ipbuilding yard of considerable
importance at the Rio de Janeiro arsenal.

_Education._--Education is in a backward condition, and it is estimated
that 80% of the population can neither read nor write. The lowest rate
of illiteracy is to be found in the southern half of the republic.
Public instruction, is, by constitutional provision, under secular
control, but religious denominations are permitted to have their own
schools. Primary instruction is free but not compulsory, and the schools
are supported and supervised by the states. An incomplete return in 1891
gave 8793 schools and 376,399 pupils. Secondary and higher education are
under both federal and state control, the former being represented by
lyceums in the state capitals, and by such institutions as the Gymnasio
Nacional (formerly Collegio Dom Pedro II.) in Rio de Janeiro. Many of
the states also maintain normal schools of an inferior type, that of Sao
Paulo being the best and most modern of the number. Higher, or superior,
instruction is confined almost exclusively to professional schools--the
medical schools of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, the law schools of Sao
Paulo and Pernambuco, the polytechnic of Rio de Janeiro, and the school
of mines of Ouro Preto. There are many private schools in all the large
cities, from the primary schools maintained by the church and various
corporations and religious associations to schools of secondary and
collegiate grades, such as the Protestant mission schools of Petropolis,
Piracicaba, Juiz de Fora, Sao Paulo and Parana, the Lyceu de Artes e
Ofiicios (night school) of Rio de Janeiro, and the Mackenzie College of
Sao Paulo. Perhaps the best educational work in Brazil is done in these
private schools. In addition to these there are a number of seminaries
for the education of priests, where special attention is given to the
classics and belles-lettres.

_Religion._--The revolution of 1889 and the constitution adopted in 1891
not only effected a radical change in the form of government, but also
brought about the separation of church and state. Before that time the
Roman Catholic Church had been recognized and supported by the state.
Not only are the national and state governments forbidden by the
constitution to establish or subsidize religious worship, but its
freedom is guaranteed by a prohibition against placing obstructions upon
its exercise. The relations of the state with the disestablished church
since 1889 have been som