AIEREDOdi CARyAIUQ I https://archive.org/details/aroundaboutsouthOOvinc_0 H. M. THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA TWENTY MONTHS OF QUEST AND fio ,** BY FRANK VINCENT .’ V AUTHOR OP “the land of the white elephant,” “through and through the tropics,” “two MONTHS IN BURMAH,” “the WONDERFUL RUINS OF CAMBODIA,” “NORSK, LAPP, AND FINN,” “ IN AND OUT OF CENTRAL -AMERICA , 11 NEW YORK D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 18 90 ' Copyright, 1890, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. TO H. M. DOM PEDRO II., EMPEROR OF BRAZIL, SCHOLAR AND SCIENTIST, PATRON OF ARTS AND LETTERS, STERLING STATESMAN AND MODEL MONARCH, WHOSE REIGN OF HALF A CENTURY HAS BEEN ZEALOUSLY AND SUCCESSFULLY DEVOTED TO PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISE, AND THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY THROUGHOUT THE VAST AND OPULENT “EMPIRE OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS,” THIS WORK IS, BY SPECIAL PERMISSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY HIS MAJESTY’S HUMBLE AND OBEDIENT SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. £ iwa-vt/O mde> My recent journey through Soutl^^^erica incl ^>^ a “ ports; expeditions into the interior of Brazil and* the Ar- gentine Republic; and ascents of the Parana, Paraguay, Amazon, Orinoco, and Magdalena Rivers. It covered about thirty-five thousand miles, and forced me to realize that our great southern continent contains twice the area and half the population of the United States. It has been my aim and aspiration to grasp salient feat- ures and emphatic characteristics, and to delineate them with a careful conciseness that shall beget a correct and lively general impression. The difficulty of carrying out this design within so com- paratively small a space will at once be perceived by the discriminating reader, and will, I hope, induce him to extend to the present volume the same leniency which both press and public have bestowed upon my former contribu- tions to the universal and ever incomplete library of travel, adventure, and discovery. Postscript. — The unexpected change of government in Brazil, which has just occurred, found this narrative already in type, and hence it is published as originally written. Nothing, however, has been asserted of the Empire which Vi PREFACE. ought to be revoked ; while for the Republic one should not vouch until time and trial have demonstrated its fit- ness and stability. In the words of Dom Pedro, “ I shall always have kindly remembrances of Brazil and hopes for its prosperity.” F. V. CONTENTS. PAGE Preface v CHAPTER I. OUTWARD BOUND. The Acapulco’s lonely voyage — San Salvador is now Watling Island — Aspin- wall Harbor and the town itself — The French town of Christophe Colomb — Fever, filth, and flood — South American revolutions — How ringleaders are treated — Features of the railway to Panama — M. de Lesseps’s interoceanic canal — French settlements and mammoth excava- tions — Wages of laborers — The canal might possibly have been com- pleted in the year 2013 — Hacks at Panama — General characteristics of the town — Matters of interest to the archaeologist and architect — Cosmopolitan population — Ici l’on parle Franqais, and also English — A newspaper in three languages 1 CHAPTER II. ON TO GUAYAQUIL. Muskets and cutlasses give piratical remedies — Panama Railway extortion paralleled — My first attempts in Spanish — They fail beyond my most sanguine expectations — Reptiles and birds in the Galapagos Islands — Why species unknown to other parts of the world exist there — An Ecuadorian Botany Bay — Variation upon Alexander Selkirk — Scenes in the Gulf of Guayaquil — Features of the town of that name — Sample- rooms and senoritas — Preparations for going over the Andes to Quito — Advantage of taking your board and lodging with you — How Guay- aquil fever affects one — Chimborazo by moonlight — Ecuador’s only railway — Traversing tropic jungles at the rate of ten miles an hour — Forests impenetrable even to sight — Puerile muleteers and gentle mules — Other qualities of the Ecuadorian animal — Two soups for din- ner — Lack of culinary cleanliness 9 CHAPTER III. OVER THE CORDILLERA. The seven racial varieties in South America — Indian population of Quito —Intense cold experienced at night — The ruined city Latacunga — A Vlll CONTENTS. PAGE two million dollar road — Shivering on the equator — A diligence drawn by mules — Brutality of postilions — Volcanoes along the route — The ap- proach to Quito — Complexions and costumes there — Architectural traits — The women and their mantillas — Democracy in church wor- ship — Army uniform — Lucifer in state presiding over the tortures of Avernus .19 CHAPTER IV. QUITO — PARADISE OF PRIESTS. System of the Andes — Situation of Quito — Rectangular arrangement of the streets — Climate — Peculiarities of the cemeteries — The penitentiary — Strange manner of apportioning justice — Ecuadorian vicissitudes — Market produce — Congressional buildings— Monasteries of Quito — A paradise for priests, a pandemonium for the public — Religious paint- ings — Effigies of the virgin — Unique furniture — America unrepresented in Quito — Foreigners in business — Place they hold in society — Apa- thetic natives — Importance of investing in real estate — Hard and soft dollars — Depreciation of the paper money of Quito — No foreign phy- sicians there — Telegrams paid in postage-stamps . . . .28 CHAPTER V, BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. Quito’s hospital — Lung and throat troubles prevalent — Lunatics and lepers — Educational opportunities — Pichincha, or the boiling mountain — View from the summit — Difference between the Andes and the Hima- layas — Brother volcanoes of Pichincha — Detailed description of it — A good breakfast is not less good inside its crater — Returning to Guay- aquil — Violence of tropical rains — Bad roads — Abruptness of the land- scape changes — Plantations alternate with jungles — Chicha, guarapo, and sugar-cane juice contrasted — Military bands at Bodegas . . 37 CHAPTER VI. COASTWISE TO CALLAO. Approach to Payta — Appearance of the dilapidated town — Rich inland country — The railway to Piura — The coast of Peru and Bolivia — De- scription of a balsa — A few small villages — Memories of In*as — Pacas- mayo — Samanc.o — Views on the Pacasmayo — Comparison with Nor- wegian scenes — Casma and Supe — The town of Huacho — Foreign merchants — Callao — Appearance of the roadstead — Interior of the city — English and American railways — Lima — A national anniversary — Lima ladies — Horse-races — General Iglcsias — General Caceres — Rev- olutions smoldering beneath public festivities . . . . . 45 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTER VII. LIMA. PAGE The famous cathedral — General appearance of this celebrated building — Its interior — Poor carvings and paintings — Pizarro’s bones — View of the city from Cerro de San Cristobal — Tram-cars and hackney-coaches — Roofs and balconies — Uninflammable brick — The fire-brigades — Houses of Congress — Statue of General Bolivar — Hall of Senators — Hall of Deputies — Principal market — National Library — Column of the 2d of May, in memory of the Peruvians who fell in the battle of Callao Bay in 1866 — The 2d of May hospital, an institution any country might be proud of — The Oroya Railway — Revolutionary com- plications — Circulating mediums — The mint — The Esmeralda — Alame- da de los Descalzos — The general cemetery, or Panteon . . .53 CHAPTER VIII. GLIMPSES OF THE PERUVIANS. Lima’s public gardens — Pavilion of the President — Promenade ground of the Lima belles — Residences of the wealthy— Advantage of one-story houses — -Rich and luxurious appointments — House-rent and cost of furnishing — Mode of life — Foreign education — Beauty of the young girls — The duenna — The masking mantilla — Senoritas and cigarettes — Female culture — Depressing climate — Typical religious procession — Social amenities of the saints — The church-bell nuisance — The theatre in Lima— Bull -Ring — Clubs — Ball-room . . . . . 64 CHAPTER IX. RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. Mollendo — Its uninviting aspect — Railway between Mollendo and Arequipa — Places by the way — Steepness of the hills — Misti, Charchani, and Coropuna — The sand-dunes — Bearding Nature in her fastnesses — Mr. J. M. Thorndike’s residence near Arequipa — The railway headquarters — The cathedral — Railway companions — The famous Verrugas bridge on the Oroya Railway — Some engineering particulars — Ubinas — Llamas, alpacas, and vicunas — Paucity of inhabitants between Arequipa and Puno — Mirage — Lakes Saracocha and Cachipuscana — The highest point on the railway 72 CHAPTER X. THE ACME OF STEAMER NAVIGATION. A Peruvian curiosity — The Anonymous Company for Exploration of the Inca Sepulchres — Lake Titicaca — Remains of the naturalist James Orton — Copacabana — Sorata, Huani Potosi, Illimani — The Andes east of Lake Titicaca — The port of Chililaya — The journey to La Paz — Abundance X CONTENTS. PAGE of sheep and cattle — Situation of La Paz — The Grand Plaza — Native passion for gambling — Parisian costumes in vogue — Hall of Deputies — Incipient cathedral of the Greek order of architecture — Troops in La Paz — Constant exercise and discipline 81 CHAPTER XI. LA PAZ — THE QUAINT. Population — View of the city from an adjacent bluff — Stage-road and mule- trails — Kerosene-lamps — Absence of sidewalks — Scarcity of wood — Po- sition of the Alameda — Suggestion with respect to statues — Bustling streets — A large market— Great display of vegetables and fruit — “ Yan- kee notions ” in full force — Flower-women — Mode of contracting for bouquets — Hotels — Senor Manuel Vicente Ballivian — Thirty-five hun- dred books and pamphlets all about Bolivia — “ Barba Azul ” at the theatre — Style of dress at the opera — Newspapers well represented — The Banco Nacional — Trade with Europe — Product of the silver-mines — Those of Potosi still fertile ........ 89 CHAPTER XII. VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. Environs of La Paz — Bare feet of the women — Native music and dances — A scene of general ebriety — Gambling very popular — A pathetic in- stance of intoxication — The Aymaras — Dr. H. H. Rusby — From Mol- lendo to Valparaiso — Arica — Pisagua — Iquique — Tocopilla — Cobija — Autofagasta — Caldera — Coquimbo — V alparaiso as seen from the sea — The harbor — Statue of Lord Cochrane — Female conductors on the tram- cars — Juan Fernandez — A pleasure-trip there — Robinson Crusoe’s look-out — Commemoration tablet ....... 98 CHAPTER XIII. THE CAPITAL OF CHILI. The railway to Santiago — Vino del Mar — Cerro de Santa Lucia — Benjamin Vicuna Mackenna — Plaza Independencia — The Capitol — Monument in memory of the holocaust at the Jesuits’ church — Botanical and Zoolog- ical Gardens — Large foreign element in Santiago — Sworded policemen — En route for Montevideo — The overland routes from Chili to the Ar- gentine Republic — Snow-houses — Proposed Uspallata railway — Status of Chili — Her revenues and foreign trade — Matched against Peru — Leaving Valparaiso — Aconcagua as seen from the harbor . . . 107 CHAPTER XIV. FIORD AND FUEGIAN. Lota — Scnora Cousino, the wealthiest woman in Chili — Labor omnia vincit — The “ Countess of Monte Cristo ” — She is worth hundreds of millions CONTENTS. xi PAGE of dollars — Chiloe — The Chonos Archipelago — Wellington Island — Messier Channel — Surrounding scenery — Mount Stokes — Fantastic Chilian mountains — How they contrast with others — Chilian bays and inlets — The Fuegians — They are by no means a beautiful or attract- ive race — Their favorite mode of barter — Their tastes in general — Could their children become civilized ? 117 CHAPTER XV. THE GLOBE’S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. Melancholy localities — The Strait of Magellan — Cape Froward and Cape Horn — Neighboring mountains— Punta Arenas — Its products and popu- lation — Strange vicissitudes that make people drift there — Ostrich rugs — Contrast between the western and the eastern half of the Strait of Magellan — False impressions about Terra del Fuego — Its climate less rigorous than Canada’s — The Yahgans and the Onas — Contrast of the two tribes — The Falkland Islands — Cape Pembroke — Stanley Har- bor — Appearance of the settlement — Alfred the Little— 0 Snobbery, how many absurdities are committed for thy sake ! . . . .127 CHAPTER XVI. THE FORLORN FALKLANDS. Consuls and vice-consuls at Stanley — Execrable climate — Sunday is kept there with true British rigidity — The Falkland group — Good harbors abound — Cattle and products — Laf one’s negotiations — John Davis — De Bougainville — Beginning a lonely voyage — Patagonia not so utterly dreary as supposed — Soil and population — Difference between the Fuegians and the Patagonians — The ostrich and the rhea — Ostrich rugs cheap there — Ostrich-culture needed — Pumas and condors — The Argentine Government paying increased attention to Patagonia — A railroad from .Bahia Blanca to San Luis in contemplation . . .136 CHAPTER XVII. MONTEVIDEO THE ATTRACTIVE. The Parana and the Rio de la Plata — Bay of Montevideo — El Cerro — The city of Montevideo — Its position — Gunboats of many nationalities — Architectural aspect of the town — Large foreign element — The cathe- dral clock — Grand plaza — Government Building — Paso Molino — Basque music — The opera-house — Ocular flirtation — Feminine street fashions — General Santos — Uruguayan soldiers — Peculiarity of their uniform — Strange method of making recruits — Do prisons create pa- triots? .... 143 Xll CONTENTS CHAPTER XVIII. THE METROPOLIS OF THE RIVER PLATE. PAGE On to Buenos Ayres — The “ Norte ” and the “ Pampero ” — Queer river-craft — The city of Buenos Ayres — Streets and sidewalks — North American names — Parisian splendor of shops — The Exchange — Cosmopolitan characteristics — Plaza de la Victoria — Statue of General San Martin — Municipal buildings — The Recoleta — Mural burial not used — Handsome villas — Banks — Theatres — The Politeano Argentino — The city of La Plata — Public buildings there — Pampas — Importation of reapers-*- Inexpensive railways — Level nature of the country . . . .151 CHAPTER XIX. TOWARD THE HEART OF THE CONTINENT. A wonderful rocking-stone — Similar ones nearer home — Glacial action places them — Matto-Grosso — Prevailing style of river-vessel — Rosario — Parana— Goya — Gran Chaco — The camelotes — Alligators and car- pinchos — Asuncion — Effects of the war — Palace of Lopez — Hotel His- pano- Americano — How the city is laid out — Medieevo-Oriental aspect — The women outnumber the men— The town-hall — Custom-house — Unfinished opera-house — Cathedral — Absence of male worshipers — A solitary monument 159 CHAPTER XX. A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. Preponderance of market-women — Great variety of produce — Buyers carry home their purchases — Dress of women — Handsome girls and ugly hags — Smoking universal — Indian blood among Paraguayans — The currency — Salient features of the cemetery — Genuine grief and per- functory praying — The town of Paraguari — Its situation — Its means of communication with other places — Proposed route — Orange-women — Corrientes — It is not without a statue to Liberty — Biblioteca popu- lar — Indisputable evidences of civilization 167 CHAPTER XXI. ON THE TRAIL OF THE JESUITS. Difficult voyaging — Banks of the upper Parana — Procrastination of the natives — A coach like the Swiss diligence universally used in these parts — Character of the landscape — The Gaucho — Between Itusaingo and Posadas — Songless birds — Posadas — Encarnacion — It is a street rather than a town — The reducciones — Abdon Ahumada — Incidents of travel — Swarms of butterflies — Hard life for civilized travellers — Primi- tive bathing-house — Ingenuous natives — Scantiness of female costume CONTENTS , : xnx PAGE — Every kind of ornamentation popular — Why do mosquitoes exist? — The river Iguassu — Senor Adam’s garden — Qualities of the Parana . 1*76 CHAPTER XXII. THE NIAGARA OE SOUTH AMERICA. The mouth of the Iguassu — Making up a party for the falls — Wild animals along the shore — The Tupi Indians — Plague of insects — Jerked beef good for the hungry — Pursuing sleep under difficulties — We begin the hard part of our journey — Rock-climbing at 115° Fahr. — Bearding the jaguar in his den — The carrapato, the pest of the forest — The jigger likewise unendurable — Rewarded at last with a view of the great falls — They constitute the Niagara of South America — Prototypes of the “Canadian” and “American” cataracts — A roar that can be heard twenty miles — I christen them “ Daly Falls,” in honor of the President of the American Geographical Society 186 CHAPTER XXIII. A PARAGUAYAN RANCH. Exact position of the Daly Falls — Through-express routes non-existent in South America — Messrs. Uribi’s establishment — A typical Paraguayan farm — Enormous ant-hills — Yerba forests — Primitive life of the In- dians — A ride through the forest — Delightful life on Tupurupucu ranch — Ox-carts with yerba-mate — All but a duel — San Tome — It contains the ubiquitous plaza — On the way from San Borje — Railways, present and prospective — Itaqui — Mate and cigarettes — How the former is served — Sipping through silver tubes — Gathering and preparing mate for consumption 195 CHAPTER XXIV. DOWN THE URUGUAY. Aime Bonpland — His work — Restauracion — Ceibo — Monte Caseros — Con- cordia — Paysandu — Fray Bentos — Liebig’s famous meat-extract factory — More than twenty-five hundred thousand cattle slaughtered by the company in twenty years — The matador — How animals are lassoed and killed — Incredible velocity with which bullocks are slain and sliced — Process of making the extract — Eight m illion jars sold annually — On to Rio de Janeiro — Dangers of La Plata — Superiority in some respects of French, Italian, and German steamers 204 CHAPTER XXV. RIO DE JANEIRO. The harbor — Sugar-Loaf Rock — Beautiful appearance of the city from the water by night — Corcovado — I see the harbor by moonlight, starlight, gaslight, and daylight — Difference between Rio Janeiro and Valparaiso X1Y CONTENTS. PAGE — Large ironclads — Narrow streets — Picturesque houses — Singularity of the signs — Tramways and public vehicles — The great show-sight of Rio — Physical and mechanical attributes of the road to Corcovado — An opportunity Theophile Gautier would have improved — A pass that outdoes any on Mount Washington or the Righi — The wondrous pano- rama that is unfolded — A mid-air vision that takes away the breath — Emotions aroused by the outlook from the top of Corcovado . .212 CHAPTER XXYI. STREET SCENES. Their inexhaustibility — Morbid curiosity of the Brazilians — With them star- ing is a fine art — Nonchalance of store-keepers — The people are in- quisitive rather than acquisitive — A splendid residence sacrificed to curiosity — Nuisance of music practice — Meager appearance of the white Brazilians — Coolness of neighboring hill-resorts — Yellow fever — Pro- portionof deaths — Causes of yellow fever and small-pox. — Bad drain- age, lack of fresh air, stagnation of water, corruption of garbage — Apparent extravagance of prices — The real explanation — Rio’s market — Negresses — Turkey - sellers — Milkmen — The Carnival — Danger of wearing a silk hat — Merry maskers — Toleration of customs that should be obsolete 221 CHAPTER XXVII. ' PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. Botanical Gardens — Their situation — An arborescent gallery — Wonderful Royal palms — Campo Sant’ Anna — Cascade Grotto — Small influence of the priesthood in Brazil — Features of a grand requiem — Few handsome public edifices — The splendid Misericordia Hospital — Supervised by Sisters of Charity — Academy of Fine Arts — The Dom Pedro II. Thea- tre — Military band of seventy-five mulattoes — The Emperor’s box — Complexions of the audience — Results of miscegenation — His Majesty arrives amid silence — Distribution of prizes — A local poet shines — The public reserves its enthusiasm for comic operas 231 CHAPTER XXVIII. ENVIRONS OF RIO. National Library — National Museum — Contributions by foreign naturalists and savans — Dr. Ladislau Netto — Astronomical observatory — Histori- cal, Geographical, and Ethnographical Institute of Brazil — Tijuca — Whyte’s Hotel — The “ Chinese View ” — Petropolis — A Brazilian Gov- ernor’s Island — Raiz do Serra — Various languages that assail one’s ears — Foreign ministers make Petropolis their summer home-^It re- sembles an old German town — Theresopolis — Organ Mountains — The Switzerland of Brazil — Piedade — Beautiful scenery .... 242 CONTENTS. xv CHAPTER XXIX. THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. PAGE San Cristoval, the Emperor’s palace — His Majesty receives me — Dom Pedro described — His tact, energy, culture, and humanity — His pleasant rec- ollections of the United States — His address, while in this country, be- fore the American Geographical Society — A democratic emperor — Bra- zilian royalties — Dom Pedro’s intellectual and physical activity — Untiring manner in which, both at home and abroad, he admits alter- nately the claims of business and pleasure — Princess Isabella — Size of Brazil — National finances — The Riachuelo, the admiral’s flag-ship — The Brazilian navy— The monitor Javari — Discomfort of a voyage on such a vessel 252 CHAPTER XXX. THE PROVINCE OF SAN PAULO. The richest coffee region of Brazil — Scenery along the road — Position of San Paulo — Headquarters of the coffee interest — Campinas — Manor- houses — Ignorance, indolence, loveliness, and content of the women — • Brazilian slavery — Provisions of 1871 — Later legislation — Contem- plated revolt in 1886 — Causes of dissatisfaction — Immediate and un- conditional emancipation granted in 1888 — Festivities on May 18th, 19th, and 20th of that year — Civic and educational processions — Free theatrical performances — Santos— Views from the summit of Serra do Mar — Unhealthiness of the seaport — The Barra ..... 259 CHAPTER XXXI. A TRIP TO MORRO VELHO. The province of Minas-Geraes — Proposed tour — A splendid ride in the Celeridade — Along the Piabanha — Valley of the Parahybuna River — Railroad and steamboat lines — Queluz — A town more dead than alive — Doctors practice medicine “ pour passer le temps ” — Prevalence of lepers — Hippolyte, the guide — Habits of muleteers and cart-drivers — Ouro Branco — Terrific thunder-showers — Rough specimen of a Brazil- ian pousada — Laced bed-linen amid filth and squalor — A knifeless din- ner — Caxones — Strange ecclesiastical emblems upon crosses — The lat- ter became disheartening on account of tragic associations ascribed to them 267 CHAPTER XXXII. DOWN THE GREAT GOLD-MINE. Congonhas — It is a hamlet, but nevertheless contains a theatre and a ca- thedral — Mr. George Chalmers, superintendent of the San Juan del XVI CONTENTS. PAGE Rey Mining Company — Descending the Morro Yelho mine — The man- ner in which the trip is made — Rumblings and reverberations inside the mine — The air is pure, but the environment is pandemoniac — Gangs of men singing while at work — Dore and Dante would have been at home there — Dynamite in constant demand — The way you reach daylight again — Contented troglodytes — Colored people at the Casa Grande — Africa let loose — Baiting the bull— Slaves speak their native language — Ceaseless clatter of the mills — “ Timbuctoo ” — Mine and mills em- ploy 1,500 persons of nine nationalities — The gold troop . . . 276 CHAPTER XXXIII. ON THE RIO DAS VELHAS. Between Morro Yelho and Jaguara — Sabara — Santa Luzia — A closet bedroom like those in New York flats — An automatic corn-smasher — Jaguara — The buildings going to ruin — Bats and owls have it all to themselves — Method of catching serpents — Amenities of convict life in Santa Luzia — Hotel-keeping in Brazil — Ouro Preto — Mules and horses in Brazil contrasted with those of Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia — The roads and wayside inns — The peak of Itacolumi — Ouro Preto consists chiefly of one thoroughfare 285 CHAPTER XXXIY. CIRCLING BACK TO RIO. A Tyrolese town suggested — Ouro Preto is the capital of one of the finest provinces of Brazil — Municipal buildings — Brazilian sense of time — Church of Antonio Dias — School of Mines— Off for Teixeiras— Mari- anna and San Sebastian — Apparent preponderance of negroes — Euro- peans in Minas-Geraes — Yankee clocks and sewing-machines — Bread and eggs not to be had for the asking — Noise and shallow politeness of people at the hotels — From Teixeiras to San Geraldo — A crooked rail- way — Remarkable bit of engineering — The distance to Canto Gallo — Over the mountains thither — Route to Nictheroy — Nova Friburgo — Serra da Boa Yista — The Fell system of railway — The peak of Tijuca — Nictheroy — An exquisite panorama wherewith to close the day . . 294 CHAPTER XXXV. THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. Farewell to Rio — Bay of Bahia — Situation of the city — Residences on the bluff — No public buildings of special merit — Open-air market — Muscu- lar development of the negroes — Sedan-chairs — Mediaeval streets — The old Government House — The Municipal Hall — The plaza and its sur- roundings — Tramways in Bahia — Rio Yermelho — The “seven sta- tions ” — Public Garden — A favorite promenade — Cachoeira — Landing CONTENTS. XVII PAGE the mail in a bottle — Mr. Joseph Mawson, Superintendent of the Bra- zilian Imperial Central Bahia Railway — Along the course of the Para- guassu River — Caverns not made by man — Diamond-washings . . 304 CHAPTER XXXVI. ON THE SAN FRANCISCO. From Bahia to Penedo — Aracaju — President’s palace — House of Delegates — Piassabossu — Penedo — It exports cotton, sugar, and hides — Steep streets — Beggars in abundance — Religious procession — The people are religious but untheological — How Good Friday was observed — Effi- gies of Judas Iscariot — From Penedo to Piranhas — Propria — Traipu — Threading the tortuous San Francisco — Pao d’Assucar — Apparent inac- cessibility of Piranhas — Absence of good hotels — The railway from Piranhas to Jatoba — Horses and mules still employed for transporta- tion — People of Piranhas — Pedra do Sino, or bell-stone . . .315 CHAPTER XXXVII. THE KING OF RAPIDS. From Piranhas to Sinimbu — Rapids of Paulo Affonso — The vaqueiro and his family — V ai-vem — Seven great cataracts — Inferno and Arcadia combined — “Emperor’s View ” — Vampire Grotto — Locality for a pro- spective Cataract House — The village of Jatoba — It is without a hotel — How travelers may fare — Cataracts of Itaparica — Resounding roar — Lawless character of Jatoba and Piranhas — Capital punishment non- existent in Brazil — Parisian clock in Piranhas — Love- songs through the night — The town of Maceio ........ 326 CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE “ CITY OF THE REEF.” Pernambuco — It possesses the essential characteristics of a city — Country- houses of rich merchants — Recife — Custom-house and Arsenal of War — President’s house and gardens — Theatre — School of Fine Arts — Hospital of Dom Pedro II. — House of Deputies — Cemetery — Public market — Building of the Commercial Association — Sugar and cotton interests — Private residences in Pernambuco — Village of Caxanga — Great variety of vegetable produce — New reservoir and water- works — Olinda as a suburb — Predominance of churches and convents — Theo- logical seminary — Palmares — Mandioc and beans — The engenhos, or sugar-mills — Cape Saint Roque — San Luiz — Para . . . .335 CHAPTER XXXIX. AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. Para is also called Belem — Its situation — Public market — Botanical Gar- dens, so-called — Pretty dwelling-houses — Variable climate — Large B XY111 CONTENTS. PAGE opera-house — A leaderless band — Audiences enter and exit en masse — Manrico passes round the hat — Bragan 9 a — Forest intricacies and luxuriance — Vagaries of tree-growth — Mr. E. S. Rand’s gardens — Ama- zonian passenger-line — Idleness of the voyagers — Amazon Valley, the country of hammocks — Beautiful specimens on the Rio Negro — Pre- vailing character of the Amazon — Magnificent scene at the mouth of the Xingu — A botanist’s paradise — Palms in exhaustless varieties . 344- CHAPTER XL. UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. Daily deck-washing — Invisibility of the captain — Expertness of the pilots — Abundance of local travel — The two-mouthed Xingu — The Amazon a veritable “ ocean-stream” — Largest river in the world — Three fourths of Brazil tropical — Birds — Santarem — Obidos — It seems almost like a cemetery — Piratical-looking craft — Wind and current on the Amazon — Pirarucu — The Amazon assumes new names at particular points — Manaos — Zinc market-house— Brazil Street — Elastica — Newspapers — Hackney-coaches — Cafes — Billiard-saloons — Barber - shops — Botanical Museum of Amazonas — Works on Brazil — Dr. J. Barboza Rodrigues — Beef-cattle — Method of hoisting bullocks on board steamers — The long- est way round, the shortest home — I cross the equator for the eleventh time ............. 355 CHAPTER XLI. TO THE GUIANAS Via BARBADOS. Roadstead of Bridgetown — Government offices— Narrow sidewalks — Build- ings of all sizes and shapes — Church of England cathedral — Parlia- ment Houses — Assembly and Council Chamber — Library — Albert Hall — Hastings, an English garrison-post — Barbados as a sanitarium — Eng- lish residences— Sugar-mills and wind-mills — Paucity of trees — Cod- rington College — Coast of British Guiana — Demerara River — George- town — Berbice — Great variety of races represented— Tower Hotel — Use of canals in Georgetown — Large stores amply stocked — Tramways — Choice of churches and clubs — Sea-front of British Guiana — Immi- gration-Sugar estates — Provinces and parishes— Governor and Court of Policy — Governor’s “ contingencies ” 366 CHAPTER XLII. A BRITISH COLONY. Fine public buildings wanting in Georgetown — Law Courts — The Public Building — Market — Roman Catholic Cathedral — British Guiana Muse- um — Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society — Newspapers and magazines — Government House — Promenade Gardens — Drives — Sea- CONTENTS. xix PAGE wall — Botanical Gardens — "Victoria Regia — Climate — Georgetown set- tlement — British Guiana — Mouth of the Essequibo — Wood-cutting and stone-quarrying — Bartica Grove — Penal settlement — Up the Demerara — Negroes and creoles — Macusi Indians — Gold-mining — The Royal Butch West-India Mail — Surinam — Administration Building — Govern- ment House — Paramaribo 376 CHAPTER XLIXI. PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. Churches and cemeteries — Jews an important factor — Climate — Police — Fire-engines — Dress and appearance of the women — Ball at the Gov- ernment House — Pyjamas — Imported ice — Dutch architecture — Pub- lic garden — Colonial Council — Circulating libraries — Club — Cayenne — How it looks from a distance— Magasin general — Vultures clean the streets — Gowns of Creole women — French garrison — Enfant Perdu — - Kaw Mountains — Gold quartz — Cabbage-Palm Square — Double palm- tree — Gendarmerie — Government House — Semaphore — Levee — Gulf of Paria — La Brea — Port-of-Spain 385 CHAPTER XLIV. TRINIDAD AND UP THE ORINOCO. Hospitals and asylums in Port-of-Spain — Queen’s Park — Botanical Gardens — Pitch Lake of La Brea — San Fernando — Asphaltum — Pitch volca- noes — Orinoco line of steamers — Accommodations on them — Macareo River — Character of the Orinoco — Barrancas — Las Tablas — El Callao — Prairie fires — The delta — Bolivar — Steamers at anchor — How the city of Bolivar is supplied with water — El Respiroso — Bust of General Guzman Blanco — The “ Illustrious American Regenerator ” — Gambling on shipboard — Vingt-et-un — Birds along the river . . . . 396 CHAPTER XLV. THE BIRTHPLACE OF BOLIVAR. Island of Margarita — Tortuga — Roadstead of La Guayra — Government work — Macuto — The Coney Island of Venezuela — Appearance of La Guayra from the ocean — Absence of vegetation — Dwellings of negroes — Streets — Equestrian statue of General Blanco — Offer of an English company — Imported British rolling-stock — Heavy rains — Skillful en- gineering — Zigzag — Caracas — Manner in which it is laid out — Peculiar nomenclature of the streets — Orientation necessary to the stranger — Carriage-hire — The telephone in use — French and Spanish cookery — Paseo Guzman Blanco — Profuse supply of vegetables — Stone sun-dial belonging to Humboldt — Statue of Bolivar — Handsome public build- ings — Statues of Vargas and Cajegal — Government buildings — Federal Palace — Opera-House — Teatro Caracas ...... 405 XX CONTENTS. CHAPTER XLYI. GENERAL GUZMAN BLANCO. PAGE Pauteon National — Attachment of Venezuelans to Bolivar — National Mu- seum — Caracas ladies — Their dress and appearance — Influence of Blanco — He pervades Caracas — George Washington not forgotten — Welcome given to General Blanco — The latter’s birth and education — How he became instructed in politics — Became Vice-President and Secretary of the Treasury — Provisional President — His influence upon public instruction and the development of the country — He spends millions on public works — Revises the civil, military, and penal codes — He retires, but is recalled — He extends the boundaries of the repub- lic — Two thousand public schools attest his devotion to education — He is the friend of railways, telegraph lines, electric lighting, and telephones — His masterly management of the finances — Riches and houses of Blanco — Wealth of Venezuela — Puerto Cabello — Willemstad — A Dutch colony — Cura 9 ao — Santa Marta — Sierra Nevada — The Magdalena . 415 CHAPTER XLVII. A WEEK ON THE MAGDALENA. An impracticable custom-house — Salgar — Barranquilla — Mule hackney- coaches — Yeguas — Caracoli — Steamers on the Magdalena — Value of mosquito-netting — State-rooms — Pilot-house — Very mixed meals — A stampede for the table — Lightning-like ingurgitation — Tortuousness of the Magdalena — Mompos — Floods — The Indians like the water’s edge — Character of the Magdalena — Bay of Cartagena — Calamar — Mercan- tile fair at Magangue — Banco — Wild animals in the forest — Profusion of towns and villages — The river people — Aborigines — Andes — Ocana — Canoe-traveling — Railway to Pamplona and Socorro — Angostura . 426 u* CHAPTER XL VIII. THE ANDES AGAIN. . Honda — Pendulum-boat — Mules for mountain travel — Dress of the men — Guaduas — Roadside inn — Chicha — Villetta — Agua Larga — Cone of To- lima — Facatativa — The grand plaza — Omnibuses — Plain of Bogota — Guadalupe and Monseratte — Position of Bogota — Badness of the best hotel — Prevalence of goitre — Costly mule-road — December in Bogota Conspirator cloaks — Fondness for black — Cathedral and public build- ings — Pilgrimages — The great square of the Constitution — Capitol — Mud houses and iron gratings — Diversity of house-fronts — Absence of carts and carriages — Sedan-chairs — Kerosene-lamps in the streets — One line of tramway — Chapinero — Horsemanship — Amusements. . 436 CONTENTS. xxi CHAPTER XLIX. SANTA FE DE BOGOTA. PAGE The mint — Coins in circulation — Paper currency — Churches — La Tercera — Statue of General Mosquera — Senate and House of Representatives — Revolutions in Colombia — How people live there — School of Fine Arts — A regiment of boys — The paradise of generals — Military oddities — President’s body-guard — National Museum — National Library — Astro- nomical observatory — New opera-house — Newspapers — Muzzling the press — Folletins — Tequendama Falls — Their location — How to reach them — Features of the scenery — Landscape lineaments — A cataract that jumps six hundred feet. — Tolima and Ruiz — View up the Magda- lena — Steep staircases — The straw in my saddle almost eaten by my mule — Munchausen-like, but true . 446 CHAPTER L. HOMEWARD BOUND. The Colombian’s extraordinary conception of business — No stamps procur- able at the mailing-place — Hotel-bills — Detention of steamers — Exag- gerated politeness — Trade with Barranquilla — Fifteen stops for freight — Cartagena — The bay — Groves of cocoanut-palms — Coolie Town — Aspinwall — Danger of fire — Iron steamer- warehouses — Arcade style of sidewalks — Multifarious shops — Gambling in all classes — Currency — Communication with the rest of the world — Chinese shop-keepers — Panama — The canal more destructive to human life than the railway — Three hundred million dollars spent — The most gigantic financial disaster of the nineteenth century — A fabulous enterprise — I conclude my travels with quick and multitudinous glimpses — A blessing on my readers . . 455 Index 465 ILLUSTRATIONS. H. M. the Emperor of Brazil Llamas, Ecuador . FACING PAGE Frontispiece . 20 Professional Mourners . 29 President Caamano . 32 Chimborazo from a Height of Fourteen Thousand Feet . 42 General Caceres . . 51 Panorama of Lima . . . 55 Viaduct of Verrugas, Oroya Railroad . 59 The General Cemetery of Lima . . . . . . 62 A House Entrance, Lima . 65 A Lima Belle . . . 67 The Fandango of Peru . 69 Silver Head from an Inca Cemetery .... . 81 Copacabana, Lake Titicaca . 83 Crusoe’s Lookout (with Commemorative Tablet) . . 106 View from the Principal Square of Santiago . 109 Puerto Bueno, Smyth’s Channel . 120 Fuegians at Home . 124 A View in the Strait of Magellan ..... . 128 Patagonians and their Tent . 141 General View of Montevideo . 144 A Private Residence, Buenos Ayres .... . 154 The Famous Rocking-Stone of Tandil .... . 159 The Daly Falls, Iguassu River . 192 The Daly Falls ; a Near View from the Brazilian Side . . 194 View of the Entrance to the Harbor of Rio Janeiro . 212 View from the Summit of the Corcovado . 212 Statue of Dom Pedro I. . 216 By Rail to the Corcovado . 218 A Market-Woman . 227 A Part of the Avenue of Royal Palms .... . 231 A Profile of the Avenue of Royal Palms . 233 Four Pretty Sisters . 238 The Palace of San Cristoval . 252 XXIV ILLUSTRATIONS. FACING PAGE The Empress of Brazil 255 The Brazilian Ironclad Riachuelo . 257 Pines, Minas-Geraes, Brazil 267 Wooden Images in a Church at Congonhas . . . . 276 A Wealthy Negress 297 General View of Bahia . . . 305 A View from the Public Gardens 311 The King of Rapids 328 The Reef and Harbor of Pernambuco . 335 A Chinese Immigrant, Georgetown 373 Colonial Produce, British Guiana 377 A Paramaribo Creole 386 A Cayenne Creole 390 A Big Tree in a Public Square, Port-of -Spain 396 A Hindoo Coolie, Port-of-Spain . 400 Scene on the Railway from La Guayra to Caracas .... 409 General Guzman Blanco 418 Magdalena River Steamboats ..... . . .427 Colombian Horsemen . . . . 437 A Business Street of Bogota 444 MAPS AND PLANS. Map of - South America, with Routes of the Author .... 1 Situation of the Argentine Republic in South America . . .151 Chart of the Bay of Rio Janeiro 214 The Map of Brazil and the Chart of the Bay of Rio Janeiro . . 248 Chart of a Section of the Lower Amazon 352 Plan of the Railway from La Guayra to Caracas 407 'sm * 0 mwm AMMKDA AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. CHAPTER I. OUTWARD ROUND. On June 10, 1885, the well-appointed and ably com- manded Pacific Mail steamship Acapulco sailed from New York, numbering the present writer among her passengers. Most of us were bound for the Isthmus of Panama, the steamer conducting us to the well-known commercial port of Aspinwall. The distance is two thousand miles. We trav- ersed it in nine days — rather slow travel when the Atlantic is skimmed in six ; but doubtless the Pacific Mail Steamship Company finds it more profitable to lodge and board its pas- sengers for a long period than to waste the extra coal that would be required for a short one. Our voyage was no ex- ception to those usually experienced in the tropics, where a good steamer, with good company, makes dullness a dream. In the days there is the exhilaration of brightness and breeze ; in the nights, the balm of coolness and repose. If the moon be large and brilliant, her fantastic glory gives an invitation to romance. This might easily have been our case, though it was not, and through the entire route scarcely a dozen ves- sels appeared, to relieve for a moment the Acapulco’s loneli- ness. The first land we beheld was that part of the New World which Columbus, thirt}^-five days from Spain, in his ninety- ton pinnace, named San Salvador. To geographers it is now more prosaically known as Watling Island. It is one of the l 2 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. most fertile of the Bahamas, producing sub-tropical fruits, grain, and roots in lavish abundance. It was a treat to gaze, even from a distance, upon an island, the discovery of which, nearly four centuries ago, has proved the greatest blessiug of the kind the world has known. Passing the eastern extrem- ity of Cuba, we were soon greeted by the flaming stars of the Southern Cross, the most splendid constellation of the south- ern heavens. Numerous flying-fish and tiny nautili in their boat-like shells betoken an entrance into another and stranger zone. A few uninteresting islands, right and left, did not at the moment enhance this strangeness, as we performed the practical duty of dropping our mail-bags into whale-boats, which put off to us from solitary lighthouses. But soon the purple mountains of Hayti loomed grandly from the east, and then, crossing the Caribbean, we saw no more land until the famed Isthmus of Panama faintly looked at us from the vanishing-point which unites water and sky. W e entered Aspinwall Harbor at six in the morning. A few men-of-war, a dozen passenger-steamers, and half a dozen ships, rode lazily at anchor. Behind them were the ruins of the town, which had been recently burned by the Colombian rebels, and in the distance stood the thickly wooded hills. The only wharf untouched by the fire was that owned by our steamer’s company. We landed and took a walk. Our sea- legs had begun to envy the art of the pedestrian. The town is situated upon the western side of Manzanilla Island, which itself lies at the northeastern corner of Limon Bay. This island is perhaps three miles long and two broad, and has been artificially joined with the mainland by a narrow neck of soil. The northern terminus of the Panama Canal is at the head of Limon Bay. Upon a point of land extending into this bay, about half a mile from Aspinwall, is the French town of Christophe Colomb, which has sprung up since the inception of the canal. It is a much more healthy location than that of Aspinwall, which is scarcely a foot above the sea-level, and is a neat little settlement of two-story houses, with macadamized and well-drained streets. Here stands a OUTWARD BOUND. 3 colossal bronze statue of “ Columbus and the Indian.” This and a plain granite shaft to the memory of the three founders of Aspinwall — "William H. Aspinwall, Henry Chauncey, and John L. Stephens — at the opposite end of the island, near the sea, are about the only artistic embellishments of a town which, first and last, is only a side station on one of the great highways of commerce. It is almost useless to add that Colomb is peopled entirely by canal employes. Vast stores of canal-digging implements and machinery are here collected, some under cover, but the greater part exposed. The town had apparently been built upon level, marshy ground, with its houses reared upon brick and w T ooden piles. Thousands of Jamaica negroes were busily engaged in erect- ing all sorts of temporary shanties. The depot having been burned, the trains of the Panama Railroad departed from a random point in the street. The yellow fever was raging, and three corpses, borne on canvas litters, passed me in my walk and prepared me for the sight of a score of cheap wooden coffins lying in a row in an old freight-house. The streets were filthy and everywhere flooded with water, the heat was intolerable, and I only wondered that any human beings could live, to say nothing of their keeping well, under such adverse conditions. In an old church about thirty of the late rebels were con- fined as prisoners of war, and guarded by as sorry a looking lot of native soldiery as r ever saw in any land. Two of the prisoners, found guilty of firing Aspinwall, had been hanged, but it was considered doubtful whether any severe punish- ment would be meted out to the others. The continued revolts and miniature revolutions of the disaffected South American states would soon become less frequent if stern and speedy retribution — such as death by hanging — should be administered to the leaders. But the authorities, instead, treat their distinguished prisoners to champagne, and free them on parole. As these malcontents are simply profes- sional freebooters, if a rebellion is suppressed in one state or in one part of a state, they at once set forth for any place, 4 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . neighboring or distant, where another rebellion may happen to be in progress. The governments are often bad, but these riotous outbreaks seldom embrace many of the intelligent, sober-minded citizens. The rebellions never result in any good. Their ringleaders are not patriots, but men intent only upon personal power and aggrandizement by any means, however foul. The best remedy for these evils would be strong central governments, with sufficient power and inclina- tion to preserve the peace and compel the observance of law and order. But, unfortunately, the existing governments are generally too weak or too vacillating to take such measures. The railway to Panama is forty-seven miles in length, and tickets have to be purchased on board the trains. Twenty-five dollars in gold was charged for a through pas- senger — an extortionate monopoly of fifty-three cents per mile, which made it the most expensive railway in the w T orld. Four passenger trains run each way daily, the express requir- ing three hours to make the trip. Personal baggage is very dear, and must be paid for at the rate of thirteen cents per pound. Of the thirty stations on the railway, the express stops at fewer than half, and many of these seem to be only negro hamlets of palm-thatched huts. The cars, of which there are two classes, those of even the first not equaling the appointments of an ordinary American car, are made in Philadelphia, and the locomotives in Paterson. The engineers and conductors are whites, and generally Ameri- cans ; the firemen and brakemen are Colombians or negroes. Our train was filled with a most cosmopolite crowd, and smoking was universal, even, in the first-class cars. The line of the railway is very sinuous. For about one third of the distance the country is undulating and swampy, while the remainder is diversified by hillocks and small rivers. For the purposes of the railroad, a width of about fifty feet is kept cleared through the very dense tropical jungle which covers the isthmus. The predominant trees are cocoa-palms, bananas, bread-fruits, papayas, and bamboos. The famous interoceanic canal of M. de Lesseps follows OUTWARD BOUND. 5 generally tlie line of the railway, which it twice crosses. Tt was to have run in a general northwest and southeast direc- tion, and be forty-five miles in length, or two miles less than the railway. It was expected to be twenty-eight feet in depth and one hundred feet wide at its bottom. There were to be five stations on the canal, where ships might pass each other, and five other intermediate stations. The Isthmus of Panama extends in a general east and west direction, and is extremely hilly, covered wfith virgin forest, and full of large and small rivers. As the center of the isthmus is in about 9° of north latitude, in the “ rainy season ” the deluge is ter- rific, and all these rivers and streams rise suddenly and flow furiously, with disastrous and readily conceivable effects. The dividing ridge of the isthmus is about fifteen miles from the Pacific. From this point, in the same course as that in which the canal is being built, the Chagres Piver runs to the At- lantic and the Pio Grande to the Pacific. To restrain the waters of the Chagres, which has been known to rise forty feet in the rainy season, and which the canal has to cross about a dozen times, twenty huge and massive dams will have to be constructed. The Pio Grande, however, is crossed but once, and that near its mouth. In the dividing ridge of the isthmus a great regulative reservoir is being formed by damming the Chagres at that point, a lake being enlarged and otherwise fitted for that purpose. Upon the hills here- about are very extensive French settlements, the little cot- tages with wide, projecting roofs being erected upon brick or stone pillars six feet in height, and placed in situations most exposed to the sun and air. Some distance from the Pacific terminus it was intended to excavate a large interior port like that at Aspinwall, which opens directly into the Bay of Limon. Continuing from that point, the canal was to enter the Pacific, not at Panama, but three miles to the southwest, and a channel would have to be excavated nearly to a distance of three miles — in fact, almost to the islands south of Panama, where the Pacific Mail steamers have a coaling and repairing station. Of course, the entire line has 6 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . been carefully marked out and cleared of jungle, but no part of it is wholly completed. Work has not been continuous from either end, but has been expended at intervals in sec- tions. Here you see trenches dug and dirt trains running upon temporary tracks ; there possibly a huge digger eating quietly into a hill-side. I saw one mammoth excavator from Springfield, Mass., belonging to the American Contracting and Dredging Company, at work digging through a rocky hill with as much ease apparently as if it were simply raising oozy mud from the bottom of - Hew York Harbor. The di- mensions of this great dredge were : Length, one hundred and twenty feet ; breadth, sixty-five feet ; and height of tower, seventy- five feet. Here were vast heaps of tools and machinery piled around warehouses of material ; there rows of huge dormitories for laborers. The latter were mostly negroes from Jamaica and other West India islands and from the cities of the Spanish Main. At the time of my visit fifteen thousand of them were said to be at work, in addition to more than two thousand foreigners, mostly French, serv- ing as surveyors, engineers, machinists, superintendents, and clerks. All were well paid and promptly. The ordinary laborers got one dollar and twenty cents a day, operating engineers from ninety to one hundred and twenty dollars a month. Belgium furnished the greater part of the machinery, and Belgium and Grermany most of the mechanical engineers. At scarcely any point of the line will you find anything resembling what you imagine to be a canal, but instead the whole country seems turned upside down ; everything ap- pears crude, rough, and unfinished. The reader will please understand that I am giving the observations and impressions of my first visit in 1885. That the canal would some day be completed, I thought improbable; but, if it should be, it seemed wholly impossible that at such an enormous outlay it could prove a financial success. But when was it likely to be finished ? Who knew ? About as many men were engaged upon it as could be conveniently handled and fed. The cli- mate, of course, was very much against the European employes, OUTWARD BOUND. 7 thousands of whom had died since the work began. That very sanguine and vivacious veteran, M. de Lesseps, first ap- pointed the year 1888 as the period of the opening of “la grand canal du Panama.” But this, it should be remembered, was when he was on his travels in search of subscriptions. He has since postponed the occasion to 1890. The French engineer-in-chief told a friend of mine that he estimated that about one thirty-second part of the whole work was done at the time of my first visit in 1885. Active labor was begun in 1881 ; so at this rate of progress it would require one hun- dred and twenty-eight years to complete the canal ! There seemed a strong probability that before many years the money would run short and the work droop and languish, until either the sea-level project was exchanged for one with locks, or else possibly the governments of several rich and powerful nations would unite in the completion . of the most gigantic and daring design of man upon this globe. A later review of the work will be found in my last chapter. On alighting from the train at Panama, crazy little hacks carry you over ill-paved, and, at the rainy season, very muddy roads, beyond the wretchedly dirty and bad-smelling out- skirts of the city. Thence you pass through narrow and crooked ways, between rows of two-story and three-story houses, whose projecting balconies sometimes nearly touch each other across the street, and at last you enter the cathe- dral plaza. On one side of this is the office of the “ Com- pagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique,” on another the bishop’s palace, on still another the cathedral, and on the fourth the Grand Central Hotel. This is the best hotel in Panama, a great four-story building, which has on the ground floor a large American bar-room and barber-shop and a spa- cious dining-room paved with marble. Up-stairs is a com- modious public parlor with a waxed floor and cane furniture. Bedrooms either have exterior openings upon the streets or interior ones upon a court-yard. The huge caravansary is lighted with gas, and the Saratoga price of five dollars a day is charged for very inferior lodging and worse board. The 8 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. city, of very old Spanish origin, is built upon comparatively level ground, on a narrow peninsula extending out into the Pacific Ocean, or rather the Bay of Panama. At the extreme eastern point of this peninsula are still standing the walls of the old citadel. They are built of brick and faced with cut stone. They are thirty or forty feet in height and twenty- five in thickness, and notwithstanding their great age still re- main in good condition. Their top, provided with masonry seats, forms a needed promenade and cool lounging-place of an evening. The slowly combing waves of the Pacific dash in huge rollers against the foot of the walls, and you have a fine view, not only seaward, but toward the islands where anchor the coasting steamers, as well as toward the wooded and very irregular hills of the isthmus. But the city of Panama itself I found intolerably hot, damp, and dirty, with little of special interest for the traveler, unless he were an archaeologist or architect. In the latter case he would like to study the cathedral, in the former the old fort. The cathedral is an ancient edifice, with two towers, the cupolas of which have an edging of oyster-shells by way of ornament. Upon the facade are thirteen full-length statues of alleged saints. The interior of the cathedral is extremely plain, both walls and altars, and is enriched with no fine paintings or carvings. The Isthmus of Panama is credited with a population of about 200,000 ; while Panama city contains some 20,000, mostly cosmopolites like those found in Aspinwall. The English and French languages are everywhere spoken, and the best stores, restaurants, and bar-rooms are managed in either the French or the American fashion. There is a very good daily newspaper, called the “ Star and Herald,” which consists of eight pages, a third of it being printed in English, a third in French, and a third in Spanish. Moreover, these three sections are adapted to the interests of the separate classes of readers represented by the respective languages, in that they do not contain altogether the same matter, except, of course, the important cable and telegraphic dispatches. The paper sells for ten cents, silver. CHAPTER II. OK TO GUAYAQUIL. From Panama I took one of the (British) Pacific Steam Navigation Company’s vessels for the chief seaport of Ecua- dor. She was the Ilo, a steamer of about fifteen hundred tons burden, upon w T hose upper deck, running flush from stem to stern w T ere a double row of commodious state-rooms and a large and finely-upholstered dining-saloon, the whole surrounded with ample room to promenade. The hatch- ways, with steam winches for loading and unloading cargo, were placed nearly at the sides of the steamer instead of along the center, as is usual. This novel arrangement had several advantages for the passengers. Above the roof of the dining-saloon and state-rooms an awning was spread, and from this elevated position a good breeze and an extended view were readily obtainable. As a slight testimony to the prevailing lawlessness and insecurity of life in the South American states, our steamer carried a stand of muskets and cutlasses in the pilot-house, precisely as was formerly the cus- tom with vessels exposed to predatory visits of Malay pirates in the East India and China Sea navigation. There were on board about thirty passengers, bound for various towns along the coast, but mostly for Guayaquil and Callao. The first- class fare from Panama to Guayaquil, a passage of but little more than three days, was one hundred and two dollars, American gold ! This was the most expensive voyage that I remember ever to have made in any part of the world. It was a fit companion to the Panama Railroad extortion just ex- perienced. But when did a monopoly have a conscience ? 10 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. As I was rapidly nearing the lands of Pizarro and Alma- gro, I thought it well to begin at once the practice of the pure Castilian which I flattered myself I had recently ac- quired with considerable zeal and effort in New York. My first victims were unsuspecting sons of Peru and Chili, who waited upon table, and whose profiles I was sure I had seen on some terra-cotta pitchers in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They listened to me anxiously but kindly, frequently repeating my questions with an accent different from mine. This I attributed to the fact that they had not before had the good fortune to hear their dulcet tongue spoken with such purity as by the natives of Madrid, Manila, Havana, or New York. I was not hurt — I only pitied the unsophisticated de- scendants of the Incas. But when occasionally I received an answer in curt English to my precise and melodious Spanish, I marveled greatly that they did not understand better their own language, and should prefer to address me in one hardly known to themselves and now so rapidly fading from my memory. I frankly admit that I wondered, but I was not utterly crushed — as the reader might with great show of rea- son suspect — for the above linguistic experience is not unfa- miliar to the circumnavigator. On the 23d of June we crossed the equator. Eight hun- dred miles to the westward of the mainland of Ecuador, and under the line of the equator, lie the Galapagos Islands, an archipelago of a dozen mountainous and almost barren islands of volcanic origin, which, though mostly uninhabited, belong politically to the Republic of Ecuador. A very interesting feature in this lonely group is that furnished by the singu- larity of their indigenous animals. Species abound of reptiles and birds quite unknown to every other part of the world. Among them are twenty-four species of land birds, a re- markable kind of turtle, a gigantic tortoise, two extraordi- nary species of lizards, and several peculiar snakes. The nearest allied forms to these isolated species are found upon the distant mainland. But still more remarkable than the fact of these species being unknown to every part of the OH TO GUAYAQUIL. 11 world, is the circumstance that some of them are restricted to certain islands of the group, with species allied but quite distinct on another island. The clew to the explanation of these peculiar phenomena of geographical distribution will doubtless be found in the fact that the islands are separated from each other by deep channels, with strong currents, and, being volcanic, and having emerged from the sea, must have been separately elevated by subterranean forces and can never, at any time, have been closely connected with the ad- joining continent, or with each other. They were probably peopled by their present stock of animals at so very remote a period as to have allowed time for much variation in the characters of the species. Intermigration has been pre- vented by the above-mentioned reasons, and so an isolated development of a most interesting and instructive character has been brought about by natural means and great lapse of time. A penal colony of Ecuadorians was once planted on one of the larger islands of the group. But the convicts re- volted, killed the governor, and escaped, leaving behind pigs, cattle, donkeys, and horses. Ho one was suspected to have lived there since that time. But a party from the Albatross Expedition were rather surprised, when they visited the island, to come upon another Alexander Selkirk, a man near- ly naked, carrying a pig on his back. He was quite as sur- prised as they, and was at first in great fear ; but finally they got him to talk. His hair and beard had grown to great length, and he had lost all notion of time. He said that some years previous he had come from Chatham Island, an- other of the group, with a party in search of a certain valu- able moss ; that he had deserted his companions, who had gone oft without him, and that since that time he had been alone. He had lived on fruits and herbs ; had captured wild cattle by setting traps for them ; killed them with a spear made by tying a pocket-knife to a stick, and from their hides made a hut. He was glad to see men again, and asked to be taken back to Chatham, which, of course, was granted. We soon entered the Gulf of Guayaquil, and, turning 12 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. about, beaded toward the north. The country in sight was level in the foreground, with pretty, wooded hills stretching away in the .distance. At our fore was now hoisted the Ecuadorian flag — three broad, longitudinal stripes, yellow, blue, and red, typifying, it was understood, that the blue ocean now separated bloodthirsty Spaniards from the yellow gold of Ecuador. We pass two national men-of-war, merely small trading- steamers of about five hundred tons burden each, without armor-plating, and mounting only a few small guns. Then came some ships, but no merchant-steamers. A little farther on we anchor near the shore and abreast of the market- place of Guayaquil. All that appears of the low-lying, level city from the gulf is a long row of houses of yellow and white bamboo and stucco, and of varying altitudes, with tiled roofs and piazzas, large windows fitted with green Venetian blinds and bamboo or canvas awnings. The buildings are generally arranged as stores below and dwelling-rooms above. The side- walk passes through a corridor of the buildings, as is usual in Ecuadorian towns. A few twin church-towers, of odd, Ori- ental styles, rise in different directions. On a hill east of the city there seems to be a small fort. Along the bank runs a tramway with double-decked cars drawn by mules. Donkey- carts and loaded pack-mules pass. A brass band is heard, and I see a slow procession headed by a priest, and a great wood and tinsel figure of the Virgin Mary borne upon the shoulders of six men. The object of this religious parade is to take up a collection to help build a church. While ob- serving that subscriptions do not seem to flow in any more rapidly than they do at home under the incitement of stained glass, flowers, and an organ voluntary, my attention is sud- denly drawn to a huge alligator, fully fifteen feet in length, swimming with horrible, gaping jaws down the swiftly run- ning tide of the gulf. The captain of the port and other Ecuadorian officials come off to our steamer, all with great display of gay bunting and uniforms, and no deficiency of self-appreciation. Native fruit-sellers, with huge boat-loads of bananas and pineapples, ON TO GUAYAQUIL. 13 also approach and beg eagerly for patronage. Going on shore 1 am passed through the custom-honse with a hurried examination of my baggage, and soon find a comfortable room iu the “ Hotel de Europa.” Guayaquil is not only the commercial seaport of Quito, the capital, but of all Ecuador, and in walking through the streets — many of them paved and lighted with gas — I am struck by the very great variety and general good quality of the merchandise exposed for sale. The number of drinking-shops, where fiery liquors are sold, is, however, disproportionately large. On most of the leading thoroughfares are mule tram-cars. From behind the curtains of many of the deep, latticed balconies, which hang midway over the streets, I often caught glimpses of flashing black eyes, velvety cheeks of pearly hue, raven tresses, and cherry-ripe lips. This was all that was vouchsafed me, for the senoritas of Ecuador, as of Old Spain, are extremely coy. One of the churches has such a very Chinese-looking pair of pyramidal towers, that I half expected to find some natives of distant Cathay lounging about its carved wooden portals. I called at a neighboring bamboo convent and was cordially received by some of the old joadres. Their cells were bare of furniture, as usual, though the walls were covered with re- ligious pictures and texts. A great number of empty brandy- bottles were hidden behind a door, and some of the red-faced and very corpulent old monks showed only too plainly where the contents had recently gone. The old route to Quito was first by steamboat, seventy miles up the Guayas Eiver, in one day, to a town called Bodegas, and then one hundred and sixty-five miles in seven or eight days, on mule-back, over the flank of Chimborazo and the lofty table-lands of the valley, to the capital. But a new route, which I proposed to follow, permitted two other varie- ties of travel — namely, railroad and diligence. This led al- most directly eastward, over the Andes, until we reached the great valley of Quito, when we proceeded nearly due north to our goal. I was fortunate enough to have as companions on this journey Mr. Kelly, the contractor, and Mr. Mali- 14 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. nowski, the engineer, of the new railway. Mr. Kelly has already had considerable experience in railway construction in Central America, while Mr. Malinowski is one of the best- known men in his profession in South America, having been engaged with Mr. Meiggs in the building of the famous Oroya Kailroad from Lima eastward over the Cordillera. He had been employed at a large salary to lay ont the new Ecuadorian line toward the great central highway of the country and possibly to Quito itself. Both of these gentle- men were fine linguists, thoroughly conversant with the cus- toms of the natives and with the best methods of traveling, and I was greatly indebted to them for many hints on what proved to be a hard and exhausting trip. My preparations for mountain-travel were soon complete. I procured a saddle, with metal stirrups, stont crupper and breeching, bridle, lariat, a pair of spurs with rowels fully two inches in diameter, rubber and woolen jponchos or cloaks, rubber cover for a huge felt hat, canvas leggings, leather gloves, and stout shoes. A revolver was worn more for intimidation than be- cause the need to use it was probable. A large gunny-bag contained the entire mule outfit. Then my clothes were snugly packed in two mule-trunks — stont, tin-covered boxes, about twenty-four inches long, fifteen wide, and fifteen deep ; these were not to be opened until I reached Quito. A small leather bag contained material for use upon the road. The native inns are without exception ill-furnished and filthy, and their food and cooking are not at all adapted to foreign palates. So it would be well for the traveler, who wishes some degree of comfort, to take a supply of canned food and wines, together with knives, forks, and plates. Nor would a mattress and pillow come at all amiss. We left Guayaquil on the evening of Friday, the 26th, in a diminutive high-pressure steamboat, bound eastward to a little town called Yaguachi, on a small river of the same name, which flows into the Guayas, and where the railway begins. I had not been on board an hour before a severe headache, from which I had suffered all the afternoon, sud- ON TO GUAYAQUIL. 15 denly developed into a sharp attack of the Guayaquil fever — a sort of bilious fever, accompanied with terrific pains in the crown and back of the head, in the small of the back, and in the thighs. Severe vomiting ensued. My pulse mounted with fearful rapidity, and some of the Ecuadorian passengers were at first of the opinion that I was afflicted with the dreaded yellow fever. In fact, a bad bilious fever resembles, in the beginning, a mild attack of Yellow Jack. During the night I was delirious, but in the morning the fever had greatly abated, though the pain in the head con- tinued, and I was too weak to stand. I took at once a strong purgative and afterward powerful doses of quinine. When the first sharp attack came on, the Ecuadorians gave me a great quantity of the strong native brandy, called aguardi- ente, made from sugar-cane. This stopped the pain in the back but rather increased that in the head. However, it was a relief to have such severe pain in one place instead of two. The Guayas Diver was muddy, and ran with a swift cur- rent, which bore along many small floating islands of reeds and flowers of varied species, which perhaps resembled the chinamjpas of Montezuma’s Mexico. The banks seemed al- most uninhabited ; they were low, and covered with a dense growth of bananas, plantains, and palms. In the distance were many gracefully outlined and jungle-clad hills. We had a remarkably fine view by moonlight of the great Chim- borazo, from its very summit down to the snow limit. The appearance of this wonderful mountain has been so often de- scribed that I will merely say that its solitariness and mass- iveness are the qualities which most impress one. It is nearly covered in a winding-sheet of purest snow and ice, though the tempests seem to have bared great streaks on its rugged sides. When upon the plateau of Quito, we are nearly two miles high, which greatly dwarfs Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, and the neighboring Andean giants, so that our unusually clear view from the level of the sea showed the celebrated mount- ain to the best advantage. We reached Yaguachi about midnight, and found a good supper ready for us in the sta- 16 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. tion-house of the Southern Railway of Ecuador, and a little later comfortable sleeping-rooms in the second story of the same building. We had advanced about fifty miles. The next morning at daybreak we entered the cars of the first and only railway yet built in the Republic of Ecuador. This railway was then about fifty miles in length, and has since been extended twenty miles more. It is a narrow- gauge line, with steel rails, and very diminutive cars and locomotives, which were built in Pennsylvania. • As upon the Isthmus of Panama, the engineers are foreigners, the firemen and brakemen natives. But one trip a day is made, the train in which we went not returning until the following day. The rate of speed is about ten miles an hour, though even this is occasionally somewhat reduced by accidents to the rolling-gear, the steam becoming low, or some other avoidable mishap. There are no cuttings or fillings of any extent on the whole line, and the grade is easy except for a short distance near the mountains at the eastern extremity of the line. You cross about fifty small streams on wooden bridges. The road traverses a magnificent tropical jungle throughout its entire extent. The vegetation largely repre- sents the bread-fruit, banana, India-rubber, papaya, cacao, coffee, pineapple, orange, lemon, mango and cocoa-palm. The forest is so dense that not only can you not make a way into it, but you can not even look into it. Creepers and climbers extend in every direction, hang from every limb, and cover every trunk. They cross each other, they run parallel like telegraph wires, they interlace and braid the smaller shrubbery, until it seems like a solid mass of glossy verdure. Yery many trees are covered with orchids in vari- ous gay colors, a splendid blood-red predominating. At the terminus of the railway we found our saddle-mules and don- keys for the baggage waiting in the care of muleteers. Here ensued a scene of great confusion and a long delay. As with all tropic children, an immense amount of discussion about the veriest trifles had to be indulged in, and very many wrangles had to be calmed and adjusted. Then we break- ON TO GUAYAQUIL. 17 fasted in a neighboring house — a simple bamboo structure raised upon wooden piles and having a thick, straw-thatched roof. The breakfast consisted of the popular native dish, potato-soup — not bad, but still not very nutritious ; broiled chicken, fresh killed and therefore tough ; eggs fried in cocoanut-oil ; and a most delicious large pineapple. Then we were off through the virgin forests, up hill and down dale, fording raging mountain torrents, crossing frail bamboo bridges, scrambling along precipices, toiling in and out of gluey bogs, and brushing through tangled thickets. A great part of the road was simply a series of holes, a foot or so in depth, worn and hollowed by rain and much travel, and in and out of which our mules had to step with most laborious slowness. We were mounted, however, upon good stout animals that possessed all the surety and safety of step pecul- iar to their race. They are extremely gentle creatures, rare- ly having even the expected attribute of obstinacy. Their memory is exceedingly imperfect, and requires to be con- tinually jogged with the spurs. The natives, when riding, play a constant tattoo upon the flanks of their mules, in order to obtain uniform and satisfactory progress, though they al- ways allow the animals to select the part of the road which they prefer. A good mule in Ecuador is more expensive than a good horse. Donkeys are employed in the transport of baggage, and good donkeys will carry as much as a mule can, or two hundred and fifty pounds. As they wear no head-gear, they are not led, but are driven in troops by mule- teers. About a dozen of them were required to carry all our baggage. We rode slowly forward, with magnificent forest and mountain views on every hand, until at dusk we reached the farm-house of a friend of Mr. Kelly’s, where we stopped for the night. Round about the country was plant- ed with coffee, sugar-cane, and orange and lemon trees. A primitive press for extracting the juice of the sugar-cane, and a huge copper caldron for boiling the liquid, were located near the house. The master was absent on business in Guay- aquil, but his daughter, a beautiful girl of eighteen, made us 2 18 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. most welcome and did the honors with a native grace that elicited the warmest praise from even such old campaigners as my critical companions. In the absence of her father the young lady was administering the entire estate, and it was extremely interesting to watch her direct half a dozen men in their diverse duties in as many minutes. She treated us to some very fair food, though it is generally necessary for foreigners to acquire a liking for the products of an Ecua- dorian kitchen. Into nearly everything are put cheese, gar- lic, and oil or fat, and of course the frying-pan is in frequent request. They have an odd practice of serving two kinds of soup at a meal, the second coming near the conclusion, and being followed perhaps by a sweet — some sort of cake or jelly. They keep strong coffee-extract already prepared in a bottle, and serve it at your discretion with hot water or boiled milk. A proper degree of cleanliness is lacking, both at table and in bedrooms, but it is quite the same in all Spanish countries — in the Philippine and West India Islands, and even in European Spain herself. CHAPTER III. OVER THE CORDILLERA. We went on early in the morning and experienced a day of terrible roads and w T ild torrents, but with most magnificent scenic treats. The views of umbrageous valleys and huge hills more than repaid me for the rough travel. All nature was on a tremendous scale ; even the hillocks were several thousand feet in height. At night we reached a small In- dian village far up among the hills, and found quarters in a wretched wayside inn. This building was of sun-dried mud, with a straw-thatch atop. We had but two very small rooms, and both were full of spiders, fleas, and other insect pests. We improvised a dining-table out of an empty pro- vision-box, and put down our beds in the inner room, vir- tually a cellar with a mud floor. On awakening in the morn- ing, I spoke of a rat which had playfully coursed about my head during the night ; but one of my companions said it must have been a mouse, for the room was really too small to admit a rat. I sighed deeply, and turned over for another nap. On our arrival in the village, a market was in progress in the plaza or great square. The Indians had for sale barley, maize, meat, and oranges. The mestizoes, or half-castes, that I had seen since leaving Guayaquil reminded me strongly of the Siamese in facial appearance and, to some extent, in their good-natured but apathetic manner. Most of the people in Ecuador, and the rest of South America as well, belong to the mixed races. They are, for the most part, inoffensive and uncivilized. To be precise, there are actually seven racial varieties in South America: 1. Foreigners, among whom are 20 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. Spaniards and Portuguese. 2. Creoles, descendants of Eu- ropeans and North Americans settled in the country. 3. Mestizoes, offspring of Europeans and North Americans and Indians. 4. Mulattoes, offspring of Europeans and North Americans and negroes. 5. Zamboes, offspring of Indians and negroes. 6. Indians. 7. Negroes. The whites, who are, of course, the ruling class, are principally the descend- ants of the early Spanish settlers in all the countries save Brazil, where the settlers were Portuguese. The Indian population of Quito and its neighborhood are descendants of the aboriginal tribes. They are still more apathetic than the mestizoes. They are also shorter and stouter, with broad faces and great shocks of strong black hair. Their language is the Quichua, one of the most polished and widely diffused of all native American tongues, formerly spoken everywhere in the empire of the Incas. They wear coarse cotton shirts and trousers, and the always graceful and picturesque^tf^cyfo. The poncho , it is hardly necessary nowadays to describe, is simply an oblong piece of gay-colored woolen stuff with a small slit in the center, through which the head is thrust. On their feet they wear straw sandals, or more generally go barefoot. The women, who are no better-looking than the men, wear a long skirt of a coarse, dun-colored fabric. They do a great part of the heavy loading and unloading of mer- chandise, which rather unsexes them and makes them pre- maturely old. As we entered the market, the priest and a number of young men were engaged in playing a game astonishingly like our popular lawn-tennis. The priest we found not only to be sadly in need of a bath and clean clothes, but of temperance principles as well, for he was exceedingly drunk. He assumed so important an air that we could scarce repress our smiles in his very face. Near here I first saw the gentle and useful llama, the peculiar beast that figures upon the escutcheon of Peru, and the only native domesti- cated animal in South America. They move with a most graceful, swan-like motion, and resemble somewhat the camel, though inferior to it in size, strength, and intelligence. They Llamas , Ecuador. OVER THE CORDILLERA. 21 will carry loads of about one hundred pounds fifteen miles a day. Their only weapon is their saliva, which is very acrid, and which they eject in a similar fashion to that employed in his self-defense by our very pretty but also very unsavory skunk. The next day was a hard one of mountain scramble, con- tinually ascending until we left the forests behind, and found instead vast fields of coarse grass and stunted shrubs. The cold was intense at night, which we were compelled to pass in a mud-hut hardly fit for cattle, and one of my companions suffered from the rarefaction of the air. The hard ground was our floor, and piles of hay laid on boughs our luxurious couches. We awoke quite stiff from the cold. As we jour- neyed on, the hills were swept by furious winds. The In- dians, clad in goat-skin trousers, had adopted the profession of shepherds, and large flocks of sheep and goats dotted the hills, while cattle, large and sleek, lent a homelike aspect to the landscape. After traversing some very dreary plains, at noon we reached the old ruined city of Latacunga, and rat- tled through its desolate streets to the inn, Latacunga has suffered so much from earthquakes that it is even now half in ruins. The houses are built of pumice, and are but one story in height. Leaving this town, we entered upon a very fine carriage-road, the work of a former Ecuadorian President, G. Garcia Moreno. This road, which runs to the capital, Quito, cost two million dollars. It is about thirty feet in width, with a deep ditch on each side. It was not necessary to macadamize it, for the clay of the country packs almost as solidly as rock. In certain steep inclines, however, it is paved with cobble-stones, as are the bridges — handsome arches of stone and brick most substantially built — and also the twenty miles of it nearest the capital. At night we reached a place called Chuquipoyo, on the southeastern flank of Chim- borazo, which from the inn piazza seemed startlingly near, as well as almost insignificantly small and easy of ascent. It should be noticed that Chuquipoyo is nearly thirteen thou- sand feet above sea-level, and that the atmosphere at this 22 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. altitude is remarkably clear. I was afterward similarly de- ceived, and to my cost, in ascending Popocatepetl. From where I spent the night, also at an altitude of about thirteen thousand feet, it seemed as if one might get to the summit easily in a couple of hours ; but it was an eight hours’ severe climb. At Chuquipoyo we all suffered greatly from the peculiarly penetrating quality of the cold atmosphere. We were almost immediately on the equator, and yet we shiv- ered with two heavy blankets beneath and five over us. In the morning we went northward, across a vast treeless desert, swept by furious winds and gusts of fine sand, past a deserted village called Mocha, and on again until, early in the after- noon, we reached Ambato, the interior town next in impor- tance to Quito, or the third town of the republic. The houses are built of sun-dried brick, whitewashed, and their roofs are covered w 7 ith red tiles. We straggled up a long street, narrow but nicely paved, and with a central gutter, to the chief inn, but it had no better accommodation and was no cleaner than the others. Here we found the diligence which was to take us to Quito. It was an English-made coach, holding eight inside and six outside passengers, drawn by six mules, and driven by a coachman assisted by two pos- tilions. As we had engaged nearly all the seats, we decided to detain the coach until the following morning, to await the arrival of our baggage, coming on the slow donkeys, and also to obtain a night’s rest, which we all sadly needed. In the evening the native governor called upon us and presented us with a bottle of champagne. We made an early start, our baggage being heaped on top of the coach, one of the postilions blowing a bugle, and the coachman driving furiously along the narrow streets of the town. Peaching the open country, it was interesting to notice the native method of driving the mules. For the wheelers a short whip is employed, for the next pair a long- handled one, while the leaders are peppered by one of the postilions, with unerring aim, with pebbles stored in the coachman’s box for that express purpose. All these instiga- OVER THE CORDILLERA. 23 tors, together with shouts, exhortations, anathemas, shrill whistling, and blowing of the bugle, are kept up unremittingly from the beginning to the end of each stage, whether it is ten or twenty miles in length. Should the mules flag from a gal- lop, or a swift and steady trot, or even drop to a walk, as they are naturally constrained to do at the foot of very steep hills, the postilions dismount and running, one on either side, deal such fearful blows with their coarse whip-lashes of bull’s hide that I almost feared the poor little brutes would be bisected. They were certain to arrive at the end of the stage horribly chafed, bleeding, and utterly exhausted. The diligence com- pany does not provide suitable mules for the service, although it is well able to do so, since but one trip a week is made, and the charge is six dollars for an inside and four for an outside seat. A first-class passenger is allowed only twenty pounds of bag- gage free, and for extra baggage must pay at a high rate. The distance from Ambato to Quito is seventy-five miles, and the time allowed two days. We enjoyed always splendid views of the sharp, smooth cone of Cotopaxi upon our right, the steep and jagged Iliniza upon our left, and behind us the massive dome of Chimborazo. We had sent a courier for- ward to engage fresh mules at an inn nearly opposite, and not five miles distant from the base of Cotopaxi, which has the same deceptive appearance of accessibility as has Chimbo- razo from Chuquipoyo, but upon arriving we were surprised to find that our order had been ignored. This caused us a delay of a night, and we suspected that the courier and land- lord had “ put their heads together ” to compel us to patron- ize the inn. During the afternoon we had passed an enor- mous flow of lava, rocks, and sand, the eruption from Coto- paxi in 1868. Once we were obliged to dismount and walk for a long distance, where a great stone bridge and the road had been torn away. In the plain before Cotopaxi there is a huge, smooth mound, of oval shape, which the natives claim was reared by the old Incas in honor of some of their divini- ties. It seems almost too enormous for such an explanation, for it is very much larger than those of our old Indian mound- 24 : AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . builders in the Western United States. We were favored with a view of Cotopaxi by moonlight — a magnificent sight, with its sides of vari-colored lava, its long patches of black sand, and its great fields of the pnrest white snow and blue ice. At daybreak we were off with fresh mules and a mounted horse, attached to our team simply by his tail as leader, and in this odd manner he proved a powerful aid. We had a long and weary ascent, and then began gradually to descend into a beautiful green valley that bore quite a resemblance to valleys that may be found in the northern part of England. There were smooth, velvety meadows, well-cultivated fields, and hedge-rows for fences. We breakfasted in the vestibule of a native inn with this lovely scene before us, and then hurried on to the end of our journey. The road was now paved, and we had another long and winding ascent, and then the number of pack-trains we met, the number of natives traveling on their prancing and caracoling steeds, and the more frequent collections of huts, betokened our near ap- proach to the capital Before .us rose the volcano of Pichin- cha, the summit of which is only five hours’ travel from the metropolis, while away to the right loomed the double-domed Antisana and square- topped Cayambi. Not long afterward faintly appeared the red roofs and white walls of Quito, and soon we were rattling through the Indian suburbs and along the narrow streets of low, two-story houses, their little bal- conies full of people to see the coach pass — the great event of the week. I bore a letter of introduction to a Danish gentle- man, who had been ten years in Quito, where he had made a large fortune as a druggist. This gentleman very kindly en- gaged for me two large rooms on one of the principal streets, with a native boy to take care of them and to bring me coffee and rolls early in the morning. For the more substantial meals of breakfast and dihner he offered me a seat with a party of English and French speaking friends, at the best res- taurant of the city, a French establishment. When one has not his own cook, this is the ap proved method of living, there OVER THE CORDILLERA. 25 being no hotel as we understand the terra — that is, no place where both rooms and meals are furnished. For use of the restaurant I had to pay one dollar, for my rooms two dollars per day. The latter were large and well furnished, according to the Spanish, or, more precisely, Ecuadorian idea of comfort and elegance. In my parlor there was a lavish display of glass-ware, porcelain vases, trinkets, and paper flowers. There were as many as five small tables in the room. Two large windows opened upon balconies overlooking the street. The bedroom had but one window, filled with iron bars like a prison-cell, and open toward the court-yard. A noticeable feature of the doors was their enormous locks, with keys four inches long and weighing a pound or more. Since, on ac- count of the petty thieving prevalent, the rooms must be kept locked, the carrying of one of these Bastile rivals be- comes almost necessary, though exceedingly irksome. A stone staircase from the street, and a brick-paved corridor, ornamented with flowers, gave access to the rooms. At last I am settled in Quito, just three weeks and two days from the time of leaving New York city — one day being spent in Panama and two days in Guayaquil. The time occu- pied on the journey from Guayaquil to the capital was seven days, and the distance thus traversed about two hundred miles. Here in Quito, before I set out to make any special study of the place, I am struck by the lighter complexion of the people than of those dwelling nearer the coast. This is explained by their living at a greater altitude rather than by their possessing purer strains of blood. The next striking peculiarity is the dress of the men, or perhaps I should say the full-dress of the gentlemen, who wear high black silk hats, black broadcloth frock-coats, black kid gloves, and carry orna- mental canes. These indications of other and very different civilizations seem about as much out of place as would Hin- dostanee turbans or Indian war-plumes. Always noticeable and interesting are the horsemen and their beautiful horses. One hardly knows which to admire the more, the perfect seat and pose of the rider or the perfect form and gait of the animal. 26 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. The following day being the Sabbath, I visited the cathe- dral, where high mass was being celebrated in presence of the archbishop and a consistory of bishops. The cathedral occu- pies one side of the principal square, and opposite is the pal- ace of the archbishop. On the north side is the Capitol, and on the remaining side the private residence of an old and very wealthy Spanish family. The plaza or square is laid out with flowers and shrubs and paved paths, which intersect each other at a central stone fountain. The outside view of the cathe- dral is more quaint than imposing. There is a large green- tiled dome, and a fagade with small windows and a piazza. The doors are covered with carvings and huge metal bosses. Inside the flooring is of brick, while the roof is of carved wood richly gilded or painted red. A number of very large paintings of no great merit cover the walls. The altar dis- played the usual tawdry collection of flowers, candles, pict- ures, and effigies, and the stalls of the bishops were ranged about it in horseshoe-form. As is usual in all churches, both Protestant and Catholic, the greater number of the worship- ers were women, though here they were of every shade of color and of every social grade. Some of the upper-class young girls were pretty, though I looked in vain for the rav- ishing beauties I had been told to expect. Their stature is rather below the average of their "North American sisters. They wore red or blue dresses, high-heeled kid slippers shod with metal, and always the picturesque black shawl or man- tilla, richly embroidered in silk, and, though worn coquet- tislily over the head, yet not concealing the face, which fre- quently displayed traces of paint and always of powder. Pings adorned their fingers, but no other jewelry was visi- ble. The elder women were clothed wholly in somber black, and frequently covered all the face save the eyes. These women had doubtless outlived their beauty. Almost every woman carried a prayer-book, and a prayer- cloth or stool on which to kneel. Occasionally these necessary articles would be borne by a servant. The women wear neither hats nor gloves. The gentlemen, in addition to the dark clothes al- OVER TEE CORDILLERA. 27 ready spoken of, wore black cloaks of a fashion that remind- ed me of the conventional “ heavy villain ” in the theatres at home. This resemblance was increased by the flashing black eyes, fierce mustache, or forked beard. I could not avoid observing the democratic footing of the congregation. The dirtiest poncho - covered Indian jostled thp most aristocratic cloth-cloaked hidalgo , the daintiest sehomias and the women who tend cattle knelt together in the same chapels. A fine organ, artistically handled, and a competent choir, furnished the sensuous music always provided in Catholic churches. As I left the cathedral a battalion of native troops passed on its way to the Jesuit church, and I followed. The Ecua- dorian army numbers about a thousand men and boys, part stationed in Guayaquil and a part in the capital. The troops are neatly uniformed in blue cloth with red facings and trim- mings, and armed with old Remington rifles. Many of the cartridge-boxes also came originally from the same place, and were plainly marked “ IJ. S.” The battalion was largely com- posed of boys, marshaled without any reference to size. It was preceded by a brass band of about thirty instrumentalists and was followed by about twenty buglers. The step was very quick, and the band played very fair music, which sounded comparatively fine as it reverberated through the arches of the church. This church has a remarkably hand- some carved facade. It is about the only example of really beautiful stone carving remaining in Quito. The great wooden doors are also elaborately carved, though in a more modern style than the fagade. The altar is very massively and richly gilded, and the walls of the nave are ornamented with raised tile-work pictures which are very effective as seen from below. Rear the door is a remarkable picture of the tortures of hell. Lucifer is seen sitting in state upon his hell- hounds, and directs the infernal proceedings. The offense of each victim is painted in plain letters near him. The tortures consist in being devoured by various animals, pierced by knives, in being made to swallow melted lead, and in other ingenious inventions of delirious cruelty. CHAPTER I Y. QUITO — PARADISE OF PRIESTS. The system of the Andes is the longest in the world, though not the highest, that being the Himalaya. The Andes lie in parallel ranges, which inclose elevated valleys. This plateau and mountain section are from one hundred to two hundred and fifty miles in width. Quito lies nearly at the northern extremity of a valley, or, more properly, of an elevated plateau, which extends from the borders of Peru to the United States of Colombia, a distance of about four hun- dred miles. This plateau, which is nearly two miles above the sea-level, has an average width, throughout, of about forty miles, and is shut in from the rest of the world, as it were, by the giant ranges of the Cordillera, one of which I had crossed in my journey from Guayaquil. Entering upon the plateau, I found a “ right royal ” road, lined with gigantic sentinels of rock and ice and snow, many of them the lofti- est and most famous peaks in the world. From one of the neighboring hills I obtained a good general view of the city, which slopes gradually toward the east and extends over the spurs of several hills that cause very abrupt irregularities of surface. It is laid out nearly at right angles, with neatly paved streets but very narrow sidewalks. Each landholder is obliged every day to brush that part of the public thor- oughfare before his property. lie is also compelled at night to display a candle, and with these alone is the city lighted, save in the great square, where kerosene-lamps are substi- tuted. A fine of forty cents for each offense is imposed upon those w r ho neglect to sweep or illuminate their portion Professional Mourners. QUITO— PARADISE OF PRIESTS.. 29 of the public streets. Quito has a decidedly monotonous ap- pearance as viewed from an eminence. There are only three or four church edifices and towers to vary the dull uniform- ity of the houses ; and the streets themselves, rarely more than twenty feet in width, make but slight marks of divis- ion. The roofs of most of the houses project over the nar- row sidewalks, thus affording some shelter to pedestrians in the rainy season. The streets seem always filled with people, both on foot and on horseback, and the m any-colored ponchos worn produce a gay effect. Several of the more wealthy residents possess carriages. I saw the President and his fam- ily taking the air in an elegant barouche, and the Vice-Presi- dent walking in the conventional funeral black which seems so incongruous in such a latitude, with such primitive sur- roundings. The climate of Quito, which lies nearly under the equator, is delightful — a spring the year round. One morning I visited one of the cemeteries, where the poor are consigned to the ground and the rich inclosed in mural vaults or niches, as in Italy and other European coun- tries. I found a great excavation in the hill-side, which had been bricked around and arranged in three terraces of niches, each of the latter numbered and just large enough to hold a coffin. When the bodies are thus disposed of, the tombs are sealed and covered with the customary inscriptions. Should the rent for these niches be in default for two years, the bones may be removed from the coffins and thrown into a general receptacle like a cistern. I saw several coffins whose con- tents had been unceremoniously disposed of in this manner. One would suppose that such a threat of ejectment would be unnecessary among people with means above abject pov- erty, but I was informed that this was not the case, and that frequently the bodies of the rich found their way at last to the common grave. A neighboring chapel is reserved for masses for the repose of the souls bodily represented in the cemetery. Near by is a large brick building, filled with cells in which during Lent many of the pious ladies and gen- tlemen of Quito spend days in flagellation and other ascetic 30 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . practices, as a slight atonement for the frivolities of their lives (luring the preceding year. Not far from the cemetery is the penitentiary, a large brick and stone building, guarded by troops, and surrounded by a wall twenty feet in height. It was erected by an Eng- lish engineer a few years ago, and seems admirably adapted to its purposes. Six long and narrow “ wings,” three sto- ries in height, converge at a central, dome-covered building, whence the guards may have a clear view of all that is pass- ing in them. One building is reserved for women. Alto- gether there are some five hundred cells, which average eight by five feet in size, with brick floors and small barred win- dows. During times of revolution the prisoners are largely of a political type, but ordinarily they are confined for theft and murder. The murders are often the results of street brawls committed under the influence of liquor. The wom- en, strange to say, are imprisoned for similar crimes. The men, as with us, are obliged to work out their salvation with some trade, such as candle-making, tailoring, and carpenter- ing. As an illustration of the extraordinary changes of for- tune seen every day in Ecuador, the officer who showed me through the penitentiary was once himself confined in it and for the grave crime of murder. He had struck a man, who had died from the effects of the blow. He was tried, but finally pardoned, and is now in possession of an easy situation, with a comfortable salary. The natives take such and simi- lar changes of fortune very philosophically. To-day a man may be a colonel in the army, a recognized position, with good pay ; to-morrow a revolution puts the party to which he belongs out of power, and he suddenly finds himself a no- body, without rank and without money. He, however, does not repine. He smokes his cigarettes, he wears smart clothes, he struts as proudly as before, and patiently awaits his opportunity. It may be ten years before this comes, but time is no object to him, and he is almost certain to get to the top again. An Ecuadorian is apt to experience many such strange bufferings of Fate. In returning to the city QUITO— PARADISE OF PRIESTS. 31 I passed a large market held in one of the principal squares. The people were mostly Indians, covered with gay-colored ponchos , who had brought upon their donkeys produce of all kinds from the neighboring farms. There was a great quan- tity of grain and vegetables, not so large a supply of fruit, and bnt comparatively little meat. The people squatted upon the ground, with their supplies grouped about them. Everything was sold by bulk, either in simple handfuls or in basketfuls. Nothing was weighed. The principal prod- ucts were wheat, barley, maize, beans, potatoes, guavas, oranges, and apricots. The next day I visited first the Capitol, a long, columned structure of brick and stucco, situated upon the northern side of the grand square. On the ground floor are common wine-shops, on the second the post and telegraph offices, and on the third the two halls of Congress. The Senate-cham- ber is a small, plain room, ornamented by a few portraits, with a double row of benches facing each other and extend- ing to a simple tribunal covered with red cloth. Two sena- tors are elected from each province, making a total of twen- ty-five. The representatives sit in a larger and if possible even plainer room. The arrangement of benches is the same, and the number of their occupants sixty. The Ecuadorian Congress is in session for only two months every year. In the left wing of the Capitol is the office of the President of the Republic. I was so fortunate as to be presented to him, to the Yice-President and to the Minister of War, being first kept waiting a few moments in an antechamber, and then ushered before these magnates by an aide-de-camp in brilliant uniform. The room was long and narrow, with crystal chandeliers, heavy draperies at the windows, an ordinary carpet on the floor, mirrors, book-cases, and tables in the cor- ners, maps and pictures upon the walls, and a large oil-paint- ing of the Virgin Mary opposite the seat of the President. That gentleman, upon my entrance, rose and cordially shook hands with me. His name was J. M. P. Caamano. lie was a medium-sized man, with mustache and side-whiskers, dressed 32 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. in black, and with a very pleasant expression and engaging manner. He asked me man} 7 questions about my proposed journey in South America, made suggestions concerning that portion of it relating to Ecuador, offered to assist me in any way in his power, and concluded with a special invitation to his honse. The President of Ecuador is elected for four years, and his salary per year is twenty-four thousand dollars of the Bank of Quito, or about twelve thousand of American money. The terms of office of the presidents of the South American republics vary, though four years is the general limit ; in Chili it is five years, while in the Argentine Republic and Colombia it is six years. The only republic in the world that holds a presidential election every other year is Vene- zuela. President Caamano is a very rich man, owning large sugar and cacao plantations. He is patriotic beyond the Ecua- dorian measure, and devotes the greater part of his salary to education and other methods of furthering the enlighten- ment of his people. Though fully conscious of the value of a liberal movement, he is, by force of circumstances, a con- servative in his methods. He has, however, but little per- sonal power, and all his acts must be ratified by Congress in order to become laws. There have been several revolutions in Ecuador since my visit, and during one of these President Caamano was obliged to flee from the capital to Guayaquil, and one of his aides was shot down at his side. There are very many monasteries in Quito, and one of them, that of San Francisco, is perhaps the largest in the world. With its church it occupies an entire square, and has, besides, rich farms in the neighboring country, upon which it depends for its revenue. Within the city establish- ment were many quadrangular buildings inclosing fine gar- dens, with flowers and fountains, where the friars take exer- cise and into which they may look from their cells. The ad- joining corridors are hung with rows of paintings of all sorts of biblical legends and myths of the early Catholic Church. The friars of this convent wear a yellowish-white cowl and cassock. Walking about were many young boys who were President Caamano . QUITO— PARADISE OF PRIESTS. 33 studying for the priesthood, fourteen years’ novitiate being necessary to attain that dignity. I climbed the tower to see the bells, one of which was very old and very large. It was suspended from two immense beams by about a hundred doublings of a bull’s- hide rope. There were half a dozen other bells of varying sizes and tones. These were all beaten from without. In Quito all day long the bells are kept jing- ling or tolling for some religious ceremony or other, in some one of its score of churches, and to this are frequently added the braying of bugles and the din of military bands. It is a veritable paradise of priests — there are said to be over four hundred in the city — but something of a pandemonium for the laity. Bishops and priests and friars are always to be seen upon the streets. The bishops walk slowly along, be- stowing their blessings right and left, or giving their great seal-rings or gloved hands to be kissed by the simple-minded Indians, who kneel at the curbstone in such numbers as al- most to block the travel and traffic of the street. It is very largely the contributions of the poor Indians which support the ecclesiastical institutions. This contingent is always pres- ent in great numbers in the churches and is the most devout among the devout. It greatly delights in the external pomp and parade of religion, and superstitiously venerates ecclesi- astics of all denominations. The copying of old religious paintings is a special industry of Quito. 