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of sacred poetry Francisco José de Carvalho (Frei Francisco de Monte-Alverne, 17851858) was conspicuous. The language of Brazil is Portuguese, more or less modified by dialect.

Government.-By the constitution of 1824 the executive power was vested in the emperor and a cabinet of 7 ministers; the legislative, in a general assembly of two houses, and the judicial in a council of state of 24 members (advisory only), a supreme tribunal, 12 district courts, and the usual subordinate courts. The crown was hereditary and irresponsible, and was vested with the rights of veto and pardon. The senate was composed of 60 life-members representing provinces, each chosen by the crown from a list of 3 members elected by the people; the chamber of deputies was composed cf members representing districts and elected directly by popular vote. The right of suffrage was so restricted that the voting population barely numbered 150,000.

The constitution of 1890 bases the federal system upon that of the United States. The first presidential election is to be by Congress, but subsequent elections shall be by means of electors selected in each state by the people in proportion to their delegations in Congress. Should no citizen obtain an absolute majority of the Electoral College, then Congress shall choose one of the three persons receiving the largest number of votes. Should this measure fail, then Congress shall vote again, dropping the third name and voting for the two who have the largest number of votes, so that the presidentelect shall have an absolute majority. The president shall be elected for six years, and shall be ineligible for the next ten years succeeding his term of office. He alone is responsible to the nation. The imperial ministers are replaced by secretaries of state, who are responsible to the president, and who are ineligible for the presidency during their terms of office. Parliament shall consist of a house of representatives and a senate, whose powers shall be purely legislative. An adverse vote by either chamber shall not entail a change of ministry. A new house of representatives shall be elected triennially and a new senate every 9 years. There shall be 63 senators (3 for each state and federal district) and 200 deputies, according to population. The president of the senate shall be the vice-president of the republic. In case of the absence or death of the president, his office shall be filled by the vice-president, next by the speaker of the house of representatives, next by the vice-president of the senate, and lastly by the president of the supreme tribunal of justice. Citizens shall be unrestricted in speech, occupation, residence, religion, right to assemble in public or private, or to enter and leave the country at pleasure, and shall be equal before the law. All titles, distinctions, privileges, and decorations are abolished. New laws forbid marriage between persons of the same blood, make marriage before a civil officer obligatory, and permit divorce, but rot remarriage.

The army, in 1888, comprised 1520 officers and 13,528 men, but the force could be raised in time of war to 30,000. There was, in addition, a gendarmerie of 6847 men. The navy consisted of 9 ironclads, 6 cruisers, a mixed school corvette, a paddle-wheel steamer for artillery practice, 4 pataches, or light school craft, 8 torpedo boats, 17 gun boats, 2 steam transports, and 11 steam launches, well equipped with modern guns and rifles and manned by 4272 sailors and officers.

The public debt, in 1889, was about $565,035,000, of which $85,000,000 consisted of paper money issues. The foreign debt amounted to $140,950,000. The revenue for 1888, largely derived from customs duties, was $70,848,960; the expenditures, $79,580,490.

Population.-Agassiz describes the amalgamation of races, especially in the maritime provinces, as more widespread than in any other country in the world, the best qualities of the several races being effaced, “leaving a mongrel type deficient in physical and mental energy." About two-thirds of the population consists of mamalucos of mixed Indian and Portuguese stock, cafuzos (Indian and negro), mulattoes, and unmixed Indians and Africans. The savage Indians of the interior are generally of medium height, and are copper-colored, muscular,_small-featured, and more active mentally than the Indians of North America. The Botocudos (q.v.) of the Rio Doce are among the most barbarous of the tribes, and have a different language from that used by the other Indians. Polygamy is practised by some tribes and cannibalism by the dwellers of the Purus valley. A remnant or division of the Carib nation is found in the province of Matto Grosso. The slave trade, begun early in the 18th century, was prohibited in 1831, but the importation was not prohibited till 1853, and did not cease until 1854. In 1871 a law was passed enacting that after that date all children born of slave mothers should be free, but should serve the mother's master until twenty-one years of age. The same law set apart an emancipation fund to be applied to the ransom of slaves owned by private persons. After that time emancipation made rapid progress and down to 1883 87,700 persons had been freed. In 1887 the number of slaves was 700,000, but in 1888 slavery was abolished by imperial edict.

