CHAPTER X.

LAST DAYS IN BRAZIL.

Ascent of the Corcovado.

July 6.-After church I went for a cup of coffee and a little loaf to the Carioca Café, and then jumped into a Larangeiras tram-car en route for the Corcovado. I was told by some Brazilians afterwards that no one but a mad Englishman would think of going on such an expedition, firstly, on foot all the way when a horse could have been hired; secondly, in the heat of the day; thirdly, in top hat, frock-coat, and Sunday-go-to-meeting attire. However, I did it. For some two miles from the heart of the city the cars go southwards on the Botafogo Road, and then turn to the right at a square called Praça do Duque de Caxias, where are some very fine avenues of palms of a great height. The cars proceed thence up the Rua das Larangeiras, which is quite lovely with well-built and gaily painted houses in the midst of most beautiful gardens, and the road is lined by huge wide-spreading trees covered with hanging lichens; while between sunken walls on the left of the road flows a shallow stream, which is crossed by little wooden bridges to the garden gates of the various houses. As one proceeds, the road winds about and ascends slightly through a gradually narrowing valley, bounded by

two ridges descending from the Corcovado, forest clad throughout, and with "chacaras" (country houses) peeping out of groves of palms and clumps of bananas in clearings in the forest. Leaving the tram-car at its terminal point, 40 metres (131 feet) above the sea, at 1.45 p.m. I began the ascent, and, proceeding over a very rough, zigzag road, reached the fine broad main road, leading to the hill of Santa Theresa, at a height of 220 metres (621 feet), at which point I came to the railway in course of construction, which is being built by a private company, from Larangeiras to the summit of the Corcovado, on the central cogwheel system-also employed on the Petropolis railway, which I shall hope to describe when I have visited it. At the point where I reached the railway, it crosses a very high viaduct on a steep incline; the bases of the piers are of stone, and the superstructure of angle and tee irons, on which rest the girders (three spans, lattice), carrying the cross girders and rails, a hand-rail being placed on each side. Seen from above, or, indeed, from either end, this viaduct looks very awkward, the rails having a very ugly S curve-the cross girders being also laid to the same curve-which is decidedly objectionable. The engineering features at this point are the most remarkable part of the line, as the railway, after crossing the viaduct over a deep gorge, enters a tremendous cutting on a curve, with a still stiffer gradient of perhaps one in five, the cutting being at least a hundred feet deep. Leaving the viaduct, I walked up this cutting and proceeded partly over the banks and through the cuttings of the railway and partly by the road, making occasional short cuts along steep by-paths, inspecting en route the works of the railway and the wellconstructed stone abutments at the edges of deep gorges, which are to be spanned by girders. The whole route lay

through dense forest of the usual luxuriant type; but the palms, cycads, etc., and large trees are more frequent, and the parasitic orchids and other epiphytes more luxuriant than in the high country of the part of Minas I was in. The birds, however, are fewer, and there are no parrots or monkeys, except a few marmosets, which is not to be wondered at, being so near the metropolis. There were occasional charming glimpses through the forest of the city and the Organ Mountains. At length I reached Peineiras, where there is a "chacara" and a few other buildings.

This spot is 439 metres (1430 feet) above the sea. The concessionaires of the railway intend building a grand hotel here, and founding a colony, to induce the citizens and foreigners to live up at this place during the summer instead of going to Petropolis, as this will be within an hour by rail and tram from the centre of the city, whereas Petropolis is considerably more than two hours' journey. It is certainly an enchanting spot, and magnificent views of the Atlantic are to be seen within a few minutes' walk.

On reaching the main shoulder of the mountain, the Atlantic burst suddenly in view, and from this point began the stiffest part of the climb. I gained the summit in one hour and seven minutes after leaving the train, including rests -tolerably quick, as the summit is 712 metres (2196 feet), which gave over two thousand feet ascent per hour. It was a stiff pull up, and, though shaded much of the way by the lofty forest trees and tangled masses of creepers, was intensely hot work. Every stitch on me was dripping wet, and I should have liked a cloak to ward off the chilly wind which blew over the top.

The summit consists of two rounded masses of bare rock, walled in to prevent accidents, which would be only

too likely to occur, as on one side the mountain descends perpendicularly over a thousand feet. On the summit are many steps cut in the live rock, without which it would be difficult to keep one's foothold. When I arrived there were three natives in shirt-sleeves and with long sticks. I thought how easily they might go for me, rifle my pockets, and throw me over the wall, a sheer thousand feet, into the virgin forest beneath. However, they did not perpetrate the ghastly deed, or I could hardly have written these lines.

How can I describe this view? It almost passes description. With a perfectly cloudless sky, the eye ranged from the Organ Mountains on the north side, some fifty miles away, to Cape Frio, seventy-five miles to the east, and to a cape beyond the Ilha Grande, near Paraty, some seventy miles or more to the west; while to the south lay the broad expanse of the Atlantic, whose ripplets broke in silver threads upon the sandy shores, or dashed against precipitous rocks. All the mountains on the Nichteroy side appeared a promiscuous mass of dark green hillocks. The whole of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro, with its countless islands, was mapped out. At a dizzy depth below lay the vast city; its numerous morros, or hills, scarcely appearing to rise above the plain. The Sugar-loaf (1383 feet) seemed a ninepin. To the west--by glimpses through the roughand-tumble forest-clad mountains, among which are the square-topped rock Gavea, and the Two Brothers-were lovely scraps of the Atlantic and the cape in the far distance, on the borders of the province of São Paolo. The horizon of the Atlantic was lost in haze; but on its blue bosom were seen, as tiny white specks, ships in full sail, and one or two steamers. I watched one of the latter, the Advance, coming in from New York. It presently entered

the bay, and a puff of white smoke rose from its bows, followed a few seconds afterwards by the boom of the gun noting its arrival. Just below me lay the Botanical Gardens and the dark green slimy waters of the Lagoa Rodriguez de Freitas, its dirty and unhealthy waters contrasting wonderfully with the clear blue of the bay and the Atlantic, from which latter it is separated by a strip of white sandy beach. I could distinctly hear the pleasant jingle of the bells on the tram-car mules some two thousand feet below, and even the trampling on the hard setts, and could just see the cars crawling along, like specks, on the long straight white road; but the mules were hardly visible, or individuals either, unless they carried open umbrellas.

I stayed on the top for three-quarters of an hour, and then reluctantly descended through the cool forests, where the sun was then hidden behind the mountains. I heard the rushing brooks, saw the lovely waterfall, and an hour afterwards was in the tram. I shall never forget this day, and hope to go up once more before leaving Rio.

July 10.-Our chief departs for England in three days, so he gave a farewell dinner to the staff and some friends this evening at the hotel restaurant, Novo Mundo. The room where we dined is very large, magnificently fitted up, and had a profusion of flowers and plants. The dinner and wines were irreproachable; it is the only elaborate dinner I have attended since I have been in Rio, as, the Minister being in England, I could not follow up my introduction of a year ago by visiting him, and I have had no time to make friends. The chief had engaged a box for the opening night of a travelling English company at the St. Luiz Theatre, and thither we repaired after dinner. The pieces were "Pygmalion and Galatea," and a bur