1 visited one of the artists, who is so famous that he does not depend for his bread upon saints sold by the square foot, but also paints landscapes aud portraits in a very creditable fashion. All work of this sort is remarkably cheap. A capital life-size portrait may be had for twelve dollars, American gold ; while huge copies of old theological master- pieces may be obtained for one dollar and upward, literally being sold by the area. Effigies of the Virgin Mary and the saints, carved in wood and covered with lace embroidery, are also numbered among Quito manufactures ; but neither dis- play much taste in design or cleverness in execution. A lost art is that of marquetry, a kind of mosaic, executed in hard 3 34 : AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. and curiously grained wood, and other material, inlaid and arranged in an infinite variety of patterns. A rich gentleman whom I visited had all the furniture of his library of this kind of workmanship. The basic structure was a dark wood resembling polished mahogany, and the figures and orna- mental work were of a lighter colored wood like maple. There were designs combining plants and animals, very beau- tiful arabesques, and fancy borders of all sorts. This style of furniture is of course very valuable. Only three European ministers reside in Quito — the Papal nuncio and the representatives of France and England. America is not even represented by a charge d'affaires , though at Guayaquil we have a consul-general, who visits the capital when necessary. No American interests need atten- tion in Quito, and few American ships visit Guayaquil. About fifty foreigners do business in Quito — French, Ital- ians, and Germans. A foreigner is exempt from taxation, and not only is freely allowed to establish himself in business and make all the money he can, but is generally courted by native society and treated with great deference. Most of the resident foreigners are either wealthy or on the road to wealth. The natives are too apathetic to successfully com- pete with them in any kind of business, and the Indians are still worse than the creoles. A friend of mine long resident in Quito told me that once, on returning from a morning ride in the country, his horse floundered into a deep mud-hole, and, not being able by any means to extricate him, he feel- ingly appealed to some Indians who w^ere passing to lend their assistance. The natives merely laughed at him, and said that they must be off on their way to Quito. He offered them fifty cents apiece, but they paid no attention, and started off. Seeing this, he became desperate and fell upon them with his horse-whip. This had the desired effect, and his horse was saved. “ You see,” he concluded, “ the native does not understand or appreciate kindness. A request, in order to receive attention, must be accompanied by hard words and often by a blow.” Foreigners generally invest QUITO— PARADISE OF PRIESTS. 35 their earnings in real estate, the value of which in a country of chronic revolutionary tendencies, fluctuates less than that of any other form of investment. As there is a Bank of Ecuador at Guayaquil, so there is a Bank of Quito at the capital, and both are chartered by the state. The bills, which are usually of one and five pesos, or native dollars, in value, are small and very tastefully engraved by the American Bank- Note Company of New York. But strange to relate, the paper money of the bank at the sea-coast — the chief port of Ecuador, and only five days’ travel from Quito — is at a pre- mium of twenty-five per cent in the certificates of the bank in the interior, while the bills of the latter do not pass current in Guayaquil. I think this difference between capital and seaport of the same country is quite unparalleled. In such a wretched and moribund condition is the currency, that there are what they call hard and soft dollars in Quito, the former having one hundred cents and the latter but eighty. So poor or so dishonorable is the Government, that it is either unable or unwilling to pay the comparatively small sum of two hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars which it owes the Bank of Quito. It may be said to be totally bankrupt. It of course promises ; but natives are not misled by these half as much as are the sanguine and trusting foreigners. The foreign debt of Ecuador is about two million dollars, and this is mostly held by English capitalists. A great deal of the silver of Quito does not pass current in Guayaquil. Much counter- feit money has to be guarded against, and coins of certain dates, containing excessive alloy, are refused. Colombian .money is accepted only at a discount, and Bolivian silver not at all. It is hard to prognosticate how far the paper money of Quito may depreciate. At the time of my visit forty-three dollars of it were gladly exchanged for a United States twenty-dollar gold-piece. The occupations of foreign- ers in Ecuador are naturally diverse. Several of them are engaged to build railways and highways for the Government, others own cacao-plantations, but most are employed as retail merchants in the capital. The drug business is one of the 36 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . most lucrative. No foreign physicians are discovered in Quito, but native ones abound. These send their patients with prescriptions to the drug-stores, where their wants are attended to, but no boxes or bottles are supplied. Each cus- tomer must bring all such articles from home. No accounts are kept ; it is a strictly cash business. But, even if you have money, you can not always use it. In sending a telegram I had to pay in postage -stamps, that being the singular rule of the Government office. On the telegraph blank a warning was printed that no dispatches which might offend morals would be received. I was greatly relieved when mine was accepted. CHAPTER V. BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. The residence of the English minister, situated upon the outskirts of the city, X found a pleasant retreat. A lofty wall with a peak of tiles incloses beautiful gardens of trees, shrubs, flowers, and walks. The adobe house, two stories in height, occupies three sides of a quadrangle, upon which the gate immediately opens. Here in the court-yard a fountain plays, a monkey swings from a long hide rope, beautiful peacocks spread their tails in extremest pride, a huge stuffed condor and other birds adorn the piazza-posts, antlers gleam from the walls, and cheery glimpses are had of office and dining-room on one side, and of parlor and bedrooms on the other. Like so many other Englishmen, the minister is de- voted to outdoor sports, as guns and dogs, whips and spurs, and a lawn-tennis court abundantly testified. Quito is well supplied with a hospital ; for, notwith- standing the fact that its climate is so nearly perfect — like the month of May in the Northern United States — yet so great are the changes from the hot sun of midday to the chills of evening, that pneumonia and other lung and also throat troubles are very prevalent. Upon entering a gentle- man’s house, I was always advised to retain my hat, and it is not customary for gentlemen calling in the evening to re- move their cloaks. The hospital has about five hundred beds. It is under the direction of French Sisters of Charity. There are also a lunatic asylum and a retreat for lepers. The lunatics are well cared for, having comfortable cells and suitable food. The lepers, though of course housed by them- 38 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . selves, are allowed to marry. They were a piteously hor- rible-looking set, who leered and grinned at me behind the barred windows. There is an observatory in Quito, well supplied with instruments of good quality, but it lacks a director, and no astronomical work is at present being done. A large theatre is in process of erection. The rich men of the capital prefer sending their children to Paris or London to obtain education, though Quito owns a college. The court-yard of this building is tilled with flowers, surrounding a central fountain, and the students may be seen walking up and down the corridors repeating their lessons aloud. The library consists mostly of old books in Spanish, Latin, and French. The museum contains a small collection of stuffed animals, insects, minerals, shells, and corals. There is a good chemical laboratory. In company with a Quito friend and an Indian guide, I made a visit of a couple of days to the celebrated peak of Pichincha, which has the deepest crater and is the highest continuously active volcano in the world. It is not visible from the capital, but maybe reached by five hours’ ride to the west. Pichincha, in the Indian language, signifies the a boil- ing mountain.” Leaving the city in the late afternoon, we rode about half the distance to the summit, over several of the minor ridges southwest of Quito, and remained over- night in a small farm-house. At four the next morning we mounted our horses for the remainder of the ascent. The trail was exceedingly steep, and slippery from recent rains, and both of us had disagreeable and dangerous falls. But, as we steadily ascended ridge after ridge, we were rewarded by splendid views of the valley and ranges of minor hills behind us, and of huge snow-capped peaks at great distances on every side. The rich and fertile valley of Quito was prettily diversified with fields of wheat, barley, and clover. Here and there were small villages, and between them de- tached farm-houses, each with its little assemblage of out- buildings. We were soon above the clouds, which began to fill some of the valleys with their silvery fleece, which once BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. 39 or twice we mistook for a lake glistening in the morning sun. We had passed beyond the zone of trees, and, entering that of stunted shrubs, saw just before us nothing more of life save coarse grass. Even up to the very brim of the crater there were numbers of animal s—rabbits, humming- birds, a few condors, and at least one fox. The cone of the volcano several times loomed directly before us, but, as usu- ally happens in the translucent atmosphere of great altitudes, we seemed constantly nearing without prospect of touching, like the notorious asymtote that mathematicians love. But finally we succeeded. The last part of the ascent, though very steep, may be made by horses and mules to the actual edge of the crater. The long, jagged outline of the summit is composed of rough, bare rocks, whitish sand, pumice, and ashes. For a considerable distance below the top we threaded our way between huge bowlders and masses of conglomer- ated lava — the field of stones which all the volcanoes of Ecuador possess in common. We dismounted a few moments before reaching the summit, in order to place our saddle- horses in a sheltered nook, but the mule bearing our break- fast we led into the crater with us. The great distinguishing feature of Ecuador, as of all the other countries on the west coast of South America, is the gigantic mountain system. Before leaving home I erred, I think, in company with many others, in my general idea of the arrangement and appearance of the Andes. I imagined, as with the Himalayas, that there were long ranges of snow- crested mountains, from which occasionally arose the peaks celebrated in geography and history. But this is wrong, at least in so far as the peaks of Ecuador are concerned, for her ranges are rarely topped with snow, and are, comparatively speaking, low, while the loftiest summits are almost univers- ally isolated. Hence the astonishing yet charming effect produced by low ranges of green hills, above and far beyond which appear, at almost every angle of the compass, the glistening cones or domes or jagged points of world-famous peaks. It is said that in some places the Andes are sinking, 40 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. and, if so, a connection may be hypothetically traced be- tween the frequent earthquakes and certain of these subsi- dences. The city of Quito is known to have sunk twenty- six feet in one hundred and twenty-two years ; the peak of Pichincha two hundred and eighteen feet in the same time ; and the farm of Antisana, one of the highest of human habi- tations, one hundred and sixty -five feet in sixty -four years. The squeezing of the crust of the earth produced by such shrinkages must cause violent dislocations in the surrounding regions. Hence the earthquakes that appall the world. The air was clear as crystal, and the firmament of a very delicate deep blue. In view was a half-circle of great, snow-capped mountains, their giant flanks rising from vel- vety green pastures and enormous fields of yellow grain. In the eastern Cordillera stood first, beginning at the south, the terrible volcano of Sangai. Then came tapering Cotopaxi, saddle-shaped Antisana, rugged Sincholagua, and square- topped Cayambi streaked with snow over its dark rocks, nearly twenty thousand feet in height, and standing exactly on the equator. In the western Cordillera, nearer at hand, we had a momentary glance at Chimborazd, as this leviathan disclosed his face. The much smaller but neighboring peak, Carahuirazo, called the wife of Chimborazo, came next, and then jagged Iliniza; while conical Cotacache approached close to Pichincha. Within a radius of fifty miles from Quito, and all visible on a clear morning from the summit of Pichincha, are a score of Andean monarchs, whose names, however, are not as well known as those just mentioned. It would be easy to give, in barometrical, linear, and geo- metrical measurements, exact details of Pichincha, defining its topography ; but the impression of a first view is more difficult to be conveyed in writing. Even with the assist- ance of a quotation from Dante’s “ Inferno ” (always a stock reference in describing volcanoes), the task is not easy. The highest crest of the mountain is nearly sixteen thousand feet above sea-level, and the crater itself being about twenty- five hundred feet deep, its bottom is still four thousand BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. 41 feet above Quito. There is, however, no fear of a flow upon the capital, should another great eruption occur, for a vast rent toward the west opens upon the fertile Ecuadorian prov- ince of Esmeraldas, into which the contents of the volcano would undoubtedly make their escape. The crater, as it may at present be viewed, is about one mile in diameter at top, and perhaps fifteen hundred feet at bottom. This great gulf is an imposing and awful sight. The precipices of gray and reddish trachyte, the gigantic crags with knife- like edges, the sulphur banks, the yellow aud white sand, the black rugged cliffs, and the heaps of scoriae, make a weird picture not readily forgotten. Near one corner springs a small river which was once strong enough to tear its way through the rim of the crater and rush forth, a mad mount- ain torrent, toward freedom and the Pacific. The chief signs of life on the occasion of my visit were the steam issuing from fissures, and a powerful odor of sulphur as the wind wafted it toward me from time to time. The descent into the abyss is perilous and laborious, as its steep sides — stand- ing mostly at an angle of forty -five degrees — are largely com- posed of loose rocks and sand, so that the dislodging of a sin- gle small stone may produce something more than a minia- ture avalanche. After a leisurely breakfast down in the crater, away from the wind, we proceeded to inspect special parts. About the highest pinnacles snow is always found in the clefts of the rocks. This is carried to Quito and utilized in the preparation of ice-cream. We left the crater at ten o’clock and, after a hard ride, reached Quito at two in the afternoon. On July 13th I left Quito on my return journey to Guayaquil. I took the coach as far as Ambato, where I was fortunate enough to be invited to join a party of Ecuado- rians who were also going down to the seaport. The native method of riding is more amusing than tiresome. They go at a gallop for about an hour, when a halt of ten minutes is made, in which to drink a small cup of sweetened spirits and to smoke cigarettes or cigars. Before we reached Chuqui- 42 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . poyo it had become quite dark and was raining heavily, but our break-neck speed was not a bit slackened. It was a novel experience to be riding at a gallop, and not able even to see your horse’s ears. The next morning we started before day- light for G-uaranda, a town on the opposite side of Chimbo- razo, over a spur of which, fourteen thousand feet in height, it was necessary for us to pass. Once we lost our way, but, dawn breaking, soon found it again. It was a long and dreary ride over barren wastes and grassy slopes, up and down, on, on, seemingly without end. The wind on the flanks of Chimborazo sometimes blows with the force of a hurricane, but we were fortunate in experiencing a mist, which prevented the wind, but also obscured the sun. We reached the town of Guaranda just before the beginning of a tropical rain of the most extraordinary violence I have ever seen. The streets suddenly became rivers, and it was im- possible for us to continue our journey until morning.' We soon reached the beautiful and justly famed valley of Chimbo, with its fertile fields of varying shades, and now we had left behind the great snow-fields of Chimborazo, shining serenely in their dazzling whiteness. After reaching the western rim of the valley, we began to descend over a bad road, which soon became worse. It had apparently at one time been paved with huge blocks of stone, but the severe winter rains and incessant travel of man and beast had jum- bled these into inconceivable confusion. Over them and be- tween them and around them we were compelled slowly to find our way. Once or twice the road was so steep and slip- pery that we had to dismount and let our mules slide down inclines a couple of hundred feet in length. Still, down, down we went, on foot or on mule-back, over and around the unending spurs, and into and out of the valleys, until darkness came on, and after all we had not reached our destination. We nevertheless proceeded, our guide leading at what seemed to me in the obscurity to be a very dangerous pace. We had had most beautiful views all the day, and would doubtless have seen the Pacific, but for the clouds which lay before us like a Ghimborazo from a Height of Fourteen Thousand Feet. BREAKFASTING IN AN ACTIVE VOLCANO. 43 vast ocean of bright white foam. We slept for the night in a miserable village inn, and went on again at daylight. We had now once more reached the tropics, had left far behind the temperate table-land of central Ecuador. We had ar- rived in the land of hammocks — those abodes of mental as well as physical inertia. We passed through immense plan- tations of coffee, cacao, oranges, bananas, and sugar-cane. One of the most striking characteristics of the small Republic of Ecuador is the abruptness with which one passes from the wheat and barley fields of the interior to the palms and cocoanuts of the coast. The landscape quickly changes from that of a New England farm to an East Indian jungle. The climate of Quito is cool, uniform, and healthy for European settlers, but Guayaquil is hot, moist, and insalubrious. We stopped frequently, at the farm-houses, for drinks, now of chicha , a native beer somewhat like our lager in taste and strength ; now of guarapo , a sort of sweet and rather palata- ble beer ; again of fresh sugar-cane juice, most refreshing to a heated and tired rider. It is said that in summer, during the rainy season, the roads are all but impassable ; that then there is no travel save by the mail-carriers and those few whose business is too urgent to be postponed. I had an ink- ling of how difficult this sort of travel must be, for we had to make many miles through a tract of morass where the rocks and holes and rivers and mud were something terrible to contemplate and worse to experience. The mules could not always keep their feet, often sank up to their bellies, and were unable to progress much faster than a mile an hour. We had our skin torn by the bushes, our feet and legs bruised by the rocks, and our clothes covered and hair matted with the mud. We passed many troops of mules and donkeys transporting merchandise of all sorts to the capital. The expense of carrying heavy articles in this manner is, of course, very great. For a portion of a small boiler one hun- dred dollars was the freightage. We reached Bodegas, the head of winter navigation on the Guay as River, about five one afternoon, and were glad to learn that a small steamer 44 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. would leave the next day at noon for Guayaquil. In the evening two military bands alternately played in the largest square, and all the town was there to hear. With German compositions the native musicians grapple in vain, but with Spanish songs and dance-music they are more successful. We amused ourselves on the way down the river by shoot- ing alligators, which greatly abound. We frequently saw half a dozen huge fellows lying on the banks and looking at a distance like the trunks of old trees. They are difficult to kill, but after much practice we succeeded in dispatching a few. CHAPTER VI. COASTWISE TO CALLAO. On July 23d I left Guayaquil for Callao, and on the very same steamer as that in which I had come down from Pana- ma, it having in the mean time made a round trip north and south. We had only two or three cabin but many deck passengers. These last are generally supplied with food by the steamer, but have to arrange their own sleeping accom- modations, either in hammocks or upon their baggage. At eight in the morning we reached onr first station in Peru, the little town of Payta, approaching its almost landlocked road- stead through vast schools of young porpoises, hundreds of thousands of sea-birds, many huge turtles, and a few small whales. The sea-birds, a sort of large duck or gull, predomi- nating, were so gorged with fish that they could scarcely rise from the water in order to avoid the steamer, and their first effort before attempting this was to disburden themselves of the acquisition. The shore in the vicinity of Payta consists of great bluffs of yellow sand. ISTot a tree or sprig of vege- tation of any sort is in sight. So barren, indeed, is the coun- try hereabout, that a story is told to the effect that a man having painted a tree upon his door was hardly surprised that it was devoured by some passing donkeys, it being the only green thing in the place. In a little corner of the bay, upon a plain at the base of the yellow bluffs, lies the equally yellow and utterly dilapidated town. We anchored near a United States man-of-war, and some Portuguese and Peruvian ships, and proceeded at once to load with coal from a hulk belonging to the steamer company, and to dispatch our cargo 46 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. to the shore in large lighters. Though Payta itself seems insignificant and desolate, the country inland is very rich in agricultural products, and boasts some towns of manufactur- ing importance. The Peruvian port-officers visited us, as the Ecuadorians had done in Guayaquil, wfith ostentatious display of uniform and bunting, the national flag having red, white, and red vertical stripes, with the arms of Peru in the center. Upon landing, one finds merely a poor, tumble-down collec- tion of grass-thatched, one-story huts, of adobe and bamboo, packed tightly upon narrow, irregular, unpaved streets. In one place is a railway-station, whence a train is dispatched every day about twenty miles up one of the fertile valleys of the interior. It is the intention to continue this railway twenty miles farther, to the town of Piura, which stands in the midst of a blooming oasis. This railway was originally built for the Government by a Danish contractor, but it is now owned by the well-known American house of Grace Brothers & Company, brokers and commission-merchants, of Lima, Callao, and Valparaiso. There being no water in Payta, one of the duties of this little railway is daily to bring . in a proper supply. We left the yellow town, with its back- ground of tawny sand-hills, early in the afternoon, and again headed toward the south. During the night we passed a small village where, strange to say, the vernacular of some Chinese immigrant coolies, who had settled there, was under- stood by the native inhabitants. This is an important and interesting fact in connection with the theory of Asiatic mi- gration across the Pacific. Early in the morning we anchored in the roadstead of Pimental, itself only a little cluster of huts, but the port for a fertile district inland. It is so all along the coast of Peru and Bolivia. Such of the land as is seen from the ocean is arid and without vegetation ; but from the ports, railways or lines of mules pass up into the productive valleys and bring down rich freight for the steamers. At Pimental we loaded chiefly cotton, though there were also ox-hide bales of tobacco. Here our cargo was brought by a curious sort of lighter called COASTWISE TO CALLAO. 47 a balsa. This is simply a raft of great timbers, with a single mast supporting a large oblong sail. It is navigated by half a dozen men, and will sail very fast with a favorable wdnd. It is steered by four men w T ith long paddles. Upon the mid- dle of this primitiv’e craft, raised a couple of feet on trans- verse beams, covered with grass, reposes the freight. These balsas are literally unsinkable, and frequently make long coasting voyages. Going on about ten miles, we reach Eten, scarcely more than an iron pier, nearly a mile in length, from which a railway runs into the interior. When there is not much business, these steamers frequently call at three or four ports in a day. We reached Pacasmayo, the next station, late in the evening. Morning disclosed a solitary circular roadstead, w T itli another iron pier, about a mile in length, leading to the sandy shore, and a small mud and bamboo village beyond, blear Pacasmayo are some very extensive ruins, which it is said even the Incas found in a dilapidated condition when they came into the country. There are also several of the huge mounds which the Incas themselves, not less than the Aztecs in the United States and Mexico, were so fond of rearing. A railway runs from Pacasmayo to the town of Santa Magdalena, which is in a very fertile region. Still farther to the eastward is situated the city of Cajamarca, which has twelve thousand inhabitants and is historically note- worthy as being the spot where the last of the Incas, the un- fortunate Atahualpa, was murdered by the brutal Pizarro. In this place are still shown the jail where Atahualpa w^as confined, and the block upon which he was beheaded, the room he proposed to fill with gold in exchange for his life, the baths, and other reminiscences of the lordly Incas. Pa- casmayo is the Pacific port through which that rich district of northwestern Brazil, called Amazonas, and the head-w T aters of the Amazon, are generally reached by merchants, traders, and transcontinental travelers. The route is by mule over the sub-hills to the Huallaga River, whence there is uninter- rupted steam navigation to Para, at the mouth of the Ama- zon, a distance of over three thousand miles. The next port 48 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. at which we called was Samanco, whose two-storied custom- house was situated at the mouth of a little green valley, though all around were bare, brown hillocks and mounds of sand, that vividly recalled the Nubian Desert. The views of the lava-like coast range, in coming down from Pacasmayo, w T ere very fine. Though there are no fiords, and though these mountains are very much higher than the highest Norwegian mountains, yet the generally steep and sterile appearance continually reminded me of the coast range of Norway. The many scenes of utter desola- tion, chaotic confusion, and peculiar loneliness, are quite analogous. The effect of viewing them, range behind range, is here, as in Norway, greatly to increase their actual alti- tude. But here, with a powerful sun, the profiles of the mountains are much more distinct, and the varying lights and shadows of their ridges, valleys, and summits render the panorama much more picturesque. In Norway all is grim and somber, here it is in part bright and vari-colored. In places very charming effects are produced by a fiat, green shore, beyond which are stretches of sandy hillocks, then low lines of brown and black hills, deeply furrowed, and still farther away lofty violet-colored ranges of the mighty Andes, with broad oceans of fleecy clouds below their top- most ridges. Over all burns a heaven of the purest blue. Many of the peaks are but sparsely snow-capped. Nearer the sea are dull-brown lava hills, without even a spear of grass showing in any of their numerous depressions from base to summit. The mountains are all remarkably precipi- tous. Those which stand more immediately upon the coast look for all the world as if they had been directly thrown up from neighboring volcanic craters. Many huge caverns have been worn by the sea into their gray and black bases. The different colors of some of the stratified rocks present a very marked contrast to these. We called at the micro- scopic port of Casma, and next came Supe, situated on a circular harbor, like most of the other towns at which we had touched. COASTWISE TO CALLAO. 49 Our last stop before reaching Callao was Huacho ; and here I varied the monotony of the voyage by again going on shore, being carried upon the shoulders of natives through the high-rolling surf. The town I found to be of mud and bamboo houses,- but a single story in height ; streets irregular and narrow, but with sidewalks made of sections of hard trees, after the style of our “ Nicholson ” pavement. The chief plaza had a line fountain, surrounded by beautiful flowers. On one side was the large cathedral, with a cylin- drical roof of bamboo and mud. The shops contained a fair variety of goods. There were a number of foreign mer- chants — Italians, French, and Germans. X ascended the tower of a church for a panoramic view. In the distance were many groves of tropical trees, here and there the farm- houses of large sugar estates, and beyond them the hills, the everlasting hills. This range, it is almost needless to add, one sees from Panama to Cape Horn, the coasting steamers rarely losing sight of it for many hours at a time. The scenic order is always the same : it is first the sandy plain, then the coast range, then the elevated plateau, then the loftier line whose eastern slope gradually declines to the vast undulating plains and forests of Brazil. The following morning at daybreak, six days out from Guayaquil, we arrived at Callao, and anchored in a “forest of masts.” In the roadstead were half a dozen foreign men-of- war, among them the noted Chilian cruiser Esmeralda, which I afterward visited, and twenty or thirty steamers, among them six or eight belonging to the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, and laid up to await more prosperous business than just then offered. The city of Callao, lying upon a level plain, was only partly discernible, yet it had a look of business activity very different from anything I had yet seen on the west coast, and reminding me at once of home. The many smoke-emitting factory-chimneys ; the three-story brick houses ; the locomotives and cars of the two railroads which run hourly to Lima; the hundreds of boats, lighters, and steam-tugs — all betokened a higher civilization than I had 50 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. yet witnessed. I was soon taken ashore and landed upon a splendid stone mole. Of the two lines of railway leading to the capital, one belongs to an English, the other to an American company. I selected the English, intending to return by the other. The cars are divided into two classes, in both of which smoking is universal. Leaving Callao, we passed over a great plain, sterile at first, but afterward cov- ered with grass and various other vegetable produce. A pleasant diversity to the general level was the appearance of two or three convents, with their neatly whitewashed build- ings and walls, through whose gates were seen beautiful gardens of brightly blooming flowers. Arriving at Lima, I soon found the “ Hotel de France et Angleterre,” with its comfortable rooms and capital French cuisine. The hotel was a very rambling sort of affair, with many court-yards and many rooms. The center of the largest court-yard was full of flowers, shrubs, and vines, around which, standing in the open air, were two rows of dining-tables. Thgre were tables in inner rooms, also, upon the ground-floor. The cor- ridors were all paved with brick tiles, and filled with tubs of beautiful flowers. In the second story were the lodging- rooms, with doors and windows opening, as usual, npon the court instead of the street. You pay a fixed price per day for the rooms, but for meals you may arrange on either the European or American plan. As soon as I was settled in my rooms, an agent of the police called upon me with printed blanks to be filled up as to my age, nationality, religion, busi- ness, home, destination, etc. I arrived at Lima in the rainy season, though but little rain ever falls in the city itself. Being the middle of winter, I found the weather cool enough for woolen clothing. The anniversary of Peruvian inde- pendence was being celebrated. This was in commemora- tion of the overthrow of Spanish authority and Peru’s organi- zation into a republic. The city was in gala dress, so far as bunting goes, and, in addition to the national banner, one saw everywhere the flags of other nationalities ; chiefly however, those of France, Germany, and Italy. * General Cdceres. COASTWISE TO CALLAO. 51 Horse-races are given at some distance out of the city, and to these I was invited by a friend who came down on the steamer with me and who is engaged in business in Lima. An hourly train conveyed visitors to the track, a half-mile stretch. From a seat in the grand stand I saw the houses of Callao, the shipping in the roadstead, and the ocean beyond, as well as the spires of the churches and many of the dwellings of Lima. Foreigners were out in great force. The Lima ladies were generally dressed in the very latest French styles, with accompaniments of paint and powder. But what shall I say of the races ? Nothing in praise, certainly. They were all of the running description, and but little attention was paid by the jockeys to skill of any kind. A military band occasionally favored us with waltzes and other lively music. In the midst of the racing a number of richly uniformed per- sonages, with a large, mounted staff, rode up to the grand stand, cap in hand, while the entire throng rose and the men lifted their hats. The President of the Republic, General Iglesias, had arrived, together with his Minister of War and Padre Tovar. They were given seats in the center of the grand stand. Iglesias was a man of medium size, slightly built, about sixty years old, with furrowed forehead and face, bright eves, gray mustache and hair. lie was dressed in a general’s uniform, and smiled grimly to those among the spectators whom he recognized. General Caceres, who was at that time disputing the presidency with Iglesias, was be- lieved to be somewhere to the eastward of the capital, in the mountains. Six months before, he had been in command of Arequipa, the second city of Peru in numbers and in political importance. At the period of my visit, the government troops were unable to dislodge him. The greater number of the citizens of Lima and all the remaining people of Peru were interested in the success of Caceres, as they did not approve of the policy of Iglesias in making peace with Chili. It was said, also, that were it not for Chilian influence and the pres- ence of the famous ironclad Esmeralda at Callao, C&ceres would be able, with such re-enforcements as he would be sure 52 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. to receive, to march upon Lima and readily capture it. Chili, after the terrible thrashing she had recently given Peru, was still greatly dreaded. To see the gay fetes of the day, one would not have dreamed that revolutions were in progress at different points in the country, and that the great mass of the Peruvians were in favor of an immediate overthrow of the authorities. The subsequent events by which Caceres vic- toriously entered the capital are too well known to require recapitulation. General Caceres, who is now President, is a clever tactician and a statesman of more than average ability, besides being a true patriot who commands the sympathies and confidence of his countrymen. CHAPTER VII. LIMA. On tlie morning following my arrival, having been awak- ened very early by the clanging and banging which in all Spanish towns the world over call the people from bed to church, I took the hint and started forth to visit the famous cathedral, which occupies the southeastern corner of the Grand Plaza. In the immediate vicinity are government buildings and the shops of petty merchants. The shops are merely square boxes, with no means of exit save their front doors, and no light except by the same route. They contain admirable displays of goods, and seem to embrace every variety of busi- ness. Especially noticeable are the shops of the money-chang- ers, the jewelers, and restaurants and saloons of all kinds, kept generally by Frenchmen or Italians. The plaza is neatly paved with cobble-stones. In its center is a small octagonal garden having a tall bronze fountain topped by a figure very like that of the Bethesda fountain in Central Park, Hew York. There are also some marble statues, of mediocre merit, and several marble settees. There are a few trees in the pi aza, but they, as well as the flowers, suffer greatly from lack of a fertile soil and an adequate supply of water. The plaza and gardens at night are illuminated by many circles and rows of gas-jets. At this time all Lima congregates to promenade and listen to a military band, but during the day it is the great cathedral which rivets the eye of the traveler. Being raised six feet or so upon a marble terrace, with its yellow, time-stained walls, its quaint architecture, and grace- fully proportioned tow T ers, it produces a very charming effect 54 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA, from a distance. A nearer view somewhat dispels this illu- sion ; for, although much of the oldest part of the facade, with its pillars of red marble, its niches filled with statuary, and its ornamentations generally, yet remains, most of the modern additions are in brick and wood and stucco. The upper portions of the towers are wholly of wood and stucco. The interior is greatly diminished in grandeur by an inclosed choir, though the great height of the ceiling, with its groined arches colored in white and gold, produces a good effect. At either side are the usual number of chapels, filled with wretched wooden carvings, poor paintings, tinsel bric-a-brac , and Virgin Marys with huge silver crowns and crinoline of heavy, gold-embroidered silk. The high altar is remarkably plain, though accommodating some handsome silver candle- sticks. In the choir is a very fine, large organ. The stalls here are elegantly carved with full-length figures of saints and bishops. In the crypt are the embalmed remains of the great Francisco Pizarro, transferred from the old cathedral, which was built on the same site in 1607 by the valiant con- quistador himself. They lie on a moldy shelf beside the body of the good viceroy Mendoza. Pizarro’s bones are fast crum- bling to dust, and the few remaining pieces of skin which still cling to them, dry and withered as they are, are rapdily dis- appearing under the inroads of eager relic-hunters. From the summit of one of a range of hills, called Cerro de San Cristobal, a short distance to the north, the best pan- oramic view of the city and its surrounding mountains may be obtained. It is then seen that Lima lies upon level ground, near a small river, the Fimac, which is quite dry during most of the year, but so swollen at times, by the melt- ing of the snow in the mountains, that its banks have to be walled with great stones. It is crossed by three bridges, and a small section of the capital lies to the northeast of it. Lima is laid out at right angles. The streets are about twenty feet in width, and paved with cobble-stones ; the sidewalks are rarely more than three feet in width. A curi- ous and awkward custom is that of giving the streets a new Panorama of Lima. LIMA. 55 name on each block, so that yon have to remember the same street under a score or so of names. Tram-cars run in the chief thoroughfares. Native owners introduced them. A ride in them costs the equivalent of two and a half American cents. There are also hackney-coaches like some of those in New York ; they are remarkably cheap and in universal demand. For one passenger, a ride to any part of the city costs but ten cents ; or, the coach being hired by the hour, it can be kept all day for fifty cents. The city is lighted by gas supplied from huge brackets attached to the walls of about every fifth house. The houses, generally built of mud and bamboo, are but two stories in height, with balconies which are inclosed by small panes of glass, and which, in the upper stories, pro- ject so regularly over the street as to form for pedestrians an almost continuous protection from sun and rain. Some . of the older of these balconies are made of a hard, dark wood, which is intricately and beautifully carved ; and these, to- gether with the varying colors with which the houses are painted, make the street vistas very picturesque. The roofs of the houses are fiat, and usually utilized as lounging-places on sultry nights. In the suburbs the houses are but one story in height, built with enormously thick walls of unburned brick. Their uninflammable character makes a fire in Lima almost unknown, and its dangerous spread impossible. Nevertheless, proper precautions have been taken. There are two Peruvian fire brigades, well supplied with steamers, old-fashioned pumping-engines, hook-and-ladder accessories, and other excellent miscellany, though the necessary horses are not stabled upon the brigades’ premises, but at some dis- tance in other streets. A few of the foreign nations so lib- erally represented in Lima also have each an engine-house. During my stay in Lima I of course visited most of the public buildings. Facing one of the many little plazas of the city, which contains a fine statue of General Bolivar, sur- rounded by plants and flowers, stand the Houses of Congress, the one styled the Hall of Senators, the other that of Depu- ties. I paused for a moment to observe the equestrian statue, 56 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. in which the attitudes of both horse and rider are very spirited and natural. The horse careers on his hind-legs, like the famous one of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg. The forward part of the horse is hollow, and the hind-legs and tail are solid, in order to preserve a very difficult equipoise. On the marble pedestal are beautiful bas-reliefs, in marble, of well-known battles in which Bolivar was the hero ; an inscription to him, as the liberator of Peru ; and the date of erection of the monument, 1856. The Hall of Senators I found to be simply a long, narrow room, with papered walls, and a plain wooden desk at one end. The ceiling, built of a line dark wood, and intricately carved, could not be more out of place than with such miserable surroundings. The entrance and ante-rooms are also of the meanest character. A great contrast to the Hall of the Senators was that of the Deputies, on* another side of the same plaza. This is. situated in a large, single-story building, with broad corri- dors, and a court full of flowers and statues. The chamber is long and narrow, but with a lofty ceiling. It is orna- mented in white and gold, a gay carpet is upon the floor, and there are two hundred red-leather chairs arranged in three rows for the deputies. Galleries are provided for the diplo- matic corps, and at one end is a half-concealed gallery for women. In the center, at one side, are two highly orna- mented chairs of state, surmounted by the arms of Peru. The principal market of Lima is a large, single-story building, occupying an entire block. There is an exterior row of dry-goods and notion shops, kept mostly by Italians, who thus hope to catch the custom of some of the great num- bers of people who have to visit the market. The wooden roof is raised above the walls, thus affording ample light and ventilation. The floor is of asphalt. The stalls are arranged in long rows, with cross-walks. The general appearance is unlike our markets, in that the venders — even the butchers — are nearly all women, and each variety of produce is stored by itself. Fish are kept in rows of large stone tanks, sup- plied with pipes of running water. There seemed to be a LIMA. 57 great profusion of every sort of food, which was sojd at very cheap rates. The vegetables and fruits were especially in- teresting, embracing, as they did, the best-known products of two zones. The National Library is a fine, large building, in the usual quadrangular style, and two stories in height. The librarian, Senor Ricardo Palma, who has quite a foreign as well as local reputation, as a writer on Peruvian traditions, was good enough to show me through the institution. In the large entrance-hall is the best-known example of modern Peruvian art, u The Obsequies of Atahualpa,” by Monteros, a canvas about thirty by twenty feet. This was formerly preserved in the cathedral, and during the late war was taken away to Santiago by the Chilians, but was afterward returned, in good condition, at the request of Senor Palma. The library is entered through handsome large iron gates, and consists of long, communicating rooms — three sides of the quadrangle. The ceiling and book-cases are in plain dark wood, and the books are screened by wire doors. At present there are only about thirty thousand volumes. These are upon all subjects, in all languages, and mostly bound in fine leather. The Chilians robbed this library of many thousands of volumes and rare old manuscripts. One room, however, is still full of manuscripts, and another of valuable old portraits of the viceroys and former presidents. It is the only collection of pictures open to the public in Lima. The library is sup- plied with a commodious reading-room, and Senor Palma’s office is full of excellent and costly paintings. Besides the equestrian statue of General Bolivar, already mentioned, there is another specially attractive work of art, the Column of the 2d of May. It is erected in memory of those Peruvians who fell, though victorious against the Span- iards, in the battle of Callao Bay in 1866. It will be noticed that this monument is named, in the popular French fashion, by mentioning only the day of the month on which the event commemorated took place. In Peru such a plan will scarce- ly create the confusion found in the many holidays of France. 58 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. On the western boundary of the city, beyond the dwellings, in the center of a large plaza near one of the boulevards laid out by the great railway magnate, Henry Meiggs, stands this graceful monument, a fluted shaft of white marble, on a massive granite base, with battle tablets of brown bronze, while above are yellow bronze female figures, typical of war and peace. Still higher are many ornaments in green bronze, and the column is topped by a large gilt figure of Victory, almost exactly like that of the German trophy near the Bran- denburg Gate of Berlin. The entire monument is about sev- enty-five feet in height. The pure white of the marble and the different shades of bronze produce a very pleasing effect. The most splendid public building of Lima is undoubted- ly that styled the 2d of May Hospital. It occupies an entire block, and is certainly one of the largest and best-appointed general hospitals I have seen outside of Europe, save possi- bly that in Bio Janeiro. The original cost was one million dollars. It has seven hundred beds, but at the time of my visit there were but three hundred inmates. Though the diseases treated are naturally very miscellaneous, those of the lungs seem to predominate. The hospital is under the charge of about twenty French Sisters of Mercy, with a Mother Superior. The visiting physicians are all native Pe- ruvians. Entering, through huge bronze gates, beneath an imposing arch of brick and white stucco, I walk upon a mar- ble pavement to a large court-yard, filled, as usual, with flow- ers and plants surrounding a fountain. Directly opposite the entrance is a small chapel with a handsome sculptured pedi- ment and a gracefully swelling dome, under which, by all odds, the most beautiful altar in Lima is to be seen. It is of pure white marble, with gold and silver ornamentation, sev- eral good statues, and a marble railing. Badiating from the great circular garden are twelve huge wards, each named in memory of some saint, and containing a double row of sim- ple iron bedsteads. The floors are of asphalt, and light and air are freely admitted by large windows. At the farther end of these wards, and forming a vast quadrangle exterior Viaduct of Verrugas , Oroya Railroad. LIMA. 59 to the hospital proper, are the offices, the quarters of the at- tendants, the kitchen, laundry, baths, dispensary, operating and dissecting rooms, etc. Everything is of the most per- fect description, the best of its class, and even luxurious in many details. Thus the baths are all of white marble, and so are the laundry-tubs. Everything is scrupulously clean. Between the wards are more gardens, and also before the outer buildings, which are faced by a wide, paved corridor wffiose total length must be nearly a mile. Pipes bring spring- water from the hills, and at high pressure flush the deep stone drains. This splendid hospital is situated at such a distance from the busy part of the city as to have all the benefit of the pure air and quiet of the country. There is a most refreshing moral and curative effect in looking from the open wards upon the beautiful gardens w T ith their sweet- ly singing birds and softly murmuring fountains. One could not often And a better organization for the care of the sick. Health, it would seem, must be rapidly obtained under such pleasant and wholesome conditions. Though the hospital is free, special and private rooms are, as elsewhere, provided for those able and willing to pay a slight price. I was care- fully shown every detail of this vast establishment by one of the Sisters, who also presented me to the Mother Superior, a lady of great intelligence and most engaging manners. There is a railway — the famous Oroya — which runs from Lima over the Andes, a distance of about one hundred miles, reaching a total altitude above sea-level of nearly fifteen thousand feet. Its construction by Henry Meiggs, a number of years ago, involved some of the most difficult engineering problems ever experienced in any country. I naturally wished to inspect this road in its entirety, but, upon presenting a letter of introduction to its superintendent, was informed, to my surprise and disappointment, that but twenty-six miles of the road were in running; order, the remainder being; under the control of the revolutionists, wffio were at that time in force at less than eighty miles’ distance from the capital. Though the rebels were so near, the Government did not even intend 60 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. to make an effort to dislodge them. I said to a native one day, “ If the Government really has only nominal ruling power in the city of Lima, and all the remainder of Peru is in favor of Caceres, why do not the so-called rebels in the north, east, and south combine their forces and march upon the capital, which it would seem they might readily capture, as it contains only five thousand troops ? ” He replied : “ There is no unanimity among the rebels ; they are quarrel- ing among themselves all the time ; they are suspicious of each other ; they can not depend upon their own men in case of an emergency.” And so the country crawled along, with anarchy and prostration of trade on every side. Peru, though for the time nearly ruined by its disastrous war w r ith Chili, still has vast mineral and agricultural wealth ; and its guano, though exhausted in some places, abounds in others. With a good stable government and a united people, it might yet be a prosperous country, but there seems to be too little honor among its public men. Instead of being ambitious to serve their country patriotically, most seem intent only upon robbing her. Instead of endeavoring to keep faith with their creditors, they repudiate the just claims of for- eigners, whom they now owe the immense sum of one hun- dred and sixty million dollars of American money. The party in power strive only to keep there, and to make what money they may while there. The party out of power busy themselves in fomenting the revolutions of which we con- tinually hear, hoping thereby to effect a change of adminis- tration, which shall put them in a position to plunder the people, and thus rapidly enrich themselves and their friends. The details of the late crisis in Peru are too recent for me to rehearse here. They are known to all who read our daily newspapers. The present political and financial outlook for Peru is most grave. The bank bills are — as in Ecuador — engraved by the American Bank-Hote Company, of Hew York. They sim- ply state that the Bepublic of Peru will pay to the bearer so many soles — a sole being there about five cents in Ameri- LIMA . 61 can money. There were also in circulation dollars, and twenty and ten cent pieces, but the paper soles abounded in astonishing quantities, as was necessary, since, with an armful in bulk, you had but little in actual value, for at the time of my visit money was at a depreciation of ninety-five per cent. The large silver dollars of Peru and Chili are heavy and in- convenient, but a pocketful at least represented something. There is a mint in Lima, a well-built, two-story edifice, with the customary interior courts, fountains, and flowers. Na- tive soldiers stand on guard at the doors, as they do at all public institutions in Lima. The mint has facilities for turn- ing out one million dollars a month, but was not then run- ning to the amount of more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per month, and this only in the coinage of silver-dollar pieces. There are no Peruvian gold coins, and the smaller denominations of silver money were largely su- perseded by the paper money in circulation. Nearly all the silver comes from the mines of Cerro Pasco. It arrives at the mint in huge bars, and is remarkably pure. The ma- chinery of the mint embraces both English and American appliances. I w T as shown a collection of silver and copper medals which had been struck there, and I admired the skill and taste of the workmanship. One day I went down to Callao, and then took boat and boarded the Chilian cruiser Esmeralda. I found a finely proportioned war-vessel, which, being more intended for speed and distance than for heavy and close work, was ar- mored only with steel plates three fourths of an inch in thickness. She carried six rifled guns, of six-inch aperture, w T ith the most scientific accessories, and two large guns, fore and aft, for powerful and remote range. These two guns are of ten-inch bore, rifled, and carry a cartridge of four hun- dred and fifty pounds, firing with a certain degree of accu- racy six miles. The officers assured me they could with these shell Lima at a distance of seven miles. As far as modern equipment goes, this vessel had long been regarded as the most perfect war-vessel of its type and tonnage 62 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. in existence. She has justified the praises bestowed upon her, not only by performances on the measured mile, but also by sustained speed in long ocean-voyages. In ^ trip from Valparaiso to Callao, she once traveled fifteen hun- dred .miles in fonr days and seven hours, thus making an average speed of about three hundred and fifty miles per day. Another day I visited the Alameda de los Descalzos, a sort of public promenade on the other side of the Rimac, beginning at a plaza and ending at the church and convent of the Barefooted Friars. The occasion was one on which the latter give away food to the poor, and all Lima was there to witness the spectacle. The promenade consists merely of a long, wide, gravel w T alk, faced by rows of white vases filled with flowers, and furnished with large marble settees, statu- ary, some shrubbery, and poplars. The entrance was quite imposing, with arches of brick and stucco. Every South American town of any size has its alameda. This ‘custom of the friars occurs annually on August 2d, and on this date many of the best people in Lima visit this church to worship on an occasion believed to be especially favorable for remis- sion of sin and admission of salvation. The convent inclos- ure was filled with a motley crowd of mendicants and poor people, who were mostly women. They carried tin cups and basins, and what appeared very like discarded tomato-cans, to be filled with food by the friars. In the* street before the church were the stands of a dozen or so sellers of chicha and other native drinks, fruits, candies, etc. Hacks and tram-cars were continually bringing new arrivals, all clad in their best clothes, and a regular Spanish fete was made out of a simple religious ceremony. The Panteon, or general cemetery of Lima, is situated a short distance beyond the eastern limits of the city. It is not large, and has few trees or flowers, but contains many beautiful monuments, nearly all of them of marble. At the entrance is a chapel, beneath the large dome of which reclines upon a high pedestal a white-marble “dead Christ.” The dOBQi Dmmfim *aea«i IIUDS iioad •Qaom j cad escape! nnn T/ie General Cemetery of Lima. LIMA. 63 greater number by far of tbe dead lie in mural niches, as is the custom in Quito. Many thousands of niches are ar- ranged in long rows of five tiers each, with narrow paths between. A few vaults are seen, and quite a number of monuments, but no graves, no burials directly in the earth, as with us. CHAPTER VIII. GLEV1PSES OF THE PEEUVIAHS. Lima has two public gardens — one especially devoted to botanical collections, and the other to zoology and botany. The latter is situated at the extreme southeastern angle of the city, upon a level plain. It is not large, but contains a splendid assortment of tropical trees, plants, and flowers, with fountains, statues, rockeries, and paths extending in every direction. The whole is surrounded by a high iron fence, with a number of splendid gateways in the style of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Opposite one of these gates is a fine marble statue of u Columbus and the Indian,” elevated upon a granite pedestal. This was set up in 1853, and dedicated to the memory of Columbus, by the Peruvian nation, and is greatly superior to the one at Aspinwall. Prom this point you have a superb view of the Andes on the one hand and of the ocean on the other. In the center of this beautiful and interesting garden stands the Exposition Building, whose name indicates its purpose, a large, square, two-story edifice of brick and stucco, but very elaborately and gracefully decorated. In other parts of the garden, are summer-houses for the President and the director of the exposition, a band- stand, restaurants, belvederes, etc. The pavilion of the Presi- dent is a pretty little octagonal wood and glass fabric. The flower-beds are all sunk a foot or so below the intervening paths, and have tight brick borders, which admit of their be- ing irrigated by a system of canals that permeates the whole garden. This is very necessary, for the plain is hot and dry, and the soil not very rich. The garden was much injured A House Entrance , Lima. GLIMPSES OF TEE PERUVIANS . 65 by the Chilian invaders, and the zoological department had been reduced to a few cages of uninteresting animals, the remainder having been removed to Chili. The Peruvian Government was slowly endeavoring to repair the damages, and set the place once more in order — a -work of considerable difficulty, judging from the dense growth of weeds, and the neglected appearance of the paths. On Sundays and holi- days the best of Lima’s citizens congregate here. On these occasions the appearance of the people in gala attire, the music of a fine military band, and the splendid flowers from every clime, blend in a sensuous panorama that pleases both ear and eye. At this vantage-point the fascinating Lima belles promenade on aj^fe-'day in all their beauty and gayety. The botanical garden par excellence is in the same quarter, near the boulevard made by Henry Meiggs, by razing the old fortifications which once nearly circumvallated the city. The garden fills an entire large square. It contains a really splendid collection of the tropical and semi-tropical flora, but is in a very bad condition, overgrown with weeds, with but few specimens of plants labeled, with sloughy paths, moss-cov- ered greenhouses, and a general air of neglect. A lofty iron fence forms one side, but brown mud walls the others. The dwelling-houses of the wealthy and cultured upper classes of Lima are built upon the same general plan which one finds in all Central and South American countries. The distinguishing features are the flat roof; the inner court, from which the rooms are generally lighted and entered ; and the architectural limitation to one or two stories. The balconies always face the street. If the windows open on the street, they are usually heavily barred, and used more for ventilation in extremely hot weather than for the admis- sion of light. A broad and lofty gateway in the center of the house will conduct you over a marble pavement, with porters’ rooms on each side, to a small court probably fur- nished with huge pots or boxes of flowers, or graceful plants with brilliantly colored leaves, directly to what we should call the front door. This opens immediately into the sitting- 5 66 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . room or family parlor, which is softly illumined from win- dows facing the court you have just crossed. As yon enter, you have a pleasant view across this room to the grand sa- loon and another court, also filled with flowers, and beyond this to the doors of the dining-room. Still farther on are the pantry, kitchen, laundry, and servants’ quarters facing upon yet another and the third court, and reached from the street by a long, private hall quite separate from the remainder of the house. On the side opposite the rooms I have been describing, and extending the entire length of the house, are the smoking-room, library, and the sleeping and private rooms of the family. All these communicate, and when no guests are present are in the daytime kept open from one end of the house to the other. The large number of rooms and the great convenience of their general arrange- ment, first please the eye and awaken the admiration of the stranger. Such a lavish display of space is quite novel to a traveler from the cities of the northern part of the American Continent. The typical house of which I am speaking has but one story, so there is no labor in mounting an indefinite number of staircases, as with us, though of course there must still be some delay in the movements of the servants. Pict- ures, ornaments, and souvenirs of travel are distributed throughout the rooms. The public parlors are a little more lavishly furnished than with us, though one will never find an outrage against what is understood as good taste. .Rich velvet carpets cover the floors. The chandeliers are of sil- ver and crystal, valuable paintings adorn the walls, cabinets of curiosities occupy the corners, huge albums load the tables. A piano of the best make, and generally from hew York, is always present, as are guitars and mandolins. The dinner- table you will find profusely supplied wuth silver and cut- glass, and weighted with game, vegetables, fruits of unique character, and wines of vintages strange to the foreigner, who nevertheless will be anxious to cultivate their acquaint- ance. Ilouse-rent in Lima is very high, and so also is the cost of furnishing a house in modern style, since so many A Lima Belle, GLIMPSES OF THE PERUVIANS 67 tilings have to be imported from distant countries. Serv- ants, however, are good and cheap ; they always do the mar- keting. Coffee is generally taken on rising, at eight ; break- fast is at eleven, and dinner at seven. The business hours of the gentlemen are thus largely confined to the afternoon, and they return home sufficiently early to get thoroughly rested, dress for dinner, and of course take a glass of bitters and smoke a cigarette. You will discover that the adults of the family — the rising generation — have been educated in either New York or Paris, and have traveled extensively in both the United States and Europe, if not also in India and China, and possibly around the world. They will be very likely to speak English and French in addition to their vernacular. The ladies you will find dressed richly and tastefully, in Eu- ropean fashion, if not in the latest of French styles,, They will receive you with a quiet and graceful dignity, combined with bright conversational powers and a display of great amiability. The gentlemen will be sure to try to make you feel at home, give you a good cigar, and ask your opinion of the bewitching senoritccs . In brief, the hospitality one meets in Lima is of a very bountiful and agreeable character, and life in the Peruvian capital is most delightful. While one sees in the streets and other public places of Lima more hags and homely women, both young and old, than in most other cities of the world, yet there are very frequently to be met young girls of the most delicate, re- fined, and ravishing beauty. As with the Quito belles, so with those of Lima, their chief beauty is to be found in their eyes, which are truly wondrous. A whole chapter might be devoted to them. They are uniformly of a coal- like blackness, lambent though soft. They do not flash, but bum with steadfastness, as though their flame would never, never die. It is an adjunct of beauty quite unknown to other nations, and but slightly approached even in southern Spain. Like the aristocratic ladies of Quito, those of Lima have small and beautiful hands and feet. Their carriage is perfect grace, their manner the acme of courtesy and good 68 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. nature. They are, however, born coquettes, quite conscious of their charms, and not unwilling to exact from men the meed of admiration. They are eminently capable of making a crusty old bachelor see the error of his ways, from which- ever hemisphere he may happen to hail. They unflinchingly return your gaze of curiosity or admiration. They will even acknowledge the bow of a susceptible foreigner, but in order to know them one must not only be fortified with introduc- tions of the most irreproachable character, but must also sub- mit to the supervision and constant presence of mother, aunt, married sister, or friend. No such thing is known as a visit to a Lima young lady without the perpetual attendance of one of these, or a duenna — that is, a governess ; and though some of these attendants are not unsusceptible to flattery, they never relax their Cerberusdike guard. A bad custom, to which I must allude, is that of heavily painting and powder- ing the face — a universal ahd by no means improving fashion. The dress usually is somber black, the mantilla being worn only on the head, with a narrow fringe of lace which is drawn down over the forehead to the eyes. If the wearer is not pretty, this lace is apt to be so arranged as to quite conceal the features, thus kindly giving one’s imagination the benefit of a generous doubt. The young ladies have a pretty and noticeable custom of greeting their female friends in the street and elsewhere, by putting their arms around each other, and imprinting a kiss upon each cheek. But I can not set forth all their loveliness and attractiveness in words ; their anatomy, yes ; their psychology, no. So much, then, for the exterior appearance of a Lima belle. In their homes they are not generally good housekeepers, but given to gossip and novel-reading. They smoke cigarettes, but do not usually drink wine. They have natural talents of a high order, and are intelligent if not always deeply educated. They play and sing, embroider, and draw well. They go to mass every morning. In one of the, stores I purchased a fair series of Lima views, inclosed in a good imitation of a silver dollar. This, at one end, with characteristic Peruvian gal- The Fandom 50 of Peru. GLIMPSES OF TEE PERUVIANS \ 69 lantry, is dedicated to the “ Senoritas Limenas.” At the other end it modestly affirms that “ Lima is the qneen of the Pacific, noted for its climate and the beauty of its women.” I feel in duty bound to subscribe to the last statement, but as regards the climate I must withhold such a ready indorse- ment. I saw the sun but once in ten days, and then only for a few hours. The days were damp and raw, the nights misty and drizzly, without any actual rainfall, but with a dew of such density and quantity that the streets for half the day were very muddy and slippery. And just such weather as this, I was informed by an old resident, you will find here for five months of the year, while the remainder will be very hot and dry. Still, the climate, though a most depressing one — at least in winter — is said to be fairly healthy. One day I witnessed one of the religious processions so often to be seen in these zealous Roman Catholic countries. First came priests in white cassocks, ,with candles and other ecclesiastic adjuncts. Their stupid and often sensual coun- tenances topped by the tonsured hair, made an almost un- canny sight. Then came large effigies of saints, reared upon gold and white pedestals, surrounded by flowers and crimson drapery, and borne upon the shoulders of men concealed be- neath them. The figures were gaudily painted in almost everv imaginable color, and were horrid caricatures of un- holy humanity. ISText followed other priests, in robes stiff with gold embroidery. A military band and a detachment of troops closed this procession ; but I soon saw another of like character, following a similar galaxy of wooden saints. The two processions met opposite the government-house, and the saints of the one were made to salaam to those of the other. Then the two processions united and marched off in the direction whence one of them had come. The explanation is, that it was simply a church fete-day (or days, for it lasted during two of them), and that one of the saints was merely observing the social amenities by paying a visit to a brother saint. The former was escorted to the other’s church, and placed near the altar in a prominent position, where he re- 70 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. mained until the following day, when, with a similar public display, he returned home to his own church. Previous to his return the church of Santo Domingo was brilliantly illu- minated in his honor with a thousand candles, and an orches- tra gave very good music, relieved at times by the military band and the singing of a choir of monks and hired pro- fessionals. This church w T as packed with people all day long, and presented a most extraordinary sight to one stand- ing at the doors, the congregation being clad entirely in black, and resembling participants in a very lachrymose fu- neral. In fact, it was rather a jubilation than a requiem. The senoritas were undoubtedly enjoying themselves, and in a city with few public amusements a church fete is a godsend. The music was predominantly of the waltz variety. The adjoining convent and cloisters were thrown open to the public, who availed themselves of the unusual opportunity to inspect a series of paintings which entirely surrounds the wall of the court and consists chiefly of devils, with the con- ventional spike-horns and caudal appendage, and holy men w T ith uplifted eyes and glossy pates, many being supplied with the trade-mark as originally discovered by Mark Twain. All the legends and mythology of the Church are here pictured, and- accompanied* with pious texts, objurgations, and exhor- tations. During the day the bells were kept clanging and banging, to the disgust of all foreigners in the neighborhood, and at night the tower of the church was illuminated. One other similar ceremony I did not witness, but read of it in the Lima newspapers. It occurred at Chorillos, the neighboring fashionable sea-bathing resort. It was to the effect that, on the occasion of the feast of St. Peter, his image, accompanied by a silent and respectful crowd, was embarked and fur- nished with a fishing-line. After sailing twice around the bay, he caught a large fish, and then returned to his pedestal in Chorillos church. And all this not in the dark ages, but in that styled, in the histories of civilization, the era of en- lightenment ! How true it is that theologies are largely mat- ters of imagination, and religions of education ! GLIMPSES OF THE PERUVIAN'S. 71 From a contemplation of these religio-dramatic shows to a consideration of other diversions of the Peruvians is a natural and an easy transition. There were formerly three theatres in Lima. The best of these, a fine, large structure, giving entertainments of a high class, both operatic and dra- matic, was burned a short time before my visit. A smaller and less important one had been sold, and was being torn down to make room for other business. The third, and only remaining one, had been made out of an old circus-building. It is very plain, but has a large parquette, a tier of boxes, and a gallery. It will seat two thousand people, and is gen- erally devoted to the presentation of the light comic operas which all the Latin race love so well. In the northern part of the city, and reached by a fine bridge of stone and iron across the little Pimac, stands the Bull-Ping, a very old but ever-popular institution. The building is two stories in height, is made of mud and bamboo, and will contain ten thousand people. There are two clubs in Lima. One, called the Phoenix, is patronized almost exclusively by foreigners. The other, the Union, is sustained by Peruvians. The Union would be no discredit to London or ISTew York, with its marble entrance, double staircase, its reading, billiard, and card rooms, and large and elegant dining-room, with bronze chandeliers and carved sideboards. In the front of the build- ing, facing upon the Grand Plaza, is a very large ball-room, decorated in white and gold, with frescoed walls and crystal chandeliers. A ball is given once a month during the win- ter. At the request of any of the members, foreigners and visitors are, as with us, given the privileges of these clubs for the period of one month. CHAPTEK IX. RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. On August 8th. I left Lima and Callao for Mollendo, a seaport about five hundred miles to the southward, my in- tention being to travel thence, if possible — for there were bands of revolutionists in the neighborhood — by rail to Are- quipa, the second city of Peru, and the town of Puno on Lake Titicaca, and then over the lake and by coach to La .Paz, the capital of Bolivia. My steamer was the Pizarro, a line, large vessel of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company. There was accommodation for at least two hundred first-class passengers, though we carried not more than thirty. We called first at the town of Pisco, connected by rail with the town of lea in the interior. Ten or twelve miles to our right lay the three Chincha Islands, with their gray bluffs shining in the bright morning sun. Guano has played a very im- portant part in the more modern history of Peru, and enor- mous new deposits have lately been discovered, equal in quality to that of these famous islands. At Pisco we took on board vegetables, fruit, straw baskets, and of course a lot of the long earthenware cylinders full of Pisco wine, a spe- cialty of the place. As in tjie northern part of the Peruvian coast, so several of the southern ports were closed by order of the Lima Government. Thus we made but two stops be- tween Callao and Mollendo, Pisco being one and Tambo de Mora, an insignificant town, the other. We arrived at Mollendo about midday, and our steamer was immediately ordered by a Peruvian man-of-war in the roadstead not to anchor. So I thought that my plan of jour- RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. 73 neying by rail to Lake Titicaca was nipped in the bnd. Bnt it seemed that this order was only for the display of a little authority, for when the captain of the port came on board he told me that I could not only go to Arequipa but also across the continent if I liked. The town of Mollendo shows from the sea as only a small collection of mud and bamboo huts, perched without any regularity of streets upon a rocky bluff. Beyond are the customary sand-hills of the Peruvian coast, without a spear of vegetation of any kind in sight. A tremendous swell rolls into the harbor, and the landing of freight and passengers is always difficult, steam-cranes being employed in raising and lowering both, the passengers fast- ened in chairs. My first visit is to the chief of police ; and to avoid suspicion I find it best to be rated as a mer- chant. For my passport I have to pay a silver dollar. Mol- lendo exists only as the terminus of the railway to Puno and Lake Titicaca. A passenger train is run to Arequipa every other day of the week, returning on the intervening days. At night, sitting upon the broad piazza of the hotel, the roar of the surf, the w T hite flashing of the spray upon the rocks, the darkness of the town and distant ocean, have a romantic effect upon the traveler, tired out with the rolling steamer, and desiring only to be left alone with his impressions of past scenes and his reflections and hopes regarding those to come. I left Mollendo for Arequipa, at half-past seven in the morning. Our train consisted of a very powerful, large locomotive made in Paterson, New Jersey, two baggage- cars, and two passenger-cars for first and second class travel- ers. These cars were made in Troy, New York. The en- gines burn coal, though when the Chilians were in possession of this district the very hard olive-wood of the country had to be substituted. The first-class passengers have to pay eight silver dollars and a government tax of forty cents on their tickets. The baggage must also be paid for at the rate of ten cents for each piece, for which paper receipts are given. The engineers are foreigners, generally North Americans, 74 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. while the conductors, brakemen, and firemen are natives. The road is of the regulation broad gauge. The heaviest grade is four per cent — that is, four feet rise in one hundred feet long, or about two hundred and twelve feet per mile. For the first ten miles it runs close by the sea. It then turns abruptly toward the northeast, and passes over a sandy plain to the station of Tambo, ten miles farther, and at an altitude of one thousand feet above the sea. At Tambo we take on board a large number of passengers, and then move on, stop- ping at two unimportant places, consisting of little more than station-houses, until we halt for breakfast at Cachendo, three thousand two hundred and fifty feet high, and thirty-five miles from Mollendo. At a hotel near the station we get a very palatable breakfast, with good wine, for one dollar and fifty cents. Going on from Cachendo, we pass over an enor- mous sandy plain, in some parts reminding me of the alkali plains of the great American Desert, in others of the Sahara south from Tripoli, with its smooth sand, its scattered stones, and its hillocks. Near the coast there are at least coarse grass and low scrub, but from here until we reach the Dio Chili there is not a particle of vegetation of any kind, not even a scraggy cactus. In ascending the mountains we have to make what in a direct line would not be more than half the distance. In one place the road winds almost entirely around a small mountain, with a very steep grade the entire distance. So steep are the hills that frequently you can look below, a distance of a thousand feet, upon a section of track you have passed over, and upon which it appears as if a stone might easily be thrown. Sometimes we would run along one side of a valley, and then, making an almost complete circle, crawl along the opposite side, always ascending the while ; some- times we would pass in zigzag fashion up the flank of a mountain, with five stretches of the road in view at the same moment ; sometimes we would run at sharp angles, and again in the most sinuous manner imaginable. Upon the steep grades we made but eight miles an hour, but on others twelve to fifteen. Away to our right was a range of green- RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. 75 ish-white hills, whose color one would mistake at a distance for the presence of snow, but which was merely a deposit of pumice and salt. Before us towered the majestic snow- capped extinct volcano of the Misti, directly at whose foot lies the city of Arequipa. A little to the left was a huge cluster of sharp-pinnacled snow-mountains, among them Charchani, nineteen thousand eight hundred feet high ; and still farther away, toward the left, the huge, dome-shaped Coropuna, three thousand feet higher. Coropuna much resembles Chimborazo in its general outline, and is quite as widely and deeply covered with the purest white snow. Charchani, though much darker in color, and with less snow atop, has almost exactly the contour of Cotopaxi. Scattered over the plain were huge dunes of fine white sand accurately and smoothly arranged in crescent shapes, with acute crests, their openings generally to the northeast, whence the prevail- ing winds blow, though the mounds themselves are. produced rather by the whirling eddies hereabouts prevalent. I saw some of these mounds as much as fifty feet long and twenty in height. It is the want of vegetation and their lightness (caused by their being drier than the sand of the coast) which enables these sand-banks to be driven by violent winds rap- idly over the plain. The smaller ones are soon overtaken by the larger, which are shivered in crushing the others. The heat in passing this plain was very oppressive, and the glare from the reflected sun greater than that experienced in any Persian or Nubian desert. The motion of the train raised such a fine, penetrating dust that, notwithstanding the tem- perature, we were obliged to close all the car-windows. To convey an accurate impression of this district in intelligible words seems almost impossible. Whether I consider the vast scale and frightful sterility of the scenery, or the ingenious manner in which puny man has literally bearded savage Nature in her awful fastnesses, I am struck dumb with wonder and curiosity. Even the stolid and ignorant natives seem interested, and crane their necks from the windows over a fearful precipice of gray rock, at whose base roars a deep tor- AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. 76 rent. The excavations from here on are tremendous, and the engineering is marvelous. The grade, besides, is very steep. The locomotive puffs and wheezes, and seems almost too tired to proceed. At Tingo we pass the torrent we had been so long following, and span it upon an iron girder bridge, fifty feet in height, the only bridge upon this division of the road. We now enter the great plain upon which stands the city of Arequipa. It looks very green and fertile, and is in most places carefully cultivated and irrigated by little canals. There are no trees save eucalypti, and but few straggling houses. At half-past four, after a journey of nine hours, we reached the southern outskirts of Arequipa, and drew up in a fine iron station, one hundred and seven miles from Mollendo, and seven thousand five hundred and fifty feet above it. Near the station are the former headquarters of Mr. J. M. Thorndike, a resident now of Lima, but who was once the lessee, contractor, and manager of the three roads of south- ern Peru. I should explain that these roads embrace that from Mollendo to Arequipa, one hundred and seven miles ; that from Arequipa to Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, two hundred and eighteen miles ; and that northward toward Cuzco, to Santa Posa, eighty-two miles. Mr. Thorndike’s late residence is a splendid large, square house, situated in a beautiful garden of flowers, and with an imposing entrance of cut-stone posts and iron railings. The dwelling itself is of dressed stone and wood, with a peaked iron roof and great oval-topped windows. It is of two stories, with lofty ceil- ings, and the upper story has a broad, concrete-paved piazza, not extending beyond the walls of the lower story, but open upon every side, this novel arrangement affording air, light, and a capital view of the whole plain and distant mountains in every direction. On this floor are four large and elegant- ly furnished bedrooms. Below is a splendid parlor as large as a ball-room, and still bearing traces of Chilian unbidden guests, in the shape of bullet-holes in the walls and blood- stains upon the carpet, two Peruvians having been shot in RAILROADING ABOVE THE CLOUDS. 77 this very room. Then there is a billiard room, with a rich table of inlaid woods, a library with a choice collection of books, a reception-room, office, dining-room, other bedrooms, and an elegantly appointed bath-room, the whole being ar- ranged in the commodious and comfortable manner much more peculiar to North than to South America. I was kindly favored, by Mr. Thorndike, with a letter of introduc- tion to his able and courteous superintendent, Mr. V. H. MacCord, who, upon my arrival, at once gave me a hearty welcome to the charming home just described. The grounds of the general railway headquarters embrace about ten acres. Here are a round-house for twenty locomo- tives ; a foundry ; blacksmith’s, carpenter’s, paint, machine, and ear shops ; dwellings for the employes ; and the station build- ing. The shops are capable of making cars, and even loco- motives, and, though the company may know thus exactly the character of all the work done, yet they find it on the whole less expensive to import the locomotives from New Jersey and the cars from New York. The regular passen- ger train from Arequipa to Puno runs but once a week, and takes two days to make this distance ; but, through the court- esy of the superintendent, I was forwarded in one day by his private engine, the accompanying car holding eight persons. The railway-station is about a mile from the. center of the city, with which it is connected by tram-car at irregular inter- vals during the day, and not at all after six o’clock in the evening. I take a walk through the principal streets, which are narrow, and paved with cobble-stones. Along the curb of the pavement are open sluices, the only and very disa- greeable sewerage of the city. The- houses are nearly all of but one story, built of a sandstone obtained in neighboring quarries and brought to town on the backs of donkeys. This stone readily admits of a fine finish and elaborate carving. The former may be seen in the construction of any of the houses, the latter upon the facades of any of the churches. I everywhere saw terrible effects of the great earthquake of 1868, whole streets in ruins, great cracks in churdhes and 78 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . walls. The Arequipa of to-day is mostly built upon the ruins of that of 1868. The cathedral, however, has not been completely destroyed. It is a line, large building with grace- ful columns of quite a Greek appearance, niches, statues, bronze ornaments, and a noble flight of marble steps. In- side are a handsome, carved, wooden pulpit and a large organ. The flooring is marble. Arequipa has fair hotels, a theatre, a newspaper, and a foreigners’ club with good appointments. I left at six the next morning. My companions in the superintendent’s private car were a Bolivian millionaire and his niece, and the secretary of the Bolivian minister at Lima, who were bound, together with myself, for La Paz. There were also the legal counselor of the railway, its chief road- master, and a physician, all bound for Puno. The party had very little baggage, and just comfortably filled the car. Passing a fine iron bridge, sixteen hundred feet in length and sixty-six feet in height, we speed away to the northward, and then wind around the Misti to the eastward, in which general direction the remainder of the journey continues. The road seems immensely full of curves ; but, when one re- members that it was contracted for by the mile, perhaps I mistake. About thirty miles from Arequipa we pass through the only tunnel in this division. It is four hundred feet long, and ninety-five hundred feet above sea-level. Forty miles farther we cross a great bridge made of hollow wrought-iron columns and girders, and very similar, in gen- eral appearance, to the famous Verrugas bridge on the Oroya Bailroad. It is about two hundred feet in height and three hundred feet long. The country through which we pass is without vegetation or inhabitants. The stations, which are some twenty or thirty miles apart, are simply depots for coal and water. There are three hotels upon the road, and at the second of these we stop for breakfast. After this I take a seat in the locomotive and keep it to the end of the journey. Here one has a better opportunity to study the engineering obstacles that have been surmounted, and to get some infor- mation from the engineer, who, in the brief intervals be- RAILROADING ABOVE TEE CLOUDS. 79 tween working the throttle- valve and steam-brake, is willing to talk. It is quite an enervating sensation to continually dash around corners at the rate of forty miles an hour, where you can scarcely see the length of the locomotive ahead. Engines working with a train up the steep inclines generally use one hundred and forty pounds of steam. Our average was one hundred and twenty pounds, and with, this we made, over some long stretches of plain near Puno, nearly sixty miles an hour. A beautiful snowy range was now ahead, one of the peaks sending high aloft a graceful curve of smoke. This was the volcano Ubinas. On the plains we passed many herds of llamas, alpacas, and occasionally a few of the wild vicunas. The latter are always a reddish color, while the oth- ers are of various hues, though brown, black, and white seem to predominate. They are all ruminating animals, and have long, woolly hair. Sheep also we saw, and a few rough-look- ing cattle. As we neared the lakes, wild fowd became abun- dant. There seemed to be absolutely no inhabitants between Arequipa and Puno, save the herdsmen, the station-hands, and the occupants of a small village near Titicaca. How they get food I do not know, for the plains were all of sand and volcanic rocks, covered with pumice and saline incrusta- tions. The mirage was constantly giving us large lakes, where we knew only calcined soil existed. On the whole, neither the scenery nor the engineering feats made this sec- tion of the road so interesting as that between Mollendo and Arequipa. The part of that division which makes the final ascent and passage of the mountains, built entirely under the very skillful survey and management of Mr. Thorndike, I have never in any land seen surpassed for interest. The counselor — our fellow-passenger — has a large grain and cat- tle estate near Puno, and there we were courteously invited to stop and partake of an off-hand lunch. We were all suf- fering more or less from the rarefaction of the air, but a lit- tle walk and a glass of wine proved a rapid restorer. The entire front of the counselor’s farm-house was ornamented with a row of stuffed yellow foxes, with a superb pair of 80 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . condors over the entrance. To ns the effect was very funny, but the destruction of grain by the foxes was not nearly so funny to our host. As we proceeded, we passed between two of the highest lakes in South America — Saracocha, thir- teen thousand six hundred feet, and Cachipuscana, thirteen thousand five hundred and eighty-five feet, above the sea. These are small but very deep lakes. I did not notice any native craft upon them. The highest point on the railroad — fourteen thousand six hundred and sixty- six feet — is about half-way between Arequipa and Puno. Silver Head from an Inca Cemetery. CHAPTER X. THE ACME OF STEAMER NAVIGATION. Puno is a small town lying in a semicircular valley, witli a very prominent and imposing cathedral, but there is noth- ing else to detain the traveler. Puno and Cuzco, the old Inca capital, two hundred and seven miles distant, are being connected by railway, and eighty-two miles have now been built and are in running order. Mr. Thorndike showed me in Lima a rare and interesting curiosity taken from one of the old Huacas del Inca, or Incarial cemeteries, near Cuzco. It was a solid, pure silver statuette— a human head and bust — eight inches in height, and weighing eleven pounds. The head was decidedly Homeric in aspect, but wore a sort of Persian cap, surmounted by a large, radiating sun. The molding and carving of the sun in such a position would ap- pear to indicate a Persian origin, and thus again support the theory of trans-Paciiic migration. These facts were called to mind by hearing that a limited liability company has re- cently been formed at Mollendo, with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, curiously called the “Anonymous Company for Exploration of the Inca Sepulchres,” with the object of searching for antiquities and valuables in the old burial- grounds in the district of Cuzco, a concession having been granted to the company by the Government for this purpose. There is no doubt that many valuable curiosities, and prob- ably deposits of gold and silver, exist in these ancient tombs, but it remains to be seen whether they will repay the cost and trouble of finding. At the end of a long pier on which the cars run, lay one 6 82 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. of the two little iron steamers, of some seventy-five tons burden each, which at present traverse Lake Titicaca. Near it, and in striking contrast, were the simple rush canoes of the natives. This part of the lake is so shallow that the steamers, though drawing only six feet of water, can hut partially load here, and have to complete their cargoes about two miles from shore, at a spot reached by a canal which, owing to the shifting sands, it is hard to keep open. A steam-launch takes us on board, and on the way we pass a small island, on top of which I notice a large stone pillar. This is erected over the remains of the well-known natural- ist, explorer, and author, James Orton, who died in Puno, of consumption, w T hile setting forth to explore Bolivia, after having twice crossed the continent from ocean to ocean. The captain of my steamer, the Yavari, though a native, spoke English. The engineer w T as an Englishman, who had been in these countries nearly thirty years. The steamer had four state-rooms, two for the ladies, with four berths in each, and two for the gentlemen, with one berth in each. The majority of the male passengers were obliged, therefore, to sleep on the benches of the saloon. Erom Puno to Chili- laya, in Bolivia, the port of disembarkation for La Paz, the distance is one hundred and twenty miles, and the cabin fare is sixteen dollars. I found the steamer quite full of people, there being a church fair, to which most of them were bound, at Copacabana, a town on a peninsula, in the southern part of the lake. Our freight was chiefly lumber, though I saw two piano-boxes labeled La Paz. Lake Titicaca is the highest lake in the world navigated by steam-vessels. It is nearly thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, is seven hundred feet deep, and covers an area of four thousand square miles, a little more than half the size of Lake Ontario. The water is a very dark green in color. We left the anchorage in a blinding snow-storm. The lake was remarkably smooth during our passage, but I am told it is often rough, though never preventing the regu- lar trips of the steamers. The only stop we made was at Copacabana , Lake Titicaca. THE ACME OF STEAMER HAVIGATIOK 83 Copacabana, in Bolivia, which republic claims one half of Titicaca and its peninsulas and islands. The town itself con- sists of mud huts with straw roofs, but at one side is a fine large brick church, wfith ingenious tile ornamentation upon its towers. This church is a sort of Bolivian Lourdes, a sacred shrine containing an especially Immaculate Lady, to whom, at certain seasons of the year, vast throngs of natives make pilgrimages. We pass through a narrow strait which sepa- rates the northern from the southern parts of the lake : in the former, land is often out of sight ; in the latter, never. The nearer hills are always brown as to color, and barren as to vegetation. On the east, towers the great snowy range of the Andes. This extends from north to south as far as we can see, nearly one hundred miles, and is about thirty miles distant from the lake. It contains the magnificent peaks of Illampu or Sorata, Iiuani Potosi, Illimani, and others, none of which are less than fifteen thousand, while Illampu is nearly twenty-five thousand feet in height, and the highest mountain in South America. A smaller peak immediately to the north is the exact fac-simile of the famous Swiss Mat- terhorn. In Ecuador the Andean giants are, as we have seen, solitary points, and many miles apart, with compara- tively low lands between ; but here there is a range exactly like the Himalayas as to elevation and extension. It must be especially remembered that, although our view is from the dark surface of the smooth water, and that but a low range of brown hills intervenes, yet the position from which we look is more than two miles above the level of the sea. These mountains are very rugged and precipitous, with many acute ridges and deep valleys. This majestic Cordillera of the Andes is one of the most imposing spectacles that I beheld in all South America. And I am not sure that Illampu, in its massive, sharp-tipped summit, does not sur- pass in grandeur and beauty the world-famous Chimborazo. Think, too, of the splendid coloring of the picture it was my privilege to enjoy : first, the dark green of the lake, then the brown of the hillocks, next the purple of the hills, afterward 84 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . the black and gray of the mountains, and finally the glisten- ing white of the peaked, serrated summits, with a few fleecy clouds and the purest blue firmament above ! I go no fur- ther, or I must rhapsodize. But, though I traversed a score of worlds, I can never forget the view of the great snowy Andes east of Lake Titicaca. It is embalmed forever in mem- ory, along with that other miraculous sight — the highest peaks of the Himalayas, the loftiest of the globe, as seen from Darjeeling, the English health-station, four hundred miles due north from Calcutta, British India. In the afternoon we anchored near the port of Chililaya. Here are the custom-houses, a few mud huts, and two hotels. Above the custom-house was flying an enormous Bolivian flag — red, yellow, and green, in three horizontal stripes. The best hotel is “ Grand ” in title only, since it is but a quad- rangle of mud walls with tile roof. It contains a wretched billiard-table and a small bar, at which French brandy and “ cocktails” generally are dispensed. The servants of the house are pure Indians, and, of course, monumentally stupid. The country round about is literally a howling wilderness, for the wind blows fiercely, beginning at four in the after- noon and lasting until midnight, whirling the sand of the plains in clouds of penetrating dust. The coaches from La Paz must arrive to meet our steamer on its return voyage, and so the hotel was greatly crowded. Seven in the morn- ing was the hour set for our departure for the capital, forty- two miles distant. It required two coaches and a large wagon to carry all the passengers and their baggage on to La Paz. The coach on top of which I rode was a heavy vehicle of the American “Concord” pattern. It was drawn by eight horses, while each of the other teams had the same number of mules. The road was good, and we changed animals twice. At one of the stations we obtained a substantial breakfast. On leaving the lake we entered at once upon a vast level plain, in which maize appeared to be most cultivated, though the soil was very poor, a coarse sort of gravel. There were a number of THE ACME OF STEAMER NAVIGATION \ 85 huts scattered about, but no distinct villages, save one only, and this quite a town, about half -way between Chililaya and La Paz. The huts were made of mud bricks, and surrounded by low mud walls. They were not more than six feet in height from the ground to the top of the peaked straw thatch. There was only one opening, a diminutive door, excepting in some rare cases, where a small hole on one side allowed the escape of smoke. About many of the huts, and especially those at the stations, were stacks of coarse yellow straw, which is fed to mules and donkeys. The plain is a vast table-land, covered with gravel, stones, and lava-like substances. It produces only coarse grass. Hot a tree or bush of any description was in sight. Though for a few square miles the land had been partially cleared of its stones, w T hich w r ere piled up in great heaps at regular intervals, cul- tivation was scarcely attempted. We passed a good many flocks of sheep, and many of the red and black spotted cattle, such as one sees in the neighborhood of Quito. In the far distance, to the southwest, the plain was bounded by a range of low brown hills, while to the east we had, during the whole day, a mountain view to which all the appropriate adjectives in the dictionary could not do full justice. As we rode on, the sun beat upon us with intense fervor, and the dust rose so thickly from the arid plain that we could not see the lead- ing horses. We met only a few horsemen and a few loaded donkeys until, in the immediate vicinity of La Paz, many roads converged, and numbers of Indians trudged along, driv- ing their loaded beasts before them. Of course, I inferred the proximity of the capital from the increasing number of travelers, but I certainly was not prepared for my first view of it. The table-land seemed all at once to come to an end, and to fall abruptly away to the depth of some twelve or fifteen hundred feet directly in front of us. We suddenly halted, and alighting, walked a few steps ahead to the edge of the plain, when at once appeared one of the most extraor- dinary spectacles I ever remember having encountered. If there might possibly be a doubt about the advisability of 86 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. coming all the way from [New York to see the grand mount- ains above described, I feel sure that, if to them were added this astonishing vision of La Paz, the traveler would indeed be more than repaid. The plain fell away, as I have said, in a sudden descent, and then spread out into a valley, snugly ensconced in one corner of which lay the city of La Paz, capital of the Repub- lic of Bolivia. To the northwest the valley closed with views of Huani Potosi, peeping above its edge. To the east were great brown rocky hills, and to the southeast were others streaked with a red metallurgic rock of iron and cinnabar, still others being of a greenish clay deeply furrowed by the floods, which fall during the rainy season. Directly above them loomed the grand form of Illimani, to the height of 21,155 feet. To the west was a splendid zigzag road, which we were to descend to the city. The valley in which lies La Paz is about three miles in width and ten miles long. One might imagine the situation of this capital as upon the slope of one of the lofty Andean chain, but never as tightly fitted into the bottom of a steep-sided valley twelve thousand feet above the sea. As we took our view before descending to the bottom of this declivity, we could see before us only a few green fields and a few covered with yellow grain, but the soil seemed quite as barren as that of the great plain over which we had been riding. In the Grand Plaza I could plainly see the parade of some soldiers. I looked as long as our coachman would allow me at the extraordinary sight — a quaint little city hidden away from the rest of the world in the bosom of giant and somber mountains. The native passengers did not, however, share my enthusiasm, and the postilions having shortened the pole-straps and breeching, we began the descent at what seemed to me a very break-neck pace. After half an hour of zigzagging and winding, we reached the city level, and, rattling through its narrow streets, at length drew rein in a small square at the office of the coach company. The square was crowded with Aymara Indians in holiday attire, a fiesta, one of the very many church feasts being in TEE ACME OF STEAMER NAVIGATION. 