. There are other species from the East or West Indies or South America. BRAZILIAN GRASS, an incorrect popular name applied to a substance used in the manufacture of a very cheap kind of hats, known as Brazilian grass hats, and also as chip hats. It consists of strips of the leaves of a palm, chamssrops argentea, which are im- ported into Great Britain for this manu- facture, and chiefly from Cuba. BRAZIL NUTS, the seeds of a Bra- zilian tree — the bertholletia excelsa. It belongs to the order lecythidacess. The BRAZIL NUT A. Leaf. C. A single nut. B. Fruit with half the D. Cross cut of nut. pericarp removed. nuts or seeds are largely exported from Para, whence they are sometimes called Pa-a nuts. They are edible, besides
