are to be found even along the Amazon. In the Amazon valley fish is a principal article of food, and large quantities of pirarucú (Sudis gigas) are caught during the season of low water and prepared for storage or market by drying in the sun. This and the collection of turtle eggs for their oil, or butter, are chiefly Indian industries, and contribute largely to the support of the native population of that region. Along the coast the best known fisheries are among the Abrolhos islands and in the shallow waters of Espirito Santo, where the garoupa, pargo and vermelho (species of Serranus) abound in great numbers.
The extractive or forest industries of Brazil were among the first to engage the attention of Europeans, and have always been considered a principal source of colonial and national wealth. The varied uses of india-rubber in modern times, however, have given them a greatly enhanced importance and value. Of the exports of 1905, 36% were of this class, while those of the pastoral and mining industries combined were not quite 612%. In 1906 the percentages were 31 and 6.67, showing a considerable loss for the former and a slight gain for the latter. The principal products of this class are india-rubber, maté, Brazil nuts, vegetable wax, palm fibre, cabinet woods, and medicinal leaves, roots, resins, &c. Before the discovery of the cheaper aniline colours, dye-woods were among the most valuable products of the country; in fact, Brazil derives her name from that of a dye-wood (Brazil-wood—Caesalpinia echinata), known as bresill, brasilly, bresilji, braxilis, or brasile long before the discovery of America (see Humboldt’s Géographic du nouveau continent, tom. ii. p. 214), which for many generations was the most highly prized of her natural productions. Of the total exports of this group (1905) very nearly 90% was of india-rubber, which percentage was reduced to 85 in the following year. The exportation for 1906 was 69,761,123 ℔ of Hevea, 5,871,968 ℔ of maniçoba, and 1,440,131 ℔ of mangabeira rubber, the whole valued at 124,941,433 milreis gold. The dried leaves and smaller twigs of maté (Paraguayan tea—Ilex paraguayensis) are exported to the southern Spanish American republics, where (as in Rio Grande do Sul) the beverage is exceedingly popular. The export in 1906 amounted to 127,417,950 ℔, officially valued at 16,502,881 milreis gold. The collection of Brazil nuts along the Amazon and its tributaries is essentially a poor man’s industry, requiring no other plant than a boat. The harvest comes in January and February, in the rainy season, and the nut-gatherers often come one or two hundred miles in their boats to the best forests. The nuts are the fruit of the Bertholletia excelsa, one of the largest trees of the Amazon forest region, and are enclosed, sixteen to eighteen in number, in a hard, thick pericarp. Another nut-producing tree is the sapucaia (Lecythis ollaria), whose nuts are enclosed in a larger pericarp, and are considered to be better flavoured than those first described. The crop is a variable one, the export in 1905 having been 198,226 hectolitres, while that of 1906 was 96,770 hectolitres. It could undoubtedly be largely increased. Vegetable wax, which is an excellent substitute for beeswax, is a product of the carnahuba palm (Copernicia cerifera), and is an important export from Ceará. Palm, or piassava fibre, derived from the piassava palm, is used in the manufacture of brooms, brushes, &c. It is found as far south as southern Bahia, and the export could be very largely increased. The export of cabinet woods is not large, considering the forest area of Brazil and the variety and quality of the woods. This is principally due to the cost and difficulties of transporting timbers to the coast. The export is confined principally to rosewood. Of the medicinal plants, the best-known products are ipecacuanhá, sarsaparilla, copaiba, jaborandi and cinchona, but this is only a part of the list. Besides these, tonka beans, anatto, vanilla, and castor-oil seeds form a part of the exports.
The mineral exports are surprisingly small. Gold was discovered by the Portuguese soon after their settlement of the coast in the 16th century, but the washings were poor and attracted little attention. The richer deposits of Minas Geraes were discovered about 1693, and those of Matto Grosso early in the following century. Abandoned placer mines are to be found in every part of the unsettled interior, showing how thoroughly it had been explored by gold-hunters in those early days. Some good mines, like Morro Velho and the abandoned Gongo Soco, have been developed in Minas Geraes, but the great majority are small and not very productive. Diamonds were discovered in Minas Geraes, near the town now called Diamantina, during the first half of the 18th century, the dates given ranging from 1725 to 1746, but the productiveness of the district has greatly decreased. Diamonds have also been found in Bahia, Goyaz and Paraná. Other precious stones found in Brazil are the topaz, ruby aquamarine, tourmaline, chrysoberyl, garnet and amethyst. Among the minerals are silver, platinum, copper, iron, lead, manganese, chromium, quicksilver, bismuth, arsenic and antimony, of which only iron and manganese have been regularly mined. The copper deposits of Minas Geraes are said to be promising. Manganese is mined in Minas Geraes for export. Iron ores have been found in most of the states, and are especially abundant in Minas Geraes. The Ypanema mine and ironworks, near Sorocaba, São Paulo, which belong to the national government, have been in operation since 1810 and small charcoal forges were in operation in colonial times and supplied the mines with a considerable part of the iron needed by them. Many of the richer deposits have never been developed because of a lack of fuel and limestone. Bituminous coal of an inferior quality is mined to a limited extent in Rio Grande do Sul, and another mine has been opened in Santa Catharina. These coal deposits extend from Rio Grande do Sul north into the state of São Paulo. Salt, which does not figure in the list of exports, is produced along the coast between Pernambuco and Cape St Roque. The annual production is about 240,000 tons.
