46 A JOURNEY IN BRAZIL. 



CHAPTER II. 



RIO DE JANEIRO AND ITS ENVIRONS. JUIZ DE FORA. 



ARRIVAL. ASPECT OF HARBOR AND CITY. CUSTOM-HOUSE. FIRST GLIMPSE 

 OF BRAZILIAN LIFE. NEGRO DANCE. EFFECT OF EMANCIPATION IN UNITED 

 STATES UPON SLAVERY IN BRAZIL. FIRST ASPECT OF Rio DE JANEIRO ON 

 LAND. PICTURESQUE STREET GROUPS. ECLIPSE OF THE SUN. AT HOME 

 IN Rio. LARANGEIRAS. PASSEIO PUBLICO. EXCURSION ON THE DOM 

 PEDRO RAILROAD. VISIT OF THE EMPEROR TO THE COLORADO. COR- 

 DIALITY OF GOVERNMENT TO THE EXPEDITION. LABORATORY. BOTANICAL 

 GARDEN. ALLEY OF PALMS. EXCURSION TO THE CORCOVADO. Juiz 

 DE FORA ROAD. PETROPOLIS. TROPICAL VEGETATION. RIDE FROM 

 PETROPOLIS TO Juiz DE FORA. VISIT TO SENHOR LAGE. EXCURSION TO 

 THE "FOREST OF THE EMPRESS." VISIT TO MR. HALFELD. RETURN TO 

 R IO . NEWS OF THE GREAT NORTHERN VICTORIES, AND OF THE PRESIDENT'S 

 ASSASSINATION. 



April 23d. Yesterday at early dawn we made Cape 

 Frio light, and at seven o'clock were aroused by the wel- 

 come information that the Organ Mountains were in sight. 

 The coast range here, though not very lofty, (its highest 



9 



summits ranging only from two to three thousand feet,) is 

 bold and precipitous. The peaks are very conical, and 

 the sides slope steeply to the water's edge, where, in many 

 places, a wide beach runs along their base. The scenery 

 grew more picturesque as we approached the entrance of 

 the bay, which is guarded by heights rising sentinel-like 

 on either side. Once within this narrow rocky portal, 

 the immense harbor, stretching northward for more than 

 twenty miles, seems rather like a vast lake enclosed by 

 mountains than like a bay. On one side extends the 

 ridge which shuts it from the sea, broken by the sharp 

 peaks of the Corcovado, the Tijuca, and the flat-topped 

 Gavia ; on the other side, and more inland, the Organ 



