76 To the River Plate and Back 



railway, which has been built almost to the summit. 

 It is operated in the same manner as many of the rail- 

 ways which have been built in Switzerland to enable 

 tourists to gain peaks, which a few years ago were only 

 to be reached by vigorous effort. Under the skies 

 of Brazil the most devoted worshiper of the alpenstock 

 is justified in substituting for the toil of his muscles a 

 small contribution of cash from his pocket and for- 

 getting the glory he won in his youth by many a reckless 

 ascent. The railway climbs up by way of a gorge in 

 the steep mountain-side, through which a brook comes 

 foaming downward. Great trees overhang the track 

 and through their tops are caught glimpses of the land- 

 scapes below. The last one hundred or more feet of 

 the ascent are made by flights of steps cut in the solid 

 rock, up which the tourist must go as a pedestrian. 

 On the summit have been built a small pavilion, and just 

 below it on the narrow edge of the mountain a platform 

 about five feet wide, protected on both sides by balus- 

 trades. Walking to the end of this platform the 

 observer looks out and down upon the world below him, 

 as a man looks down from the basket of a balloon. 

 Were he to leap over the balustrade he would drop 

 nearly a thousand feet. The view is magnificent. On 

 the east lies the Atlantic Ocean, a mass of sapphire, 

 over which white fleecy cloudlets wander landward; 

 to the north and the west is the bay, sprinkled with 

 green islands, a sheet of lapis lazuli inlaid with emeralds ; 

 in the further distance to the north and west are the 

 Organ Mountains, some of which lift their heads seven 

 thousand feet above the sea; to the south are Tijuca 

 and a hundred green hills; immediately below lies the 

 city, spread out as upon a map, every avenue, every 

 building in full view. Along the white roadways the 