87 progress. A few foreigners, mostly Germans, were awaiting the arrival of the coach, as was also the only American then in the city, Hon. Richard Gibbs, minister from the United States, to whom I bore letters of introduction. Pie received me with great cordiality, and made me his debtor for my after acquaintance with the capital and with the Aymaras. The balconies bf the neighboring houses were filled with smartly dressed, houri-eyed senoritas , who seemed to be as heartily en joying the fiesta as children with ns do the circus. As the Bolivian Congress was about to assemble, I found the principal hotels crowded. So strong is the native passion for gambling, that even at the best hotel in the city the sport was going on at both ends of the front corridor. It consisted in throwing from a distance small pieces of iron, something like qnoits, into the top of a box, where, hitting different objects, they would drop into corresponding holes, each marked with figures denoting gain or loss. These games were mostly patronized by crowds of young men in silk hats and black frock-coats. After some difficulty, I succeeded in getting fair accommodation at the “ Grand Hotel,” kept by a Frenchman. I had a good dinner of dishes and wine peculiar to the country, and then sallied forth to the Grand Plaza, w 7 here, from eight to nine on two evenings of the week, three mili- tary bands in turn discoursed waltz and other lively music in a very creditable manner. All the fashionable world was out, it being “good form” to promenade around the square on the sidewalks running in corridors through the stores, or to sit upon the brick-and-stucco settees placed at convenient distances against the walls. The costume of the ladies and gentlemen was that of Paris, save that usually no bonnets were worn by the ladies, and instead thereof the well-known and graceful mantilla received great favor. The conspirator style of cloak, seen to perfection in the ojpera-bouffe “La Fille de Madame Angot,” was also out in force. Of course, all the gentlemen smoked. I strolled about the square, greatly relishing the scenes and sounds of life and gayety, 88 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . the Southern Cross burning brightly above me, the Great Bear almost sunk below the horizon. The Grand Plaza has the conventional fountain and garden, and is paved with small round stones in ornamental patterns of black and white. The fountain is surmounted with a stone Neptune, with his trident, and six stone seals spout fresh water on him from the corners. On the eastern side of the plaza is the Hall of Deputies, a not imposing building, but with a lofty tower having a four-faced clock. Next this is an arcade, with stores below and residences above. The northern and west- ern sides are lined with stores and cafes, while the southern side shows the fine, three-storied balconied building of gov- ernment offices, and the very handsome facade of what was to have been the cathedral, but which, for want of money or through abundance of revolution, or both, never reached higher than the first story. This is in quite a Grecian order of architecture, and the stone cutting and carving are in a fine style. It is a great pity that this cathedral could not be completed, for if the present design and treatment were car- ried out it would be one of the finest buildings in South America. On concluding the open-air concert the bands formed in company front, and, playing the national anthem, marched off in dashing style to their respective barracks, accompanied by a score or so of soldiers who had been hold- ing paper-lanterns and turning the music-sheets for the per- formers. There are at present thirty-five hundred troops in La Paz, this constituting the greater part of the Bolivian army. The officers in gay uniform, of a decidedly French pattern, are seen everywhere in the streets, restaurants, and cafes . The troops also are frequently encountered marching about the city, apparently being kept in constant exercise and thorough discipline. When the bands left, the populace did likewise, and ten minutes afterward the plaza was de- serted. CHAPTER XI. LA PAZ — THE QUAINT. The Spanish words, La Paz, signify u peace,’ 5 and as applied to the Bolivian capital are a ridiculous misnomer ; for revolutions are quite as frequent in this as in the neigh- boring Republic of Peru. La Paz is 12,226 feet above the sea-level. Potosi, Bolivia, is a thousand feet higher, and a town in Peru, Pasco, nearly two thousand feet higher, and the most elevated in South America. The highest inhabited place in the world is, I believe, in Thibet, at an altitude of 15,117 feet — almost that of the summit of Mont Blanc, the loftiest mountain in Europe. La Paz has a population of seventy-five thousand. An extensive view of the city, the valley in which it lies, and the hills and mountains by which it is surrounded, may be had from a bluff a short distance to the eastward. The morning was bright and cool, and the air deliciously fresh and limpid, as I walked through streets lined with the dull walls of mud huts to the extremity of habitation, whence a stiff climb of fifteen minutes took me to the top of the gravelly bluff, a sort of spur jutting out into the valley and commanding a clear prospect in every direction. This valley I have already described in general terms, but now I saw, opening into it on the south, another valley of very different appearance, for it was irrigated and carefully cultivated. At the time of the founding of La Paz it was at first intended to lay it out in this altogether superior situation, but some pope or other, being appealed to, and knowing nothing concerning the topography of this sec- tion of Bolivia, decided upon the present strange site. This 90 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. is very unfortunate, for there is scarcely an entirely level block in it, nor are the streets in general laid out at right angles. Very many houses are three stories in height at one end, and two, or even one, at the other. The city is inter- sected by a small river — though with a big name, Rio Grande — and by many small brooks, all crossed by stone bridges. In the walls protecting .the sides of the bridges are small openings, through which garbage and refuse are thrown. The general sewerage of the city was formerly in open drains in the center of the streets, but these have since been sunk below the surface. From the height to which I had climbed there is a very good view not only of Illimani, but also of the rugged sub-hills whose peculiar form and rich coloring would be the delight of an artist. In the rainy season such torrents fall as to deeply bare and furrow their sides, and thus disclose various ores whose tints differ won- derfully with the shifting lights and shadows of the changing sun. From La Paz runs a good stage-road to Oruro, a city about a hundred and fifty miles to the southeast. The other cities of the interior, such as Cochabamba, Potosi, and Sucre, are connected at present only by mule-trails. Over the grand mountain-range lies the rich district of Yungas, plains watered by numerous tributaries of the great Madeira River, which flows in a northeast direction and empties into the Amazon. On the eastern slopes of Illimani all the vegetable and fruit productions* of the tropics are raised ; they are taken thence to the market of La Paz. The Bolivian capi- tal covers about two miles of ground in one direction, and a mile in the opposite. It is built mostly of mud and tiles, and a large proportion of the houses are tw T o stories in height. The streets are lighted by kerosene-lamps placed in iron brackets projecting from the walls of the houses, as at Quito. Ro sidewalks, properly so called, are found, each side of the cobble-stone pavement having only a narrow flatnrinc? on the same level as the street. There is not a chimney in La Paz, for, though in winter the cold is fre- quently severe, the people know no method of warming LA PAZ- THE QUAINT. 91 their houses. Fires necessary for cooking are built against a wall quite out-of-doors, except for a flimsy sort of roof. Wood is so scarce and expensive in suck a treeless region, that llama-dung is everywhere used for fuel. This naturally gives out an offensive and penetrating odor in burning, and the neighborhood of the kitchen is always to be avoided by the stranger in search of. lodgings. The Alameda lies at the extreme southeastern end of the city. Here are four parallel rows of trees, plants, and flow- ers, all apparently longing for water and a more congenial soil. Among the trees I noticed willows and eucalypti, the peach and the apple. A great variety of common English flowers spread their bloom. There are three lanes for prom- enaders and two for equestrians. At intervals along the cen- ter are small railed plots with stone columns as bases, for the statues of famous natives, though none are at present occu- pied, a satire which Bolivians should feel privileged to resent. But, if the pedestals were full, a change of statues might pos- sibly ensue. In fact, it would be a good plan generally, throughout South America, to erect all statues with the heads merely screwed on, so that they might be quickly and easily changed with changing dictators. In one place is a huge monolith of a hard, dark stone not found anywhere in the neighborhood of La Paz. It is about three feet square, and is fashioned as the head of an old Inca, with a head-dress of feathers ornamented with flgures of monsters. It reminded me at once of the statues I had seen in the interior of Yuca- tan. In the center of the middle path is a really splendid fountain of transparent yellow alabaster, which was presented to the city some years ago by a wealthy citizen. At the extreme end of the Alameda is a great summer-house, the walls of which are painted with landscapes vividly recalling the gardens of Versailles. The streets of La Paz, although not crowded, are always bustling with people. The Grand Plaza is the general meet- ing-ground for the upper classes. Here they promenade up and down, or stand talking in groups at the corners. Officers 92 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. dressed in brilliant uniforms — enormous gilt epaulets and sword, a blue coat, and red trousers with a stripe of gold-lace two inches in width — frequently pass. One imagines, from their very gaudy appearance, that none can be below the rank of major-general. As a striking contrast, in the narrow streets one often meets troops of laden llamas or donkeys, driven by muleteers wearing multi-colored ponchos and hempen sandals. But, perhaps, for a general view T of all classes of the populace, there is no better place to visit than the market. That of La Paz occupies an entire square. The building is simply a series of roofed galleries, open at the sides, and running at right angles to each other. The stalls are rented by the month, and all around the market, sitting with their goods displayed before them on the street, are those venders, who pay merely nominal sums for thus carry- ing on their business. Nearly all the people employed in the market are women. A few men are engaged in the task of cutting up the huge carcasses of various animals. Only one species of fish was on sale, the small though excellent product of Titicaca. Many ducks are to be had from the neighborhood of this lake, but the natives have no method of capturing them, and such as one finds in private houses are always shot by foreign sportsmen. The display of vegetables and fruit was grand, products of both temperate and tropical zones lying side by side. I might give a long list of these, but as a greater part of* them are quite unknown, at least by experience, to dwellers in northern latitudes, it would convey little meaning ; and to give a detailed description would belong rather to a botanical work than such a book as the present. Besides the vegetable and fruit exhibit, there were all sorts of native-made and native-worn clothes, from ponchos and broad-brim hats to sandals and short trousers. Hardware and earthen w T are stalls vied with each other, and great tables of such general knickknacks as are called in North America “ Yankee notions,” displayed bewildering miscellanies. I observed in one place a great heap of such horns, herbs, and roots as are used by the native medicine- LA PA Z— THE QUAINT. 93 men in their cabalistic practice. Some of these shrewd, un- scrupulous fellows obtain a great notoriety, and travel from end to end of the country. There were also to be seen immense piles of dry-goods, nearly all of bright colors, the products of native looms, and rolls of a coarse strong sort of clotb worn by the poorer classes. In addition, women mer- chants dealt in skins of all kinds, the beatiful soft vicuna skins always especially attracting my attention. Stalls teemed with a variety of beautiful flowers, huge bunches of them at merely nominal prices. Women selling flowers may also be frequently seen at odd corners of the city. The for- eigners contract with them for so many bouquets per week, and thus you see parlor-tables always adorned with a luxu- rious profusion, prominent among them being that beautiful flower called the “ Inca’s favorite,” a sort of crimson bell- sbaped blossom, similar to our morning-glory, though more slender. Sunday is the especially great market-day, and then the variety and quantity of produce and goods are about doubled. The living at the best hotels in La Paz is good and cheap. The cooking inclines to the French style. The lodging-rooms are perhaps not all that could be desired, but the board is very satisfactory. The equivalent in United States money of the Bolivian currency which I had to pay was only one dollar and thirty -five cents per day. A good club graces the capital, with all customary conveniences such as parlors, billiard, card, wine, and diningrooms, where most of the foreigners board, though lodging elsewhere. While in La Paz I had the pleasure of making the ac- quaintance of Senor Manuel Yicente Ballivian, a worthy representative of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of Bolivia. Two presidents and a field-marshal have already been chosen from this family, while the father of my friend was the author of a very valuable collection of docu- ments, entitled “ Bolivian Archives,” and a brother is Presi- dent of the National Bank. A handsome street in the center of the city is styled the 66 Calle de Ballivian.” On visiting Senor Ballivian’s house, I was very much surprised to find 94 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. in his fine library a catalogue, printed in Chili, of thirty-five hundred titles of books and pamphlets in all languages ex- clusively devoted to Bolivia. I had hardly supposed there were so many upon all South America. And Bolivia is a country of which great parts are still imperfectly known, and of much of which accurate surveys have never been made. Senor Ballivian kindly accompanied me one evening to the theatre, an unimposing structure, both inside and out, though comfortable, and perhaps well enough adapted to the needs of a city where, singularly enough, the drama is not very popular. Location is selected N from a large board dia- gram, which is hung conspicuously in the ticket-office. You observe and mention the number of the seat desired, and a programme, rolled in the form of a pin, is removed from this number in the diagram and handed to you. I found the theatre contained a parquette and three tiers of small boxes. The orchestra numbered but eight, the leader adding the oc- casional manipulation of a piano to the conventional duty of conducting. The auditorium was lighted by kerosene-lamps, a row of which, with chimneys a foot and a half high, and backed by a standing board to protect from excessive draught, served as foot-lights. The draught-preventer would have been more acceptable had it not rendered invisible the lower third of the performers. The theatre would seat about fifteen hundred people. The scenery and costumes were good. The music, however, was for the most part very bad, and it was the comic opera of “ Barba Azul,” Offenbach’s “ Blue- beard,” that was attempted. Between the second and third acts the leader of the orchestra gave, upon the violin, on the stage, a melange of airs from “ Traviata,” and in a very ordi- nary fashion, but he was much applauded by the audience. When this virtuoso was about half-way through, two natives went upon the stage to present him with some wreaths. They stood before him until they finally perceived that he neither proposed to stop in order to be decorated, nor would have been able to continue had he taken the wreaths in his hands. This spectacle “ brought down ” the house. The LA PAZ— TEE QUAINT. 95 two lower tiers of boxes contained many ladies in gay dresses, without hats, bare-armed, but not bare-necked. The gentlemen accompanying them were not in evening dress, but in long frock-coats and black kid gloves. The upper tier of boxes corresponded to our gallery, and was packed with a similar element, with their hats on. The scale of prices was : Boxes on the first tier, seven dollars and seventy-five cents ; those on the second tier, four dollars and a half ; the orches- tra stalls, one dollar ; general admission, sixty-five cents ; and “ paradise,” thirty cents. The opera company came origi- nally from Chili, and had been in La Paz two years. During nearly half the year, from two to four performances a week are given. The matinee is as yet an unknown institution. I might say, in brief, of the performance which I witnessed, that there was but one good artist in the entire company, and that was the prima donna, who was very droll, and with her grimaces, ogling, and sprightliness, constantly recalled the delightful Aimee of many melodious nights in Paris and New York. The opera did not conclude until one in the morning. Between the acts there was, as with us, some visiting in the boxes, but most of the gentlemen retired to the wine-room to drink small glasses of strong spirits and smoke mild cigarettes. La Paz is well supplied with newspapers, there being eight sold in the capital, though not one of these is a daily. One of them, however, appears five days in the week, or every day excepting Sunday and Monday. The others leave the press spasmodically — once, twice, or three times a week, or even bimonthly. Nor is there any regular hour of the day for publication, even with the ones which I have par- ticularized. These newspapers are all organs of some party or other, as the Conservative, the Liberal, the Church, or the Masonic. They are printed with fine, clear type, on good paper, and are in every respect like the average French jour- nal, containing brief telegrams from all over the world, pomp- ous editorials, local gossip, and a feuilleton, or serial novelette, served in brief installments. Supplements, of a single narrow 96 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. column, are occasionally annexed. The price of these news- papers is very high, a single copy sometimes costing twenty cents. One generally subscribes for them by the year. There is no sale in the streets by boys, nor can you find the papers at the book-stores or stationers. You must go or send direct to the printing-office. From here they are delivered to regu- lar subscribers by carriers ; you never receive them through the post-office. There is only one chartered bank in Bolivia — the Banco Nacional, or National Bank, with branches in the cities of Cochabamba and Potosi. The banking-house in La Paz is a fine structure, of cut brown-stone below and brick and stucco above, situated on a corner near the Grand Plaza. The notes of the National Bank, at the time of my visit, were worth but sixty -five cents on the dollar, as the country was still suffering from the effects of the war with Chili. This bank pays four per cent on deposits of over six months’ time, and two per cent on open accounts. A great part of the business or commerce of this country is done through foreign houses. The imports, with few exceptions, are by Germans. I believe that there are in Bolivia no English or American firms engaged in foreign trade, by either export or import. American newspapers have had very much to say about the South American trade and our small share of it ; but, so long as our merchants sit quietly at home and wait for the business to go to them, there will be no commerce with these countries. It is very different with the Germans, who go there either taking much capital or being supplied with it by large houses in Europe. Well conversant, generally, with the English and Spanish languages, they go to work, locate themselves fairly in the country, and in a few years build up a large trade. The Bolivians and other South Americans do not send to the United States for merchandise, which might there be obtained superior to that which is got as cheaply elsewhere, for the South Americans are bound by many in- terests to send to Europe for their goods, for which, as a matter of course, they pay in products of the country. The LA PLAZ—THE QUAINT. 97 principal export of Bolivia is silver, on whicli the Govern- ment collects a revenue of ten cents per ounce. The present product of the silver-mines of the country is twenty million ounces. The famous mines of Potosi, after being worked for two hundred and fifty years, are still fertile. The Huanchaca mines, in a southwesterly direction from Potosi, are now the most productive, and recent discoveries there show enormous riches. V CHAPTER XII. VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. I drove one morning down the valley, about three miles, to a small village which is a sort of summer resort for the citizens of La Paz. The road was very steep and rough. There were but two or three carriages in the capital, and my vehicle seemed to frighten all the animals I passed. One scared mule was knocked down and run over. At times the road passed between long lines of rose-bushes, strawberry- beds, pear-trees in blossom, weeping- willows, and parched- looking eucalypti. Again, it was bordered only by plain stone walls, topped with living cacti, which the poacher, having once grasped, would probably very suddenly relin- quish. As I went on, vegetation seemed more profuse. Several neat farm-houses, commanding splendid views of the sublime Illimani, dotted the valley here and there. The formation of the clayey hills reminded me strongly of those in Colorado, whose slopes the weather has worn into fantastic arches, pillars, and pyramids. The Bolivian mountains are so acute, both ridge and pinnacle, that frequently the daring climber is stopped, and has to retrace his steps, or extend them for miles in circuitous progress. I crossed an old Spanish bridge over the almost dry bed of what must be at times a tierce torrent. The topography everywhere spoke of very violent rains, and here, as in Ecuador, it is next to impossible to travel during the rainy season. In the village, which I soon reached, there is a little park full of trees and flowers. Here also one sees two bronze busts of those mem- bers of the Ballivian family who in turn occupied the presi 7 VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 99 dential chair. Above each statue is a curious little iron roof, placed as a protection against the weather. The road extends but a short distance beyond this park, being succeeded by that national highway of Bolivia, and all the other countries of South America, the mule-trail. It was on the third day of the Indian carnival that I visited a plaza in the northern part of the city, where was an inn in which the headquarters of the fiesta were temporarily located. The npper corridor of the inn was crowded with people looking at the extraordinary antics of others in the court-yard below. These were dressed in very gay colors, and many of them were in grotesque costumes, with masks representing the heads of animals. Some wore enormous circular head-dresses of ostrich-feathers, others had their faces painted like those of circus clowns. No matter how much civilized finery the women had on, their feet were pretty sure in every instance to be bare, while those of the men were shod with thin leather sandals. There was much music of drums, guitars, and bamboo flutes. There was also much dancing and guttural singing, a crowd always forming around especially able performers. The native music was plaintive and wild ; the dances consisted mostly of posturing, varied by brief but lively jigs. But all, men and women alike, were more under the influence of liquor than of enthusiasm. Fre- quently they were so intoxicated that their friends had to carry them, and occasionally, in a secluded corner, was a man stretched out “ dead ” drunk. Such cases, however, attracted no attention from the others, who conducted themselves in the most whimsical manner. Many drunken women spun round and round, and waved their hands above their heads, their heavy skirts standing out like those of the whirling dervishes of Cairo. In the plaza were scores of women selling fruits and native drinks. The liquors were contained in large pitchers (with rows of huge tumblers before them), filled with a native brewed beer, made of pineapple-rinds and molasses. Here also were many gambling-tables, where counters were placed upon certain pictures or numbers, and 100 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. dice shaken in huge tin cans told the good or had luck of the players, as well as the amounts lost or won. All of the tables were surrounded by crowds of eager gamblers and spectators. All was fun and gayety. These Indians never fight when in their cups, as do the members of most nation- alities. Women could be seen dancing by themselves, others walking hand in hand, or affectionately embracing each other, but all most blissfully drunk. The musicians and dancers would form in procession and march about the square, halt- ing frequently for one of their extraordinary dances, and then march on again. The throngs of natives moving in every direction, with garments of every bright hue, backed by the brown or white of the mud houses, made a very pict- uresque scene. Another day I witnessed one of the closing acts of the fiesta. It was near the gate of the Alameda, and the dra- matis personae were drunken men, the audience consisting of a great circle of approving yet equally as drunken women. Some of the mien were dressed in fine skins of the vicuna and leopard, with caps full of vari -colored feathers; others wore a sort of cloth coat, with ludicrous masks, human and animal ; and still others wore white shirts and gaudily orna- mented hats. All played upon drums, or bamboo flutes, or reed harmonicas. Promiscuous circular dances and the pas sent were in lively progress, and occasionally drunken women would break in upon the men, and pirouette together, for- ward and back, arm over arm, around and around, with an occasional fall and recovery, which disconcerted no one. The faces of those who did not wear masks looked either stolid or silly. You were reminded of a lot of children at play, with- out aim or plan. Some pathetic scenes occurred. One young woman was fearfully drunk. Her mother on one side, her little daughter on the other, tried to keep her on her feet. And to the back of the daughter, herself a mere tot scarcely three feet in height, was strapped a tiny baby. Their friends either looked on and laughed, or else did not think the situa- tion of sufficient moment for even a passing notice. It was VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 101 to me, however, a distressing sight. These poor people elicited my greatest sympathy and interest, the more so since the general sentiment of the La Paz citizen seems to be that Indians are not capable of any cultivation, and, even if they were, are hardly worth the trouble. There are said to be half a million Aymaras in Bolivia and southern Peru. They are a pastoral people, almost entirely vegetarian in diet, and though generally grave and impassive, are never sullen or ill-natured, while, as we have seen, when warmed with beer or spirits, on the occasion of the church festivals, they are exceedingly animated, not to say hilarious. At the hotel in La Paz I was glad to make the acquaint- ance of the well-known naturalist, Dr. H. II. Busby, of Hew York, who was at the time journeying along the Pacific coast with the special object of investigating its medical botany. He afterward daringly made his way across the continent to Para, crossing the Andes by mule, floating on rafts, down the Beni and Madeira Bivers, to the mighty Amazon, undergoing terrible privations and hardships, but forming great collections in both the flora and fauna of Bolivia and Brazil, and making some very valuable additions to the American pharmacopoeia. I was one week in accomplishing the return journey from La Paz to Mollendo, and fortunately arrived just in time to take a steamer for Valparaiso, next to San Francisco the lead- ing port on the Pacific coast of America. Before going on board I was obliged to obtain another passport — price one dol- lar — this being the fifth I had bad to secure in Peru. My steamer was the Maipo, of the South American Steamship Company, or the Chilian line, as it is familiarly called here, in contradistinction from the English line, or the Pacific Steam Havigation Company. The Maipo I found to be a splendidly appointed vessel in every particular. The cabins were extremely large, and the saloon, with its stained glass, inlaid wood-work, and display of cut-glass and silver, lighted above by a great octagonal sky-light, was as fine an apartment as I have ever seen on any steamer. The captain and officers were mostly Europeans. 102 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. Our first stop was at Arica, formerly belonging to Peru, but taken from her by Chili in the late war. It was once a town of some importance, but is now an uninteresting place, of a few thousand inhabitants. The roadstead is flanked on the south by a giant bluff, on whose summit ap- pear several great cannon. Away to the north, high on the beach, may be seen the remains of the ill-fated United States steamship Wateree, wdiich was torn (in 1868) from its moorings by a great tidal wave and borne a quarter of a mile into the interior. About all that is now left of her is some machinery. Hear the landing-place of Arica a train of cars was just starting for the town of Tacna, about forty miles distant to the northward, and lying in a very fertile valley. In an imposing position, reached by a massive stone terrace, stands a church made altogether of iron and brought from the United States. There is also the customary grand square, with its little central garden struggling for its life, and un- able to get the water necessary for that purpose. The next port at which we called was Pisagua, a town of wooden shan- ties that lies upon such a steep range of hills that it looks as if a slight shock of earthquake would send it toppling into the sea. Here I found about a dozen ships awaiting freight. Upon a conical hillock, near the center of the town, has been reared a plain stone shaft in memory of the dead of both sides who fell in the late Peru-Chili War. It is a very con- spicuous mark, and may be seen for a long distance at sea. The same day we arrived at Iquique, one of the most busi- ness-like ports on the west coast. It is a town of very ir- regular appearance. It lies upon an extensive plain at a level with the sea, and contains one-story mud and bamboo houses. In the roadstead was a score of ships of all nationalities, load- ing saltpeter. One war- vessel was a British corvette. Go- ing on shore, I was surprised at the foreign aspect of the town — broad macadamized streets, with wide sidewalks, and shop-signs in English quite as frequently as in Spanish. Be- sides the English element, there seemed to be large contin- gents of French and Germans. In the Grand Plaza there is VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 103 a lofty wood and iron clock-tower, through the open sides of which appears the marble bust of one of tbe many Chilian heroes. Iquique is a thriving place, being the shipping port of great saltpeter-mines in the interior, with which a railway connects. The city is clean and lighted by gas, and, though artistically grotesque, it is pleasing by way of contrast to other cities to the northward. It has been several times de- stroyed by tire and ravaged by earthquakes. This may ac- count for the fact that it is made almost entirely of pine boards and galvanized iron plates, and appears as if only built yesterday and for a brief period at that, inasmuch as tires or earthquakes might be momentarily expected. I can not but liken it to San Francisco in the early days of the gold fever of which all have read descriptions. Our next stopping-place was Tocopilla, where are several large copper-smelting works, valuable copper-mines existing in the interior. We then went to Cobija, formerly the only seaport of Bolivia, but now belonging of course to Chili. Having passed the Tropic of Capricorn, we stopped at Autofagasta. Here I found extensive silver and copper smelting works and a large niter- factory. We took from here, as freight, a great quantity of large silver bars. Early the following morning we anchored in the hne roadstead of Caldera, a small town with a few smelting-works. A railway runs inland, about fifty miles, to the town of Copiapo. This railway dates from the year 1850, and was the first constructed in South America. Twenty-four hours from Caldera we reached Coquimbo and saw the first signs of vegetation, the first green hills on the coast, since leaving Guayaquil. After a voyage of a week, including the above frequent though brief halts, early one morning Valparaiso was sighted, and as the steamer drew in toward the roadstead, or semicir- cular harbor, I was strongly reminded of the appearance of the “ Golden Gate ” of San Francisco, save that in California the hills are brown and barren, while here they are covered with grass and various grains. The bright, living green was a very welcome sight after so much desolation and death as 104 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . all the v northward coast presents. The aspect of Valparaiso from the sea is very remarkable. One would think a more inconvenient site was nowhere to be found. Rome was built, so the historians tell us, upon seven hills, but Valparaiso is built upon twenty, and so steep are most of them that stair- cases are necessary to get from one part to another, and in one instance even a vertical railway has to be employed. The harbor of Valparaiso is of a horseshoe shape, open to the north, but well protected on the southwest. It is unfor- tunate that it should be so exposed on the north, for occa- sionally northerly gales are so heavy that the vessels have to slip their cables and put out to sea. The entire harbor is filled with sail and steam craft of every description as we enter and anchor in one hundred and fifty feet of water. We had just passed, on the southern headland, two small open batteries, and could see another on the northerly point. Then to the eastward, and near the level of the water, there loomed several more. The appearance of Valparaiso may perhaps be likened to a vast amphitheatre, in which the ridges of the hills may be regarded as aisles. Its sloping po- sition reminds one of IIong-Kong. Its spurs, terminating in bluffs at the water’s edge, recall Quebec. Owing to the presence of these spurs, the city is of course very irregularly built. In one place there are but two streets between a rocky bluff and the harbor, while in another there are ten. The greater part of the city is built upon a gently sloping plain, and the streets are laid out with square or oblong blocks. Adjoining the harbor is a very broad highway, upon which is situated a splendid row of business houses, built of brick, and three or four stories in height. At one extremity of this are the custom warehouses, forming an imposing pile. The most prominent objects seen from the deck of a steamer at anchor in the harbor are these custom warehouses, a ceme- tery, the clock-tower of the Municipal Palace, and an enor- mous brewery, painted a flaring white, far off upon one of the hills. As I walked past the elegant bronze statue of Lord Cocli- VOYAGING TO VALPARAISO. 105 rane — the Englishman who commanded the fleet of Chili from 1818 to 1822 — with the post-office and the fire-engine house to the left, and the Municipal Palace before me, and turned down a street to the right to the “ Gran Hotel Central,” with its long flight of marble steps, I was struck by the very civilized look of the famous Chilian seaport. Indeed, it quite resembled a small French or German city. The people who were rushing about in the eagerness of busi- ness activity did not seem to be Chilians, but Germans, French, English, Americans. And when I came to enter some of the great foreign mercantile houses, extending from street to street, and fitted with perfect modern appointments ; and when, at night, I walked through the long streets where most of the retail business is done, with brilliantly lighted shops filled with a variety of goods from every country — I could hardly believe myself in the southern hemisphere. It was only the sight of an occasional mantilla, or a peculiar cut of the beard, or perhaps a solitary poncho-clad figure urging his horse swiftly along, that dispelled my illusion. In the dining-room of the hotel the electric light was used, as well as in very many of the stores. In the streets is a “Belgian” pavement, and the sidewalks are smoothly and neatly flagged. The architecture of some of the buildings is very fine, and there are several rich and elegant churches. The principal streets are threaded by tramways. The trams, or cars, are of two stories, as in Paris and some other Euro- pean cities. But a Valparaiso conductor is not paralleled in any other city anywhere — for it is a woman. She is provided with a board-seat upon the rear platform, and performs, and very well, too, all the customary functions of the male con- ductor, save that of the caution to “move up, please,” for here no more passengers are admitted than there are seats for. These female conductors wear a uniform blue dress with a white apron and a man’s felt hat, and carry a leather change-bag. The fare is five cents for inside and two cents and a half for outside passengers. At the time of my visit to Chili a small steamer sailed 106 AROUND AND ABOUT ROUTE AMERICA. for the famous island of Jnan Fernandez, or Robinson Cru- soe’s Island, wbicb belongs to that country, and is situated in the Pacific Ocean about four hundred miles nearly due west from Valparaiso. It has a few Chilian inhabitants, and is the seat of a small German colony. The newspapers of the city announced, with many flourishes, that a pleasure excursion was about to be made to Juan Fernandez, and that it would last six days, half of which time would be spent upon the island. The fare was placed at sixty dollars for first-class and thirty dollars for second-class passengers. The various attractions promised were the shooting of seals, fish- ing for cod, driving and shooting goats, lobster-fishing, and last, and evidently least, visits to all the places of interest on the island. These included Robinson Crusoe’s lookout, three thousand feet above the ocean, with a commemorative bronze tablet set in the side of the hill by the officers of the Challenger Expedition ; Crusoe’s cave ; and the beach where he was supposed to have been wrecked, or rather to have gone on shore by the memorable raft. The island is eighteen miles long and six broad ; it is for the most part rocky and barren. I was told that these excursions, a few of which occur every year, are quite popular, and that the steamers usually have a great crowd of passengers. Crusoe's Lookout ( ivith Commemorative Tablet). CHAPTER XIII. THE CAPITAL OF CHILI. One of the oldest railways in South America takes you in five hours from the great seaport of Chili to Santiago, its capital. The road is owned by the Government, but was built by English contractors, as one might know by the odd- shaped locomotives and the little four-wheeled carriages. Eor more than half its distance the road extends in a north- easterly direction, and then turns abruptly and runs almost directly south to the city of Santiago. There are only two towns of any special size or importance on the entire road — Quillota and Santa Felipe. On leaving the station we skirt the bay for several miles, until we reach a little town called Yino del Mar, wdiere dwell many of the rich merchants of the seaport city. Here are graceful little cottages imbedded in beautiful gardens of fruits and flowers, a large hotel, and pleasant walks and drives. Hear by is an enormous sugar- factory. Going on, the country for many miles is undulating, the hills on both sides being covered with scrub, and the val- leys filled with barley and clover fields, orchards, and vine- yards. The land is generally owned in immense estates, and irrigation has to be employed in nearly all districts along the coast. In the interior the climate is more equable, and the soil is remarkably fertile and especially well adapted to European produce. There is a large wheat crop, notwith- standing a generally rude method of cultivation. The Chilian farmer plows with a sharp-pointed piece of wood, sometimes shod with iron, and know T s no harrow but a bundle'of brush. Reaping is done by hand, and thrashing by the old-fashioned 108 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. way of driving horses over the grain. At the time of my visit the barley and pastures presented the most beautiful emerald tints I have ever seen, while the orchards were filled with red, pink, white, and greenish- white blossoms, that re- sembled flower-gardens on an enormous scale. The engineer- ing problems of the road did not appear to be very great, at least not as compared with those so frequently encountered in Peru. There were no excessively steep grades — though the rise from the sea to Santiago is about eighteen hundred feet — and but a few short tunnels. Just before we reached the greatest ascent we passed an enormous and perfectly level plain, which, with the surrounding hills, made a fine scene. Then came a region of rough, brown rocks, interesting but hardly grand, and afterward another plain, and then, on all sides, carefully cultivated fields stretched away to Santiago, where we soon drew up in a handsome iron station, a hun- dred and fifteen miles from Yalparaiso. A long drive through uninteresting streets then took me to the best hotel, at the opposite end of the city. On the eastern side of Santiago there is a singular rocky hill which rises abruptly from the level plain to a height of eight hundred feet, and from which may be had a remarkably interesting view of the city and the great snowy range of the Andes. This outlook, called the “ Cerro de Santa Lucia,” is a very popular resort with both citizens and strangers. A good carriage-road winds upward nearly to the summit, and paths and stone staircases seem to lead up and about it in every direction. It is surrounded at the base by a lofty wall, with an imposing iron gateway, where a small entrance fee is charged. The near appearance of this miniature hill is espe- cially striking. Here is a bare, rocky precipice, there a mass of evergreen trees and vines ; here is a bed of flowers perched in an almost inaccessible nook, there are grottoes, statues, belvederes, a swimming-bath, a restaurant, kiosks, a his- torical museum, and an astronomical observatory ; while, in contrast to all the rest, the actual apex of sharp rock is cov- ered by an octagonal cupola of glass. All these improve- View from the Principal Square of Santiago. THE CAPITAL OF CHILL 109 ments and embellishments were effected by the late Benjamin Yicuna Mackenna, the eminent Chilian author, editor, orator, and statesman, who was Governor of Santiago for many years, and one of the candidates for the presidency in 18T6, though he failed of election. The staircases leading to the highest point are necessarily very narrow and steep, and it really requires a strong head and a steady foot for the ascent. But, having clambered up, one is amply repaid by the mag- nificent prospect. Directly at your feet lies the city of San- tiago, on an almost perfectly level plain, its houses of pink, white, green, and yellow, picturesquely contrasting with each other, and the monotony of their tiled roofs artistically broken by church spires, towers, and lofty public buildings. Through the northern part of the city flows a small stream, called the Mapocho, which is crossed by five bridges, one of them flanked with little shops like the famous Ponte Vecchio at Florence. The city itself is regularly laid out, and covers a very large area for its population of a hundred and thirty thousand ; but one should remember that, owing to the preva- lence of earthquakes, its houses are built mostly no higher than two stories. The streets are comparatively broad and covered with the “ Belgian” pavement. The city is gener- ally lighted by gas, though the electric light is also used, especially in the best class of stores. Santiago seems, from the top of the Cerro de Santa Lucia, to be completely sur- rounded by lofty mountains. The range to the north and east is thickly cased with snow. The Great Square of Santiago, or Plaza Indepen dencia, as as it is called, is quite imposing, though its general arrange- ment is not unlike those of other large South American cities. In the center is a handsome old marble fountain, which is encircled by a large garden filled with flowers, statues, mar- ble settees, and neat gravel walks. On one side of the square are the buildings of the municipality ; on another, a large edifice with pleasing architectural features, arranged below with shops faced by an arched pathway, and occupied above by dwelling-rooms. Another side is monopolized by an no AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. enormous three-story building, called the Grand English Hotel, and by two great arcades crossing each other at right angles, and extending from street to street. These arcades are of white stucco, with semicircular roofs of glass and iron. They contain many tine shops, those devoted to jewelry and bric-a-brac seeming to predominate. The remaining side of the grand plaza is nearly all filled by the cathedral, a huge building of brick and stone, with a single rough-brick tower, the whole being quite uncouth and unfinished on the outside. Inside, however, the edifice is one of the very finest of its class, simply yet richly furnished, and therefore lacking in the tawdriness that is often the case with cathedral interiors. In the Great Square you find the principal hackney-coach stand ; the terminus of one of the many tramway lines which traverse the city in every direction ; and a music pavilion, where occasionally a military band performs in the evening. From the center of the plaza a splendid view may be ob- tained of the great snow-capped mountains by which San- tiago is fianked on the northeast. The Chilian Capitol is an imposing structure, two stories in height, with rows of great columns and many chaste ornaments, the whole exterior being of a brownish-yellow stucco. The building contains three great halls : that of the senators, that of the deputies, and that in which the President takes the oath of office. These halls are very plainly finished in white stucco, with a few simple frescoes on the ceiling, and are illuminated by great sky-lights and fur- nished with plain leather chairs. The Chilian Congress is composed of about forty senators and one hundred and ten deputies. Directly in front of the Capitol is a small park, which was formerly the site of the Jesuits’ church, wherein so many women were burned on the night of the 8th of De- cember, 1868. That terrible calamity is commemorated by a graceful marble and bronze monument, with an inscription on the pedestal, dated December 8, 1873, informing the stranger that it was the offering of the love and inextinguish- able grief of the people of Santiago. It will be remembered THE CAPITAL OF CHILL 111 that the church took fire from some of its altar-candles, on the occasion of a crowded evening festival. The congrega- tion was, as usual, mostly composed of women, who, in their frantic efforts to escape, became blocked against the closed doors, which unfortunately w T ere made to open inward. 1ST o help could come from outside, and, as the monument pathet- ically says, “ two thousand victims, more or less,” miserably perished. One afternoon I visited the Botanical and Zoological Gar- dens and the National Museum, which they surround, and which is at present housed in the Exposition Palace. The Botanical Gardens are laid out on a grand scale, with a very great variety of plants, fine walks, statues, and summer-houses. Near a lake stands the rather imposing building of the ex- position, two stories in height, with grand entrance and great central hall, the whole very much resembling that at Lima. It contained a fair general zoological collection, with good mounting of specimens and explicit labels in Latin and Span- ish. The collection of South American animals is very com- plete, and that of Chilian birds especially claimed my atten- tion. There is also a good though small botanical display, or, more properly speaking, an herbarium — leaves and flowers dried and pressed in books, seeds and grain preserved in bot- tles, and sawed sections of trees. In the great central hall is a very complete exhibit of school accessories — text-books, colored maps, diagrams of many subjects, plaster casts, mani- kins, natural history cabinets, and class-room furniture. The Zoological Garden adjoins the botanical. It covers a goodly extent of ground, and is capitally arranged for observation in long avenues. Here, besides the animals usually found in menageries, the world over, one sees a great variety peculiar to South America — such as llamas, alpacas, guanacos, and vicunas. Many of the best specimens were brought from Lima by the Chilians after the late war. To enter these gardens a slight charge is made at the principal gate. On leaving, I drove along the Alameda, a long and very broad boulevard, containing four rows of enormous poplars, a wide 112 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. central path, statnes, lines of tramway, and paved streets on the onter sides. This splendid avenue runs nearly the entire length of the city, and that portion of it nearest the Grand Plaza, and the Cerro de Santa Lucia contains many hand- some private residences and some imposing public institu- tions. In returning to the hotel I was especially struck with the quantity and variety of the foreign element in Santiago, as evidenced by the business signs alone — French, German, Italian, English. But it is not in this city as in Valparaiso, where you seem scarcely to meet a native face in walking through the chief streets ; for here the peculiar Chilian type of feature and extreme of Paris fashion in dress are every- where obtrusive. A noticeable characteristic of the streets is the uniformed policemen, who wear swords, which it is said they sometimes are not slow to use. Perhaps they are not more prudent or less brutal than policemen in Hew York. At night they keep up a great noise by whistling one to the other, according to an accepted code. During the day they are inoffensive enough, walking quietly about, but at night they become an intolerable nuisance. This habit of constant whistling is altogether absurd in view of the fact that an intending evil-doer is thereby warned of the exact locality of the watchmen. At the principal theatre of Santiago I heard the opera of “ Bigoletto,” and saw the ballet entitled “Brahma.” The theatre is a handsome building outside, and very comfortable and pretty inside. It is built in the form of a horseshoe, with four tiers of boxes, and is richly decorated in white and gold. A proscenium-box is set aside for the President of the Bepublic. The orchestra numbered seventy-five. The house was only partially filled, “ Rigoletto ” seeming every- where to have rather outlived its once great popularity. The ladies were richly dressed in gay-colored silks, without bon- nets or cloaks, but with very curious feathers perched upon the tops of their heads, sometimes spread out, though more often in balls that resembled powder-puffs. These plumy crests were eminently successful in making an otherwise well- THE CAPITAL OF CHILI. 113 dressed lady appear ridiculous. The performances of the singers, musicians, and dancers alike left very much to be desired. In fact, they would not hear comparison with any respectable European or ISTorth American standard. I returned to Valparaiso and took steamer to Montevideo, Uruguay, via the Strait of Magellan and the Falkland Isl- ands. I had at first proposed to myself to go from Santiago across the Andes, by the Uspallata Pass, to Mendoza in the Argentine Republic, and thence by rail, in four days, to the city of Buenos Ayres. The actual passage through the mountains is from the village of Santa Rosa, the terminus of the railway from Santiago. From here the distance to Mendoza is about two hundred and fifty miles, and in sum- mer the journey is only a pleasant mule-ride of six days; but in winter snow-storms are frequent, there are heavy rains and furious gales, and all travel ceases save that of the native couriers. Even these are frequently snowed up for days in the snow-huts by the road-side, and occasionally they succumb to the hardships of the trip and perish. As it was still the closed or bad season, I decided it was best for me to go to Montevideo and Buenos Ayres by sea, and I afterward had great reason to congratulate myself on the choice. But I was not the less interested in learning some particulars of the overland routes from Chili to the Argentine Republic. It appears that, among very many that might be available, but six are frequently used. Of these, the Portillo Pass, the shortest but one of the highest, was that crossed by the illus- trious naturalist Darwin in 1834. The Uspallata, however, running between the two great peaks of Aconcagua and Tupungato, and nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea- level, is that most traversed at the present day. During the whole of summer great numbers of cattle are driven over this route from the dreary pampas of the Argentine to the fruit- ful valleys of Chili. At this season mules are employed in the trans-Andean journey, but in winter it is said to-be best to go on foot. Then shoes of raw leather are worn, as ordi- nary boots would burn the feet. To keep one warm at night 8 114 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. the extremely novel yet highly successful plan is adopted of taking along three or four dogs as sleeping partners. These are transformed to very active partners by day, when, as is necessary, they are provided with snow-shoes. For the human traveler, in addition to heavy winter clothing, sheep- skin trousers, with the wool inside of course, are used as a protection against frost-bite in wading through deep snow- drifts. The guides will carry a hundred pounds weight of baggage, and yet readily keep pace with the unladen traveler. On the Uspallata route are good post-houses, which, in addi- tion to being comfortable, till the position of country stores, with large assortments of necessaries. The snow-houses above mentioned are distributed at dangerous points on the route. They are really houses of refuge for exhausted or storm-bound travelers. They are of uniform structure, a simple hut, about fifteen feet square, and the same in height, with no window and but one small door. No chimney being built, a fire used for both cooking and heating is made in the center of the room upon the ground, and sends forth smoke which proves a distressing nuisance to the wayfarer, who has often to pass several days thus “ cabined, cribbed, confined.” It has been proposed to connect the towns of Santa Rosa and Mendoza by a railroad through the Uspallata Pass, which would bring Buenos Ayres within twenty-nine hours of Val- paraiso. A concession has actually been granted with this end in view, and surveys have been made and work begun. The estimated cost is ten million dollars. The engineering work, though severe, would not be nearly as difficult as that upon either the Oroya or Arequipa-Puno roads of Peru. The Uspallata road would cross the Cordillera at the summit at an elevation of 10,568 feet, through a tunnel which w T ould have to be two miles in length. The steepest incline would be three and one half per cent, and the minimum curve would have a radius of five hundred and fifty feet. The total distance from Valparaiso to Buenos Ayres by this route would be eight hundred and seventy miles. This railroad is not yet completed, but a telegraph line has recently been THE CAPITAL OF CHILL 115 finished between the two capitals. It is an iron-pole line, in connection with forty miles of cable, laid under the perpetual snows of the Andes, and will insure communication between Buenos Ayres and London, via Galveston, in a little over an hour. In many respects Chili is the most vigorous and power- ful of the South American nations. During the last ten years her revenues and foreign trade have each rather more than doubled. She has shown good sense in cultivating peace, rather than keeping up the war spirit, though she may take just pride in the prowess of her arms. With Peru and Bolivia both against her, this enterprising republic succeed- ed in inflicting on the former one of the most complete disas- ters, both by land and sea, recorded in recent warfare. She annihilated the really strong navy of Peru, carried her vic- torious army into Lima itself, broke the Peruvian army into fragments, until only a few fugitive guerrillas were left, and exacted a war indemnity, the cession of territory, and the control of the disputed nitrate and guano districts, as condi- tions of peac,e. Chili must of necessity ultimately become an industrial nation, and the completion of the trans-Andean railway, and foreign immigration, will greatly contribute to this end. In leaving Valparaiso I chose the German line of steam- ers which plies between Callao and Hamburg every three weeks, and which is styled the Kosmos Steamship Naviga- tion Company. My particular steamer was the Bamses, a fine little vessel of about two thousand tons burden, and one of the smallest of a fleet which numbers fourteen. We car- ried about a dozen first-class passengers, who nearly filled our little table and all the cabins. I found the accommodations very comfortable, the food excellent, the servants attentive. We had a modern confusion of tongues on board, passengers and officers together speaking German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. The English steamers pass only through the Strait of Magellan in going from ocean to ocean, but the German line passes also through a series of 116 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. very beautiful fiords upon the western coast of Chili, styled in brief the Smyth’s Channel route. Hence my preference for the German steamer. Heaj" sunset, as we steamed rapidly out of the commodi- ous harbor of Valparaiso, I obtained superb views of the city and the surrounding hills. Grandest of all, however, the sublime Aconcagua deigned to unveil itself in all its majesty. A long range of lofty, snow-clad mountains extended from north to south, and from about their center, as I took my view, rose Aconcagua, twenty-three thousand four hundred feet in perpendicular height above the level of the sea. The clouds lay lightly upon parts of the range, but Aconcagua towered apparently twice as high as the others, quite above the clouds, solitary, peaked, and serrated. It bore more the appearance of the great Himalaya summits than any others I had seen in South America, and for sublimity would rival the view of Chimborazo obtained from the Guayaquil River. As the sun dropped into the dark ocean, the mountain-range, the earth whence it arose, and the firmament into which it soared, combined to form a most enchanting spectacle. The jet-black of unlit peaks, low down, contrasted with the brill- iant purple of illuminated ridges, higher up, and these, again, with the vast snow-fields, changed into a sea of flame by the expiring rays. Those beams in turn threw an iridescent light upon toppling banks of cloud, reflected themselves faintly upon the gray shipping in the harbor behind us, and made clear the horizon of the broad Pacific through which we were to plow. CHAPTER XIY. FIORD AND FUEGIAN. Our first stop was at Lota, about thirty hours from Val- paraiso. It is a small village on the eastern side of a large indenture of the coast, named Arauco Bay, and is the seat of very extensive and valuable copper and coal mines. It contains two very large smelting- works. About a dozen col- liers were rolling in the swell as we dropped our anchor near an iron pier, on which an engine was drawing a coal- train to load a Chilian steamer. Around the roadstead are high bluffs, except in one level section where stand the village of Lota and the copper-works and houses of the workmen. Upon the hill to the northward is a lofty iron lighthouse which looks, at a distance, like an Egyptian minaret. It was not taken as spoils from the Egyptians, however, but from the Peruvians, during the late “ unpleasantness.” The cop- per mines and smelting- works in Lota are the sole property of Senora Cousino, the wealthiest woman in Chili, and prob- ably in the world. She has a palace in Santiago, but resides in Lota a portion of the year, in a large and magnificent house with grounds beautified to the last degree both by nature and art, though more especially by the latter. The grounds constitute a veritable botanical garden. They com- prise great vegetable and flower inclosures, enormous green- houses, Turkish towers, fountains, belvederes by the sea, brooks, suspension-bridges, a labyrinth of arbor-vitae, ponds, grottoes, and waterfalls. Pifty men are constantly employed upon this splendid place, and you quickly realize the pro- priety of a Latin motto upon one of the bridges, “ Labor 118 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. omnia vincit .” The fortune of Senora Cousino is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. She has millions of money, millions of acres of land, hundreds of thousands of cattle, coal, copper, and silver mines, acres of real estate in Valparaiso and Santiago, a fleet of eight iron steamships, smelting-works, a railroad, etc. Every house in Lota, a vil- lage of some seven thousand inhabitants, is hers, and to the people of this village she pays out over one hundred thou- sand dollars monthly. She owns the only large coal-mines in South America, from which alone she receives seventy- live thousand dollars a month. All these vast enterprises Senora Cousino herself controls and directs, exhibiting great foresight, breadth of purpose, and large ability as a manager of affairs. Her income of course is expressed in seven fig- ures. Ho wonder she is styled the “ Countess ” of Monte Cristo ! We shipped one hundred tons of bar-copper and a great quantity of tanned hides. Among other items in our cargo, received in Peruvian and Chilian ports, might be mentioned silver ore and ingots, copper ore and bars, bales of tobacco, sacks of horns, alpaca-skins and sheep-skins, bullocks’ hides, borax, coca, barrels of honey, and rolls of sole- leather. We moved five miles to the eastward of Lota, to Coronel, and at once began the loading of five hundred tons of coal. This is the great coal region of Chili, one hundred and fifty thou- sand tons a year being dug from mines, most of which bor- der upon the sea. The coal is light, and inferior to that of Wales. Though it has good steaming qualities, it burns too quickly. It is largely used by the steamers which visit the west coast, and is also carried to other parts of the world. On leaving Coronel we experienced cold, squally weather. We passed first the Island of Chiloe, the northernmost of the great chain of islands and archipelagoes which extends from latitude 42° southward to Cape Horn. Chiloe is very hilly, and covered with forest. It is thinly peopled by Indians, but the interior has not been well explored. Money is almost unknown, and therefore business transactions are gen- FIORD AND FTJEGIAN 119 erally by barter. Next we pass Iluafo Island and the Cbonos Archipelago, a great number of rugged and barren islands, some of them as much as four thousand feet above the sea. The formation of many of the islands is a sandstone so soft as to be easily cut with a knife. Upon the mainland are several peaks, the loftiest being nearly ten thousand feet, though we get but occasional glimpses of them on account of the bad weather. It becomes so cold that a tire is made in our cabin stove. We keep steadily on, passing the Tay- tas Peninsula and Cape Tres Montes, named from its three small hills. In the interior, on the boundary between Chili and the Argentine Republic, is Mount St. Yalentin, nearly thirteen thousand feet high. During the following two days the steamer scarcely advanced at all, and rolled sc badly that it was really dangerous to try to get from one part of the deck to another. However, we succeeded at last in crossing the Gulf of Penas, and entered Messier Channel — the begin- ning of our fiord navigation — between Wellington Island and the mainland. Wellington is the largest island on the coast of Chili, being one hundred and forty miles long and about thirty wide. It seems to support nothing better than several kinds of evergreens, antarctic beeches, and a sort of soft, spongy moss. Messier Channel varies from six hundred feet to three miles in width. Its navigation is not difficult, save in the most straitened part — called the English Narrows — where the tide runs about seven miles an hour. This section it is customary to^ pass only at slack water. At night the steamers anchor, though American mail - steamers of four thousand tons, and English war- vessels of even greater ton- nage, have safely gone through this contracted passage. The scenery of the channel, up to the spot just above the English Narrows, where we anchored to await the turn of the tide, was extremely diversified. There were thickly wooded isl- ands, on the mainland low, grassy hills, and behind them higher ranges and peaks of every contour, but devoid of vegetation and covered with snow. The scenery is very like 120 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. that of the southern fiords of Norway. To the eastward of the English Narrows is a volcano seven thousand feet in height, named Eitzroy, from the famous English navigator of that name, who was captain of the Beagie on the expedi- tion around the world which Charles Darwin accompanied as naturalist. But we do not get extended views of the mountain scenery, owing to the misty and cloudy atmos- phere. In this locality, and especially at this time of the year, there is almost perpetual rain, with much fog, occa- sional snow, and often heavy squalls, which come down the precipitous mountain-sides with a very dangerous force. As on the coast of Norway, so on that of Chili, the fiords are generally very deep and their shores very steep. Before entering the English Narrows our boats were swung out and half lowered, to be ready in case of running upon rock or reef, or any other possible emergency. The whole crew were told oh for special service. A number stood in the stern prepared at once to rig the auxiliary steering apparatus should that in customary use give way. The carpenter and a boatswain remained at the windlass in the prow quite ready to let go the anchor at a moment’s notice. The channel had some pretty sharp turns, and at the narrowest place — about six hundred feet across — slack water was on one side and a current on the other. Still we went gayly through, steam- ing along at full speed. The woody little islands recalled several of the Scotch lakes, but the rough, snofv-covered hills spoke only of Norway or Alaska. The southern half of Mes- sier Channel contracts to about half a mile, with walls of al- most perpendicular rock, from one to three thousand feet in height, and with no vegetation except near the water’s edge. This part is appropriately styled Chasm Beach. Little cas- cades trickled down all the nearer hills, and upon some of them were pretty miniature glaciers. One huge, dome-shaped mountain seemed to be a solid mass of granite, without a sin- gle scrap of verdure. As we passed on, the light green of the trees, the darker green of the scrub, the brown of the moss, the purple of the great bare rock, the pure white snow, Puerto Bueno , Smyth's Channel. FIORD AND FUEGIAN. 121 and the leaden-colored clonds above, made np a series of ex- quisite panoramas. During the following day we had in almost continual , view a range of magnificent, snow-covered mountains, per- haps a hundred miles in length, and belonging to the same great chain of Andes which extends, almost unbroken, from the Isthmus of Panama to Cape Horn. The range which we saw from the steamer was about eighty miles distant. The highest point, a splendid pyramid of rock and snow, called Mount Stokes, was sixty-four hundred feet in height. The whole range, observed from the sea-level, loomed in the air with all the grandeur of mountains twenty thousand feet in height, as usually seen from points on land probably half their altitude. These Chilian mountains are of the most fantastic description. Their contour is infinite. They are peaked, jagged, dome and pyramid shaped. Lofty, needle- like summits often occur, and the amount of snow which ad- heres to their almost perpendicular sides is simply astonish- ing. There are, too, scores of glaciers as splendid as any in Switzerland. But how can I give the reader an idea of the varying colors, the weirdness, and the utter savageness of this antarctic scenery ? An artist would rave, a poet would rhyme. At first I thought of Norway, then of Switzerland, then of Bolivia, and then of India ; but the unobstructed view of these mountains, on a perfectly clear day — a very un- usual thing in these parts — is much grander than anything in Norway, quite equal to anything in Switzerland, and only surpassed by the ranges of Bolivia and India. They took, as I have said, every conceivable shape, and it needed but little help from the imagination to behold great white Kremlins, cathedrals like that at Milan, pyramids like Cheops, towers like those of Notre Dame, pinnacles like the Needles of the English Channel. At every turn of our steamer there were novel and romantic visions. At one point, that opposite Nelson Strait, which communicates directly with the Pacific, we saw an especially magnificent glacier of pure green ice, winding down a mountain, its base almost reaching the sur~ 122 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. face of the fiord. Glaciers so numerous and vast, snow-fields so measureless, I have never seen in any other part of the , globe. Several times during the day we could look between the islands and obtain pleasing vistas of the distant ocean. And to think that all these beautiful and majestic scenes are altogether unknown to the general tourist, and all but un- known to even world- wide travelers ! Though I had a choice of routes from Santiago to Buenos Ayres or Montevideo, and though I had questioned a dozen people as to which route was the most interesting, no one especially commended to me that course by which I should see the picturesque won- ders of Messier and Sarmiento Channels. And yet the fiords and mountains of southern Chili I found excelled in grand- eur and beauty those of Norway, as much as the latter, in turn, surpass those of Alaska. No one should visit either Valparaiso or Montevideo without making this tour of the Chilian bays and inlets ; and 1 hope to live to see either a “ Murray ” or “ Baedeker ” hand-book devoted to their charms. The winter season would be the best time of year to make this trip — preferably the months of July, August, and September. The Fuegians — half-naked savages, very low in the scale of civilization — I had the opportunity of studying on two occa- sions : once while we were lying at anchor in Smyth Chan- nel, opposite Mount Burney ; and once in Magellan Strait, between Croker Peninsula and Santa Inez Island. After we had dropped anchor in the former, late one afternoon, we went ashore in search of the Indians, at a small, low, scrubby island, called, rather inconsiderately, Summer Island. The pebbly shore shelved so gradually, and was so thickly fringed with kelp, as to prevent a near approach, and the sailors bore us to land upon their shoulders. The beaches seemed to be composed wholly of the shells of mussels, limpets, and other shell-fisli. The island was covered with beech and fir trees, ferns, myrtles, and coarse grass. At one point I came across some deserted huts or wigwams of the Indians, almost hidden in the dense scrub adjoining the widely sloping beach. The FIORD AND FUEGIAN. 123 wigwams were of two sizes, the smaller being set apart for the children. The larger were of an oval shape, made of saplings stuck in the ground, and fastened together with osiers at the center and top. They were about ten feet in length, five in width, and five in height. These frames are generally covered with seal-skins, leaving only a single small opening for an entrance, through which the Indians must crawl. The floor is of dried grass, and possibly skins also may be introduced to serve as rugs or couches. The smaller wig- wams were not more than four feet in diameter and three in height. Before these dwellings was a great heap of discarded mussel- shells, reminding one of the kitchen-middings or old shell-mo nnds of Scandinavia. We had scarcely returned to the steamer, regretting that we had not found the Fuegians at home, when we saw a canoe pushing off from a distant island, and slowly bearing down upon us. Lights were at once displayed, and we prepared to give the occupants of the canoe a cordial reception. They came on awkwardly and with much gabbling, in a boat about twenty-five feet long, four feet wide, and three feet deep, with comparatively sharp ends, each of which had an occupant. When the boat was secured alongside, I observed that it was made of plank, sewed together with fibers, and propelled by oars made of flat slices of board fastened to the end of a pole. These were used by the men near the prow, while in the stern a woman steered with a short paddle. The boats are unwieldy and logy, and the Indians seemed to have no knack of propelling them at any sort of speed. Certainly they have none of the graceful gliding of the canoes of the North American Indians, or of the dug-outs of the Maories of New Zealand. On a heap of sand or earth upon the bottom, there is always kept burning a small fire, not for cooking purposes, for they rarely cook anything, but for warmth, and at night also for light. In the special canoe, which paid us the honor of a visit, were just twenty people — five men, four women, and eleven children. Eight miserable dogs, used in hunting, were likewise accommodated. All the Indians were jabbering, 12 4: AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. gesticulating, and giggling, like a lot of school- children ont for a holiday. The men, and some of the boys, came on board, the men with otter and seal skins of not the best qual- ity, which they wished to barter for tobacco, food, and cloth- ing. These people were very short in stature, and slightly made. Their legs were thin, misshapen, and calfless, as usual with the lower races of savage man. Their stomachs were as protuberant as those of the clay-eaters of the Orinoco. Their color was a dark brown or mahogany. Their eyes were black and bright, and betokened an intelligence which was hardly fulfilled. The faces were quite as broad as long. The nose was flat and short, mouth large, with very thick lips, and good teeth ; and the men had slight mustaches but no beard. They had great shocks of stiff, black hair, cut about two inches long upon the crown, and “banged” straight across the forehead, just above the eyes, but left long behind and at the sides. A fillet of ribbon or string is generally bound about the head, in true Greek or Eoman style. The children were especially animated, and one or two were actu- ally handsome. These people are almost as hardy as the Esquimaux or Laplanders. It was a bitter cold, rainy, and windy night, and yet the men were almost naked, the chil- dren wholly so, and the women partially so — seeming, in fact, to care less about dress than the men. A few had seal-skins loosely attached to their shoulders, and altogether open in front ; some wore old pieces of coarse sacking ; others sported European coats or jackets, but evidently these were worn more for variety than either decency or comfort. Men and women alike will remove and sell you any skin they may have on — save their own — for a little ship’s biscuit, or to- bacco, or a box of matches. Besides skins, they proffer in barter their domestic utensils and their weapons, generally bows and arrows, the arrows not feathered, and the barb con- sisting of a triangular piece of glass ground sharp. While the men were on the steamer’s deck engaged in traffic, the women in the boat were singing a plaintive kind of song, and the children were staring with all their eyes, and with open Fuegians at Home. FIOED AND FUEGIAN. 125 month, at the wonderful fire-boat and its pale-faced occu- pants. They were constantly chattering to each other in a sort of guttural, disconnected talk, which distantly resembled Japanese. The largest children were squatting all in a heap near the fire. One of the women, who sat in the stern to steer, had, after the fashion of a hen, two or three very young children or babies between her legs and in her lap, to keep them warm, I suppose, for they had not a stitch of clothing upon them. The sailors gave the men pipes to smoke, first showing them how the feat was accomplished, and rigged them out with old caps, coats, trousers, shirts, and drawers. The cook poured into their boat an enormous panful of hard-tack, or ship’s biscuit, for which there was a great scramble and much noisy congratulation. Liquor was given them, but they did not take so kindly to this as to the to- bacco. One of our crew then brought out an accordion, and endeavored to get them to dance or at least sing, but he was not at all successful in the latter, and only partially with the former. Their dance was simply a sort of hopping, with both feet together. I could not but be struck with the bright, curious eyes of the children of both sexes, and wonder if, any decent sort of opportunities being given them, something of civilization might not adhere to them. The circumstances of their pres- ent life seemed so very hard that I could not help thinking, if an American were to take their place and conditions, how many generations would have to pass ere he would reach their intellectual level. The missions which have been and are being tried fail to lessen their barbarism. Several of these natives have, at different times, been taken to England, edu- cated, and kindly treated. They have shown much aptness, but within a few weeks of their restoration to their native haunts they have relapsed into their primeval savagery. My experience of them was of the most pleasant and peaceful character ; but they are said to be very greedy and thievish — nay, more, brutal, fierce, and quite willing to shed blood to obtain booty. They have frequently assailed, and several 126 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . times overcome, the crews of ships passing through these channels. As recently as 1862 a Boston ship was attacked in the Straits of Magellan by twenty canoes, filled with armed Fuegians, who boarded her and killed eight of the crew, though they were ultimately beaten off with great slaughter. CHAPTER XY. THE GLOBE’S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. We passed from Smyth’s Channel to the Strait of Ma- gellan, with Cape Pillar just discernible about thirty miles to the west, at the extremity of Desolation Island. The names of localities hereabout are somehow not especially cheerful or inspiriting. Thus, besides that just mentioned, we have Fatal Bay, Port Famine, Escape Reach, Last Wreck Point, Thieves’ Island, Hope Inlet, Fury Islands, and Dislocation Harbor ! It need scarcely be said that the Strait of Ma- gellan, or Magalhaens, is so named in honor of its discov- erer, the famous Portuguese navigator, Fernando de Magal- haens, in 1520. His expedition was thirty-seven days in passing from ocean to ocean. How but two, or at most three, days are needed. The northern part of the strait is the country of the Patagonians, two thirds of it belonging to Chili, and the remaining third to the Argentine Republic. The large island of Tierra del Fuego, the Land of Fire, is to the south, and was so named by Magalhaens from the great number of fires which he saw the first night he approached it. The strait is four hundred miles in length, and varies from four to twenty miles in width. The depth is usually great. Sailing-vessels rarely, if ever, attempt this passage between the great oceans, on account of the baffling winds, the furious squalls, the often thick, wet weather, the strong currents, and the harbors, most of which are difficult of in- gress and egress. There are few or no inhabitants directly upon the strait. Ho quadrupeds are encountered, save the sea-otter, whose tracks in the sands and whose carcass in the hands of the Indians I frequently saw. On the islands are 128 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. ducks, geese, snipe, plover, cormorants, penguins, swans, seals, and sea-lions. Humming-birds may sometimes be seen in considerable numbers in the coves, and even occasionally may be noticed flying about near the foot of an enormous gla- cier. Upon the shores are mussels and limpets, and inland are berries, wild celery, evergreen scrub, firs, and the antarctic beech. In the waters are bass, mullet, and very fine smelts — the best fish of the strait. We pass Cape Froward, the southernmost point of the mainland of the South American Continent. Here, at the water’s edge, is a dark mass of rock, about five hundred feet in height, joined by a low neck of land to a great range of snow-covered hills, averaging about twenty-five hundred feet in height. Cape Horn is situated upon a small island, distant some two hundred miles in a southeasterly direction. Cape Froward is at about the middle of the Strait of Magellan, and here the grand scenery of the Cordilleras of the western coast suddenly ceases, the strait widens to some twenty miles, and the land becomes low and monotonous, though still cov- ered with snow. A few miles to the eastward of Cape Fro- ward we pass the wreck of the steamer Cordillera, of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, which here ran upon a reef during a heavy snow-storm, about five years ago. The passengers and crew, taking to the boats, were all saved ; but one of two sailors who were left behind to take care of the hulk was afterward killed by the natives, the other succeed- ing in making his escape. If the weather is good, steamers travel all night in the strait ; but if it is bad, they anchor. Directly south of Cape Froward we had a good view of Mount Sarmiento, seven thousand feet high, a nearly perfect pyramidal mountain, and perhaps the most striking one in the Magellanic Archipelago. It may be seen for a hundred miles in very clear weather. To the eastward of this, and about as lofty, is another famous peak, Mount Darwin. South of these mountains runs what is called Darwin Sound, a navigable stretch of water, upon which there is an English mission station. About half-way between Cape Froward and A View in the Strait of Magellan. THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. 129 Punta Arenas is Port Famine, which was the site of an old Spanish colony, and then the Chilian penal settlement, which was afterward removed to Sandy Point. Punta Arenas, or Sandy Point, wdiere we anchor and land some freight, consisting of provisions, is a small town lying upon a level plain, with a range of snow-covered hills, a thousand feet in height, as a background. It is not only the most southerly town of South America, but of the world. The most northerly is Hammerfest, in Norway, which I had already visited. In the roadstead were small Argentine and Chilian gunboats, a coal-barge, an English dispatch-boat, and a small English ship. Punta Arenas is mostly of one-story houses, built without regularity. Adjoining it are mossy fields and low hills covered with burned timber. Directly opposite Sandy Point, across the strait, is the great island of Tierra del Fuego, two thirds of which (the western) belong to Chili and the remainder to the Argentine Pepublic. Punta Arenas was originally founded in 1813, and, as above stated, was kept only as a penal settlement, and began to de- cline on this account, but in consecpience of the rapid in- crease of traffic through the strait, the mail-steamers plying between Europe and the west coast of South America having adopted this route, the Chilian Government, seeing its grow- ing importance as a station of call and supply, in 1868 made grants of land to immigrants, and sent out some three hun- dred settlers, together with a governor. Wood for building purposes was taken, and supplies to last until the immigrants could clear and cultivate their own lots. Convicts are sent no longer. There used to be a military guard, but that was withdrawn during the war with Peru, and all the prisoners who would consent to enter the army got a ticket- of-leave. The population of the colony in 1868 was two hundred ; in 1888 it was about two thousand. Gold and silver are found in the neighborhood and are exported, though coal is the chief industry. The mines are worked by a company, who pay a very small tax to the Chilian Government for the privilege. The consumption of this coal is constantly on 9 130 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. the increase. It is a good “ steam ” coal, and is found with- in five miles of the town, to which it is brought on a tram- way. Steamers which formerly had to go to the Falkland Islands, a distance of nearly five hundred miles, now get their supplies at Punta Arenas. Cattle and vegetables thrive well here, notwithstanding the high latitude. At varying seasons are to be found parrots, snipe, ducks, geese, wood- peckers, a species of ibis, and some other small birds. Very good mushrooms are obtained in great quantities. The town is interesting because it is the largest settle- ment in southern Chili and the only one in the strait. It is about four thousand miles from the southernmost town on the west coast to the first port on the eastern side, a voyage which ordinarily requires fifteen or sixteen days; and as Punta Arenas is about in the middle of the way, it possesses special attraction. Its population represents all sorts and conditions of men, from the primeval type to the pure Cau- casian — ex-convicts, fugitives, wrecked seamen, deserters from all the navies in the world, Chinamen, negroes, Poles, Italians, Sandwich-Islanders, Portuguese, wandering Jews, and human driftwood of every tongue and clime, cast up by the sea, and absorbed in a community scarcely one of whom would be willing to tell why he came here, nor willing to stay if he could get away. It is said that in Punta Arenas can be found an interpreter for every language known to the modern world ; but, although the place belongs to Chili, English is generally spoken. Here are to be purchased many interesting relics, Indian trifles, shells and flying-fish, tusks of sea-lions, serpent-skins, agates from Cape Horn, turtle-shells, the curious tails of the armadillo, in wdfich the Patagonians carry their war-paint, and the skins of the guanaco, ostrich, and seal. Undoubtedly the prettiest things are the ostrich rugs, made of the breasts of the young birds, as soft as down, and as beautiful as plumage can be. The plumes of the ostrich are plucked from the wings and tail while the bird is alive, but to make a rug the little ones are killed and skinned and the soft, fluffy breasts are sewed together until they reach THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. 131 the size of a blanket. Those of brown and those of the purest white are alternate in the same rug, and produce a line artistic effect. They are too dainty and beautiful to be spread upon the floor, but can be used as carriage-robes, or to throw over the back of a couch or chair. Sometimes ladies use them as panels for the front of dress skirts. Thus applied they are more striking than any fabric a loom can produce. Opera-cloaks have also been made of them, to the gratification of the aesthetic. They are too rare to be com- mon, and too beautiful ever to tire the eye. A very great contrast exists between the western and eastern half of the Strait of Magellan. In the former we had majestic snow mountains, glaciers, giant hills of purple rock, black water, and cloudy and blustery weather ; but on rounding Cape Froward the scene changes as by magic. The hills melt away to nothing — Tierra del Fuego is so low as scarcely to be seen — low ranges of grassy uplands diversify the interior, and between them and the channel are shingly, treeless plains. The water becomes a beautiful bright green, the heavens clear, and the bright sun once again gives us light and heat and joy. The width at the western entrance of the strait, from Cape Pillar to the opposite island, is ten miles, while the Atlantic entrance is twenty miles across. As we passed Cape Yirgins, a bluff on the northern point about one hundred and fifty feet high— the southern point lies so low it can be seen only on especially clear days — the great golden globe of the full moon floated up from a cloud- less horizon, Yenus sparkled behind us, and the gorgeous Southern Cross above, the wind freshened to half a gale, great white caps illumined the wave-crests, the air became crisp and bracing, the dark, thin line of coast fast faded away, and we entered upon the broad bosom of the Atlantic and headed toward the east and our next haven in the Falkland Islands. The Island of Tierra del Fuego, which I was so rapidly leaving, is by no means the region of perpetual snow that it has been supposed to be. It abounds with beautiful scenery — rich valleys, plains of grass, mountains, lakes, rivers — con- 132 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. tains great quantities of gold, and has a climate less rigorous than that of Canada. The inhabitants, however, are the most barbarous of savages. They are of two distinct classes, the Yahgans, or southern tribes, and the On as, who inhabit the northern part of the island. The Yahgans are not can- nibals, as has been believed, and they do not eat meat which is not cooked. They are chiefly Ashers and hunters, and the women are the best of swimmers. The women have the right to sell all the flsh they catch beyond those required for the family, and are said to be good cooks, though they never knew anything about boiling their food until lately, and had no vessels in which they could do so. They do not inter- marry with blood relatives, and the men have one, two, or three wives, according to circumstances. They are great quarrelers among themselves, and are both crafty and treach- erous. Having no fixed principles, they are governed en- tirely by their desires and passions. Tattooing is unknown, but the girls paint their faces for fashion and the men for mourning. They are fond of each other’s company, and, sitting around the fires of their huts or wigwams, they are very jovial over their meals. When they have satisfied their hunger in the amplest manner — for they generally have an abundance of food — they indulge in the most animated con- versation and in the most extravagant demonstrations of joy. Their laughter is natural and hearty, but it is sometimes so excessive and boisterous as to drive a serious person quite frantic. These Indians are not nearly so fine looking as the Onas, who are tall and muscular, with broad shoulders and well-developed chests. Their height is often over six feet. The face is oval shaped, the forehead narrow, the eyebrows slightly arched, and the cheek-bones prominent. They have small mouths, yellow teeth, and aquiline noses. Their beard is very scanty ; their dark, lusterless, woolly hair falls in tufts around a large tonsure clipped close on the top of the head. Their skin is of a clear copper color, and it is soft and oily to the touch. The men do the hunting, while the women do the heavy work and carry the burdens. THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN 133 The Falldands are distant about three hundred miles in an easterly direction from Magellan Strait, but we shall have to steam four hundred miles passing around their south- ern and eastern sides to Port William and Stanley, the seat of government and largest settlement upon the islands. The voyage of the German steamers from Montevideo to Val- paraiso is sixteen daj T s, and from Valparaiso to Montevideo eighteen days. The difference in time is due chiefly to the fact that in coming out from Europe the steamers are apt to have less freight, and therefore do not need to call so often or stay so long for coals. There are twelve steamers a year, or one a month, which call at the Falkland Islands — half of these stopping on the outward voyage and half on the homeward. To visit the Falklands generally adds from two to three days to the length of the voyage. The Bosmos, which has a subven- tion from the British Government for carrying the mail, is the only line of steamers of any nationality running regularly to this group. Our high southwesterly winds continued, with bright, cold weather, and with nights the stellar glories of which no pencil could portray. Our steamer was followed by many cape pigeons, a few ducks, and still fewer albatrosses. Late in the evening of the second day after leaving Punta Arenas we sighted the Falklands, and in the morning saw plainly, in the middle of the eastern island (there being two large islands and many smaller ones), a range of hills about two thousand feet high, running east and west, and covered with snow. The land adjoining the coast was covered with brownish grass, but no trees or even scrub were in sight. The aspect was of low, smoothly undulating hills. Passing 'Wolf Bock, upon which the waves dashed their spray fully thirty feet in the air, we soon rounded Cape Pembroke, a flat, sandy peninsula, upon which stands a lighthouse over a hundred feet in height, and then entered Port William, a long, narrow bay with a low bluff to the north, and a num- ber of small islands covered with coarse grass to the south, the mainland here being heaped with drift-sand and looking as arid and yellow as an African desert. Bear where the 134 : ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. bight closes we turn abruptly to the left and pass, through a narrow channel, between two sharp and low headlands, directly into Stanley Harbor. The opening is but six hun- dred feet wide (the same width as the English Harrows), and with a depth of only thirty-live feet. Stanley’s may there- fore be classed among the most completely landlocked har- bors in the world. It is three miles in length, and about half a mile in breadth. I found in the harbor three or four decayed and dismantled ships ; a huge, old-fashioned hulk which contained our proposed freight of wool, tallow, and sheep-skins ; a small German steamer of the same company as our own, and employed as a sort of tender ; and a little brig which is used by the different sheep-farmers of the islands to take their produce to Stanley, whence it is shipped to Europe. A long, low range of grass and peat covered hills extends, with a gentle slope, to the water along the southern side of the harbor, and here lies Stanley, the monotonous gray and brown of its houses hardly discernible from the great, bare rocks. Scarcely a tree or bush of any sort is in view. Directly opposite the entrance of the harbor lies the cemetery, a large plot tilled with simple head-stones and black or white wooden crosses. The town consists mostly of two long, macadamized streets, running parallel with the harbor. There are several large warehouses for storing wool, tallow, and sheep-skins, but only a few anyway striking buildings. One is of cut brownstone, with a lofty central clock-tower, containing in one wing the church and in the other the school ; another is a square, two-story brick edifice, the dwell- ing of the director of the Falkland Islands Sheep Farming Company. The residence of the English governor is at the western extremity of the town, a picturesque country-seat of gray stone. The greater part of the settlement consists of simple, one or two story wooden houses, having roofs of gal- vanized iron. Piercing all these roofs are chimneys, whence the smoke of peat or coal issues throughout the year, so bleak is the climate. A few greenhouses and attempts at gardens are seen, but hardly anything can be made to grow out-of- THE GLOBE'S SOUTHERNMOST TOWN. 135* doors. The only available meat the citizens can have is mutton, which, however, is second only to Southdown, all other meats and provisions being brought from either South America or Europe. Wild fowl and tish are very abundant. The decidedly English expression of the town is greatly heightened upon going on shore, where I land upon a small jetty, at whose extremity stands a pyramidal brick and stone monument, bearing on a tablet the rather inexpressive com- munication, “ Alfred, 24th February, 1874.” Knowing that many nations had at different times claimed possession of these islands, and that several conflicts had resulted, it was but natural to suppose that this proud pile distinguished the spot where some British Horatius Coccles had single-handed repelled the landing cutters of several French or Spanish men-of-war, and that his appreciative countrymen had thus familiarly and affectionately, not to say touchingly, made the fact known to such of the great world as might by accident stray thither. The idea greatly pleased me — for have not both ancients and moderns always thus honored true valor? — and I walked up the pier, eager to know more of this noble hero called Alfred. The charming simplicity of the sweetly pretty name, Alfred, as well as the mystery of the pregnant date, fired me with ardent curiosity. I did not remember where Alfred the Great was buried, but I felt almost sure that he had been dead more than eleven years. The very first citizen I met I begged to tell me more of this brave, this doughty Alfred, apologizing of course for a mem- ory defective in matters of historical detail. And my blood almost congealed within my veins, and my heart stood still with awe, as I learned that here — here on this very spot — a “real live ” English prince had once set his holy foot, on com- ing ashore to pay a visit to the governor ! First and last, he had placed the aforesaid sacred member upon many wharves, but not I believe everywhere had imposing monuments of brick and stone been reared in reverence. My informer stood solemn and serious, but there is no use in denying that I was profligate enough to laugh. CHAPTER XVI. THE FORLORN FALKLANDS. Other evidences of a British, population were furnished in such titles of public-houses as the “ Stanley Arms,” the u Globe Tavern,” “ Rose Hotel,” and the u Ship Hotel.” One house bore an elaborate sign, which informed the passer- by that it contained a “ Millinery, Drapery, and Haberdash- ery Store.” TJpon another the sign, in very large letters, “ Store,” was thought by the proprietor sufficiently express- ive ; and in this part of the world it is, for a “ store ” con- tains goods of every kind, from boots to potatoes, from jew- elry to crockery. In Stanley reside a dozen consuls and vice-consuls, their offices being indicated by the coats-of-arms of their respective nations, excepting in the few cases where the same person represents three or four foreign countries. This arrangement would, I should imagine, give rise to amus- ing complications in the event of war breaking out between any of those powers. The strong armament of Stanley con- sists of a battery of four nine-pounders near the water’s edge, about the center of the town, and another, of the same profu- sion and enormous caliber, adjoining the governor’s house. Here also, at this high official’s gate, stands a sentry-box in true St. James Palace style. Of course it is generally un- occupied, but the feeling of perfect security which it must impart to the representative of her Gracious Majesty, and the sense of state and power which it does convey to the republican traveler, who can estimate ? It seemed altogether a ht counterpart to the grave of King Alfred, at the opposite extremity of the town. The governor is elected for six years, as well as two other of the principal officers, but the majority of the governmental staff are sent out from England for no THE FORLORN FALKLAND, S. 137 specified time. The total population of the islands is about two thousand, there being two or three little villages besides Stanley, and the remainder of the inhabitants dwelling mostly upon wddely separated sheep-runs. The islands are roadless, but contain a number of horse-trails, and these form the popular means of travel for the sheep-farmers, though when convenient, and especially for short distances, the sea, with small sail or whale boats, gives passage. For crossing Falmouth Sound, between the two large islands, the brig which carries the produce, or a large steam-launch, must be used. The weather is almost continually bad throughout the year — it is the exception when a gale of wind is not blowing — but, nevertheless, Stanley is regarded as a healthy town ; and, moreover, rainy and windy weather, with an occasionally clear sky, is amusingly termed by the residents a “ good ” day. We arrived too late on Saturday to take on board our freight of three hundred and sixty bales of wool, one hundred casks of tallow, and twenty bales of sheep-skins, and the following day being Sunday, on which the English neither do any manner of work nor permit any to be done, we were obliged to remain quiet, tied up to the company’s shipping hulk. The English, I believe, are the only nation in the world who hold such pecul- iar and utterly inconsistent views regarding Sunday, but in our case it was a very stormy day, and so we made ourselves as contented as possible in our snug little saloon, with a good library of German classics. From a gentleman who has re- sided in Stanley for thirty years, and who called on board, I gathered many interesting facts which are not widely known. The Falkland group embraces two principal islands, sep- arated by a strait varying in breadth from two to twenty miles, and about two hundred smaller islands clustered around them, and in the strait between them. The eastern island is about one hundred miles long, and half as broad ; the west- ern is considerably smaller. The whole group is deeply and variously indented by sounds, bays, harbors, creeks, and inlets. Probably there is no part of the world where so many good harbors exist. The southern portions of the east Falkland 138 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . are, as I have already indicated, so low that they are hardly perceptible from the deck of a steamer at a distance of five miles; hut the western island is more diversified, there being a number of hills rising to a height of between one thousand and twenty-five hundred feet above sea-level. There are but few rivers in the Falklands, the San Carlos in the eastern isl- and being the largest, about thirty miles long, but not navi- gable. No trees shade the islands, and the sole shrub is a tea- plant. The nearest approach to a tree is a sort of box, which grows to the height of three feet. Probably trees would grow, if planted and cultivated, and if gales did not so eternally prevail. The temperature is equable, but the average is natu- rally very low. Celery grows in wild luxuriance. There is a large, round, green plant (found in Patagonia also), which, when dried, makes a capital kindling. It also exudes a kind of gum which is used as a curative. But the most remark- able plant that grows upon the Falklands is a gigantic sedgy grass called tussock. The length of the stalk is about six feet, and of the blade seven feet. The plants grow in dense tufts, and as many as two hundred and fifty roots spring from one tuft. Cattle and horses feed on it with avidity, and speedily become fat. The prairies are mostly of bog, covered with these heavy bunches of grass, and the islands are undoubtedly the best adapted for sheep-grazing. The sheep have no ene- mies to contend against, and so thrive and multiply. Espe- cially do those of European breeds flourish. Cheviot sheep have been introduced, and yield as many as twelve pounds of fleece. Scattered over the two large islands are many small fresh- water lakes and innumerable springs. This of course is of the greatest importance in the raising of cattle. The best ground for cultivation extends in plains from five to twenty miles along the margin of the sea, though it is only here and there, in sheltered nooks, that grain can be ripened, or Euro- pean vegetables or flowers brought to any degree of perfection. Though by geographical position of the greatest impor- tance to the mercantile world, these islands were but little regarded up to 1845. This seems strange, for their numer- THE FORLORN FALKLAND S. 139 ous and splendid harbors afford protection to all sorts of shipping, and give opportunity for the repairing of injuries sustained by vessels passing in the vicinity of Cape Horn, where a larger amount of annual injury is done by severe weather than in any other locality. In 1815 an English- man named Lafone, who had been engaged in the hide and cattle trade on the Eiver Plate, entered into negotia- tions with the English Government for a contract to pur- chase the southern part of the large eastern island, and several of the small adjacent islands, upon the payment of fifty thou- sand dollars at the time of the contract and one hundred thou- sand dollars in the year 1862. In 1851 a company was formed in London to carry out more fully the scheme of turning the advantages of the islands and their herds of wild cattle to greater account. It was incorporated by royal charter, and purchased Mr. Lafone’s interest for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. This large grazing undertaking necessi- tated the establishment of stores and artificers at Stanley, where the settlement has been so constantly improving, that at this time ships can be provisioned and provided in every way as cheap as at any of the ports in South America. In 1869 the whole of the available land for grazing had passed into the hands of private individuals, with the exception of some portions of East Falkland. The company’s headquar- ters are at Stanley, though their operations are naturally con- ducted in different portions of their domain. These islands have no native inhabitants. The title to their sovereignty (which is now vested in the British crown) has been subject to much dispute, and their history is romantically interesting. The Falklands were discovered in 1592 by John Davis, who sailed with Cavendish on his second voyage, but separated from him two months later. In 1764 the Frenchman, De Bougainville, arrived with an armament and settlers, and es- tablished them at Port Louis, a little to the north of Stanley. In 1765 the group was taken possession of, for England, by Commodore Byron, and an officer was sent out to begin their colonization. lie commenced operations at Port Egmont, on 140 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. the northern shore of the west island. In 1170 a Spanish armament attacked the British colony, and obliged it to sur- render, but four years later Spain withdrew from the islands, and, as the French had previously decamped, left them quite uninhabited. The Falklands then remained unclaimed for nearly half a century, when they were formally taken pos- session of in the name and by the authority of the Argentine Republic. In 1833 Great Britian reasserted her sovereignty by sending a man-of-war to hoist the British flag in Port Louis. In the following year she appointed a governor, and sent out a small party as the nucleus of a future colony. The day on which the steamer was loading, the captain, the chief-engineer, and myself spent in shooting over the moors and along the rocky shores of the ocean to the south of Stanley. We found a great quantity of wild fowl — snipe, ducks, geese, penguins, and gulls — and we made a fabulous bag. The eggs of the penguin are esteemed a luxury. The oil is also exported, and is but little inferior to seal-oil. No wild animals of any kind are found save rabbits and rats. We left Stanley for Montevideo in a storm of wind and rain, so characteristic of this bleak, outlying station. Pass- ing Port William, we headed almost directly due north for our destination, twelve hundred miles distant, with a strong favorable breeze on the quarter. Ours was a lonely track. Steamers bound for the Strait of Magellan pass between us and the continent, while sailing-ships bound around Cape Horn mostly pass to the eastward of our route. Upon the mainland of South America was Patagonia, a country a thousand miles in length, the Andes forming its western and the Atlantic its eastern border. It belongs to the Argentine Republic, and the chief town is Chupat, with a population of some two hundred souls. Patagonia is not the dreary and wholly barren country it was once supposed to be. The sur- face is a series of enormous terraces, stretching back to the Andes, and though the aspect of the open country is rather desolate, the valleys are covered with rich vegetation and many lakes and streams of clear water appear. Along the and their Tent. 141 THE FORLORN FA L ELANDS. Rio Hegro, wheat, maize, and pnlse are cultivated. The estimated Indian population is twenty -live thousand. These people are tall and straight, with a reddish-brown complexion. They were named Patagonians by Magellan, on account of the supposed magnitude of their feet —jpatagon, in Spanish, signifying u large foot.” Later travelers, however, have not observed that their feet were out of proportion to their large stature. They wander all over the country, subsisting upon wild animals, fish, and mushrooms. The Fuegians differ from the Patagonians in very many characteristics, to say nothing of the great physical and moral differences. The Patagonians are greatly addicted to drink, whereas the Fue- gians can seldom be induced to do more than taste any beer, wine, or spirits. The Indians of the western archipelagoes appear to live mostly in their canoes, and to depend upon fishing and shell-fish for a subsistence. The Indians of Patagonia five mostly at some distance inland, and depend upon hunting for their living. Such clothing as they wear is generally of deer-skin, while the Fuegian is better clad with seal-skin. In Patagonia guanacos, pumas, and foxes abound, as do condors, hawks, and ostriches. Fish are also plentiful along the coasts and rivers. The guanaco is a species of llama, killed with poisoned arrows, and fine skins may be bought in Punta Arenas. In Patagonia ostriches are not bred, as at the Cape of Good Hope, but run wild, and are rapidly becoming exterminated. It is not the genuine ostrich, but the rhea, an allied species, which is large, of gray color, and remarkable for its swiftness in running. The Indians chase them on horseback and catch them with bolas, two heavy balls upon the ends of a rope. Grasping one ball in the hand they gallop after the ostrich, and, whirling the other ball around their heads like a coil of lasso, they let go when near enough to the bird ; and the two balls, still re- volving in the air, will, if skillfully directed, wind around the long legs of the rhea and send him turning somersaults upon the pampa. The Indians then leap from the saddle, and, if they are out of meat, cut the throat of the bird and 142 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. carry the carcass to camp ; but if they have no need of food, they pull the long plnmes from his tail and wings, and let him go again to gather fresh plumage for the next season. At any of the trading-posts of Patagonia you can buy for six or eight dollars a rug that represents the breasts of twelve or fifteen young ostriches, and even that low price gives the trader a profit of many hundred per cent, as a few drinks of whisky makes the Indian susceptible to persuasion. If the Government of the Argentine Republic w T ere to sell the mo- nopoly of trading in ostrich- feathers to a few fair-minded men, the birds would multiply enormously, and the beauty of their plumage be very much increased. The best plumes are worth forty or fifty dollars a pound in the market, and are much im- proved by the proper care of the bird. The pumas are of a brownish-yellow color, without spots, and next to the jaguar in size and fierceness. The condors, w r hich are a species of vulture and the largest known bird of prey, occasionally measure as much as fourteen feet from tip to tip of wing. Increased attention is now being paid by the Argentines to their great southern territory. Up to the present all the credit, capital, and enterprise of their Government have been directed to the central and northern parts ; but people are beginning to see that the great development of the future must be sought in the southern section. The day when im- migration and money seek new fields in the great Patagonian pampas, in the valleys of the Rio Regro and Rio Colorado, at the foot of the Andes and on the shores of the South Atlantic, railroads will stretch from ocean to ocean, and set- tlers from Europe will fill the plains and start a country that will eclipse in growth what we have seen in the center and north. There are already several schemes on foot to open the south. The transcendent scheme at present in favor is the railroad from Bahia Blanca to San Luis ; that will be followed by railroads up the Colorado, Rio ISTegro, and Chu- pat Yalleys, comprising an immense region that needs only' the hand of man and the lever of money to become popu- lous, prosperous, and productive. CHAPTER XVII. MONTEVIDEO — THE ATTRACTIVE. Still apparently on the ocean, we passed the month of the great River Plate, here one hundred and twenty miles in width, but with no greater average depth than fifty feet. It is almost unnecessary to say that the Rio de la Piata, or rather the Parana — for the name Rio de la Plata properly belongs to its broad estuary only — is one of the largest rivers in South America, after the Amazon. It received its name, “ river of silver,” from Sebastian Cabot — who visited here- about in 1520 — not because of the color of the water, but because of his having taken from the Indians great treasures of silver, and supposing that an abundance remained in the soil. The Plata continues fresh until only twelve miles above Montevideo, when it becomes somewhat brackish, though it is so long in fully mingling with the sea that the dark, yellow water which it brings down is often visible in the Atlantic for a distance of one hundred miles from its embouchure. The estuary of the River Plate, besides being comparatively shallow, has many shoals and rocks, the navi- gation generally extending along the northern and southern shores. We have to pass across the entire mouth, in a north- easterly direction, and then turn nearly due west toward Montevideo. Between this city and the opposite shore the river has narrowed less than one half — that is, from one hun- dred and twenty miles to fifty-two. After a very interesting voyage of twenty days from Valparaiso, we anchored just out- side the almost circular bay of Montevideo, nearly two miles in diameter, and opening toward the southwest. Three or four steamers and a dozen ships were lying near us. El Cerro, or 144 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. the Mount, a distinguishing feature of the port, rises in the form of a smooth, isolated cone to a height of five hundred feet about half a mile from the rocky beach on the western side of the bay. It is covered with thin grass, and is crowned by a fort in which is a lighthouse, wdiose splendid revolving light is visi- ble twenty-five miles at sea. The city stands on gently rising ground on the east side of the bay, near its entrance, and oc- cupies a small peninsula and a large portion of the mainland. The sun set, and we remained on board until the next day. Upon going on deck in the morning I saw that there were about fifty vessels in the inner harbor, very many of them of large tonnage. Many small sailing-craft from the great rivers above were also entering port. To the left was the Cerro, and at its base were some great buildings of the saladeros or beef-salters. Directly opposite us the shore was thinly dotted with dwellings, but to the right lay the impos- ing city of Montevideo, a thick mass of irregular- shaped, fiat-roofed houses, with many church-towers, domes, fire- lookouts, and chimneys. The place bore quite an Oriental air. The great square towers of the cathedral, with its tile- covered cupola, held the center of the view, rising high above the surrounding buildings. To the right was another very prominent object, the huge walls and cylindrical roof of the opera-house. Then there were pineapple-shaped spires, and the tops of many dwellings bore curious little square belve- deres. Colors, too, were not wanting. The green of the towers and domes, the yellow and red of the houses, the dark brown of the warehouses, and the white of the shipping near the shore, furnished a glittering abundance. To the extreme right were a fringe of trees and a slope of very green grass extending away off to the point where rose the tall gray stee- ple of a lighthouse. The situation of Montevideo, therefore, as it inclines gently back from the water, with the bright morning sun lighting up its various tints, and glancing from the tiled domes and tower-tops, makes altogether a very at- tractive picture. In general position and aspect it reminded me of Constantinople. General View of Montevideo. MONTEVIDEO— TEE ATTRACTIVE. 