Rio de Janeiro 67 



the Botanical Garden. Calling at the house of the 

 Director we learned to our regret that he was not at 

 home, and proceeded in a leisurely manner to walk 

 through the park, in which is gathered one of the most 

 superb collections of tropical vegetation which exists. 

 The chief glory of this wonderful garden is found in the 

 avenues of royal palms, some of which have survived 

 the vicissitudes of a century and still are apparently 

 filled with pristine vigor, sending their columns aloft 

 into the air, great rounded shafts of supple wood, 

 crowned with huge coronets of exquisite foliage. We 

 lingered in the garden until it was nearly dusk, and 

 then repaired in company to my hotel upon the moun- 

 tain side, and until nearly midnight sat and talked of 

 mutual friends who are leaders in scientific research, and 

 of the great future that lies before Brazil, destined with- 

 in the next two hundred years to be the home of one of 

 the greatest nations upon the globe. We parted with 

 the promise that on the evening of the morrow we would 

 go together and visit the house of a friend who has the 

 largest collection of butterflies in tropical America. 