The Brazilians as a nation are described as grave and ceremonious, but polite, quickwitted, hospitable, fond of music, and possessed of considerable sense of humor. A tendency to vindictiveness, unhappily, occasions frequent homicides among the ignorant and degraded. Love of country appears to be an active virtue. Family and social life in the cities resembles that of Europe or the United States, but in smaller places it is primitive, and women of the better classes lead a secluded and indolent existence. Aristocracy is based upon descent from the noble families of Portugal, ample fortune,

or length of time in the service of the country.

The inhabitants of the southern provinces are more energetic than their fellow-countrymen in the north, doubtless owing to the more stimulating climate. Lotteries are very popular, over $9,000,000 being annually invested. There are nine appointed national holidays, one of these being the 4th of July. For types of aborigines see illus. Patagonia, vol. XI., and for coat of arms of empire see HERALDRY, vol. VII.

The Republic of Brazil has 20 provinces and 1 independent municipality. Previous to 1872, when the first full census was taken, the estimates were based upon the official returns of 1817 and 1818. In 1850 the population was supposed to be about 7,000,000, and in 1860, 8,000,000. In the following table the figures for 1872 include about 250,000 wild Indians. Figures marked * are based upon provincial estimates. Figures for 1888 are official, and include about 576,000 foreigners, chiefly Portuguese, German, and Italian.

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The largest city, Rio, had, in 1885, a population of 357,332. In 1883, Bahia had 140,000; Pernambuco, 130,000; Pelotas, 45,000; Pará, São Paulo, and Campos, each 40.000; Campinas, Maranhão, and Porto Alegre each 35,000; Curitiba, 34,000, and Ouro Preto, 20,000.

See Brazil and the Brazilians, by Kidder and Fletcher (1857); Wallace's Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro (1853); Bates' The Naturalist on the River Amazons (1863); Keller's The Amazon and Madeira (1874); Agassiz's Journey in Brazil (1868); Scully's Brazil (1868); Hartt's Scientific Results of a Journey in Brazil, by Professor Louis Agassiz (1870); Burton's Explorations of the Highlands of Brazil (1869); Dent's A Year in Brazil (1886); Andrews' Brazil (New York, 1887); Climat, géologie, faune, et géographie botanique du Brésil, by Liais (1872); Macedo's Notions on the Chorography of Brazil (trans., 1873); The Empire of Brazil at the Vienna Exhibition (Rio de Janeiro, 1873); Gorringe's The Coast of Brazil and Trade of its Ports (Washington, 1873); de Almeida's Atlas do Imperio do Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, 1868); Le Brésil in 1889, published by the Brazilian committee at the Paris Exposition; O dialecto Braziliero, by Vasconcellos (Oporto, 1883).

BRAZIL', seat of justice of Clay co., Ind., on the Chicago and Indiana Coal and Terre Haute and Indianapolis railroads, 57 miles w.s. w. of Indianapolis. There are coal and iron mines near the place; there are manufactures of mining engines, and machinery, railroad spikes, etc., tile, sewer-pipe, pumps, fire-brick, and other articles, also six churches, two banks, two daily and four weekly newspapers. Pop. 1870, 2186; 1890, 5902.

BRAZIL', ISLAND OF, one of the mythical islands of the Atlantic set down by early cosmographers. It was assigned to several places, in one map being attached to the Azores, and the baseless tradition was not finally and officially exploded until the publication of the British admiralty charts of 1865. See ISLANDS, MYTHICAL.

