1,177,022; of whom 623,274 are males, 553,748 females, and 87,492 are over sixty years of age.*

The extraordinary session of the Brazilian Legislature having closed on May 19, the ordinary session opened on the following day, when the Emperor, referring in his speech to the Emancipation question, said—

"The gradual extinction of slavery, which was the special object of the extraordinary session, should continue to merit the greatest solicitude on your part. This question, which is bound up with the deepest interests of Brazil, demands a settlement which shall tranquilize our agricultural classes. I commit it, therefore, to your wisdom and patriotism."

Dr. Ernesto Ferreira França, Advocate to the Council of State, in a letter dated Rio de Janeiro, August 22, which appeared in the Times of September 21, points out the difference between the bills of Dantas and Saraiva. He says, "The Cabinet of Senhor Dantas conceded indemnification as a favour, and that of Senhor Saraiva as a right."

It is needless to refer in detail to the events which followed. The following telegrams will be sufficient :

Rio de Janeiro, August 15. Senhor Saraiva, the Premier, and the other members of the Cabinet have collectively tendered their resignation to the Emperor, owing to the hostility displayed towards their general policy by the majority of the Chamber of Deputies.

Rio de Janeiro, August 19. Baron de Cotegipe, one of the Conservative leaders, has been charged by the Emperor with the formation of a new Cabinet, and has accepted the task.

Rio de Janeiro, August 20. Baron de Cotegipe has succeeded in forming a Conservative Cabinet. Baron is Premier and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The

Dr. Ferreira França concludes the letter referred to above as follows

"As I write, a political change has taken place. The Baron de Cotegipe is at the head of a new Cabinet, belonging to the Conservative party, after Liberal administrations for between seven or eight years. Senhor Saraiva, having passed the Slavery bill through the Chamber, aided by a coalition of

*For further particulars of numbers in each province, see South American Journal, May 16, 1885.

Liberals and Conservatives, considered it improper as a Liberal to remain in power, there not being a Liberal majority in the Chamber, and it being certain that the bill would meet with no opposition in the Senate.”

[REUTER'S TELEGRAM.]

Rio Janeiro, September 25.

The Government bill for the gradual abolition of slavery has been passed (24th) by both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

On September 28, 1885, the fourteenth anniversary of the passing of the Rio Branco law, the Emancipation of Slaves Act, received the Imperial sanction; it is known as the Saraiva law, the principal items of which I have already given. Within ten years it is supposed that slavery will have ceased to exist in Brazil. Before long it will be seen that a great victory has been gained; and although the Act is not perfect, and it cannot be expected that Abolitionists will be pleased with all its details, yet a sudden revolution or entire dislocation of the present order of things has been avoided, and the long-desired aim of freeing this vast empire as speedily as may be from the curse of slavery is now ensured by a gradual and peaceful process. Deo gratias.

Rio de Janeiro, January 15, 1886. The elections to the Brazilian Chambers have resulted very favourably to the Conservatives, who will have a majority in the new Chamber. The position of parties is thus reversed, the Conservatives having been in a minority in the former Chamber.

The return of a Conservative Ministry to power in September last restored confidence, and I am informed that the state of affairs generally has since then greatly improved, while, with a Conservative majority in the Chambers, the outlook for the future is very satisfactory.

THE ORIGIN OF SAVAGE COMMUNITIES OR TRIBES BY

DEGRADATION.

Some time ago, when studying evolution from the standpoint of the Christian religion, I was especially led to consider how vastly more numerous are examples of degradation and degeneration than are those suggestive of evolution, or the doctrine of a lower form producing a higher.

From generalizations I descended into details, and took one family, that of the crustacea, wherein I found that the general conclusions to which I had been brought were proved in the most convincing manner in that family.

It is impossible to do more, in this short note, than give a few instances of the application of the theory of degradation to the human species.

I contend that a man is a family with only one genus—Homo. In some regions of physical science, at least, there is a certain scope for speculation; but, unless we are to throw over one of the most important statements of revealed religion, we must believe that God created man upright. Therefore, the existing tribes or communities of human beings who are in the lowest condition as to physical and intellectual development, or as to religious or moral ideas, must represent degradation. The Duke of Argyll, in Unity of Nature," says, that as the first men could not have been cannibals or indulged in infanticide, or the race could not have been increased, the existence of these two customs alone proves degeneration.