145 At our foremast fluttered the Uruguay flag — blue aud white alternate stripes, with a gilded sun in the upper cor- ner nearest the flag-staff, where the stars are in the Ameri- can banner. I enter a small steam-tender and with my bag- gage start for the inner harbor, the custom-house, and the Hotel des Pyramid es. On the way we pass a dozen men-of- war and small gunboats of various nationalities — English, French, Brazilian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Beyond these, and anchored in a sort of bight, are' several hundred small trading-boats from up the rivers Parana, Paraguay, and Uru- guay. A great fleet of lighters is also to- be seen. The cus- tom-houses are enormous three story structures, occupying several blocks. I find the officials very courteous, and with- out delay hire some porters to carry my baggage, and follow them on foot to my hotel. Notwithstanding it is Sunday, all the retail shops are open, though comparatively few people are seen. The streets are nicely paved with oblong stone blocks, and both they and the sidewalks are broader than is usual in South Ameri- can cities. The houses are mostly two and three stories in height, but you see also some handsome residences of but a single story, and this notwithstanding the fact that Monte- video is not situated in an earthquake region. The city is lighted by gas-brackets, attached to the walls of the houses. One instantly notices the rows of gas-jets in semicircular pipes w T hich at frequent intervals bridge the chief thorough- fares from house to house, and many of which are provided with vari-colored glass globes. These pipes are to assist in the illumination of the city on the anniversary of the great national holiday, the 18th of July, 1830 — it was upon this date that the Republic of Uruguay was founded. On ordi- nary festivals the illumination is paid for by equal assess- ments upon the houses thus joined ; but on this special po- litical celebration the Government pays for all the gas con- sumed. The finest street, with its stores and residences, and double line of tram-cars, is called the B “ Boulevard 18 de Julio,” and would be no discredit to London, Paris, or 10 146 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. New York. A very noticeable feature of the streets and public places is the absence of any prominent Uruguayan element in the populace. Every nation under the sun seems to be represented, but comparatively few native faces are met. In this respect it is very like Valparaiso, and most un- like La Paz and Quito. Fully one third, or about forty thousand, of the population of Montevideo are foreigners. Then, again, the appearance of the city, upon landing and traversing its thoroughfares, is decidedly strange. In fact, it strongly resembles the cities of northern Italy. My hotel I find on a corner of the Grand Plaza next the cathedral, which is a very large edifice, with two towers and a huge dome covered with green, blue, and yellow tiles. In one of the towers is a fine clock, which strikes* the hours, halves, and quarters, and whose face is illumined at night. This clock has a very intelligible as well as agreeable method of announcing the time. Just before the hours, eight taps are made by twos in different keys, then follow the slow, solemn notes of the hour in a deeper and more mellow tone. The quarter hours are marked by two strokes, the halves by four, and the three-quarters by six. The facade of the cathedral is very plain, and the towers and dome are in a simple though impressive style of architecture. Inside there is nothing to especially distinguish this from other metropoli- tan churches in South America. Near the door, however, is a remarkably handsome statue of a former archbishop, in full canonicals, and in a kneeling posture, with the head partially raised in prayer. The Grand Plaza is large, but not surrounded by any fine buildings other than the cathe- dral and the Town Hall, a two-story stone affair built in a very substantial manner many years ago by the Spaniards. In the center of the Plaza is a superb fountain of many basins and much carving. Around the base are patriotic sen- timents and dates commemorative of the political history of the country. The paths radiating from the fountain are flanked with small acacias, or Egyptian thorn-trees, trimmed nearly to death. The remainder of the Plaza is covered MONTEVIDEO— THE ATTRACTIVE. 147 with smooth, reddish gravel — as if the citizens had become disgusted with the attempt to make anything grow — all very dreary to behold. A music pavilion is placed at one side. At another is a stand of European-looking hackney-coaches, but it is scarcely necessary to employ them, as the tram lines seem to gridiron the city. Besides, these lines are so cheap — from two to seven cents, according to the distance— as to be used by every one. The cars, I observed, had been made in Hew York. There are, of course, a number of other plazas in the city — one, that of the Indepen dencia, being very large, and laying claim to the boast, not wholly peculiar to Montevideo, of being the finest square in South America. On one side is the Government Building, where are to be found the offices of the various cabinet ministers. This plaza was not in good order at the time of my visit, and I believe the plan was to lay it out in lawn and flowers. One afternoon I visited the Prado or Park, a great pleas- ure-ground for the people, at a short distance from the bor- ders of the city. The road to this park passes through Paso Molino, which is the most fashionable suburb of Montevideo. Here one may see the quintas , or country-houses, of the wealthy officials and merchants, single-story buildings of the quaintest architecture — one of them resembles a great burial vault more than anything else — embowered in gardens of fruit-trees and beautiful flowers, with artificial concomitants of statues, fountains, marble settees, and gravel walks. In the Prado were many fine trees from different zones. Espe- cially noticeable, from their number and size, were the euca- lypti. In one place was a restaurant, in others were beer and billiard rooms, shooting-galleries, and all sorts of out-door games for youths. In a grove, with seats which were half filled with people, the music of the Basques (who are largely represented in the population of Montevideo), upon flageolet and drum, was in progress, and frequently these people per- form here their national dance, which consists largely of post- uring. Their music is plaintive and sentimental in charac- ter. On festivals this park is crowded with people from the 14:8 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. city, who bring provisions, and during a whole day camp in true Gypsy style. I noticed a few elegant carriages of for- eign ownership, with liveried coachmen and footmen, but the popular mode for taking air and exercise, especially for gen- tlemen, appeared to be upon horseback. In the evening I went to the opera-honse, a large build- ing, with a portico and a pair of oval wings of very imposing effect, the whole occupying an entire square. One of the wings is devoted to a large billiard and liquor saloon, while the other contains the National Museum. There was a great red light burning at the apex of the roof, to indicate that opera would be given that night, the light being omitted when there is no opera. Inside, on the second floor, is a fine large foyer^ with tables and chairs for those who wish to sit and smoke and drink. The auditorium is rather handsome, quite an oval in shape, and with its five tiers of boxes — like La Scala at Milan — ornamented in white, green, red, and gold. The fourth circle is exclusively reserved for women. This is a peculiar feature of the large theatres in Montevideo, as well as in all South American capitals, and in Spain. No man, however high his station, is ever allowed to enter here. The ladies are escorted to the theatre by their fathers or brothers, who leave them at the door, and either take seats in another part of the house, or go away to spend the evening as they like, returning at the close of the performance to escort the ladies home. The ladies being pretty and gayly dressed, this gallery, when filled, as it generally is, presents a very beautiful spectacle. The men are rigorously excluded from the charmed circle, but no regulation can control the flashing eyes of the occupants of the gallery, and the flirta- tions which are carried on with the gentlemen in other parts of the house are constant. They never get beyond the point of meeting eyes, however, for at the door the lady is met by her escort and hurried to her home, and she gets no chance to extend the flirtation by means of conversation. To the fifth circle men only are admitted. In the parquette the seats were three dollars each. The house has a seating ca- MONTEVIDEO— THE ATTRACTIVE . 149 pacity of four thousand, and was well filled. The ladies almost all wore showy hats, with colored silk dresses, a few only were clothed in black, and were hatless. While speaking of the Montevideo ladies, I might mention, for the benefit of my American lady readers, that short dresses are worn in the streets — granting a liberal display of very small and high- heeled Trench boots — with hats and without cloaks, and that the fashion seems to run altogether to the bustle, accompanied with great puffs calculated to make a Japanese girl die of envy. (It is unnecessary to explain that this very ugly cus- tom, this actual deformation of the “ human form divine,” is an exaggerated adaptation from the Japanese.) I have fre- quently seen these posterior appendages projecting quite two feet from the body, and have wondered they were not util- ized as bundle or wrap carriers. Every country, however, has its own standard of taste and fashion. In Valparaiso and Santiago it is the spray of feathers and top-knot of artificial vegetation which marks the best society ; in Mon- tevideo it is the bustle, which, by its greater or lesser super- ficial area, distinguishes the patrician from the plebeian. The graceful lace mantilla, with the dignified black embroidered crape or silk shawl, is all unknown, the most extravagant Trench fashions having taken its place. The men show no better taste. Just at this period it is a question whether they are endeavoring to trim their shoes or their beards to the sharpest point. To return to the opera : it was a light, Offenbachian affair, sung by a Spanish company, accom- panied by an orchestra of thirty instruments. I regret that I am not able to praise any of the vocal or instrumental per- formers. As I passed out, a curious lattice-covered box attracted my attention. This, I was informed, was set apart for the use of persons in mourning, who might wish perhaps to hear an opera, without being seen at such a performance under such conditions. It is a custom which, it seems to me would be in great danger of being abused. As I stood by the door to see the “ quality ” pass, General Santos, then Pres- ident of the Republic, was pointed out to me — a very small, 150 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. thin man, with a bright, intelligent face, dressed in plain civil- ian clothes, and followed by an enormous negro orderly in full uniform. I was told that the general was probably accom- panied by half a dozen detectives, for the demon of assassina- tion always hovers over the South American republics. Sitting in my room, reading and resting during the fol- lowing afternoon, I hear the sound of martial music, and, opening one of the French windows and stepping out into the little balcony, I see a regiment of Uruguayan soldiers pass through the street. First came a company of buglers, then a drum-corps, then a large brass band playing a lively quickstep, then the colonel and mounted staff, and then six- teen companies of twelve front and double rank. The men did not have a very martial bearing, though they marched well, and performed in tolerable fashion the few evolutions requisite to pass street obstructions. Their uniform was rather peculiar. It consisted of a red forage-cap, a sort of blue ulster descending to about six inches above the ground, ornamented and fastened with brass buttons, enormous baggy trousers of white canvas, and white canvas gaiters. Their accoutrements consisted of rifles, with sword-bayonets, knap- sacks, blankets, and tin plates. The officers wore a neat uni- form of dark cloth, similar to that used by the engineers of the British army. The regimental colors were of fine silk, and very pretty. The mounted officers had beautiful horses, and splendid saddles with silver stirrups. The “ rank and file” were rather undersized, and a more wild, brutal, and savage-looking set of men I have rarely seen. The explana- tion is that the Uruguayan army is very largely recruited from the prisons and penitentiaries, and that under certain conditions, after having passed a specified length of time in jail, a criminal is allowed to serve out in the army the re- mainder of his term. It may be that the discipline of the army is quite as wholesome as that of the jail, but it seems to me a much lighter form of punishment, inasmuch as the restriction is neither solitary nor close, and the odium of being branded as a criminal among criminals is quite omitted. Situation of the Argentine Republic in South America. CHAPTER XVIII. THE METROPOLIS OF THE RIVER PLATE. At six o’clock in the evening I left Montevideo for Bue- nos Ayres, one hundred and twenty-five miles distant, in a steamer (of some five hundred-odd tons burden) of a line which dispatches a boat every day of the week, save Friday and Saturday. It is a double-deck, side- wheel, two-pipe ves- sel, and seems intended to carry only passengers and their personal baggage. W e were about fifty, representing a fifth as many nationalities. The dinner was most elaborate — at least a dozen courses, with three kinds of wine. Living in Montevideo is not only cheap but good. At the hotel at which I stayed, one of the best though not the largest in the city, I paid two dollars and a half per day, and this charge included two kinds of wine, Spanish and French. The rooms were well furnished and admirably kept, the table was bounteously supplied, and the cooking was either French or Italian, there being ordinarily but little difference in these systems. A dozen great steamers lay in the offing, as we passed out and headed toward the west. Montevideo is a place of great commercial activity. I noticed, in an evening newspaper, that five steamers were to sail and four expected to arrive that day. A heavy northerly storm of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, prevailed throughout the night. This “ Horte,” as it is called, is a very depressing, unwhole- some sort of wind, wdiereas the “ Pampero,” or wind from the great open plains, which generally blows, is very cool, bracing, and healthy. Hence the title — Buenos Ayres, good air. 152 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. At daylight we had reached the roadstead, and could fairly see the city through the gloom of fog and rain. The water was of a light brown, thick and dirty-looking. There were at least fifty ships at anchor, scattered over a very great extent of the river. Near the city, where we anchored, were a few steamers and vessels employed in the great up-country river navigation. So shallow is the Plata, opposite Buenos Ayres, that occasionally, when it is especially low, the sail- boats, in landing passengers from the steamers, are not able to reach the piers, and consequently empty their human freight into carts, wTdch, in turn, bring them across the flats to the shore. Cargo from small river- vessels is very often landed in this way, and I have seen a dozen carts, quite half a mile from shore, with the water no higher than their axle- trees. The odd appearance of these carts, with their huge wheels, circular roofs, and tandem teams, driving about among the shipping in the roadstead, may be imagined. In the distance, to the southwest of our anchorage, were dimly seen a great mass of masts, and yards, and streaming pen- nants. These belonged to vessels in the Riachuelo River, a small stream, emptying into the Plata, which serves as a sort of inner harbor to the city. Buenos Ayres, from the river, very much resembles Montevideo in its general aspect; it is like an Italian city. It is, however, built upon more level ground than Montevideo, and its streets all lie exactly at right angles to each other, and the general direction of the blocks is almost toward the cardinal points of the compass. At the northern part of the city one sees many tall chimneys and large factories ; and beyond, farther to the east, is a long circling fringe of trees. In the center and southern section rise above the three and four story houses, with their arcades and belvederes, many peak-topped towers, many domes of churches, many spires of various designs and for various pur- poses. This is almost an Oriental view ; but as I look again a protracted railway-train rushes along the bank and dispels this charming chimera. Three long iron piers project into the river, and at the center of these I am landed from a little THE METROPOLIS OF THE RIVER PLATE. 153 Italian felucca, into which I had with the greatest difficulty, and some danger (owing to the high sea and strong tide), thrown first my baggage and then myself. At the custom- house the inspection is over in a moment, and I follow por- ters with my baggage to the “ Hotel Provence,” only two blocks distant. I find it to be a good hostelry, kept in the French style, as I had inferred from its name. The streets and sidewalks of Buenos Ayres are all narrow, badly paved, and dirty — in these respects differing from the neighboring capital of Uruguay. They have a curious meth- od of naming the streets in Buenos Ayres. A street about the center of the city, running east and west, forms a divid- ing line from which the streets running north and south take different names, and from which the numbers also begin and run in opposite directions. The east and west streets have but a single name. Among the streets I notice the name “ United States”; and in Montevideo there is one called “ Hew York.” The names of no other foreign countries and cities being thus represented, we have a right, I suppose, to feel highly complimented. There seem to be few hand- some public buildings in Buenos Ayres. It is a great com- mercial mart, and its citizens seem wholly given to business. The number of stores and the variety and elegance of the goods displayed are astonishing. The retail shops of the street called Florida have a true Parisian, splendor. Many of them are small, and devoted to a special product or arti- cle for which you would think there would be sufficient de- mand only in a large city like Paris or Vienna. On the other hand, entire streets, as with us at home, are sometimes devoted to certain classes of business. Thus, the . first street running along the river is monopolized by the customs and port offices, and stores connected with shipping interests. The next may be said to be the street of banks, brokers, and insurance companies. Here is situated the Exchange, a fine large building erected in 1883, in which the Argentine “bulls and bears ” wrangle in just the same fashion as their brother fauna do in Hew York or London. The next street is that 154 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. of stationers and lawyers. Then come the shops of the Florida, which street is also the afternoon resort of beauty and fashion. Next to Florida is Maypu, the street of whole- sale merchants, and then Esmeraldas, where are many thea- tres, music-halls, skating-rinks, shooting-galleries, ball-rooms, and beer-gardens. Buenos Ayres is even more of a cosmo- politan city than Montevideo, about half of its population being Europeans by birth. You hear French, German, Ital- ian, and English spoken almost as much as Spanish. Opera- houses, hotels, cafes, restaurants, and clubs of different na- tionalities vie with each other. The “ Stranger’s Guide ” to Buenos Ayres is published in four languages. The popula- tion is put down at four hundred thousand, thus making it the largest city in the southern hemisphere, Bio Janeiro standing second. The principal public square — the Plaza de la Victoria — is about eight acres in extent, and is situated near the center of the eastern edge of the city, just back of the custom- house. It contains two monuments, one an equestrian statue of General San Martin, the illustrious colleague of Bolivar in the War of Independence, and the other a sort of pyramid of liberty, made of brick and stucco, and erected in remem- brance of the heroes of the same conflict. The latter is a very tawdry, cheap-looking affair, without any redeeming archi- tectural features. A bronze monument was ordered, as far back as 1826, to replace this one, but has not yet made its ap- pearance. On the north side of this plaza are the cathedral, the archbishop’s palace, and the opera-house. The cathedral has a portico, with a symbolical pediment, and a blue tile- covered cupola. On the facade are huge bosses of white and gold wood-work, displaying ecclesiastical crooks, mitres, scarfs,, and keys. The interior contains nothing extraordi- nary, save a great marble and bronze monument in one of the chapels, erected in 1880 to the memory of General San Martin. It is in the form of a bronze sarcophagus, reared upon a lofty marble pedestal of four different colors. The opera-house exteriorly is not imposing, while interiorly it is A Private Residence , Buenos Ayres. THE METROPOLIS OF THE RIVER PLATE. 155 •' , c very like that at Montevideo. On the east side of the Vic- toria Plaza is a huge two-story and Mansard-roof building — about the only really handsome building in Buenos Ayres— wdiich contains in one wing the government-house, in the other the post-office, while in the center is the grand entrance to the custom-house. It is wholly a modern style of building. On the south side is Congress Hall, and the rest of this street is filled with very inferior one and two story shops, which spoil the general effect of the square. On the remaining side, the west, are the Town Hall and police department. The Town Hall has rather a fine lofty clock-tower ; of the police headquarters nothing favorable can be said. While criticising so harshly the public buildings of so large and wealthy a city, I ought to mention that while Buenos Ayres is to remain the capital of the nation, the capital of the prov- ince of the same name has been removed to La Plata, a city forty miles to the southeast, where a number of governmental buildings, in the most lavish style of modern architecture, are in progress of erection. The Eecoleta, or public cemetery, is at the northern ex- tremity of the city. There is an elaborate gateway prefaced by some pretty gardens, but inside are only a few cypress- trees, and monuments set in rectangular rows and so close together that the place has quite the look of a stone-cutter’s display -yard. Why the citizens of Buenos Ayres could not take thrice the amount of land, and lay it out with trees and lawns and flowers, and neat gravel walks, I can not com- prehend. Such a style of graveyard as our Greenwood, or Cypress Hills, or Woodlawn, does not exist in all South America. The people of Buenos Ayres, unlike those of Montevideo and the west coast, do not employ mural burial to any extent. Here the popular style of interment is either in vaults below the surface, or in marble tombs just above it. In either case there is generally a more or less ornamental structure, fitted up with a miniature altar, and filled with wreaths, inscriptions, cards, and other touching tokens. The door is usually of latticed iron, and the coffins may plainly 156 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. be seen lying upon iron gratings at each side, or below, in a vault. Many fine country residences are seen on the outskirts of Buenos Ayres. One that I visited, in the eastern part of the city, belongs to a wealthy native merchant. The house is a very large one, sumptuously furnished, and from its lofty tower a widely extended view of city, country, and river may be ob- tained. The grounds fill an entire and very large square, and are surrounded by a high brick wall. Here are gardens worthy of Versailles or Fontainebleau. Nature and art are combined to the best effect. Both temperate and semi-tropic zones are represented, and grottoes, summer-houses, marble statues, urns, fountains, arbors, and conservatories abound. In one place is a splendid avenue lined with the ever-pict- uresque cocoa palm. At another spot a huge old pine-tree supports near its crown a pretty belvidere, reached by a spiral staircase. There are rich orchards, attractive flower- beds, great clumps of shrubbery, velvety lawns, and rare graperies. Everywhere run paths covered with beautiful pink and white shells. It costs the proprietor one hundred thousand dollars a year to keep this magnificent place in order. In returning to the hotel I passed two banking build- ings — the Banco Hipotecario and the Banco Provincial — which are as handsome and appropriate samples of what such edifices may be as any European or American city can show. They are of brick and plaster, two stories in height, with central towers and imposing facades. Inside, the furnishing and upholstery are of the most luxurious description. Mar- ble, bronze, tiles, stained glass, mahogany, and frescoes have been everywhere lavishly employed. These buildings cost about one million five hundred thousand dollars apiece. There are a number of theatres in Buenos Ayres, all of them quite large, with from three to five tiers of boxes. At one of them I saw Ambroise Thomas’s “ Mignon ” given in good style by a French lyric company ; in another a comedy by a Spanish dramatic troupe ; in a third Alexandre Dumas’s drama of “ Denise” by an Italian company, the “ star ” of THE METROPOLIS OF THE RIVER PLATE. 157 which was a brother of the famous tragedian Ernesto Bossi ; and in a fourth a grand symphony concert, with an orches- tra of seventy “ professionals,” as the bills styled the musi- cians. The orchestra were seated upon an ample stage, and gave, with good expression, selections from Massenet, Saint- Saens, Rameau, Wagner, Weber, and Liszt, together with an overture and a march of mediocre merit by the band-leader. The theatres have an average seating capacity of three thou- sand ; while the Politeano Argentino, constructed in such a manner as to serve for a circus as well as theatre, will hold nearly five thousand persons. But Buenos Ayres is to have a still larger theatre, and at a cost of three million dollars. It is to cover thirteen thousand square metres, and will accom- modate six thousand spectators. Its stage is to be larger than that of La Scala. Of course, I paid a visit to the new capital of the prov- ince of Buenos Ayres, La Plata, forty miles from the city, and near the great river, with which it is to be connected by a ship-canal. I went by a good railway, over a perfectly flat and well-cultivated country, a great part of the distance in full view of the river. The cars were of the American pat- tern, with the exception that there was a central partition in each car. A door in every partition, however, permitted con- tinuous communication throughout the train. The railway- station at La Plata is an enormous three-story structure, with a great Mansard- roof. The new city is laid out in chess- board fashion, though it is also provided with boulevards diagonally cutting through it from angle to angle, and with several plazas and a large park. It was only founded three years before my visit, but already boasted a population of thirty-five thousand. The public buildings — few of which were then completed — are on a very grandiose scale, three stories in height, elaborately ornamented, and standing in great gardens surrounded by lofty iron railings. One finds there all the public buildings necessary for a great munici- pality, such as a government palace, palace of justice, of the police, a national bank, a jail, library, museum, astro- 158 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. nomical and meteorological observatory, and splendid resi- dences for the ministers and officers of the government. The museum is at present located in the great bank building. It contains a complete collection of Patagonian ethnography, and a very fine assortment of South American osteology. The public buildings of La Plata, when completed, will do honor to any capital, though I ought to add that they are all of brick and stucco, while the greater number of the dwell- ings are of wood. The port of the new city will cost, when finished, fifteen million dollars, and will be much more serv- iceable than anything near Buenos Ayres. The pampas, or plain regions of the Argentine Pepublic, embrace an area nearly two thousand miles in length and five hundred in width. They rise from the east almost im- perceptibly, in a series of terraces, till one reaches the slopes of the Andes. It is known that the sea was once over all this part of the continent ; for under the surface soil there are gravel and great beds of shells of the same species now found in the Atlantic, mixed with the bones of quadrupeds now extinct, but of the same type as those, of much less size, at present existing. These pampas are covered with coarse grass, interspersed with desert patches. They support, as is well known, enormous herds of wild cattle and horses. Lately immense tracts of pasture are being converted into farm-land, and, while a few years ago not sufficient wheat was raised to supply the home market, the exports of this cereal in 1887 amounted to seven million bushels. The number of reapers imported into the republic the same year was fifteen hundred. The country being so largely a plain, railways are cheaply constructed. There are now over seven thousand miles running. The longest straight reach of railway in the world is on the new' Argentine Pacific Bail way, from Buenos Ayres to the foot of the Andes. For a distance of tw r o hun- dred and eleven miles the line is laid without a curve. The level nature of the country will be evident from the fact that there is neither a cutting nor an embankment deeper or higher than three feet. The Famous Rocking-Stone of Tandil. CHAPTER XIX. TOWARD THE HEART OF THE CONTINENT. Among many wonders of nature in the Argentine Re- public, I saw an especially interesting geological phenome- non. It was a great rocking-stone — perhaps the largest in the world — three miles from Tandil, a small village, which may he reached by railway, two hundred and fifty miles south of Buenos Ayres. The giant, mushroom-shaped quartz bowlder stands upon the summit of some picturesque hills, perhaps a thousand feet in height. It weighs over seven hundred tons, and is so nicely poised that it rocks in the wind, and may be made to crack a walnut. Yet this bowl- der is so firm that one of the old dictators, Rosas by name, once harnessed a thousand horses to it, and was unable to dis- place it. There are, of course, many such rocking-stones scattered about the world, though I know of none nearly so large. The smaller ones are not less interesting. In Hew York State are twopone near the town of Monticello, of about forty tons, and the other in Salem, of over eighty tons. The former is nearly as round as an orange, and so nicely bal- anced upon a table of stone that a child, by pushing against either of two sides, can rock it back and forth ; yet the strength of a hundred men without levers or other appli- ances, would be insufficient to dislodge it from its position. Its body is composed of a somewhat loose and soft sandstone, in which are imbedded numberless round and flinty pebbles, of a diamond-like hardness. In the valley where it is situ- ated it is the solitary specimen of its class. Whence came this wanderer, and how ? The other great rock stands two 160 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. feet from tlie ground, on stilts composed of three small pointed rocks of a different formation, and though easily moved to and fro, by the application of a man’s muscular strength, can not be overturned or removed from its base. The attempt was vainly made by means of two hundred oxen yoked together and hitched to its massy bulk. All these bowlders w T ere undoubtedly so placed by glacial action — that is, by the melting of the ice ; or else the glaciers of ages ago, having tossed these rocks about, like playthings, have finally deposited them in the extraordinary positions in which we now find them. On October 18th I left Buenos Ayres for Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, in a Brazilian steamer of about one thousand tons burden. It was one of a line which dispatches one steamer a month to Asuncion, and thence to Curumba, nineteen hundred and eighty -six miles, where it connects with a smaller steamer for Cuyaba, twenty-five hundred and three miles, the capital of Matto-G rosso, a large and rich province of Brazil. Asuncion is eleven hundred and fifteen miles from Buenos Ayres, by the rivers Parana and Paraguay. My steamer was named the Bio Apa, after the river which forms the boundary between Paraguay and Brazil on the north. It was a paddle-wheel vessel, drawing but eight feet of water, and had good accommodation for first-class passen- gers, though the table was not all that might be desired. We had on board about twenty cabin passengers, among them the Brazilian President of Matto-Grosso, the commander of the troops there, a deputy from that province to Bio Janeiro, and several merchants, all bound for Curumba or Cuyabfi. The President had been recently elected to this distant post, a change of ministry having taken place in Brazil. Our first stop was at Bosario, a city of about forty-five thousand in- habitants, situated on the west bank, and about sixty feet above the river. It consists, for the most part, of single- story houses, and is laid out at precise right angles. Tram- ways run in every direction. In the river, abreast of the city, were anchored several good-sized steamers, and along TOWARD TEE HEART OF TEE CONTINENT. 161 the bank and at short piers were more steamers and many sailing-vessels. The prevailing style of the river-vessels ap- pears to be a sort of brigantine, with light spars, and of these there is a very great number. With their tine lines, tall, raking masts, white hulks, and great spread of can- vas, they resemble yachts more than merchantmen. When sailing on the wind, with four jibs, three square sails, and three try-sails set, they present a very trim and pretty ap- pearance. I go on shore and walk through the principal streets. The wharves are covered with merchandise, which is being transported to town in great two-wheeled carts. These are drawn, in a most primitive fashion, by a single horse which is not harnessed by means of traces and shafts, but is simply secured by his girth to a great pole. He car- ries a sort of bag saddle, with one very long stirrup, the rider half facing the cart, and the horse, especially in start- ing, getting a strong side pull. I did not think that a horse could draw half so great a load in this manner as by a collar, but was surprised to find I had mistaken. It is much se- verer work, however, and wears the animal out much earlier. In the center of the Grand Plaza is a lofty marble shaft, with a figure of Victory atop, and at the base four life-size statues of Argentine heroes — soldiers and statesmen. It was erected in 1883, and is a fine piece of work from an artistic standpoint. The plaza is adorned with a double row of aca- cias. Leaving Posario, we find the banks of the river altogether uninteresting, being generally low upon the eastern side, and with bluffs, sometimes a hundred feet high, upon the west- ern. The river averages two miles in width, with a current of about four miles an hour. The channel is very tortuous. First we skirt one bank, and then the opposite, frequently approaching within thirty feet of the shore. Notwithstand- ing this, we go at full speed all night, except when the weather is thick or foggy, when we anchor. Our speed is about ten knots an hour. The river contains many small isl- ands covered with tall grass and green shrubbery. On the 11 162 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. banks poplars and willows are often to be seen, and occa- sionally peach and other fruit trees, with great farm-houses in the distance. We next stopped at the port of Parana, the city lying upon a high bluff, about two miles distant, and being reached by tramway. At the port, where we received on board some flour and biscuit, were only the custom- house, a hotel, and the station of the tram-cars. A score of sailing-vessels were loading or discharging at the wharves, and a large steamer was just leaving for Buenos Ayres. As we went on, the province of Santa Fe was soon upon our left. This contains a great number of agricultural colonies, some of them reaching to the river-bank. The colonists are mostly Germans and Swiss, while still farther to the north- west are many Italians. The Argentine Republic receives more immigrants from Europe than all the other South American countries. Lately the rate of immigration has been two hundred thousand annually. I may add that this enterprising republic has doubled its commerce in five years and its wealth in ten. Its great vitality and growth lie in the fertility and cheapness of the soil and in the multiplica- tion of numbers, both of human beings and the lower ani- mals. The next day we reached the town of Goya, six hundred and seventy-six miles from Buenos Ayres. The weather was becoming quite warm and the grass, shrubs, and willows were rapidly giving place to ferns, oranges, wild sugar-cane, and palms, as we approached the tropics. The trees were in- creasing in size and in density of foliage, and there was also a good deal of fine grass-land for cattle. The smooth bluffs showed very nicely the geological strata, exactly as they were formed ages ago when the Atlantic swept over all this re- gion, depositing its sediment, layer upon layer, as far as the Andes. Alligators are sometimes seen basking on the sandy beaches, half hidden among the rushes. Opposite Goya is an immense district of the Argentine Republic, styled the Gran Chaco. This is now beginning to be settled, though its northern parts are a wilderness full of savage Indians. TOWARD TEE HEART OF THE CONTINENT. 163 Corrientes, eight hundred and thirty-two miles, was one of our next stops. Vessels drawing as much as ten feet can go np thus far. Fonr days from Buenos Ayres we entered the Paraguay, a river about a mile in width, with higher and drier banks than the Parana, though with quite as tortuous a channel. Near the mouth of the great river Vermejo, which comes into the Paraguay from Bolivia, was an Argen- tine sub-prefecture of police, where was stationed a battalion of troops, with a small gunboat anchored near by. Upon the right we now had the Republic of Paraguay. Very many camelotes , or floating islands of water-plants, passed us, voy- aging slowly down the stream. The banks are being con- stantly undermined and broken off by the current and wind —and thus are launched the camelotes . The country be- comes more undulating, and is covered with forest or swamp. The heat is very great during the day, the mosquitoes very annoying during the night. The alligators increase in number, and are supplemented by carpinchos , or river-hogs. About noon on the 24th, on suddenly turning a bend in the river, I saw before me the city of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, a plain town of single-story buildings, the only conspicuous edifice being the palace of Lopez (the famous Paraguayan general and President), torn with shot and shell just as it was left by the Brazilian fleet fifteen years before. We passed some batteries and the arsenal, and saw behind them a large hospital. Abreast of the city was a large, double-turreted Brazilian ironclad, whose sailors^ as we came to anchor, manned her yards and cheered out of compliment to the President of Matto- Grosso, whom we had on board. There were but two or three vessels, save a dozen very small craft, in the roadstead or large sort of bay connecting with the river. The Paraguay itself seemed to be about a mile wide, the opposite shores being low and level, and consisting mostly of meadow-land. To the north beautiful green hills stretched away, ridge behind ridge ; to the south, upon a prominent knoll, was a cemetery. The city before us bore a most woe- begone aspect, the buildings seemed all dilapidated 164 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. or half -built, and scarcely any people appeared. Evidently Asuncion has not revived since the late terrible war. Our anchor was dropped just six days from the time of leaving Buenos Ayres. As I landed upon one of the three short piers, a shower of tropical violence descended, and the streets were at once turned into rivers. The palace of Lopez, which commands an extensive view, is in a very good style of archi- tecture, three stories in height, with a lofty square tower and grand pillared entrance. The lower story is of cut stone, the two upper of stuccoed brick. It has apparently been allowed to go altogether to decay. The walls are blackened, no sashes till the window openings, and in one quite a large bush is vigorously growing. In front of The palace, and almost touching it, are rows of miserable mud-plastered and grass- thatched huts — a suggestive contrast indeed. I had no diffi- culty with the custom-house officials, and found quarters at the “ Hotel Hispano- Americano,” a grandiose structure which was formerly a palace belonging to the Lopez family, but which the sudden changes of fortune hereabout have now turned into a public-house. There are two stories, each of great height. There is a very imposing entrance, with mar- ble staircases, right and left, and a vestibule and court-yard full of great round pillars. The stucco-work embraces sym- bols of war, peace, music, art and literature, busts, elaborate scrolls and flowers, the whole painted a delicate pink and green upon a white ground. In the center of the tile-paved court is a well, with a beautiful coping cut from a single block of marble. Here also are marble tables, on which cooling refreshments are served. The corridors are hung with huge octagonal lamps of stained glass. Down-stairs are bar and billiard rooms, and above are tile-floored dwelling-rooms, which are separated by partitions that do not reach the ceil- ing by as much as four feet. This gives you the benefit, not only of your own share of air, but also of other people’s con- versation, in various keys and unlimited quantities. The streets of Asuncion are badly paved with huge blocks of stone, and are a foot deep either with sand or mud, accord- TOWARD TEE HEART OF TEE CONTINENT. 105 ing to the season. Four horses are necessary to draw even a small, two- wheeled cart with a light load. The sidewalks are very narrow and of brick. They strive to keep the level, and this makes steps frequently necessary at the corner cross- ings. The houses are painted white, yellow, green, or pink, which always makes a street scene a picturesque one. All the windows have heavy iron gratings and green jalousies. The ground upon which the city is built is not only undu- lating, but sweeps quite steeply back toward the east. This topography necessitates a series of stone terraces in many of the streets. The city is laid out in chess-board fashion, with an avenue in the center, called Calle Independence Nacional, running from east to west, from which, as in Buenos Ayres, the numbers of the houses divergingly increase, and each street running north and south has two names. The city is poorly lighted by kerosene-lamps, which are bracketed upon the houses. A tramway extends from the landing-place up through two of the principal streets and out to the northern suburbs. The telephone is largely used, the posts for the wires being the trunks of palm-trees, which w T ill last thirty years or more. A telegraph connects Asuncion with Buenos Ayres, as do also two lines of weekly and two of monthly steamers. There are three daily newspapers published in Asuncion, at ten cents a copy. Of the city in general it may be said that it presents a semi-Oriental and semi-mediae- val appearance. Palms and bananas and other tropical trees and various flowers abound. But you meet few people in the grass-grown streets, and these are mostly women — the male population having been nearly annihilated in the disas- trous war with Brazil, which lasted five years, and terminated in 1870. The census shows that the women actually out- number the men six to one. It is like a deserted city, deso- late, noiseless, and sad. Yet it must rise again ; its situation is good, the surrounding country is fertile and beautiful, and the climate is healthy and enjoyable. The public buildings are few and not specially noteworthy, except perhaps the oldest. I have already spoken of the palace of Lopez. The 166 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. town -hall is a two-story, arclied, and corridored building, con- taining the halls of Congress and the offices of the President and ministers. The custom-house, without being an espe- cially fine building, is well adapted to its purpose, and the same may be said of the railway-station of the only railway in Paraguay, that which runs to the town of Paraguari, about fifty miles to the eastward. Lopez intended to have built a handsome large opera-house of modern style,- which should occupy an entire square ; but it never got beyond the first story, as it now stands, a melancholy ruin. I attended mass one morning at the cathedral, a very large old edifice, with two towers. The altar was ablaze with candles, arranged in ornamental designs, giving it somewhat the appearance of a set piece of fire-works. A large congregation was present, and among them were a few Sisters of Charity and two schools of children under their charge, the one of girls dressed all in white with white veils and shoes, the other of barefooted girls with blue veils. The greater part of the congregation, however, consisted of na- tive women in white or gay-colored cambric dresses, with black-crape mantillas, worn, as usual, over the head. These were all barefooted, and generally carried fans. Besides these were a few ladies decked in ultra-French style, with enormous plumed hats, black-silk dresses, and high-heeled slippers. As usual, in South American churches, the men were conspicuous by their absence. An adjoining little gar- den contains the only monument in Asuncion, a tall shaft of brick and stucco, surmounted by a figure of Liberty. On the pedestal are the following four historical inscriptions : Foun- dation of Paraguay, 15 August, 1536 — First cry for Liberty, 14 May, 1811 — Declaration of National Independence, 25 December, 1842 — Declaration of the National Constitution, 25 November, 1870. CHAPTER XX. A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. The largest market of the city occupies an entire square. The dealers are all women. I found the outer corridor filled with the wares, spread upon the floor, of those who could afford to pay only a small rent. Inside were rows of tables, and benches, and racks. Between the corridor and the in- terior was a series of small shops of miscellaneous merchan- dise. The market was well supplied. The river furnishes an abundance of fish ; a great variety of vegetables are cul- tivated in the immediate neighborhood ; various kinds of meat are raised on the best cattle-farms of the interior ; and fruit grows everywhere wild and in profusion. The wom- en had for sale also heaps of bread, dishes of butter, piles of white cheese, cream in stone jugs, maize, bouquets, and native beer, made from sugar-cane, in mugs. The mar- ket was filled to overflowing with the women traders and their customers, also women. The chatter and chaffering were almost deafening. Outside, one flank of the whole road was blocked with other venders, their wares spread be- fore them on mats upon the ground, the scant portions of food offered for sale, and the small coins displayed, betoken- ing the simplicity of habits as well as the poverty of the common people. In Asuncion the market-women have no carts or carriers whereby to send purchases home. The pur- chaser must take his basket, pan, pail, or paper with him. Large pans seemed to be the favorite utensil, and these, filled with the marketing for the day, or often for several days, the women gracefully carry poised upon their heads, a hand- 168 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . kerchief alone intervening. Everything is carried in this manner, and always without a spill — huge baskets of eggs, a closed nmbrella, great jars of water, and likewise empty jars. These last are frequently borne in a very coquettish manner, resting securely at an angle of forty-five degrees. The hands are never employed to steady anything conveyed upon the head. It is otherwise in Egypt and India, where one hand or both are in frequent requisition. The middle and lower class women all walk barefooted, and this carrying of heavy weights upon the head greatly strengthens the spine, and gives them the same graceful carriage for which the Hindoo women are famous. The women of Asuncion generally dress in white or light-colored skirts, and a chemise neatly embroidered with lace and cut very low upon the bosom. These are their sole garments within-doors, the climate being warm and equable. For the street, a loose white cotton scarf is added, and this is worn upon the head and shoulders like the black mantilla. The skirt is, of course, bound around the waist, and combines with the front of the chemise to form a pouch for holding money and cigars, there being no regular pocket anywhere. The hair of these women is brushed straight back from the forehead, braided in a great mass, and secured with a gilt comb. Flowers are occasionally added behind, or worn above the ears, between them and the head, and this latter custom has quite as pleasing an effect as the former, when you be- come accustomed to it. Gold pendent ear-rings are generally worn, and sometimes a necklace of gold and coral beads. The young girls, with their brown satin skin, their symmet- rical features, pearly teeth, piercing black eyes, and dense black hair, are often very beautiful ; while, on the other hand, the old women, wrinkled, blear-eyed, crooked, and at- tenuated, are frightful specimens of moribund humanity. While the disuse of shoes and stockings so largely helps in giving the women their elegant pose and walk, it rather de- forms the feet, spreading the toes sometimes quite half an inch apart, and producing the flat, fan- shape termed splay- A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 169 foot. In Paraguay, as in Burmah, all ages and botli sexes are constant smokers. When the cigar is not alight, they are busy chewing the end. A small, coarse roll of native tobacco is used, and as the cigars thus manufactured are not well made, they seem most of the time to be extinguished. It took me quite a while to get used to the spectacle of a pretty girl smoking a great cigar an inch in diameter. So few men are seen in Paraguay that I had almost forgotten to speak of them, and in fact have very little to say concerning them. Though small, they generally possess a fine muscular development. They are lazy, but splendid horsemen. The true native wears a white shirt and baggy trousers, with a gay-colored sash and felt sombrero , and he goes barefoot. I have hitherto been speaking of the majority. Others, and of course the upper and traveled classes, imitate Europeans both in dress and in manners. Among the Paraguayans, Indian blood seems to predominate to a greater degree than among any of the other Spanish-American nations. The influence of climate in forming the habits of a na- tion may be daily observed in Asuncion. From five until eight o’clock in the morning the streets are full of people marketing, but from noon till 2 p. m. you may traverse the city from end to end and not meet a score of inhabitants. It is the hour of the siesta , the hottest part of the day, and the people are either breakfasting, reading, writing, resting, or most probably taking a nap. This is a universal custom, to which the foreign resident and the visitor easily surrender. Excepting small copper coins, the only currency at pres- ent in circulation in Paraguay is paper. . The printing on the face of this very confidently demands the Bank of Para- guay to pay the bearer for each paper dollar one “ hard ” or silver dollar ; but you will soon find, in seeking change or making a purchase, that this paper money is at a deprecia- tion of twenty-five per cent. This, however, is better than in the Argentine Pepublic, whose paper currency is worth but fifty-five cents on the dollar. The Recoleta is the largest cemetery of Asuncion. It is 170 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. situated about three miles to the north of the city, and is reached by a mule tramway. The road led through long lines of orange and lemon trees, loaded down with rich gold- en fruit of great size. There were also many palms and ba- nanas, and near the few bamboo and mud huts which we passed were gardens of beautiful flowers — oleanders, roses, pinks, daisies, and gay-leaved plants in profusion. I was greatly surprised at the number of people, most of them women and clothed in the deepest mourning, going in the same direction. There were also several small processions of what seemed to be families, following great black wooden crucifixes. I supposed it to be some church anniversary, but was hardly prepared for the sight which met my eyes on reaching the Recoleta. On either side of the entrance were a dozen women ranged in a row, and selling bread, sweet- meats, fruits, flowers, and liquors. The burial inclosure is filled with black wooden crosses and mural tombs, a few of the latter of some architectural merit ; but there are scarcely any trees or flowers, and, as with the neighboring city, every- thing is unkempt and in disorder. An old church is con- nected with the Kecoleta on one side, and on the other, strange to tell, are an Italian restaurant and beer-garden. At this point also a fine flower and fruit garden flourishes. It is a very nice place of the kind, but I do not remember ever having before seen the quick and the dead under such circumstances, in such juxtaposition. Instead of reminding me that in the midst of life we are in death, it suggested that in the midst of death we may be very much alive. En- tering the Recoleta, I saw perhaps a score of men and at least five hundred women. The men remain uncovered dur- ing their stay in the cemetery, and out of sympathy, if not courtesy, I imitated their example. It seems it was All- Souls’ day, when it is customary for Roman Catholics to visit the burial-places of their relatives and friends, to weep and pray there, to decorate the graves with flowers, to sur- round them with burning candles, and if able to afford the expense, to have a sort of requiem mass celebrated. There A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 171 were some half-dozen priests going about from tomb to tomb, followed by bands of music embracing violin, clario- net, flute, and trumpet. These musicians accompanied the priests in their drowsy mutterings. A black cloth, marked with a gilt cross, would be thrown upon the grave, and upon it rows of lighted candles would be ' placed. The priest would then go through his ritual for the repose and salva- tion of the souls of the dead, standing at the head of the grave, which he sprinkled with holy water. Upon one side stood the musicians, and upon the other stood or sat the rela- tives and friends, many weeping, but many also, as is seen in more civilized countries, looking serenely at the passers-by. In fact, there seemed to be quite as many people drawn to the cemetery by curiosity as by affection. As the priests moved from grave to grave, so moved the gaping crowd. The higher and richer classes decorated their family vaults with splendid wreaths of flowers, and stood in rows before them, their lips mechanically mumbling prayers, while the stranger was being eagerly scrutinized. At some of the graves would be seen a poor woman kneeling in the dust, to which her head was also bowed, and which, in true biblical fashion, she threw over herself, uttering meanwhile the most heart-rending cries, and weeping in such a violent manner that I feared it must all end in a fit. The cemetery pre- sented a very extraordinary scene. The varied costumes of the people, the beautiful flowers, the gloomy-robed priests, the wild, pathetic music, the sobs and shrieks of the mourn- ers coming from every direction, the crowd of bustling sight- seers, the odd forms of the monuments, the quaint old church — in which I afterward stumbled across a corpse lying quite unattended — the palms and bananas looming beyond the walls, the distant forests — such were the sights and sounds at which, alone, and bareheaded, under a tropical sun, I stood amazed. Nothing, however, but its utter strangeness could have caused me to intrude upon the touching grief of these simple-minded, faithful, and affectionate people. From Asuncion I took a railway trip east ward ly into the 172 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. interior of Paraguay, to the town of Paraguari, already men- tioned. The fare was one dollar and sixty cents. The loco- motive and carriages were of English fashion and manufact- ure. There were four classes of passengers. People of the fourth were in open box-cars, without seats of any kind. These cars were, however, the best patronized and chiefly by women. The road was a broad gauge, but the cars were low and short. Our train was very long — eight passenger and as many freight cars, some of them full, and others brought along to be filled on the return journey. The engineer was not a foreigner, as I had expected, but a Paraguayan. We started at the early hour of 5.30 a. m., and did not reach Paraguari until 10.30 A. m. — or five hours for a journey of fifty miles. The first station was that of Trinidad, where there is a splendid old and curious church in which is buried the first Lopez, President of Paraguay, and father of the famous general. At the next important station about thirty women appeared at our car- windows, wishing to sell bread, meats, cigars, and lace-work of a very good quality. There were also many beggars, horribly crippled and disfigured by virulent diseases. We went on through mandioc-plantations, and forests containing many palms and bananas, until we caught sight of a fine range of hills upon the left, and soon afterward of the Lake of Ytacary, upon the western bank of which is a German colony, called San Bernardino, number- ing about four hundred souls. The Paraguayan Government, it seems, gives free farm-lots of sixteen acres to each unmar- ried and thirty-two acres to each married male adult, be- sides providing free passage from Buenos Ayres, and giving advances of provisions for six months, a number of plows, and a quantity of seed, with three cows. The colonists have some hundreds of acres under potatoes, beans, etc. We made frequent and very long stops where there seemed little else than stations. At each, and also in the train, were great crowds of women, but scarcely a man — another striking illustration of the results of the late war, and of the present disparity of the sexes. The engineering A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 173 obstacles in the construction of this road must have been almost nothing. There are no cuttings or fillings, and scarcely a bridge of any size. The road runs along the great meadows of an almost level valley, four or five miles wide, with but a few grass-thatched mud houses appearing here and there, and with low ranges of wood-clad hills on each side. We see quite a number of cattle and a few sheep. There is no tillage save tbat of the small vegetable gardens near eacb house. We pass a remarkable cone-shaped hill and an oddly formed table-topped one, and soon arrive at Paraguari, the present terminus of the line, though it has been graded half- way to the town of Villa Pica, some seventy miles distant, to which a coach runs once a week. The town or rather village of Paraguari lies about a quarter of a mile to the •southward of the railway-station. I proceeded thither in a curious two-wheeled omnibus, having wheels some six feet in diameter, with one horse in shafts and the other free, which draws by means of a chain attached to the belly-band. Paraguari I found to be a small village of not more than one thousand inhabitants, laid out about a great grass-covered square, in the center of which is the market, where mandioc- roots, oranges, and a good supply of meats and vegetables, are for sale. All the way from Asuncion we had passed great orange-orchards, some of the trees being thirty feet in height, and covered with the luscious fruit, which here sells as cheaply as one dollar per thousand. Around the square, in simple single-story houses, are a few stores, a tinsmith’s, a blacksmith’s, a bakery, half a dozen shops of very miscel- laneous merchandise, and a hotel kept by an Italian. Be- yond, and scattered at intervals, are a few mud-plastered and tile-covered huts. In the garden of the hotel are fine grape- vines and peach-trees and flowers— including roses, pinks, oleanders, and many others common to Northern eyes. Around the village are great grassy plains, and, as a border, ranges of low hills, with here and there an isolated peak, and, near the railway-station, two precipitous wood-covered cliffs, which form about the only really picturesque sight since 174 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. leaving Asuncion. The country hereabouts would not differ very much from the central Western States of North America, were it not for the frequently occurring palm-trees, which of course give the general view a tropical flavor. From Paraguari a coach runs once a week in a southerly direction, reaching some of the richest country and most valuable farms. It is intended eventually to prolong this route to Encarnacion, on the upper Parana, and opposite the Argentine town of Posadas. But the present very limited rail and coach lines are everywhere supplemented by horse- back service, the real communication of the country. The horses are gentle, fast, and enduring. The saddles most esteemed are of English make or pattern, with a very wide girth — often a foot broad — which is not fastened, as with us, next the fore-legs, but upon the swell of the belly, or even behind it. Two girths generally are used, one being worn over the saddle itself. The bridles are very simple, though the bits are apt to be heavy. The horses are trained to obey with rapidity and exactness the slightest turn of the hand. I noticed many carts coming into Paraguari, drawn by three yoke of oxen, suspended above which was a long pole bearing bunches of feathers for driving away flies, and iron goads for spurring dilatory beasts. The carts are great, two-wheeled fabrics, with cylindrical hoods of hides and pliable wood. On leaving Asuncion my plan was to return to the Parana and ascend it to the Iguassu River, the boundary between Brazil and the Argentine Republic, wishing to visit in it some very remarkable and little-known falls, and return- ing thence to pass over by land to the Uruguay, and, de- scending it, to cross again the Plata to Buenos Ayres. On November 4th, therefore, I left the capital of Paraguay in the Rio Uruguay, of the Lloyd Argentine line of steamers, which runs six vessels a month between Montevideo, Buenos Ayres, and the ports of the lower Parana and the Paraguay. We had a great many passengers, and most of them were bound to small river-ports. There was also a good deal of freight — fruits and vegetable produce. At a A COUNTRY OF WOMEN. 175 station a little below Asuncion we took on board an enor- mous quantity of large oranges. Immediately upon the bank was a great heap of them, fifty feet in length, twenty-five in width, and four in depth. These were all brought on board in flat baskets, holding about three dozen each, carried as usual upon the head by women. About two hundred feet of plank had to be traversed from shore to steamer, and all the work was done quite in the middle of the day, under the bare sun, and with a temperature of nearly 100° Fahren- heit. These women have splendidly developed figures, and are very strong and enduring ; but it took some fifty of them nearly five hours to get all the fruit on board. While they were thus engaged, about a dozen men sat in the shade of the trees, quietly looking on, but not one of them assisting in any manner. It was so hot at night that we were all compelled to sleep upon the open deck. The next morning w r e reached Corrientes, where I had already stopped on my upward voyage. It is a large town, situated on high but level ground, about fifteen miles below the junction of the Paraguay and the Parana, on the left bank of the latter. A half-dozen little side-wheel steamers lay at anchor abreast of the town, doubtless for the navigation of the upper Parana. - There is no custom-house inspection, though Corrientes is in the Argentine Republic, and we had come from Paraguay. I find an ordinary hotel in the center of the town. The streets are quite as sandy as those of Asun- cion. They are fairly wide, however, with broad sidewalks. In the principal plaza is a tall column erected to Liberty, made of simple brick and covered with stucco. On one side of the plaza a new government-house is being built, on the other stand the police headquarters, formerly the old Jesuit college, a very quaint, old, two-story building, with a square tower, and cornices in quite the style of a mediaeval fortress. The plaza also contains a biblioteca popular, or circulating library, which is open for two hours, morning and evening. In a stroll about town I found a theatre, a good market, a national bank, and numerous haberdashers. CHAPTER XXI. ON THE TRAIL OF THE JESUITS. There are two lines of steamers running from Corrientes to Itusaingo, opposite the Apipe rapids, which prevent fur- ther navigation upon the Parana, except by light-draught vessels in times of high water, when they go directly through to Posadas, the farthest town on this river, although there are some few hamlets still higher up. Formerly, in the dry season, or period of low water, people went up or around the rapids in a canoe, but now a coach line passes along the bank. The “ Posadas,” of one of the companies which send boats to Itusaingo, is a fine side-wheel steamer, with state- rooms on the upper deck, like the large Parana steamers, but I did not feel like waiting four days in so dull a place as Corrientes, and accordingly took passage in a little iron double-deck screw-steamer, about sixty feet long and twenty broad. Her capacity was but eight passengers, for whom there were berths in the combined cabin and dining-saloon. The fare to Itusaingo, one hundred and sixty miles, was ten dollars. Our cargo was various, consisting of wire for fences, mate or Paraguayan tea, alfalfa or clover, sugar, wine, kero- sene, and flour. Besides our . wood-burning, high-pressure engine, we employed a large square sail. With both, how- ever, running against the strong current, we could hardly make more than six miles an hour. The captain, steward, and several of the crew w r ere Italians. The old J esuit col- lege, with its castellated tower, was a long time in sight, but Anally it faded and was gone, and we continued within a stone’s-throw of the bank, to avoid the swiftly running cur- ON THE TRAIL OF THE JESUITS. 177 rent as much as possible. We bad not gone very far before our engine broke down, and, after being nearly driven on shore by the combined force of wind and current, we were compelled to anchor until repairs could be made. The banks of the upper Parana, like those of the Para- guay, can scarcely be called interesting. They are flat, covered with coarse grass and large trees, and very thinly settled. This is true of them as far as the mouth of the Tguassu, some two hundred miles above Posadas. Beyond that, to its source in Brazil, the river is almost unknown. Sailing-ves- sels are non-existent. The only inhabitants seem to be in the water and air. The Parana is full of water-hogs, alligators, and large fish of excellent quality, and it is covered with huge water-fowl. I shot numbers of all these, except per- haps of the alligators, which it is always difficult to know whether you have killed. We stopped every night at dusk for wood, and did not go on until morning. We lost much time in landing our freight, it being taken, parcel by parcel, on men’s backs up the steep banks and on to the center of the villages. In South America, as in Asia, the traveler must be armed with a great amount of patience and urbanity. No one hurries, no one attends strictly to the business in hand. As with African negroes, the natives play and sky- lark like children with their work, for of course it is under- stood that what is not done to-day may always be done manana , to-morrow. We were four entire days in reaching Itusaingo, which consists of only a few houses on a steep bluff. Upon the shore were about fifty natives, who had come down to witness our arrival. As the coach did not leave until the following day, we were obliged to pass another night aboard, and suffered terribly from insect pests. There were enormous swarms of mosquitoes, a poisonous biting fly, fleas, a sort of gnat, and about a dozen varieties of moths and beetles. The heat was very oppressive, and the dew like a light rain. I found the coach for Posadas built after the Swiss dili- gence pattern, with four w T heels, two benches facing each 12 178 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. other behind, and a sort of coupe front division. Beyond this projected a single seat for the use of the driver. This vehicle, which would hold eight passengers, is the national coach of all the River Plate countries. The team consisted of seven mules or horses; — four harnessed abreast to the coach, a pair before these, and the whole led by a horse attached by a long lariat, and pulling as usual by his girth alone. This horse had a rider ; the two behind had but to follow; and reins from the four others passed up to the driver. The road, or rather trail, for it w T as only a track across the prairie, was so bad that we were obliged to change our animals every six or eight miles. We rode along through the open plain, not far from the Parana River. The pampa of these countries is really nothing more than an extensive grassy plain, bounded on all sides by the horizon. There is generally not a tree or shrub of any kind in view, and when you do see them you may be sure they are cultivated near some farm-house. Sometimes the grass is short and tine, but more often coarse and high. Cattle and horses are seen in every direction. Here one first makes acquaintance with the Gavcho , or native horseman, a rude half-breed, who lives on the pampas and is employed in catching wild horses and slaughtering cattle. He is a small, dark man, Very stoutly built, with straight black hair resting on his shoulders, scanty but long beard, and a physiognomy generally bespeaking hardihood, a free, wild life, and an intense love of liberty. He is dressed in shirt and short drawers, over which he wears a leathern apron with deep fringed edges. Of course, he is barefooted, and upon his head he wears a large, soft, black felt hat. lie always carries a long, sharp knife in his belt. He sits his horse like a centaur ; in fact, these people are born horsemen. We passed a number of large cattle-farms, with their clusters of small houses surrounded by trees and gardens. The dwellings of the G audios were very numerous, but, being ordinary mud-huts, do not call for any special descrip- tion. At one place in the road we passed a gentleman trav- eling in his private carriage, with four horses, postilions, and ON THE TRAIL OF THE JESUITS. 179 outriders. It was an extraordinary equipage. The horses were harnessed quite twenty feet from the carriage, and, all being mounted, of course there was no driver. We encount- ered another native, with his wife mounted behind him on horseback. From Itusaingo to the town of Posadas the distance is about sixty-live miles, but there is not a single resting-place on the road, nor a spot where anything to eat may be had. The country does not even now seem quite secure ; at least all my companions carried weapons, and I, having been fore- warned, did the same. At each stopping-place fresh horses or mules would be caught in large corrals or stock-yards, and the others turned loose upon the prairie. Late at night we halted and prepared for sleep, some in the diligence, others under it. But first we made a lunch off potted meats, bread, and wine. At four in the morning we arose, drank some warm milk, which the Gaucho women drew fresh for us, and started on again. The gently undulating plain was covered with huge ant-hills of brown or reddish earth, and perched on many of these were owls and other birds. I noticed also many partridges and birds of gay plumage, but I heard no song. We passed caravans of the great wagons of the country, loaded chiefly with mate , or the Jesuits’ tea, as it has also been termed. These carts had wooden wheels, six or seven feet in diameter, and were roofed with coarse straw or sometimes with tin. In them is placed a central floor, upon which the drivers, who often have their families with them, sleep and keep their cooking-utensils. Posadas, the capital of the Argentine province of Mis- siones, I found to be a little town built of brick, and laid out at right angles, with a comfortable house for the gov- ernor, some barracks for troops, a few stores containing a heterogeneous stock, a bank, a club, and a hotel. A detach- ment of three hundred troops is stationed here, it being an outpost of the Argentine army. Bugles, drums, and the practicing of a brass band are heard all day long. Posadas has a weekly newspaper, several hackney-carriages, is lighted 180 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. with kerosene-lamps, and is connected with the Uruguay River, as with the lower Parana, by diligence, the one the route by which I had arrived, the other that by which I in- tended to depart. The next day I went to Encarnacion, a small town on the opposite side of the river, in Paraguay, and about a mile distant. The ferriage is by means of large sail-boats, and the fare is twenty cents a passenger. In the stream were lying a small gunboat, a steam-tug used for towing cattle- barges, and a little steamer belonging to a wealthy firm of Buenos Ayres — Messrs. Uribi & Co. — and employed at in- frequent intervals in bringing yerba-mate , or tea-leaves, from some large plantations of theirs far up the river. It was in this small vessel that I proposed ascending the Parana as near as possible to its branch, the Iguassu, in which I wished to visit the great falls. Encarnacion consists of a single long, broad street, running directly back from the river toward the north. About a mile in the interior are the ruins of the old Jesuit reducciones , or villages of converted Indians. The buildings are mostly of mud, and the outlines of the quad- rangle of the convent may be readily defined. The massive wooden lintels are as solid as when originally built. The rooms are small, and some of them contain faint frescoes on the walls. The wood-work is exactly and strongly dove- tailed, and there are turned bars in the windows. The old tiled roof is in some parts still intact. Other remnants of the Jesuit missions are scattered about this province, which is appropriately named Missiones — regions where mission- aries preach the gospel among the heathen — in which the stone carving and masonry are still shown in capital preser- vation. I was obliged to wait an entire week in Posadas for the departure of the little steamer, of which I have just spoken, for the head of steam navigation on the upper Parand, a place with the very Indian-like name of Tupurupucu. It was called the Carima, and was an iron screw-boat, about fifty feet in length by twenty in width. Our captain — who ON THE TRAIL OF THE JESUITS. 181 was also a merchant — was a native of the Argentine Repub- lic, though with the very Moorish name of Abdon Ahumada. He spoke no language save Spanish, and had never been be- yond the borders of his own country, hut he was well- informed, refined, and genial, and I soon began to esteem him as one of the best friends I had made in South America. If these lines should ever come to his sight, he may be as- sured that I am more than grateful for his many kindnesses, and that I can never forget his charming companionship on those romantic days and nights in the solitudes of the Pa- rand, and the Iguassu. Our engineer was also an Argentine, the pilot was a Portuguese, and the crew were Paraguyans, who spoke only Guarani, the great Indian dialect of central South America. There were half a dozen passengers besides myself. We were provided with wooden shelves to- sleep upon, but had to furnish our own bedding. The berths and the dinner-table were in one and the same room, at the stern. The pilot-house was forward, high above the deck, and here, under a large wooden roof, was room for the passengers to sit and obtain unobstructed views of the river and its banks, and to enjoy whatever breeze might be stirring. We towed three sloops and several canoes, which descend the river with the current very well, but which can only return, and slowly, with a strong favoring wind. Our steamer can go down the river in less than half the time required for the ascent, and upon the upward journey is chiefly loaded with wood for the boilers. The crew occupied half the first day in cutting up a couple of bullocks, and hanging the flesh in thin slices or strips upon ropes stretched about the steamer. It thus dries and cures in the sun and wind, and becomes what we style “ jerked ” beef. During the first day both banks were high, diversified in outline, and densely covered with large trees. There were no towns or villages ; but at long intervals solitary huts, or boats drawn upon the sandy beaches, betokened the presence of the wood-cutter or herdsman. The burning forests indi- cated the clearing of land in many places. We met but few 182 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. . sailing-craft, all of slight tonnage. About fifteen miles from Posadas we pass, upon the south bank, a large brick sugar- factory, belonging to the Governor of Missiones, who owns a large plantation hereabouts. In this place we leave two of our passengers. At night we anchor just below some dangerous rapids, which extend nearly across the river, and going ashore we visit a native known to some of our number. It is a very hot night, and the air is thick with every sort of insect ; so we find the gentleman sitting under some trees near his hut, busily engaged in adding fuel to a great fire he has built to help drive the pests away. He is surrounded by his wife and six little children, all but naked, while five dogs completed the company. The man had the Christ type of face as painted by Salvator Posa, with pointed beard and enormous mop of black hair parted in the middle. The children were engaged in shelling beans, somewhat like those which we call Lima beans. These, together with cassava, the starchy substance prepared from the mandioc-root, and fish from the great river, constitute almost the sole food of these poor people. At daylight f we steam on, stopping now to leave one of our towed flotilla, now a passenger, and now to send merely a few letters ashore. The banks were wild and deserted, though occasionally we saw the huts of the wood-cutters. The timbers of this part of the country are very hard, and serviceable for building purposes. With the mate they con- stitute about the only commercial products of the Upper ParanA The only animal life in sight wxre white and yel- low butterflies. Sometimes the whole river would be cov- ered with millions of these, in clouds ten feet above the sur- face, and the sandy shore would be for miles colored with the varying tints of their wings. So distinct and solid was this color that at first I mistook it for some sort of fungus growth. During the day the river narrowed to half a mile. It preserved, how T ever, its previous characteristics of tortu- ousness, forest-clad banks, and in a few places a current so swift that it could be stemmed only with the greatest diffi- ON TEE TRAIL OF TEE JESUITS. 183 culty. At niglit we anchored as before, bnt suffered greatly from the heat, from large moths which dashed continually against our faces and necks, and from thousands of stinging, creeping, biting, ill-looking, noxious vermin. The next morning at daybreak we continue our slowly advancing voyage. During the day an iguana was seen swim- ming across the river. Large birds were also observed stand- ing upon the banks, and there were foot-prints in the sand of tapirs which had come down to drink. The river narrowed to a quarter of a mile. It is quite ten feet below its highest level, as I could see by great bare flats of rough, black, flinty rocks, and large mounds of the purest and finest white sand. We stopped at San Lorenzo, a few huts on the Paraguayan side, and again at Piray, on the Argentine side. Here I met a Dane, a shopkeeper, whom, together with Senor Ahumada, I invited to accompany me to the falls of the Iguassu. We anchored near some wood-cutters, friends of the Dane, and after dinner went on shore to call upon them. On ascend- ing the very steep bank, I found several large houses built simply of bamboo-stems, some distance apart, with grass- thatched roofs. The construction of these huts was admi- rably adapted to admit insects as well as air, while, of course, forbidding any privacy to the inmates. The people, how- ever, are anything but squeamish. Adjoining the huts was a sort of small shed, quite open on most sides, and here were the beds — simple platforms of twigs, with blanket and pillow — where the people slept, somewhat protected by small smol- dering fires against the regular nightly visitors. They thus succeed in driving away a few insects, by half suffocating themselves with smoke. Hear by were gardens of maize and a few flowers. In a rough inclosure of bamboos was a horse, under a tree was a cow, and 'scattered promiscuously about were half a dozen wretched curs and a couple of very nice, sleek cats. Though these natives always have milk, and make excellent cheese, they know nothing of butter. There was a commodious pool of fresh water, which is brought thither in a bamboo trough several hundred yards 184 : AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. long, from a cool spring away np in the hills. A bathing- house for the ladies had been improvised in the woods, by simply stretching a piece of coarse cloth between two trees, the three remaining sides being uninclosed. This reminded me of the manner in which the Chinese used to build their forts, thinking it discourteous for an enemy to intrude at the rear. We entered the larger hut* and took seats in hammocks, or upon empty boxes. A large table at one side held all the culinary furniture. A small table contained a candle, the sole illumination, and some ornaments, among which was a very ingeniously constructed toothpick-holder, made of two large toucan-bills standing upon alligators’ teeth. This was the work of the lady of the hut, a very pretty and sweetly innocent-looking girl. Her husband, a fine, muscular young fellow, at once ordered the courtesy of Paraguayan tea, which for some time circled round the company, amid great talking and laughing, the pretty girl being especially amused by two young gallants of our steamer’s company. At my sugges- tion the charming hostess brought forth some more of her clever handicraft, a fan made of the gaudy feathers of sev- eral birds, with an enormous toucan-bill for a handle. This was a work of art which would have brought fifty dollars in Hew York. These natives are as simple and ingenuous as children, laughing at everything, and all talking and shout- ing together in a most diverting manner. They smoke in- cessantly, either mites of Paraguayan cigars, or cigarettes covered with bamboo-leaves. Physically speaking, they are superb specimens of humanity. Their costume is, for the men, simply a fancy-colored shirt and loose drawers, with a large felt hat, and often a gay-colored bandanna about the neck. They generally go barefooted, or sometimes wear aljpargatas , or slippers made of hemp, which are not only cool but durable. The dress of the women is no less sim- ple, being merely a chemise and skirt, though, with the taste and coquetry common to the sex everywhere, they generally manage to add attractions here and there, such as jewelry, flowers above the ears, embroidery upon chemises, or fancy OF TEE TRAIL OF TEE JESUITS. 185 neckerchiefs. All this is very pleasing, but not so their cus- tom of going barefooted. The women generally speak Gua- rani, but I often found that the men spoke Spanish also, more or less correctly. At night we were overwhelmed with thou- sands of mosquitoes, which of course made sleep an utter im- possibility. How lovely and enjoyable the tropics would everywhere be, but for the ever-accompanying creepers and fliers which sing and sting ! At daylight we were off again, the river being now but a few hundred yards in width and lined by dark rocks of a volcanic appearance, as if, when molten, they had been sud- denly cooled and stiffened. On both sides of the Parana there are many tributaries, but the Iguassu is the first of any special size. This river rises in southern Brazil, near the Atlantic, flows almost due west, and forms the boundary- line between that empire and the Argentine Republic. This morning we passed the mouth of the Hacunday, which has a beautiful fall partly in sight from the Parana. I also saw the house of Senor Adam, an Italian, who has lived here fif- teen years. He has a large farm of maize and sugar-cane. In his garden is a cascade, forty feet high, in the midst of palms, ferns, and bananas, which are full of parrots, toucans, and brilliant butterflies. At night we visit a small waterfall in the river Itupi, and, though nearly devoured by sand-flies, succeed in getting a delicious bath. The next morning we pass the mouth of the river Monday, six miles up which there is said to be a fine fall of water. The general course of the Parana, since leaving Posadas, has been nearly from north to south, but nevertheless it is exceedingly tortuous, and as you advance the channel runs first upon one side and then the other, doubling and twisting in most erratic fashion. Then there is the swiftly running and eddying current al- ways at hand, to drive you either on rock or shore — so that altogether a specially trained and experienced pilot is required for Upper Parana navigation. CHAPTER XXII. THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. About noon, on the fifth day from Posadas, we anchor at the month of the Xguassu, here a river about a thousand feet in width and seventy feet in depth, with dark-green water, which contrasts to great advantage with the dirty- yellow flood of the Parana. At this point the steamer is to await my return from the falls, a distance of twenty miles, which I expect to accomplish in two days. My party is soon complete, and all arrangements are perfected. Those who are to accompany me are Senor Ahumada, the Dane, the quartermaster, the cook, and seven Paraguayan sailors. We are to go at first in a canoe, about thirty feet long and five feet wide, and afterward on foot, through the primitive forest. The canoe is made of planks, with a flat bottom, stout ribs, and sharp ends, and is propelled by paddles about six feet in length, the men standing or sitting on the gunwale to ply them. Three or four paddle near the prow, and one paddles and steers in the stern. We have a rifle, shot-gun, revolvers, and bowie-knives, and consider ourselves amply protected. The provisions for my friends and myself are in tins and .bottles, and for the men a quantity of jerked beef, mandioc, and bis- cuit is provided. After paddling up-stream for a short time, the men think better progress can be made by going on shore and towing the canoe by a long rope, taking turns at this arduous work, which, however, considering the swift current, advances us more rapidly than by paddling. It is extremely hot, and we extemporize an awning out of our ponchos. The shores are steep and covered with great black rocks, tilted in THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 187 every direction, and I find among them fine specimens of agate, crystals, and beautifully polished pebbles. Occasion- ally we come to long, sandy beaches, and notice many shells and the tracks of tigers, water-hogs, tapirs, w T ild fowl, and young alligators. I see one of the latter on the shore, and also two seals crossing the river. The banks are at first some three or four hundred feet in height, and are densely covered with primitive forest. A short distance from the mouth of the river we pass a series of rapids, which, however, are not very tempestuous. I observe many large and small fish in the water, some of the large ones being of a beautiful blue and white color, and as much as fifty pounds in weight. I try to have a shot at some black ducks, but can not get within range. It is interesting to see the manner in which the men tow the boat — now running along the sand, now clambering over the rocks like so many monkeys, next swimming around some outlying bowlders in which the drag-rope is sure to get entangled, and then in the water up to their necks pushing and lifting the canoe with all their strength. The river is tortuous, and with its fine green banks and black rocks, its dark water and rushing rapids, presents altogether a pictur- esque sight. I take my seat in the bow, and, with a wave of my hand and about the only words of Guarani I possess, sig- nify the position of rocks to our steersman sitting in the stern ; for the river is full of sunken rocks, and its bed is of little else than honey-combed reefs, which account for the continually eddying, swirling water. The men pi ay at their work, and, as one or another is sw T ept off his feet by the tow- 'rope or by the oozy bank, afford us quite as much amuse- ment as themselves. We stop frequently, for the men must have their mate, and as often as they find a cool spring I like to drink myself, though on all such occasions we are nearly devoured by a species of large black fly. I land on the north bank, my first visit to Brazil, and take a long walk in search of wild men or animals, the latter pre- ferred, and small ones at that. This part of Brazil is sparsely settled, or rather infested, by the Tupi Indians, who are 188 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. quite savage. • I desired to study them from an ethnographic stand-point, but, as they are said to have a very disagreeable habit of shying arrows from behind trees at too inquisitive strangers, it is perhaps just as well that my curiosity was not gratified. JSTight coming on, I enter our boat and cross over to the Argentine side, and camp for the night on the sandy bank, under the stars and insects. I say “ under the insects” advisedly, for we' were literally covered with insects as with a blanket. So enormous were their quantity and voracity, that I doubt if any of us slept an hour, except those boatmen w r ho covered their heads with their ponchos. There were moths, butterflies, mosquitoes, gnats, sand-flies, fleas, spiders, ants, etc., etc. The moths had short, thick, black bodies and * wings of a dark green. They circled and circled, and whisked and brushed about you, until you were nearly driven mad. Despite the danger of alligators, though they are small and few in the Iguassu, we all took a swim in the river before supper, but found the water far too w T arm for comfort. The temperature, in fact, was very high by day and by night. The rocks over which I had climbed during the after- noon were so hot you could not hold your hand upon them longer than a few seconds. We made a fire, and the men took great slabs of jerked beef, which they strung upon sap- lings and prepared to roast. This was soon served up, sim- ply in its own fat, and, though a little tough, it was not bad eating for a hungry man. The meat being cooked, each man advanced and cut with his bowie-knife from the general stock. The same stout, two-edged instrument was used also to split our adamantine biscuits, and it was interesting to observe how polite all were : no one put his knife in his mouth. We washed down our supper with sugar-cane rum and water, a single cup being passed around the circle. After this meal there was a brief interval of talk, story, and song, and then we all lay down upon the hard, clayey bank, upon single blankets, with ponchos at hand to cover us in the early morning. Our boots served admirably for pillows. We heard so many wild animals crying in the forests, that THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 189 I deemed it prudent that two men at a time- should watch during the night, armed, the one with the gun loaded with buckshot, and the other with the Remington rifle, while each of my party had a knife or a revolver under his head. The fire was, of course, kept up all night, and the watch was to be changed once. And thus, w T ith millions of insects upon, around, above, under, and partly through us, we tried to sleep, my thermometer indicating 95° at eight o’clock in the evening. But for the full moon and beautiful Southern Cross above me, the gently murmuring river at my feet, and the dark forest walls beyond, I should have been quite willing to confess that the explorer’s life is not altogether a happy one. All things save eternity, I suppose, must end, and that fear- ful night at last really did finish its horrid existence, and we * were all only too eager to start at daylight. The high banks presented the same general appearance, but the rocky shores increased in savage grandeur. There were fewer rapids, and we were able to paddle for some time, half of us walking in order to lighten the boat and thereby hasten somewhat our progress. But soon I plainly saw that we could go no farther by canoe, the current being far too power- ful, and giving conclusive evidence of furious rapids above. So, after a consultation, we made the canoe fast until our return from the falls, and each one loaded the canvas haversacks, previously provided, with his share of the food and baggage, and proceeded to walk, or rather clamber, over the rocks upon the south side of the river. The really arduous part of the journey now began, and I should recommend succeeding travelers not to make the forced march that I was obliged to undertake — because I could not hire my men for a longer time — but to take at least four days for the trip ; or, if they wish to see the falls with much detail, say a total of ten days. All the food for the entire journey must be carried with you ; for, though the country contains game, it is not to be depended on. Many of the rocks over which we have to climb are twenty feet square, of every conceivable shape, and tilted upon their ends or sides in the wildest confusion. 