ABSTRACT
With the Portuguese colonization of Brazil began a fusion of races from which has arisen no mere colony or kingdom, but a sovereign nation. Its vastness, variety and history are compounded in the names of the states of its Union; General Mines, Holy Spirit, Goddess Mother of the Sea, Land of Rondon, Dense Thicket, Great River of the South and River of January. The latter lay to the starboard quarter, while thousands of other disconnected facts about Brazil ran through my mind like ticker tape.
