On these matters, as on many others, the Brazilian keeps his own counsel. The consciousness of his amazing potential wealth may have something to do with his calm; or he may merely prefer to manage his own affairs in his own way. He has relations with other Republics on the continent to think about; his most vital immigration questions to work out by trial and error; and occasional inter-State difficulties and arguments to compose. One State perhaps remembers that it pays most of the Federal taxation, and wants to know what it gets in return. A third, half the size of Germany, hints that the national future will be secured if its own transport schemes are immediately put through on an open cheque. Somewhere at the back of beyond all this, a man is spending his life and genius to make Indians make roads in rubber districts. Whereupon the big cities, who never see further than the town’s end, ask all the Newspaper Gods how this sort of thing can be expected to pay; or a new manufacturing suburb sings out that it has fallen into the hands of bloodless concessionaires, and must have all its contracts revised. If this be not enough for a morning’s work, there is the chance of the seasonal movement of staples — coffee, cocoa, or sugar — congesting a railway or two; or some port, Cape Horn way, hanging up a hundred and fifty ships at one strike whose repercussion echoes all up the Amazon.
These affairs are dealt with by deliberate, urbane men, with intimate knowledge of each other’s thoughts and ways. Their sentences are a little longer and better finished than ours, but there is nothing visionary in their ideas of the future. Railways and roads — now that cars have come, the road equally with the rail — are the country’s prime need. (“Aeroplanes, too, if possible, but, you see, our forests make landings difficult. Unlike Australia.”) Communities, of whatever stock, should not be isolated too long. They grow to forget things. Within certain limits it has been discovered which races do best on the land; but further experiments are in progress. You will find samples of every race somewhere or other. Eventually they will become Brazilians. Not by pressure or exhortation — the land is too big for that. The land itself will do it — in time.
As regards their neighbours on the South American continent? They understand their ideas and are understood by them. Misunderstandings with them in the past? A few, of course. That was the tradition of the age. Time has gone by for this sort of play now. The future belongs, indubitably, to “business”, and the Southern Continent knows that. There are many sorts of business. But all business leads to making The Brazils. All of which was more or less common form.
Then I asked of a philosopher, who was not in any administration, whether the blast of a trumpet blown, say on the Mediterranean, could reach to where we then stood. He smiled and answered that that was possible.
* * * * * *
The Captains of Old
As the homeward steamer worked out of the Bay, the memories of the past wonderful weeks began to sort themselves. The rails, the motors, the factories, the sumptuous hotels and luxurious houses in which one had so rejoiced faded out. The faces of the deliberate and urbane administrators grew clearer; so did some hanging breadths of forest range, and a twilight canyon filled with solemn wavering fireflies. So did an immense roar of rapids heared through a choking hot night.
The coasts, up which our steamer marched, withdrew from us, till we closed in on the southern end of those blinding sand-beaches “much like linnen cloth when it is in whiting” which, the old-time pilots advised, marked “where thou mayest be bold to bear into Bahia.”
Bahia stood out sweating and effulgent in the sun blaze. She guards a good deal of the magic of The Brazils; for you must understand that from thence, all along north to Pernambuco, one strikes into the ghost-track of the crazy, ill-found, little ships that followed one another through the centuries, their crews devoured by scurvy afloat and sincere horror of devils ashore, their leaders as ignorant as they, and their saloon passengers certain Captain-adventurers to whom uncaring Portugal had granted territories huger than European kingdoms. They were narrow, violent, without scruple — some trained in the dark and bloody school of their East Indies — every one of them aware that to win anything you must stake all. They threw themselves on that coast and, despite the evil that they did, laid down nothing less than the foundations of a single-minded, single-tongued power over three and a quarter million square miles. That is the mystery of it all! The old French-Canadian Seignories, the Dutch and English North American Plantations are interesting historically, but their origins have long since been overlaid by events and men. According to precedent, this should have been the case in Brazil, too. But it is not.
Behind all the luxury, progress and development, the demands of this or that school of thought, or the clamour of new-landed aliens, one feels the certain spirit of the first Captains and Bandeiras — Rings and Armies — hid but waiting — as the live coal waits under a season’s ashes — to rekindle and dominate this most fascinating and mysterious world apart.
The Poetry
Kipling on the cover of Time magazine, 1926 – aged 60
LIST OF THE COMPLETE POETRY
The Absent-Minded Beggar
The Advertisement
Akbar’s Bridge
An Almanac Of Twelve Sports
Hunting.
