Porters with Sugar Hogshead, Brazil, 1840s

A group of eight men, carrying a large hogshead of sugar suspended from poles by ropes. Burdens are . . . more frequently carried upon the shoulders, since the principal exports . . . being sugar in cases, and cotton in bales, it is impossible that they should be borne on the head like bags of coffee. Immense numbers of tall, athletic negroes, are seen moving in pairs or gangs of four, six, or eight, with their loads suspended between them on heavy poles (Kidder, p. 20). A slightly modified version of this engraving, captioned porters of Bahia, is published and described in Kidder's, Brazil and the Brazilians (New York and Philadelphia, 1857), pp. 475-476; also later editions. The image in Kidder's volume is a slightly modified and reversed version of one that originally appeared in Debret's Voyage Pittoresque et Historique au Bresil (see image JCB_07385-3).

Image Title

Porters with Sugar Hogshead, Brazil, 1840s

RegID

SI-OB-1141

Date

1840-1850

Title

Porters with Sugar Hogshead, Brazil, 1840s

Source

Daniel P. Kidder, Sketches of Residence and Travels in Brazil (Philadelphia and London, 1845, 2 vols.), vol. 2, p. 20. (Copy in Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library)

Language

English

Item sets

Miscellaneous Occupations & Economic Activities

Spatial Coverage

South America--Brazil--Bahia

Reproduced In

Daniel P. Kidder, Sketches of Residence and Travels in Brazil (Philadelphia and London, 1845, 2 vols.), vol. 2, p. 20.

Researchers

Handler, Jerome; Tuite, Michael; Randall Ericson; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May

Identifier

kidder3