82 To the River Plate and Back 



of ecclesiastical power were in conflict with their liber- 

 ties, and they hunted the Jesuits out of the country as 

 diligently as they hunted out the savages who refused 

 submission. The whole story has not as yet been told 

 as it deserves to be. The genius of some Brazilian 

 having the historical power of an Irving or a Parkman 

 should be summoned to the task of giving to the world 

 a complete record of this really wonderful chapter in 

 American development. 



The city of Santos is dominated by a hill rising above 

 the town, on the summit of which is a shrine resorted 

 to by the sick, who are reported to derive great benefit 

 from the visit. A rather remarkable collection of wax 

 models such as are generally displayed in medical 

 museums, showing the nature of various diseases, is a 

 part of the furniture of this holy place. The small 

 parks of Santos, of which there are several, are well 

 kept, and contain fine specimens of tropical plants. 

 In one of the parks in the center of the city the muni- 

 cipal authorities have placed a colony of sloths. Some 

 twenty or more of these animals live among the branches, 

 and it was highly interesting, seated under the shadows 

 of the trees, to look upward and watch the slow and 

 deliberate movements of the creatures as they migrated 

 from bough to bough feeding upon the foliage as they 

 went. 



That this is a very small world impressed itself 

 forcibly upon me in Santos. Upon the first occasion 

 on which I took a seat in one of the street-cars to ride 

 from the city to the dock, where the steamer was lying, 

 I ventured to ask of a gentleman, beside whom I 

 was sitting, whether the car I had taken would 

 convey me to my destination. I addressed him in 

 French, and he answered me in that language, but 



