formation. He took us up to his house, regaled us with coffee, and lent us a horse to replace one of ours, which was tired. At length we reached Queluz, soon after three. It is really a nice-looking little place, though very straggling. There are three thousand inhabitants, and three churches, but no resident priest. For a change there had been Mass this morning, so of course every one went, and there were dozens of marriages and baptisms. One man was married to the wrong woman, owing to the service being only read once for twenty or thirty persons; hence some muddle took place, and the result of his anxious inquiry as to whether he can be released and married to the right one is not yet known. He had hold of the right woman's hand, but the certificates were made out with the wrong name.

Arriving at Queluz, we went to the Hotel Central, where we were received by some half-dozen engineers ; and, after a slight refreshment, had a long conference about the railway, comparing maps, listening to experiences and details of different proposed routes, and finding out how very little-in fact, nothing-is known about the country between this place and Pitanguy, the proposed terminus of our railway. The chief engineer here is a Senhor Hargreaves. He is a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, English by parentage, born at Lisbon, brought up at Rio; he travelled in England and Europe with Dr. Rebouças some ten years ago. He is married, and has three charming children, two boys and a girl, who all look the picture of health. Mr. Hargreaves tells me that the climate here is very healthy, which I can quite understand. Nevertheless, I have to wrap myself up after sunset, though the temperature is not really very low; it is only the contrast of the cool nights after the hot days. The minimum on June 28 here was 3° C. or 38° Fahr. (It is now midwinter.)

Mr. Hargreaves most kindly invited us to dinner, and we spent a very delightful evening. He showed me a number of geological specimens of rocks taken from cuttings and tunnels on a line he is constructing to Ouro Preto, the capital of the Province. Some of the specimens were very fine, e.g. a beautiful rose-coloured marble, used for walls, which would be worth a good deal if it could be taken to Rio and shipped; some hæmatite, very pure; some splendid quartz crystals-the Brazilian crystal so extensively used for spectacles; and two fine cubes of iron pyrites, very perfect. He tells me that rattlesnakes are very numerous, some as much as four feet long; but they are not at all dangerous if permanganate of potash be injected hypodermically immediately after the bite is received, as then in two hours you are all right. Armadilloes are also plentiful, but only small ones, the larger ones being found more in the north of the province. There are besides pumas (the Brazilian lion), but very small ones; and likewise plenty of hornets, which can sting a horse or a man to death easily; so we must be cautious.

Estação Paraopeba.

*

July 2.-Our luggage arrived at Queluz at 9 a.m., only eighteen hours after ourselves, having been twenty-one hours coming nineteen miles, at the modest cost of eighty milreis (about £6 10s.).

This morning it was very cold and windy, with a thick mist; however, it cleared off when the sun was up, and turned out a beautiful day, not too hot, with plenty of clouds about, but no rain. We shall, in fact, have no rain to speak of for about three months, the rainy season here

*During the whole time I was out I never fell in with any rattlesnakes, and never even heard of any "pumas," though I was told of “onças.”

being from October to March; but no one stops work longer than is absolutely necessary, even during the rains.

We had the usual solid breakfast. There are only two meals a day, as a rule, in Brazil-breakfast and dinnerthe first about eleven, and the latter about four; there is no difference between them, except that sweets are not served, as a rule, after breakfast. Coffee comes at the end of each meal, when the wine is removed. After breakfast we went to the engineers' offices, examined plans and sections of the lines and extensions now in course of construction, looked over the best maps that are to be had, and had another long talk. Our party then broke up, I having to return to Carandahy, while my three companions started for Ouro Preto to interview the President of the Province. Ouro Preto is a nine-hours' ride from Queluz.

I left Queluz for Paraopeba station at 12.15, alone with the guide, and the three horses we were taking back, fresh ones being engaged for the Ouro Preto journey. I found my book, "Colloquial Portuguese," most useful, and managed to say everything I wanted to my man; though he, presuming on my powers, poured out a great deal I could not quite grasp. Most of the return journey we went the same way as we came yesterday, but followed the mule track for the last few miles, which portion we traversed yesterday on the engine. We passed many ox-carts on the road. From ten to sixteen oxen are yoked to each cart, which only carries about a ton, and they travel two and a half to three leagues a day (ten or twelve miles). The wheels are solid, and the axles keep up the most awful humming screech the whole time, which informs you half a mile off that they are coming; so you have time to get off the road into the forest, or whatever may be at the roadside. The warning is, therefore, useful, because sometimes

the road is sunk six or eight feet below the ordinary surface, so that as there is no room to pass the cart, on meeting it you would have to retrace your steps, for the oxen could not turn round.

Arriving here (Paraopeba) at 4.20, I first presented a letter from Dr. Rebouças to the contractor, Senhor Trajano Machado, asking him to place the engine at my disposal. But it had just gone up the line, and would not be back for an hour. I therefore came over to the hotel, the only house, except the engineer's, within miles, and presented another letter to the man who owns this place. I arranged to take four bedrooms and a sitting-room, for fifty milreis a month, and then had some dinner. Macaroni soup,

onions, bad sausages, and feijões (black beans) failed to satisfy me; so I ordered half a dozen poached eggs, and wound up with preserved pinc-apples and cheese-somewhat of a mixture! Returning to the station, I found the engine was not available till ten o'clock to-morrow, so came back here, not sorry to have a quiet evening to write home; otherwise the delay is inconvenient, as I have, among other things, to telegraph to London.

July 3.-Left for Carandahy at eleven on the engine. About half-way we came to a place where, owing to a bad foundation, the soil was being cut away from under the rails to put in a dry stone culvert, never expecting the engine in that direction. The pleasing result was that we had to wait three-quarters of an hour, while the rails were being underpinned and made secure, so that we did not reach Carandahy till 1.15; having been two and a quarter hours over eleven miles, and twenty-five hours covering the thirty miles from Queluz!

July 5-Yesterday the luggage arrived at Carandahy, having been only six days en route from Rio de Janeiro!

In the evening I returned to Paraopeba, having passed the whole day hunting up the district engineer, who had promised a train to bring us and all our language en masse to this place; but, after all, I was unable to make arrangements. To-day I have spent five hours in a preliminary exploration of this valley, as I am strongly inclined to make use of it for the railway.* I went on foot, not caring for the expense of a horse, and feeling more free to go anywhere. Everybody who passed apparently thought me insane, for no one walks an inch when they can help it. One thing I already see clearly, that the country is not as easy as was represented, and we shall have our work cut out for us.

I have to-day had my baptême d'insectes, in the shape of a delightful little creature called the "carrapato," a kind of tick which burrows its head in your flesh, and has to be dug out with the point of a knife. I also saw one snake, but he glided away from me.

Paraopeba.

July 7.-At length I have found out the real cause of delay. The contractor's engine is supposed not to be powerful enough to bring all our luggage, and there is a bridge near Carandahy which is hardly finished, so that the large engine cannot cross it; but I now expect we shall all be here together to-morrow. Two of the staff, however, tired of waiting, wished to come up last night, so I arranged for the engine to come down for us about 5.30. A truck was in readiness at 4.30, and we placed our light luggage on it; the engine arrived at 5.30, but, owing to the usual indifference to delay, we did not leave till 7.30. We three rolled ourselves up on some mat-beds we had bought, and laid in the ballast truck to keep ourselves warm; but

* The railway is now constructed along this valley (January, 1886).