BRAZIL CABBAGE, or CHOU CARAÏBE (caladium sagittifolium, or xanthosoma sagittifolia), a plant of the natural order aracea, nearly allied to cocco (q.v.), and very similar to it, although it differs in having arrow-shaped pointed leaves. It is supposed to be originally a native of tropical America, but is now in common cultivation throughout the whole tropics; not only the root being used for food like that of cocco, but also the leaves, boiled as greens. Both root and leaves are almost entirely destitute of the acridity so generally characteristic of the order.

BRAZILIAN GRASS, an incorrect name applied to a substance used in the manufacture of a cheap kind of hats, known as Brazilian grass hats, and also as chip hats.

It consists of stripes of the leaves of a palm, chamarops argentea, which are imported into Britain for this manufacture, and chiefly from Cuba. Šee CHAMEROPS.

BRAZILIAN PLUM. See HOG PLUM.

BRAZIL NUTS are the seeds of the bertholletia excelsa, a majestic and beautiful tree of the natural order lecythidacea (q.v.). The tree grows to the height of 100 or 120 ft., and abounds on the banks of the Orinoco and in the northern parts of Brazil. It produces a round woody pericarp or seed-vessel, almost as large as a man's head, within which are many of the seeds or nuts. The pericarp is very heavy and solid, requiring a blow of a sledge-hammer to break it; and at the time when this great fruit is ready to fall, it is dangerous to walk under the tree. The seeds, which are popularly called nuts, and much resemble fruits of that description, are wrinkled and triangular, having a hard shell and a pure white kernel, which, when fresh, is very agreeable. They are chiefly exported from Para and French Guiana, and are well known in our shops. They yield a large quantity of oil, which is good for burning. The nuts or seeds of the lecythis ollaris, or POT TREE, are produced in a pericarp which resembles a rusty iron pot with a lid, the lid dropping off and letting the seeds out, which are oblong, grooved, and esteemed of a very superior quality to the common B. N.; but they have not yet become an article of commerce, as the tree grows chiefly in the interior parts of the country. See illus., TREES, vol. XIV., p. 540, fig. 8.

BRAZIL WOOD, a dark-red or yellowish-brown dye-wood, which forms a considerable article of export from Brazil, where some of the trees which yield it are very abundant. It is the produce of different species of cæsalpinia (q.v.). The best kinds are those called Pernambuco wood, all saints' wood, and St. Martha wood. Much of the B. W. of commerce is obtained from casalpinia Brasiliensis, a tree which is a native of the West Indies, commonly growing in dry places and among rocks, and seldom exceeding 30 ft. in height. It has bipinnate leaves, with many smooth, obtuse, oblong leaflets, and no terminal leaflets, the flowers in pannicles, with downy stalks. The heart-wood alone is of any value.-PERNAMBUCO WOOD is the produce of casalpinia echinata, a prickly tree, with prickly pods, and of which the red and yellow flowers have a delicious smell, resembling that of the lily of the valley. The sap-wood is extremely thick, and the valuable heart-wood bears a small proportion to the whole diameter of the stem. -The sappan wood (q.v.) of the East Indies nearly approaches B.W. in quality. It is the produce of casalpinia sappan, a small thorny tree.-The BRAZILETTO WOOD, Sometimes also called B. W., which is brought from the Antilles, is much inferior. Casalpinia crista probably yields some of the inferior West Indian Brazil wood.—It is a curious circumstance, that B. W. is said not to take its name from Brazil, but to be mentioned under the name Braxilis in documents much older than the discovery of America, the sappan wood of the East Indies being probably intended, and the name of Brazil has even been supposed to be derived from that of this product of its soil.