190 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. These rocks have a lava-like look, and many of them have circular holes, like the pot-holes of Switzerland and Norway, ground into them by whirling pebbles and water. The sides of others next the river are linted like the basaltic pillars of the Giants’ Causeway, in Ireland, but these on the Iguassu are of a yellowish, clayey color, though the material is hard and brittle. As we slowly toiled on and over and between these rocks, the heat was tremendous, for we were placed between two waves, one pouring down from above, the other reflected from below. At eleven o’clock the thermometer in the shade read 115° Fahrenheit, and two of my party quite broke down, the one a native and the other the Dane. We left them behind to rest under the trees until afternoon, while the remainder of us pushed on until Anally the river- banks became so precipitous we had to take to the forest. Here we found that the trail made by a Brazilian boundary commission a few years ago was so overgrown that we had actually to hew a tunnel for our passage through the matted verdure. We had not, however, advanced two hundred feet into the thicket before I heard a jaguar breathing loud and snarling, as if he also were irritated by the oppressive heat, lie made a tremendous noise by his stertorous breathing, and seemed to be near at hand, somewhere upon the very hill which we w r ere ascending. This was the first creature that I heard in the woods ; the first creature that I saw was a greenish-black snake, about four feet in length. I halved him with a blow of my bowie-knife. The quartermaster informed me that this serpent’s bite was fatal. Wishing a jaguar-skin very much indeed, I thought it a good plan to halt and order dinner prepared while I started off to beard the jaguar in his den, if .indeed he happened to possess so sequestered an article. His breathing had now become half a roar, so that no guide to his neighborhood was needed. After getting into a copse, however, where it was impossible to see ten feet in any direction, it suddenly and very impress- ively occurred to me that possibly the jaguar also might have a passion for collecting skins, and that he might utilize THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 191 that propensity by seeing me first. My retreat was rapid, but as dignified as the circumstances permitted. My revolver carried a forty-four-caliber shot, and my nerve had heretofore proved so available that I took this risk, hoping that the brute might be both small and unsociable, though of course it would have been better for me to have a good repeating- rifle and more open ground. The forest contains many ani- mals besides snakes and jaguars, such as tapirs, deer, wild pigs, monkeys, squirrels, partridges, and wood-turkeys. The profusion of insect-life in this forest I have never seen equaled anyw T here, excepting in some of the lowlands of Siam, and I have no desire to see it equaled again. You have a choice of evils : either to let the vermin settle upon you — for it is useless to brush them off, since, before your hands cease their motion, quite as many as before are upon you — or to keep no portion of your body uncovered, which is unbearable in such a hot, steamy atmosphere. I counted fifty bites on a little finger, all received in one night. These were mostly mosquitoes, though some were inflicted by ants. I can readily imagine a delicate, nervous man being actually wor- ried to death by them. I mean that they so distress and enervate you, by constant fretting and worriment by day and loss of sleep at night, that you gradually become ex- hausted, your appetite and digestion fail, your blood becomes impoverished, and you are covered with sores, which itch dreadfully because of the poison they contain. Another dangerous pest of these forests is a tick, called a carrapato , which has a sort of trident of teeth serrated inward, and also six legs, each provided with strong, hooked claws. These parasitic torments climb out upon the branches of a tree, catch at any passer-by, and fasten upon him. Horses and cattle sometimes die from the exhaustion caused by the bites of these creatures, which settle in swarms. The traveler soon has the appearance of a person suffering from herpes, and frequently succumbs to fever. Still another very annoying and dangerous pest is the jigger, a small insect of the fleg, family, which penetrates the skin of the feet, and, laying its 192 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. eggs, rears a numerous family under it. If, on discovery, these are not immediately cut out, very serious sores are pro- duced, which it becomes almost impossible to heal. The remainder of my party coming up somewhat re- freshed, we push on to the falls, the leaders having continu- ally to use their machetes , or chopping-knives. We had to tight briers, vines, and roots; to ford brooks; to clamber over fallen trees ; to crawl on hands and knees under thickets, at first up-hill and then on a level, until, after about two miles, we suddenly emerge upon a small stream which forms the first fall on the Argentine side of the river. From here we have a good general view of the situation and surround- ings of the falls, though not nearly so complete a one as that to be obtained farther on, from the third fall. The streams are connected in several places above the falls, and to reach the brink of the third fall it is necessary to wade in water up to your waist for about half a mile. The bottom is of the same hollowed, honey-combed conformation as the rocks on the bank below, and being, moreover, polished by the current, presents a very difficult surface for walking. Still, we accom- plished it without a tumble, and were rewarded by a most magnificent spectacle. So shallow was the fall to which we had come, and so comparatively weak was the current, that we were able, without great risk, to stand in the center of the stream, near the brink of the precipice over which it drops. The first view of the great falls in their solitary grandeur and beauty is perfectly overwhelming. You behold the “ Niagara of South America ! ” They have, indeed, no such width, no such enormous volume of water as has Niagara — what falls anywhere have ? — but they are of the same color and form, and, moreover, they are fifty feet higher, with environs still unmarred by the devices of man. Eight be- fore us, and some two hundred feet below, is the river, which here divides into two great streams, with banks fully five hundred feet in height. Between these branches is an ex- tensive table-land, perhaps two hundred feet high, with pre- cipitous sides, covered with large trees, somewhat like Goat The Daly Falls , Iguassu River. THE NIAGARA OF SOUTH AMERICA. 193 Island in Niagara Biver. This is about half a 'mile long, and stretches to the center of a semicircle one hundred feet higher, over which in twenty (in very dry seasons perhaps a hundred) different places roll the splendid falls of the Iguassu. The country above the falls is at first flat, with a low range of hills in the distance. The river here is two miles wide — that is to say, its various streams combined are of that width, for great stretches of uncovered land lie both between them and between the falls. Of the two principal falls, one is on the Argentine side and the other on the Bra- zilian. It is the latter which, in its horseshoe-shape, so strongly resembles the “ Canadian” cataract. The other is a broad, straight sheet, like the “American” cascade. The first is about two thousand feet in width, the second twelve hundred feet. Below the falls the river is pressed between narrow escarpments of rock, and in its velocity it rages with all the seething fury of the “Whirlpool” rapids of our world- famous Niagara. The Iguassu down-pour, with its beautiful greenish-white water, drops two hundred and fifteen feet over sheer precipices of dark rock, and throws out and aloft enor- mous clouds of spray. In a windless day the thunderous roar maybe heard twenty miles through these forest soli- tudes. Standing up to my waist in the flowing river, I filled my hands and drank to the health of Emperor Dom Pedro, of Brazil; President Boca, of *the Argentine Bepublic; and President Cleveland, of the United States. Several of these falls have at various times received local titles other than the “Falls of the Iguassu,” but no specific name, recognized in maps or books, has ever been given them, notwithstanding that they are almost rivaled farther up the river. I there- fore assume the explorer’s privilege of naming them Daly Falls, in honor of Charles P. Daly, LL.D., the learned and genial President of the American Geographical Society. We returned through the forest and encamped near the jaguar’s lair, but, not hearing from him during the night, supposed he was absent from home. We kept in the center of the stream in going down, and shot the various rapids in 13 194 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . grand style, all my men at tlieir paddles and shouting in a fashion vividly recalling Central Africa. We reached the steamer without accident or adventure, and, weighing anchor, started up the river to Tupurupucu, the present limit of steam navigation and the headquarters of the Messrs. Uribi’s large yerbale , or mate-tea forest. The Daly Falls : a Near View from the Brazilian Side. CHAPTER XXIII. A PARAGUAYAN RANCH. The exploration of the Daly Falls was probably the most important, as it was certainly the most interesting, event of my entire tonr. As the reader is aware, they are situated in the heart of the South American Continent, upon the Iguassu River, twenty miles from its junction with the great Parana. They are about equally distant — say a thousand miles — southwesterly from Rio Janeiro, and northeasterly from Buenos Ayres. Should the prospective visitor be able to make all the connections exactly, they might be reached, via the Parana and the Iguassu, in two weeks’ time from Buenos Ayres, or, I should suppose, in about the same time by way of the Uruguay, and crossing by land to the Parana. But it is not well, in these dilatory countries, to trust to making such connections. The popular Horth American system of “ through express ” routes has nowhere, as yet, been intro- duced into South America. There, somehow, the people never appear to be engaged in any specially urgent business. The best route would, in my opinion, be by way of the Parana, and it would be well to allow two months for the round trip from and to Buenos Ayres. But, though a sight of the falls is worth toil and hardship, I fear that, such is the lack of conveniences and accommodations at present and in prospect, that it will be a very long time before it will become fashionable for tourists to go there. After dinner on board the steamer at Tupurupucu, the captain kindly invites me to go up to the house of Messrs. Uribi and spend a couple of days, while his steamer is loading 196 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. yerba for Posadas. We have a horseback-ride of three miles through the somber forest, but upon a good road, over which tea is transported in carts to .the steamer. Upon arriving, we are served with rich milk, and cakes made of maize, and then we go to bed upon cots spread for us upon the earthen floor of a large room, of which one side is quite open. A row of horses, a few feet distant in the corral, look at us as long as we have a light, and then we hear the grinding of corn, like so many little mills, until we fall asleep. The ground beiug hat and mostly cleared of vegetation, we enjoy a welcome respite from our recent foes of the insect world. Upon arising in the morning I was served with the in- vigorating mate, and then took a stroll, to observe more care- fully my location and surroundings. The establishment, a typical Paraguayan farm, formed, of course, a great square — everything in South America seems built in a quadrangle — inclosed by a stockade. In front were the corral and a great •warehouse in which the mate is stored; on either sides were sheds for the huge wooden carts used for transporting the yerba to the river-bank ; beyond was a store of miscellaneous goods for the employes, and also the office, dining-room, and bedrooms. Directly in front of the latter was a large grass- roofed space, where nearly all day long stood a score or so of horses, mules, and cattle, a light fence only separating them from the corridors of the building. The store contained a stand of carbines to help subdue any mutiny of the peons, or day-laborers, or any incursion of marauding Indians. Behind the main buildings, which have grass roofs, mud and bamboo walls, and earthen floors, with very little furniture, and that of the simplest character, are the huts of some of the em- ployes, the kitchen, and an iron mill for grinding maize and mate, all under open sheds. Cooking is performed on a large wooden box filled with earth, and standing upon four legs. Only three or four pots and kettles are used. The flat and almost treeless plain of this estate is about fifteen miles square, and upon this are pastured about a thousand head of cattle. The campo , as it is called, is covered with A PARAGUAYAN RANCH. 197 both fine and coarse grass, beautiful flowers, and many great red ant-liills. Some of the latter are ten feet in height and four in diameter. They are scattered all over the face of the country, and look in the distance like the stumps of fallen trees, or tree-stumps that have been left in clearing the land for agricultural purposes. They are occasionally open at the bottom and utilized as ovens by the natives. The yerba for- ests are five or ten miles distant, and here, in the season, some six hundred men are employed. On returning to the house from my walk, I am served by a thinly clad, barefooted Indian with a large cup of milk warm from the cow, and a great hot roll of baked cassava. I find both very delicious. Soon thereafter, in company with Senor Ahumada, I start out on horseback to visit an Indian family living in the neighborhood. A dozen saddles are always kept upon the fence in front of the house, and as many horses are in wait- ing, ready to be used by any one. This corral is at all times of the day a very interesting arena, where horsemen are con- tinually coming and going, and cattle are being driven in or out. The Indians I find living in very primitive style in bamboo huts, containing little or nothing in the way of either furniture or food. A huge wooden mortar, with a long pestle of a hard wood like mahogany, both similar to those found in Africa, are used for pounding maize and other grains. A fire for cooking is built on the ground in one corner. Hammocks are stretched in the veranda, and here the natives loll and smoke by day and sleep by night. The weapon of the men is a huge bow, with long, poisoned arrows. There were some very prettily plaited baskets made by the women, and calabashes were used for holding water. These Indians did not understand a word of Spanish, and our combined stock of Guarani was insufficient for any extended conversation. We next took a long ride through the forest to the river Acaray, a small stream which empties into the Parana a short distance below Tupurupucu. The trees and orchids much interested me, as also the variety and profusion of ani- 198 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. mal life. As we jogged along, a small iguana crossed the road, a little farther a hare, then a snake, then, in the air, a gaudy toucan. Birds chirped and monkeys chattered in the thickets. The air was radiant with clouds of the most beau- tiful butterflies, of every size and color. At the river was a great shed filled with flat-bottomed boats, used to transport the yerba. In returning I spied an ant-bear and a small deer. We breakfasted at noon: a hot and oily vermicelli-soup, a dish of boiled beef and mandioc-roots, then one of roast pork, with a curious salad flavored with onions and spice, a dish of rice with cream and sugar, the whole washed down with na- tive wine, tasting strongly of grapes, and followed by cups of tea and cigarettes. Our dinner, at 8 p. m., was almost a repetition of this, and both were wholesome and delicious meals, eaten with appetites engendered by the free exercise and fresh air of the country. The heat was so great, how- ever, that every one was compelled to take a long siesta , our beds being arranged by the side of the table, both after breakfast and dinner. Generally by nine o’clock every one is in bed, and all are up and stirring by five and some fre- quently by four of the morning. While our steamer was loading three thousand arrobas (an arroba is twenty-five pounds) of yerba , I spent two very delightful days at the ranch of Tupurupucu. There is good fishing in the neigh- boring rivers, and partridges may be shot within one hun- dred yards of the house. The only drawback to a thorough enjoyment of this free style of life is the great heat, which may be expected during at least one half of the year. The downward trip to Posadas occupied but two days, and was uneventful. I was obliged to wait four days in Posadas for the tri-monthly diligence to San Tome, a village on the Uru- guay River, and about sixty-five miles distant. We finally left Posadas at six in the morning in a dili- gence like that in which I had come from Itusaingo, having seats for eight passengers, and a team of six horses — four wheelers and two leaders, with a postilion about twenty feet in advance, whose horse was attached to our team by a lariat. A PARAGUAYAN RANCH. 199 This latter method seems to effectually prevent balking, and besides keeps the team well up to its work. Four passen- gers besides myself were bound to San Tome. They were all merchants save one, the priest of Posadas, who had been invited to a church fiesta. Our route lay over an all but tree- less plain, containing fine meadow and coarse tufts of grass, and the road was, as before, a mere track across the prairie, which we often left in order to make short cuts, or to select more even ground. The country was very thinly populated. Where there were clumps of trees we generally found small ranches, and at such we would change horses. We changed so frequently that more than one hundred horses were used in the short journey of sixty-five miles from the Parana to the Uruguay. We passed a few of the great wooden ox-carts of the country, carrying yerba-mate or hides to the river-ports. Sometimes the oxen are directed from the cart, sometimes by a horseman who uses a long pole for the purpose. About one o’clock we halted for the day at a ranch where a small mud hut stood for the use of travelers. Many domestic ani- mals were gathered around — chickens, dogs, cats, geese, also some paroquets, and a monkey. Suspended by ropes were great quantities of meat, drying in the sun and wind. As soon as we arrived, cots were prepared for our siesta , and the table was set for breakfast. It was amusing to see the finery of the bed-linen employed upon rude cots in a grass-roofed, mud-walled, and mud-floored hut. The sheets and pillow- cases had at least a foot of lace embroidery attached to them. This was evidently highly appreciated by the chickens, for they had not only free access to the hut, but to the beds and breakfast-table. It is very striking, all over the world, how inconsistent semi-civilized people are with the luxuries or, at least, the comforts of life. At night we all took our cots out-of-doors and slept soundly until daybreak, each with re- volver or knife, or both, under his pillow, including even the man of peace and good-will, the jpadre. Every one in these countries is accustomed to carry either knife or revolver ; yet I could at first hardly comprehend its necessity, never hear- 200 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . ing of any deeds of personal violence, and finding everybody so courteous and pleasant, masters and servants, and even strangers. I had supposed it to be a sort of survival of feu- dal times arising in a similar and as sensible a manner as the fashion of our wearing two buttons behind upon our coats. Once everybody wore a belt, and the two buttons were used to support it behind. Belts are no longer worn, and yet the buttons have not been excised. Instead of dying out, they continue to survive, like rudimentary organs. I inferred that it was the same with the weapons so universally carried by the South American people ; but the next day I saw that these weapons could be, quite as useful as ornament- al. A man, whom we took up for a short distance, had some few words with one of the other passengers regarding his seat. Nothing more happened at the time, but upon alighting the dispute was at once renewed. One accused the other merely of not being complimentary, when revolvers were whipped out in a trice, and it was as much as the rest could do to prevent reciprocal onslaught. In fact, only the presence and persuasion of the priest prevented bloodshed. After this little episode, I put a few extra cartridges in my pocket and whetted my bowie-knife, fearing that, if there was a general fight, I might be “ counted in ” without the polite preliminary of consulting my wishes. As we went on, the great green sea of grass, with occa- sional copses of trees, made an undulating country about us. The plains were plentifully dotted with cattle and horses. The former were sleek, but most of the horses were sorry- looking hacks. We passed a few small streams, but not until we reached the neighborhood of the river Uruguay did trees abound. The people, of course, know nothing of “ through ” routes, or of the motives that impel travelers to hasten. There is, therefore, little or no accommodation on the road. For some of our meals we had to take with us cold meat, bread, and wine, which we would eat while our horses were being changed. Instead of completing the journey in a single day, as might easily have been done, we took the halves of A PARAGUAYAN RANCH. 201 two days. San Tome I found to be a small village upon the bank of tbe Uruguay, in a perfect forest of orange and banana trees. Tbe bouses are like those of Posadas, one story in beigbt, made of rough, unplastered brick. A hotel and a club occupy the greater part of the same building. A bank ap- pears in evidence of civilization, and quite a number of stores contain the ordinary articles of sale. The streets are lighted by kerosene-lamps. On one side of a large plaza stands a very old church, of dark rough stones, cemented together with rubble- work, which produces quite an ornamental effect. The Uruguay Biver is here about a mile wide, with muddy water, a strong current, and green, wooded banks. In the stream, which is all of a hundred feet below the level of the town, I found a few sloops, loading with hides, yerba , and wood, for ports down the river. The steamer, which runs to Ceibo, an Argentine port, and others intermediate, did not leave until three days after my arrival. It proved to be a little paddle-wheel vessel, of twenty tons, and drew but thirty-two inches of water. The captain was an Argentine, the engineer a Scotchman. There were accommodations for twenty passengers, part of them in the open saloon, and a part in two cabins, in the stern, set apart for women and children. We started with one passenger besides myself, and took two more on board at the first stop, the town of San Borje, in Brazil, where we also shipped two thousand hides and a quantity of wool. In going on from San Borje we have a loaded schooner in tow. There is a strong breeze from the southward, and a number of sailing-craft take advantage of this to stem the swiftly running current, their sails . standing out in the style known to sailors as “ wing-and-wing.” The larger ones are rigged like our brigs, and the smaller ones with a single mast or sail, or sails, like the conventional Mediterranean felucca. We stop several times to load wood for our boiler, great piles of it being stacked at intervals upon the high banks and thrown down to us. It is sold at the rate of sixty cents a hundred short sticks. There are several steamers which 202 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. navigate the upper Uruguay — that part of it between San Tome and Ceibo, a distance of about one hundred and sev- enty-five miles. Below Ceibo, for a distance of one hundred miles, steam-navigation is interrupted by a series of falls and rapids, though a great part of the river is traversed by na- tive boats, and at certain seasons of the year, when the water is especially high, the whole of it. A railway on the Argen- tine bank, one hundred miles in length, connects the freight and passengers of the upper and the lower river navigation. A like railway has also been projected upon the Uruguay bank, but only a small portion of it has been completed. From Concordia, the southern terminus of the Argentine railway, the river is wide and deep, and there is almost daily steamer communication with Montevideo and Buenos Ayres. The Uruguay is not like the Parana as regards its reefs. Here they are far too many and too massive to pay for exca- vating a ship-canal. In the Parana the Apipe rapids form in a single spot the sole obstacle for nearly two thousand miles of that splendid water-way. Under a small moon and very bright stars we went on all night, and reached the Bra- zilian town of Itaqui at daybreak. Here were anchored in the river a monitor and two gunboats. On shore was a large arsenal and a garrison. The town is small, and not much of it appears from the river, which, being here quite narrow, makes the place of considerable strategic importance to the Brazilians. There is also an important trade in the yerba- mate. I do not think I have yet spoken of the practice of mate sipping among people in Paraguay, Uruguay, and the Argen- tine Bepublic. Mate and cigarettes are as ubiquitous here as cofiee and pipes in the Levant. Mate is taken the first thing in the morning, and again about the middle of the afternoon, regularly. Then, besides, whenever you call upon a person, at any time of day or evening, mate is generally served as a delicate attention, whether your visit is of business or friend- ship. The mate is always proffered in a little egg-shaped gourd, no more than four inches in depth and three in diame- A PARAGUAYAN RANGE. 203 ter. This is first nearly filled with the mate from a little opening at the smaller end and then very hot water is added to the briinming-point. A long brass or silver tube, the size of an ordinary lead-pencil, at whose lower extremity is a sort of spoon pierced with holes, is then inserted. This spoon is used to stir the mate, and through the tube you imbibe the tea. The gourd holds only a few swallows, and after being emptied is taken out, refilled with hot water, and handed in turn to each of the others in the company. It frequently thus circulates half a dozen times, a boy being constantly employed in serving it. Sometimes a little sugar is added, but I found the natural taste a rather pleasant bitter. It is a strong, stimulating drink, whose tonic influences extend over several hours. Wealthy people have their mate gourds carved, and the silver drinking-tubes elaborately ornamented with figures of plants and birds. All these people, both rich and poor, use the mate, and besides, great quantities of it are exported to Brazil and other more distant South American states. The appearance of the yerba-mate , or tea-shrub, is like the English holly. It grows without cultivation on the borders of the wildernesses, and there are even entire forests of it. There are only two simple processes in the prepara- tion of the mate, which thus gives it a certain advantage over the Chinese product. The first is the cutting of the trees and the gathering of the young leaves, which are generally dried in the field over quick fires. The second process is the crushing of the dried materials, which is carried on at a mate-mill. The one which I saw at Tupurupucu had six wooden stampers worked by teeth, placed spirally round the circumference of a revolving cylinder. The motive power was a strong mule. Other and larger mills, however, derive their power from water passing an overshot wheel of great diameter. These frequently turn out three tons, weight of mate per day 0 CHAPTER XXIV. DOWN THE URUGUAY. We called for some fresli provisions at the Argentine village of San Martin, so named in honor of the famous Gen- eral San Martin, who was born here. Opposite is the most important affluent of the Uruguay, the Ibicuy, a river navi- gable for native vessels for upward of one hundred miles. The next stop was also in the Argentine Republic, at Restau- racion, a village delightfully situated on the top of a hill, in the midst of luxurious vegetation. A few miles inland is the ruined mission of San Ana, one of the most fertile of: the old Jesuit settlements. Here Aime Bonpland, the emi- nent French naturalist and traveler, and joint author with Humboldt of the “ Travels in the Equinoctial Regions of the Hew Continent,” spent the last twenty years of his life. Upon returning to Europe with Humboldt, after their five years of exploration and residence in northern South Amer- ica, Bonpland presented to the Paris Museum of Hatural History his valuable collection of six thousand new species of plants, and was appointed by the Empress Josephine su- perintendent of her gardens at Malmaison. The subsequent career of this great botanist, owing to the overshadowing glory of Humboldt, is not so well known. In 1816, when forty- three years of age, he sailed for Buenos Ayres, where he be- came a professor of natural history. At the end of five years he set out on a journey to the Andes, but in passing through Paraguay was captured by the troops of the dictator Francia. After a residence of nearly ten years, under strict surveil- lance, he was released in 1831, and afterward came to San DOWN THE URUGUAY. 205 Ana, where he established a vast garden, and acclimatized numbers of strange plants, Bonpland died in 1858, but one year before his illustrious colleague Humboldt. In the evening we anchored nearly opposite Hestauracion, at the Brazilian town of Uruguay ana, a place pleasantly situ- ated on a hill sloping back from the river and covered with orange -groves. A large barrack showed conspicuously near the bank. At daybreak on the next morning we started down the river, now at a greater rate of speed, having got rid of the vessel which we had been towing. The river was about a mile in width, and the banks were low and but little wooded. In the distance was fine meadow-land, and several herds of ostriches were seen. We reached Ceibo, the port of the town of Monte Caseros, three miles distant, about noon. Three or four small steamers were clustered here, and half a dozen sailing-vessels were moored in a little creek upon which stands the railway-station, a suitable brick and iron edifice. The train departed at 1.30 p. m. for Concordia. The line is English in its equipment, and the carriages have iron sunshades at the sides, as in Egypt and India. There were but two classes of passenger- cars, and a small postal and bag- gage van, but many freight-cars which were loaded prin- cipally with hides. Monte Caseros is a small, dull town, with much good pasture going to waste in the streets. The line of railway to Concordia passes the entire distance through an undulating prairie of grass, with trees visible only on the banks of the distant Uruguay. The river itself is not in sight, although we run parallel to it, until we near the end of the journey. In the pampa are many great herds of cat- tle and horses, and a few sheep and ostriches. Uruguay con- sists mostly of luxuriant pastures, and the chief industry is the raising of cattle, horses, and sheep, as in the Argentine Republic. Half a dozen stations dot the line, some sur- rounded with only a cluster of native huts, others communi- cating with a neighboring town or colony. At Concordia, which we reached in six hours, we entered a fine large sta- tion, built quite in the English style. The town of Salto, 206 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. with its whitewashed, stuccoed houses, shone resplendent in the getting sun. This is on the opposite side of the river, a few miles above Concordia. The latter is a hustling town, with a tramway, a plaza full of trees, a cheap-looking Liberty column, an unfinished cathedral, and a hotel as good as any in Buenos Ayres, if not better. It is kept by a Frenchman, and is large, clean, and comfortable, with a very liberally supplied table. At seven o’clock the following morning I left for the town of Fray Bentos, and. the famous meat-extract factory of Lie- big, in Uruguay. Two large steamers, of different lines, sailed simultaneously, and both were well patronized. In the river, at Salto, were several merchant-vessels and a small steamer, and near the town were two saladeros , or meat- salting factories. There was also a large saladero at Con- cordia. Both these towns are busy places. Concordia, in fact, is the third town in importance in the Argentine Re- public, and Salto enjoys the same rank in Uruguay. The steamer on which I took passage was a large iron, double- deck, paddle-wheel boat, with very powerful engines to op- pose the strong current, and with accommodations for several hundred passengers. The service is irreproachable, and the table excellent, as might be expected, the line being French. One of these fine large steamers leaves Concordia for Buenos Ayres five days in the wee|r. For the first part of the jour- ney the country was very thinly settled, and the banks were low and fringed with trees. Here and there were glimpses of the prairie beyond. Some of the views were smooth, soft, and mildly picturesque, with palms and other trees thinly scattered upon the green and yellow meadows. About noon we reached Paysandu, a large Uruguayan town, built upon a hill gently sloping back from the river and partly concealed by trees. The river is here less than a mile in width, with a swiftly flowing current. We reached Fray Bentos about five o’olock in the afternoon. At that point the river makes a sharp turn to the east, and widens to an expanse of several miles. Fray Bentos is a small village DOWN THE URUGUAY. 207 built upon a high peninsula, with broad, macadamized streets and a plaza crowded with trees. On a similar headland, about a mile south, are the buildings of the Liebig extract-of-meat establishment and those of its employes, making a small vil- lage by themselves. Half a dozen vessels were in the river, engaged in shipping the well-known juice. The next morning I visited the famous factory. The grounds are surrounded, by a high brick wall, entered through a lofty archway. The manager and superintendents live within this inclosure, though the most of the employes are in the village apart by themselves. The company employs about a thousand hands, who with their wives and children form a community of over twenty-five hundred people. In the private office of the manager were a fine large library of Euglish, %erman, and Spanish books, and a table loaded with recent English periodicals. Upon a huge sideboard stood an excellent bust of Justus Liebig, the great German chemist. There was also a cabinet containing jars of all the various kinds and sizes in which the extract is packed for market. Adjoining this room were several used by the cashier, secretaries, and book-keepers. The company work but seven months of the year. They have some thousands of acres of pasture, and some hundreds of thousands of cattle. Since the company was started, in 1865, the number of cattle slaughtered is 2,600,000, representing a value of $86,400,000. During the slaughtering season 1,000 oxen are killed daily. They are good and sound animals, and not less than four years old. You are shown by obliging clerks through all the different parts of the factory. Connected with the estab- lishment are all sorts of machine-shops, so that nearly every- thing necessary is made upon the premises. There is a tin- smith’s, a carpenter’s, and an engineer’s shop, each on a very complete scale. Adjacent is a good iron pier, at which ves- sels may lie and load directly from the works by means of a tram-road. A short distance out on the pampa there are large corrals, and a stockade-bordered lane leads into the slaughtering-yard. 208 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. Arrived at this general depot, about fifty cattle are closely penned, and a man, standing on the stockade, lassoes them one by one, the end of his lasso being attached to a neighboring winch, turned by steam, which hauls the fated beast, stum- bling and slipping and pushing aside all animals in its way, till its head touches a beam where stands the matador or killer. This man is armed with a short, broad-bladed, sharp- pointed knife. With one blow, close behind the horns, he severs the spinal cord, and the animal drops with a heavy thud, but without a struggle, upon a small iron truck. This is at once drawn (the lasso having been disengaged) by two men into a great shed, where about one hundred men are busily at work skinning and cutting up the carcasses. Not unfrequently the horns of the one lassoed become entangled with the horns of another, and they are brought up to the beam and dispatched together. Along one side of the great shed are long ranges of rails for hanging meat, and along the other is a fiat, flagged place, slightly shelving, upon which the oxen are laid. Here, by means of a lasso attached to a horse, the animal is hauled into its place, where a skinner is waiting for it. He immediately cuts its throat and begins his work, very rapidly removing the skin. Though the vic- tim’s sensation is probably entirely destroyed by severance of its spinal cord, yet muscular action is not ; and it is rather ghastly to see the struggles of an animal with half its skin off, and to detect a sound painfully like a bellow. These movements seem to take place when certain nerves about the neck are touched and thus set in action. Soon the ani- mal is cut into a hundred pieces, and the parts are quickly sorted and taken in different directions. The meat, warm and quivering, is cut from the bones and hung upon the rails provided for that purpose, and the skins are put into large brine-baths for soaking. Entrails, skulls, horns, tongues, hoofs, and even the blood, are carried away. Everything is carefully preserved, and every part of the animal is utilized. Even the bones are ground and, mixed with the meat after the extract is obtained, with hide-trimmings and blood, are DOWN THE URUGUAY. 209 made into an artificial guano which proves a very efficient fertilizer. The skinners wield knives like razors, work with lightning rapidity, and show profound knowledge of bovine anatomy. They will skin and cut an animal into a hundred pieces in eight minutes. The operation has been done in five. Each skinner gets fifteen cents per head ; but, if in skinning he makes a hole in the skin, he loses his payment for that animal. In the height of the season he disposes of about thirty-five in a day. The sight of the great shed, where thirty bullocks at a time are being skinned and cut up by wild-looking, half-naked men, covered with blood from head to foot, the pavement running rivers of blood and clotted gore, is one not soon to be forgotten. Perhaps it would be as well that a very sensitive person should not in- spect this part of the establishment. But the fine adapta- bility of everything for its purpose, the splendid order ob- served by the workmen, and the preservation of as high a degree of cleanliness as is consistent with such a business, strike the visitor as very remarkable. When it has cooled, the meat is cleared of fat, and is stewed in large oblong caldrons, in which the water is kept somewhat below the boiling-point, as it is a peculiarity of the extract that it contains no matter not soluble in cold as dis- tinguished from boiling water. The thin soup so obtained is then strained off and carefully skimmed, which removes any trace of grease that may have remained in the meat. It is then passed through a series of elaborate evaporations, out of each of which it comes thicker, until it reaches a consist- ency rather more solid than treacle. The liquid becomes a jelly on cooling. It is now ready for use, and is packed in large tins holding about a hundred and ten pounds of the extract. Each of these tins contains, on an average, the sub- stance of fifteen animals, and is worth about two hundred and fifty dollars. The tins are exported in that form to Ant- werp, where they are examined by a special chemist attached to the company’s general depot, after whose approval and guarantee, as regards composition and flavor, the extract is 14 210 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. potted, put up in cases, and sent out to all the markets of the world. As every one knows, Liebig’s extract of meat is used as a highly condensed and nutritive food, as a tonic for the de- bilitated and sick, as a stock-pot for soups, made dishes, and sauces, and for flavoring meat, game, and fish. A pound of extract is sufficient to prepare one hundred and ninety por- tions of soup, of a strength equal to that obtained by the cooking of forty-five pounds of meat during three hours. The preparation contains chiefly fatty matter, flavoring and odoriferous principles, meaty acids, and certain soluble alka- line salts. Though from thirty-four pounds of lean meat but one of the extract is acquired, yet the coneoction does not contain as many highly nutritive as stimulative qualities, which act as excitants of the digestive organs and tend to restore the appetite. The article never deteriorates, because it is wholly destitute of grease, albumen, and gelatin. The Liebig company claim an annual sale of eight million jars. In the evening I take the steamer for Buenos Ayres. From a point just above Fray Bentos the river increases to three miles in breadth, and thus continues, with low, unin- teresting banks, to its mouth. At seven o’clock the follow- ing morning I reach Buenos Ayres, after an absence of about two months. On December 22d I left Buenos Ayres for Bio de Janeiro in the Hevelius, a fine vessel of three thousand tons burden, belonging to the Liverpool, Brazil and Biver Plate great fleet of steamers. The Hevelius was bound for Antwerp (with calls at Montevidio and Bio), carried the Belgian mail, and displayed the red, yellow, and black banner of that kingdom instead of the British flag, under which the greater number of the steamers of Messrs. Lamport and Holt sail. She lay out in the Plata, together with about twenty others, all large ones, just fourteen miles distant from the city, not being able to get any nearer, owing to their draught and to the extraordinary shoaling shore. I doubt if any large seaport in the world has such a bad harbor, or more DOWN THE URUGUAY. 211 properly roadstead, as Buenos Ayres. Four or five of .the passengers were taken on board in a small tender. On our way the frequent appearance above the surface of only half the masts of vessels, hinted plainly enough of the dangers and risks of Kiver Plate commerce. I found the Hevelius deeply laden with her cargo, and possessing accommodations for a goodly number of passengers, distributed in three classes. Those of the first class were very comfortably lodged. The saloon was a superb room, built upon the deck and lined with white marble, which gave it a cool, comforta- ble look, at least for those occupying it during the tropical part of the route. It was, moreover, very luxuriously fur- nished and ornamented, but the table was of -the character too often found in English steamers — a small variety of very plain food, simply prepared, and tasting as if all had been cooked in the same kettle. Hot fewer than five meals were furnished daily. In these particulars the French, Italian, and German steamers are generally far superior to the Eng- lish, though I am free to admit a sort of compensation in the correct discipline and seamanship always to be found on steamers of British nationality. We weighed anchor at six o’clock — Buenos Ayres lying so low as to be quite out of sight. We passed two Argentine war-vessels, a monitor and a sloop, and reached Montevideo early the following morn- ing. Here we spent the day loading dried beef and live sheep for Bio Janeiro. The remainder of our cargo con- sisted of wool and hides, bound to Antwerp. Anchored near us were a score of steamers, several of them crowded with Italian immigrants. The beautiful and convenient position of Montevideo, as compared with Buenos Ayres, is at once apparent. Montevideo, however, is about all there seems to be of Uruguay, excepting the large towns of Pay- sandu and Salto, on the Uruguay Biver. At sunset we de- parted for Bio Janeiro, a voyage of about eleven hundred miles. CHAPTER XXV. EIO DE JANEIRO. We celebrated a very merry Christmas,* on the 27th passed the Tropic of Capricorn, and late in the evening sighted a powerful light on one of a group of islands lying a short distance from the entrance to the harbor of Rio de Ja- neiro. It is a revolving light, and, showing first white and then red, makes a very pretty sight. As we approached the entrance of the harbor, the dark hills, with their diversified forms and bare, precipitous tops, loomed grandly on either hand. They did not seem to be, on an average, more than fifteen hundred feet in height. There was, as yet, no moon, though the stars were brightly illuminative. The harbor of Rio is about one hundred miles in circumference, lies directly north and south, and is almost exactly of a pear- shape, the long and narrow entrance forming, as it were, the neck of the fruit. To the left, as we passed in, rose abruptly from the sea a great, precipitous rock, appropri- ately named, from its formation, Sugar-Loaf. Though but thirteen hundred feet in height, it is so steep and smooth that it has been climbed but by only three or four advent- urous persons. So sharp is it, that its conical summit does not appear to be over twenty feet in diameter. It stands dark and frowning, a grim old sentry on its post day and night. The entrance to the great bay is about a mile in width. On the left, not far from the Sugar-Loaf, is a small fort, and upon the north headland, near the water, is a large and powerful fortress, mounting one hundred guns. The hills back of this are not more than one thousand feet in View from the Summit of the Corcovado. RIO DR JANEIRO . 213 height. We sheered over to within hailing distance, and were challenged (in Portuguese), “ What steamer is that ? ” Our captain answered from the bridge, “ Hevelius.” “ All rightee ” came back from the fortress, and on we sped, past another fortification, on a small island in mid-channel, and still another, on an island far to the left, near which we anchored for the night, the forts meanwhile exchanging some lime-light signals. The harbor had here widened to about two miles. On the left lay the city of Rio de Janeiro, with a broad street, at the water’s edge, some four or five miles in length. This, having an unbroken line of gas-lamps, presented a very beautiful appearance, as did also the hills beyond, bespangled with thousands of scattered lights. Up- on the opposite side of the bay is a large suburb called Uic- theroy. Here, on projecting points, are two more fortifica- tions, and a headland about the center of the great city bears another; so that altogether Rio, with its seven fortresses, ought to consider itself amply protected, especially when we add the presence of several huge ironclads moored a short distance from the shore. As our anchor fell to the distant bottom, the bright moon rose above the eastern hills, and illumined a marvelous scene. The whole bay was sur- rounded by little, pointed, and turreted hills, standing one behind the other, in every conceivable position, and ranging in every possible direction. Some were bare, others covered with vegetation ; but at the bases of all could be seen palms, bananas, and other tropical plants. The bay was sprinkled with islands near its shores, which were very deeply indented. The northern banks were too low and too distant to be dis- tinguishable, but the splendid range of the Organ Mountains, some three thousand feet in height, could be dimly outlined in the far distance. Beyond old Sugar-Loaf, to the south- west, was a precipitous cone called the Corcovado. This peak is about twenty-three hundred feet in height, and has a belvedere crowning its summit, which is reached by a cog-railway like those of the Righi and Mount Washington, and from which a magnificent view of the bay and city of 214 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. Rio may be obtained. The extreme pictnresqueUess of all these hills about the bay I leave to my illustrations rather than to my pen. At first I greatly regretted being compelled to enter so renowned a harbor at night, but I afterward con- gratulated myself ; for I had the unusual experience of be- holding it crowned by starlight and gaslight on the edge of the ocean’s murky darkness ; then illumined by a glorious yellow moon ; and, finally, sparkling in the daylight beside an azure sea. Upon going on deck I beheld what must undoubtedly be called the most romantic and amazing group- ing and display of natural and artificial objects to be wit- nessed on earth. I know not to what to compare this city; it is altogether unique in situation and appearance. In one sense it somewhat resembles Valparaiso, with its streets wind- ing about the bay and running up little valleys, and its build- ings covering the sides of steep hills. But in Valparaiso we have an amphitheatre of long, narrow ridges, while here we have many little conical peaks. In Valparaiso were twenty ridges ; here were twenty peaks. There the ridges were much alike ; here no two peaks w T ere of the same height, shape, or position. In the former city we have a sort of background peculiar to the temperate zone ; but in Rio there is the wonderful flora of the tropics, with all its marvelous light and shade. Rio is really a hundred times as pictur- esque as Valparaiso. Such a wonderfully diversified picture I have never seen elsewhere. There seem to be nowhere two heights, or two levels, or two lines of any kind the same. The buildings of Rio remind me of a city of southern Italy, although it is rather more Oriental than any town of the great Mediterranean peninsula. The walls of the houses are col- ored red, yellow, brown, and pink, with variegated trim- mings, which, with the curious spires and domes of the churches, the tops of the scattered brown and gray peaks, the verdure in the distance, with a great expanse of shining water in the foreground, lighted by an early tropical sun, produced altogether a scene at which I gazed entranced. The great bay of Rio, with its average depth of sixty feet, could easily GOVERNOR’S ISLAND afeeicao S.Christovi ^Glori; Corcovado Botanical Gardens fCatumduba Chart of the Bay of Rio Janeiro. RIO RE JANEIRO. 215 contain the navies of the whole world. It is fed by a few goodly sized and several smaller rivers around its northern shores. Besides the great number of small islands is one very large, in the western corner, with the home-like name of Governor’s Island; but most of this magnificent bay is quite unobstructed for shipping. We hove anchor, and pro- ceeded to our permanent anchorage, near, the custom-house and the business portion of the city. We passed ferry-boats which were almost a counterpart of those in New York Har- bor, some huge Brazilian ironclads, and men-of-war of other nationalities, and then reached a few steamers, with a fleet of ships beyond, the greatest number of them being anchored . far out in the bay, though it is quite possible for large vessels to come right up to the splendid wharves which fringe much of the city. I land near an arsenal, and where a gigantic ironclad stands upon the stocks in process of construction. I walk through a portion of the business section, and then take a tram to the hotel in the southern part of the city. The old business paid of Bio is built upon level ground, on a broad point of land which juts out into the bay. This part of the city seems like a bad imitation of Lisbon. The streets run ap- proximately at right angles, but are generally not more than ten feet in width, paved with u Belgian blocks,” with an open central drain to which they slope, and with sidewalks on a level with the street and not more than three feet in width. The streets are so narrow that one does not wonder carriages are not permitted in the narrowest and most frequented of them. Even in the others it is a bad arrangement that side- walk and carriage-way should be on a level, for the carriages continually drive upon the pavements/ almost grazing the store-fronts and compelling foot-passengers to jump into the nearest doorway. The houses which border these streets are very picturesque. No two are alike. They range from two to four stories in height, and are in every style of architect- ure, though all have little projecting balconies, and many have alcoves on the upper flights. Some of the larger and 216 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. handsomer stores and public buildings are built of cut stone — a sort of gray granite — others have door and window frames of stone, and the remainder of brick and stucco ; or the first story will be of stone, and the others of brick and stucco. The walls of all the brick and stucco buildings are gayly colored, and this, with their Carved^ balconies, low ceilings, and small windows, reminds one strongly of Lima. The ground-floors are occupied as stores, generally small and darkish, but containing a most extraordinary variety of goods of every quality and quantity. As in Montevideo, most of the streets have circlets of gas crossing them at frequent in- tervals for illuminating the city on feast-days, which are here, as elsewhere in South America, many and merry. Every house has, besides, its flag-staff projecting over the street. Then the shopkeepers have a way of suspending all sorts of signs and advertisements — placing also a large portion of their stock in trade in the doors and windows — in such a manner as to almost meet above your head, and serve, together with many awnings, to shut out the torrid sun, but alas ! the air also. The signs mostly project horizontally above the heads of the passers-by, who, as they stroll, may thus very easily get a good general idea of the imports and industries of the country. In these commercial schedules I was always reminded of the streets of the great Chirlese cities, and nota- bly those of Canton, which are quite as wide as many of those of Rio Janeiro. Tramways, of both narrow and broad gauge, thread the streets of Rio in every direction. The cars are all open at the sides, and are drawn by strong and fleet mules. Many other public vehicles are drawn by mules or horses. One of the conveyances is a sort of light, two- wheeled, single-seated gig or tilbury, wfltb one horse, and an- other is like the conventional hackney-coach, with two seats, and drawn generally by two mules. The coachmen are often mulattoes, and those attached to private stables are very gor- geously liveried. Of the many public squares in Rio, most are ^comparatively small. The hotel I found to be in the style of those in the East Indies, with a profusion of shower- Statue of Dom Pedro I. RIO EE JANEIRO. 217 baths in great stone tanks, and rooms in detached cottages, opening upon fine gardens filled with odd-looking trees and beautiful flowers. Many great trees were covered with enor- mous bunches of scarlet and yellow flowers, just as small shrubs are with us at home. Always striking and interesting, too, were the noble columnar palms, with their smooth, gray- ish trunks, fifty feet in height, and topped by great tufts of leaves twelve feet in length. It is midsummer here— though “New-Year’s” in New York — and exceedingly hot (ther- mometer 100° Fahr.). The people in the streets are dressed in light linen clothes. Only those compelled by business interests reside at this time in Bio, and most of these have their sleeping quarters on one or another of the many beauti- ful outlying hills. All the hotels are situated in the south- ern extremity of the city, near the shores of the bay. The rooms are carpetless, but contain a cane-bottomed bed, with very thin mattress and pillow, mosquito-curtains, and com- fortable bent-wood furniture, with, of course, a hammock for day-lounging.' The windows and doors will probably be of blinds only. The day following my arrival l visited the Corcovado peak, the view from which is the great “show-sight” of Bio. This peak is situated some three or four miles in a direction southwesterly from the heart of the city. It is a great granite cone, precipitous at all points save one, and up this winds the mountain railway. The tramway takes you through the beautiful suburbs to the neat little station, whence nine trains each way are run on Sundays and holi- days, and four each way on other days. Before entering the single car, which holds about fifty passengers, and which the engine, with an inclined boiler, pushes before it, I noticed that the engine was made in Switzerland, with central cog- wheels and brakes. The road was surveyed and built by a Brazilian engineer. The engines weigh twelve tons. The rolling-stock cost three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the road carries about fifty thousand people a year. To reach the summit of the Corcovado the railway winds around 218 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . the sides of the valleys and along the ridges, a distance of nearly two miles. It passes right through a virgin forest of splendid trees, shrubs, creepers, ferns, and orchids. The great- est declivity on the road is thirty feet in a hundred, against twenty -five in a hundred on the Eighi and thirty-three in a hundred on Mount Washington. The curves are uniformly of a radius of three hundred and ninety feet. Hear the first station is an iron viaduct, about three hundred feet in length and seventy-five in height. Several smaller viaducts are bnilt, but there seems to have been much more cutting than filling, the total excavation amounting to seventy-seven thou- sand cubic metres. So much for the physical and mechani- cal facts of the road. It is more difficult to voice the impres- sions received while making the journey to the summit of this natural “coigne of vantage.” Few things are more difficult than to portray in language the splendor, grace, and beauty of tropical scenery. Theophile Gautier could have done it, for his temperament was tropic, his ink was equato- rial, and his pen was nibbed with sunlight. Ho matter how far you may wander, the plants and flowers always have a strangeness, the atmosphere new effects. In brief, in ascend- ing Corcovado you pass through the heart of a tropical wood- land sitting in a comfortable railway-car ! About two thirds of the distance to the summit a good hotel has been built on the side of an immense valley, over which is a magnificent prospect of the plain where the famous botanical garden has been laid out, a great lagoon, some turret-topped, rocky hills, and the limitless ocean studded with little islands beyond. The hotel is provided with a French restaurant, and even a billiard-room and a shooting-gallery. It is the custom of many of the city people, during the hot, unhealthy sum- mer, to go there to dine, sleep, and breakfast, or even to dine, and return to town in a late train. On holidays the place is crowded. Many fine walks diversify the neighbor- hood, and through occasional breaks in the dense forest you obtain views any one of which is worth a voyage from Hew York. The nights are cool, and, what is also greatly to the By Rail to the Corcovado. . RIO EE JANEIRO. 219 purpose, you breathe pure air. From a point just beside the hotel you can see the towering top of Corcovado to the east- ward, but you can not see the bay of Rio nor the city ; the view is to the south and west. The plain is everywhere dotted with the picturesque villas of wealthy citizens, and among the great green groves of trees you may occasionally see one covered with the most brilliant flowers. Between all course the yellow roads and paths, while the ocean gleams in purple haze, with a border of emerald shore. On continuing the ascent from the hotel you pass over many steep grades along a ridge so sharp that you may look down toward Bio on one side and toward the ocean on the other, and suddenly you come out of the woods on to the very brink of a precipice, with a sheer descent of nearly two thou- sand feet. Part of the road-bed has been blasted from the cliff, while some of it is built upon its very face. And here, to add to your terror, is the greatest declivity of the railway. It is a more appalling passage than any upon Mount Wash- ington or the Righi. Should any gearing yield, a rail or a nail break, or any sudden obstruction occur, nothing could prevent the train being hurled over the precipice. Soon after leaving this mauvais jpas we have glimpses of the bay, the Organ Mountains beyond and above, and the capital here and there between its many hills at one’s feet. The train halts about two hundred feet below the top, at a point be- yond which it would be impossible to advance except by a spiral tunnel of the rocky summit itself. The time con- sumed in the ascent is just an hour. The summit is nearly a bare granite rock, in which great steps have been cut to facilitate the visitor’s progress. This, as well as a neigh- boring rock, nearer the bay and a little lower, has been sur- rounded by stout concrete walls. On the first rock there was a great, iron, octagonal belvedere, which was fastened deep down into the solid stone by enormous iron bars ; for though usually only mild trade-winds blow, sometimes there are gales which, at this height and exposure, would severely test any structure. The other and smaller in closure — it is 220 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . hardly ten feet in diameter — is uncovered, and is reached from the belvedere by steps cut in the rocks and a narrow passage bounded on either side by blood-curdling precipices. On all sides, in fact, except that on which you must approach, are sheer precipices of more or less bare rock, fifteen hun- dred to two thousand feet deep. A stone merely dropped over the crowning walls would, in most places, descend at once to the plains far below. The wonderful panorama un- folded in every direction is unsurpassed in magnificence any- where in the world. Nowhere is there so grand, so varied, so picturesque a view — mountains, hills, the ocean, a huge, island-studded bay, and a city of nearly four hundred thou- sand inhabitants. I had heard of the marvels of this mid-air vision, and had prepared my mind, but the reality almost took away my breath. I do not wonder that many a specta- tor has been moved to tears. There are doubtless vistas more awe-inspiring, such as those of the Himalayas or of the Bolivian Andes, but I know of none more emotionally im- pressive than this at Bio. It is a peep from a balloon which shows you at a glance how a great section of the globe has been made and ordered, how land and water are distributed, and how man, the innovator, has taken advantage of every physical fact to impose upon them his own designs. I could write a chapter on the great insight into the workings of nature and man as afforded by the top of Corcovado. The total panorama embraces at least fifty square miles, which, on a clear day, may be distinctly seen without the aid of tele- scope or field-glass. During my stay at Rio I made three or four visits to the summit of Corcovado, where I would sit for hours, always seeing something new, or something old which made a new impression. On one occasion I remember the air was of such crystalline brightness, and the sky so abso- lutely cloudless, that I saw, clearly outlined, the entire extent of the splendid Organ Mountains, and almost imagined that I saw to the end of eternity itself. CHAPTER XXYI. STKEET SCENES. A book might be written entitled “ Street Scenes in Rio.” The Brazilians, both men and women, spend a large part of their lives in the streets, which abound with the most striking sights and sounds for the new-comer. Walk along the Ouvidor — the principal business street — at almost any hour of the day, and you will find it full of men, not hurry- ing along in the excitement and worry of business activity, but standing and chatting in couples and in large and small groups as at a reception. Walk along any of the private streets, and you will notice the heads, and most of the bodies also, of women hanging over the window-sills and minutely scrutinizing every passer-by. The curiosity of the Brazil- ians is not only inordinate, it is morbid. During business hours, in the busiest streets (if any of them are busy, as we understand the term in Horth America), you will find every doorway blocked by merchants, who are very closely engaged in staring into the streets. They do not seem to expect any- thing especial to happen — nothing does happen ; they simply gaze upon every passer-by as if he or she were the very first human being they had ever seen. Xow, if the object of this doorway and street lolling were the hope or expectancy of seeing an occasional fire, a procession, a police arrest, or even a dog-fight, there might be a partial excuse for it, though business did suffer. But even during the small portion of the day that the merchants are in their stores, they do not pursue their vocations with any ardor or earnestness. They treat a customer with a most nonchalant air, as if they cared nothing 222 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. for his money in comparison with a quiet, lazy life. Some- times the shopkeepers reply at once, to your inquiry, that they have not the article which you wish, and, if afterward you discover it, they merely smile and arch their eyebrows. Frequently, if you ask for a particular thing, they will direct you to a large case or cabinet, and, opening it, motion you to search for what you have asked, while they are busy peering out the door, smoking a little paper cigar,’ or joking with a friend. No matter how much or how frequently you buy, they allow no discount. If you object to an extortionate price, they repeat it, and simply shrug their shoulders; whether you buy or not is quite the same to them. Another exasperation to a foreign purchaser is to find a shop closed on account of its being one of the many feast-days, or per- haps the alleged business hours have not begun, or may be they are over. It is well understood that the members of the Latin race are nowhere averse both to see and be seen. They appear to have very much more time at their disposal than other races. As they are not generally a studious, reading people, possibly their lives would be very dull but for this idiosyn- crasy. At any rate, it is undoubtedly the most impressive trait of the Brazilian. It does not belopg alone to the women, to the uneducated, to the lower classes ; it is a universal national characteristic. At the theatre I have seen a large part of the audience looking at each other, while an interesting performance was in progress. Frequently, on a rail way- jour- ney, I have been the only passenger who would not leave his seat and rush to look out at a station, where again would be quite as many people drawn from their homes and stores by a similar irresistible inquisitiveness. Most of the houses are provided with window balconies, but the window-sills of those which are not are always covered with cushions, over which the occupants may lean in their acute interest in passing strangers, both animal and human. Hear the gates of those rich people whose mansions are unavoidably situated at some distance from the street, pretty little summer-houses are built, STREET SCENES \ 223 where the family may sit and see. The most splendid house in Rio, if not in all South America, has been sacrificed to this peculiarity of excessive curiosity. The large three-story palace is built directly upon a dirty, hot, noisy, dusty street, with the paving-stones running quite up to the house-walls, and not a tree to screen or set off its cold, stiff stone-work. As the proprietor owns a great stretch of land extending from the street quite down to the bay and covered with splen- did old trees, fruit and flower gardens, walks, fountains, and statues, one wonders why this stately edifice was not placed in the center of the grounds, or at least near the bay. But the owner passes a good part of his time in the country, where there are not many people to stare at save his servants, and, like all the rest, when he is in town, he must pry into the streets. Yet, with all this fault-finding, I feel that some allowances must be made, especially for the women. Their servants relieve them of all household work ; there is not much marketing to do ; the houses contain but little furni- ture to care for ; they do not read ; and society ordains that, generally, unless accompanied by husband or other male relative, they must remain quietly at home. Without tastes to gratify, without resources in themselves, they are literally driven to pass, quite one half of their lives hanging over a window-sill or lounging in a balcony. Many of the women of the upper classes, however, take to music — sing- ing and piano- playing — and the number of consecutive hours a day they will devote to practice shows clearly enough how straitened they are for other employment or enjoyment. A few become good pianists, but the majority are wretched strummers, going over and over again, day after day, frivo- lous French, Spanish, or Portuguese operas. The windows and doors of the houses being always open, the neighbors are apt to get a surfeit of these. In short, to be more truthful than gallant, I must describe the music practice of Rio as a public nuisance. And this music, with horn-tooting added, fre- quently continues all night in private (though more properly public) balls, so that sleep is an impossibility. It seems a 224 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. pity that the climate of Rio will prevent municipal edicts similar to those once issued in Weimar, Germany, to the effect that persons in the act of playing on the piano must not leave their windows open, and that every person wishing to give a musical party at night must pay a tax of twelve dollars. Another thing, which at once attracts the attention of the stranger in Rio is the sallow, half-dead look, the undersized and meager appearance of the Brazilians, at least of the white Brazilians. The negroes, on the other hand, are sleek, vig- orous, and jolly. But Rio has, in truth, a very hot and viti- ated atmosphere — for at least one half of the year — which slowly but surely saps the powers of both mind and body, and is particularly deadly to the European or Rorth Ameri- can immigrant. It is sad to think that one of the fairest cities in the world is also one of the most fatal to health and even existence. Fortunately, there are sanitariums in the numerous hills about the city, and to these sick citizens often flee, literally for their lives. During the hottest season the Emperor, the court, and diplomatic body, and also Brazilian noblemen and capitalists, reside on the comparatively cool and wholesome heights of the Organ Mountains, at Petropo- lis or Theresopolis. Others, whose business requires their presence nearer the city, spend their evenings, nights, and mornings at one or the other of the neighboring hill resorts, such as Paineiras on the Corcovado, Tijuca, or near the Gavea. It is not alone the vitiated air during the day, but also the hot, stagnant nights which prevent sleep and weaken the sys- tem, while a lack of exercise and an excess of work and worry produce dangerous fevers and bowel complaints. This brings me to say a few words about the dreadful scourge, yellow fever, with which Rio has been so frightful- ly afflicted. Yellow fever in Brazil resembles the cholera in India in at least one respect : you may be perfectly well and strong one day, and the next not only be dead but buried. In a very bad season the death-rate from yellow fever in Rio has been as high as two hundred a day. In ordinary sea- STREET SCENES. 225 sons, of seventy people who are attacked, at least twenty will be likely to die. Since its first appearance, some forty years ago, it has hardly missed a summer’s visit of greater or lesser gravity. The drier the summer, the worse the fever. In fact, in very dry years, such as those of 1873-’7d, the fever generally takes the form of an epidemic. The Brazilians, both white and black, suffer much less from it than foreign- ers, and among the latter those nations which happen to be represented there by the lowest classes, as the Italians and Portuguese, are decimated, owing to their filthy habits and the greater hardship of their existence. A sort of compen- sation is found, however, if compensation it can be called, for while the negroes are the freest from the ravages of fever, it is almost they alone who suffer from another terrible and prevalent disease, namely, small pox. The great causes of the prevalence and virulence of yellow fever and small-pox at Rio are the bad drainage of the city, the dearth of fresh air occasioned by so many surrounding hills, and the stagna- tion of water and garbage along the indented shores of the bay. To these must be added the other charge of the dirty habits and hard and poor living of so many who become vic- tims. Latterly much has been done to improve the drain- age. An offer has been made by an English company to level one of the smaller hills back of the city, which would let in a great current of pure air, and also have a tendency to reduce the temperature several degrees. The stagnant water of the bay would hardly seem remediable. "W ith the habits of the people government has long since successfully grappled. Very much has been said about the smell in the streets and their filthy condition. I, however, must say I generally found them well paved and clean, and the smells no worse than in other great cities similarly situated. It would, in- deed, be a model city which in the tropic zone was quite pure and sweet. Upon landing at Rio and making your first purchase, you are amazed at being told that some trifle you have selected will cost so many hundreds of this or even thousands of that ; 15 226 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . and yon are no less astounded when the bill of an ordinary account is presented you which contains five or six figures. The Brazilian currency is probably, at least in theory, the most infinitesimal of any in the world, except the antediluvian small shells called cowries , and circulating as money in Africa and India. Thus, the unit of the Brazilian monetary system is a real , written 0$001, which is equal in value to one twen- tieth of a United States cent (a cowrie would be equal to about one fiftieth). Of course, there is no such coin in circu- lation, the smallest being ten reis (the plural of real), a cop- per half -cent. There is, by-tlie-by, in circulation in Hindos- tan a copper coin of the value of one twelfth of an Ameri- can cent. In Brazil a copper coin of forty reis circulates, to which succeed two nickel coins of one hundred and two hun- dred reis respectively. Uext comes the paper money in notes of one thousand reis, called a milreis ; two milreis, five, ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, one hundred, two, three, four, and a maximum of five hundred, which is thus distractingly ex- pressed numerically, 500$000 ; though there is an imaginary denomination, named conto , which is a thousand milreis and is thus written, 1: 000$. The par value of the paper milreis is equal to fifty-five American cents, but at the time of my visit it was at a discount, being only worth thirty-six cents. A little gold and silver were also’ in circulation. A strange prejudice is entertained in Brazil against silver coins ; and, while the dirtiest and most ragged bill is accepted without hesitation, the equivalent silver coin is received reluctantly, and got rid of as soon as possible. The market of Bio is situated directly upon the harbor, where are basins of cut stone for the boats which bring a great part of the produce from the islands and fertile shores of the bay. The market building is an ^normous affair, cov- ering a large block, with several annexes on adjoining streets. Several open squares are filled with venders. The supply of fish and fruits was very profuse, as was to be expected from the tropical situation of the city. Among the fish I noticed the ray, skate, mackerel, prawns, and oysters. Among A Market-Woman STREET SCENES. 227 the fruits were oranges, lemons, bananas, pears, cherimoyas, and pineapples. In one part of the market were many live animals for sale, such as monkeys, pigs, dogs, cats, and mar- mosets ; also birds, such as flamingoes, parrots, pigeons, ma- caws, and Guinea-fowl. The greater number of the market- women seemed to be negresses, and great fat, glossy creatures they were. They wore turbans on their heads, strings of colored beads on their necks and arms, and chemises so loose as to be continually slipping ofl their jet-black shoulders. In Rio you do not have to go to the market for all your sup- plies ; some of them come to you, and in novel fashion. Thus you frequently have calls from a turkey-seller, a man who generally has a brood of twenty or thirty fowls, which he marshals with a long pole, keeps cleverly together, and so drives them from door to door for inspection and sale. You will also be amused at an early morning or late evening call of cows, which are driven from house to house and milked in measures of a size to suit each customer. The calves are tied to their mothers, but of course are compelled to wear leather muzzles. This saves the expense of horse, cart, and cans, and is a convenient method of obtaining pure milk. It ought to be introduced in those, countries where the pump so frequently intervenes between cow and con- sumer, or where the favorite revival song of the milkman is, “ Shall we gather at the river % ” I will conclude this chapter with an account of the great- est street scene of Rio — the Carnival — which, however, I did not witness until my return, on March 7th, from a long journey in the interior. Of course, every one knows that this festival of merriment and revelry occurs in most Roman Catholic countries during the week before Lent. In Rio the Carnival lasts three days. Business is wholly suspended. There are processions with music, and the streets are full of people in mask and gown, who dance and sing and blow horns, and make a generally disagreeable rumpus. The streets are dressed with the banners of all nations, little flags, and colored lanterns, are lined with plants in tubs and strewn 228 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. with leaves. Formerly it was not safe to go into the streets without a rubber suit, as water was thrown from the houses upon passers-by. Various fruits were also hurled back and forth. To wear a high silk hat during the Carnival was simply to majke a target of one’s head. But the police de- termined to break up these scenes, which always cause dis- order and sometimes serious breaches of the peace. I ob- served that those who took part in the tawdry, uninteresting processions, and the dancing and monkey-play of the first day, were mostly negroes and mulattoes, of both sexes. The Carnival, as now celebrated at Kio, is not at all a saturnalia, but rather a season of jokes, some of them amusing and harmless, but others of a serious practical character. Al- though business was intermitted, and the whole city given over to festivity, I did not anywhere observe either man or woman under the influence of liquor. Nor were there any serious brawls or conflicts with the police, or any arrests made by them. During the festival all the theatres have auditorium and stage floored to a level, where at night mas- querade balls are given to the pnblic. On the last of the three days, from noon onward, the streets were filled with a restless, swaying, crowd, disguised in dominos and masks, blowing trumpets, talking in falsetto voices, while all the balconies, windows, and doors of the houses were crowded with onlookers, women and children being especially promi- nent. But neither those in the streets below nor balconies above appeared to be in holiday attire or fine dress, and for a very good reason. It is a custom of these people, instead of pelting each other with bon-bons, as in Home and Mexico, to squirt perfumed water over one another. This is con- tained in little leaden vials, such as those in which painters’ colors are packed, and great stands of them are held for sale all along the principal streets. The men, or rather boys, who are most wedded to this species of delirious sport, are rude enough to devote their attention to the passing girls and women, and I was glad to see these victims not infre- quently vigorously return the delicate attention. Often you STREET SCENES. 229 might notice half a dozen streams playing simultaneously upon one person, whose clothes would be completely drenched. The grand procession started down the narrow Ou vidor about 5 p. m., and w T as two hours in passing a given spot. It was of course the conventional procession — mounted military bands, ladies and gentlemen of the seventeenth century, great floats with papier-mache figures caricaturing recent political events and their participators, shits of local nature, all sorts and conditions of goddesses, carriages filled with “ merry maskers,” burlesque actresses in tights, etc. The floats bearing comic representions of recent national events were received by the good-natured crowd with roars of laugh- ter. Just then some unsavory disclosures had been made regarding the treatment of slaves, and I remember a success- ful hit was that made by a hill, upon the top of which four negroes were engaged in singing and playing cards. Up this hill two slave-owners were striving to climb in pursuit of the negroes, but just as they were about to reach the summit, the effigies of two well-known abolitionists were shot up out of the depths before them, and the discomfited owners slid back at once to the bottom of the hill. This amusing scene, controlled by interior machinery, was frequently repeated as the procession wound along. King Carnival sat upon a gor- geous throne, quite thirty feet above the ground, and was drawn by eight gayly caparisoned white horses. As it became dark, several of the streets w T ere lighted by their circlets of gas, passing under which the vari-colored train made a very pretty spectacle. The procession kept winding on, up one street and down another, till it was time for the various balls to begin. Enormous crowds, which had just seen it pass one point, would rush off to another street and take position to watch it again. Their interest seemed never to flag, nor did the vivacity of those taking part in the pageant. During the night I visited half a dozen of the public balls, and found everywhere the greatest enthusiasm and gayety. At each theatre were large bands, but they 230 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . played very inferior dance-mnsic. There were as many spectators as dancers, the boxes and galleries always being crowded. The maskers presented small variety in costnme, and few attempted to act the characters assumed. At nearly all the theatres a sort of fandango or cachuea , a lively na- tional dance, was extremely popular. It consisted of wrig- gling and suggestive posturing rather than of dancing, and its evolutions were extremely vulgar, not to say indecent ; but so strong is custom that those in the boxes, who were evidently ladies, watched without flinching, and with great interest, those upon the floor, who certainly were not ladies. Negroes and mulattoes everywhere predominated. The childish delight and extraordinary gayety of these partici- pants, unprompted by liquor, and unflaggingly kept up all night, were undoubtedly the most striking characteristic of this Rio Carnival. Yet every one was lamenting that it was not what it used to be — that the pomp and mummery were only a dim reflection of the mirthful, happy days gone by. But is not the whole Carnival scheme quite out of place in the civilization of to-day ? It would seem more at home in the middle ages. A Part of the Avenue of Royal Palms. CHAPTER XXVII. PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. The famous Botanical Gardens are readied by tramway, at a distance of about six miles in a southwesterly direction from the central part of the city. You pass for a long dis- tance along the shore of the bay, through streets of the ele- gant country-houses owned by Rio merchants, each of a dif- ferent style of architecture, and all surrounded by beautiful inclosures of trees, fruits, and flowers, with ornamental stat- uary and fountains. Some of the houses are faced with pretty tiles in various patterns, others are covered with the red tiles similar to those generally used upon the roofs, but all are ornamented w T ith raised stucco-work of medallions, tracery, and arabesque borders, in diversified gay tints. The great Sugar-Loaf Peak, near the entrance of the harbor, as we approached seemed composed of solid granite, with no vegetation save a little grass. It is always a striking feature in the every where-romantic scenery of Rio Bay. You can hardly believe that it is not artificial, contrived and made by human skill and labor, a monument of some other and great- er Cheops. Leaving the bay, we turned to the west, with the rocky needle of Corcovado upon our right and ahead great wild peaks, one of them, called the Gavea, rising aloft in the form of an enormous square tower. The road con- tinued to be bordered with charming villas and brilliant gar- dens, as our team of mules bore us briskly along at the rate of six miles an hour. I have never seen animals in better condition anywhere ; but the tram company can afford the outlay, for its stock is at a premium of four hundred per 232 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. cent. We were soon skirting a great bay, with a range of hills between us and the ocean, and this brought us almost directly under the Corcovado, which here presents a sheer precipice of gray rock. Not very far distant I spied a part of the great avenue of palms, from which the Botanical Gar- dens derive their chief glory. * The gardens are upon level ground, near a bay or inlet of the sea, and are surrounded by the wildest of mountain scenery, a grand setting for the wonders and beauties of na- ture as here cherished and displayed by man. Directly fac- ing the entrance-gate extends for nearly half a mile the cele- brated avenue of royal palms, and crossing it at right angles, parallel with the street, is another avenue of a little less length but hardly less splendor. The main avenue consists of a hundred and fifty trees, placed thirty feet apart, ar- ranged in a double row, inclosing a path twenty feet wide. I say “ inclosing,” for as you look up the avenue you see two gigantic walls of gray wood, solidly roofed by huge green tufts. It is a living arborescent gallery, superior to any ever created by an Aladdin’s lamp. These palms have an aver- age height of eighty feet, and an average diameter at base of trunk of three feet. A neatly graveled walk leads between, and where the avenues intersect stands a pretty fountain. As you walk along the noble passage, you look upward be- tween the giant trunks at the distant mountains, at the blue sky, at the sea. Each produces a distinct effect. You con- trast these forest monsters with the pygmy shrubs and flow- ers, and it seems as if the palms belonged to some other sphere, as if this verdant corridor led to the mansion of the gods. Though these royal palms are the special boast of the Botanical Gardens, it should be known that they con- tain also what is probably the finest collection of tropical flora in the world, excepting only that at Buitenzorg, near Batavia, in the Island of Java. The climate agrees with everything imported, though the enormous empire itself sup- plies nearly every exhibited species. The picturesque ar- rangement of the plants has been effected with but little A Profile of the Avenue of Royal Palms. PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 233 artificiality, and in a way more instructive and pleasing than I have seen elsewhere. The contrasted plants alone add great variety to the scenery. Sometimes an avenue is lined for a distance with similar trees, then with others ; next with one species on one side and another on the opposite ; after- ward in clumps, no two alike ; and finally in clumps all alike. For the professional botanist, a visit to this ordered Eden would be like a foretaste of paradise. Though but a very mild sort of amateur myself, yet during my long stay at Rio there was no week in which I did not at least once wend my way thither, and roam enraptured through the miles of labyrinthine verdure. Of the number of interesting plazas in Rio perhaps the first would be the Campo Sant’ Anna, or Acclimation Square, on the sides of which are the Senate, the Mint, the Rational Museum, the municipality building, and the station of the great Dom Pedro II. Railway. The little park is wholly arti- ficial, the ground having originally been quite level, but it now presents a beautiful series of hills and hollows, lakes and copses, lawns and flower-beds. In one place is an enor- mous heap of rocks, over which tumbles a small waterfall into a pond filled with pretty gold-fish. The interior has been fashioned into a great cavern, in which you see coun- terfeit stalagmites and stalactites, water dripping into dark pools, streams here, cascades there, paths up, down, and winding around, with irregular patches of light and shadow. Clumps of plants have been scattered about the exterior, and the whole appearance, both without and within, is that of perfect naturalness. Trunks of trees bridge the ponds, as if accidentally fallen there. The whole arrangement, which at a short distance would deceive the most acute observer, has been constructed from stone and cement, under the direction of a German savant. The Cascade Grotto, as it is called, is one of the particular sights of Rio, which a resident is sure to ask if you have seen. Every Sunday afternoon a large military band plays in the center of this park, while the ~beau-monde of the city promenade up and down the smoothly graveled walks. 234 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. On the west coast of South America, the Church is very- powerful and influential, especially in Ecuador and Peru ; but on the east coast there not only seem to be comparatively few churches, but these few are not much attended even by women. Certainly of all countries Brazil is the least under the control or influence of the priesthood. The mass of the people ignore them, while by the more educated classes they are treated with contempt, as in Guatemala and Mexico. In Rio I have frequently gone into half a dozen churches of a morning and found not a score of people in all of them, and this at the customary hours of worship. I have occasionally heard mass celebrated before half a score of people, and have seen an entire altar of priests going through their service with no audience save a single bored verger, who at once removed his eyes from the ceremony and riveted them upon me until my departure. One day, at one of the largest and handsomest churches of the metropolis — that of San Francisco de Paula — I attended a grand requiem for the repose of the soul of the then re- cently deceased Ferdinand II. of Portugal, the brother-in- law of the Emperor of Brazil. The imperial family, nobil- ity, diplomatic corps, senators and representatives, high offi- cers of the government and of the army and navy, were all present in court dress, with a profuse display of stars, crosses, medals, and ribbons. The church was draped in deep mourning, outside and inside, with frequent recurrences of the royal cipher “ F. II.” Facing the sacred edifice, a regiment of troops, with full band, was drawn up. Upon the arrival of the various royalties in their state carriages, the troops presented arms, and the band played the national anthem, while the huge bells tolled in the massive towers above. A large crowd was assembled, but no enthusiasm, no cheering, simply curiosity, was displayed. For a solemn mass this was undoubtedly becoming behavior. In the cen- ter of the church had been erected a lofty catafalque, covered with crimson and gold velvet, with appropriate badges of mourning, three rows of great candles in gilt candlesticks, PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 235 and two rows at either side upon the floor. A fine orchestra assisted impressively the gloriously chanted mass. The arch- bishop and bishops officiated in full canonicals. Of course, a eulogy was pronounced upon “ F. II.” The ceremonies had a grand pictorial and emotional effect. The simple black dress of the civilians, the brilliant uniforms and court dresses of the others, the rich brocaded robes of the priests, the som- ber ornamentation of the church, the drooping flags and ban- ners, the arms of Portugal everywhere displayed in conjunc- tion with those of Brazil, all blended together with innumer- able soft and harmonizing lights, produced a scene that excited the most solemn attention and feeling. The wonderfully picturesque situation and surroundings of Bio, added to the general sights and scenes of its business quarters and dwelling suburbs, at first rather overshadow its public edifices — for so large and wealthy a city there are, in fact, but few remarkably handsome large buildings — but, on the other hand you soon learn that their contents are valuable and interesting or their purposes useful and civilizing ; char- ity, amusement, information, instruction, are widely dis- pensed. One of the most splendid hospitals in the world is that called the Misericordia. It is larger and better appointed than the one at Lima, already described in these pages, though imposing rather from its vast size than from any special architectural merits. It covers an area of ten thou- sand square metres, is two stories in height, is built of granite and brick, and stands close to the shore of the harbor, whence refreshing breezes blow through its windows and wards to the several beautiful gardens of the interior quadrangles. The total capacity of the hospital is twelve hundred pa- tients, and it receives from twelve thousand to fifteen thou- sand a year. The general wards are free, but the hos- pital provides special accommodation and privacy for those willing to pay one dollar and a half per day. The inter- nal supervision of the hospital is in the hands of Sisters of Charity, each of whom has charge of a certain work or cer- 236 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . tain portion of a ward. I obtained permission from the Mother Superior to inspect the hospital, and an official guided me continuously through all parts, from the reception-room and the splendid saloon of the emperor, where business meetings are held, to the dispensary, the instrument-room, the kitchen, the chapel, the operating-room, with an amphi- theatre of seats for attending medical students, the wards, the dead-house, and the dissecting-vault. Everywhere was the most scrupulous cleanliness, everywhere the most perfect order and discipline. The floors are of polished oiled wood, the wainscoting is of gay-colored tiles. The building seems all halls and doors and windows, as of course is necessary in so warm a climate. As the patients lie in their beds, some can look out over the bay and its shipping, with grand views of distant hills, while others have almost equally refreshing glimpses of the beautiful flower-gardens of the inner court- yards. There are wards for women and children, of course, as well as for men. The dispensary and chemical laboratory form a large department, and as many as five hundred people, not in the hospital, are frequently in one day supplied gratis with advice and medicine. As I entered the different sections, a Sister approached and conducted me through her special department, giving me information in the most obliging manner. Many of these nuns were old, and some were masculine and coarse in appearance, but occasionally I met one of rare beauty and grace, who put to me question upon question about the great gay world from which she was separated in all but memory. I remember one in particular, whose sweetly soft black eyes, and sad, resigned air, called forth a feeling of mingled sym- pathy and admiration. Her secluded youth, beauty, and ten- derness haunted me for months. What baseness, what treachery, what terrible romance of love — I knew it must have been love — had brought her there? I praised in no unstinted measure the perfect hospital and its noble work. “ Ah, monsieur,” she said, “ only the great God knows how much good is done here.” u Yes, ma bonne soeur ,” I replied, PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 237 with no flattery, “and it is due to you and the others, whose loving care, self-sacrifice, and ardor produce such grand results.” If ever there was a class of women the world over who deserve the reverence, I would almost say devotion, of all men, it is the sweet and merciful Sisters of Charity. I never pass one of the “ holy community ” without an instinct- ive impulse to raise my hat in token of profound respect. One afternoon I visited the Academy of Fine Arts, and found nothing to say in praise of the building’s exterior. Inside it is admirably adapted to its purpose, namely, the giving of instruction in the fine arts to youths of both sexes. It contains a picture and sculpture gallery, and many class- rooms for designing, drawing, painting, engraving, modeling, and embroidering. The prizes were to be presented to the yearly graduates that very evening, in an opera-house which is just across the street from the Academy, and I had no difficulty in obtaining an invitation. It was announced that the Emperor, who is a great patron of art — and, in fact, of education of all kinds — would be present, and would bestow the diplomas and medals upon the fortunate winners. I was glad to have such an opportunity to see a representative Brazilian audience, and also to observe the manner in which such ceremonies were conducted below the equator. The per- formance was advertised to begin at 8 p. m., and I went early, in order to inspect the theatre, which is styled the Dom Pedro II. I found it to be a large building, occupying an entire block, and facing upon a small open plaza. The front was brilliantly illuminated with gas-jets, and decorated with the flags of all nations. Above all was the monogram of the theatre, surmounted by the imperial crown in brightly flam- ing outlines. In the lobby, down-stairs, a military band of seventy-five mulatto boys made music which sounded admira- ble as it reverberated through the massive corridors. Two wide flights of granite steps led up to the parquette en- trances. Above were the portals to a balcony and two tiers of boxes. In front was a commodious foyer. The parquette was large, seating over a thousand, while the remainder of 238 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. the house, including “ paradise,” would hold perhaps four thousand. The interior was gayly ornamented in various colors, and the entire house was dressed with flags, mottoes, wreaths of flowers, and ornamented gas-jets. Above the entrances w r as a large box set apart for the princess royal and family. To the right of the stage was the Emperor’s box, brilliantly draped in crimson and blue velvet, bordered and studded with gold-lace ornaments. Above was a huge gilded crown. The audience was already half seated when I ar- rived, and the enormous stage was filled with the pupils of the Academy, the boys dressed in plain black, the girls in white, with red sashes. A pretty effect was produced by arranging them in different groups. Next the foot-lights was a row of tables, draped and flower-dressed, and intended to hold the diplomas and medals. Behind these tables sat the professors of the institution, nearly all of them displaying numbers of miniature orders, and many wearing medals sus- pended by Crimson ribbons from their necks.. As regards the audience, the utmost license of dress prevailed. Some of the ladies were in ball-dresses of the lightest, daintiest shades, and attended by much-decorated gentlemen in “ dress-suits.” But by far the greater number of ladies wore dark clothes and hats, and were escorted by gentlemen in ordinary after- noon costume. The number of glittering orders and plainer ribbons and rosettes scattered about the house was profuse. But perhaps the most noticeable feature to a stranger was the variety of complexion to be seen — ranging from the pale white of the foreigner to the delicate brown of the Portu- guese and the tan of the Brazilian, and gradually darkening through the creoles to the mulattoes, and finally to the black- est black of the negroes. All were mixed together — both out of and in the boxes — on terms of the most perfect equal- ity. The blacks have crossed so much with the Portuguese blood, and miscegenation has gone so far, that many years ago, when it was proposed, in taking the census of the empire, to classify the whites and blacks, it was found impossible to determine the color line. It took me all the evening to get Four Pretty Sisters. PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 239 accustomed to the novelty of the sight presented in the Horn Pedro II. Theatre. I asked a gentleman to keep my seat, and rushed to a bal- cony of the foyer just in time to witness the arrival of the Emperor. Thronged about the theatre, listening to the music, was a large crowd, who I supposed would hail his Majesty’s arrival with wild huzzas and much waving of hats. Fancy my surprise when I heard not a single cheer ! First came, at a tremendous pace, two brilliantly uniformed hus- sars, who cleared the way, then two more, and then the Em- peror in a close coach drawn by six gayly caparisoned mules, the leaders ridden by postilions, the wheelers driven by a gorgeously liveried coachman and attended by footmen be- hind. A score of hussars, at the side and rear of the coach, completed the escort. His Majesty generally appears in * public attended by the Empress or some ladies of the impe- rial family or household, Put on this occasion he was accom- panied only by his chamberlain in court uniform, with a great silver and diamond star blazing upon his breast. The Emperor himself was dressed wholly in black, with the “ grand crown ” of the Southern Cross and the button-hole decoration of the Golden Fleece. He was received by the Council of the Academy, and escorted to the imperial box. And now a still greater surprise was in store for me. Hot more than twenty people in the great audience rose as his Majesty entered and approached the front of his box, nor was there one loyal shout or applause of any kind. Haturally the Emperor did not bow in recognition of such a cold recep- tion, but instead sat himself down and quietly surveyed the stage and auditorium. This was truly a democratic manner of receiving the head of a great empire. Even a President of a republic would have had a courteous recognition of some sort or other. A little balcony had been built in front of his Majesty’s box, with stairs leading to the stage, up which the recipients were to go to receive their diplomas and medals. At the foot of the stairs were stationed, as a guard of honor, two little boys in uniform and with muskets. 240 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. These juveniles were relieved at intervals of half an hour throughout the evening, and caused some merriment to the audience, when, forgetting their parts, they indulged in little disputes directly before the Emperor, who himself had to laugh on one occasion when one of the Liliputian warriors refused to be relieved, doubtless wishing to see the whole show from such a prominent position. The performance began with the orchestra playing the national anthem, the Emperor and the audience standing meanwhile. As per- formed by orchestra this hymn is certainly not very inspirit- ing, but I heard it rendered afterward by the military band, and found it quite another composition. Then there was a terribly long-winded and florid oration read by a young Por- tuguese professor. It dealt with art in general and in par- * ticular, foreign modern art, Brazilian art, ancient art, and so on, for over an hour, as only an orator of the Latin race can gabble, until half the audience were asleep, the other half chatting and laughing, and the Emperor looking terribly bored, and doubtless wishing he was at home with his well- beloved books. At last the young man stopped, and there was great applause from those awake because he had con- cluded, but the fellow vainly bowed as if it were intended as a compliment. However, the noise woke up the sleepers, and the programme proceeded with the distribution of diplo- mas and medals. This also was drawn out in a ridiculous fashion and to a wearisome extent. Two little children, one dressed as a sprite, the other as a Neapolitan boy, carried, upon silver trays, the diplomas and medals, one by one, up to the Emperor, while the names were called off in succes- sion by one of the professors, and the recipients had to make their way from all parts of the great stage, hoping to arrive simultaneously with their prizes. About fifty were thus tediously bestowed on the boys and then upon a like num- ber of girls, an hour being spent in doing what might have been much better done in five minutes. After the young men received their testimonials, the orchestra played the sad- dest, slowest, and faintest symphony I ever heard at any PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GARDENS. 241 celebration. It sounded like a dirge ovOr the death of art. The audience had stood enough already, and at this began to dribble out. The only clever thing of the evening was the recitation of a short original poem by a well-known local poet. This was delivered, singularly enough, from one of the boxes, but not from a central proscenium-box, as should have been the case. In graceful terms he complimented the founder of the Academy, and thanked the Council for their work. Several gold medals were then conferred on those professors who, during two consecutive years, had committed no more than five breaches of the rules of the Academy. It looked almost as if the supply of medals was excessive, and they were trying to nnload stock. At this stage the poor bored Emperor took himself off, bowing several times to the audience, which this time at least was civil enough to rise. As his Majesty was driven away, the military band in the lobby gave the national hymn in grand style. Most of the audience now left, though a concert of half a dozen selec- tions was still to be given by pupils of the Academy. So cold an audience, from beginning to end, I never saw, but afterward, at comic operas, 1 found the citizens only too lav- ish with enthusiasm and applause. 