al palms, but it has also rendered an
important service to the country in the dissemination of exotic plants.

Brazilian literature has been seriously prejudiced by partisan politics
and dilettantism. The colonial period was one of strict repression, the
intellectual life of the people being jealously supervised by the church
to protect itself against heresy, and their progress being restricted by
the Portuguese crown to protect its monopoly of the natural resources of
the country. The arrival of Dom John VI. in 1808 broke down some of
these restrictions, and the first year of his residence in Rio de
Janeiro saw the establishment of the first printing press in Brazil and
the publication of an official gazette. There was no freedom of the
press, however, until 1821, when the abolition of the censorship and the
constitutional struggle in Portugal gave rise to a political discussion
that marked the opening of a new era in the development of the nation,
and aroused an intellectual activity that has been highly productive in
journalistic and polemical writings. In no country, perhaps, has the
press exercised a more direct and powerful influence upon government
than in Brazil, and in no other country can there be found so high a
percentage of journalists in official life. Some of the political
writers have played an important part in moulding public opinion on
certain questions, as in the case of A.C. Tavares Bastos, whose _Cartas
do Solitario_ were highly instrumental in causing the Amazon to be
thrown open to the world's commerce and also in preparing the way for
the abolition of slavery; and in that of Joaquim Saldanha Marinho, whose
discussions in 1874-1876 of the relations between church and state
prepared the way for their separation. The personal element is
conspicuous in the Brazilian journalism, and for a considerable period
of its history libellous attacks on persons, signed by professional
sponsors, popularly called _testas de ferro_ (iron heads), were admitted
at so much a line in the best newspapers.

The singular adaptability of the Portuguese language to poetical
expression, coupled with the imaginative temperament of the people, has
led to an unusual production and appreciation of poetry. The percentage
of educated men who have written little volumes of lyrics is
surprisingly large, and this may be accounted for by the old Portuguese
custom of reciting poetry with musical accompaniment. The most popular
of th