When freshly cut, the color of B. W. is yellow; but when exposed to air, moisture, and light, it becomes red, and is generally sent into market ground down to the size of ordinary sawdust. When treated with water, alcohol, or ether, the weathered B. W. readily yields up its red coloring matter, called Brazéléin. The latter is supposed to be produced from the oxidation of a colorless substance called Brazilin, which exists in the original yellow wood of the tree. Strong decoctions of B. W. are used by the dyer and calico-printer in the fabrication of reds, browns, etc.; it is also used in the manufacture of red ink. See INK.

BRAZING, or BRASS SOLDERING, is the process of uniting together two pieces of brass, two pieces of copper, or one of each, by means of a hard solder, partaking more or less of the composition and properties of ordinary brass. The edges or parts of metal to be joined are first filed bright, so as to be thoroughly clean, then there is strewed over the gap or crevice a mixture of the solder and borax. The solder employed varies in composition according to the kind of work, and may be rendered more fusible by the addition of a larger amount of zinc, but the general proportions are (1) 16 copper, 16 zinc, and 1 tin; (2) 12 brass, 4 zinc, and 3 tin; or (3) 18 brass, 3 zinc, and 2 tin. When the whole has been fused together, it is allowed to cool, and is then filed down to a coarse powder, in which state it is used. The borax is employed to form a glaze over the brightened surfaces, and thus prevent the oxidation of the metal, which would seriously interfere with B., and even stop the operation. An outward coating or layer of charcoal is likewise serviceable in the exclusion of the air during the B. of large pieces of metal. Where a very high heat is required in the process, a little powdered glass is mixed with the borax. The mixture of solder and borax may be applied dry, but it is better to moisten it with water, and to lay it on the filed surfaces with a spoon. The whole is then gently heated, when the water evaporates and leaves a crust of borax and solder. The work may now be strongly heated before the blow-pipe, or over a clear fire, and at a bright red heat the solder fuses, and the zinc begins to burn with a pale-blue flame. At this stage, the solder flushes or becomes liquid enough to permeate the joint or crevice; but should it be tardy in acting thus, several slight taps will insure the proper result. The whole is now cooled, and, towards the close, the articles may be introduced into cold water for more rapid reduction in temperature. Pieces of metal which have undergone the process of

B. are so firmly united that they may be rolled and re-rolled without the parts yielding See SOLDER.

BRAZORIA, & co. in s.e. Texas on the gulf of Mexico; 1260 sq.m.; pop. '80, 9780—7531 colored. The International and Great Northern railroad intersects the county. It has a level surface of oak forest and prairie. Agriculture is the main occupation. Co. seat, Brazoria, 48 m. s. of Houston.

BRAZOS, a co. in s.e. Texas, on the B. river; 578 sq.m.; pop. '80, 13,580-6257 colored. The surface is undulating and fertile; chief business, agriculture. The Houston and Texas railroad traverses the county. Co. seat, Bryan.

BRA'ZOS DE DI'OS, a river of Texas, North America, the second, if not the first, in magnitude that flows within the state. It runs towards the s.e., rising in the table-land of Lynn co., and falling into the gulf of Mexico about 40 m. to the s. w. of Galveston. With a course of about 900 m., it is navigable at all times to a distance of 40 m. from its mouth, and at certain seasons to a distance of 300 miles. The valley of the river, the lower half being merely an alluvial plain, presents extensive forests, interspersed with plantations of maize, sugar, and cotton.

BRA'ZOS DE SANTIAGO, a port of entry in Cameron co., Texas, on the gulf of Mexico, 35 m. e.n.e. of Brownsville. It has some foreign and considerable coasting trade.

BRAZZA, an island in the Adriatic, belonging to Dalmatia, Austria, in lat. 43° to 44° n., and long. 16° to 17° east. It has an area of about 170 sq.m., and a pop. of 16,000; and is separated from the mainland by a channel of some 8 or 10 m. in breadth. Its surface is mountainous, and extensively wooded; vines, yielding excellent wine, are grown in the valleys, and figs, saffron, almonds, and oil are produced in considerable quantities, but not much grain is raised. Bees and silk-worms are reared in large numbers. B. is also celebrated for its cheese, and the delicacy of the flesh of its lambs and kids. Excellent building-stone, which is largely exported, is found in the e. part of the island. St. Pietro di Brazza is the chief town.

