466 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 
CHAPTER XV. 
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF RIO DE JANEIRO. ORGAN MOUNTAINS. 
VOYAGE FROM CEARA. FRESHETS AT PERNAMBUCO. ARRIVAL AT Rio. 
COLLECTIONS. VEGETATION ABOUT Rio AS COMPARED WITH THAT ON THE 
AMAZONS. MISERICORDIA HOSPITAL. CHARITIES CONNECTED WITH IT. 
ALMSGIVING IN BRAZIL. INSANE ASYLUM. - - MILITARY SCHOOL. 
THE MINT. ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS. HEROISM OF A NEGRO. PRIMARY 
SCHOOL FOR GIRLS. NEGLECTED EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN BRAZIL. 
BLIND ASYLUM. LECTURES. CHARACTER OF THE BRAZILIAN AUDIENCE. 
ORGAN MOUNTAINS. WALK UP THE SERRA. THERESOPOLIS VISIT TO 
THE "ST. Louis" FAZENDA. CLIMATE OF THERESOPOLIS. DESCENT OF 
THE SERRA. GEOLOGY OF THE ORGAN .MOUNTAINS. THE LAST WORD. 
May 29?7* . We arrived in Rio more than a month ago, 
having left Ceara on the 16th of April. There was nothing 
worth recording in our voyage down the coast, except that 
at Pernambuco we found the country even more overflowed 
by the recent rains than it had been at Ceara. Going to 
breakfast with our friends, Mr. and Mrs. R , only four 
or five miles from the city, we passed through portions of 
the road where the water was nearly level with the floor of 
the carriage ; and temporary ferries were established by 
negroes, who were plying rafts and canoes between the 
shores for the benefit of foot-passengers. A mile or two 
beyond Mr. R 's house we were told that the road, 
though one of the most frequented in the neighborhood of 
the city, had become quite impassable. We saw many over- 
flowed gardens and houses abandoned because the water 
was already above the windows of the ground-floor. 
We had a warm welcome back to the beautiful bay of 
Rio, on board the " Susquehanna," just then in the harbor. 