1G CHAPTER XXVIII. ENVIRONS OF RIO. Among the most noteworthy of the city’s public institu- tions is unquestionably the National Library. It is located in a plain three-story building, in the southern part of the city, opposite the pretty little park called the Passeio Publi- co. The collection of books is very rich, and numbers about a hundred and fifty thousand, in all languages, and mostly in costly leather bindings. There are many cases of rare manu- scripts and literary curiosities. The old Jesuitical manu- scripts are regarded as of especial value, as well as those de- voted to the early history of Brazil. The collection of the earliest-printed books is large and valuable, as is also that relating to the early history of Portugal and Spain and their American colonies. A splendid collection of rare engravings, one of Brazilian coins and medals, and many cases of foreign coins invite attention. Two large cabinets are exclusively devoted to valuable editions of the “ Lusiad,” by the Portu- guese poet Camoens. There are, besides, many paintings and marble busts, and among the latter one of Camoens, with his sightless eye only too graphically represented. This li- brary is open every day, and free to all, but for consultation only. Its reading-room is provided with the electric light, an unwise innovation. But to myself perhaps the most interesting of all the public institutions of Rio was the National Museum, a plain though large two-story building, facing the park of Sant’ Anna, in a central part of the city. The collection of the museum is good and very comprehensive, the three kingdoms ENVIRONS OF RIO. 243 of Nature being well represented. The original purpose was the creation of a museum of natural history, but the institu- tion was soon made a receptacle for all kinds of curios and objects of scientific and technical interest. From time to time it has been enriched with collections made by foreign naturalists traveling in Brazil, and by valuable contributions from native savants. To some, its most interesting and noticeable feature is its ethnographical and archaeological de- partment. The civilized and uncivilized Indians of Brazil may be studied by means of paintings, photographs, and a varied collection of their war, chase, and domestic utensils, implements, and manufactures. The reminiscences of the prehistoric tribes of Peru and Bolivia, as well as of Egypt and Syria, are interesting. Time should be given to a fine collection of pottery from the Island of Marajo and the lower Amazon, in which the evolution of ornamental de- signs has been carefully studied and abundantly proved by Prof. Orville A. Derby, an eminent American scientist, now for a number of years at the head of one of the great sections into which the museum is divided — that of mineralogy, geol- ogy, and paleontology. I spent a good deal of time at this museum, becoming well acquainted with the director, a Bra- zilian gentleman, Dr. Ladislau Netto, who has made some very valuable and interesting studies upon Brazilian archae- ology. He kindly presented me with some of the huge vol- umes published by the museum, and profusely illustrated by excellent engravings and colored lithographs, all made in Bio Janeiro. In one of these splendid volumes I noticed a con- tribution upon the “Ethnology of the Yalley of the Ama- zons,” by my lamented friend the late Prof. C. F. Hartt, who was chief of the Geological and Geographical Survey of Brazil, and in whose untimely death, some years ago, Science lost one of her most learned and most earnest devotees. The present head of this important survey is Prof. Derby, who went out to Brazil originally as one of Prof. Hartt’s assist- ants. A fine library of natural history occupies a number of rooms of the museum building, and there is a large hall 244 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. which is used for the delivery of lectures. The museum has a list of active members, and elects as foreign associates those who have specially distinguished themselves in explorations or studies of a natural history character. The Astronomical Observatory, gver which I was polite- ly shown by the director, is situated on Castle Hill, over- looking the bay and about the center of the shore-line of the city. Most of the offices and rooms of the observatory are reared upon the massive walls and columns of an old Jesuit convent, which furnishes admirable bases for the proper ad- justment of delicate scientific instruments. I climb the hill by a winding, paved road, and enter the court-yard through a quaint old gateway. Here are the laboratory and the photo- graphic rooms. The laboratory, besides a good outfit of ne- cessary chemicals and instruments, has a small but valuable collection of minerals. Here also is a large room filled with astronomical and other scientific machines, of every size and character, mostly of French manufacture. Among them I noticed some splendid spectroscopes. Several of the larger of the astronomical instruments would be mounted, had the director the necessary room. Ascending several long flights of stairs, and finally a circular staircase in a tower, we reach the roof of the old convent, upon which stand the great iron dome with its nine-inch refractor, a room for transit instru- ments, the library, the director’s and the secretary’s offices, and a lofty iron tower, where the electric apparatus, wind- vanes, gauges, etc., are mounted. From the open platform an extensive view* may be enjoyed of the bay and mountains, the ocean through the entrance to the harbor, and the city lying around and below. A sea-breeze almost continually freshens this place. The director showed me the photograph of a flash of lightning that he had recently taken. In his office were many American works on astronomy. The libra- ry was small, but contained some very valuable books, mostly in rich leather bindings. The observatory has published two large volumes, descriptive of its buildings, its outfit, and some of its most important work. These volumes are illus- ENVIRONS OF RIO. 245 trated by very fine colored lithographs, made in Rio. The observatory also publishes infrequently monographs on spe- cial researches. It is, besides, charged with the duties of announcing meridian time every day, regulating the chro- nometers of the Marine and War Departments, and publish- ing daily meteorological observations. Work has been be- gun on a chart of the heavens, from which valuable observa- tions are expected. In Rio a great number of associations promote the prog- ress of science, arts, and letters. Among these, the first place belongs to the “ Historical, Geographical, and Ethno- graphical Institute of Brazil.” This was founded half a cent- ury ago, with the view of studying the national history, and collecting, analyzing, and publishing documents of historical value. I visited the offices and rooms, which are large and airy, with tables for members. The library contains some seven thousand volumes, and a large and valuable collection of manuscripts and maps relating to the history of Brazil. Two other rooms are filled with the publications of the In- stitute and files of its exchanges. The Institute holds fort- nightly meetings, which are generally presided over by the Emperor. It publishes a review, which annually forms a volume of one thousand pages. The highest peak back of Rio, to the westward, is called Tijuea. In company with Prof. Derby, of the “ Museu Ha- cional,” and Mr. A. J. Lamoureux, the able editor of the “Rio Hews,” I one day made a trip to it, and returned by way of the Gavea, toward the ocean and the Botanical Gar- dens. Our first objective point, however, was Whyte’s Hotel, a sort of sanitarium situated high up among the hills, like the hotel on the Corcovado, and much patronized in the hot season by the debilitated foreigners of Rio. We first took a tram-car through the suburbs, a distance of about six miles, passing along a canal which had been originally built with the intention of thus floating ships from the bay around into the heart of the city, but the scheme did not prove success- ful, and the canal is now little better than a dirty, stagnant 246 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. sewer, both unhealthy and an eye-sore. Then came a very pleasant change — a broad, paved street, lined with handsome country-houses ensconced in beautiful gardens of every spe- cies of tropical vegetation. During the latter part of this section, the road became so steep that we took on another team of mules ; and afterward, leaving the tram, we w T ere transferred to large stages drawn by four stout mules, and thus started up a narrow valley, the road zigzagging in such an extraordinary fashion that it seemed much of the time as if we had turned back. This part led through a beautiful forest, and we were able to obtain occasional glimpses of Rio and the delightful bay behind and below us. Whyte’s Hotel — a series of long, narrow, low houses, nestling at the bottom of a little valley surrounded on every side by woody hills — was reached in two hours from Rio, a distance of some ten or twelve miles. This famous old hostelry, which formerly was so exclusive that travelers were admitted only through letters of introduction, does not, as might be imagined, com- mand a view of Rio and the bay, or even of the ocean, or, in fact, of anything especial. It is situated in a deep hollow, on the opposite side of the pass from the capital, and about twenty minutes’ vralk from the ocean. It is an ordinary country hotel, though with excessively high charges in every department. Perhaps the most enjoyable thing about the place is a great swimming-bath. A short distance in the woods a rapid stream runs through a cemented tank, about fifty feet square and five feet deep. The water is deliciously cool and refreshing. It flows from the tank in a pretty waterfall, which is also useful as a douche. From the hotel the ascent of the peak of Tijuca may be made in about two hours. You go on mule-back or horse- back to within about two hundred feet of the summit. Excel- lent roads for either riding, driving, or walking, wind about the hills in every direction. The country hereabout is a sort of government park, and besides the capital graveled roads, which have been flanked with beautiful plants, shrubs, and flowers, there are waterfalls, grottoes, ponds, flower-gardens, ENVIRONS OF RIO. 247 and labyrinths. More than half the distance to the summit of the peak can be accomplished by carriage. The roads all pass through dense forests, so that one has constant shel- ter from the powerful sun. The side on which the bridle- path approaches Tijuea, shows it to consist of an enormous vertical wall of smooth rock. You pass this, however, and then wind on and up to a spot where there is a rocky preci- pice, at the foot of which you stand. Here the horse or mule must be left, and the remainder of the ascent made by means of wooden stairs and steps cut in the face of the bare rock. This part of the way is guarded by two huge iron chains. Arrived at the summit — three thousand three hun- dred and sixty feet above the sea — the view is remarkably fine, but it is a view of peaks and valleys and the ocean. You are able to see but a small part of the city of Rio. In the afternoon we took horses and rode around by the way of the great, table-topped peak — the Gavea — to the Botanical Gardens, and so back to the capital. This route gave us a fine look at the Gavea, with its perpendicular walls of smooth rock. Though apparently altogether unscalable, it has sev- eral times been ascended. At the summit of the pass, be- tween the Gavea and the Corcovado, we found an opening in the trees and a pavilion whence we obtained a superb pros- pect over ocean and bay, and the suburb of Botafogo. This is styled the “ Chinese View,” as the road from here down to the level of the Botanical Gardens has been built by Chinese laborers. It is a capital road, broad and with a very slight incline It runs through a magnificent bit of primitive forest, and affords many charming little visions of land and sea. We passed one of the great city reservoirs, skirted the rear of the Botanical Gardens, taking a glance at the splendid avenue of royal palms, examined the large new cotton-factory, peered up at Corcovado, twenty-three hundred feet above us, and finally reached the tram line, which soon deposited us once more at our homes, after an absence of but twenty-four hours. Of all the mountain resorts in the neighborhood of Rio, 24 8 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. Petropolis is tlie best patronized and the most famous. It is, in fact, the summer capital ; for the Emperor and his house- hold, the diplomatic corps, and the native aristocracy, go there to escape heat and fever risks. The wealthy Bio merchants also keep their families there, either in private cottages or hotels during the hot season, they themselves going in and out of town every day. A long, narrow, single- decked, paddle-wheel steamboat carried me in a northern direction across the beautiful Bay of Bio. In the front part of this steamer was a double row of seats, separated by a central aisle, as in the American railway-carriages. In the stern was a good restaurant, and space for the second-class passengers. Leaving the city, the scenery of the bay was in- describably charming. The line of hills containing the Corcovado, Gavea, and Tijuca, shrouded in mist, rose, inky black, against a clear blue sky. The vari-colored houses of the city, quaint of architecture, interspersed by a score of knolls, glowed in the dazzling sunshine and presented an entirely new picture at every mile we added to our course. The bright-green waters of the bay, dancing before a fresh southerly breeze, were covered with an enormous fleet of steamers and merchant-ships. Lighters and other boats were busy carrying freight and passengers to and from the wharves. We skirted the eastern shore of the great Governor’s Island — a much larger island than its New York namesake, and very different in appearance. It is undulating and wooded, with many pretty little bays and villages, and scattered fac- tories and dwelling-houses. To our right were numerous small islands, mostly uninhabited, and with their tall palms and other trees all bent in one direction, thus plainly indicat- ing the course of the most prevalent wind. There seemed everywhere a great depth of water, as we frequently passed within fifty feet of an island. The Organ Mountains, extend- ing along the northern side of the bay, were veiled in mist, and we could see only the lower and nearer hills, covered with a rich vegetation, and several of them crowned by a church, a con- vent, or a farm-house. Leaving Governor’s Island, we headed The Map of Brazil and the Chart of the Bay of Rio Janeiro ( a Curious Resemblance). ENVIRONS OF RIO . 249 directly north to the station of the • railway, called Maua, in honor of the viscount of like name, who has in many ways greatly helped the material progress of Brazil. Maua is twelve miles from Bio, and is simply a landing-place for the steamer, with the buildings of the railway service. A train of four cars awaited us. The cars were fitted with trans- verse benches made of ^traw, a side door admitting to each bench. The locomotives used are made in Philadelphia, the cars are of English make. The steamer passengers filled the train. They appeared to be mostly business men, though there were also some ladies and children. We were quickly whisked eleven miles across a forest-clad plain, to the foot of the mountains, where our train was divided into two, run on the Biggenbach system. The road appears to mount directly upward through a sort of valley in the ridge, with very little turning, and with no specially steep slopes. The speed is greater than that upon any similar road I know of ; it is at least double that of the Corcovado Bailway. One high iron bridge is crossed, but no great engineering obstacles present themselves. As we ascend, we occasionally obtain magnifi- cent views of the plain behind us, and of fine rocky peaks and cliffs before us. Hot, however, until we near the summit of the pass — called Baiz do Serra (Boot of the Bidge) — does the wonderful splendor of the prospect become apparent. Then one can look down upon the brown track of the road, by which we have just mounted, as it runs through the dense green forests. We distinctly see the station at the foot of the ridge, and then the road crossing the plain to the bay ; and, carrying our eyes out over this, we notice first Governor’s Island, and then far beyond we detect the Sugar-Loaf, Corco- vado, Gavea, and Tijuca. Bio can be recognized only on a particularly clear day. As we continue, the atmosphere be- comes pure and cool. Before the rack-road was built, it was customary to ascend the ridge by a capital macadamized road — a wonderful piece of engineering — of which you frequently catch glimpses in the ascent. A light coach, with powerful brakes and six mules, was used. At the summit of the serra r 250 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. — the cog-rail section is four miles long — the divided train is reunited, and a Philadelphia locomotive takes us quickly over the remaining two miles to the station of Petropolis and the end of our journey. Our whole time from Pio was but two hours. At the station a great crowd had collected, a few to receive expected friends, but most merely to gratify an idle curiosity. Tout- ers for half a dozen hotels race up and down the platform, and omnibus and hack drivers shout at you over the low paling.. One hears a different language on every side. It is like some famous Swiss resort. And this comparison is strengthened when you enter an omnibus and are driven up long avenues of shops and cottages, with small walled-in rivers flowing through the streets and wooded hills, and rocky peaks towering upward on every side. I am put down at one of the largest and best of the hotels of the place, the “ Orleans,” which stands on the western side of the town. It is set directly against the side of a hill which has been sliced down better to accommodate it, and bears in plaster letters, six feet long, its aristocratic name. From its piazzas may be had picturesque views of a part of the town and the hills beyond, the higher of which, being seemingly of rock, glow with a beautiful purple in the fading sunsets. At the time of my visit this hotel was full of fashionable Pio people. Four or five foreign ministers, with their families, secretaries, and attaches, also make it their summer home. The days are passed in walks, drives, picnics, lounging, and flirting; the nights with music, dancing, and conversation upon the cool piazzas — as at other fashionable resorts the world over. The situation of Petropolis, among a cluster of knolls, is romantic and beautiful. It is about twenty-seven hundred feet above sea-level, and, though it is warm during the middle of the day, the nights are generally cool, and the air is always pure and wholesome. The streets are broad, and lined with trees. The houses are gayly painted and ornamented, and their grounds are a blaze of brilliaiit flowers. Then there are many beautiful drives and walks ENVIRONS OF RIO. 251 to the neighboring peaks. The population numbers about ten thousand, among whom are many Germans ; and, in fact, Petropolis has much more the appearance of an old German town than of a Brazilian. The reason given for this is that some forty or fifty years ago a colony of about three thou- sand Germans located on this spot. The finest mountain scenery, the best climate, and prob- ably the most various and interesting vegetation are found in Theresopolis, a mountain valley about fifty miles in a northeasterly direction from Bio. There it is higher, drier, and cooler than in Petropolis. The sharp peaks of the Or- gan Mountains in the neighborhood of the former are among the first and greatest objects of interest to every stranger. Theresopolis is frequently called the “ Switzerland of Bra- zil,” and the grandeur and beauty of its mountain scenery certainly give it some claim to such an appellation. At one time it promised to be the summer capital, for it was the re- sort of diplomatists, distinguished strangers, and wealthy Bra- zilians long before Petropolis was created. The journey there is of some difficulty, though no fatigue. Three times a week a little steamer leaves Bio, on which you may cross to the upper end of the bay, to a little village called Piedade, whence a diligence runs across the country to the foot of the mountains in about four hours. Here it is customary to pass the night, and early in the morning ascend the serra on mule- back. Almost at the summit the trail passes near the “ Fin- ger of God,” whose sharp, inaccessible peaks are conspicuous from the city. You pass through a gap in the mountains into the little valley, in which, at a height of three thousand feet, Theresopolis is situated. It is only a straggling settle- ment, and has no first-class hotels at present, but it has a cli- mate that can not be excelled ; picturesque walks and rides in every direction ; elevated valleys where the ounce and tapir are still to be found ; and scenery which for sublimity and beauty probably has no rival in Brazil. CHAPTER XXIX. THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. One day I was driven in a tilbnry about five miles north- west of the city proper, to the Emperor’s palace of San Cristoval. It is situated within extensive grounds of much natural beauty, which have been laid out with good taste in winding avenues, lawns, artificial ponds, grottoes, fountains, and ornamental thickets. The site is a commanding one, and is well suited for an imperial residence. You pass two grand entrance-gates, and follow a very wide avenue direct- ly to the palace, a building of brick and stucco, three stories in height. Guards were stationed about, but the greater part of the edifice appeared closed, notwithstanding the pres- ence of the Emperor. His Majesty had held a reception the previous day at Petropolis, and this day, at six in the even- ing, he was to receive in Pio. I was honored with a private interview in the morning, being first ushered into a large waiting-room, and then into the chamberlain’s office, a smaller apartment of similar character. His Majesty after- ward met me upon an inner corridor of the palace, attended but by a single aide-de-camp, who, however, immediately disappeared. The chamberlain mentioned my name and nationality, and his Majesty advancing shook hands cor- dially, asking me (in well-accented English) when I had left New York. The chamberlain, at a nod, left me alone with the Emperor. Dom Pedro II. is of a very striking figure — tall, broad-shouldered, erect, with a large, intellectual head, gray hair, and a flowing gray beard. He has grayish-blue eyes, which, though keen, are yet kindly in their steady gaze. The Palace of San Cristoval. TEE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL . 2o3 His complexion is florid, his expression sober and dignified. He was simply clad in a black broadcloth “ dress-suit,” and wore on his breast the beautiful star of the Imperial Order of the Southern Cross, and in a button-hole the diamond and gold badge of that grand old historic order, the Golden Fleece of Austria and Spain. His Majesty always wears these decorations, but rarely any others, nor is he often seen in uniform or gala dress of any kind. He is very amiable, and altogether simple and democratic in his manners and tastes. At Bio he is generally seen in a carriage drawn by six mules, but at Petropolis he goes about on foot, attended by his chamberlain only. He gives no balls or dinners, but is always accessible to the public once a week, generally' on Saturday evenings. He is especially noted for his tact, en- ergy, and humanity. He is, therefore, very popular, and much loved by all his subjects. He did me the honor of talking with me half an hour, chiefly about my proposed travels in Brazil, though he spoke also of being much pleased with his visit to the United States a few years ago, of his friendly reception by the press and public, and of the cordial hospitality of General Grant. At parting he shook hands with me in the most gracious manner, and invited me to visit him at his summer palace in Petropolis, where he was going the following day, and where I had the further honor of an interview a little later on. I did not have an opportunity to inspect any of the apartments of the San Cristoval Palace, but was told that, although generally quite plain, the rooms were fitted with French furniture, and opened upon court- yards filled with beautiful flowers. The Emperor speaks all European languages fluently, and his devotion to science and art is well known. He has, be- sides, high scientific attainments, and is a member of many learned societies in France and England. And I recall with especial pride that, on the occasion of his visit to the United States during our centennial celebration, he accepted “ honor- ary membership’’ in the American Geographical Society, and at a special meeting in Chickering Hall made a little ad- 254 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . dress which shows so fine a command of English that I give it entire : “Although sincere gratitude’s voice is always silent, I will not hesitate to utter my thoughts to the American Geo- graphical Society for the honor it confers on me in the pres- ence of men so prominent in geographical science, and such indefatigable explorers of regions, where man, rivaling as it were with Nature, feels that labor is his greatest glory and most solid base of happiness. On so solemn an occasion, however, it is my duty to express how, in my country, we prize geographical studies, which bring to light its elements of wealth, and secure for it — I speak as a Brazilian, but with- out partiality — a brilliant future, and also make it useful to all nations, with which Brazil has always endeavored to main- tain a cordial friendship. I trust the American Geographi- cal Society will allow me to express here a feeling adieu to all the people of the United States, who welcomed me with so much kindness, and to explain to them at the same time how sorry I am that a motive, doubly regrettable, has not permitted my remaining longer among them, to see and ex- amine as much as I desired, notwithstanding the means employed by this great nation to overwhelm time.” When, on the day appointed, I made my exit from the door of the railway-station at Petropolis, there stood upon the sidewalk, with but a single attendant, the most democratic of all sovereigns, the Emperor of Brazil, apparently out for a stroll, and stopping at the station to see the new arrivals, and nodding to acquaintances right and left in the most conde- scending manner. The imperial palace at Petropolis is a large, two-story building, with long, single-story wings, the whole made of brick and stucco, painted yellow and white, and of a style of architecture which recalls a Florentine villa. The interior is plain but commodious. The palace is surrounded by pretty gardens, walks, fountains, and pavilions. Not very far from here is the residence of the princess royal, not a very imposing house, but thickly encircled by masses of ever-blooming flowers. These Brazilian royalties gener- The Empress of Brazil. THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL. 255 ally “ take the air ” in barouches drawn by four mules, with postilions and a single mounted orderly. They are always the recipients of the most profound salutations, which, whether from peasant or prince, they always graciously acknowledge. His Majesty’s life at Petropolis, as elsewhere, is a very active one. Besides his political and social duties and offices, he daily takes long walks and drives. He is also an expert horseman, and delights in athletic exercise. He is a great scholar, and at the time of my visit was especially interested in the study of Sanskrit. Even when riding through the streets of Rio in the imperial carriage, he gener- ally sits bareheaded, reading. In fact, his intellectual and physical activity are altogether phenomenal. I have just read, in a Portuguese newspaper, an account of his life in Paris, when on a recent visit to Europe for the purpose of restoring his health. The great astronomer, Camille Flam- marion, had been visited by the Emperor, accompanied by a suite of twenty people. Horn Pedro manifested much inter- est in the library, collections, and instruments of Flamma- rion’s observatory. The gyrating dome contains a large equatorial telescope, an instrument of high precision, whose management was familiar to the learned monarch of Brazil. The man really the fashion in the metropolis of the French Republic was the Emperor. He lived in the Grand Hotel, admitted visitors, and talked to all intelligently and modestly. In general he reserved to himself the right to ask questions. He attended balls, frequented scientific institutions, and lost no opportunity of gaining knowledge. He saw all the nota- ble pictures and the great artists, he went to the conservatory, the race-course, the exchange, the opera. The Emperor was bom in the palace of San Cristoval, on December 2, 1825, and began his reign in his fifteenth year — fifteen years after Brazilian independence — for his father, Pedro I., being unwilling to accept so liberal a Constitution, frankly expressed his sentiments, honorably abdicated, and retired to Portugal. Pedro II. was married in 1843 to an Italian princess, daughter of Francis L, King of the Two 256 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. Sicilies. The Empress is amiable, philanthropic, and very popular. The Emperor’s heir is his only daughter, Princess Isabella, who has several times acted as regent. She is about forty years old, and is the wife of Count d’Eu, a grand- son of Louis Philippe. Brazil is a constitutional empire, the Legislature consisting of a Senate and a Chamber of Depu- ties, members of the former being elected for life, and of the latter for four years. Brazil is the first state in size, enlightenment, and impor- tance in South America. It is nearly as large as all Europe, and larger than the United States before Alaska was acquired. It has vast resources — a fertile soil, immense pastures, great forests, and stores of minerals and diamonds. With one exception Dom Pedro’s is the longest reign of any living monarch’s, the accession of Queen Victoria preceding his by three years ; and it is during his reign, and through his exer- tions and influence, that Brazil has steadily grown in power and importance. The national finances are in a prosperous condition, railways have been built, telegraphs and cable-lines have been extended in every direction, the navigation of rivers has been promoted, slavery has been abolished, and free education has been made universal throughout the em- pire. Long life and prosperity, then, to Dom Pedro d’Alcan- tara, Constitutional Emperor and Defender of Brazil, whose jubilee year draws nigh ! I took the opportunity while at Bio to visit the largest ironclad in the Brazilian navy, which was then lying at anchor in the harbor. It was the steam-frigate Biachuelo, the admiral’s flag-ship. I found myself heartily welcomed at the gangway, and was presented to a lieutenant, who, having studied for some years in England, spoke the language fluently, and not only showed me all over the great man-of- war and explained everything that was new to me, but also invited me to remain to breakfast with himself and brother officers. The Biachuelo was built in Chatham, England, and everything about her equipment, from stem to stern, is thor- oughly English. She is of six thousand tons burden, sharp The Brazilian Ironclad Riachuelo. THE EMPEROR OF BRAZIL . 257 at both ends, with three decks, three masts, two funnels, and three thousand horse-power, which enables her to steam six- teen knots an hour. Her length is three hundred feet, breadth fifty feet, depth thirty feet. She has two turrets, upon which her armor is eleven inches in thickness. Else- where the thickness is eight inches. Her armament consists of four nine-inch Armstrong, four four-inch, and eighteen Hordenfelt guns. Upon her upper deck she carries a great iron torpedo-boat, and between decks she has several machines which shoot forth torpedoes by means of compressed air. Her crew complete numbers four hundred men. There are two guns pointing forward in the bow, and two in the stern directed backward. On either side, at a short distance from the bow, are the large turrets which, together with their mas- sive contents, are turned by machinery. The huge cannon are so nicely adjusted that a child can move them up or down, to the right or to the left hand. The frigate is every- where lighted by electricity. In short, every modern in- vention and improvement in gunnery, in machinery, and in domestic equipment has been supplied to this splendid ironclad. The Brazilian navy, however, is not a very exten- sive one. There were two other war-vessels in the harbor, one upon the stocks, and five absent on foreign service. Doubtless if Brazil felt the need of a larger navy, she would build it, just as the United States would do. Lying near the Biachuelo was a large double-turreted monitor, which I also visited. Here, however, I was not so fortunate. Finding no one who could speak either English, French, or Spanish, I was obliged to launch forth with such “ crippled ” Portuguese as I then possessed. The monitor was called the Javari. Her d >ks did not rise more than three feet above the surface of tl> j water. Her length was about two hundred and fifty feet, her breadth a hundred, and her depth thirty feet. She had three decks, and was plated, including the upper deck, with five-inch armor. Her armament consisted of four ten-inch Whitworth guns, two in each turret. This monitor is in- tended chiefly for harbor and river defense, though it can 17 258 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . safely visit the coast-ports ; but, if the sea is at all rough, she is half under water all the time. The hatches and other apertures have to be battened down, and she is driven through the water as fast as may be. Air for the men to breathe has to be forced below by machinery specially provided for the purpose. On such a voyage it is needless to add that all on board are thoroughly uncomfortable. CHAPTER XXX. THE PEO VINCE OF SAN PAULO. In company with my good friends, Messrs. Derby and Lamonreux, I made a ten days’ visit to San Paulo, the rich- est coffee province of Brazil. We went by the Dom Pedro II. Railway, and returned by steamer from Santos, an impor- tant commercial city and the chief port of San Paulo. The distance to San Paulo city, the capital of the province of like name, is three hundred and ten miles, and the running time of the daily express thirteen hours, including stops. The cars were built on a sort of compromise with the Ameri- can idea, though they, and also the locomotives, came from England. The start is made at the early hour of five in the morning, so as not to be obliged to travel at night, for fear of accidents. Our very long train was later on divided into several trains, each taking a branch road. The general direc- tion of our route was first northwest, until we had ascended the mountains, and then southwest to San Paulo. For mounting the serra two locomotives were used, one at each end of the train. This part of the road contains fifteen tun- nels, and is a splendid piece of engineering. One of these tunnels is a mile and a half in length, and upon it were ex- pended seven years of labor and over two million milreis. The first section of the road passes over a flat, low country, but after leaving the town of Belem it begins to ascend the mountains in heavy grades and sweeping curves. The scen- ery is indescribably grand and beautiful, particularly from the neighborhood of Palmeiras, a little station overlooking the Macocos Yalley, which enjoys a high reputation as a 260 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. health resort. The country is not thickly settled, and the towns at which we stopped are small and of the same unin- teresting type. We breakfast at Barra do Pirahy, a small railway-junction town on the Parahyba Biver, about seventy miles from Pio. As we go on, we follow the Parahyba River, sometimes on one bank, sometimes on the other. It is a muddy little stream, full of rapids, and unuavigable save perhaps for canoes. We pass along a great valley, some fifty miles wide, with beautiful ranges of mountains on each hand, that toward the south being the coast range, and the least interesting. In the other, the Serra da Mantiqueira, we pass the highest peak in Brazil. It is named Itatiaia, and is about nine thousand feet above sea-level. San Paulo lies upon a great plain, with low hills upon the entire horizon. It is a city of about fifty thousand inhabit- ants. The houses are of one story. There is a pretty pub- lic garden, with a tall tower from which a wide survey of the neighboring country may be had. Tramways reach the sub- urbs, where are many charming country-houses, at one of which — that of Mr. Squire Sampson, a retired American railway contractor — we were royally entertained for several days. San Paulo may be said to be the headquarters of the coffee interest, and from here run four lines of railway to the great coffee districts of the interior. Brazil, I may remind the reader, yields more than half the coffee consumed in the world, and the United States takes more than half the quan- tity exported. There are two and sometimes three coffee harvests in a year. In 1754 the first coffee-tree in Brazil was planted in the garden of the San Antonio Convent, in Rio Janeiro, but coffee did not become an object of cultivation until many years after. Early in the present century its value as an exportable product began to be recognized, and its cultivation at once became an object of general interest. The hills about Rio and around the bay were covered with coffee-orchards, the remains of which are still to be seen. Coffee cultivation, however, has long since disappeared from that vicinity, and with the opening of railways across the THE PROVINCE OF SAN PAULO. 261 mountain-ranges along the coast, has pushed its way into the virgin districts of the interior. The trade of Rio Janeiro is almost wholly dependent upon coffee. Mr. Sampson kindly accompanied us to a city called Campinas, about eighty miles to the north, in order that we might visit some of the famons fazendas , or coffee-plantations. The city of Campinas has a population of about twenty thousand. It is curiously situ- ated in a great hollow of the plain, which makes it a very hot, uncomfortable, and unhealthy residence. The richer citizens, therefore, build their houses on the higher land of the environs. At the time of our visit to Campinas, a fair of local products and industries was being held, which was especially interesting from the great variety of coffee sam- ples and coffee machinery exhibited. From Campinas we made an excursion, in one day, to several of the neighboring coffee estates. The country roads were very bad, and I did not wonder that “ buck-board ” wagons were the favorite vehicles. Immediately upon leav- ing the city, the straight rows of the coffee-trees are every- where seen extending along the bases of the lower hills. In fact, it is the same all the way along the railway, from Rio to San Paulo, and on to Campinas. Almost the only other cultivated products that attract attention are maize and mandioc, which are all consumed in the country. Perhaps the chief dependence of the people is upon mandioc. This is a shrub, with large roots, which, after being scraped to a pulp and pressed, are baked on hot iron or earthenware plates. The mandioc, when washed and dried, furnishes the tapioca of commerce. There is, of course, a similarity about the manor-houses of all the great fazendas. Most of them are placed high up on the side of beautiful valleys, with magnificent outlooks, and all have splendid fruit-orchards and flower-gardens, in which you see growing, side by side, the choice representatives of two zones. The houses are of enormous size, and are approached by massive flights of steps. The rooms are thirty and even forty feet square, and twenty-five feet in height, without carpets and with com- 1 262 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. paratively little furniture. There is a universal and divert- ing method of placing the sofa and chairs in the parlors. Three or four chairs always stanjl in rows at right angles from the ends of the sofa. This, of course, gives the room an oddly stiff appearance. In these rows the men always sit upon one side and the women upon the opposite. I did not see a library, or books other than a few novels, in any of these grand establishments. The bedrooms often have no windows or any means of ventilation, and are only lighted by their open doors. The size and style of the dining-rooms reminded me of those in the old baronial castles of England. We were invited to breakfast in one of these, and there met the proprietor’s wife, a rather pretty woman, gayly attired. We were waited on by old and ugly slaves. The wife said little or nothing during the meal, and this was all that we saw of her, though we remained some time. I rather pitied her lonely existence, with no companions but negroes, and apparently with no employment or diversion save embroid- ery $nd lolling in a hammock. But I believe my sympathy to have been misplaced, for she seemed very contented, and to my question, “Would she not like to visit Europe?” she replied in the negative. In the same inclosures as the manor- houses were the quarters of the superintendent, the hospital, barns for the stock, and buildings for the preparation of cof- fee for the market. Several acres of a sloping hill-side near by, covered with cement and properly drained, were used for drying coffee. The most interesting buildings to me were the slave quarters — great quadrangles of low, single- story, mud huts, with a huge gate which locked the slaves in at night. I had the curiosity to examine one of the huts, and found therein nothing but a hammock, a bare bamboo bed, a few cooking-utensils, and the embers of a lire upon the mud door. Some rude attempt at ornament had, how- ever, been made by means of pictures cut from English illus- trated papers. The slaves during all the day are, of course, at work in the fields. And now I am naturally brought to a consideration of THE PROVINCE OF SAN PAULO. 263 the general subject of Brazilian slavery and emancipation, which, however, has been so freely and so frequently discussed in our daily journals and elsewhere, that I need but recount briefly my own impressions. By the law of the 28th of Sep- tember, 1871, it was declared that from that date every new- born child of a slave within the limits of the empire should be free. All government slaves and slaves of the imperial household were also declared free. With the object of gradually freeing the slaves of private individuals, the same law established an emancipation fund, the proceeds of which were annually applied for this purpose. The total extinction of slavery, without danger to public safety, and without det- riment to the rights of private property, thus seemed assured at no very distant date. A few months before I went to Bio, a law was passed making all slaves who were sixty-five years old free un condition ally^ and manumitting all other slaves upon their attaining the age of sixty, on condition of their continuing, until the age of sixty-five to serve their former masters. Under this law slaves who were over sixty, but under sixty-five, at the time it was passed, would, though practically free, have longer or shorter periods of servitude still before them, according as their ages approximated that at which absolute freedom became their right. Those who had that right might, if they preferred, remain with their former masters, at a certain remuneration, unless they chose another manner of earning a living for which they were con- sidered fit by the judges of the orphans’ courts. An official valuation was fixed on all others, and an additional five-per- cent tax on all revenues, except export duties, was imposed for the interest charges on the proposed emancipation bonds, and for increasing the emancipation fund. The maximum price from the emancipation fund necessary to free a slave, under the new law, was four hundred and fifty dollars. But there seems to have been a rapidly growing discon- tent among the slaves. In the southern part of the prov- ince of San Paulo a great simultaneous slave revolt had been planned for Christ mas-eve, 1886, but was detected at the last 264 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. moment by one of tbe planters. An alarm was given, .and military dispatched to the disaffected plantations. There was a concerted action among the slaves which boded ill for the future. The peculiar dangers of the situation were dangers which must have increased with lapse of time. The much- used statement that the end of this century would see the end of negro slavery in Brazil was not, under the systjem of enfranchisement, at all correct. There was still a large slave population which was being freed at an infinitesimally slow rate— only about one a year out of every two hundred of their number. Brazil had a large free negro population, which enjoyed all the privileges of white citizens. It acquired material advantages in the matter of wealth and position through the use of its freedom. The emancipation fund dis- tributions among certain of their race were naturally observed with bitter disappointment and envy by the slaves. The natural result of all this was, to make them discontented and dissatisfied. It aroused feelings of desperation which, in the end, tended to revolt ; and this danger increased from year to year. What should be done ? The emancipation question had been studied from so many sides in Brazil, so many new projects had been tested, only to be afterward rejected, that I hesitated to give an opinion. And yet it seemed to me, with such light on the puzzling subject as I could obtain from every quarter, that instantaneous and total manumission would be the better course. The only way the Brazilian could disarm and avoid his threatened ruin was by decreeing immediate emancipation, and making suitable provisions for attaching the freedmen to the soil, for which negroes were better suited than any other race which could be brought into the country. Thus I wrote in 1886. Two years afterward, on May 17, 1888, the Brazilian Senate passed a bill — which had been passed by the Chamber of Deputies the preceding week — granting immediate and unconditional emancipation. On May 18, 1888, a government decree was issued, ap- pointing three days for festivities in celebration of the aboli- tion of slavery. During those days the public offices and THE PROVINCE OF SAN PAULO. 265 almost all tlie private establishments were closed. The fes- tival commenced with a grand mass in the open air, in the great square of Dom Pedro I., celebrated with immense pomp in the presence of the Princess Regent and family, the min- isters of state, the foreign representatives, officers and offi- cials of every rank, numerous corporations, societies, aud schools, the garrison and naval forces of Rio, and an immense assemblage of people. After this imposing ceremony and a naval and military parade were over, grand processions of schools, societies, corporations, students, and public and private employes of all classes were organized, day after day, and marched with bands, banners, orators, and addresses, through the principal streets, which were all decorated with flags and foliage, and at night were brilliantly illuminated. The thea- tres were opened gratuitously to the public, and on May 20th, at night, two of the public squares were transformed into open- air ball-rooms, to whose gratuitous Terpsichorean exercises the people of Rio, and especially the newly made citizens, were invited — an invitation as largely accepted as generously offered. The balls commenced after a beautiful display of fire- works, and were carried on until the morning of the 21st. From San Paulo we took the English railway to Santos, its seaport, about forty miles distant, whence we intended to return to Rio by sea. The railway runs through an uninter- esting expanse of country, until it reaches the summit of the coast range of mountains — the Serra do Mar — down which runs a cable road, a distance of five miles in four “ inclined planes.” A train coming up balances that on which you descend. The height of the ridge is about twenty-five hun- dred feet. The vdre cables used are an inch and a half in diameter. There are powerful engines located at the top of each incline. The steepest incline is ten per cent. This road has been open some twenty-odd years. Its original cost was very great, running, as it does, upon the steep flanks of val- leys where much stone-work was required. Owing to the peculiar topography of this section of country, enormous floods of rain fall during a single brief storm. In order to 266 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. draw off these dangerous inundations, frequent sluices are built beneath the road-bed, and massive conduits almost con- tinuously follow its surface. Destructive land-slides occasion- ally occur, notwithstanding precaution has been taken against them. The views from the summit of the Serra do Mar are su- perb. You look into a great valley full of bright-green trees, and away to peak after peak in the distance toward the sea. Reaching the plain, a short run took us to Santos, a town of about twenty thousand people, built at the foot of some green hills and adjoining a short but deep river, which per- mits large steamers to approach its wharves, or at least an- chor near by. Santos is probably the second seaport of the empire in the value and importance of its exports. It is a hot, dirty, damp, unwholesome place, but there is a large healthy suburb, about four miles distant, toward the sea, at the south, and reached by a tramway. Going out you pass many beautiful country-houses, and upon arriving you look over the Bay of Santos, and out upon the broad Atlantic. Opposite this place — called the “ Barra,” the bar, where there is an exceptionally fine sea-beach, which is a favorite residence with foreigners — is a small dilapidated fort. All about the bay rise picturesque hills, and the coast on the journey to Rio shows many fine views of a like character. We took passage in the Argentine, of the Hamburg South American Steamship Company, a clean, comfortable, well- provisioned, and well-ordered steamer. As regards the great peaks to the northward and westward of Rio, I am at a loss to decide whether the view is more remarkable from the ocean or from the bay. At any rate, I feel safe in saying that the assemblage of peaks and ranges, rocks and valleys, coasts and beaches, lying promiscuously about the entrance to Rio Harbor, presents one of the most interesting scenic spec- tacles to be found anywhere in the world. As we came from another port of the same empire, we had no trouble with the custom-house inspectors, but upon landing found the city a worthy successor of the fiery furnace so graphically described in Hqly Writ. Pines, Minas- Geraes, Brazil. CHAPTER XXXI. A TRIP TO MORRO YELHO. After seeing everything of interest in Rio and its en- virons, and having visited San Paulo, I determined to see something of the interior of Minas-Geraes, the highest table- land, the most populous, and one of the richest and most important of the provinces of Brazil. The prairies are cov- ered with vast herds of cattle, while below the surface in rocks, or alluvial deposits, or in the sands of rivers, are found gold, lead, coal, topazes, amethysts, and diamonds. I had proposed to visit the old Portuguese gold-mine of Morro Yelho, the richest in the empire, and the largest and deepest in the world ; Ouro Preto, the curious capital of Minas- Geraes ; Nova Friburgo, the site of the first colony estab- lished in Brazil ; and Nictheroy, the capital of the province of Rio Janeiro. The journey would be performed by steamer, railroad, and mule-back. It would cover about one thousand miles, and require at least a month. The general direction of the tour would be north and south, and Petrop- olis, which I had already visited, would be the actual point of departure. From here I intended to go to a village called Entre Rios, on the Parahyba River, and about sixty miles distant. At the low- vitality hour of 4 a. m. I heard the bugle of the coach, and, hailing it, took the only remain- ing outside seat. This coach was of the orthodox English pattern, holding four “ insides ” and fourteen “ outsides.” There were two classes of passengers. We were drawn by five mules, the three leaders being harnessed abreast. The coach was named u Celeridade,” and well deserved its title, for we bowled 268 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. along at a swift gallop of at least ten miles an hour. The road has been built many years, and is a capital piece of en- gineering. It is macadamized, and at intervals are toll-gates. The streams are crossed by good iron-girder bridges. The company dispatches one coach each way per day, and, of course, carries the mail. But the care of this in no wise in- terfered with our progress. Bags were handed up to the guard on sticks, which, having removed, he threw back, and other bags were tossed out, without a pause in our speed. Leaving Petropolis we followed a narrow valley, containing the Piabanha Piver, nearly all the way to Entre Bios, cross- ing the stream several times. The whole ride was through a most picturesque region, and the excellence of the road, to- gether with the rapid pace at which we covered it, made a very exhilarating journey. It being so early in the morning, and cloudy, overcoats were comfortable, and hot coffee at one station added not a little to our well-being. The gorge along which we flew was generally denuded of trees, and covered with corn, coffee, or pasture, alternately. The river was merely a great brawling mountain torrent, dashing itself over rocks, swirling around corners, and roaring and raging as if wild at being so buffeted. The hills were of the same un- couth, sugar-loaf, dome-and-peak character as those surround- ing the Bay of Bio. Some were green and wooded, and some were of bare rock, precipitous and smooth, save for beautiful clumps of lichen. On the opposite side of the river a new narrow-gauge railroad — but not then in operation — followed us for half the distance to Entre Bios, to which it is to be eventually extended. Great carts, drawn by five yoke of oxen, and loaded with bags of coffee, were continu- ally passing us on their way to the shore of the great bay, and thence to a market. In the coffee-plantations I noticed slaves at work hoeing maize, and superintended by mulattoes, each with an ever-ready whip strung around his neck. The houses were usually very mean mud structures, but occasion- ally we got sight of the superior headquarters of a coffee estate encompassed with beautiful gardens. Just before A TRIP TO MORRO VELEO. 269 reaching Entre Rios, we crossed the Parahyba River on a long iron bridge, supported by stone piers. Entre Rios is an insignificant little village, only important as being the junction of the great Dom Pedro II. Railroad, and also of another which runs a long distance to the eastward. Our coach made close connection with the train, in which I de- posited myself and baggage. At first we followed the valley of the Parahvbuna, a branch of the Parahyba, both the banks and the hills being covered with coffee-plants of various growths, as evidenced by their varying shades of green. Then we gradually rose and passed over a ridge commanding a long backward view of woody hills, so incessantly undulating as to resemble a great ocean of tumultuous verdure. The various tints, from the most delicate green of the young coffee to the dark vel- vety emerald of the forests, melted their infinite gradations into each other, and made a particularly pleasing panoramic prospect. Besides the coffee, much maize was grown. I had observed that the coach-road was a veritable cork-screw ; that often, at a distance of less than half a mile ahead, you could not for your life tell how you were to get out of the cul-de- sac, or which way the valley would wind. But of all the railway-rides I ever took, this was certainly the most crooked. In order to avoid the numerous knolls, it had to turn and turn, often making a complete semicircle. The formation of the country was quite extraordinary. Ridges were absent, but in their place were thousands of detached hills and hillocks, with very straitened valleys between. The railway might be accurately described as made of embankments, curves, and earth-channels. The soil being quite red, partly from the presence of iron-ore, the huge slices which were frequent- ly pared from the hills looked like great scars on Mother Earth’s green body. We stopped at many stations, but they were generally only the smallest of villages. Exceptions would be the towns of Parahybuna and Barbacena. The second section of our journey consisted largely of forests, while the third contained considerable grazing land. Occa- 270 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. sionally we could see large manor-houses, and the train seemed full of men whom, from their dress, manner, and conversation, I imagined to he coffee -planters. Slaves were everywhere at work in the fields, striving with enormous hoes to root out the ever-luxuriant weeds. A little before reaching Barbacena, a branch line runs a long distance to the westward. The village of Lafayette is the present terminus of .the railway, which, however, will soon reach Sahara, with a branch line to Ouro Preto. It is intended eventually to ex- tend the Dom Pedro II. Pailway from Sahara, on the Pio das Velhas, to the junction of that river with the San Fran- cisco, of which it is the main branch. Uninterrupted steam- er communication will be had down the San' Francisco for thirteen hundred miles, to the famous rapids of Paulo Affon- so. Around these rapids has already been built a railway, from whose terminus other steamers ply directly to the point where the San Francisco empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Lafayette and Pio are daily connected by an express-train each way. It is one day’s mule-ride to Ouro Preto, and three to Morro Yelho. .There are three very fair little hotels in Lafayette — one of them has the winning title of “ Friendship Hotel,” and another is called Good Hope Hotel.” The sta- tion of Lafayette is about half a mile distant from the town of Queluz, which is built along the summit of a ridge of hills, whence a splendid view of the country in every direc- tion may be had. It consists almost entirely of one long and very broad street, faced by one-story, whitewashed houses. At about the middle and at one end are churches. At the other extremity are a chapel and a cemetery. Queluz, but twelve hours from Pio, could not, in a certain sense, be far- ther off if it were a thousand miles in the interior. Pio is a great Europeanized city, importing or manufacturing every necessary as well as all the conveniences and luxuries of life ; whereas in Queluz the people make their own clothes and soap. It is a very abrupt transition from culture to primi- tiveness. In Queluz the dead are buried in the parish churchyard, without any ceremonial and with no clergyman A TRIP TO MORRO VELHO. 271 present. The streets at night are unlighted. If you wish a prescription compounded, you will lose much time in search- ing for the druggist. He may be out riding or shooting, or his shop may be closed, or u peradventure he traveleth.” Even if found at home, he has been known to return word that the prescription would be “ put up ” amctnha — to-mor- row. The doctors are landed proprietors. They practice medicine merely to pass the time, and will attend you if they feel in the mood. The prison of Queluz was on the principal street, with heavily barred windows, where the prisoners were not only talking with people in the street, but from which they had also thrust their legs and arms. Hot only do the sen- tries chat with the prisoners, giving them all the daily gossip of the town, but they even play cards with them, the bars in- tervening between the two parties by no means handicapping the game. There are many lepers in Queluz. The prevalence of the disease is said to be in large part due to the people liv- ing almost exclusively upon a diet of pork and corn-meal. The next day I left Lafayette for the gold-mine of Morro Yelho, about eighty miles distant. I took a horse and two mules, one of the latter for my guide and the other for my baggage. My guide’s name was Hippolyte, but, being a very black negro, I doubt if he was a lineal descendant of the Christian theologian, martyr, and saint of like name. He was originally a Brazilian slave, but had been given his liberty some ten years before by a kind-hearted owmer. He was a great, burly, good-natured fellow, and proved an excellent servant. He wore huge spurs strapped to his bare feet, which had to me a very comical appearance at first, though it is the custom here ; and he rode, moreover, with one or two, but never all, his toes placed in the stirrup. The road was about twenty feet in width, and when I say that I passed a few light, narrow wagons, with great wooden wheels, drawn by eight yoke of oxen, the reader has as fair an idea of its con- dition as if I added that in places the mud was a foot deep, and that the road extended up and down hill at angles of thirty degrees. These Brazilian turn-outs reminded me some- 272 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. what of the great Cape Colony wagons, which, with their twenty yoke of oxen “ trek ” away into the distant interior. The country was of the same general character as that already described as existing from Entre Rios to Lafayette — a rough sea of hills and hillocks. There was but little primitive for- est, though considerable of “ second-growth ” timber, and not a little fine meadow-land. Some corn was cultivated, though but little coffee. The land seemed sparsely settled. Never- theless, I encountered a goodly number of roadside stores and inns, and two or three somewhat pretentious hotels. Only one small village was seen. We passed many mule- troops — generally about half a dozen animals in a troop — loaded with cofiee. These were coming down-country, though in going up they carried multifarious household merchandise. The loads of the mules were neatly roofed with great hides — an effectual water-proof covering. Most of the animals wore little baskets over their mouths, the object of course being to prevent their stopping to graze by the roadside. The lead- ing mule bore a bell, whose tinkling the others were supposed to follow as willingly as sheep their bell-wether ; but the mules here as elsewhere require constant prodding, so defect- ive is their memory. The muleteers sing also quaint songs, rather to encourage the mules than to amuse themselves. In like manner the cart-drivers have a method — and a very dis- agreeable one — of making music for their oxen by putting charcoal on the axles of their carts, which makes them squeak in the most excruciating manner. You can tell their approach a mile off. The mule-troops were always attended by a couple of negroes — one mounted, one on foot — clothed only in hat, shirt, and trousers. All removed their hats, and sa- luted me in a very respectful manner. There were but few carts, probably on account of the wretched condition of the roads. We were hardly able to exceed a walk at any time during the day. The rivers are crossed by good wooden bridges ; the brooks are forded. The horses of a few Brazil- ian ladies and gentlemen ambled past — the ladies with long, flowing habits and kid gloves, the gentlemen in white duck A TRIP TO MORRO YELEO. 273 suits and straw hats. With one party a two-mule litter car- ried the baby, nurse, and smaller children. The little native grog-shops, of which there were many, seemed well patron- ized. They contained sugar-cane brandy, domestic and im- ported beer, sweet drinks, cigarettes, etc. At Ouro Branco I stopped for lunch at one of the small hotels. It was not provided with chairs, at least not in the sitting-room, which had, however, a sofa and a bed. A high gate at the door effectually prevented chickens from walking in and babies from walking out. Leaving this village the road skirted a low range of grass- covered hills for some distance to the eastward, gradually mounting them, and turning to the right for Ouro Preto, and the left for Morro Yelho. We followed along this ridge for some distance, having everywhere magnificent views of the billowy land, until a terrific thunder-storm coming sud- denly up shut out the horizon on every side. The lightning was really frightful. You had to shut your eyes after a flash, and then slowly open them in order to see the road, while the thunder fairly shook the ground under one’s feet. I rode directly through a great black cloud, the electric flame almost singeing my mustache, and a firm conviction taking possession of me that the very next stroke would put an eter- nal quietus upon at least one inquisitive wanderer. The rain fell in such torrents as to actually make my shoulders and back sore. Not until sundown did it cease, and by that time I had reached an exceedingly primitive inn for dinner and sleep. I fought my way through the pigs and chickens in the front room, and found a reed-covered bedstead in a rear room. The only other furniture in the house was a table. The ceiling was of plaited bamboos, the floor of mud. On my way out to look for some drinking-water, my passage was disputed by a horse eating a few grains off the floor of the sitting — no, standing-room. Water for washing was brought me in an old soup-tureen, with a piece of a curtain for a towel. This was a specimen of a Brazilian pousada , or wayside-inn. And yet, with all this barbarism, the bed-linen 18 274 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. as in Ecuador and the Argentine Republic, was bordered with lace and fancy knitted-work ! My pillow was round, like a Lyons sausage, and just about as large and as hard. The road hither, as might be imagined from the extreme irregularity of the country, had been very tortuous. Some- times also it passed through cuttings— not made by man, but by water — the top of which, just the width of a cart, was ten feet above your head as you rode along on horseback. The carts in some places had w T orn ruts in the rock quite a foot in depth. I noticed a number of gold-diggings and washings, mostly made by the old Portuguese miners, and many land- slides or land-sinkings, great cracks in the earth caused by the rains, the soil everywhere appearing of a bright-red color. Many of the neighboring hills had curious exposed rock formations. Indeed, the whole region possesses great interest for a geologist. My dinner was fairly good. Boilded man- dioc-farina took the place of bread. The native beer was quite palatable, not unlike certain light German beers. The good people were not able to provide me with a knife, and*so I had to bite from a large piece as best I might. At night the muleteers gathered in groups about little fires, and sang love-songs, with the customary fandango touch with which we are familiar. They accompanied themselves on a sort of guitar, called here a viola. Doubtless the novel sur- roundings of a moonlight night in the interior of tropical Brazil made this entertainment especially interesting to me. Starting at six the next morning we passed through a country of pasture and forest. The hills were grassed and bare of trees, while the banks of the streams were thickly wooded. The excavations made by the old miners continued a striking and picturesque feature of the landscape. Their general tint was a bright brick-red, with variously shaded mineral streaks, and sometimes the banks of the hollows glistened with all the colors of the rainbow. The rain has washed and the wind has worn the great cavities into very fantastic shapes. Sometimes they are full of ridges, sharp as a knife ; sometimes they are crowded with little pinnacles, A TRIP TO MORRO VELEO. 275 each, of a different color ; then again they are fashioned into a series of terraces and towers innumerable. As I rode along, the hill-side croppings, the bed of the road, and the banks of the streams all showed a sufficient variety of rocks and min- erals to stock a cabinet. I halted for breakfast at a better sort of inn than that of the previous night. It was in the town of Caxones, a pretty little place lying along the low ridges of a valley, through which ran a river crossed by a wooden bridge. Many of the houses in this town were two stories in height, and a large and rather imposing church crowned a central hillock. In the course of the afternoon I passed through several villages. These usually consisted of a long, straggling street, with a double-towered church at one end and a chapel and cemetery at the other. The church seemed always to be placed upon high ground, easily to be seen from all parts of the village and environs. Upon a number of hill-tops were small chapels, with great wooden crosses at their sides. The latter were painted black and covered with a most extraordinary assortment of ecclesiastical emblems. Among them I noticed a rooster, probably in honor of St. Peter, a sword, a pitcher and wash-basin, skull and cross-bones, hammer and tongs, mingled with the wine- cup, sponge, spear, ladder, and other symbols of the cruci- fixion. At intervals along the roadside were small wooden crosses, some of them nearly covered with pretty flowering vines, and surrounded by neat palings. The muleteers gravely doffed their hats at each. But the frequent occur- rence of these crosses is, to a visitor, extremely disheartening, for at each of them, it is said, some one died from sudden illness, or was murdered. The views during the afternoon embraced two thirds of the horizon. The road seems to keep upon the ridges where possible. At other times it winds high up the mountain-sides, so that nearly all the while you have charming visions of dome-shaped hillocks, of undulating pastures, of blue and distant ranges, of valleys filled with darkly graceful trees, and of pretty little villages, whose white walls gleam amid the all-engulfing green. CHAPTER XXXII. DOWN THE GREAT GOLD-MINE. We stopped for our noon breakfast, the next day, at the village of San Antonio on the Rio das Velhas. During the morning we had passed a peak, to the west, of nearly a mile in height. All the afternoon the range of hills called the Serra da Piedade, of about the same height, loomed before us to the northwest. Morro Y elho is at the extreme north- eastern end of this range. We finally ascended a sharp ridge, from the top of which we saw the village of Congon- has straggling along the road for a mile or so at our feet. The descent to this valley was very precipitous. Congonhas seemed to be a hamlet rather above the average. In the Grand Plaza I even noticed the word “ Teatro ” on a small single-story edifice. The cathedral contains a very remarka- ble series of old carved wooden statuary, cleverly arranged in historical tableaux, which illustrate scenes in the life of Christ and the apostles, and an engraved specimen of which I am fortunately able to show the reader. Passing through Congonhas, yon ascend another sharp ridge, and find just beyond it the village and mine of Morro Yelho. The clatter of the mills is heard a long way off. The opening to the mine, the stamping and other works, and the dwellings of the miners, are crowded into a circlet of the hills. Dismounting at the general offices, I enter the private grounds of the San Juan del Rey Mining Company, and am received with open-armed hospitality by Mr. George Chalmers, the superintendent, in a large old-fashioned resi- dence, built by the Portuguese miners more than a hundred ♦ Tf ooden Images in a Church at Congonlias „ DOWN TEE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 277 years ago. It is a very comfortable single-story house, fitted with every luxury of a high-class English home. The sit- ting-room and parlors are full of natural history collections, among them the skins of many animals shot by the superin- tendent, who is a devoted sportsman and collector. One stand contains a splendid lot of crystals with magnetic pyrites. The baths are supplied with cool spring water, which con- stantly flows through them. In one room is a fine large bill- iard-table. The lawn is marked for tennis, while in a little octagonal pavilion near by is an excellent library of books, with a large table, covered with magazines and other peri- odicals, and well supplied with writing materials. A broad piazza extends around the house, and affords interesting views of the neighboring hills. Rare orchids, in endless pro- fusion, border the piazza, while a pretty inner court-yard is laid out with fruit-trees, flowers, and gravel walks. There are commodious stables and poultry-yards. A small men- agerie of wild dogs, pigs, monkeys, deer, etc., would prove of interest to a naturalist, and of interest to every one would be the very intelligent Scotch terrier u Charlie.” The mine, through bad management, had been running down very rap- idly, when, about a year before my visit, Mr. Chalmers came out from England and took charge of it. Changes were at once initiated in all the departments, savings were made in old methods, new ones were introduced, and the mine and works were quickly developed and brought into a paying condition. Mr. Chalmers is a very young man — but thirty- three — for such a responsible position, but he has already proved himself just the person for the place. From six o’clock in the morning until ten at night he makes the rounds of the different divisions. He is ubiquitous, and his energy is untiring. A very remarkable and interesting experience was my de- scent into the mine. At one of the neighboring offices some miners’ clothes were given me. Especially useful as a shield against falling stones was a hat made of very stout felt. To the front of this a candle was stuck with a small lump of soft 278 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . clay. Two iron cages, or cars, were rnn witli wire ropes, by water-power, and filled a vertical shaft, bored, after the first hundred feet or so, in the solid rock, to a depth of fourteen hundred and fifty feet. One car ascends while the other de- scends, carrying the miners, or at other times the gold-rock, in little iron cars, which are run in and out upon rails. Mr. Chalmers, the captain of the mine, and a boy with a bag of candles and a bundle of oiled rags, with which to illuminate special parts of the excavation, accompany me. From the bottom of the shaft the main gallery, with double track for the cars, runs ofi to near the present end of the mine, but several hundred feet above it. Here there is a small steam- engine, which is used to raise the ore in a great iron bucket from one of the platforms where the men are at work. Hot far from a point where the gallery branches from the shaft, is the original starting of the drift by the present English company, the lode running toward the east at an angle of forty-five degrees. This drift descends several hundred feet to a large level space, then there is an abrupt descent of per- haps fifty feet, and another great level, another descent of fifty feet, and then a smaller level, and you arrive at the ex- treme bottom of the mine. Let me now go back and follow our footsteps as we made the circuit. We had reached the end of the main gallery, and stood upon some very heavy wooden flooring. There was nothing between us and the bottom of the mine, some four hundred feet below, save the several landing-stages. On one side was the rod of the huge pump, slowly, almost noiselessly at work. In the center was an opening where the ore-bucket was drawn up an inclined plane. On the other side was a round dark hole where we began a further descent upon long, narrow ladders, which dipped at a very slight angle — indeed, seemed nearly horizon- tal part of the time. The ladders being slippery, and not backed by planking, you could occasionally catch glimpses, through the rungs, of passing lights, and of men at work many hundred feet below. The experience was depressing, nor did the continual caution not to look down exhilarate us. DOWN TEE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 279 We descended innumerable ladders of interminable length. The roofs and sides of the mine were everywhere supported by the hardest woods of Brazil. Two feet square was the average thickness of these timbers, though I occasionally saw them as much as three feet square. At the bottom, such of the roof as I could see, seemed supported by great wooden columns, between which was a solid backing of heavy plank- ing. Then some twenty feet below this was a row of enor- mous logs, placed at about fifteen feet apart. On our way down the ladders, at every landing we saw men at work, some putting in new timbers — for sometimes these rot quick- ly — others bracing old ones, or mending some of the hauling- gear. Each gang of men had an English boss. From the last stage the bottom of the mine is reached by a long wire- rope ladder, loosely hung against the perpendicular wall. It is necessary to have a ladder of this kind, for the frequent blasts would soon destroy a wooden one. The lode, at the end, two thousand feet below the surface, is about fifty feet in width, and so rich that the dark gray stone fairly glistens in the light of the miners’ candles. Comparatively little water is in the mine, the pump drawing from a shallow pool through a long canvas tube. As fast as the gallery advances the huge timbers are placed just below the roof, across it. It seems wonderful how the men can get a tree-trunk three feet square, and nearly a hundred feet in length, into such seemingly inaccessible positions. It is done by means of great chains and the assistance of the steam-engine previous- ly mentioned. All through the mine the visitor is startled and alarmed by a variety of continuous rumblings and reverberations. The calls of the men to each other and the commands of the bosses have also an ominous sound. These goblin noises, penetrating through the murky darkness, combine with the miners’ lights, which dart about like so many vicious jack o’lantems, to surround one with a pandemonium. The air, however, is everywhere remarkably pure, a pleasantly disil- lusioning fact, rather unusual, as no fresh air is forced down 280 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. from above. At the end of the drift I found about a dozen men drilling holes in the ore-prodncing mineral vein, and another dozen engaged in putting in new timbers. From here you can look straight up, along some thousands of feet, to the beginning of the drift — over the two platforms, and above, to the roof, four hundred feet distant. The width varies from fifty to a hundred feet. It is a most wonderful, awe-inspiring cavity. No other mine in the world can boast of a greater. Boys with torches were sent to different points along the excavation, so that we could easily get an idea of its vast proportions, while the lights of men at work above indicated the distance of the roof. Clambering up the first incline, we found about fifty men engaged in drilling and loading the bucket with the ore. They were singing a wild refrain, keeping good time wdth the heavy blows of their sledges. Their naked bodies showed superb muscular de- velopment. They paused for a moment to salute our party with a double “Viva!” and then the banging, clanging, and strange though not unmusical singing, continued. What a grim picture it all made ! I remember some of Dore’s illustrations of Dante which might be exactly duplicated here; while the uncouth cries, oaths, blows, and rumbles, might with but little stretch of the imagination be thought fit for “the high capital of Satan and his peers. 5 ’ While watching the men, and standing upon the next higher plat- form, noises like distant but heavy thunder would occasion- ally be heard. These, they told me, were blasts in remote and smaller galleries. Dynamite is used for these blasts, seventy-five pounds a day being required. The men at the end of our gallery next fired seventeen charges, as we all stood under what is regarded as the strongest wall, for fear of possible stone-flakes falling, though the drifts are blasted and cleared so effectually that there is but very little danger. The various reports of the exploding charges were appall- ing. The successive waves of air struck us with powerful force. After the sharp crash, as of the heaviest artillery, the ground would shake violently beneath our feet, while the DOWN THE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 281 whole mine appeared to be rocking and tumbling for some seconds. The reverberating echoes were especially sonorous. One particularly thunderous discharge answered for a parting salute, and, after four hours passed in inspection, we proposed to ascend by the forty-five-degree incline. A wire cable is attached to the top of a platform some hundred feet or so above. Straddling this cable, and seizing it with both hands, you walk along, pulling yourself slowly up the cliff. Arrived here, you take to the ladders, all of them steep, some of them nearly vertical. You finally reach the gallery that is on a level with the bottom of the shaft, to which you walk. Here was assembled quite a crowd of miners, who gave us another “ Viva ! ” In going up to the surface the negroes in the car entertained us with some more of their half- barbaric songs. The miners seemed a contented, jovial set. They looked, too, quite robust, though that scourge of most miners, consumption, decimates them here as elsewhere. I had found the mine cool and pleasant, although our climbing exertions produced very free perspiration. Arrived at the surface, however, the warm, muggy air quite took away our remaining strength, and we were very glad, after dinner, to indulge in a lengthy siesta. One evening Mr. Chalmers had the colored jDeople come up to the “ Casa Grande,” the manor, to entertain us with some of their music, dancing, and games. About half of them were slaves, though only hired by the company, not belonging to it. They were all dressed in their smartest. The musical instruments they brought were two guitars, a flageolet, triangle, bells, and a tom-tom, like those used in western Africa, to whose accompaniment they sang, some- times with a solo and chorus, sometimes all in concert. The dances were very amusing. In one of them the men occu- pied one half of a circle, and the women the other. A woman would then jump about and twirl around in the center of the ring, and suddenly stop in front of some man, or more likely run up against him, and then return to her place. This was regarded as a sort of challenge by the man, 282 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. who would at once leave the circle and go through a similar performance, halting in front of some woman. The latter would repeat the performance, and so on, alternately. This odd proceeding constituted the whole of the dance. But the performers were all enthusiasm and excitement, and skipped about so energetically that I was afraid some of them would get injured. In fact, such is occasionally the case. A crowd of a hundred or more were looking on, some clap- ping hands to the rhythm of the music, and all greatly inter- ested and amused. The music, singing, clapping, laughing, and shouting made a fearful hubbub. Frequently one of the musicians, instrument in hand, would enter the arena and dance as wildly as any of the others, without ceasing his playing for an instant. A favorite and diverting game was “ baiting the bull.” A very good imitation of a bull’s head had been made from an actual head of bone covered with cloth. A man imitated a bull by secreting himself in the skin of one of these animals, and supported the artificial head in proper position. This “ make-believe ” bull was then led in by two men, fantastically dressed, and wearing masks, who capered around the improvised animal without ceasing. The crowd followed the bull about the lawn, playing, sing- ing, and dancing,- as merry as children. Occasionally the bull would walk around in a circle, clearing a larger space for him- self. All his movements were those of the genuine animal. Sometimes, with head down and slightly swinging from side to side, he would make a charge straight into the crowd, knocking men and boys “ head over heels,” and causing the women and girls to run and scream as only women and girls can on such occasions. The performance was continued for some time, and appeared to afford the colored people as much amusement as it did ourselves. At the finish the crowd all marched away, following the music and still dancing. It was a vivid reminiscence of western Africa. These slaves per- petuate not only their original habits and customs, but their languages, which they frequently talk among themselves, though, when they learn Portuguese, they are apt to forget DOWN TEE GREAT GOLD-MINE. 283 their vernacular. They are contented, peaceable, happy people, and the men who work in the mine are faithful and honest. The clatter of the mills is heard night and day, Sundays and holidays, week in and week out. The mining works were all shown me by the obliging superintendent, Mr. Chalmers. A general view of the place brings into promi- nence a huge water-course and iron siphon coming down a hill to the extreme left, or west. The driving power is water, introduced in flumes, and this one is seven miles in length. Then you see, at the north, the quarter where the married slaves reside, and, some distance above it upon the hill-side, the abode of the bachelor miners, appropriately styled “ Tim- buctoo.” The English miners live at some distance in the opposite direction. The stamping - mills, with their rock- crushers and the strakes, are in the center, tucked into a lit- tle valley ; nearer are the huge mill-wheels, sixty feet in diameter, one of which furnishes the power for working the pump. Farther to the right is the negro church, and below it, some distance, the reduction and amalgamation works. Still farther on, to the right, up on the hill, is the little Eng- lish cemetery, and below it are the neat cottages of the store- keeper and doctor, and, still lower down, the hospital. The great store-house of the company covers the hillock to the south of the casa grande. Here are collections of every- thing likely to be needed in the works or mine, from candles to machinery. By-the-by, eight gross of candles are every day used in the mine. The upper story of the store-house is filled with corn and beans for the consumption of the miners. Here also is an apartment which, on certain occasions, is im- provised as a ball-room, and a smaller one adjoining is utilized for the serving of supper. The mine keeps busy five great stamping-mills, one of them being like those I have seen in California. The others are huge, clumsy affairs, though an- swering their purpose very well. I followed all the various processes of the works, from where the rough ore leaves the shaft’s mouth, until I saw the gold bars ready for transport 284 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. to Rio and shipment to England. It is not necessary to de- tail here all this series of operations, which, though simple in theory, require careful and accurate attention in practice. The rock of the mine is a clay slate, not remarkably hard, but the gold, though richly abounding, is in extremely fine particles ; or, to be more exactly scientific, the gold is found associated with arsenical and sulphur pyrites in a vein trav- ersing clay slate. Employed in excavating and hauling the mineral, and timbering the mine, are some four hundred men, the nationalities embracing English, Brazilians, Portu- guese, Italians, Germans, Austrians, Spanish, and Chinese. In the works are employed sixty Chinese, seventy-five English, and nearly one thousand natives. Many native women are occupied with the lighter work, as at the strakes and in the amalgamation-rooms. Crushing, grinding, and pulverizing, with the continued use of running water, and the final assist- ance of quicksilver, are the grand methods by which the per- fect gold is separated from its ore-stone. Six times a year what is termed the “ gold troop ” carries the bars of gold in one of the ordinary country carts, attended by only two or three natives, over the terrible roads of Minas-Geraes, down to Lafayette and the Dom Pedro II. Railway, whence the precious freight is quickly carried to Rio. It is a remarkable fact that no escort is deemed necessary with this shipment, though I noticed that Brazilian travelers, like those in the Argentine Republic, wish apparently to be on the safe side, for they all carry large revolvers. The bars weigh, on an av- erage, eight pounds troy, and contain about one half per cent silver. They have to be remelted in England, for purifi- cation, before being marketable, and are then worth about three thousand dollars. The present company, which has been working the mine for nearly sixty years, have taken out as much as three thousand pounds troy in what they term a “ good year.” CHAPTER XXXIII. ON THE RIO DAS VELHAS. During my visit at Morro Velho a small steamer belong- ing to the mining company was to go about one hundred miles down the Rio das Velhas, an affluent of the great San Francisco River, to a place called Jaguara, to obtain a cargo of timber for use in. the shoring of the mine, and by courtesy of Mr. Chalmers I became the sole passenger. My kind host accompanied me to the town of Sahara, eight miles from Morro Velho, where the little steamer was lying. It was just after a rain-storm, and all the shallow hollows in the road glistened with minute particles of gold. The sand of most of the brooks, too, contained sufficient gold to pay for wash- ing, while many of the rocks were composed of eighty-five per cent of iron. The steamer I found to be a small, paddle- wheel craft, about fifty feet long, and ten feet wide. Di- rectly in the bow was a bench, covered with an awning, an admirable place to sit and see everything. Then came the galley, next the engine and boiler, and then a long cabin, and space for freight. The steamer itself, however, was not intended either for freight or passengers, but to tow an iron barge, of about thirty feet in length, and laden with logs and sawed timber. The steamer was under the command of an Englishman as chief engineer; then there were a native pilot, who had been fifteen years upon the river, a fireman, a cook, and three sailors. The steamer and the barge were built wholly of iron, some twenty years ago, at Jaguara, by a Frenchman, originally to bring proper lumber with which to build abridge across the river at Sahara — a fine structure and, 286 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. thanks to the durable wood of the country, in good condition to-day. Sahara is a very picturesqne-looking town, situated on a steep but low hill upon the bank of the river. From a dis- tance one sees the customary two churches, at opposite sides of the town, and among the majority of one-story houses a few of two stories, all with glistening white walls, set off by dark-green foliage of many kinds. Sahara is located at what may be called the extreme head of light-draught navigation, for steamers drawing more than fifteen inches must stop a hundred miles below. It is to be a station on the Dom Pedro II. Pailway. We started about midday. The river was of a muddy- brown character, shallow, about three hundred feet in width, and with a five-knot current. It rises in the rainy season quite twenty feet above its winter level. But it is full of bends, and right angles, and curves which nearly complete a circle, and around which it was often difficult to pass. Al- though we drew but fifteen inches of water, yet we fre- quently ran aground, and had to be slowly poled off. Some- times we grounded at one end, and would spin quickly around and go down-stream, stern foremost, until another grounding would turn us again prow downward. The banks were about five hundred feet in height, covered with either virgin or second-growth forest, and occasionally cleared and planted with maize, mandioc, coffee, and sugar-cane. Some- times farm-houses were seen, and late in the afternoon, our speed having been about ten knots per hour, we passed the town of Santa Luzia, perched upon and extending along a green hill running back from the river, a fair copy of Sahara, though seeming somewhat larger. At Santa Luzia an old rustic, rickety bridge crosses the river, which, with no greater depth, has now widened to about five hundred feet. From here onward the country became more open, and the hills were rather lower. Many of the banks in the river were covered with sleek-looking cattle lying in the sand, partly to save themselves from the attacks of insects and partly to obtain more of the breeze. Some very large fish are caught ON THE RIO HAS VELHAS. 287 in the Rio das Velhas. Mr. Chalmers has in his parlor a stuffed specimen, five feet in length and proportionately broad, which came from the section below Jaguara. At night we stopped at a farm-house which had a sugar-cane dis- tillery — though this was not the reason we stopped — and many other out-buildings. J ust before mooring, we ran aground and swung around at right angles to the course of the river. At this juncture the men stripped themselves, and, jumping into the water, pried with their long poles against the bow and stern until the steamer was once more afloat, when we soon arrived at our stopping-place for the night, and just before a terrific rain-storm came on. We were quartered in an enormous two-story house, whose windows contained each forty-eight panes of glass — not on account of the largeness of the windows, but on account of the smallness of the panes. The people owned about a dozen slaves, who at the time of our arrival, at nine in the evening, were engaged in pounding corn, singing in unison the while, notwithstanding the day’s labor had lasted so long. After drinking coffee and exchang- ing compliments with the host and hostess in the parlor, I was ushered into one of the little inner unventilated bed- rooms with which all Brazilian farm-houses seem to abound. My heart sunk within me as I entered this dark closet, but rose at once upon catching sight of mv pillow, exactly eight inches by four in size, but covered with embossed and em- broided birds and flowers and vines. We started about six o’clock the next morning, the river being extremely tortuous and the palm-leaf tufts very beau- tiful, as sharply outlined against the dense forests. The light green of the corn-fields also contrasted prettily with the dark green of the woods. There were many large trees in full bloom, of beautiful colors. The navigation now became much better, and we boomed along at a famous rate, the river continuing from three to five hundred feet in width. There was much fine pasture upon the higher hills. I no- ticed many cords attached to low poles near the banks. These were the set lines used by the people for fishing. 288 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. They employ a live bait, a sort of minnow, and examine their lines twice a day. The river is full of edible fish. There are also water-hogs, but no alligators. I saw many canoes, thirty feet in length and only two in width and two in depth, hollowed from a single trunk and propelled not by oars or paddles, the men sitting, but with poles, and men standing. There were many small mud huts, with doors, but without windows, the smoke escaping, as best it might, through the roof. About these huts were generally raised coffee, sugar-cane, tobacco, beans, bananas, and cotton. Just enough of the latter is grown by the natives to make their own clothes, cloth for which the women weave upon a loom of the most primitive construction. At one hut where I landed was an automatic corn-smasher, or rice-huller, in op- eration. Briefly, the machine was a long, balanced stick of timber, arranged with a sort of hammer at one end, and with a large hollow for holding water at the other. The water having filled the hollow, the log naturally tilted, spilling the water, causing it to descend and the hammer to strike forci- bly the corn or rice placed under it in a mortar. The pro- cess was slow (which does not matter much in Brazil) but labor-saving (which matters very much in Brazil). The pounding is done not only slowly but also very imperfectly, and one marvels at the lazy ingenuity of these people, where a little honest work would effect so much. We reached Jaguara at three o’clock in the afternoon, and made fast to the bank, next to an old side-wheel steamer, which, after having been sunk for the past fifteen years, at some distance down the river, had just been raised, and was being refitted for a freight-boat. Jaguara is simply the name of what was once one of the largest farms in Brazil. It was sold some years since, and one half was bought for its timber by the mining company. The English engineer of the steamer and his family take charge of the place, and are the only foreigners living in the neighborhood. All the buildings necessary to a grand estate are here, though they are now going to rack and ruin. There ON THE EIO HAS VELHAS. 289 is first a large manor-house, then the superintendent’s, priest’s, and doctor’s houses, huts for the slaves, an immense sugar- mill, and all the customary appliances for making sugar and rum, implements for pounding rice and corn, machinery for making oil from the castor-oil plant, a saw-mill, huge store- houses, a chemist’s shop, rooms for visitors, a dance-hall, sta- bles, pig-sties, fowl-sheds, etc. I must not forget to men- tion the church, quite a large one. It is in a good state of preservation, though hearing the date 1786. Some of the wooden pillars on the exterior, after a century of exposure, are still as hard as rock. The church contains some very good carvings, all the wood being of a fineness and hardness akin to lignum-vitse. The subjects of both paintings and carvings run largely to cherubim and seraphim. The floor is occupied by numbered but nameless graves. Bats and owls are now the only regular attendants at service, but when decorated and illumined, and filled with senoritas and cava- liers in their quaint country costumes, the scene must have been very pretty. Attached to the church are the customary school-room and robing-room, the robes having been pre- served in carved bureaus of ponderous plank. The wood- work of the manor-house is also of the most massive charac- ter, and frequently carved. A flight of stone steps, reaching one of the doors, has in it solid blocks twenty feet in length. The ceilings are paneled in wood, and painted in neat pat- terns of gay colors, which are but little dimmed through age. On the ceiling of the hall is blazoned the coat-of-arms of the former owner. The roads about the house are paved with huge cobble-stones. There are two large orchards full of orange, lemon, guava, lime, and other fruit trees. A hand- some large flower-garden likewise is its own excuse for being. But all of these are now simply a tangle of the wild- est vegetation, though one may follow some of the old paths and see what they must have been when in their prime. Hear the manor are the quarters of the slaves, surrounded by a wall fifteen feet high to prevent their escape at night. This rich old family owned several hundred slaves. Their 19 290 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMD RIO A. quarters were like those already visited at San Paulo, little pens ten feet square, more suited to the abode of animal than human beings. The family rooms were separated by a parti- tion, with an opening, but no door. Sometimes two fami- lies were placed in one of the diminutive rooms. The rooms occupied by the unmarried slaves were like the wards of a hospital, on a small scale, for here they slept in rows upon straw pallets. All the rooms were arranged in a quadrangle, with but one gateway. In the court-yard here the English engineer and superintendent showed me the skin of a great boa which he had killed a few days before. It was about twenty feet in length and ten inches in diameter. He did not wish to injure the skin by shooting the reptile, which was up a small tree, so he attached a stout cord with a noose to the end of a pole and slipped it over the serpent’s neck, choking it, and then he cut its throat. It was a very excit- ing performance, and took the man quite half an hour. The natives who discovered this boa all ran away, of course, when they saw the dangerous method prepared for its capture. The skin bore a regular succession of spots, alternately black and yellow, along its back. There are a great many snakes in this section of Brazil, some of the smaller ones being very venomous. On my return to Morro Y elho I passed three or four sunning themselves in the road. The little steamer on which I had come down the river requiring seven days for the trip up-stream, and not leaving for a couple of days, I decided to return on mule-back — espe- cially upon learning that the road was about half of the length of the tortuous river journey. I took a guide, in addition to my own servant, and passed through a country partly of pasture, with a few trees, and partly of forest. In coming through the forest I frequently saw monkeys playing upon the trees, but they were rather suspicious, and scam- pered off at a near approach. They were of a blackish color, with some white spots about the head. There were also many huge conical ant-hills, the same as in Paraguay, and numerous mud beehive-shaped structures upon the trees. ON THE RIO DAS VELHAS. 291 One variety of these hives is also inhabited by a species of ant, and another is used as a nest by a peculiar bird. About six o’clock in the evening we came down from the hills, and crossed the Rio das Yelhas by a long wooden bridge, and then, after a steep climb upon the opposite bank, we reached the large town of Santa Luzia. It is a long, straggling place, consisting mostly of but a single street running along the crest of a low range of hills. The houses are chiefly of one story, with windows of which the upper half is glass, the lower blinds. As I rode along, most of the doors and win- dows were closed, and at first I supposed the people were at dinner, but I soon caught glimpses, at nearly every window, of girls and women peeping forth to see the new arrival. I passed a two-story town-hall, a part of which formed a jaiU In one room was a prisoner playing upon a guitar ; at a win- dow some one was handing in a bottle of rum. A convict’s life in Brazil does not appear to be altogether an unhappy one. I put up at the “Hotel Populaire,” French by name, but Portuguese by nature. In its small rooms are ceilings of colored bamboos, woven into simple patterns with pleasing effect. The parlor has a massive carved table, mirrors, a cane-seated sofa, and chairs. The bedrooms have simply bare bedsteads, wash-stands, and possibly chairs, though prob- ably not. In the hotels of Brazil the room is furnished and “made up” after it is engaged. Mattresses and sheets are brought in, also toilet apparatus, and perhaps a couple of chairs, if they can be found about the premises. The table contained the usual fair variety — no condiments and no des- sert of any kind, however. My kind and thoughtful friend at Morro Yelho having sent me two fresh mules from his own fine stock, I started on at daylight, riding over a much rougher country than that of the day before, and getting many extended and beautiful views of the great green bil- lowy sea of verdure. The hills being nearly all of the same height, the few exceptional ones a trifle higher, merely had the same billowy effect that one perceives upon the ocean. I had a rough descent, over a very steep piece of road, to the 292 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. town of Sahara, which is situated on much lower ground than Santa Luzia. Crossing the Eio das Yelhas by a good wooden bridge, I soon reach my point of departure in the little steamer, and in two hours thereafter I am back again in the comfortable house of Mr. Chalmers, listening to the eter- nal clatter of the neighboring stamping-mills. From Morro Yelho I went to Ouro Preto, the capital of the province, and fifty-six miles distant, a good portion of the road being the same as that upon which I had come to the great gold-mine. The day was very hot, and, though my mules had had several days’ rest, and the benefit of good food and stabling, they seemed by the middle of the afternoon quite tired out. The mules, and horses also, in Brazil, have nothing like the strength and endurance of those in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. And in Brazil the roads are very much better, being generally sufficiently level for carts, whereas on the west coast they are usually only rough trails, which are often very steep. Again, the pack-mules are treated much better here than there, having great wads of straw under their saddles, and being fed with corn as well as grass. Also, the more frequent occurrence of road-side inns in Brazil than on the other side of South America allows travelers a greater opportunity for rest, in which, of course, their beasts participate. But notwithstanding these facts, the Brazil mules can not compare with those of the western republics. Doubtless some allowance must be made in that the former experience the tropic heat of comparative lowlands, while the latter spend a good part of their existence upon the cold slopes or the summits of the sub-Andean chain. I stopped for the night at Eio das Pedras, but at another and a much better hotel than upon my upward journey. The next day I followed the same road by which I came, until noon, and then struck due east, ascending one of the spurs of a long range of hills running north and south, and on the eastern side of which lies Ouro Preto. Turning abruptly the extremity of this spur, we began to descend over a very steep, rough road, paved in part with huge flat stones, which ?■ OX TEE RIO DAS VELEAS. 