BREACH, in siege-works, is a gap in any of the defensive walls or gates of a city; and breaching is the operation by which the gap is produced by the guns of the besiegers. Breaching batteries are employed, consisting of several pieces of ordnance, so chosen as to kind and size, and so placed as to distance, as to burst a hole through the defenses in the shortest practicable time. The greatest effect is produced by lodging the balls in two vertical lines, from the parapet of the wall downwards, and in a horizontal line, connecting the lower ends of those vertical lines; and then overturning the mass of material thus loosened by an irresistible salvo or volley. When a hole has once been made, by thus knocking away the masonry or earthwork, the breaching is coninued until the crumbling mass has so accumulated as to form a practicable slope, up which the storming-party of the besiegers may run. See ASSAULT. During the Peninular war there were some formidable examples of breaching. At Badajoz, 14,000 shot rought down 180 ft. of wall in 104 hours, from a distance of 450 yards. At Ciudad Rodrigo, 6700 balls brought down 105 ft. of wall in 32 hours, from a distance of 560 yards. At St. Sebastian, 13,000 shot brought down 100 ft. of wall in 62 days, from a distance of 620 yards. It was calculated, from these and other instances, that 10,000 24-lb. shot, or 240,000 lbs. of iron, will breach 100 ft. of wall from a distance of 500 yards -the wall being of fair average masonry, and the height and thickness a fair average of those used in fortified towns. It must be remembered, however, that this estimate was made before the days of rifled cannon and Armstrong guns; and, on the other hand, that the walls adverted to were not constructed of granite.

*BREACH, in law, signifies a breaking or violation of a right or of an obligation or engagement legally binding; and in this sense it has numerous applications, of which the following are those more particularly treated in law-books:

BREACH OF ARRESTMENT, in the practice of the Scotch law, is the disregard or violation of the process of arrestment, or attachment, by the arrestee, or party in possession of the arrested or attached property, but who, notwithstanding, pays the sums or delivers the goods arrested; and such B. is viewed by the courts as a contempt. But at present the only consequence of the B. is, that the person guilty of it, where it is a question as to money, is liable in damages to the extent of the funds paid away, and the costs. Where goods are arrested, and the arrestment is removed on bail (or "loosed on caution," as the Scotch lawyers say), if the goods themselves cannot be recovered, or their value cannot be clearly ascertained, the surety or "cautioner" is held to be liable for the original debt. See ARRESTMENT. In England, the disputing or disobeying a rule or order by a judge for attachment of a debt very nearly means the same thing. See ATTACHMENT, GARNISHEE.

BREACH OF CLOSE is a trespass by which an unwarrantable entry is made on another man's land, for satisfaction of which injury an action will lie to recover damages. It is called a trespass for breaking a man's close, because every man's land is, in the eye of the law, inclosed and set apart from his neighbor's; and that either by a visible and

Bread.

material fence, as one field is divided from another by a hedge; or by an invisible boundary, existing only in the contemplation of the law, as when one man's land adjoins to another's in the same field. The liability to this injury attaches not only to the party himself trespassing, but also to trespass by his cattle. And the law gives the party injured a double remedy in this case, by permitting him to distrain the cattle till the owner shall make satisfaction, or else by leaving him to the ordinary remedy by action for the damage done.

