An Unexplored Corner of Brazil.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 3023, 8 October 1888, Page 2

An Unexplored Corner of Brazil.

It is astonishing to learn that within 250 miles of tho fair city of Rio Janiero,with ita fine buildings and its railways radiating in many directions, there exists hundreds of cannibills, Thn.y frequent tho valley of the Eio Doco and the adjacent territory and in spite of missionary and trader still wander about in garbless simplicity. This we learn from a paper read before tho Koyal Geographical Society by Mr John Stearns, who, in 1885 undertook a journey of exploration through this region. It does not appear that the propensity to cannibal- ; ism is'ucry strong at present, for Mr

Stearns passed a month among a branch of the Botocudos, and he saw nothing of it; These people seem to be as little hampered by convention.! alism as any in tho world. They w stark naked, they sledp when t'hov I like, hunt, fish, sing, and dance 'i UB t t when they feel inolinod, and eo't w j, ea 3 they can. Thoy are allowed to havo .as many wives as they cb.ooso, but , | ike Wore civilsed people, one wife ani i family is generally as many as a man . \ I can keep. They lmve no religious , ' ceremonies or sacrifices, and the only ! f m9 J 1 " 1 ' tllD ■ supernatural come? ! nomo to them is during B thunderi storm, when the bravest thror fire- ' i rand3 !? t0 ! h6 air to appease ' ' J, 6 7 1 Spirit. ' rho Valley of the liio Doco li e 4 just above Sagta.Cruz, and appears to. have been almost entirely neglected by settlers This can be accounted tor by the fuofc that the river is useless for navigation' on account of the ' great number of npids and falls in it, and, that tjie country is one dense forest iii which fierce Indians used to - range. Of lato years the extermination of game has greatly reduced the strength of some of the tribes, and tliore now seems not to btf any creßfc danger to bo feared from them, although it is certain that would have to defend' themselves against occasional raids, ■ and sometimes to execute reprisals., /The chief production of Iho [to'iiiniry is timber, particularly rosewood, : which is of con- ' sidorable value, Mr Stearns spent eightmonthsin bis tripand thordufililv explored the river with some of ita tributaries, and from his observations. 1 _ M lie haa coiupilotl a map which adds greyly to our knowledge of this wgion, He undertook the work entirely, at bis own expense, an' merely .from the lovoof explore' J —' lon F<fx Huntutgin .

AcorrospomV t true, and pa^'.•''' seil « s i"" ®'»") " lnmt diy -'iculav account of a to . _<net" at which ho assisted • njjjy'-- -'fi" French chateau, '"' jV- . serve to: aiauso somo of* our ■ .ozen-out fox-hunters • Froiich amateurs of-'* lo sport" are - usually fearfully and wonderfully : •' > garbed, according to our insular ideas, ; but they fancy themselves : ously Figure to youvself : a noble; French; in a short coat of tho color which ho feels best raits his complexion, girt about and around arid across with an . ' infinitude of belts, with pockets all oyer,' and a sporadicernption of but- - tona; .whitebreeches; boots of ; semi-military!. out, a game bag of netted coril with tassels at each "cbrh_er,Vadd of size sufficient liolda . ' otag~jf ten; aiid last but by no moauß least, n dog of pome indesoriable breed

whose grandsiro '.wis possibly a . poodle, or a dachshund/or'anything m point of fact, except whatil ought .'to hffia been. Then imagine our , sporfMin equipped with a gun which, liv six cases out of seven," ho doesn't know how to fire, mid prbfors not" to personally load; arm him furthor, as ostentatiously as may bo, ■ with a varied assortment of mtcmuk clmst; and decorate him with two or . three unconsidered trifles in tho shape of hunting horns, ilasks, and tag-rti£?-aud-bobtail generally, aud lie is ■ happy in tho consciousness oflooking every inch a "sportsman," However as to the dinner, the mere description : ;of the table decoration is enough to fill tho soul of any M.F.H. - with liqprand indignation, and to bring, i , Hsay, ftfcp Lauo Fox's gray hair s down with sorrow to tho grave. Down the centre of tho table," says my correspondentl "was a leopard skin; at eaoh end, orosswiso, wero fox skins, j , all shot by the hOst. Tho chairs were also upholstered with the skins of including sorao foxes, j and al!l old stuffed dog fox glared j at'us from the sideboard, whereon lie, ramped after the fashion ascribed in j heraldry toJwritisli Lion, 'in an attitude calomatod to strike terror trt all beholders, The dinner was a good one, but tho sight of those ac> ' cumulated incongruities took my appetite away."