293 in the rainy season may have kept the water from washing the road away, but which did not at all facilitate the progress of our animals. After a considerable amount of slipping and stumbling, and a few falls, and after passing many mule- troops, and a few carts with numerous oxen attached, I at last caught sight of Ouro Preto, lying along the side and in the hollow of a narrow valley completely surrounded by high, rock-capped hills. Away to the southeast arose the peak of Itacolumi, a little over a mile high, with its curious great bowlder of granite standing abruptly forth. All about the hills were the great, rough, red and gray, yellow and brown holes made by the old miners and enlarged and washed by the rains. I entered the main street. Ouro Preto, in fact, seems composed chiefly of one thoroughfare, which winds up, down, and about the valley for a distance of four miles, often at an angle of thirty-five degrees, and scarcely straight for a hundred yards together, as it nears the center of the town. CHAPTER XXXIV. CIRCLING BACK TO RIO. The situation of Ouro Preto is very picturesque. It is like one of the towns in the Tyrol. The lower part of the surrounding hills is covered with dark-green grass and shrubs. The trees are few and small. Through the valley run several attenuated streams, which are frequently crossed by quaint old stone bridges. A number of hillocks adorn the valley, and those which are not crowned by churches, with long and imposing approaches of paved road, or flights of stone steps, are covered by dwellings. Ho two houses seem to be of the same size or shape, or to contain the same number of stories, or to be built upon the same level. They are, in fact, actu- ally terraced up the sides of the hills. Hext the street and facing it they may be one story in height, while upon the other end they will frequently be three stories. Two thirds of the town are fully three hundred feet below the remain- der. The street along which I rode was badly paved with rough cobble-stones, and upon certain portions great flat slabs were laid for pedestrians. There was sometimes also a side- walk about eighteen inches wide. The side streets go almost directly either up or down, and even the long main street has sections almost inaccessible by any animal save a mule, steps being here used by pedestrians. Of course, there are no carriages at Ouro Preto. Access to the lower part of the town must be had by long, winding roads. There were fre- quent iron posts, topped by kerosene-lamps. At nearly every corner were little shrines containing sacred effigies, with can- dles and other lights burning before them. I put up at the CIRCLING BACK TO RIO. 295 best hotel, which provided a very fair table, though the rooms were small and dirty. The founding of Ouro Preto was undertaken many years ago — I noticed a curious old bridge with the date of 1745 — by the Portuguese, with no attempt to select a suitable site, but simply to be convenient to the mines which they were working. Though stores of all kinds abound, there is slight business, the neighboring mines paying little or nothing. However, Ouro Preto is the capi- tal of one of the finest provinces of the empire, the residence of the president and other officials, which will always make it a place of considerable importance. To the traveler it is of special interest, from the picturesqueness of its situation and the quaintness of its buildings, especially the churches. The towers and little bulbous cupolas of the churches, and the white, blue, and yellow walls of the dwellings, give it, in fact, a half-0 riental aspect. There is a flavor, too, of great age in the weather-stained buildings, and the dull red of the tiled roofs has a sort of dreamy, lifeless air which makes the spot quite romantic. There are many odd old fountains by the sides of the roads. They are generally built of brick or stone, with some kind of ornamental figure spouting water into a large stone basin. They are often painted in a variety of gaudy colors. The water comes from springs in the neigh- boring hills, and is very wholesome. About the center of the town a high ridge reaches at right angles almost across the valley. Upon this stand the government-house, the municipal congress-hall, the treasury, the prison, and some five churches. The government-house contains many provincial offices, and is the residence of the President of Minas-Geraes. In front of it is a small inclosed garden, a poor one, too, the solitary example in Ouro Preto. Upon the opposite side of this is the rather imposing public prison, a large, square, two-story building, on a fine site. It is painted yellow, and has very queer old statues upon the angles of its roof. It looks much more like a palace than that at present occupied by the president, which, with its plain yellow two stories, its peaked, tiled roof and its heavy 296 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. walls, buttresses, and sentry-boxes, looks much more like a citadel than a palace. The tower of the prison has a large clock, with the minute-hand missing. As an offset, the clock- tower of one of the principal churches has only the minute- hand. These are good illustrations of one of the most notice- able of Brazilian failings, an inability to comprehend the im- portance of time. To know somewhere about the hour of the day is sufficient for the average Brazilian ; he rarely both- ers himself concerning the minutes. There is also a general incapacity to estimate and appreciate distance. When, trav- eling on the road, and inquiring how far it is to the next town, you will often receive the answer that it is half a league, more or less, and you will afterward find it as much as two whole leagues and several hours of hard riding. I visited the parish church of Antonio Dias, and found it fuff of curious old rude carvings, gilded and painted white ; also the church of San Francisco d’Assis. The facade of the latter has much stone- w r ork, and high above the door an effigy of Saint Francis carved in high-relief, and a creditable performance, judged from an artistic standpoint. The inte- rior contains a very remarkable ceiling painting which fills the whole oval of the nave. There are also some good paint- ings in the sacristy, and a well-carved stone fountain against the waff and reaching to the ceiling. Ouro Preto — which has a population of about twelve thousand — boasts of a small theatre, three newspapers, each published three times a week, billiard-saloons, barracks containing three hundred troops of the line, and an effective police department. A good School of Mines, a simple-looking building, stands high upon one of the hills, and is admirably adapted to its purpose. Besides class-rooms, laboratories, and scientific apparatus of every sort, it contains a capital collection of minerals, the province of Minas-Geraes being especially well represented. At pres- ent some forty or fifty pupils attend this school, which gives a rather general training in physics, chemistry, zoology, and botany. The mines about Ouro Preto not now generally being in a profitable condition, it is perhaps better that the A Wealthy Negress. CIRCLING BACK TO RIO . 297 training of these young men should not be exclusively devoted to mining and metallurgy. I esteemed myself fortunate in being shown the sights of Ouro Preto by a French gentleman, a professor in the School of Mines, M. Arthur Thire. I left Ouro Preto at daylight for Teixeiras, about ninety miles to the southeast, and the terminus of the Leopoldina Pailway, which joins the Dom Pedro II. line at Entre Pios. A good road led down the valley, at whose bottom ran a mountain torrent, and then, after about eight miles, I reached Marianna, a little town lying upon a low spur projecting into a valley and surrounded by an amphitheatre of prettily di- versified hills. We next passed through San Sebastian, a long, straggling village of miserable-looking mud huts, be- longing to negroes. Many of them being closed and locked, I imagined their owners were out at work, and, upon looking at the river below me, I saw very many people with great wooden trays washing the sands for gold. During all my journeys through Minas-Geraes I had been struck by the great number of negroes who seemed to constitute quite three fourths of the population, and for the most part were very poor and shabby, both in their personal appearance and in their houses. This is true of the smaller towns and of the province generally, but in Ouro Preto, since it is the capital, many government officials and shopkeepers are either ne- groes or mulattoes. The great coffee-plantations belong to the Brazilian creoles, who also manage the railways, both at the stations and aboard the trains. The Europeans in Minas- Geraes are usually connected with either the railways, as con- tractors or engineers, or the gold-mines, as officials or miners. Gold occurs in all parts of Minas-Geraes. Poor people out of money simply go to the rivers and wash for gold, and then literally “ come down with the dust,” which is accepted in the shops as coin, the shopkeepers knowing exactly how to calcu- late its worth by measurement. I may add that in Brazil ne- groes, who are, of course, the descendants of slaves imported froth Africa, actually form one fifth of the population. The road continued quite good. I passed by cultivated land and 298 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . pasture, though the country seemed slightly peopled save in towns, or, more properly, villages. Little grain grew except maize. Bananas everywhere flourished wild. In one place I passed four long rows of bee-hives, the bees swarming about in thousands and making a tremendous noise with their wings. Many streams which coursed down to the bottoms of the valleys were utilized by neighboring farmers as a water-power for grinding their corn. In several of the road-side inns in which I stopped I noticed Yankee clocks and sewing-machines, with an incongruity of surroundings almost appalling. I reached Ponte htova the following afternoon, a small town lying along the banks of a swiftly flowing and muddy stream. The narrow-gauge track of the new railway is laid to within a few miles of Ponte Eova. Its course is exactly that of a corkscrew, and it seems to con- sist mostly of deep cuttings and high fillings. The system on which Brazilian hotels are conducted is always amusing. Everything is consumed at each meal, nothing whatever of an edible sort remaining over. So, one morning, when I wished some rolls with my early breakfast, I had to send a boy to wake up the baker, who transmitted by my mes- senger just one small roll. If, therefore, you w T ish anything to eat between meals, you will not get it unless the baker or butcher shop is open, and even then you will frequently be disappointed. I have asked, in the afternoon, for boiled eggs, to be served early next morning, and have been' told that there were none in the hotel ; and twelve hours later, instead of the eggs, have received the expression of the landlord’s regret that he had none to give me ! These hotels are, besides, the most noisy places on earth, save possibly some overcrowded bedlams. At table the people shout at each other as if all were deaf ; and in coming in late at night, or going out early in the morning, they make as much racket and uproar as if there were nobody asleep within five miles of them. Their politeness struck me also as very superficial. On the road the same man who would ceremoniously doff his hat, would stand staring at me near CIRCLING BACK TO RIO . 299 a closed gate, wliile I descended from my liorse to open it. The courtesy of social etiquette requires only some knowl- edge and a good memory ; but the thought of another’s interest, and the wish to aid and assist him, not only with ready sympathy but actual work, these necessitate refine- ment of feeling and generous impulse. From Teixeiras I was to go on by rail; so I paid off: Hippolyte, adding a largess in token of his faithful services. ITe was to return at daybreak with the animals to Lafayette, by the way of Ouro Preto. Though this was the rainy season, I had been vouchsafed very good weather, with air clear as crystal, and highly exhilarating ; and, though the thermometer had some- times risen to 100° in the shade, it had not proved itself a debilitating, heat. The nights were invariably comfort- able, and even cool enough to require a blanket toward early morning. In that part of the world the difference of temperature between midday and midnight is always very great, but the abrupt change does not prove insalubrious to either natives or foreigners. I left Teixeiras at 2 p. m. for the town of San Geraldo, where I had to remain all night, and then go on to Paque- quer, on the Parahyba Piver, about thirty miles to the north- eastward of Entre Pios, through which I passed on my way north to the gold-mines of Morro Velho. The first part of the railway journey was specially interesting in disclosing how very crooked a railway could be without eventually arriving at the place whence it started. Hone but a narrow- gauge road, certainly, could have made the very short curves we did. The grade also was very steep. There is hardly a straight quarter of a mile on the whole road, but this is ne- cessary, for so steep is it that there would otherwise have to be a series of reverse tangents. There were many deep cut- tings, at first through earth ; but afterward, when, from the hills to which we had gradually risen we came to descend to the valley that holds San Geraldo, most of the excava- tions were through rock. This descent was a capital copy, in miniature, of the famous Arequipa Pail way, in southern 300 AROUND AND ABOUT ROUTE AMERICA. Pern, already described in these pages. Notwithstanding that I had already seen the latter, I must call this part of the Leopoldina line a very remarkable piece of engineering. We frequently saw three portions of the railroad at one and the same time. Once, at least, it wound completely around the summit of a small hill, in order to effect a fall of about thirty feet. Again, there would be long distances when two sec- tions of the road would run parallel, not more than fifty feet apart. The locomotives and cars on this little line are of American make, the former coming from Philadelphia, the latter from Paterson. Owing to the enormous fall of water during the rainy season, it is very difficult to keep the em- bankments of the road in order. They are either sliding from above upon the track, or down into the valley from under it. It is mostly a virgin forest through which -this railway has been cut, and from every spur or hill-summit we get just such magnificent views of the billowy plain as when on mule-back riding to Morro Yelho. San Geraldo is an ordinary little town, and I left it at the rather uncom- fortable hour of 4.15 a. m. for Paquequer. The second half of the journey led through immense coffee-plantations, and some of the finest coffee grown is said to come from this part of the province of Minas-Geraes. Two freight-cars of our train were filled with bags of coffee, as were many of the station-houses at which we stopped. At Paquequer, I changed cars for the station of Sumidouro, about twenty miles distant, on the Paquequer Piver, which the railroad follows from its junction with the Parahyba, and which is in the province of Pio Janeiro. The line was in process of extension from here some five miles up the valley, and to this point I was obliged to walk, hiring a boy to carry my luggage, there being neither a hotel at the station nor mules to carry me to the hotel, which is situated in a little town called Pio Grande. I expected to obtain mules at Sumi- douro, in order to cross the hills, thirty miles to the eastward, to the town of Canto Gallo. This is the terminus of the Nova Friburgo Pail way, which runs direct to Nictheroy, CIRCLING BACK TO RIO. 301 on the bay opposite Rio, connecting therewith by steam- ferry. There seemed to be plenty of animals about, but every- body said they were in use, and refused to send any with me, even for double price. I was much amused at one man of whom I inquired the distance to Canto Gallo. His reply was, “ Sixteen or twenty miles, more or less.” I told him I could guess myself, and so need not have asked him. He merely shrugged his shoulders, and laughed at my sarcasm. It being quite impossible to obtain horses or mules at Sumi- douro, I was forced to walk five miles back to the station, and take a train about fifteen miles to Nossa Senhora do Carmo, at which little town good animals were found. I at once set forth with a guide over the mountains to Canto Gallo. At first the road passed through many coffee-planta- tions, then through the most superb forest I had yet seen, withtrees one hundred and fifty feet in height, orchids, ferns, and an impenetrable network of leaves. Leaving the forest, we again crossed several extensive coffee-plantations, with large farm-houses, and many male and female slaves at work in the fields. At the extremity of one of the valleys which we had entered, was an enormous cliff whose vertical sides were nearly covered with orchids, and opposite to this was a mountain, about fifteen hundred feet in height, whose pre- cipitous and bulbous flanks were wholly composed of smooth rock, only a few trees crowning the summit. The scenery was remarkably fine all the afternoon, but we had a tremen- dous rain-storm which made the road so slippery that we reached Canto Gallo only after being nine hours in the sad- dle. We rode along a wide, paved street to the best hotel, where we were glad enough to go soon to bed. The locomotives used upon the Nova Friburgo line are of the powerful Baldwin (Philadelphia) make. The cars are little toy affairs, about as small and as light as could well be utilized. The first half of the route to Nictheroy was among the mountains, through most superb scenery. The latter part was over a comparatively level plain, and, there- 302 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. fore, not specially interesting. Nothing but corn and coffee covered the first portion, and there were great quantities of both. The first large town we reached was Nova Friburgo, which, surrounded by hills and filled with canals and broad streets, reminded me very much of Petropolis, as indeed Petropolis, in turn, had reminded me of some Swiss town, or, more minutely, of a town half Dutch, half Swiss. A large party of German-Swiss colonists laid out and settled Nova Friburgo in 1820. The old, original Fribourg, favor- ably known to tourists from the famous organ in its cathe- dral, is, of course, in Switzerland. The colony was broken up a few years afterward, but many of their descendants are still living in the place. Charming walks and drives abound in the neighborhood. The hotels are good, and the people are exceedingly hospitable and obliging. The altitude of the town is twenty-eight hundred feet above the sea. The climate is cool and invigorating, and the scenery almost Al- pine in character. Leaving Nova Friburgo, we rapidly rose to the summit of the Serra da Boa Yista, which is simply an extension of the Organ Mountains. The same range, by-the- by, which runs in a general course of east and west through the province of Bio Janeiro, has as many as ten different names. This is a common and confusing custom in Brazil- ian geographical nomenclature. Fourteen miles from Nova Friburgo we attain the highest elevation of the road, thirty- three hundred and fifty feet. The scenery, during the de- scent, is even more beautiful than that upon the serra of Petropolis, being much wilder, and with wider prospects, while the engineering of the road is even more remarkable than that of the Leopoldina line. It was possible to build it only upon the Fell system, whose third and central rail, to- gether with the very narrow gauge, admits of curves of only one hundred and fifty feet radius, around which our little train dashed at full speed. In fact, our speed all day, both up and down the mountains, was astonishing, the steepest grade being eight feet in one hundred. In descending the serra a brakeman was attached to each car. The sharpest CIRCLING BACK TO BIO. 303 curves in the United States are no less than three hundred feet radius, but in Colorado I have seen a short line, which is used to bring ore to the Pueblo furnaces, worked by a lo- comotive over a seven-per-cent grade. This I believe to be the steepest grade in the world surmounted by ordinary loco- motives on smooth rails. Verily, it would seem that where a mule can go, the locomotive has been made to follow. At one point in the Boa Vista Mountains a terrific tor- rent, swollen by the recent great rains, had swept away a bridge and a long stretch of the railroad. Here we had to leave our train and walk down to an improvised bridge, span- ning an enormous gully, through which the stream still raged over large bowlders of loosely strewed rocks. Crossing, we found another train awaiting us upon the opposite bank, and on we went again, this time with a very compact and power- ful French locomotive. That part of the range near There- sopolis, specifically styled the Organ Mountains, character- ized by needle-like spires, now stood grandly forth. And we had not gone many miles farther before the peak of Tijuca, behind the city of Pio, was dimly marked against the heavens. Hext I saw my old friend the Corcovado, and then the massy Sugar-Loaf, whose changeless . serenity, com- pared with the transiency of individual human lives, reminded me of TurgenefPs remarkable prose-poem on mountains. We arrived at Hictheroy, seven hours from Canto Gallo. Uic- theroy is a large flat town, with tramways extending in every direction, and a handsome public garden. At the northern ex- tremity are a large arsenal and good ship-building docks. To Pio we took a ferry-boat, much like those plying in Hew York Harbor, though without provision for horses and carriages. It takes about half an hour to cross the bay. Once more I drink in the wonderful and beautiful panorama. From a few not very widely separated points you get a score of distinct Pios. These are views of which I am sure I never could tire. It is fairy-land. Especially alluring is the entrance to the harbor, through which you can look far out to sea. But the spell is broken as I land and take the tram to the English hotel. CHAPTER XXXV. THE SECOND CITY OF BKAZIL. On the 13th of March I left Rio, in one of the Hamburg line of steamers, for the city of Bahia, the second in size, though not in commercial importance, in Brazil. It is about one thousand miles distant from the capital. We had a full list of passengers, among them many Brazilians. The sum- mits of the Organ Mountains were veiled in bright, fleecy clouds. The vari-colored city shone resplendent in the early morning sun, the towers of the churches being sharply out- lined against dark-green hills. In company w T ith several large steamers, we wended our way to the harbor’s mouth. Passing between the grand old Sugar-Loaf and the grim, gray fort of Santa Cruz, with our ensign lowered and raised, as though in recognition of both, we signaled good-by, our salutation being slowly returned from the fortress. We turned from the south to the east, and, passing between two small, rocky islands, I took my last view of Rio de Janeiro — strange, dreamy, charming Rio. The shore along which w T e skirted presented the same odd jumble of hills as those to the westward of the entrance to the famous bay. We car- ried a distinct cloudless view of the peaks of Tijuca and Ga^ea, almost up to Cape Frio; but, upon rounding this point, we steered away to the northeast, and in a few hours were out of sight of land. At daylight, on the morning of the fourth day from Rio, w T e sighted the range of hills at the entrance to the harbor of Bahia, and a few hours thereafter lay at anchor in the semi- circular roadstead, near the shore. For quite a distance, both General View of Bahia. THE SECOND CITT OF BRAZIL. 305 north and east of the city, yon behold from the offing no land more than five hundred feet above sea-level. The bay of Bahia lies north and south, like that of Kio, and it is about the same size and shape. The entrance of the former, how- ever, is much wider, being about ten miles across. While the city of 'Kio is a little distance within and upon the left side, Bahia is upon the right hand, and really begins quite at the eastern headland of the harbor, where there is a tall, round lighthouse. Upon the opposite side is a large island, called Itaparica. This is plainly seen, but the remainder of the deeply indented shores of the bay, with many small islands, looms low and vague through the misty distance. At the lighthouse is a fort ; a short distance farther north another, then another ; then out in the water, a short distance from shore, upon a rock, a fourth, a huge round castle whose top is covered with nearly a complete circle of guns. Several other forts stand on the opposite side of the city, some near the water, others high upon the bluff, but none that I have mentioned would be any protection against a modern ironclad. Near us, as we lie at anchor, are three or four large foreign steamers and two or three smaller Brazilian coasting steamers. A little farther off are perhaps fifty sailing-vessels, mostly of small tonnage and of miscellaneous nationalities, together with many native lighters and small boats. The situation of Bahia is very peculiar. Had it not been for her good harbor facilities — though no loaded vessels can come to the wharves — it is doubtful if such a site would have been selected. All along the shore, at a distance varying from a couple of hun- dred to a thousand feet, extends a precipitous bluff about two hundred feet in height. There is, then, no room along the shore for an entire city, and the steep roads that scale the cliff, upon and beyond which are the private residences, were very expensive in construction. The business part of the city, therefore, lies next the bay. The residences line the bluff, and extend some distance into the country, which is well supplied with roads, rivers, lakes, and hills — plains there are none. The peculiarity of the situation of Bahia adds, 20 306 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. however, little to its picturesqueness as seen from the bay. Unlike Bio, the houses are of three, four, and even five sto- ries. As room could not be had in a horizontal direction, it must needs be taken in a vertical, as in the New York flats. It is a very old city, and the architecture is everywhere of the quaintest description. Viewed from the harbor, the white and yellow walls of the huge warehouses, with their iron-latticed windows, the dwellings with little balconies and green jalousies, with an abundance of verdure appearing in every direction, make a fine picture. But it is, after all, rather a monotonous picture, for Bahia possesses few if any public buildings of any special merit. The cupola and spires of the cathedral and two or three other churches, and the great tower of the elevator which conveys people from the lower to the upper town, alone give diversity to the long lines of shining white and yellow walls. But when I land I see better the reason of it all — Bahia is altogether a com- mercial city. It is a great emporium of tobacco, sugar, and coffee. Along the sea-front is a large open-air market, with every sort of fish, fruit, and vegetables, offered for sale by giant ne- gresses. Bahia is famous for these enormous black women. They are very fond of finery. You will often see them engaged at work, wearing chemises deeply fringed and inlaid with lace, with heavy gold chains about their necks, and many bracelets. The negroes who labor about the wharves and warehouses possess extraordinary muscular development of the arms and shoulders. Besides the employment of these in bearing burdens, they use also hand-carts, and sometimes mule-carts. A laughing darkey, with the physique of a Hercules, and a skin shining like satin, tosses my heavy iron- bound trunk upon his head, and starts off up the hill for the hotel, a distance of quite half a mile. There are several paved roads that ascend the cliff. Most of them are too steep for carriages, but one long street, supported at intervals by huge arches of masonry, is of an easy grade, and must have been of enormous cost. Facing these thoroughfares, in the most in- THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 307 accessible places, yon find great four-story houses braced by gigantic stone buttresses. Sedan-chairs are still employed in Bahia for carrying women up the bluff. These palanquins are merely chairs attached to long poles borne upon the shoulders of two men. A black cloth covering gives them rather a funereal look. I do not follow the porter, but walk through the business streets, that I may get a general idea of the whole city, before making a special study of any part of it. The tramway, which has been so generally domesticated in South America, runs here in the few available directions. Bahia is full of striking contrasts. In some streets, hardly ten feet in width, you are back in mediseval times; in others, broad, neatly paved, well lighted, with fine, wide sidewalks, you are once more in the modern world of to-day. In the heart of the lower town have been crowded four or five parallel streets, between the bluff and the shore of the bay, but along the remainder of the bay there is room for but a single lane. As the merchants, in their cool, white suits and with sun-umbrellas, rushed by me, it seemed as if in my short walk before reaching the elevator, which was to hoist me to the upper town, I had heard a dozen languages. Here the population meet on common ground, and but for one purpose — to bring to each and all the ubiquitous Em- peror-emblazoned notes of the national treasury. At the base of the bluff you enter a massive stone building, with a display of machinery in motion and a strong smell of oil. It is dimly lighted, but you pass a turnstile, at the side of which you deposit a hundred reis, or five cents. You then wend your way along a damp, dirty, dark corridor, and be- hold a double elevator, though but one car is used at a time. That which you enter will hold twelve passengers, and is dimply lighted by a single lamp in one corner. In a mo- ment you are placed at the top of the bluff, and upon one side of the palace square, into which you pass through another self -registering gate. Upon one side of this square is the old Government-house, and before you is the Municipal Hall, both of these being quaint, decayed old piles. From the 308 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . little plaza you have a fine view over the harbor and the lower town. In the former you see the round fort, the ships, the steamers, and all the varied life of boats in motion ; bat in the latter little more than a level of great, red-tiled roofs. Turning to the right I enter a narrow street of retail shops, pass the custom-house, and come out upon an extensive plaza, on a hill-side, containing some green lawns and a few large trees. Here are situated the theatre, a great, rough hulk out- wardly ; the two newspaper offices ; the best hotel of the city, a huge building five stories in height ; and here also seem to . be the headquarters of several lines of tram-cars. Thus, be- fore I really arrive — before, at least, I reach my hotel — I have gained a fair general idea of the city of San Salvador, better known nowadays as Bahia. The hotel is kept by a Brazilian, and that is equivalent to saying it is not to be rated as first class. Down-stairs on the first floor is a great billiard-room, and adjoining it is the restaurant. Both of these rooms at night were packed, and the hubbub, frequently increased by itinerant musicians, was extraordinary. It w^as impossible to sleep before midnight, and even then woe be to you, O stranger, if a native have a room anywhere near yours ! He will probably act as if he were the sole occupant of the hotel, at least so far as whistling, or singing, or playing upon a piano, or talking, with blatant tongue, to a friend away down the hall, is concerned. The annoying characteristics of Bra- zilian hotels are noise, dirt, and fraudulent wines. Three main lines of tramway thread Bahia. One runs along the semicircular shore of the bay to the northern point. Some of the streets of the lower city through which this passes are not more than two feet wider than the cars, and the people had to step into the doorways of the stores to let us pass. The section of the city through which this line runs is very poor and squalid, and the negro element predominates. Another line goes across the country, in a southeasterly direc- tion, to a pretty little village called Bio Vermelho, situated directly upon the ocean, where many of the merchants of the city reside. The tram leads out to this suburb through THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 309 groves of palms, bananas, and bread-fruit, and along a stream where all the linen of Bahia seemed to be washed, so great was the display of white garments upon the grass, and so many were the women at work. The beach at Bio Vermelho was covered with a sort of native fishing-raft, like the cata- marans used at Madras and elsewhere in the Bay of Bengal — simply six timbers lashed together, with a high bench for a fisherman, or a passenger, another for the stepping of a mast, and another for holding a little cargo. Of course, this sort of craft will go over, or at least through, any surf. There is a good hotel at Bio Vermelho, where 1 found the salt air a pleasant change from that of Bahia. The remaining and third line of tramway runs along the bluff directly to the south, and ends at a short distance beyond the lighthouse. Most of the fine dwellings of Bahia are situated on or near this road — houses of peculiar architecture, surrounded by beautiful gardens of flowers. A good many foreigners live directly upon the beach, near the lighthouse. The churches of Bahia are all more or less interesting, both outside and inside, being a little removed from the or- dinary style of architecture and adornment. Several of them are nearly square. They have curious, old, frescoed ceilings, admirable wood-carvings, and marble pavements. I saw one of the great ceremonies of the Church, called the seven stations, which is in commemoration of the seven halts that Christ made while bearing his cross. An enormous and very ghastly effigy of Christ, richly robed, and bowed under a huge cross, was borne through the streets, from church to church, re- maining each night in a different one. The procession which followed this image consisted of priests, a military band, a company of infantry, and the populace generally. In the afternoon, when the ecclesiastical journey was made, the whole city turned out in holiday attire to see, or to take part in, the procession. While the effigy is resting in the churches it is visited by great crowds, who kiss its feet, weep, pray, and finally give it some money — of which fund the ingenuous priests are, of course, trustees. Special services, attended by 310 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . tlie band and the military, are held all day in its honor. The scene in one of the churches, brilliantly decorated and illu- minated, was a fantastic hodge-podge I shall never forget. While the thorn-crowned Christ staggered under his cross, with a soldier on guard at each corner, the people prostrated themselves upon the floor in every attitude of humiliation and devotion, and the military band in the gallery played one of Offenbach’s polkas ! The highest dignitaries and most intelligent men in the province sanction all this gaudy and repulsive spectacle, not only by their presence, but also by the conspicuous part they take in the processions. One of the cords of the canopy which is borne over the effigy is held by the president of the province, and another by the marshal in full uniform, both being bareheaded and on foot. The public buildings and institutions of Bahia require but little notice. The library, numbering some twenty thou- sand volumes, mostly in French and Portuguese, in fine bind- ings, is contained in the old Jesuit college adjoining the cathedral. It is a large, oblong room, overlooking the bay. The ceiling remains as it was painted by the Jesuits, and the colors, though of peculiar tints, are still quite bright. The library is used only for consultation — a long table, for the use of readers, occupying the center of the room. On the side of the cathedral opposite the library is the medical school, with three hundred students. It has a good library, exami- nation-hall, and class-rooms. A hospital, under charge of the Sisters of Mercy, adjoins. The theatre, which is near my hotel, is not a bad-looking edifice inside, with its four tiers of boxes, and large central box for the president of the province. It has also an extensive foyer, with paintings by Brazilian masters, and you may step from it upon a marble- paved portico commanding a splendid sweep of the bay and ocean. Directly in front of the theatre is a small marble statue of Christopher Columbus, with ornamental water- basins from which the negroes are all day busily engaged in filling their little barrels. Below the theatre, at the bottom A View from the Public Gardens. THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 311 of the bluff, stands the Jesuit church, built of white marble brought from Lisbon. The Public Garden of Bahia is situ- ated upon the bluff, a short distance south of the city. It is at present in very bad order. There is little attempt at land- scape gardening. It is filled, however, with huge mango- trees, and contains many fine palms and odd-looking tropical plants, of which I do not know the names. At the corner next the bay is a marble-paved terrace, commanding splendid views of the neighboring bay and distant ocean. There are tile-covered and shell-ornamented settees, statuary, and urns, all of fine quality. Promenading here on breezy afternoons, to the music of one of the military bands, the ladies and gentlemen of Bahia present a very animated and attractive picture. With the intention of seeing something of the interior, I left Bahia at noon, on the 20th, for the town of Cachoeira, across the bay and at the head of navigation on the Para- guassu Biver. As I have already said, the Bay of Bahia is like that of Bio in size and shape, and there the comparison ends. At Bio we have every variety of scenery, from the somber and grand to the graceful and pretty, but at Bahia it is all a monotonous, undiversified level of low hills, half cov- ered with scrub and half with grass. We have a long, nar- row, iron, paddle-wheel steamer, crowded with passengers and freight. We pass a small town on the northern end of the Island of Itaparica, and there is a village on the point which we round in entering the estuary of the river. At one town we land the mail in a bottle — that is, the bottle is thrown into the water, and men come after it in a dug-out. I see a number of these canoes, deep and broad, in which the men paddle standing. From time to time we pass a to- bacco or sugar plantation, the farm buildings made of brick. At one point we stop and disembark some of our passengers in a small stern-wheel steamboat, which starts off with them, down a great open stretch of the river, to the town of Mara- gogipe. Once or twice passengers are put into the great ca- noes that come out from the shore, and, sitting in chairs, are 312 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. drawn by small sails quickly to land. There do not seem to be many cargo-boats. Those which I notice are not very large, but have three masts, with triangular-shaped sails. All the section of country through which the river passes seems to have been burned over at least once. It is quite smooth, mo- notonous, and uninteresting. Cachoeira, however, is a rather bustling business center. A railway extends hence in a north- westerly direction to Feira, about thirty miles. On the op- posite side of the river is quite a large suburb, and here are extensive railway-stations and the terminus of a road which runs in a generally westerly direction about two hundred miles. The line from Cachoeira is a branch of it. The two stations are joined across the river by a fine iron -girder bridge, with three stone piers. We were six hours in making the journey from Bahia, a distance of about sixty miles. From a neat, white, stuccoed station, I took the train to Fei- ra. It is a narrow-gauge road, with cars built on the Ameri- can plan, open from end to end. It passes through a tobacco- raising district, and depends for its freights almost altogether upon this product. At first we made a steep ascent of the hills, going to a distance, and then coming back. We did not mount higher than a few hundred feet above the town. Subsequently we saw the latter from a remote point of view. Feira I found to be a large and comparatively new town, laid out with very wide streets and large plazas. Here I was hospitably welcomed by Mr. Joseph Mawson, the able and active superintendent of the “ Brazilian Imperial Central Bahia Bail way,” who kindly placed his own private car at my disposition for visiting the whole of the main line, a generous offer of which I availed myself on the morrow. But one through train each way is run daily. The first- class carriages have comfortable revolving cane-chairs, on each side of a center passage-way ; the second-class cars have board seats along each side. The carriages are of English make, though of American pattern. The locomotives are of both English and American manufacture. We started with THE SECOND CITY OF BRAZIL. 313 a long train, including a baggage and postal van, and several empty freight-cars. The line follows the general direction of the Paraguassu River, though at some distance from it until near the terminus. We turned at first directly away from the river, and began ascending a series of low hills. The face of the country was covered with second-growth for- ests. There were many stops, though, at but only the small- est of villages, and during the latter half of the journey the land appeared to be devoid of settlements. The road is run through a fiat country to save expense, but at a distance of ten miles on either side it is very fertile and well culti- vated. It is a tobacco-growing region, but, as I have hinted, little of this plant was in actual sight from the line. The country in the far distance was level or undulating, and quite uninteresting until about half the journey was com- pleted, when, near the station of Tanquinho, the hills as- sumed an appearance similar to those round about the Bay of Bio Janeiro. I saw even a huge rock fac-simile of the Sugar-Loaf, and another of the table-topped Gavea. Some great domes of solid rock were visible, and in the face of a few hills were large caverns, one above the other. These cavities were open their full size, and presented a very strange appearance. The theory of their origin is that softer veins of the rock, disintegrating through many centuries, have left the deep hollows in this condition. It does not seem possible that they can have been made by primitive man. Once or twice we saw the Paraguassu River, and then for hours we coursed over a comparatively level plain, where all that seemed necessary to make a railway was to lay down the sleepers and put the rails upon them. The landscape dis- played a large proportion of palms and cacti, and many trees covered with the beautiful Spanish moss. About five o’clock we reached the terminus, a short street with a few wretched stores and a score of mud- walled and palm-thatched huts. Two days’ mule-back ride from here are some surface dia- mond-washings, but the upper stratum supply is nearly ex- hausted, and they are going to mine for them. It is about 314 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . one hundred and fifty miles hence to the nearest large town on the great San Francisco Fiver. My car having been side- shunted, I was served with an excellent dinner, and, after a good night’s rest in the cool country air, I returned, on the following morning, to Cachoeira, and on the next succeeding took the steamer back to Bahia. i CHAPTEE XXXVI. ON THE SAN FRANCISCO. From Bahia I intended to visit the great rapids of the San Francisco — called Paulo Alfonso — which are situated about one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth and the Atlantic. I took passage, therefore, first in a steamer of the “Bahia Steam Navigation Company” (a Brazilian line, which plies between Victoria, the capital of the province of Espiritu Santo, on the south, and Pernambuco, the capital of the province of Pernambuco, on the north), to Penedo, a small town twenty-five miles from the mouth of the San Francisco, whence the journey might be continued by river- steamer, railway, and mule-back. The ocean-steamer was a side-wlieeler of about six hundred tons burden. The officers and crew were Brazilians, the engineers English. We car- ried a great quantity of miscellaneous freight and a full list of passengers. Before leaving I was obliged to have my passport viseed, and to pay two hundred reis for a stamp ; at Eio there was no charge for the vise. But is it not time to do away with the system of passports ? Eussia and Brazil are the only large and important nations which require them at the present day. We made our first call at a custom-house on the river Piauhy, in the province of Sergipe, anchoring about ten miles from the ocean, while the town of Estancia, for which we carried freight and passengers, was about twenty miles above. Our steamer, however, could go no higher, and great sailing-canoes are employed for the remaining distance. The mouth of the river is marked by two parallel lines of 316 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. breakers, and is not more than one thousand feet in width. Small villages of mud and straw huts stand in groves of palms upon both the shores. At daylight the next morning we left for Aracaju, the capital of the province of Sergipe, situated on a small river about three miles from the ocean. We steam slowly along, in plain sight of the shore, which is low and sandy, and reach Aracaju about noon. The entrance to the river is narrow and winding, with giant breakers dash- ing themselves into white foam upon the sand-banks on each hand. It is necessary to keep exactly in the channel, as the stranded wreck of a steamer clearly shows. As it was, the captain said we had but two feet of water under the steam- er’s bottom in crossing the bar. It is, besides, so rough on all these river-bars, that the port-holes are always carefully closed until the passage has been made. The town of Ara- caju is of single-story houses, laid out with broad streets and sidewalks. The President’s Palace, House of Delegates, and other public buildings, are all exceedingly plain, and rather dilapidated. From the tower of the large cathedral a good view can be obtained of the town and surrounding country, which is mostly low-lying, and covered with cocoa- palms. The next morning we left for Penedo. The coast was low and sandy all the way. Hearing the mouth of the San Francisco, the ocean was tinged a deep yellow ten miles from land. The entrance is like that of most of the rivers on the coast of Brazil, narrowed and made dangerous by sand-bars. Here the bar forms nearly a complete circle. Upon the left is the low, wooded island of Arumbipe, with a lofty round lighthouse at its southern extremity. A few fishermen’s huts stood here and upon the opposite point. At the entrance the river flows with a swift current, and seems to be about a mile in width. Farther up it is wdder, though the many islands make it difficult to tell the exact width. We pass, upon the right, a small village bearing the euphonious name of Piassabossu. It consists mostly of sugar-factories, and warehouses filled with cotton — the two leading products of the province of Alagoas, which lies to ON THE SAN FRANCISCO. 317 tlie north of the river San Francisco, while the province of Sergipe faces the southern bank. Alagoas contains twice as great a population as Sergipe. As we go on, numerous clus- ters of huts are seen upon both banks. The country, how- ever, is low, and, where not planted with sugar-cane, is cov- ered with dense scrub. Finally, we pass, upon the right bank, a small village called Villa Nova, which may be re- garded as a suburb of' Penedo, situated upon the opposite bank and a little above. Penedo shows well from the river — here a little less than a mile in width — built as it is upon a point of laud which rises high, and then slopes gently back- ward. At dusk we reach our wharf, and make everything snug for the night, intending to sleep on board. Early in the morning I landed, passing through a large warehouse belonging to the steamer company, and filled with ox-hides, bales of cotton, bags of cotton-seed for making oil, and sacks of colfee and rice. The principal business of Penedo may be said to be the export of cotton, sugar, and hides. The hotel was near by, a single-story building kept by an Italian woman, as I discovered upon clapping my hands loudly at the front door. In South America, by-the- by, you seldom find door-bells — iron knockers supplying their place. In Penedo and many other places, within the South American tropics, it is so warm that the doors of the houses always stand open, and the method of announcing a call is simply to stand in the street and clap the hands, when some inmate wfill probably come from the distant rear of the house and invite you to enter the sitting-room, with its always geometrically arranged sofa and chairs. I obtained a comfortable room, with a cement floor, which is cool and healthful, but the walls ran only about two thirds of the way to the roof — a plan that makes perfect quiet an impossibility either by day or night. The streets of Penedo, saving that which runs close along the river, are rather steep ; some of them are paved with huge flat blocks, others with small stones, but most of them are unpaved. The town is lighted by oil-lamps, set in great iron sconces attached to the sides of 318 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. the buildings. It contains seven churches and several schools both public and private. The “ Jornal do Penedo ” is a little sheet, about a foot square, which is published semi- weekly, at a cost, for a single subscription, of four dollars per annum. Advertising in this periodical is probably as cheap as in any newspaper in the world, being but forty reis (or about two cents) a line. I found the short street adjoining the river crowded with market-people, most of whom had come from great distances in their canoes to dispose of their produce. These canoes thickly lined the bank, and from their sails many of their owners had improvised tents. At one end of the street were the pack-mules which had brought that part of the produce not fetched by the river-boats. The market contained the usual profuse tropical variety of food, which was offered for sale in any quantity and at extremely cheap rates. In fact, the only coins in circulation seemed to be of copper. Many people had also little stands of manu- factured goods, and a few were selling cooked food of vari- ous kinds. The scene was very animated, and the amount of chatting and cheapening in progress was remarkable. The natives are very fond of the sights and gossip of one of these fairs — it was the weekly market — and will often pass half a day in purchasing a few cents’ worth. During the remainder of the day I saw scarcely any one who was not carrying home some purchase or other, either a basket of food, or a pair of shoes, or a song-bird in a cage, or an earthenware jar, or a piece of coarse cotton for a shirt or a dress. A great num- ber of beggars were circling around at the fair, some of them the victims of loathsome disease, and others dreadful cripples. They seem to meet with moderate success from the market- people, many of whom give them either particles of produce or else infinitesimal copper coins. I called upon the vicar, and found him to be a very in- telligent and genial old gentleman, who had resided in Pe- nedo for fifteen years. He gave me, in lively style, much information about this section of Brazil. The population of Penedo is about ten thousand. From the tower of the cathe- ON TEE SAN FRANCISCO. 319 dral an extended view may be obtained — first, of the town, with its houses set thickly next the river, and running back in two long streets upon the ridge to the eastward ; second, of the comparatively level country, covered with sugar-cane, or cotton, or second-growth forest ; and, third, of the great, muddy river, full of small islands, and winding and doubling away in the distance toward the northwest. Upon its swift current glide many large canoes, mostly sailing up-stream, with two lateen-sails spread “ wing and wing ” from a sin- gle mast. With a strong, steady wind these canoes will go up-stream about as fast as the river-steamers. They are large and roomy, and have straw-thatched cabins in their bows instead of in their sterns. With their triangular, outstretched sails they are a very picturesque addition to the river. Many small canoes are used along the shores, and even for crossing the river. These are generally propelled with pad- dles by men standing. One evening, about nine o’clock, a large religious proces- sion paraded the principal streets. The houses were all il- luminated by lamps and candles, and fire-works were intermit- tently discharged. First came a number of men with rattles, which they used to announce the approach of the ceremonial train. Then follow a sacristan bearing a large cross, boys swinging incense -censers, and two long lines of torch-bearers clothed in red and black gowns. Children came next, dressed in gay-colored gauze, with wings, to counterfeit angels. A wooden effigy of Christ, borne by four men, was then in order, and my friend the vicar, followed by about a thou- sand men, walking bareheaded, singing a plaintive hymn. At a little distance advanced another procession of similar character, except that the image was that of the Virgin, at- tended by about a thousand women. Meanwhile the bells of the churches were tolled. These people are very relig- ious so far as outward observances go, but they have little or no comprehension of theology. They worship, but do not seem to know exactly what or why. The idea of a devotional exercise being in progress was altogether absent 320 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. from most of the members of the great procession that I had witnessed. They seemed quite ignorant of the signifi- cance and solemnity of the ceremony in which they were participants. All were laughing and talking, many of the men were smoking, and some of the women were skylark- ing in the most sportive manner. The bearers of the body of the suffering Christ were so overwhelmed with the hu- mor of some joke which had been passed around, that they staggered in a manner that threatened to make the effigy topple over upon their heads. The next day flags were at half-mast on all the Brazilian vessels in the river, in honor of the anniversary of the crucifixion of Christ — Good-Friday. Elaborate services were held in all the churches, to which the people were summoned by means of great wooden rattles, shaken by men running through the streets. As it was a holiday, troops of hatless women, in gay-colored calico dresses, their hair dressed with flowers, were seen going churchward ; while the men, rising late, passed the day largely in visiting their friends. At sunset there was another procession. Sev- eral large figures exhibited the various agonies of Christ previous to his death, and on a catafalque his body was rep- resented as lying dead under a pall. This was escorted by troops, and followed by a brass band playing a dirge. The beggars were out in tremendous force, and were generally rewarded for their pains by gifts of money or food. The celebration of Christ’s resurrection began on Sunday noon. Work was resumed, bells w T ere rung, fire-works were dis- charged, flags were hauled from half to full mast, and effigies of Judas Iscariot were publicly burned. The next day the final parade came to view, accompanied by the military and a brass band playing lively quicksteps. A crown of one of the statues of Christ becoming disengaged, the procession halted, while some one brought hammer and nails, and secured it in its place. In the evening I went to the Teatro de Yarieda- des, where a moderately good Portuguese company gave two or three amusing comediettas , interspersed with singing and dancing. The brass band of the morning’s parade furnished ON TEE SAN FRANCISCO. 821 the music, with a superfluity of bass-drums and cymbals. The doorway was nearly blockaded by w^omen, wdio were squatting upon the ground and steps, and engaged in selling fruit and sherbet. The people in the parquette smoked during the performance. Once a week a little iron, side-wheel steamer runs from Penedo to Piranhas, the head of navigation on the lower San Francisco. The distance is about a hundred miles, and as the current has a speed of three knots an hour, and frequent stops are made, two days are needed to make the voyage. I took passage on the first steamer that left after my arrival. There were two classes of passengers — cabin and deck. Meals were served the former on the after-deck, under an awning, though in very bad weather a large saloon below is used. There were no state-rooms, and only a few benches in the saloon for those who wished to utilize them as beds. In the extreme stern was a small cabin for ladies. In front of the funnel was a raised deck, where a good view could be obtained. Near the wheel-house was the detached state-room of the captain, and opposite it was another, used generally by the pilot, but kindly put at my service by the agent of the line. The river was extremely muddy, of a thick, oily, brown color. It ranged from half a mile to a mile in width, with a very tortuous channel, which was generally about twenty feet deep. During the rainy season the lower river rises some twelve feet. The banks were at first low and smooth, and covered with second-growth timber, and occasionally planted with mandioc, maize, and sugar-cane. There were many small villages, and almost continuous stretches of huts. The first large town at which we stop is called Propria. It is upon the right bank, built upon a gently sloping hill, and contains an enormous double-towered church which stands boldly forth among predominating one-story mud huts. The river- bank has been paved, walled, and buttressed with huge stones to prevent the ever-active encroachment of the swiftly flow- ing stream. Going on from Propria the appearance of the country gradually changes ; smooth, low hills and many pro- 21 322 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. jecting ridges occur. In the distance, to the northwest, range appears behind range — none, however, very high. The wind blows strongly from the ocean, and many large boats, with outstretched sails, swiftly move up-stream. The two sails are so arranged on the mast as to admit of being simul- taneously furled. The operation reminds one of a bird fold- ing its wings. The wind, however, blows in such sudden and violent gusts around some of the sharp bends of the river, that unless a canoe is properly loaded, or ballasted, and very carefully handled, it is in danger of capsizing. These boats naturally hug the shores in ascending, but lower their masts and are rowed in the middle of the stream in descend- ing the river. After passing many villages, the next towm above Propria is called Traipu, picturesquely situated on a ridge upon the left bank. Its white church makes a very prominent mark against the green background of trees. On the other side, but a little below, are three noticeable hills, which are styled the a Three Brothers.” On the same bank, a short distance higher up, at a village of a single street facing the river, and appropriately called Curral de Pedras (a corral of stones), we anchor near the shore for the night. The boilers of our steamer are fired with cotton-seed, which makes a cheap and very hot fire, though, of course, not so enduring a one as wood. We started on, up the river, at five in the morning. The banks now consisted of rocky hills, from fifty to three hundred feet in height, and covered with cacti and low, scrubby trees. The villages became less numerous, the line of huts less continuous. In one place we passed a pictur- esque church, upon the top of a small, dome-shaped hill ; in another, a cemetery laid out upon a similar knoll. Fish- pounds were niched in the angles of the river and at the mouths of little streams that entered it. The width of the San Francisco had now diminished to less than half a mile, though its tortuousness remained the same. The next village at which we stopped was Pao d’Assucar, or Sugar-Loaf, so named from a conical rocky hill standing near the bank. ON THE SAN FRANCISCO . 323 As we advanced the river gradually narrowed, until, in some places, it was not more than a thousand feet wide. The scenery had been very pretty all the way from Curral de Pedras. In the middle of the afternoon we saw, down a long reach of the river, Piranhas and the white walls and clock- tower of its railway-station. The town, as we approached, presented an extraordinary appearance, lying in a regular gulch washed out of the steep hill-side. The situation seemed as odd and inaccessible as that of some of the Swiss villages. Hot only were there no two houses upon the same level, but the paths between them ran in tangents, back and forth, up the sides of the valley, like goat-tracks, and almost as steep as ordinary staircases. The town was very small, and consisted, for the most part, of mud huts. The only level ground anywhere in view was the inclosure of the railway-station, which had been formed artificially, and with great walls of masonry on each side. It included a pretty little depot, car-houses, freight-ware- rooms, and machine-shops, extending for a long distance upon the river-bank. Immediately above Piranhas the San Fran- cisco is full of rocks and reefs, and the accompanying rapids prevent the further progress not only of steamers, but of native boats as well. Ho good hotel exists in Piranhas, and I esteem myself fortunate in getting quarters with an old Portuguese resident, a gentleman who owns the best portion of the town — that is, the short street which contains the stores. From almost any part there are good views down the river, whence comes a strong and refreshing breeze every afternoon. The mornings are apt to be exceedingly sultry. At least a hundred boys came down to the beach to see us arrive, while a hundred men stood eagerly looking on from the shade of buildings upon the bank ; and above, upon the hill-side, hundreds of women peered curiously forth from doors and windows. The river is deep, and we are secured directly against the sandy beach. The steamer remains but twenty-four hours, and then returns to Penedo. Steamers have now been running on the lower San Francisco over 324 : ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . twenty years. The railway from Piranhas to Jatoba, on the upper river, passing around the rapids of Paulo Alfonso, is about eighty miles in length, belongs to the Imperial Govern- ment, and has been built about live years. It is a narrow gauge, and runs two passenger-trains each way during the week. About six hours are required to make the journey. Before the completion of this railway, all the trade of the great river between Piranhas and Jatoba — all the produce which came down, and all the foreign manufactured goods which went up — had to be transported by horses and mules, the long series of falls and rapids of the river between those points preventing navigation. Even now the same primitive means are largely employed. It is fortunate for most of the inhabitants living along the lower San Francisco, that the river supplies many large and excellent fish, and that the poor soil at least grows mandioc, maize, and beans. Other- wise starvation would seem inevitable. The people of Piran- has are exceedingly poor. They appear to have scarcely any furniture, and their cooking-utensils are of the simplest and rudest construction. Most of the families keep a few goats, using the milk fresh, and making cheese from it, and also eating the flesh. However, as you go into the interior, on either side of the river, the land improves and becomes quite fertile. Nothing of very special interest is to be seen in Piranhas itself, but about two miles distant, up a winding valley to the southeast, is a remarkable natural curiosity, a great heap of rocks, some of them wonderfully balanced, and one small slab which the natives call Pedra do Sino (the bell-stone). Upon being struck with an iron hammer, it emits a ringing sound exactly like that of metal. 1 obtain a guide and visit this rarity. The valley and hills are of loose and disintegrated rock and gravel, with a scrub vegetation. At one place was a mineral spring, the strongest flavor of which was salt. The pedra lies at the extremity of a rocky ridge, in a narrow valley, a short distance back from the river. Here is a great heap of rocks, about forty feet long, twenty wide, and ten high. These rocks are perhaps a hundred in ON THE SAN FRANCISCO. 325 number, mostly smooth on their surface, and, though cracked and broken and wedged together in many directions, they still made an exceedingly firm pile. Upon the summit, at one end, is a huge block balanced upon two smaller ones, not vertically, but at a considerable angle. Moreover, the thick- est part is at the top. None of these rocks give forth any peculiar sound when struck, but in front of the pile, and nearly at its foot, upon one side, is the famous Pedra do Sino. This is simply a block of ordinary stone (granite ?) like all the rest, about five feet long, a foot wide, and eight inches thick. It is considerably wider at one end than at the other. It rests upon the sharp, angular edges of four smaller stones, two at each end. When struck with an iron hammer (one brought along for the purpose), it sends forth a sharp, ringing sound, like that of a large iron or copper basin. I examined this block very carefully, but failed to detect anything out of the common in its exterior. A deep path has been worn leading to this geological curiosity, as its extraordinary char- acter appeals very directly to the imagination of* the simple- minded natives. CHAPTEE XXXV II. THE KING OF KAPIDS. I left Piranhas by the seven-o’clock morning train for the station of Sinimbu, which is about fifty miles distant. The cars and locomotives are of American manufacture. There were a good many second-class passengers, but only two or three in the first-class compartment. The railway leads, at first, by a three-per-cent grade up to the top of the hills, or rather table-land, and follows the course of the river for a short distance. The construction of this part of the road must have been quite expensive. Over the rest of the way the expense was limited to laying the sleepers upon the level ground, and fastening the rails upon them. The trains could then be started at once. Before the railroad w T as built, this section of country was quite uninhabited : first, because of the scarcity of water ; and, second, because the soil would produce nothing. Even now there are but a few huts at each station. In the rainy season some surface-water is found, and even brooks become full for a time, but at other periods the people have sometimes to transport from a great distance all the water which they use. Attached to all the locomotives are cars bearing great iron tanks of water for the boilers. The country was generally level, or undulating, and covered with stunted trees, cacti, and low scrub ; but at Sinimbu a short range of smooth hills stretched away to the west, and to the south I saw a few tall conical peaks. At Sinimbu I obtained horses, and rode across to the great rapids of Paulo Affonso, about ten miles distant. A road twenty feet in width had been cut through the scrub, and THE KING OF RAPIDS. 327 the track in the middle of it served ns very well. But such a soil ! — all white sand, yellow gravel, and gray and brown rocks ! When about half-way, I distinctly heard the dull, steady roar of a cataract, and at one point I caught a glimpse of two or three columns of mist gracefully rising in the air. Near the river, and just above the first fall, is the only dwell- ing in the neighborhood, a mud hut with three rooms, one of which I secured for my baggage and provisions ; for, being forewarned, I carried my own food-supply. I lived for two days at the rapids, and slept in a hammock, slung under an arbor adjoining the hut. The latter belonged to a ya- queiro , or herdsman, an old man who had dwelt there, he said, twenty-six years. With him were living his wife and his two daughters and their husbands, who were cousins. Between them there was a fair assortment of little children, who played about in a state of paradisiacal nudity. Their mothers almost did the same, wearing only chemise and skirt, much abbreviated at top and bottom. The men wore only shirts and drawers, of coarse cotton, which might once, many years ago, have been white, sandals of two or three thicknesses of rawhide, and hats made of leather. They carried long, narrow knives in a sheath at their belts, and, attached to a string worn over the shoulder, a little bag, which contained a pipe, tobacco, flint, Steel, and tinder. In front of the hut was a large onibu , a tree giving good shade for a hammock or dinner-table, and near by were several corrals for the cattle. The animals upon which this family subsist consist of about two hundred goats and sheep, six cows, and some pigs and chickens. They make cheese of the goats’ milk, but no butter from either that or the milk of the cows. They are so poor that they do not possess either tea or coffee, or any vegetable save mandioc. All their cook- ing is done out of doors upon two or three stones, which support the wood and kettles. They have neither candles nor matches. Directly in front of the hut — that is to say, between it and the San Francisco — is a small inlet from the river, of which 328 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. several are found hereabout, and which the people style a vai-vem , literally a go-and-come,” from the fact that the water at regular intervals sets up them in a sort of tidal wave. These inlets are filled with fine, smooth sand. The vai-vems are all wedge-shaped, and a great eddy at their wide mouths forces the water up, while gravity takes it back. In sight of the hut, a little way down the river, is a pile of rock upon which has been erected a large bronze tablet commemorating the visit of the Emperor in 1859. Opposite this tablet the river is only about ten feet below the level of the plain, but during the next quarter of a mile it makes a descent of two hundred and sixty feet. A mile above the great rapids it is half a mile in width, immediately above them it is but five hundred feet wide, while just below them it is only a hun- dred feet. Turning from the memorial to Dom Pedro, I followed my guide to the edge of the river. The sight that here burst upon my eyes was one of tumultuous grandeur, at once beautiful and frightful. I beheld the “ King of Kapids,” for there is none greater on earth ! The banks are flanked with masses of broken and cracked rock, and large and small bowlders of a brown color, smoothly worn. The rapids above the cataracts remind me of those below Niagara, only here the water is of a brownish-yellow, instead of a whitish- green, but there is the same terrific speed — here fully thirty miles an hour — the same leaping and eddying, the same foam and spray. There are, exactly speaking, seven great cataracts of Paulo Atfonso, three in the middle of the river, separated by small, rocky islands, and four toward the right bank. Paulo Af- fonso, of course, partakes more of the nature of gigantic rapids than of falls. At least, one discovers no vertical tumbles over precipices throughout the distance of a quarter of a mile and two hundred and sixty feet, in which the river changes its level. You might rather say that the cataracts dispose themselves in several terraces. Just at the first one is a semicircle of black, jagged rocks which, taken with the abyss into which the water here falls, make a wild and awful The King of Rapids. THE KING OF EAPIDS. 329 picture. So dense is the vapor that I doubt if it would be possible, from any foothold, to see the bottom of this gigan- tic caldron. There is a mighty and constant roar, which seems to come from every direction, and the spray dances and shoots upward several hundred feet. Across the river, and a little below, are three fine cataracts, around and about which you see bright-green grass, many of the trees in blossom ; beyond, a small purple peak ; and, above all, a crys- tal sky of the most delicate blue. You leap at once from a Dantean Inferno to a Thomsonian Arcadia ; though I must add that these rapids, both above and below the cataracts, are awful rather than beautiful, magnificent rather than lovely. The rocks, the roar, the several turns, the impossi- bility of seeing the bottom where the greatest body of water makes its first descent, the perpendicular walls of smooth stone — all are terrible and awe-inspiring. Some idea of the great force and speed of the water may be gained when I say that several of the cataracts are driven between ledges of rock not fifty feet apart, and that the stone channel through which the water from the four largest rapids united flows is about fifty feet wide, and makes two turns almost at right angles to the general course of the river. Opposite the last sharp turn is a cliffi of smooth brown rock, about two hun- dred feet in height. A good general view of all the cataracts may be obtained from this point, to which you may proceed on horseback. It is called the “ Emperor’s View,” having been his Majesty’s favorite coigne of vantage. But the grandest rapid, as it tumbles nearly at right angles to the general direction of the river, is not visible. This may be best seen from the opposite (or Bahia) shore. To get there, however, you must go up the river about five miles, cross in a canoe, and walk down, carrying tent and provisions. To the right of the “ Emperor’s View,” at the lower corner of the bluff, is a large grotto, or cave, entered by scrambling down an old dry water-course near its entrance. This cave is some five hundred feet long, a hundred high, and fifty wide. It is oval in shape, and its roof bears a fine simulation of 330 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . stars. The sides are composed of a brown soft stone. The floor is uneven, and covered with rubbish and dirt. Only bats frequent this cavern, and the Brazilians style it the Furna dos Morcegos , or V ampire G-rotto. Below the “ Em- peror’s Yiew” the river takes another turn, and is here about a hundred feet wide, bordered with bluffs three hundred feet in height. A short distance down, on the right bank, are three large falls adjoining each other — in fact, pouring from the same branch of the river. They drop for quite two hun- dred feet and are remarkably fine. I do not know that there is anywhere in the world any series of rapids to be compared with the Paulo Affonso. It is a most marvelous and thrilling sight, which well repays the toil and hardships of a visit. The time may come, even, when the wretched mud huts, where I slung my hammock and ate my jerked beef and cassava- bread, will be turned into a magnificent “ Cataract House ” — but things move with inordinate slowness in Brazil. I returned to Sinimbu and took the train to Jatoba, the western terminus of the railroad. The country remained of the same generally sterile character. Jatoba is a village of about a thousand inhabitants, lying upon the left bank of the river, on a plain containing ample room for a city, the streets and squares of which, on an extended scale, have been already planned by the Government. But the land here- about produces nothing, so it is doubtful if the idea of a city will be very soon realized. The station-house is a large two-story building, and directly before it, in the river, a splendid cut-stone embankment and landing-stairs, with a great iron crane for raising freight from the river-boats, have been built. Upward from Jatoba the river is smooth and quiet, and flows with a gentle current. It is navigable, with one exception, right away up to Sahara, on its branch, the Bio das Yelhas — upon which I made a little voyage, as already described — fifteen hundred miles distant. The single break in this long journey is a reef, which the Government is now engaged in removing. When this work is completed, two little iron steamers will begin to ply up and down the THE KING OF RAPIDS. 331 length of the river. These steamers have been already built in England, and have been brought out in sections, which are now being put together at a large town, named Joazeiro, about three hundred miles from Jatoba. These will bring the rich produce of the valley of the San Francisco to Jatoba, and then the railway around the rapids of Paulo Affonso will begin to achieve the object for which it was originally pro- jected. No hotel exists at Jatoba, but I find most hospitable accommodation at the dwelling of an official of the railway. The thirteen chairs in this gentleman’s little parlor are each covered with the skin of an ounce, an animal resembling the leopard, and very prevalent hereabout. These skins, which have a thick fur, irregular faint spots, and a long tail, make very comfortable backs for chairs. I find also the cot- ton hammocks, swung in the parlor, very agreeable lounging- places. My bed, made of one of the many beautiful, dark, hard woods of Brazil, has a huge hide placed upon its mat- tress. This I find a little hard, though cool for tropical weather. The table is bountifully supplied with meat — sev- eral kinds, or perhaps one kind cooked in different ways. It is etiquette to eat of all. My host gives me nice bread, but does not eat any himself ; he is contented with rice and cassava. Other vegetables are not provided ; nor is there fruit. Meals are always concluded with some sort of marmalade, with cheese and coffee. Good Portuguese wine is drunk. The entire meal is placed at once upon the table, and there is no division of courses. A condiment of hot peppers, onions, lime-juice, and beef-soup is very popular. Limes are used, but no salt or black pepper. The butter comes in tins, and is of French manufacture. After a meal, toothpicks and cigarettes are invariably passed around. The women of the family do not usually appear at the general table, at least not in towns remote from the capital and large cities. We are waited upon by male or female slaves, and a boy is always detailed to brush the flies from the table and guests with a sort of feather-duster. There are but two meals a day, gen- erally at ten and five o’clock. 332 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . Two miles distant from Jatoba, across a level stretch of country around which the river makes a circular bend, are the cataracts of Itaparica, well worthy of a visit. A part of the San Francisco here has cut and worn its way through an enormous ledge of a soft kind of rock, which was originally of a reddish-brown color, but which the sun has turned black where it has been worn by the water. The greater bulk of the river makes a splendid cataract, of about sixty feet, at a sharp though not vertical angle, and then rushes along at a rapid decline in a line series of rapids, about a hundred feet in width. These boil and seethe and fly aloft, and are white with foam and spray, recalling once more to me those of Ni- agara. At their foot they strike violently against the rock- bordered bank, which here trends away at nearly a right angle. These rocks, cut, chiseled, broken, cracked, and pol- ished quite smooth, glisten like cannel-coal under a bright sun. They rise thirty feet higher than the river, and extend a hundred feet back from it. Above the cataract the ledge has divided the river into several small streams, which have opened the rock in extraordinary fissures of every fanciful shape. Some of them are thirty feet deep, and not more than four wide. Hollows abound, like the pot-holes of Switzerland : some of them wells two feet in diameter and twenty feet in depth ; others kettle-shaped, thirty feet in di- ameter, and as many deep. All these hollows and holes have, of course, been worn by the action of water and pebbles moving and churning during many centuries. Apparently, also, the water of the river has in some distant age flowed entirely over this great ledge of rock, but now small streams alone are found at the bottoms of the fissures, while most of the excavations are filled only with rain-water. The view of all these rocks and chasms and rapids from the river below is very grand. The roar of the cataract is so great that it may be distinctly heard at a distance of three miles. Near the right bank, adjacent to the rapids, is a scrub-covered mount- ain, with many jagged rock exposures. This, and the green fringe of shrubs above the crags, make a very pleasing TEE KING OF RAPIDS. 333 back ground to the ebony ledge and the brown and white torrent. Jatoba and Piranhas are turbulent, lawless places, and the natives thereabout are little more than half-civilized. Ques- tions of a political nature seem . especially to infuriate them. Just before my arrival at Jatoba, the leaders of two rival fac- tions had a street encounter, in which one of them was killed ; whereupon his adherents from the surrounding country, to the number of about one hundred, marched into Jatoba and for several days maintained a terrible scene of riot and blood- shed. In Piranhas, one morning, at five o’clock, as I was about to rise, I heard the sharp report of a musket. My host afterward informed me that a fellow-townsman had been as- sassinated by a man, of an opposing cabal, who came from Jatoba for the express purpose. The murderer escaped. When I inquired concerning his punishment if captured, I was told it would be imprisonment for life. Practically there is no such thing in Brazil as capital punishment, though it is legal, and a life-sentence means simply — as too often with us — an early pardon upon good behavior, conjoined with high influence. I returned by rail to Piranhas. A queer sight here is the great, white, four-faced clock in the water-tower, opposite the railway-station. It strikes the hours and halves for a people who are utterly without comprehension of time and its value. In a double sense might it be called a striking feature of the town. It bears upon its front the name of the maker, and the place of manufacture — Paris. Piranhas and Paris, alas ! have nothing in common save their alliteration. For several hours in the morning and evening the women of Piranhas may be seen toiling up and down the almost verti- cal sides of the valley, carrying great jars of river-water upon their heads. Singly, or often in troops of half a dozen, they are picturesque figures, with easy, graceful carriage, swarthy skin, and light-colored garments. The evenings, and half the nights, are generally noisy with the twanging of guitars and the warbling of love-ditties. Did one not hear so much 334 : AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. of it, this music would be very pleasant. The voices are frequently good, and the songs quaint and plaintive, or sweet and gay. The guitar accompaniment, too, adds a coloring, which is odd and primitive to a foreign ear. Brazilians are exceedingly fond of such harmony, and you will rarely see a dozen of them traveling together without at least one guitar. The steamer came in from Penedo a day late, having de- layed for a passenger who arrived by the Pernambuco line. It is a common practice, in the smaller ports and rivers of Brazil, to postpone the sailing of a vessel several hours, and sometimes, as in this instance, a whole day, for a single passenger. I left Piranhas the following morning, at six o’clock, and reached Penedo, once more, at seven in the even- ing. I had to wait several days in Penedo for. the steamer bound for Pernambuco, and when I departed it was to go by the way of Maceio, the capital of the province of Alagoas. We had to spend a night at anchor just within the mouth of the river, to wait for high tide, in order to cross the bar. The coast was low, level, and sandy all the way to Maceio, which place we reached about sundown. The town is built directly upon the ocean -shore, which is here a semicircle, and lined with great groves of cocoa-palms and bananas. The Reef and Harbor of Pernambuco. CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE “CITY OF THE REEF.” Two days from the time of leaving Penedo we reached Pernambuco. The city, lying flat, has from the distant ocean something of' the appearance of Buenos Ayres, but upon a nearer approach the streets and buildings hear a greater resemblance to Bahia than to the Argentine capital. It is, however, very different from either, in respect to a long, narrow reef of rock which, at about flve hundred feet from the shore, stretches along the whole front of the city and for several miles beyond, thus making within it a com- modious harbor and safe anchorage for all ships and steamers, save those of the very deepest draught. Vessels of twenty-five hundred tons may readily enter ; larger ones, of which I saw ' a few, lie in the offing} about two miles from land. Pernam- buco itself stands upon comparatively level ground, but its suburb to the north, Olinda, covers several prettily sloping and extremely verdant hills. All along the shore are great groves of cocoa-palms, and where the vessels enter the reef- protected harbor, at the northern end, are two large forts, not more than half a mile apart, the tops of their brick walls showing many though small cannon. At the extremity of the reef is a low lighthouse, and just beyond it are a round tower, and a small building connected with the revenue de- partment. From here the reef proper, which at high tide is barely above water-level, has been topped with a brick wall about five feet in height and ten in width. The great ocean- swells, as they roll majestically in, break against this barrier, and dash aloft in vast clouds of fleecy foam. The reef near the surface of the water is about fifty feet in width. At 336 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMEBIC A. regular intervals in it have been sunk large cannon to which ships may moor. The sea-front of the city is a cemented, cut-stone wall. Vessels lie three and four abreast, just within the reef, and also next the jetty, leaving the central space between them clear for traffic. I noticed two or three men-of-war, three or four steamers, and about fifty sailing- vessels, mostly barks of light tonnage. Pernambuco is a very bustling place, and steamers are coming or going almost every day. As at Bahia, there is a street with “ Belgian ” pave- ment adjoining the harbor; and here also at one point is a very small sort of plaza, in which are a dozen great trees, around whose bases circle iron settees, filled all day and evening by loiterers and curiosity-mongers. The houses are narrow, but deep, and four or five stories in height. Here, also, you find the leading banks, sugar and cotton firms, the hotels, and the fine building of the Commercial Association. From my room in the hotel I look into the reef-inclosed harbor, with its always interesting stir of ships and sailors, of - steamers and passen- gers, of stevedores and longshoremen, and away beyond, the view is closed by the remote commingling of sky and water. It is not often that one can obtain such an interesting survey while sitting in a comfortable hotel, not thirty feet from the ocean’s edge. At night I am lulled to sleep by the dull even roar of the surf, beating upon the neighboring rocky reef. Upon a closer inspection I find that Pernambuco lies upon two long, narrow peninsulas and the mainland, the peninsulas being formed by two small rivers and the ocean. The sev- eral parts are connected by handsome iron and stone bridges. The country beyond is mostly low, filled with little streams and lakes, and sparsely settled. Everywhere you see palms, bananas, and bamboos. The rich merchants possess country- houses west of the city, at distances varying from one to eight miles, and reached by two or three lines of railroad. The oldest part of the town is called Recife, the Reef, either from the fact of its lying next the reef, or because it is itself upon a sort of reef. Here the streets are very narrow and crooked ; but, upon crossing the first bridge to the other THE “ CITY OF THE REEF . ” 337 and larger peninsula, you notice a great improvement ; the blocks of houses become much larger, the streets wider, tram- cars are running in every direction, and the best retail stores display their wares. In the river Beberibe, which divides the district of Recife from that called San Antonio, are sev- eral lines of small ships, mostly engaged in bringing dried beef from the Argentine Republic, and dried fish from New- foundland. Upon the Recife side is the custom-house, a great, square, yellow building, with high and broad towers at the corners. On the opposite side is the Arsenal of War. The extreme point of the peninsula of San Antonio is re- served for the President’s house and gardens. This honse, or palace, as it is flatteringly called, is a square, two-storied structure, sadly in want of repairs. It is very plainly fitted up, excepting some handsome carved furniture of rose-wood, and other beautiful timbers, for which Brazil is famous. The old major-domo, who showed me oyer the alleged palace, was unable to tell me the names or relationship of several mem- bers of the small imperial family, whose portraits graced the walls of one of the large saloons. The gardens contain some fine plants and beautiful flowers, but are not kept in good order. The President’s house faces a small but very pretty park, with a music pavilion, where a military band occasion- ally performs. On another side is the theatre, not an impos- ing building outwardly, but inside one of the prettiest, brightest, and cleanest in South America. It has four tiers, and large proscenium-boxes, one of which is reserved for the President’s use. A large foyer has doors opening upon a belvedere — the top of the vestibule — where a promenade, with fresh air, may be enjoyed between the acts. There is no local dramatic company, but sometimes one from Rio or Lis- bon. Near the theatre is the School of Fine Arts, and a lit- tle way along the same water-front is the honse of detention. Across the river, upon the mainland, some distance to the left, rises the large, three-storied Hospital of Horn Pedro II. Almost directly opposite the President’s house, also upon the mainland, stands the House of Deputies, a square red build- 338 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. ing with great windows full of small panes of glass, crowned by an enormously high dome. The furniture and decora- tions are very simple. In this part of the city, a short dis- tance from the river, is the public cemetery, the only one I have seen which at all resembles those in Europe and the United States. The usual South American fashion is, as I have already said, to huddle the monuments all together, with no intervening trees, flowers, lawns, or paths, so that they have the general appearance of samples in a stone-cut- ter’s yard. But the Pernambuco cemetery is laid out in a great square, crossed in all directions by broad avenues, and filled with plants of interest and beauty. The central avenue is lined by royal palms, which are very much smaller, how- ever, than those in the botanical gardens at Bio. The ave- nues converge at a chapel in the center. All around the sides is a double row of mural niches, or catacombs, as they are appropriately styled here. But even in this improved cemetery the people do not adopt our plan of family lots, with private fences and gates. They run their rows of vaults along and near the main avenues, not more than three or four feet apart, and with no dividing marks. Several of the monuments, which are all of the pyramidal type, were artistic and costly. The public market of Pernambuco would do credit to any European city. It occupies a large square, is built of iron and stone, paved with stone, and well supplied with water. The tables are great slabs of stone, and each of the stalls is surrounded by a neat iron railing. The profusion of fruit and fish and vegetables may be inferred from the trop- ical situation of Pernambuco. The building of the Commer- cial Association which, with its two-storied white walls, and pretty little flower-beds, and its foreign-looking iron fence, first attracts the attention of the stranger upon landing from the steamer, deserves similar praise to that given to the mar- ket. It is, in reality, a sugar and cotton exchange. Two great rooms are upon the ground-floor and two above. The latter are carpeted and furnished, and their walls are adorned with portraits of the Emperor and less distinguished Brazil- THE “ CITY OF THE BEEF.” 339 ians. These rooms are used for receptions and balls, and to entertain celebrities who may visit the city. Down-stairs one room is set apart for brokers’ desks, the office of the president of the association, etc. Its sides are covered with blackboards, for registering commercial quotations, and daily business and shipping news of all kinds. The other room is furnished with a long table running its entire length, and covered with files of newspapers in every language and from every country. One wall is faced with book-cases containing commercial statistics, law reports, and bound volumes of periodicals ; another is covered with framed diplomas and awards. The room is bright and attractive, and cooled by fresh breezes direct from the ocean. The little plaza in front of the building is filled, during the middle of the day, with knots of merchants eagerly discussing the two great items of Pernambuco commerce — sugar and cotton. In the produc- tion of sugar, Brazil is second only to Cuba. In the streets you see many long, low drays, drawn by a single huge ox in shafts, and loaded with these useful products. The best of the private residences of the rich merchants of Pernambuco stand upon either side of a little railway, which is extended about eight miles into the country in a northwesterly direction, toward a village called Caxangd. The dwellings are generally large, square, and of two stories, covered with vari-colored tiles, but with no pretense to any architectural beauty. They are surrounded by very beauti- ful flower-gardens, and many of them have large aviaries, the Brazilians being very fond of pet song-birds. Besides the usual varieties of palm, the banana and the bamboo, I noticed tamarind, bread-fruit, mandioc, mimosa, jack-fruit, aloe, wild-fig, Brazil-nut, acacia, mango, pomegranate, guava, yam, sweet-potato, cotton, and sugar-cane. Near Caxangd are the new reservoir and water- works for the city, situated amid some very pretty scenery. The water is to be derived from a lake, snugly ensconced at the extremity of a little valley, whence it flows about half a mile to the pumping- works. At this point, in order to get a suitable pressure 34:0 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. for the houses of Pernambuco, it is to be pumped up into a great reservoir, now building upon the top of a neighbor- ing hill. This reservoir is of massive brick masonry. A pipe eighteen inches in diameter will convey the water to the city. From the top of the reservoir a remarkably good view of the surrounding country and the distant city and ocean may be had. Away to the west are billowy, green hillocks ; nearer are great plains of rich pasture. These new water-works are being built by an English company. I have already referred to that, suburb, styled Olinda, which was the old Pernambuco. This is reached by a narrow-gauge rail- way, with miniature locomotive and carriages of English construction. The road passes through low, swampy land tilled with palms, bananas, bamboos, and dense groves of mangoes. No fine residences of merchants have been built in this direction ; only the dilapidated mud huts of very poor people, mostly negroes. At Olinda are a number of pict- uresque little hills, each topped with a church or convent. Four or five of these convents vie with a dozen churches. Upon the highest ground is a theological seminary, where about a hundred boys are at present studying. From the windows of this college splendid views may be had of the coast far north, of the great ocean to the east, and of the city of Pernambuco at the south. The country inland is also very beautiful, with gently undulating, thickly verdured surface. Olinda is a very dead-and-alive place, but its quaint old churches and convents are romantically if not practically interesting. One day I took a trip by rail into the interior in a south- west direction, through the rich sugar regions — the cotton- growing country is in a different direction, more to the west- ward, upon higher and drier ground — to the town of Palmares, about ninety miles distant. The line belongs to an English company, has been long established, and is in a prosperous condition. It is a very broad gauge, and has carriages of three classes. For the first part of the journey the country was low, level, and swampy. To this succeeded TEE “ CITY OF TEE REEF.” 341 an undulating region and the cane-fields. I passed three or four towns, though most of the stations were little more than groups of a dozen mnd huts. Mandioc and beans appeared to be much cultivated, and some splendid pasture-land of great, smooth hills was covered with a velvety turf of the brightest and freshest green. I did not observe many cattle, however, nor did those I saw seem very well favored. As we went on, the scenery increased in picturesqueness, being more broken and diversified. Most of the land h*ad been burned over at least once, so that little remained of the primitive forest. We crossed two or three small rivers upon stout, iron-girder bridges. The engenhos , as the sugar-mills are called, were very far apart. They were generally huge buildings of brick or mud, and the grinding was accom- plished with either water or mule power. The family dwell- ing was near at hand, probably a large two-story edifice, of very gTaring white color. On some neighboring knoll would always be a small chapel, for every large sugar-mill supports one. Scattered round about would be the squalid slave quarters. A rich sugar-planter sometimes owned a couple of hundred of these human chattels. An English company has built five large steam cane-grinding mills along the railway, and to these very many of the planters sell their cane out- right. The company then grind it, and send the sugar to Pernambuco, and so abroad. These factories are fitted with every necessary machine, of the best device and construction, and they have English superintendents and engineers. A narrow-gauge road runs nearly due west from Palmares about fifty miles. It is intended in the future — very distant? — to extend this little line as far as the great San Francisco Piver. There being nothing of special interest to be seen in the neighborhood of Palmares, I returned by the same route to the “ City of the Reef.” A few days afterward I left Pernambuco for Para, on one of the mouths of the mighty Amazon, intending to call at San Luiz, the capital of the province of Maranham. I took passage in the commodious and comfortable steamer 342 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . Advance, of the United States and Brazil Steamship Com- pany, one of the few lines still flying the star-spangled ban- ner. The cargo was mostly coffee and sugar, and the passen- gers were nearly all Americans, bound for [New York. After so many strange sights and scenes, and such a confusion of tongues as I had experienced during the past thirteen months, the sound of my vernacular and the society of my country- men were delightful, and only too soon cut short by the voyage of five days. We had started at daylight, and late in the afternoon we rounded Cape Saint Koque, which is not the most easterly point of South America, as used to he taught in our school geographies — that distinction being re- served for Cape Saint Augustine, which is three degrees south, and about half a degree east, of the other promontory, and which, by-the-by, was the first land discovered in South America — by Pingon, in a. d. 1500. Away to the right, but over a hundred miles from the mainland, is the small island of Fernando de Uoronha, used as a penal colony by Brazil. On the afternoon of the third day out from Pernambuco, we sighted and passed a tall white lighthouse situated on an isl- and off the coast of Maranham ; and at dusk we were enter- ing a great bay with low land on every side, and just in front of us the capital city of the province, San Luiz. It was a very ordinary-looking town, though well lighted with gas. Approaching a few small steamers, we anchored for the night. In the morning we went on shore, and took a walk and a long ride in the tram-cars. Grass was growing in the paved streets, and there was a general air of desolation and decay about everything. The exports are sugar and cot- ton, and near the close of the American civil war the place was very active and hopeful, but now it is dying, slowly but surely. We remained nearly all one day, taking freight and waiting’ for the flood-tide, before threading the shallow and tortuous channel. At low tide the harbor is more than half dry, so that a steamer visitor, who went below at high water and did not come on deck till low, seeing the great, bare sand- banks, would not recognize the situation. We took a pilot THE “ CITY OF THE REEF.” 343 from a boat a long distance from the month of the Para River. This pilot was put aboard onr steamer from one of the most primitive dng-out canoes I have ever seen in the wide ocean. The men propelled their crazy craft with very broad-bladed, short-handled paddles, and, npon grasping a rope thrown to them, steered in such bad form that they were nearly swamped. But, grinning and chattering, they soon bailed the canoe, and finally succeeded in getting the pilot and his little tin trunk and silver-headed cane on board. Para is seventy-five miles up the river, and we reached it early the next morning. Its situation is similar to that of San Luiz, save that it is more compactly built, and lies upon lower ground. Several smaller rivers enter the Para just here, and the city is built on a point of land thus formed by •the Guama. The anchorage is extensive, and almost land- locked by densely wooded islands. The color of the water is a chocolate-brown, and the current runs very swiftly. Scat- tered around the harbor were a dozen small ships and a score of steamers of all styles and sizes. Two large English steam- ers were anchored near us. The other steamers are mostly employed in the Amazonian trade, a few only being coasters. All along the river- front were great iron warehouses, built upon wharves. Most of the freight is moved by lighters, the water is deep enough to allow some of the smaller ves- sels to lie at the wharves, wdiile others may be seen with only their thin bows placed against the river wall. The houses of the city appear to be two or three stories in height, and some of them are of great size. The woody jungle comes directly up to the edge of the city, with no straggling sub- urbs. The customary number of moldy, weather-beaten old churches is not sufficient to give a picturesque appearance to what is only a plain-looking commercial emporium, wholly devoted to the trade of the Amazon River — the export of rubber, cacao or chocolate, pirarucu, a fish often eight feet in length, and castanhas or Brazil-nuts, the chestnuts of a forest palm. The steamer Advance, after loading one hundred tons of rubber, sailed for Barbados, Saint Thomas, and Hew York. CHAPTER XXXIX. AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. Para, like several other Brazilian cities, has another and an official name — to wit, Belem — which appears upon Bra- zilian maps and charts. In like manner Bahia is called San Salvador, and Pernambuco Recife. Para stands upon nearly level ground, and is laid out regularly, with narrow streets, generally paved with square stone blocks. Tram-cars, both of broad and narrow gauge, run in all desirable directions, and even to suburbs three miles distant. The city is well lighted by gas. The telephone is in general use. Good hackney-coaches abound, though, being very expensive, they are not much patronized. But little is to be said in praise of the public buildings. An old church and convent, near the river-bank, are utilized as a custom-house. The most im- posing and probably the finest building, architecturally speak- ing, is the opera-house, or theatre. Hext in point of merit might be named, I should suppose, the government and presi- dent’s houses, great two-storied buildings, very plain, both inside and out, facing an enormous plaza covered with rank grass and unprovided with paths. In the center of this plaza, which is surrounded by one-story houses and a row of mango-trees, a lofty white-marble monument has been erected to some Brazilian general, a native of Para. The pedestal possesses no other merit than that it is cut from marble, but the bronze figure of the commander on top is worthy of attention and praise. Hear by is a small fort, mounting a few guns of light caliber. The public market is in the neighborhood. It is very creditable as regards its construe- AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 345 tion and utility, and, of course, from its location in a city so near the equator, contains an endless profusion of fish, fruit, and vegetables. A street running past the government- house is bordered by rows of the royal palm for a distance of half a mile. For one who had never seen the splendid avenue in the Botanical Gardens of Bio, or in the park of Palermo, near Buenos Ayres, the vista of this street would be very interesting ; but here the trees are of a lesser height, are broken and irregular, and their trunks have a disagree- able, unhealthy look. What is by courtesy styled the Bo- tanical Gardens adjoins this avenue of palms. Whatever it may once have been, it is now only a thicket, into which it would be almost impossible to penetrate. The cathedral of Para is a very large, long edifice, now undergoing much- needed repairs. A handsome high altar, in which I counted ten different sorts of marble, has just been erected. From the towers of this church a good view may be obtained of the city, the surrounding rivers and islands, and the vast forests of the interior. These forests may be easily visited by riding out in the tram-car in a northerly direction to the edge of the city, and then walking about a mile along a path cut through the dense woods, to a little stream called the Una Biver. Besides the naturally great variety of plant and animal life to be seen, you find the assai-^ aim, the most airy and graceful of all the palms. The beautiful orchids are also sure to claim the stranger’s attention. It is curious, moreover, to see a street lined with houses end abruptly