But in some cases this trespass is justifiable; as where it is done in exercise of a right of way, right of common, or the like; or where a man comes to demand or pay money payable on the particular land; or to execute, in a legal manner, the process of the law; or by the license of the plaintiff himself. Also, a man may justify entering into an inn or public-house without the leave of the owner first specially asked; because when a man professes the keeping of such an inn or public-house, he thereby gives a general license to any person to enter his doors. So a landlord may justify entering to distrain for rent; and a reversioner to see if any waste be committed on the estate, for the apparent necessity of the thing; and it has been held that the common law warrants the hunting of ravenous beasts of prey, as badgers and foxes, in another man's land, if no greater damage be done than is necessary, because the destroying such creatures is said to be profitable to the public. But in cases where a man misdemeans himself, or makes an ill use of the authority with which the law intrusts him, he is accounted a trespasser ab initio; as if one comes into a tavern, and will not go out in a reasonable time, but remains there all night, contrary to the inclinations of the owner; such wrongful act is held to affect and have relation back even to his first entry, and make the whole a trespass. But a bare nonfeasance, as not paying for the wine he calls for, will not make him a trespasser, for this is only a B. of contract. See Blackstone and Stephen's Com. respecting "civil injuries."

In the Scotch law, the term close is not used, and not known-but there any violation of a right of property in land may be redressed by legal process, and in many cases form the ground of an action for the recovery of damages. See CLOSE. The term inclosure, in Scotch law, has a different meaning, although the penalties for breaking such inclosure are somewhat analogous to those for breach of close. See below, BREAKING INCLOSURE, and see TRESPASS.

BREACH OF COVENANT is one of those civil injuries by which is meant a violation of a covenant or agreement contained in a deed of conveyance, either to do or omit to do something, and which B. gives a right of action against the party who made the covenant and his representatives. See COVENANT.

BREACH OF CONTRACT is a general description of injury, by which is understood the violation of any contract or legal engagement, and for which, at law, damages may be recovered, according to the nature of the breach and character of the contract. In 1854, jurisdiction was conferred upon the courts of common law, by which a plaintiff can compel a defendant to fulfill any actual duty. But till the constitution of the new high court of justice in 1873, it was only in the courts of equity that complete relief was given by enforcing the specific performance of contracts. See CONTRACT; DAMAGES; SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE; EQUITY, COURTS OF; CHANCERY, COURT OF.

In Scotland, although there is no distinction between law and equity, the remedy for this injury is very much the same. The party wronged may either conclude for damages. or ad factum prestandum, or for both these remedies.

BREACH OF DUTY may be legally defined as either the non-execution of an office, or the performance of it in such a way that the conditions on which it is undertaken are violated. Such misconduct may either violate the conditions of an express contract, or it may be equally opposed and do equal violence to any implied engagement or assumpsit, as it is technically called in the law of England, not from the express determination of any court or the positive directions of any statute, but from natural reason and the just construction of law, which assumes and intends that every man has engaged what his duty or justice requires at his hands. And he must do this with integrity, diligence, and skill; for if, by his neglect, injury accrues to individuals, they have their remedy against him in damages. See CONTRACT, DUTY, OBLIGATION, DAMAGES, EQUITY, PERFORMANCE OF CONTRACTS.

BREACH OF THE PEACE is an offense against the public tranquillity and safety, and is either felonious or not felonious. But the law on this subject will be best considered under PEACE, OFFENSES AGAINST THE PUBLIC.

BREACH OF POUND is an indictable offense, and means the breaking any pound (q.v.) or place where cattle or goods distrained are deposited, in order to rescue them. When once impounded, such goods or cattle are understood to be in the custody of the law, and an action for treble damages will lie for illegally taking them out of pound upon a distress for rent. Further, it is enacted by the 6 and 7 Vict. c. 30, that if any person shall release, or attempt to release, cattle lawfully seized by way of such distress, from the pound or place where they shall be impounded, or on the way to or from such pound or place, or shall destroy such pound-he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £5, and in default, may be committed to the house of correction. See Stephen's Com., vol. iii., and see DISTRAIN, DISTRESS, POUND. See Supp., page 877.

BREACH OF PROMISE TO MARRY. See PROMISE and MARRIAGE.

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