Dairying Localities in the North Island,

,"1 have visited,"saidMrMoadows, "all the various dairying localities m tho North Isli.n l. Auckland, I may say, is far ahi:- l of any other part of theJfcrth Isl..i:d in regard to tho facroy systen'. I saw two or three factories there, and as to the butter at some of them better could not be produced, London has never been catorcflft: bettor than Aucklond with priraomsh butter. New Plymouth is hard on tho track, but is much behind Auckland as yet. Tho small farmers seem disinclined to encourage the factory system, though decidedly in their own interest. At Fielding there is no factory at present, and the butter is not so good as in ■ other parts. This, I think, results from .tho flavor caused by the country being anore recently settled than at Auckland and New Plymouth. Whero you get land where tho bush hasbeen recently burnt there is a potash flavour left with the grass which affects tho butter. Then there is the watercress and shrubs which the cattle feed on - in the winter, which also affects the flavour of tho butter. My opiuion is that in this colony you do not care sufficiently for your cattle in the wHjer, and that this is ono reason -why you get bad butter, In the Tvinter they feed on dandelion roots and the other things I bavementioned and tho result is a strong flavour in the butter,. At Wanganui they have fantafcd butter. They have establisheajnactory there, and have, some ■■ very good cheese, and I bolievo they wijlbe able to produce there the article we want for the London market. The same may bo said of Longburn near Palmerston North. There is no earthly reason, judging from what I haye seen of tho North Island, why it should not be the finest dairying district in the world, .if they only adopt [the factory system similar to • that in Canada. My own opinion is that the weakest point hero is that you do not get expert cheese and butter makers. It has not occurred to you here what is the right and proper way—indeed tho only way•to get them, You have got three or four good men in the Colony, At near Carterton.for instance, it as good as I expected to lam prepared to take all Now, the only way mon of this kind is to Canadian system, andhave an expert in charge,.who caulmvo. throe or four young men to train. It will take two or three years to do it, ' but if the system is carried out you will soon multiply experts. There is no need for the Government to spend money to introduce men; they will speedily multiply if the system Ihavo referred to is carried out. You must, as in the case of the cheese and butter under itho Canadian system, give an expert an incentive to carry out the plan in its entirety; of course I do not know yet what are the capabilities of the South Island, but I am I going down to Invercargill in order to examino into tho working of the factory thero;"

SPORTING NOTION.

"We havo often ore now poiuted out position in which country clubs r g o the metropolitan jurisdiotio.lftand with reference to receiving entri! 1 ' 8 W '" loU ' " 10 necessary fees being tho nominators, CoMry/clubs jiave, nevertheless, goneW tllls la .xityor default—call it wiW , T ou the part of tho owne> f ° ro ' rata Racing Club haye " J'bbw at last, and laid before CJ.C. committeo a list of nomina'iors, who . wero in. default to them, tfith mo request that tho C.J.C. would cl acc their names on the forfeit list., hi reply they received tho only answer 'tho committee could probably give . tliem, but at any . rate they have established a precedent which will, wo are sure, not go unheeded by other country clubs racing under Metropolitan jurisdiction throughout tho colony. Tho answor tho O.J.C, committoe returned was that " The rules of racing do not recognise any entries unless accompanied, by. cash, and consequently, as tho entries; were informal, there could bo no default." This.PMcipal b so clearly defined :by thW)les that any club whioh ' takes entries contrary thereto deserves to lose tho amount the owner is indebted to them. The fact of an Owner giving a cheque which is concomes under a somewhat differont category, . for fifi provides " That, .if atifr porson tender in payinont for' entrance, acceptance, or stakes, a cheque which is subsequently dishonored, tho entry shall be informal, and tho horse shall not bo entitled to tho stake, though .he comes in first, and the person giving such cheque shall bo considered a defaulter." Thus "cheques" are Jrcated separately from "cash," but wo know that the majority of our Metropolitan Clubs—if not all—decline {o accept any cheque tendered in payment ol fees,' unless .'.youenfia for by ono of tiieir stewar^'or committeemen. This is, perhaps, making a somewhat hard ana /ast regulation, hut thoro are. certain 1 rules -which must be complied. •wltlii An<J strict enforcement of thefn is nficeswj', espegfcwhen you have to encounter f»of tho "slippery" gontlemen that are to be met with in tho ranks of race-horse owners,—N,Z. Referee.

; . Once Upon a Time. -Onco thoro livM ut man of honor in tho palmy days of old, who belioved that right-was botter than a world of shining gold; throirjli tin! iiombre world be journeyed, doing good on every hand; widows blessed him, orphans loved him, and his fame-spread through the land. Kindly words lie evor uttered to tho weary 'and distressed, ever was his pooket opon to the famished and distressed; never was he deaf to pleading, to tho wailing voice of woe—but tho turf is heaped abovo him, for he died long years ago. Once there was a humble brakeman, who was pleasant and polite, with tho bearing of a courtier, and the graces of.it knight; ifhon ho ■called tho names ol stations overy one I could understand, for he did not howl : tho language of somo Asiatic land, 'Ho would answer nil {lie questions j that wero asked him on tho train, all ; the sights that wero of interest, lie ! would cheerfully explain; he would j beg the travellers pardon if the train ; was running slow, but his beaming face is missing, for lie died long yoars ago. Once there was • a country lawyer in the silent, vanished years, who bad nover iu his lifetime moved the jurymen to tears; neither eloquent or able, calmly ho from day to day, moved along in peaco obscurely, in the tenor of his way. Ho had never saved a villian from a fato that ho doserved, from ,the strictest paths of duty ho had ne'er two inches swerved.; ho had never caused a licartacho in this weary world below, but his offico now- is empty, for ho died somo years ago. Onco thero was a famous singer, who had never caught a cold, who would' sing for love of music, never for the love of gold. When they asked him 'if lio'd warblo lie would do as they | desired, nover making stale excuses when excuses weren't required, He would neverspeak unkindly of another singer's power, and ho uiado the world about him like a gladsome Summer bower; shall we never other singers like this gentle eingcr know ? Would that he again wero with us 1 But lie died some years a?o. Onco there was a daily paper, 'and the owner would admit, 'that his circulation hadn't in a decade grown a bit; that it didn't hold a candle to the sheet across the way, and ho often used to wonder that it lived from day to day. He'd adviso the advertisers not to patronise his sheet, for it had no circulation' in tho mails oun the streot. Nowhe twangs a harp serenely where subscribers seldom go, for, too good for earthly labors, ah! ho died long years ago. Thero have been, alas, so many, who have crowns upon thoir brow, if they left bohind descendants, whero are those descendants now 1.