against a vast perpendicular wall of verdure, into which you can not see ten feet. Many of the dwellings of Para are very pretty, surrounded, as they are sure to be, by odd trees and shrubs and gay flowers. The better class of houses are two stories in height, and covered with blue and white tiles ; cheaper houses have their mud walls fancifully painted. The first and second streets running parallel to the harbor, or anchorage-ground, are devoted to the wholesale stores, the banks, consulates, and ship-chandlers. The third street con- tains the retail stores, with a great variety of goods imported 346 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. from the United States, England, France, and Germany. Para has to supply all the river towns of the interior with food and household utensils. A great bustle reigns along the wharves of Para; steamers come and go almost every day, either to or from the Amazon, the coast, or the ocean. Many foreign ships and native boats and canoes throng there. Half a dozen lines of steamers ply on the mighty Amazon. The climate of Para is not unhealthy, though variable. The mornings are very sultry, but with the afternoon generally come refreshing sea-breezes, and throughout a greater part of the year heavy showers, accompanied with thunder and lightning, which usually make the nights cool and pleasant. Little or no yellow fever visits Para, though intermittent fever is not unknown. During the rainy season, which ex- tends over about two thirds of the year, all those streets which are not paved become terrible sloughs of mud and water. During my stay I paid several visits to the great opera- house, one of the largest in South America, which, as I have said, is situated at one end of the plaza. It is built of brick and stucco, though in front and on each side are rows of lofty marble columns, fluted shafts, with the delicate foliated capi- tals of the Corinthian order of architecture. In marble-paved porticoes one may promenade between the acts. He may also visit the large foyer. In front of the entrances were a dozen negresses, vending sweetmeats and candies. Hear the doors, inside, was a large bar-room, which the audience fre- quently visited during the evening, for supplies of beer or sweet drinks. The theatre has four narrow galleries, which are rather remarkable, in that none of them are supported by pillars, but by iron brackets. The president’s box is in the center of the middle tier, but there are no proscenium-boxes. The interior is decorated in white, red, and gold. As in the European opera-houses, one half of the parquette has seats at one price, the other at a larger. The company was an Ital- ian one, and gave Donizetti’s “Favorita” in very good style, especially when the facts are recalled that we are located at AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 347 a month of the great Amazon, hardly a mile from the prime- val forest. The orchestra numbered some twenty-five per- formers, and the most prominent instrument was a piano. The band was leaderless — a very palpable defect. The voice most frequently and loudly heard w T as that of the annoying prompter. But, either because it was not a very popular opera that was presented, or because the best members of the troupe did not participate, or because it was not Sunday, the popular holiday, only three hundred people were present. The ladies wore light-colored dresses, without hats ; no gen- tlemen were in evening dress. If an additional illustration of the dilatoriness of the South American people were needed, I might mention that, though the hour for beginning the opera was advertised as 8.30 p. m., at that time not a member of the orchestra was in his seat, and by actual count only four people were in the auditorium. At nine the per- formance began, and just at that time the people came in hurriedly and took their seats. The intermissions were very long, and the entire audience appeared to leave their places and promenade in various parts of the building, while many of the gentlemen adjourned to neighboring cafes. A few nights afterward I attended a benefit at which the tenor was complimented in most extraordinary fashion. Speeches were made from the boxes, poetry was recited, jewelry was pre- sented, and between the acts, Manrico, in costume (the opera was “ 11 Trovatore ”), went around to the boxes to collect his subscriptions. These being paid, were at once checked off by a clerk who attended him. It was a most diverting evening. One. day I made an excursion to the end of a railway which is intended eventually to extend to the large town of Braganga, about eighty miles from Para to the northeastward. At present, however, the road is only completed about half this distance. It is a narroV gauge, wdth rolling-stock of English make, and one train a day is run each way. Only a single town of any importance graces the road, and the dis- trict generally is very thinly peopled. But the opportunity 348 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . presented of seeing the forest is unrivaled, for the country is quite level and covered with almost impenetrable jungle throughout the entire distance. A space for about fifty feet has been cleared, on both sides of the track, and the little villages generally face the road in long, straggling rows. The train was full of natives. The women were neatly dressed in light calicoes, and their luxuriant black hair w^as orna- mented with flowers, but they neither wore hats nor carried parasols. The men were dressed in thin black cloth, and smoked and chatted constantly. But what shall I say of the forest ? One never tires gazing at it. Its novelty is per- petual. The largest trees would average one hundred feet in height, with trunks three or four feet in diameter, and generally very straight, with but few branches, and these near the top. The first thing that strikes the beholder of a tropical forest is the almost solid mass of verdure, the vast quantity and variety of plant-life ; the second is the gener- ally tall and slender character of the trees, and the fact that each has leaves, for the most part, only on top. Here one readily comprehends the doctrine of the “ survival of the fittest,” for all are struggling in a dense mass upward for light, sun, and air. Hence you observe the very summits of the loftiest covered with orchids, lichens, and vines, many of which send their roots down a hundred feet to the ground, at the bases of the trees upon which they thrive. Frequent- ly you notice a parasitic plant whose foliage towers above, and is greater than that of the tree which it has scaled. And then, from tree to tree, and limb to limb, is an intricate net- work of luxuriant lianas, the appearance of which continually reminded me of the rigging of a great ship. The lower half of the forest was composed of so many smaller trees that their thin straight stems alone almost shut out the light. The surface of the ground was covered with a tangle of creepers and trunks, and decaying vegetation of all kinds. In temperate regions, you find, in a day’s ramble, a single representative of a genus ; but here, under the equator, you discover a dozen. During my short ride I casually counted AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 349 fourteen species of the palm. Upon arriving at the terminus of the railroad, I took a walk of a couple of miles along a path entering directly into the forest. The stillness was mournful and oppressive. The only sign of animal life was comprised in a few birds, butterflies, and lizards. The birds gave forth no song, only occasionally a frightened screech. The butterflies were large and very pretty ; and a toucan, that sailed quietly by, looked like a fragment of a rainbow. Though I heard no animals, and could of course see none in so dense a growth, I made no doubt the forest was as prolific in them as in vegetable life — not perhaps in quadrumana, but certainly in reptiles and insects. In the heart of the great w r oods one does not see many flowers other than orchids, but some of these were most interesting, from their singular form and the peculiar arrangement of their blossoms and fleshy tubers. "Some of the tree-trunks are fluted, others honey-combed, others larger above than below. Some are reared upon stilts of roots, some are buttressed by narrow slabs of living wood which frequently, to insure the better brace, project twenty feet from the giant pillar they are steadying and supporting. Then, again, the enormous va- riety of leaves, both in shape and size, all massed together, and all new and strange to eyes accustomed to a more mea- ger flora, prove of unflagging interest. As I walk slowly along, I feel as if in a fog, or Russian bath, it is so damp and steamy. Below is the moisture, and above are the light and sun, which together produce such a lavish display of plant-life. The tropical forest is not only grand and solemn, it is also graceful and beautiful. The delicacy and elegance of some of the palms are very wonderful. The vast beds of trailing creepers are so soft and rich as to resemble the choicest velvet. And notice especially the shades of green in the foliage, which vary from the faintest, most illusive tints, to the heaviest and darkest green-black. It is always twilight in the primeval forests of the torrid zone. It did not, therefore, require a very vivid imagination to fancy that the body and limbs of some old sylvan monarchs, wound 350 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. abbut by huge parasitic climbers, were thus pinioned by massy cordage. To return to the city : no visitor to Para should omit an examination of the splendid gardens of the well-known American botanist and author, Edward S. Rand, who has some thirty thousand plants in seven hundred and fifty-six species, and endless varieties. Especially interest- ing is his collection of orchids. These gardens are private property, but Mr. Rand is very amiable, and likes nothing better than to show his treasures to an appreciative stranger. Having seen everything of importance in and about Para, I decided to make a voyage of about a thousand miles up the Amazon to Manaos, the capital of Amazonas, the largest province of Brazil. Several lines of Brazilian steamers run to Manaos-; and two English steamers, each of a thousand tons burden, go from Liverpool direct and return by way of Hew York. But the best passenger line, for a traveler who finds himself in Para, is that called the Amazonian, which is an English company, though the officers and engineers are Bra- zilians. This company dispatches three steamers a month. These are iron side- wheel vessels, of five hundred or six hun- dred tons burden, built in England. They are specially well arranged for long voyages under the equator. They have, for instance, two decks, the upper being covered by a wooden roof. The cabins are forward, and contain four berths each. The whole after part, behind the wheel-houses, is open, and a long; table down its center is used for meals. On each side of this the passengers stretch their hammocks transversely between the iron posts which support the roof. Should the breeze blow too strongly, or a rain-shower come on, canvas curtains are dropped on all sides, making a dry and comfort- able room. In these hammocks you find the passengers loll- ing, swinging, gossiping all day long, but never by any chance reading, or, if women, doing any embroidery or fancy- work. The hammocks are generally used at night also in preference to the warm and close cabins. On the lower deck a number of second-class passengers are carried. The crew all sleep in hammocks in the forward part of the steamer, AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 351 and so thickly are these linng together that it is impossible to pass between them, though, if necessary, you might cross under them. When I went on board the steamer at mid- night — it was to leave at daylight — everything was silent, though I knew there must be many passengers ; so, strolling around, I found the whole deck covered with hammocks, each of which contained a sleeping man, woman, or child. The next day I discovered, posted in a conspicuous place, a list of the names of forty passengers, with their several destinations. The table was not very good, nor was the cleanliness as per- fect as would have been agreeable. Coffee was served at 6.30 a. m., breakfast at 11.30, dinner at 4.30 p. m., and tea at 8. My fellow-passengers were affable and sociable, though of course their ideas of refinement were not the same as those generally prevailing in the northern half of the conti- nent. They stuck to their hammocks, day and night. The Amazon Valley is par excellence the 66 country of hammocks.”' Thereabout a man never travels without one, and in all the hotels and private houses you find stout ring-bolts fastened in the walls ready for use in suspending them. As you steam along the great river, you always see many hammocks swing- ing in the huts along the bank. The word is of Indian ori- gin. Columbus, in the narrative of his first voyage, speaks of the hamacas , or nets, in which the Indians slept. On the Amazon they are made of netting or cloth, generally the latter, and of hemp or cotton, variously ornamented and em- broidered. They often have deep fringes hanging down from the sides, which give them a very pretty appearance. They cost all the way from five dollars to fifty dollars, according to the amount of ornamentation. Some, made on the Rio Negro, of the feathers of rare and beautiful birds, are, of course, still more expensive. As soon as the ordinary ham- mocks become soiled, they are washed, and hence the white ones — the best of them generally seem to be of this color — present a very bright, neat appearance. They are used not only as couches by day, but as hanging beds at night. It requires some practice to learn how to lie comfortably in one 352 AllOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. of these cloth swings. The position which the Brazilian adopts is oblique, from the corner of one extremity to that . diagonally opposite. Having assumed this position, you dis- cover that no pillow is necessary. If the hammock be de- rided, during the daytime, as a lazy institution, it is just such a one as is needed in the debilitating temperature of the tropics ; and, used as a bed at night, it is certainly clean, cool, comfortable, and conducive to health. Aside from the Ama- zon Yalley, or rather including it, the part of South America where hammocks flourish most vigorously may be roughly indicated as between the Caribbean Sea and the tenth degree of south latitude. The route followed by the river-steamers from Para is westwardly, around the great Island of Marajo, until we enter the Amazon proper, just beyond the mouth of the Xingu. More than one half the total length of the Amazon is a vast network of islands, channels, creeks, and lakes. It is a great archipelago, an inland sea full of islands of every conceivable size and shape, though they are very much alike in being low, level, and densely covered with forest. While we are in the Para Piver, we generally have a sky and water hori- zon, both before and behind us. In fact, a special and very appropriate name is given to a part of the river here — name- ly, the Bay of Marajo. We pass the wide mouth of the Tocantins Piver. The land is so low that on either side you discover only slight fringes of verdure. At night we stop for half an hour at the little town of Breves, on the Island of Marajo, and from here, until we near the mouth of the Xingu, we are in channels of about half a mile in width. Going on deck early the next morning, I obtained several extended vistas between the islands, and away out toward the main river. A few small schooners with odd masts and sails were observed. There do not seem to be any villages along this part of the river, but occasionally large, isolated huts, of palm-leaf sides and roof, and a few dug-out canoes, drawn up in the slime and floating debris , are noticed. The river is of a thick, muddy hue, though, when the water is allowed to Chart of a Section of the Lower Amazon. AN EQUATORIAL EMPORIUM. 353 settle, it becomes comparatively clear. Huge earthenware jars of it are stationed about our decks for ever-thirsty pas- sengers. The current is strong- — three or four miles an hour — and carries along fruits, stalks, huge logs, and a great many large islands of grass and reeds, like those in the Paraguay Piver to which I have heretofore alluded, save that here many of them were forty or fifty feet square. As we neared the mouths of the Xingu, the forest, on the south shore, be- came indescribably grand and beautiful. It comes directly to the edge of the water, and is faced with great masses of reeds and other aquatic plants. Sitting at your ease in com- fortable extension-chairs, or reclining in your hammock, you may enjoy a panorama unequaled throughout the world. I have never anywhere seen such magnificent native woods. I had thought that some of the previous voyagers on the Amazon had exaggerated, that they had colored their accounts too highly ; and that, being specialists, they had observed with the enthusiasm peculiar to their kind. But, no ; the real- ity fully comes up to the descriptions of others, and my own ardent longings. Too great praise could not be bestowed upon the splendid Brazilian forest ; but I soon saw that it was, besides, a veritable botanist’s paradise. The variety of plant-life is overwhelmingly and continuously great. You might perhaps take a photograph of any thousand feet, which should be in a manner typical of all, yet often, for long dis- tances, a particular species of some tree, most likely a mem- ber of the great palm family, will assert itself. The thicket is so compact that ordinarily you can not see farther into it than a score of feet, yet even this is quite enough to show leaves varying in color from the lightest to the darkest green, and from yellow to black. Every species of plant, from a tiny spire of grass to a giant monarch of the forest, a hundred and fifty feet in height, and with a hillock of verdure atop, is represented. Venerable trees, adolescent saplings, vines, parasites, lichens, orchids, ferns, grasses, and arums are here grouped, massed, or interwoven. Many of the large trees re- semble forest-trees in the temperate zone, but the palms at 23 354 : AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . once proclaim another sun, soil, and atmosphere. Hundreds of species of these palms flourish, always striking, graceful, and beautiful. Among them the already mentioned assai is, perhaps, the most charming, through its light and airy ele- gance, its slender, ringed stem, its glossy, fresh-colored tuft. Several of the largest trees — not palms — spread above the others a wide, thick roof of verdure, like a vast umbrella. Others have so dense a covering of leaves and intertwined vines that you hardly see their trunks, while elsewhere a great mass of tall, slim stems crowd so closely together as almost to resemble a natural picket-fence. The great groves of palm-trees looked like vast verdant halls. The mighty columnar stems bore high aloft a solid roof of glossy green, walking under which the proudest of earth might justly feel awed and humbled. The stems and trunks add not a little to the pictorial effect of the vegetation. They range from green to gray, from red to white, from brown to black. Some are smooth, others furrowed. You see them rugged with rings, encircling lianas, or the stems of great fallen leaves. Some have very much the appearance of what sailors term u made masts” — that is, they seem constructed of about a dozen segments, tightly fitted together and presenting an almost smoothly rounded surface. CHAPTER XL. c' UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. Every morning at six o’clock decks are washed, and every one must turn out of his or her hammock and trice it np out of the way of the scrubbers. This daily deck-washing is a great nuisance. Over two hours are consumed in what might be done in fifteen minutes, and in the mean time a passen- ger can not find a dry place on the steamer in which to sit. The attendance is especially bad. No care whatever is taken of the cabins. It is quite impossible to get clean towels, and if you wish water for washing you must go and draw it yourself, or find an unoccupied boy to get it for you. Even feeing a servant will not necessarily get a favor done a second time. Candles are very scarce ; so are clean nap- kins. At meal-times the passengers do not keep their origi- nal seats, but sit down wherever they may happen to be, and when the bell is rung such a rush is made that several times I have had to walk all around the table to find a vacant seat — of course, with a stained table-cloth, and some other per- son’s soiled napkin before me. The captain takes all his meals in his own cabin, out of which he is seldom seen. The days were very hot, and there were almost always heavy showers in the afternoon or evening. The nights were suffi- ciently cold for a blanket if in a cabin, and for two of them if in a hammock. At night it is no unusual thing to see hus- band and wife sleeping in the same hammock. Two small children, thus placed, look natural enough ; but two grown people appear rather ridiculous. We have two pilots, who relieve each other every four hours. They sit in front of 356 ^AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. the pilot-house, and keep up a constant series of directions to the quartermaster at the wheel behind them. So familiar are these men with the vagaries of the river, that we go ahead at full speed all night, no matter how dark it may be. The current being very strong, the wheels are in some danger from the great trunks which float swiftly down, but most of these are avoided by an expert pilot. The steamer is steered, not by compass, nor even by the stars, here so very bright, but by the configuration of the banks. The air is exceeding- ly damp, and everything made of leather, allowed to stand for a few days, becomes covered with the down-like fungi of green mold. A good deal of local travel gave animation to the river ; we put down and took up passengers at every sta- tion. The principal part of their baggage consisted of a hammock, a pair of slippers, and a pet bird, dog, or monkey. A man in the Amazon Yalley, before walking, invariably takes up his bed. The well-to-do passengers bring tin trunks, which preserve their contents against rain and insects. The traditional “ shirt-collar and pair of spurs ” are quite equaled and realized in the children, who wander and play all over the steamer with absolutely nothing on save a pair of shoes and stockings. The Xingu has two mouths. We passed through the easterly and wider one, and entered the Amazon proper by way of the narrow but deep westerly branch. Upon the left bank I saw the first high land since leaving Para. A series of densely wooded ridges met the view, perhaps three or four hundred feet in height, lying back a short distance from the river. Looking at my large Portuguese map, I found but two or three other distinct clusters of a like importance, near the river, for a distance of twenty-five hundred miles from Para, or as far as Nauta in Peru. The central part of the Amazon is also, it appears, throughout its entire length, full of islands and sand-banks, the beginnings of islands ; and the grown islands are mostly oblong and of large area. They are all, of course, like the mainland, thickly covered with vegetation. In this respect, and in that of the great number UPON TEE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. 357 of connecting creeks, lakes, and minor brandies, thongk some of these are so large as to seemingly make two parallel Amazons, this gigantic stream has no rival on the face of the globe. It realizes the Miltonic phrase “ ocean-stream.” The optical phenomena of mirage is frequently observed. The east- ern or lower half lacks the picturesque element derived from tortnousness. It is all either in enormous sea-like expanses, with water horizons before and behind yon, or banked by long, parallel, wooded shores. Its tributaries, however, are more or less winding. The lower river varies from two. to ten miles in width, but you are never sure of not mistaking the shore of islands for the* actual banks. The Amazon is gen- erally very deep — an average of one hundred and fifty feet. Steamers of two thousand tons can at all seasons of the year go safely up to Manaos, a thousand miles. At Tabatinga, in Peru, two thousand miles from the Atlantic, it is one and a half miles wide. The Amazon is the largest river in the world — with all its upper windings over four thousand miles long — and receives eight tributaries, each over one thousand miles in length. The area of the basin of the Amazon is nearly three times that of the Mississippi. The Amazon and its tributaries furnish fifty thousand miles of navigable waters, half of which are available for steamers. In the basin of this mighty river an area, fifteen hundred miles long and one thousand broad, is covered by vast forests. Here, among many valuable timbers, you find the rare tor- toise-shell wood, pronounced the most beautiful cabinet-wood in the world. It is, however, an unhealthy region, and so thinly settled that there is scarcely an average of one person to ten square miles. Speaking of forests reminds me that those of South America (which are mostly in Brazil) occupy about two thirds of its surface, and that three fourths of the continent may be regarded as tropical. These forests differ in at least one particular from those in other parts of the world, in that many of the largest are adorned on their out- skirts with the most brilliant flowers. In fact, everywhere the magnitude, variety, and gracefulness of the trees, and the 358 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . profusion and brilliancy of the flowers, are extraordinary. Birds also, of very beautiful plumage, are found in greater abundance in Brazil than in any other part of the world. So far as the inhabitants of the water were concerned, I noticed several varieties of fish, notably porpoises and a few alliga- tors, but the paucity of water-fowl is rather striking. A few black ducks, white herons, and small blue and brown birds, are all. There are very few native boats, and not many huts along the shore, and these were deserted, being half-sub- merged and rendered tenantless by the rainy season, which was just over. Late in the evening of the third day we reached the town of Santarem, the second on the river in size and commercial importance. It is situated directly at the mouth of the blue Tapajoz, on the right bank of the Amazon. It is built close down to the water’s edge, and has a large church, some fine public buildings, and ordinary two-story dwellings. In its neighborhood we occasionally saw great campos , or meadows, level as the floor of a house, and covered with the thickest and richest of green grass. ¥e then threaded an especially intricate network of islands, lakes, rivers, creeks, and sand- banks, and halted at Obidos, on the left bank, our next port of call. This is the third important town on the river. W e made fast to a large tree, in addition to our anchor, for the current runs very swiftly here, the river being but a little more than a mile in width, though very deep. Obidos, standing upon a rocky bluff, and with a background of hills, is very attract- ive, though it counts scarcely a single two-story house, and many of the others are uninhabited and dilapidated. As I wandered through the streets, I saw scarcely any one at the doors or windows. It seemed almost like a cemetery. The banks were considerably occupied by cacao-plantations. At a distance these somewhat resemble an old orange-grove. The chocolate-trees are planted three or four feet apart, and are from twenty to thirty feet in height. The cacao has a brownish bark ; and directly from the trunk, or large branches, springs a pulpy fruit, from whose flat, oblong seeds the choco- UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. 359 late of commerce is made. We passed some curious trading- boats ; they had two masts, the foremost one bearing two yards, and the deck was covered with a huge round cabin. These boats contain a miscellaneous stock of goods, and are sailed to villages where there are no stores. There they remain until the trade is exhausted, when they journey to another village. They are clumsy-looking craft, that might do justice to the ancient piratical boats of the Barbary coast. A few small schooners, with rakish masts, were also seen. To show the force of wind and current on the Amazon : vessels, with furled sails, can drift to its mouth from the base of the Andes, twenty-six hundred miles, in two months, and may be brought back most of the way with sails tilled by the strong easterly breeze which generally prevails. The east wind is, besides, so constant, that vessels go up against the powerful current as rapidly as they are borne by the current down-stream. The pirogues are propelled by short paddles, which have enormous and nearly round blades. The large canoes have one or two masts, with semi-cylindrical straw cabins in the center, or sometimes large wooden cabins in the stern. We occasionally passed steamers going up or down the river, but there did not seem to be much shipping of any kind. Perhaps, however, this impression was due to the enormous size of the , river. There are two kinds of river huts : one with straw-mat sides and straw thatches, and one with mud walls and tile roofs. The former are generally found in the more swampy sections, and are raised upon posts. Clustered about the landing-places, where a few pirogues are generally drawn up in the mud, are always to be seen a half- dozen or so of stark-naked children. Such men as happen to be noticed about wear nothing but trousers. The huts are sur- rounded with such food-supplies as mandioc, maize, bananas, and sugar-cane, and perhaps also a little tobacco. Great slabs of the joivavucu fish hang in the sun to be cured. This fish the Indians eat when fresh also, but, as it has a very soapy taste, it is not much relished by foreigners. As we slowdy passed, two or three degenerate curs crouched gloomily about, 360 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. and, too lazy to growl, stared at ns in the most amusing manner. The Indians are mostly engaged in collecting and selling wood, which many of the steamers use for their boil- ers, though the vessels of the Amazonian Company burn coal. On the morning of the eighth day from Para we entered* the Pio Negro, the spot where its inky -black stream enters the yellow Amazon being marked by a distinct and abrupt line extending across the river. After the dirty Amazon, the black though clear Negro was a pleasant change. J ust below the junction of the Negro with the Amazon is a very large island, which, indeed, is so large as to contain an exten- sive lake. Directly west of this island the Amazon is called the Solimoens, and still farther up to its source the Mara- non. The Pio IS egro contains almost no islands at first, but higher up it is nearly choked with them. A few miles from its mouth, on the left bank, is situated the city of Ma- naos, the capital of Amazonas. The river here is a mile in width. The city of Manaos begins about thirty feet above the river, at its edge, and slopes back amid so much vegeta- tion that you can not see half the houses. In the river were half a dozen double- decked steamers, two of which, one bound for the river Jurua, and the other for Iquitos, in Peru, soon fastened themselves alongside, in order to get what freight and passengers we had for their respective destinations. Anchored abreast the city were a small gunboat, a store- ship, several small launches, and, near the shore, a score or so of Indian craft. The most conspicuous object of Manaos, to one coming up from the Amazon, is a large, newly built market, standing on a point of land which projects into the Negro. The market-house is made of zinc, with a very orna- mental front. In what seems about the center of the city, near the river, upon a prominent knoll, is the cathedral, a great pile of flaring white masonry. Beyond this, to the left, is an old fort, not, however, disclosing any guns above its walls. Near the cathedral, on the opposite side, is a very foreign-looking, iron-girder bridge, spanning a small river. UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. 361 At the extreme eastern end of the city is a large saw-mill. A great fleet of boats came out to us from the shore, down to which were speedily driven several very civilized-looking hackney-coaches ! Having plenty of room, Manaos is a city very greatly spread out. In a long walk upon shore I no- ticed that it was laid out at right angles, that the thorough- fares,^ save the principal one, called Brazil Street, were nar- row, and badly paved with rough cobble-stones, and that the lighting was by means of oil-lamps. The houses are mostly of but one story. The ridges of some of the roofs were so fully covered with turkey-buzzards as almost to make one at first think they were an artificial ornament. On nearly every corner is a store, usually of miscellaneous articles and provis- ions, but sometimes devoted to a special line of goods. The business streets smell strongly of India-rubber. In the great warehouses you see enormous masses of dried caoutchouc- sap, or rubber, resembling great cheeses, especially when cut through. These are black, though the juice, when first ob- tained from the trees, is a milky white, the dark shade being produced by smoking. Brazil is the greatest rubber-produc- ing country of the world, though in Asia there are two species, the Urceola and Ficus, denominated as elastica. The Bra- zilian tree is called Siphonia elastica , and is known to botan- ists as a herbaceous succulent. I noticed several colleges, and a fine, large building at the southern end of the city was inscribed “Lyceo.” Two newspapers are published here, each three times a week. One is styled “ Amazonas, a Lib- eral Organ.” I have already alluded to the hackney-coaches, and here also, in the center of the vast Brazilian forest, are cafes, billiard-saloons, and barber-shops. An opera-house, which, if completed, would have rivaled that at Para, was begun, but want of funds prevented its red-sandstone walls reaching a greater height than about ten feet. At present the inhabitants receive their supplies of water from the Negro and small streams near by, whence it is distributed over the city in jars and barrels ; but some fine water-works, similar to those at Pernambuco, are being built for Manaos. 362 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. In the near future water is to be obtained from a spring-fed stream, about three miles distant, pumped into a reservoir some two hundred feet higher than Manaos, to which it will be conducted in a large iron pipe. My walk led me along a wide road, shaded by hand- some lime-trees, past the barracks, with red-sandstone walls, brass field-pieces, and sentinels before the gate. I then turned to the right, and upon high ground, commanding good views of the Rio ISTegro and the city, I found the Bo- tanical Gardens and “ Botanical Museum of Amazonas.” The building is a handsome two-story structure, faced with tiles, with two wings, the one labeled “ Museo,” the other “ Laboratorio.” It is a sort of general selection of the prod- ucts of nature and man in Amazonas — a vast province of eight hundred thousand square miles, but with a population of only sixty thousand inhabitants. It is open to the Manaos public only on Sundays, but to students and foreign travel- ers every day in the week. The first or ground floor is de- voted to a herbarium, a chemical laboratory, and draughting and photographic rooms. Up-stairs are a library of works upon Brazil, and a very complete ethnographical collection, which relates to the Indian tribes of this great province, and illustrates in a very interesting manner their clothes, domes- tic utensils, weapons, ornaments, implements of t tlie chase, etc. The collection numbers some three thousand specimens, and I was shown a complete manuscript catalogue, which was expected soon to be published. The director of the mu- seum is the famous Brazilian botanist, ethnographer, and explorer, Dr. J. Barboza Rodrigues, from whom I received much kindly attention. Dr. Rodrigues is widely known, among botanists, for his discovery of more than one hundred varieties of palms and five hundred and fifty of orchids, hav- ing made these two families of interesting and beautiful plants his specialties. The doctor is very expert with pencil and water-colors, and showed me a score of great folios full of splendid pictures of the various palms and orchids which he has discovered. He has published a large number of 363 UPON TEE SEA-LIKE AMAZON. . learned monographs upon the ethnography, archaeology, and philology of the Indian tribes. On my return trip to Para there were but about a dozen first-class passengers, which greatly added to my comfort, affording increased room and better attention at table. We kept to the middle of the river, and with double the speed of the upward voyage, though we made the same number of calls. The downward journey is more pleasant, because one is able to enjoy the fresh southeast trade-wind, which blows steadily and strongly up the river during the greater part of the day. We took on board many beef-cattle, embarking them in the most primitive and tiresome manner imaginable. In fact, four hours were sometimes consumed in doing what might have been done in fifteen minutes. The cattle were corraled at the bank’s edge, from which we were always dis- tant as much as fifty feet. A little wharf might have been built and the cattle put on board by this means, or they might have been placed in a scow and drawn alongside with little trouble or loss of time. But, no — the extraordi- nary method adopted was as follows : A bullock being las- soed within the corral, an attempt was made to get him down into the water, and then to swim him to the side of the steamer, there to hoist him on board by means of a stout rope fastened about his horns, and attached to a steam winch. A large rope was stretched from shore to steamer, and plying up and down this, in a canoe, were four or five men whose object was to hold the animals and draw them to the side of the steamer, where one of the men in the bow w T ould attempt to slip the lifting noose over the horns. Of course, with all these details, and the bawling of the men, the animals were terribly scared, and plunged, or ran, or stood obstinately, try- ing to upset the canoe, etc. They frequently broke away also from those endeavoring to pull them from the corral to the steamer, and scampered up the road leading to town, or away into the forest. In order to capture such truants as these, two or three mounted men, with lassoes, had to be constantly employed. To add to the trouble, darkness would often come 364 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. on before the cargo was completed, and an animal conld only be lassoed by the light given by flashes of lightning. The men laughed and shouted, and cracked jokes, and seemed to be having a most enjoyable time. The whole scene was well illustrative of the country and people ; and I have no doubt that a thousand years from now, if there are any cattle re- maining in these provinces, they will still be freighted to Para in the same kind of steamer and hauled on board in the same pristine manner. Our cargo up the river had consisted of foreign manufactured articles and provisions, and that down embraced rubber, cacao, bananas, Brazil-nuts, and beef- cattle. Arrival at Para happily terminated my voyage of two thousand miles upon the giant Amazon. In continuing my journey, I wished to go from Para to Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana, a distance of some four hundred miles up the coast to the northward, but there was no steamer, of any nationality, taking this route. In fact, the only break in the steamer service of the whole of the vast sea-coast of South America, is just through this com- paratively short distance, though from Cayenne the connec- tion is resumed, and you can go on along the coast by vari- ous lines, calling at all the chief seaports until you reach As- pinwall. Nor is there usually any ship or ocean- canoe to be obtained at Para. The voyage is occasionally made from Cayenne south, but that is with favoring current and wind, and the return journey of a canoe has been known to last three weeks. I found, therefore, that on this occasion the “ longest way around would be the shortest way home.” This was to go to Bridgetown, in Barbados, the southern- most of the Windward Islands, where I might get an Eng- lish steamer to Georgetown, in British Guiana, and depart thence, by Dutch steamer, to Paramaribo, in Dutch Guiana, and Anally get to Cayenne in a French steamer. I must then return to Georgetown, and go on to the Island of Trini- dad, in order to ascend the Orinoco and visit other parts of Venezuela. So I again patronized the “ United States and Brazil Steamship Company,” this time taking passage in the UPON THE SEA-LIKE AMAZON 865 Finance, a sister-ship of that in which I had gone from Per- nambuco to Para. Early in the morning we put our pilot aboard his brig, near the mouth of the Para, and a few hours later we passed the light-ship, and headed toward the north. The eastern end of the great Island of Marajo, being low ground and far distant, was not visible. During the after- noon we crossed the equator — for myself, in various parts of the world, the eleventh time — and I entered once more the northern hemisphere. We were soon crossing the mouths of the Amazon, fourteen miles wider than is the navigable length of what we are wont to call the “ lordly ” Hudson ! The water continued all day, and even until noon the follow- ing day, a dirty, yellowish-green in color. Fresh water from the Amazon may be taken up in the sea nearly two hundred miles from its mouth ! CHAPTER XLI. TO THE GUJIAXAS YIA BARBADOS. We had a pleasant voyage of four days to Barbados. The island is encircled by coral reefs, and visited by violent hurricanes, which make the navigation dangerous and cause great damage. It is about twenty miles in length and half as many in width. It is low and undulating, with hills and valleys, and sparsely covered with trees; but the soil is fertile and very minutely cultivated, as it must be with a dense population of one hundred and seventy-five thou- sand negroes. The exports are sugar, rum, and arrow-root, the nutritive starch used as a medicinal food. This plant acquires its strange name from the fact that the Indians once employed its roots to extract the poison of arrows. Barbados belongs to Great Britain, and is the most impor- tant member of the Windward Islands. It has its own Legislature. In the roadstead of Bridgetown, the capital, were half a dozen goodly sized ships, and three steamers of the Royal Mail Company, namely, one each from Jamaica, Trinidad, and British Guiana. I was rowed ashore, passed the ordeal of the custom-house without delay, and found quarters at the Nile Hotel, in a square facing an inner ship- ping basin and opposite a small bronze statue of Lord Nelson. A hotel across the street is styled the Trafalgar House, so there is no difficulty in realizing that one is in a British colony. In the center of the square is a very pretty little public gar- den containing a large fountain. On one side, covering an entire block, are the Government offices, substantial-looking TO THE GU TANAS VIA BARBADOS \ 367 edifices, of a rough gray stone, two stories in height. A Gothic tower, containing a handsome four-faced clock, rises from one of the large buildings. The streets of the business portion of Barbados are generally narrow, and macadamized with a stone whose dust is, unfortunately, very trying to the eyes. The sidewalks are so narrow that the streets have to be utilized by pedestrians. The buildings are of every size and shape, and range from one to three stories in height. There are several large stores of wonderfully miscellaneous con- tents, where the number and attentions of the clerks bring to mind the cheaper class of retail stores at home. These are filled all day long by a chattering, chaffing set of negroes, who are always amusing. The business part of Barbados being compressed into a very small district, the streets always present a gay and animated appearance. Telephones are a wide-spread convenience. Good and cheap hackney-carriages abound, a tramway runs to a suburb, and a railway semicir- cles the island. The cathedral is Episcopalian, or, more ac- curately, Church of England. It is an interesting old pile, surrounded by crumbling tombstones, some of which date from the sixteenth century, and are shaded by palms, ferns, and bread-fruits. The sacred edifice is large, with stained- glass windows and a good organ, and the walls are covered with memorial tablets, while the floor is paved with grave- slabs. In the Public Buildings, already mentioned as occu- pying a block near the shipping basin, are the two Parlia- ment Houses, the Assembly and Council Chamber, surround- ed by shrubs, lawns, and flowers. At the head of the grand staircase are two stained-glass windows, which beautifully picture Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, both in full state dress, w T ith conventional regalia. A door opens from the corridor into the large Assembly room, with ponderous ceil- ing made of huge timbers, and circles of chairs for the mem- bers. The Council Chamber is similar, and, in addition, adorned with full-length portraits of local celebrities. The remaining rooms consist of public offices, the Government Library, with twenty thousand volumes of general literature, 368 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA, and a large apartment, called Albert Hall, where traveling theatrical companies perform. One afternoon I rode in the only tramway in Bridgetown, which runs in a southerly direction to a suburb called Hast- ings. There are but four towns in Barbados besides the cap- ital. Hastings is the English garrison-post. Here are neat, clean-looking barracks, military storehouses, and a great level, grassy plain for a drill and parade ground. Natives are employed as soldiers as well as police, but, as the blacks vastly outnumber the whites of the island, it is found advisable to keep a stout contingent of British troops always on hand. Beyond the garrison, and at the terminus of the tramway, a hotel, with one hundred and fifty-five rooms, has just been erected, with a view to luring some of New York’s citizens, in the winter season, to Barbados as a sanitarium, the cli- mate of the island, though warm, being equable and healthy. A fine bathing-beach is one of the attractions. Others are the steamer, post, and telegraph facilities, and the fact that English is the language of the island. Barbados is especially well served with steamers plying to Europe, the three Amer- icas, and the West India Islands. Schooners of about two hundred tons burden also connect with the other islands and with British Guiana. Another day I took a trip in the little railway which runs in a circular course toward the south and east side of the island, and then to the north, along the edge of the ocean. The total length of this road is thirty miles. It is a narrow gauge, with small light cars and small locomotives, all, of course, of English manufacture. Two trains each way are run daily, but the road is not in a very prosperous condition, notwithstanding that its first cost could not have been very heavy, owing to the level character of the island. Bridge- town is spread over a good deal of ground, the dwellings of the negroes being all of wood, and one story in height. They are very small, often appearing like rows of dog-kennels along the narrow streets. The houses of the English residents are generally built of coral and lime-like rock. The latter seems TO THE GUI ANAS VIA BARBADOS. 369 to be the basis of the whole island, is quarried in a compara- tively soft condition, and hardens on exposure to the air. These residences are large, generally two stories in height, with widely protecting verandas and liberal supplies of large Venetian blinds. They stand in beautiful gardens of trees, shrubs, and flowers, with neatly trimmed lawns. The bend of the trees, all in one direction, plainly indicates the force and direction of the trade-winds. The train passes through immense plantations of sugar-cane, together with fields of maize and potatoes, more especially for the labor- ers. Large sugar-mills, with tall chimneys, and huge wind- mills for grinding cane and pumping water, with great farm-houses for the proprietors or managers, and small vil- lages of toy houses for the negro hands, are seen in every direction. The round stone towers, and huge, wood and sail arms of the windmills remind one strongly of Holland. Bar- bados is exceedingly bare' of trees — you see them only about the farm-houses or in stray copses — and yet, owing to the beneficent trade-winds, rain falls plenteously. Barely is there drought, and even then water may always be found at a .very few feet below the surface. Upon the eastern coast you notice great, uncouth masses of coral rock, a long way from shore, out in the surf, whose continual beating has worn away their bases, so that some appear like huge mush- rooms, while others are mutilated like the Egyptian Sphinx. Hear one of the stations stands Codrington College, the largest and best-appointed institution of the kind in the West Indies. The round railway trip occupied four hours. I had a few days to wait for the bi-monthly steamer to Georgetown, British Guiana. It was one of the Boyal Mail line, all fine vessels built on one model — long, low, narrow, with very sharp prow and raking masts. They are fast, clean, well served, and well disciplined, though it is hardly necessary to speak of the last, as this is a qualification always possessed by English steamers. The cabins are large, and extend the entire length of the vessel. A jpunkah , or fan-machine, is provided for the saloon-table. Hegroes, and natives of the 24 370 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA, West Indies generally, are employed both as sailors and wait- ers. In short, these vessels are admirably adapted to the tropical regions in which they mostly ply, and are purposely built low and strong, to withstand the hurricanes prevalent in the West Indies. The big ocean-steamship direct from Southampton brought us a large number of cabin-passen- gers, as she did also to the other connecting boats, those for Trinidad and St. Thomas. The steamer from England was to go on to Hayti, Jamaica, and Aspinwall. On the second day out, the bright blue color of the deep ocean began to change to the dull green of the comparatively shallow sea. Great sand-banks and mud-flats run far out from the shores of the three Guianas. The coast of British Guiana is so extremely low, that the first intimation one has of it is an occasional fringe of trees, or more probably some of the tall chimneys of the sugar-plantations, which appear to rise directly out of the water. All the coast, from above the Essequibo Biver to the Corentyn, is one continuous level of cane-fields. At noon we took a pilot from the light-ship, and anchored fourteen miles from Georgetown, which, with its shipping in the river in front of it, was faintly visible. The coast, both above and below the Demerara Biver, increased a little in height. The water became of a dirty, thick, yellow color. In making for the river a bar has to be crossed, on which, even at high tide, there are but eighteen feet of water. The steamers of this branch of the Boyal Mail serv- ice are, therefore, purposely made of a draught to suit this shoal. Of the city of Georgtown, from the ocean, but little may be seen, so low and level is the ground upon which it is built, and so thickly are its gardens and streets filled with trees, shrubs, and flowers. You seem to see only a tall, round lighthouse, the towers of a couple of public buildings, the hotel and market, and a picturesque church-steeple. The city stands upon the east bank of the Demerara Biver, which here, at its entrance into the ocean, is about a mile in width. It extends a couple of miles along the river, and nearly the same distance into the interior. Upon the opposite side are TO TEE GUI AN AS VIA BARBADOS. 371 sugar estates and a small village which is reached by ferry. The coast in the distance seems lined with mangroves and cocoanut-palms. At the northern extremity of the city, on ocean and river, is a fort, with strong, sloping walls of massive masonry, and low parapet, over which ominously peer a dozen or more cannon. Now we are abreast of the lighthouse, and not far from here are the buildings of the railway terminus. The line runs along the coast, to the eastward, a distance of twenty miles. This is about one third of the distance to the town of Berbice — the only other town in British Guiana — to which it is intended some day to extend the railroad. Hence to the extreme southern point of the city the river-bank is flanked with wharves covered with great warehouses of wood and galvanized iron. Many ships and a few steamers are always loading or unloading at these warehouses, but the larger vessels — about a score of ships and four steamers — are lying in a long row in the stream, a short distance from the wharves. The first of these was a great clipper-ship, just arrived from Calcutta, with several hundred Hindoo coolies, or laborers, aboard. Our steamer anchors, and, after submit- ting to a nominal inspection of baggage, the passengers go on shore in a little iron tender. The first impressions of a visitor, as he lands and walks around, or perhaps rides in one of the little hackney victorias with which the place abounds, are that he has arrived at a clean, orderly, busy, and pretty little city. The wharves present scenes of bustling commerce. The first street, called Water Street, running parallel with the river, is the chief seat of the warehouses and merchants’ stores. As you move along toward your hotel, you are struck with the number and great variety of races represented — Hindoos, Parsees, Chinese, negroes, Portuguese, creoles, and whites. Your next surprise will probably be in finding a very good hotel — the “ Tower Hotel,” so called from its high tower, which contains the winding staircase connecting its four stories, and from the belvedere of which a capital view of the city and river may be obtained. This hotel is new, and contains large, airy sleeping-rooms, with abundance of / 372 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. windows. It also includes public and private dining-rooms, ladies’ parlor, gentlemen’s reading-room, a billiard-room, and a bar-room. The deep porticoes, shaded by great Venetian blinds, and furnished with chairs and tables, are pleasant lounging-places. Georgetown is laid out at right angles, with numbers of parks and gardens. Its streets are broad and macadamized, and lighted at night by gas. The sidewalks are of cement, or of blocks of a composition of small stones and asphalt, from the famous pitch-lake in the Island of Trinidad. Through many of its streets run canals, a reminiscence of the Dutch, who originally established Georgetown, and there copied their maritime towns at home. Many of the public and private buildings, in their peculiar style of architecture, and their gable-ends facing the streets, call to mind Holland. The canals are not unhealthful, and serve a useful purpose during the rainy season, when they carry off the surplus sur- face water. The stores and dwelling-houses of Georgetown are generally built of wood and galvanized iron, with roofs of slate or shingle, and all, owing to the low land, have to be erected on brick pillars or heavy wooden piles. The size and vast stocks of some of the larger stores, supplying everything from bijouterie to boots, from staples to stationery, are very astonishing. Several of these repositories are handsomely and appropriately fitted up. Some of the public buildings are of brick and stucco. The dwellings generally stand detached and secluded in beautiful gardens. They are two stories in height, rarely of three, with pretty towers and cu- polas. One sees numbers of large wooden and iron tanks near them, which are used as cisterns for holding rain-water — the drinking-water of the city. The latter is well supplied with cabs, which are both good and cheap — by distance to any part of the city, the price is one shilling ; by time, four shil- lings the hour. Besides the cab-stands, one notices stands of mule-carts and even of donkey-carts. Three lines of tram- way start from the post-office, which is centrally located and near the river. One line runs northerly to the railway-station, A Chinese Immigrant , Georgetown, TO THE GUI AN AS VIA BARBADOS. 373 another eastwardly to the Botanical Gardens, and another westwardly around to the first great plantation on the south, called “ La Penitence.” Georgetown has an “elegant suffi- ciency ” of two very different kinds of public resorts, churches and clubs. You have a choice of the churches, or chapels, of England, Scotland, the Wesleyan Methodists, Roman Catholics, United Presbyterians, Congregational Dissenters, the London Missionary Society, the Moravians, Lutherans, the coolie missions, Indian missions, sailors’ missions, a Port- uguese mission, and so on. As there are only two thousand whites in the whole colony, some of the English churches must be content with rather slim congregations. Then, as to clubs, besides the usual social and convivial cliques pecul- iar to large cities, I find chess, rowing, athletic, lawn-tennis, cricket, rifle, and horse-racing clubs. The sea-front of British Guiana is about three hundred miles in length, with an interior depth of perhaps four hun- dred miles. Its entire population is now set down at two hundred and fifty thousand, of which some forty thousand are allotted to the capital. The population of the colony is quite as mixed as that of the metropolis. Only about 'eight thousand aborigines are supposed to be left. When slavery was abolished, in 1814, it was found necessary to recruit the ranks of laborers by immigration. There are now in the country from the West India Islands about eighteen thousand immigrants ; from India sixty-five thousand ; from China five thousand; from Madeira and the Azores seven thou- sand ; from Africa five thousand ; or a total of one hundred thousand immigrants employed as agricultural laborers. Along the coasts, and from twenty to fifty miles inland, are the cultivated lands — mud flats or alluvial deposits, composed chiefly of blue clay impregnated with sea-salt, and rich with decomposed vegetable matter. A large part is below high- water mark. Numerous fertile islands, some from twelve to fifteen miles in length, lying in the estuary of the Essequibo, are under sugar-cane cultivation. The interior of the colony consists of well-watered savannas, used for cattle-raising, 374 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA . and also dense forests of timber, very valuable for house and ship building, and for household furniture. Though cattle- farms and cocoa, plantain, and cocoanut estates alternate with each other, the vast bulk of the exports is sugar. The prod- ucts of the colony would, in fact, stand somewhat in this ratio of supply : sugar, rum, molasses, timber, cocoannts, and charcoal. A fine, large sugar estate — to give the reader a general idea — will have, perhaps, two thousand acres under cultivation, twelve hundred laborers, and a yearly output of fonr thousand tons of sugar. Many of these sugar estates have fancy or sentimental names, in Dutch or French, some of which are humorously as well as pathetically suggestive — as “ La Bonne Intention ” (The Good Intention) ; “ Goedver- wagting” (Good Expectation of Hope); “Malgre Tout” (In spite of All); “Vive la Force!” (Glory to Power); and ■“ Zorg ” (Care, Anxiety). Each of these great estates forms a small community by itself, and comprises — besides the male and female laborers — manager, overseers, engi- neers, a doctor, druggist, teacher, carpenter, blacksmith, book-keepers,' chaplain, police, and an attorney and agents in Georgetown. British Guiana is divided into the three provinces of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, and these again are sub- divided into parishes, named, singularly enough, after the Christian Evangelists and some of the alleged saints. It has a peculiar sort of government, its political constitution hav- ing been adopted from that established by its original Dutch possessors. The functions of a Legislative Council and House of Assembly are performed by the Governor and a Court of Policy, which, besides the chief magistrate, is composed of four official members appointed by the crowrn, and five elective members nominated by a body called the Electoral College and appointed by the court. The Gov- ernor and the Court of Policy attend to all public adminis- tration, save taxation and finance. These require in addition the services of six Financial representatives, elected by their several constituencies, the assemblage thus constituted form- TO TEE GUI AN AS VIA BARBADOS. 375 ing what is termed the Combined Court. The executive power is vested in the Governor, whose annual salary is fixed at the handsome figure of twenty-five thousand dollars, with twelve thousand dollars additional for what are not very exactly outlined as “contingencies.” The Governor is elect- ed for seven years. CHAPTER XLII. A BRITISH COLONY. Georgetown is not very rich in fine public buildings. The most attractive of them, however, is the new Law Courts, which is nearly completed. This is a large, L-shaped build- ing, to which an entire square has been assigned. It is two stories in height, and built in the “ Queen Anne” style. It is fire-proof, the lower story being of brick, stucco, and iron, with cement floors. The doors are of iron, the window- frames of iron, the staircases of iron. The rooms above are beautifully furnished in varnished pine and hard, native woods, and are in a sort of Dutch Renaissance style. Hear the new Law Courts stands what is styled, jpar excellence, the Public Building — a large, two-story, stuccoed structure, with a columned front and low central dome, occupying an entire square, and surrounded by neat lawns and pretty shrub and flower gardens. Between the Public Building and the river is the market, an enormous structure of galvanized iron, which would do credit to any city. It occupies an entire square. In the central facade is a great clock-tower, which has a fine belvedere atop. One half of the interior is ar- ranged as stalls for miscellaneous merchandise, and the re- mainder is occupied by market-women, who crouch upon the floor with their produce grouped about them, as is their wont all over South America. But comparatively few of the stalls were leased, showing thereby, as their rent is not high, that this great market is rather in advance of the present requirements of the city. The finest, and largest church in Georgetown is the Roman Catholic Cathedral, which is built Colonial Produce , British Guiana. A BRITISH COLONY. 377 entirely of wood, and the greater part of it of the hard woods grown in the colony. This is the church that has the lofty and highly ornamental spire, which forms a picturesque feat- ure in the general view of the city as obtained from the off- ing. The cathedral, whose architecture is Gothic, has some tine stained-glass windows, a high altar of marble and wood, and two good organs. In the post-office building a large room contains what is styled the “ British Guiana Museum ” — a collection representing the three kingdoms of nature. It is open to the public from 10 a. m. to 5 p. m. daily. In the same building are the reading-rooms and library of the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society. The rooms are large and comfortable, and fully supplied with European periodicals, while a miscellaneous library of about ten thou- sand volumes lines the walls of one of them. There are three extensive collections of books in three of the large stores — no store appearing to be devoted to a single line of goods ; so that, with the local periodicals, one has ample literary ex- ercise and food. The daily, bi-weekly, and weekly news- papers, the monthly and quarterly magazines, a bi-monthly “ Mercantile Intelligencer,” an annual blue-book, and a bi- weekly “ Official Gazette,” give an immense amount of local and statistical information. A building called Philharmonic Hall is used as a theatre. It contains about six hundred seats. In the center of the front row are some chairs upholstered in blue velvet, for the use of the Governor and family. The coat-of-arms of England, carved in wood, and highly colored, adorns the center of the proscenium arch, with the motto, “ The world’s a stage, the men and women merely players,” extending across below it. The hall is lighted by large crys- tal chandeliers, and its walls are decorated with busts and the names of famous musicians and poets. Along with the great names of Shakespeare, Milton, Scott, and Moore, I was agreeably surprised to behold that of Longfellow, and dis- appointed not to see that of Byron. This theatre is occupied by strolling companies, and is also used for musical, literary, and other public meetings and entertainments. 378 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. The residence of the Governor and family— called the Government House — is a plain, unpretending structure, of three stories, with a jporte-cochere , a few stained-glass windows, and some belvederes. The building is surrounded by lawns, shrubs, and flowers, and a native soldier, in Zouave uniform, stands on guard at the gate. The Governor holds a public reception once a week. Hear the Government House is a large park, occupying an entire square, called the Promenade Gardens, which is laid out in beds and paths, and filled with an extraordinary variety of those inevitable accompaniments — trees, shrubs, and flowers. So luxuriant, however, is the growth of this tropical verdure, that one can not distinguish well the different sorts of plants, the beds being simply a wild tangle of trunk, leaf, vine, and blossom. Especially striking, however, to a stranger from another clime, are the plants with colored leaves, the palms, the orchids, and the cacti family. The borders to the beds are of rough stones, and the paths are of broken shells. In the center of the gardens is an octagonal pavilion, in which the military band plays upon two afternoons of each week. There are several fashionable drives and promenades in Georgetown. One is to the sea wall and esplanade. The sea-wall extends for a mile or so along the coast, and, its top being cemented and provided with settees, it makes a fine promenade in the early morning or late afternoon, with the cool breezes and widely extended views of the ocean. A road runs parallel with the wall, and at a certain point a colored military band plays upon two afternoons of the week. The Botanical Gardens, about a hundred and fifty acres in extent, lie at the eastern extremity of the city. Besides affording a means of recrea- tion and instruction, nurseries are here formed for extending agricultural industries by introducing new products. Space is lacking to particularize the varied rarities and beauties of this splendid collection ; but, in referring to those gems of aquatic plants known as the Victoria Begia, I may remind the reader that this queen of lilies was first found in British Guiana, up the Berbice Itiver, about half a century ago. A BRITISH COLONY. 379 Near Georgetown, to the eastward, is an old, unused canal, which, for a distance of about three miles, is completely filled with this interesting species of lily. Here you may behold it in a state of luxuriance impossible to be obtained artifi- cially under glass. Large, spreading leaves, five feet in diameter, with rims four inches hi'gh, and immense rose- white flowers, two feet in diameter — there, thanks to heat and moisture, do honor to the name of Queen Victoria! Georgetown being only seven degrees north of the equator, is very warm, but the days are generally freshened by brisk sea-breezes, so that, with cooling baths and thin clothing, one may keep passably comfortable, and the nights being tem- pered by land-breezes, one may always get rest. The climate is therefore not unhealthy, save on the occurrence of epidemic yellow fever, which is extremely rare. The victims are almost exclusively from the foreign population. During my stay in Georgetown I made several trips into the interior of the colony. One was up the Essequibo and the Mazaruni, to what is termed Georgetown Settlement, the penal colony of British Guiana, distant about sixty-five miles from the capital. Little iron, paddle-wheel steamers, each of about one hundred tons burden, ply twice a week, going one day and returning the following, up the Essequibo, Deme- rara, and Berbice Bivers. These steamers are of very light draught, only three to six feet. They carry two classes of passengers, and provide meals, but no state-rooms. We had only two or three passengers with first-class tickets, but the second-class section was crowded with Hindoos, Mussulmans, Chinese, negroes, and creoles, who sang and played on musical instruments, and chattered, scrambled, and wrangled through- out the whole voyage. We left Georgetown at eight in the morning, going down the Demerara River, and around the ocean to the westward, to the mouth of the Essequibo. Though drawing but little water, we were obliged to keep several miles from the coast, which presented nothing but low land, with plantation succeeding plantation. The mouth of the Essequibo is about fifteen miles in width, and full of 380 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. islands, some of which are covered with cane fields. The river, however, gradually narrowed to five miles, with low, level banks covered with forest. The water changes in color from a dirty yellow to a brownish black. The banks are very thinly settled. "Wood-cutting and stone-quarrying seem to be the only commercial advantages proffered. At the junction of the Essequibo and Mazaruni, on the south bank, is a large village, half concealed by rank vegetation, and called Bartica Grove. It is the home of some remarkably beautiful palms. From this spot upward the Essequibo is crowded with small islands, and soon becomes so filled with rapids as to be navigable only by canoes. The penal settle- ment occupies a tolerably high point of land on the north bank of the Mazaruni River. A short distance beyond it, a considerable river, called the Cuyani, empties into the Maza- runi. This, like all the rivers of British Guiana, is broken by rapids farther up. The penal settlement calls for no extended notice. The situation is wholesome, being wind- swept, and the forest has been cleared for a long distance back. The buildings bear the conventionally grim aspect of a prison. A square stone tower has a large clock, which sol- emnly strikes the hours and quarters. The officials live round about, in comfortable houses, shaded by mango, palm, and bamboo trees. There are some three or four hundred convicts, the majority being imprisoned for theft, although not a few have been convicted of murder and other grave crimes, which receive life-sentences. I slept in the cabin of the steamer, and returned to Georgetown the following morning. A still more interesting excursion was that up the Deme- rara to Akyma, a distance of nearly a hundred miles from the capital. The fare was two dollars, and meals served on board were charged extra. The first-class passengers sit in great easy cane chairs, upon a little upper deck, level with the tops of the paddle-boxes. The Demerara flows nearly due north and south, and is probably in the neighborhood of two hundred miles in length, though its upper course has A BRITISH COL OUT. 381 not been explored by foreigners, and is therefore known only to the Indians. They report that it is much broken by cataracts. For forty miles the river is of a dirty yellow, caused by the clayey soil through which it flows ; but above this it changes to a chocolate, and afterward to a brownish black, like the Rio Regro of Brazil, and doubtless for a simi- lar reason, containing the lees of a vast quantity of decaying vegetation. At the mouth of the river are found sharks, and higher up alligators and several varieties of fish, some of them of a large size, upon which the Indians live, but which are not very pleasing to foreign palates. The Demerara has few tributaries, and these are mostly insignificant creeks. It contains numerous islands most of which are small. "Upon one of these, some twenty miles from Georgetown, the Dutch held their seat of government prior to its removal to the present position. The river has a very winding course throughout its length, and its banks are very thinly peopled. For the first thirty miles the banks are exceedingly low, and the country is astonishingly level, and studded with rich sugar estates, together with factories and dwellings. Rext we pass the first high land, consisting of hills of the finest, whitest sand, about one hundred feet in height. From this point the banks are covered with forest, thickly edged with large reeds. The forest is, of course, remarkably beautiful, and especially noteworthy are the enormous buttressed silk- cotton trees, the sturdy cabbage-palms, the feathery cocoa- nuts, great downy clumps of bamboos, delicately graceful assai-palms, dainty ferns, and others whose native names would convey little idea to the reader. There are only two or three regular stations at which the steamer calls, but she is obliged to stop for every boat which may put out from shore, and hail her, whether that boat be a little pirogue, sharp at each end as a pin, and carrying a single passenger, or even a single letter, or a great scow full of passengers, bag- gage, and freight. On our upward trip we stopped not fewer than thirty-three times, and thus lost more than two hours. A large amount of creole and mulatto travel variegates the 382 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. river. The pure negroes and creole negroes live in a state of primitive simplicity. Those who are assembled in the little villages earn a livelihood by cutting wood, preparing char- coal, and growing produce for the market at Georgetown. We passed many of their little boats, propelled sometimes by two or four men, with long sweeps, and sometimes by tiny and grotesque sails made of old brown tarpaulin. The more ignorant and lazy of these creoles, however, employ them- selves in stealing from the others, so that here I had an ex- planation of the frequently seen and remarkably civilized notices that “ all trespassers will be prosecuted to the full ex- tent of the law. 55 A few miles from our terminus is a large settlement of the Macusi aboriginal Indians. These are peaceful, kindly savages, going almost naked, and living in little grass huts. A peculiar fashion of theirs is tightly to bandage their legs, just below the knee and around the ankle, so as to produce an abnormally large calf. They begin this practice when very young, as the Chinese do with their feet, and the Flathead Indians with their heads, and the result is as disproportional and inartistic as the waists of female Caucasians. At Akyma, the terminus of the voyage, the steamer was secured to a buoy in the middle of the river, which had here narrowed to less than three hundred feet. Akyma is neither a town nor a village, but simply a few scattered huts. Owing to a strong head-tide and our very numerous stops, we were eleven hours in making our upward journey. I slept on a settee in the cabin, and left at seven the following morning, on the return voyage to Georgetown, which, as we made fewer stops, we were able to reach at four in the afternoon. A great development in gold mining is taking place in British Guiana. No quartz ledges exist ; the gold is found in rivers and creeks by washing. Three thousand people, mostly colored and inexperienced, are prospecting in the in- terior. In 1885 sixteen thousand dollars in gold was export- ed to England, and in 1887 over two million dollars. The industry promises to be permanent and lucrative. The busi- A BRITISH COLONY. 388 ness in native woods is large. Seventy-eight specimens have been sent to England. Their durability is very great, and a feature which adds to their value for furniture is their gen- erally bitter and disagreeable taste, which acts as a protec- tion against insects. They are not affected by dry rot. They vary in color from a light yellow to black. Most of them are well adapted to cabinet-making, taking a fine polish. I took passage for the capital of Dutch Guiana, about two hundred and fifty miles distant, in a trim, clean little steamer of about eight hnndred tons burden, belonging to the line styled in correct Hollandish “Koninklijke West-In dische Mail-dienst,” or, in plain English, “Royal Dutch West-India Mail.” Three steamers serve on this route, a monthly one, from Amsterdam to Paramaribo. The outward voyage is direct and without stop, but, arrived at Paramaribo, the homeward route then followed leads to Georgetown, Port- of-Spain (Trinidad), Curasao, Porto Cabello, La Guayra, Port-of-Spain, Paramaribo, Havre, Amsterdam. First-class circular tickets for the whole tour of about two months, with the privilege of breaking the journey at any port at which the steamer calls, cost three hundred dollars, this amount in- cluding board while the steamers are in port, should a pas- senger wish to make a continuous excursion. We had a full complement of passengers — about twenty of the first class. The same sort of low level coast prevails at Surinam as at Demerara. The channel, from the light-ship up to the mouth of the Surinam River, is marked by huge iron buoys, and the sea is of a very thick, yellow appearance. The river, at its mouth, is perhaps ten miles in width, and forests line both banks. We pass two or three old sugar-factories, and two small villages, and then see, directly before us, on a point where the Commewine enters the Surinam, the fort of Hew Amsterdam. This is merely a low earthwork, above which appear rows of guns of small caliber. The place looked neither formidable nor threatening. On the Commewine, which flows for some distance to^the eastward, are situated the finest sugar estates in Dutch Guiana. Steamers run up 384 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. this river twice a week, returning the following days, just as they ascend the Surinam, about a hundred miles, once a week. They run on the Surinam to what are the beginnings of the gold regions. At present the gold is mostly found by wash- ing, though there is also some crushing ; but, on account of a lack of capital to pay the heavy expense of importing ma- chinery into a section of roadless country where the rivers are generally raging torrents, the washing method prevails. As the steamer draws near the city, you notice, first, the walls of what was once no doubt considered a very powerful fort. This now contains the prison and the barracks of some three hundred Dutch troops. The tower of the Administration Building appears above the trees, and beyond it are the twin towers of the Roman Catholic Church. As you slowly move on, you catch a glimpse of a pretty park, an extensive mead- ow, and the tasteful front of the Government House. Then about all you see is a long row of two or three story dwell- ings, painted white, and with steep roofs, columned porticoes, green jalousies, and many curious little dormer-windows. Facing the river-front is a long row of the singular stunted and gnarled almond-trees. Paramaribo is situated ten miles from the ocean, where the river is about a mile in width. The banks opposite the capital are uninhabited, and the con- trast of a city on one side and a forest on the other is very striking. At the time of my visit there were only four small vessels lying at the wharves, and a little Dutch gunboat out in the stream. The river is very deep, and our steamer drew in directly to one of the wharves. To look up at the prim white houses, all of a like order of architecture, one would imagine one’s self in Holland ; but to see naked mulattoes paddling dug-out canoes, transports you at once back to Gui- ana and primitive man. Custom-house officers boarded the steamer as soon as it was made fast to the wharf, and the in- spection that followed was ridiculously exact and detailed. My baggage went in a donkey-cart, and I followed on foot to a sort of private boarding-house, the nearest approach to a hotel which Paramaribo at that time contained. CHAPTEE XLIII. PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. The city extends along the river for about two miles, with an average width of half a mile. It contains a large number of canals, as do all Dutch towns at home and Dutch colonies abroad. All the canals run toward the river, and serve the excellent purpose of drainage. Other noticeable features of Paramaribo are absence of trees and sidewalks in the streets, and the number and variety of the churches and burying-grounds. Of the latter, and all within the city limits, two are J ewish, two Eoman Catholic, two Eeformed Dutch, two Moravian, one military, and one is for poor people. The Jews — both German and Portuguese — are a large and powerful political party in Dutch Guiana. The city is lighted by paraffine-lamps. The streets are covered with the whitish sand and broken shells of the plain on which the city is built, and the glare proves very trying to the eyes. No tramways vein the city, though a few hackney- coaches are visible. The houses, were it not for the peculiar custom of placing their gable-ends, in so many instances, toward the streets, might almost pass for those of a New England town. They have sharply pitched roofs, generally covered with slate, and are usually surmounted with an attic- like half-story, with small or large dormer-windows. The great green doors — provided with enormous brass knockers, as in Holland — have roofed vestibules, which are a grateful refuge in hot evenings, for Paramaribo is an exceedingly hot place, with little breeze and many mosquitoes. The city is well policed, and has several steam fire-engines, wffiich, in 25 386 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. case of fire, draw water from one of the numerous canals. The streets, early in the morning, are always interesting, be- cause of the great crowds of natives going to or returning from market. The creole men dress in complete suits of white, as in China, but the women are always gayly dressed, and therefore attract special attention. They wear huge stiff- skirted gowns, and sacks low at the neck and cut very loose at the lower edge, with brilliant handkerchiefs so tied about the head as to lie broadly on top and allow of protrusive ends behind. The skirts are made very stiff with starch. Some- times the entire suit, including head-gear, will be of the same pattern, more often each piece will be different.; but you al- ways notice the happy combination of colors, in which par- ticular these people display very good taste. A peculiar and very unseemly fashion, however, is that of pulling a part of the dress up at the waist, and confining it there by a hand- kerchief, the upper portion being also sometimes improvised as a huge pocket. This naturally makes an ugly bulge, and throws the figure out of proportion. It spoils an otherwise piquant and picturesque costume. These loose jackets, stretched out behind, and great “ beer-barrel ” dresses, almost touching the ground, give the figures a curiously dumpy ap- pearance, like those of Hindoo and Egyptian women. Some- times shoes are worn, but more often they go barefooted. Their carriage, however, is easy and graceful, and, as they sail past in jaunty fashion, you perceive the younger ones are also very pretty, having scarcely any of the negro or Indian element about their features, save a trace of the color. You see these women, as those of Brazil, walking gracef ully along, and nearly always bearing something, without any effort or attention, upon their heads — now a newspaper or an umbrel- la, again a great tray of dishes or a three- gallon jar of water. In color they are a light chocolate, with smooth, fine-grained skins. Their features are generally regular, and their hair, eyes, and teeth are all that the most finical could desire. This much for the middle- class women. Those of the upper classes are frequently educated in Europe, and are as intelli- A Paramaribo Creole. PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. 387 gent as they are pretty and vivacious. I attended a ball at Government House, where I found these ladies quite equal to their northern sisters in grace, in manner, in accomplish- ments, and in dress. The heat is so intense in Paramaribo that gentlemen, when attending to business, generally dress in white duck ; but at home they are apt to pass most of the day simply in pyjamas, even coming to table and receiving visitors in such scant garb. The late nights and early morn- ings are, however, apt to be cool, and, were it not for this, a European or American could hardly keep his health there. The ice that is used is brought from the United States, and is sold at two cents per pound. It is, of course, a highly valued luxury. In the eastern part of the city, on the side next the river, just beyond the little fort, is a large level meadow fringed with cocoa-palms, with a pretty little private park on its east- ern border. On the northern is the handsome Government House, and on the west are the Stadt-House, the Court-House, and the office of the Government Secretary, all of quaint old Dutch architecture. In the center of this meadow a military band performs on certain afternoons of the week. Govern- ment House is of wood, two stories in height, with graceful columns and arches, and the Netherlands coat-of-arms, carved in wood and highly colored, glaring from the topmost pedi- ment. A broad road goes past, lined with fine old tamarind- trees, whereof the gnarled roots, half above ground, project twenty feet from their trunks, and twist like huge serpents. Behind the Government House is a large and beautiful gar- den, to which the public are freely admitted. The Governor is appointed by the Crown of Holland, and serves six years. He is associated in his duties with a Colonial Council. The population of Paramaribo is put down at twenty-five thou- sand, and of the whole colony at seventy thousand. The pri- vate park to which I have above referred contains some very interesting palms, one of the most striking and beautiful spe- cies being called the moriche palm. This park is much re- sorted to by the people for its beer-garden and restaurant, its 388 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. open-air ball-room, bowling-alley, and shooting-gallery. Balls are occasionally given on Sunday evenings, to which a mem- bership ticket or the introduction of a member admits you. Dance- music is furnished by the military band, and evening dress is not required. Full dress is, however, always obliga- tory at balls given at Government House. Other recreation is afforded by two small circulating libraries. Three news- papers— one tri-weekly and two bi-weekly — are published in Paramaribo. The solitary club contains reading, billiard, and smoking rooms ; and at the small theatre amateur perform- ances are occasionally given during the cooler part of the year. At infrequent intervals a strolling company of profes- sionals amuses the easy-going citizens. I took the French mail-steamer — which comes once a month from Fort de France, Martinique, where it connects with a large steamer of the same line from Saint Hazaire, France — to Cayenne, my next point of call. She is a com- fortable vessel, of fifteen hundred tons burden, and was quite full of passengers. The following morning we halted just long enough to leave the mail at the small and rather bare islands of Salut, on one of which is a French penal settle- ment. We had the previous afternoon passed the mouth of the Maroni Fiver, upon which are several other penal settle- ments. All along the French Guiana coast, in the neighbor- hood of Cayenne, are clusters of small islands, most of them wooded, and many of them inhabited. About ten miles from Cayenne is a lighthouse on a small rock, over nearly all of which the sea washes. From here the Guiana coast appears, for the most part low and covered with dense forest, though there are several pretty hillocks and, east of the city of Ca- yenne, several ranges of hills, or mountains, as they are styled here. W e steam slowly through a great swell of thick, mud- dy water. The houses of the city of Cayenne, owing to the vegetation, appear indistinctly, with the exception of the great yellowish-white, three-story barracks, and the Roman Catho- lic church. As we approach, a slight eminence appears at the extreme western side, where is an old fort, at present dis- PARAMARIBO AMD CAYENNE. 389 mantled and used as a signal- station. "We arrive in the early morning, and the island is covered with mist, through which the palms loom forth in spectral manner. To the left of the fort we saw a great grove of lofty cabbage-palms, and be- yond, and in nearly the center of the city, the roof and steeple of the largest church in Cayenne. Two or three small rivers, emptying into the sea by the side of the city, form a broad estuary, where lies the shipping. At this point we pass a low earthwork, mounting a few guns ; next, a short distance beyond, another and similar one, a little higher up ; then the great barracks, and now we anchor near a French man-of-war, three or four merchant-ships, and a few small ships and lighters. I land on a long, narrow, stone jetty, upon which are congregated several hundred of the inhabitants, some to re- ceive their friends, but more loitering about from mere curi- osity ; for the arrival of the monthly French mail is a great day for the Cayennese. Passing an open space, where some huge mango-trees stand, I walk along a very dusty road of crushed bricks, past a magasin general , and on to the custom- house, where the examination is very cursory. I then pass around the base of the fort, leaving the Treasury on the left, and the large buildings of the direction du port upon the right, and enter the Rue du Port, which is one of the princi- pal business streets of Cayenne. I have only to go a short distance, to obtain a room in a house on one side of this street, while I arrange to take my meals at a pension upon the opposite side. With the exception of the older part, in the immediate neighborhood of the hill of the fortress, Ca- yenne is laid out at right angles, and mostly in oblong blocks. It lies upon a level plain, the greater part of which is but fifteen feet above the ocean. The houses are two stories in height, and with their projecting roofs, balconies, and dormer- windows, make a very pretty sight. The dwellings of the best class are of stuccoed brick — colored pink, white, or yellow. Sidewalks are few. The street-cleaning brigade consists of vultures, which perform a like service for so many tropical 390 ABOUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. towns. In Cayenne these uncouth and uncanny black scav- engers congregate and rest in the tops of a great palm-grove. The city is lighted by lamps of paraffine-oil. A few carriages are to be obtained by sending word far in advance of the time required. The streets are full of people all day, save between the hours of eleven and two, when business is sus- pended, the shops are closed, and the people devote them- selves to breakfast and the siesta . The dress of the creole women, though not so quaint as that of the corresponding class — the middle class — in Dutch Guiana, is not inferior to it in the variety and ‘brilliancy of color. Their gowns are always much too long for them, and are constantly being lifted in such a reckless manner as to expose not only the little feet in high-heeled French shoes, but also entrancing sections of neatly turned and naked legs. The higher classes, however, appear in white stockings ; the lower always with bare feet. A large French garrison — one eighth of the entire population — is stationed at Cayenne ; and jaunty soldiers, in white trousers, blue coats, yellow epaulets, and white pith hats, are always to be seen about the streets. The city stands on an island, which may be circumnavigated by very small steamers and native boats. It is not supplied with roads, and contains numerous small plantations. A good general view may be had from the walls of the old fort. The appear- ance of the hills to the eastward is exceedingly pretty. From here you may also see the lighthouse on the rock, styled the Enfant Perdu, away to the north ; and the range of the Kaw ^ Mountains to the southeast. Access to the far interior is quite difficult. The rivers are mostly small and broken by rapids and cataracts. Gold has been found in hill-ranges similar to the other Guianas, and, though previously it has only been worked by washing, now companies are being formed and Crushing machinery introduced, so that mining in earnest, regular, scientific manner may commence. I saw in Cayenne some exceedingly rich specimens of gold quartz, brought from a hundred miles or so up-country. One of the most interesting sights is the great grove of A Cayenne Creole. PARAMARIBO AMD CAYENNE. 391 palm-trees, Place des Palmistes, or “ Cabbage-palm Square,” as it is locally termed. I was never tired of walking through the giant aisles, or admiring them from a distance, whence they resemble half a dozen of the great palm avenues in the Botanical Gardens of Pio de Janeiro massed together. The trees have, of course, been planted in this order, most of them more than a century ago. When one of them dies— which is very seldom — its spot is at once replaced by another, though necessarily a smaller one. These splendid palms are about five hundred in number, with an average height of eighty feet. They are placed in eight rows, about twenty feet apart, and perhaps the same distance from each other in the rows. They are thus sufficiently near to produce the effect of a stately Titanic hall, with great gray pillars, straight as arrows, supporting a roof of the glossiest of beautiful verd- ure. At one comer of this magnificent square stands that great botanical curiosity, a double palm-tree, which the citi- zens appreciate so highly that they always take a stranger the first thing to see it. It is still a young tree, though nearly as tall as the others, and is in perfect health. The trunk branches about twenty feet from the ground, and thence two trunks run upward until they terminate in tw r o perfect-shaped leafy crowns. At one corner of Cabbage-palm Square are the buildings of the “ gendarmerie,” an important and well- disciplined service in Cayenne. Pear by are the jail, a large military hospital, and what is termed the college — a sort of high school for creole citizens. Occupying an entire block, on another side of the same square, are the “ Intendance” or commissariat, the large artillery “ Caserne ” or barracks, and the Government printing-office, which, besides an official newspaper published once a week, issues a large number of valuable pamphlets relating to the colony, including an “ An- nuaire” of some three hundred and fifty octavo pages. In front of the latter is the Place d’Armes, a neatly grassed parade-ground, surrounded by rows of great mango-trees. Directly opposite the artillery barracks are the buildings of the “ Hotel du Gouvernement ” and the “ Mairie ” or town- 392 AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. "hall. Government House is a great square two-and-a-half- story edifice, of no architectural merit, though of a character well adapted to the climate. Set apart for the Governor’s use, however, is a very pretty little chalet , situated near the coast, about six miles east of the city. A semicircular level spot has been dug from the side of a bill, from which the timber has been cleared for a little distance, and upon this a pretty brick house, of a single story, with broad verandas, has been erected upon brick pillars eight or ten feet in height. In front of the house are flower-beds and a row of cabbage-palms. Steps lead directly down to the rocky beach. The great muddy sea stretches before you, studded with three or four thickly wooded islands. A strong, cool trade- wind comes in from the southeast. A path runs up the hill to a point where a summer-house has been erected. A sema- phore signals to that at Cayenne. The semaphore at the latter place may be distinctly seen, between the hills and over the woods, away to the west, though but little else in the city appears, save the tops of the lofty palmistes. In re- turning from the Governor’s seaside retreat, you may, if you like, take a look at one of the many convict establishments of the colony — of only the exterior, however, for it is not permitted the stranger to enter. Here, upon the islands of Salut, and in the settlement on the banks of the Maroni Hiver, is said to be a total of fifteen thousand prisoners. These are kept in confinement. About a thousand additional convicts are allowed at large, but are not permitted to leave the colony. The same steamer which brought me to Cayenne brought also a general of the Trench army, who had been sent out from France to inspect the troops stationed here. On the late afternoon of the day upon which we arrived a review and a brief inspection were held. But first came a levee at the Government House, attended by all the officers of the post. A regiment of infantry, a small battery of artillery, a handful of cavalry, half a dozen buglers, and a company of gendarmerie, all commanded by a colonel, are located at Ca- PARAMARIBO AND CAYENNE. 393 yenne. No military band makes music, which is to be regret- ted, since, to say the least, a drum-major is a desirable adjunct to a parade. The troops were drawn up in line in the street which passes by the great square of cabbage-palms. Then the newly arrived general, in full uniform, his breast a blaze of stars, crosses, and medals, and accompanied by a brilliant staff, walked slowly down the ranks and returned at the rear. The troops then formed into company front, and passed in review before the general and staff, who stood under the giant palms. I am not, of course, describing anything new in the matter of a revie w, but 1 wish to emphasize the extraor- dinary circumstances and associations of its occurrence. F ancy the pageant ! The hour was near sunset, with its peculiar tropical glow. Above our heads was the green sea of verd- ure. The red road, the brilliant and varied uniforms of the troops, the great crowds of creoles and people of every tint from white to black looking on, the spectacle of the veteran general with his staff of young officers, the stirring march- music of the buglers, the clatter of the artillery, the rush of the cavalry, and all about, seen through the columns of the great natural temple, the pink, yellow, and white walls, and the quaint balconies, windows, and roofs of the city — such a scene was certainly a remarkable combination of the works of man and of nature. From Cayenne, once more turning my head to the north, I went in the French mail-steamer to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, thence to take a steamboat running up the Orinoco Eiver. We stopped at Paramaribo for seven hours and at George- town for ten hours, and then headed toward the northwest. In the afternoon of the next day we were crossing the great delta of the Orinoco, the water having changed from a light green almost to a black, and in the evening the large British Island of Trinidad was sighted. Shortly after we entered the Gulf of Paria — a circular body of water between Trini- dad and the mainland of Venezuela — by the comparatively narrow channel on the south called the Serpent’s Mouth ; that on the north is styled the Dragon’s Mouth. The Isl- 394 : AROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA. and of Trinidad runs to three quite sharp points, the two western ones being actually peninsulas. In the bight of the southwestern point is the town of San Fernando, and in a similar bight of the. northwestern point is the capital of the island, Port-of-Spain. Before reaching San Fernando, we pass Point La Brea, near ’ which is a submarine spring of petroleum, and about a mile from which, on the island, is the famous Pitch Lake. Between this and the hills of the interior liquid asphaltum is found, and at two other spots near the coast the map has marked upon it the presence of both asphaltum and asphaltic oil. Then, again, about ten miles east of San Fernando, in the interior, these names ap- pear once more, together with springs of petroleum ; while directly south of them, and near the southern coast, I read the words “ asphaltic cones.” I do not find the presence of asphaltum indicated anywhere else upon the island, but no- tice some thermal springs a short distance north of San Fer- nando. We anchored about a mile from Port-of-Spain. The isl- and stretched away, quite smooth and level, to the eastward. To the north, back of the city, were ranges of low hills, cleared in parts below, but tree-covered above. A large field to the westward was planted with sugar-cane. Still farther was a group of islands, separating the Gulf of Paria from the Caribbean Sea. Again, still farther to the west, w r as the northeastern extremity of the Spanish Main, the mountains of Venezuela rising grandly from the sea-coast. We had passed a German man-of-war, and had anchored amid a dozen ships and two or three steamers. The city lies upon a gently inclined plain, but little above the surface of the gulf, at its edge, and, being filled with trees, does not appear to much advantage from the steamer’s deck. Landing, and having no trouble or delay in the custom-house, I enter a large open space called the South Quay. Here is the rail- way-station, whence daily trains are run to San Fernando, thirty miles distant. I pass great oblong blocks of ware- houses, and enter a large square, or boulevard more properly, PARAMARIBO AMD CAYENNE. 395 full of splendid old trees, and with a fountain at one end and a handsome Catholic church at the other. The street on the north side contains the shipping-offices, and many of the largest wholesale and retail stores. On the south side the names of hotels and clubs indicate the presence of many Venezuelans, and an extensive business with their country. The sidewalks of this boulevard extend in the form of arcades under the lower stories of the houses. I next pass the Treas- ury building, and soon find, opposite the post-office, a new and very good hotel. CHAPTER XLIY. TRINIDAD AND UP THE ORINOCO. Port-of-Spain reminded me in many particulars of George- town, Demerara — naturally, too, since both are cities of Brit- ish colonies. It is laid out at right angles, in large oblong blocks. The streets are macadamized, and have gutters of cut stone, in which, in most of the streets extending north and south, is running water. There are always sidewalks, sometimes paved, sometimes “ metaled,” sometimes covered w T ith asphalt blocks. The houses are built of brick, wood, or iron, and roofed with slate, iron, tiles, or shingles. They range from one to three stories in height. In the older parts of the city you see few trees, but in the northern parts, where the residences of the better class are situated, the profusion of vegetation and flowers is very remarkable. Port-of-Spain is well provided with hospitals and asylums of all kinds. These are constructed strictly for their purposes, rather than for any particular architectural effect, and the same might be said of all the public buildings, most of which are built solid- ly of stone or brick. In the southern center of the city is a large square — full of fine trees, and containing a neat bronze fountain — upon the western side of which are several of the more important public buildings, such as the Government House, Court-House, Town Hall, police barracks, and new public offices. Two lines of tram-cars run, and a good idea of the city may be obtained by riding to the terminus of one of these lines, and then walking a few blocks and taking the other line back. You would thus see, in the northern part of the city, what is termed the Savanna, or Queen’s Park, a A Big Tree in a Public Square , Port-of- Spain. TRINIDAD AND UP THE ORINOCO . 397 great open field of smooth grass which extends quite away to the base of the hills. It contains many large and splendid old trees, and around its edges a race-course and grand stand. Herds of feeding cattle give a pleasing aspect to the Savan- na. Beyond it are a very fine botanical garden, and the Governor’s palace. The botanical garden is especially inter- esting and worthy of a visit from the stranger. Besides many specimens of the enormous trees peculiar to the island — or, more exactly, to the tropics hereabout — are splendid flowers, shrubs, aquatic plants, also fountains and neatly kept paths. On the way back to the hotel you will notice the plain brick building of Queen’s College, standing in a large inclosure. This is intended for boys under the age of twen- ty-one. The curriculum comprises the English, French, and Spanish languages, classics, mathematics, and chemistry. It is distinctly stated that no religious instruction is given in the college. The charge for tuition is only forty-five dollars per annum. There is a public library of about twelve thousand volumes, and connected with it a reading-room containing a good selection of English periodicals and newspapers. Sev- eral tri-weeklies appear, but no daily newspapers as at George- town. Iron pillar post-office boxes abound in the streets, and are emptied thrice daily. I, of course, visited that natural phenomenon, the famous Pitch Lake of La Brea, about forty miles south from Port-of- Spain. A commodious passenger-steamer runs there two or three times per week. Such of the island as may be seen on the first part of the journey is low and swampy, then succeeds higher ground, covered with large sugar-cane plantations, with hills and woods in the distant background. Our first stop is at San Fernando, the second towm of the island, and very curiously situated at the base and upon the flanks of a solitary hill rising up from the shore. So little available space does there seem to be, that great slices have been cut from the hill in order to find standing-room for the houses. Hear the landing are the railway-station and several large warehouses, but little of the town is seen from here, owing 1 J y