To illustrate the comparative productiveness and relationship of these sources of national wealth and industry, the following official returns of export for the years 1905 and 1906 are arranged in the four general classes previously discussed, the values being in Brazilian gold milreis, worth 2s. 3d. or 54.6 cents to the milreis:—
| Agricultural. | ||
| 1905. Milreis, gold. | 1906. Milreis, gold. | |
| Coffee | 190,404,576 | 245,474,525 |
| Cotton | 10,290,790 | 14,726,492 |
| Cacau | 9,240,313 | 12,323,922 |
| Tobacco | 7,335,163 | 8,283,150 |
| Sugar | 3,608,476 | 5,388,596 |
| Bran[1] | 1,490,312 | 1,128,761 |
| Cottonseed | 964,074 | 1,084,742 |
| Mandioca flour | 692,079 | 789,913 |
| Fruits | 606,678 | 714,332 |
| Castor-oil seeds | 214,016 | 333,250 |
| ———— | ———— | |
| 224,846,477 | 290,247,683 | |
| Natural and Forest. | ||
| Rubber: | ||
| Mangabeira | 1,286,672 | 1,376,014 |
| Maniçoba | 7,418,559 | 7,335,870 |
| Hevea (Pará) | 119,434,947 | 116,229,549 |
| Maté (Paraguay tea) | 11,088,108 | 16,502,881 |
| Brazil nuts | 2,064,049 | 1,190,177 |
| Palm wax (Carnahuba) | 1,847,273 | 3,733,478 |
| Cabinet woods | 390,070 | 318,873 |
| Piassaya fibre | 336,668 | 347,323 |
| Medicinal leaves, roots, resins, &c | 191,534 | 263,137 |
| ———— | ———— | |
| 143,331,142 | 147,297,302 | |
| Pastoral and Animal. | ||
| Salted hides | 7,010,498 | 9,691,180 |
| Dry hides | 5,330,440 | 7,675,715 |
| Skins | 4,117,590 | 4,639,512 |
| Horse hair | 307,505 | 403,541 |
| Horns | 276,172 | 277,488 |
| Wool | 142,414 | 354,045 |
| Beef extract, &c | 81,607 | 110,925 |
| ———— | ———— | |
| 17,266,226 | 23,152,406 | |
| Mineral Products. | ||
| Gold, in bars | 3,734,469 | 4,379,160 |
| Manganese ore | 2,958,462 | 1,594,486 |
| Monazite sand | 889,231 | 881,289 |
| Precious stones | 633,916 | 1,480,260 |
| ———— | ———— | |
| 8,216,078 | 8,335,195 | |
| Miscellaneous. | ||
| Old metals[2]. 263,506 | 382,073 | |
| Sundry products | 2,177,512 | 2,225,163 |
| ———— | ———— | |
| 2,441,018 | 2,607,236 | |
| ————— | ————— | |
| Total, all products | 396,827,679 | 471,639,822 |
Manufactures.—Before the establishment of the republic very little attention had been given to manufacturing industries beyond what was necessary to prepare certain crude products for market. Sugar and rum were essentially plantation products down to the last ten years of the empire, when central usines using improved machinery and methods were introduced as a means of saving the sugar plantations from ruin. The crude methods of preparing jerked beef were also modified to some extent by better equipped abattoirs and establishments for preparing beef extract, preserved meats, &c. There were also mills for crushing the dried maté leaves, cigar and
- ↑ The “bran” exported is from imported wheat and cannot be considered a national product.
- ↑ The “old metals” consist of old iron, brass, &c., derived from railway material, machinery, &c., all imported, and should not be considered a Brazilian product.
The “sundry products” would probably be included in the four general classes were the items given.