The most ancient fossil remains of man that have been found exhibit a very high type, both in physical development and intellectual capacity. There are no remains at present discovered which display as low types of the human race as those that now exist in Australia, Tierra del Fuego,* or the bushmen of South Africa, who are degenerated Hottentots. The fossil skulls, found in the limestone caves † near the valley of the Rio Paraopéba, Minas Geraes, are of the same type as the Indians of to-day, who are now, owing to the Portuguese settlement, being pushed away into restricted and distant areas. A condition of high mental development, which the fossil men present to us, does not necessarily represent a correspondingly advanced condition of civilization, refinement, or progress of the arts and sciences. It denotes

* That even the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego can be raised, as they have been, through the labours of missionaries, Mr. Darwin has freely acknowledged. The name Tierra del Fuego was given by the discoverers, who, on approaching it, saw numerous fires in the native camps. This in itself points to a certain status in development far above that of the most intelligent animals. † Some of the remains of bones found in these caves are to be seen at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London.

merely the possession of an intelligent will, capable of development, and enabled to profit by experience.

I maintain that man was created noble and pure, with vast and untold capabilities. Since his creation, man, left to himself, has but degenerated. Soon came that mysterious catastrophe which we call the Fall; and synchronously the promise of a wonderful Redemption, which, in course of time, was effected. Subsequent on the Fall came degeneration-degradation of the antediluvian world; degradation of the Israelites, as described in the Old Testament; degradation of the Hindoos from the original standard of their religion, with lofty aspirations and ideals; degradation of Mohammedanism, etc.; degradation of Christianity.

We

The same truth confronts us in the records of the rocks. find always that new forms were introduced in their highest state, full of life and vigour. They worked out the object of their creation, and then either became extinct on the introduction of higher forms, or remain to the present day degraded, degenerated, depauperated, and comparatively scantily represented.

This is the origin of all savage tribes. As the struggle to gain the necessaries for bare existence increases, so man degenerates. Driven out by stronger tribes, the weaker are forced to live under the most uncongenial conditions, e.g. the Eskimos, Australians, Bushmen, Tierra del Fuegians. These all now live in countries the most unfavourable, with surroundings the least conducive to existence, let alone to advancement.

Mr. Drummond, in "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," has pointed out that death means "the want of correspondence with the environment;" and that "the organism is but a part, nature is the complement." The nations of the temperate zones have, at least, an environment conducive to progress-grasses which produce food, e.g. wheat; animals capable of domestication; a climate where excessive labour is, at least, possible during a prolonged period. The four people I have referred to have none of these advantages, and so it is with the Indians on the Amazons.

On the introduction of a civilized community into the midst of uncivilized nations, the latter cannot come into correspondence with their environment; they either become extinct, as in the case of the North American Indians, who are a race of warlike hunters,

with no literature, but with a beautiful and complex language, or they become and continue a subjected and servile race, like the negroes or the Malays.

I came across, in Brazil, white men (the descendants of the Portuguese), negroes, and a few tame Indians; all of them Christians, living together under parallel conditions. Of the three races, though the whites are the most civilized, the negroes are physically the finest race and the most prolific. I met with some mulattoes, who were not only very intelligent, but also most scientific, and especially skilled in modern languages.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

In Rio de Janeiro, and in other places which are more or less connected with foreign countries, the kilogrammetric and litric systems obtain; but up country, as I have repeatedly mentioned, the old weights and measures are still in force. For small weights the kilogram and its divisions are used, but for larger quantities the aroba is employed. In measures of capacity, the litre is occasionally used, but in general the other measures, which are detailed in the table below. In the stores, cloths and other products are measured by metres; but distances are always described in leagues, half leagues or quarter leagues. In land measurement, alqueires, braças, and palmas are in use.

*

* I am indebted to Mr. George Maunders, C.E., of Ouro Preto, for notes

from which I have compiled most of these tables.