Alnaschar and the Oxen
An American
The American Rebellion
Anchor Song
Angutivaun Taina
The Answer
The Anvil
The Appeal
Arithmetic on the Frontier
Army Headquarters
Arterial
As the Bell Clinks
An Astrologer’s Song
At His Execution
Azrael’s Count
Back To the Army Again
The Ballad of Boh Da Thone
The Ballad of the “Bolivar”
A Ballade of Burial
The Ballad of the Cars
The Ballad of the “Clampherdown”
The Ballad of East and West
The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding-House
A Ballad of Jakkko Hill
The Ballad of the King’s Jest
The Ballad of the King’s Mercy
The Ballad of Minepit Shaw
The Ballad of the Red Earl
Banquet Night
Beast and Man in India
The Bee-Boy’s Song
The Bees and the Flies
Before a Midnight Breaks in Storm
The Beginner
The Beginnings
The Bells and Queen Victoria
The Bell Buoy
The Benefactors
Belts
The Betrothed
Big Steamers
Bill ‘Awkins
“Birds of Prey” March
The Birthright
Blue Roses
Bobs
Boots
The Bother
A Boy Scouts’Patrol Song
The Braggart
Bridge-Guard in the Karroo
A British-Roman Song
The Broken Men
Brookland Road
Brown Bess
Buddha at Kamakura
The Burden
The Burial
Butterflies
By the Hoof of the Wild Goat
Cain and Abel
The Captive
Carmen Circulare
A Carol
Cells
The Centaurs
Certain Maxims Of Hafiz
The Changelings
Chant-Pagan
Chapter Headings
A Charm
Chartres Windows
The Children
The Children’s Song
A Child’s Garden
Chil’s Song
Cholera Camp
Christmas in India
Cities and Thrones and Powers
The City of Brass
The City of Sleep
Cleared
The Clerks and the Bells
<
br /> The Coastwise Lights
A Code of Morals
The Coiner
Cold Iron
Columns
The Comforters
The Consolations of Memory
Contradictions
The Conundrum of the Workshops
A Counting-Out Song
Covenent
Cruisers
Cuckoo Song
The Cure
Dane-Geld
Danny Deever
Darzee’s Chaunt
The Dawn Wind
The Day’s Work
The Dead King
A Death-Bed
Dedication
A Dedication
The Deep-Sea Cables
Delilah
A Departure
The Destroyers
Dinah in Heaven
Dirge of Dead Sisters
The Disciple
Divided Destinies
Doctors
The Dove of Dacca
The Dutch in the Medway
The Dying Chauffeur
The Dykes
The ‘eathen
Eddi’s Service
Edgehill Fight
The Egg-Shell
En-Dor
England’s Answer
The English Flag
The English Way
Et Dona Ferentes
Evarra And His Gods
The Expert
The Explanation
The Explorer
The Fabulists
The Fairies’ Siege
The Fall of Jock Gillespie
Farewell and adieu...
Fastness
The Feet Of the Young Men
The Female of the Species
The Fires
The First Chantey
The Flight
The Floods
The Flowers
Follow Me ‘ome
For All We Have And Are
Ford o’ Kabul River
For To Admire
The Four Angels
Four-Feet
The Four Points
Fox-Hunting
France
Frankie’s Trade
The French Wars
The Friends
Fuzzy-Wuzzy
The Galley-Slave
Gallio’s Song
Gehazi
General Joubert
A General Summary
Gentlmen-Rankers
Gertrude’s Prayer
Gethsemane
Giffen’s Debt
The Gift of the Sea
The Gipsy Trail
Gipsy Vans
The Glories
The Glory of the Garden
The Gods of the Copybook Headings
The Grave of the Hundred Head
Great-Heart
The Greek National Anthem
Gunga Din
Half-Ballade of Waterval
Harp Song of the Dane Women
Helen all Alone
Heriot’s Ford
The Heritage
His Apologies
The Holy War
The Hour of the Angel
The Houses
Hunting-Song of the Seeonee Pack
The Hyaenas
Hymn Before Action
Hymn of the Triumphant Airman
Hymn to Physical Pain
The Idiot Boy
If
I Keep Six Honest...
