RIO DE JANEIRO AND ITS ENVIRONS. 47 
Mountains lift their singular needle-like points, while 
within the entrance rises the bare bleak rock so well 
known as the Sugar Loaf (fad de Assucar~) . Were it not 
for the gateway behind us, through which we still have a 
glimpse of the open ocean, and for the shipping lying 
here at anchor, leaving the port or entering it, we might 
easily believe that we were floating on some great quiet 
sheet of inland water. 
We reached our anchorage at eleven o'clock, but were 
in no haste to leave the ocean home where we have been 
so happy and so comfortable for three weeks past ; and 
as the captain had kindly invited us to stay on board till 
our permanent arrangements were made, we remained on 
deck, greatly entertained by all the stir and confusion 
attending our arrival. Some of our young people took 
one of the many boats which crowded at once around 
our steamer, and went directly to the city ; but we were 
satisfied with the impressions of the day, and not sorry 
to leave them undisturbed. As night came on, sunset 
lit up the mountains and the harbor. In this latitude, 
however, the glory of the twilight is soon over, and as 
darkness fell upon the city it began to glitter with innu- 
merable liffhts along the shore and on the hillsides. 
o o 
The city of Rio de Janeiro spreads in a kind of crescent 
shape around the western side of the bay, its environs 
stretching out to a considerable distance along the beaches, 
and running up on to the hills behind also. On account 
of this disposition of the houses, covering a wide area 
and scattered xipon the water's edge, instead of being 
compact and concentrated, the appearance of the city at 
night is exceedingly pretty. It has a kind of scenic effect. 
The lights run up on the hill-slopes, a little cluster crown- 
