8o To the River Plate and Back 



tortuous stream, as we slowly made our way to the 

 docks, we saw the ribs of a number of American ships 

 rotting in the sluggish ooze, and I was told by the cap- 

 tain that these were ships which had been abandoned, 

 crew after crew having died on them from yellow fever, 

 and that they had been finally towed to the shore and 

 deliberately burned, because they were veritable 

 plague-ships and could not be taken away. Now all 

 is changed at Santos. The building of the new docks, 

 the consequent filling up of the low, marshy land on 

 the river-front, and the adoption of proper sanitary 

 precautions have led to the almost total extermination 

 of the mosquito, which bred the yellow fever. Prop- 

 erty values in Santos have risen within recent years 

 in a manner truly marvelous. The town is the port 

 of Sao Paulo, the capital of the state of the same name, 

 which is built on the uplands twenty-five hundred feet 

 above sea-level at a remove of two hours by rail from 

 Santos. The latter city has about seventy thousand 

 inhabitants; Sao Paulo about four hundred and fifty 

 thousand, more than half of whom are Italians. 



The river-front of Santos for more than a mile is 

 faced by docks and warehouses of modern construction, 

 and these are being rapidly extended. The town is 

 compactly built. There is an extensive system of 

 street-railways, the service upon which is excellent. 

 By means of these access may be had not only to every 

 quarter of the city but also to the suburbs. Of these 

 the most attractive is Guaruja, where there is a noble 

 beach of pure white sand, much resorted to by sea- 

 bathers, and a number of fine hotels. Sao Vicente, 

 located about six miles from Santos, is the site of the 

 first permanent colony established by the Portuguese 

 in Brazil. Here in January, 1532, Martim Affonso da 



