312 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



proached a country house about three miles from the 

 town, and was somewhat surprised by meeting a 

 carriage with ladies on their way to the house. As 

 far as my experience has gone in the country parts 

 of Portugal or Spain, such an encounter would there 

 be regarded as a very unusual phenomenon. 



The railway from San Paulo to Rio Janeiro appears 

 to be a well-managed and prosperous concern, paying 

 to its shareholders dividends of from ten to twelve 

 per cent. The distance is about 380 miles, and the 

 trains perform the distance in about thirteen and a 

 half hours. Leaving my hotel in the dark, I found 

 at the station a crowd of passengers contending for 

 tickets ; but good order was maintained, and we 

 started punctually at six o'clock. For some way the 

 line is carried at an apparent level over the plain, 

 with occasional distant views of high hills to the 

 north, and crosses two or three inconsiderable streams, 

 whose waters run to the Parana. A slight but con- 

 tinuous ascent, scarcely noticed by the passing, 

 traveller, leads to the watershed which, in this direc- 

 tion, limits the vast basin of the Parana. After a 

 long but very gentle descent, we reached a stream 

 flowing westward. I at first supposed it, like those 

 already seen, to be a tributary of the Parana which 

 made its way through some depression in the low 

 ridge over which we had passed ; but I soon ascer- 

 tained that this was an error. Near the spot where 

 the railway crosses it, the stream makes a sharp turn, 

 and thenceforth proceeds in a direction little north of 

 east for about four hundred miles, till it falls into the 

 Atlantic at Sao Joao da Barra, north-east of Rio 



