Whence? Whither?

     Marking Brazil's celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabralīs arrival, a flotilla of reconstructed caravels finally completed the journey from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro. "Brasil" got its Portuguese name from "brasa" (glowing coal), referring to the read dye extracted from the brasil tree (pau brasil), which grew in abundance along Brazil's coast. I have seen only one. The Economist (4/29/00) has an article "Still chopping" about the destruction of Brazil's coastal forests. I would like an estimate of the number of surviving brazil trees.
     A note at the end of the article says that The Economist's former Sao Paulo correspondent, Michael Reid, has been awarded the Cruzeiro do Sul by the Brazilian government. Congratulations! I received mine some fifty years ago for promoting Brazilian studies. Those were pioneering times. Bolivar House at Stanford sponsored the work of James Taylor, who produced his invaluable Portuguese-English Dictionary. To celebrate its appearance, I organized a ceremony at which the Dean of Humanities presented the Brazilian Consul General in San Francisco with a copy. The Dean made a fulsome speech in which he spoke of the importance of Brazil and his plan to promote the teaching of Spanish!
     Even the name presented a problem. The Hispanists objected to the name Institute of Latin American Studies, and to appease them we renamed it Institute of Hispanic American Studies. Then the Brazilians objected, so we renamed it Institute of Hispanic American and Luso-Brazilian Studies. That was a good sales gimmick, as people, puzzled by the sign, stopped by and asked me what it meant. I was able to lecture them on the name Lusitania, from Lusus, the Greek equivalent of Bacchus, from luein, to loosen, since wine loosens the muscles. Now the original "Latin American Studies" has been revived.
     The Southern Cross, the constellation after which the order is named, is featured on the Brazilian flag with the Positivist motto "Order and Progress." Alas! There is not much order in Brazil. In addition to the violence in the cities, there are violent protests throughout Brazil by the "landless," peasants illegally squatting on estates, invading cities and staging riots which provoke a violent response from government forces. While the distribution of wealth in Brazil is disgraceful, it is clear that these riots obey a master plan and seem to be coordinated with the guerrilla groups in neighboring Colombia. The area of violence in South America is broader than most Americans realize.

Ronald Hilton - 5/4/00