An Imperial Rescript
In the Matter of One Compass
In the Neolithic Age
In Springtime
The Instructor
The Inventor
The Irish Guards
The Islanders
The Jacket
James I
Jane’s Marriage
The Jester
Jubal and Tubal Cain
The Juggler’s Song
The Jungle Books
The Junk and the Dhow
Justice
The Justice’s Tale
Just So Stories
Kim
The King
The King and the Sea
The Kingdom
The King’s Job
The King’s Pilgrimage
The King’s Task
Kitchener’s School
The Ladies
Lady Geraldine’s Hardship
The Lament of the Border Cattle Thief
The Land
The Landau
The Last Chantey
The Last Department
The Last Lap
The Last Ode
The Last of the Light Brigade
The Last Rhyme of True Thomas
The Last Suttee
Late Came the God
The Law of the Jungle
The Legend of Evil
A Legend of the Foreign Office
The Legend of Mirth
A Legend of Truth
L’Envoi (1)
L’Envoi (2)
L’Envoi to “Life’s Handicap”
The Lesson
Lichtenberg
The Light That Failed
The Liner She’s a Lady
Lollius
London Stone
The Long Trail
The Looking-Glass
Loot
Lord Roberts
The Lost Legion
The Lovers’ Litany
The Love Song of Har Dyal
The Lowestoft Boat
Lukannon
Macdonough’s Song
The Man Who Could Write
Mandalay
Many Inventions
The Mare’s Nest
The Married Man
The “Mary Gloster”
Mary, Pity Women!
Mary’s Son
The Masque of Plenty
The Master-Cook
McAndrew’s Hymn
Memories
The Men That Fought at Minden
The Merchantmen
Merrow Down.
Mesopotamia
Mine Sweepers
M. I.
The Miracles
The Moon of Other Days
The Moral
Morning Song in the Jungle
The Mother-Lodge
Mother o’ Mine
The Mother’s Son
Mowgli’s Song
Mowgli’s Song Against People
Mulholland’s Contract
Municipal
My Boy Jack
My Father’s Chair
My Lady’s Law
My New-Cut Ashler
My Rival
The Native-Born
A Nativity
Natural Theology
The Naulahka
The Necessitarian
Neighbours
The New Knighthood
Norman and Saxon
The North Sea Patrol
La Nuit Blanche
The Nurses
The Nursing Sister
The Old Men
The Old Issue
Old Mother Laidinwool
An Old Song
The Oldest Song
One Viceroy Resigns
The Only Son
Oonts
The Open Door
Our Fathers Also
Our Fathers of Old
Our Lady of the Sackcloth
The Outlaws
Outsong in the Jungle
The Overland Mail
A Pageant of Elizabeth
Pagett, M.P.
The Palace
Pan in Vermont
Parade-Song of the Camp-Animals
The Parting of the Column
The Peace Of Dives
The Penalty
Pharaoh and the Sergeant
Philadelphia
A Pict Song
A Pilgrim’s Way
Pink Dominoes
The Pirates in England
The Playmate
The Plea of the Simla Dancers
Pos
eidon’s Low
Poison of Asps
Poor Honest Men
The Portent
Poseidon’s Law
Possibilities
The Post That Fitted
The Power of the Dog
The Prairie
The Prayer
The Prayer of Miriam Cohen
Prelude
A Preface
The Press
The Pro-Consuls
The Prodigal Son
The Progress of the Spark
Prophets at Home
Public Waste
Puck’s Song
The Puzzler
The Queen’s Men
The Quesion
The Rabbi’s Song
Rahere
Rebirth
The Recall
A Recantation
Recessional
A Rector’s Memory
The Reeds of Runnymede
The Reformers
The Return
The Return of the Children
The Rhyme of the Three Captains
The Rhyme of the Three Sealers
Rimini
Rimmon
A Ripple Song
The River’s Tale
Road-Song of the Bandar-Log
The Roman Centurion’s Song
Romulus and Remus
Route Marchin’
The Rowers
The Runes of Weland’s Sword
The Run of the Downs
The Rupaiyat of Omar Kal’vin
Russia To The Pacifists
The Sacrifice of Er-Heb
Sappers
The Scholars
A School Song
Screw-Guns
The Sea And the Hills
Seal Lullaby
The Sea-Wife
The Second Voyage
The Secret of the Machines
Sepulchral
The Sergeant’s Weddin’
The Servant When He Reigneth
Sestina of the Tramp-Royal
The Settler
Seven Watchmen
Shillin’ a Day
Sir Richard’s Song
A Smuggler’s Song
Snarleyow
Soldier an’ Sailor Too
Soldier, Soldier
A Song at Cock-Crow
A Song in the Desert
A Song In Storm
The Song of the Banjo
A Song of Bananas
The Song of the Cities
The Song of the Dead
Song of Diego Valdez
Song of the Dynamo
A Song of the English
Song of the Fifth River
A Song of French Roads
Song of the Galley-Slaves
A Song of Kabir
The Song of the Little Hunter
Song of the Men’s Side
The Song of the Old Guard
Song of the Red War-Boat
The Song of Seven Cities
Songs of Seventy Horses
The Song of the Sons
A Song of Travel
A Song of the White Men
Complete Works of Rudyard Kipling (Illustrated) Page 747