326 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



my attention had hitherto been directed. It is 

 towards its eastern extremity that the Serra shows 

 that remarkable series of granitic pinnacles of nearly 

 equal height, appearing vertical from a distance, that 

 suggested the likeness to the pipes of an organ 

 whence these mountains obtained their name. The 

 height of the loftier part has been estimated at 7500 

 feet above sea-level. I do not think that any of the 

 summits near Petropolis can surpass the level of 

 5000 feet. 



A short train with a small locomotive carried pas- 

 sengers for Petropolis across the low tract to the point 

 where the ascent abruptly commences, a distance of 

 nine or ten miles. The marshy plain is doubtless 

 fever-stricken, and we passed very few houses on the 

 way to the terminus, which is appropriately named 

 Raiz da Serra. The construction of a railway on the 

 slope leading thence to Petropolis, up which trains 

 should be drawn by a wire rope, had been commenced, 

 but at the time of my visit passengers were conveyed 

 in carriages, each drawn by six or eight mules. A 

 well-kept and well-engineered road — by far the best 

 mountain road that I have seen in any part of America 

 — leads to the pass or summit of the ridge that divides 

 Petropolis from the Bay of Rio. The views during 

 the ascent, especially in looking back over the bay, 

 were entrancing, and new and strange forms of vege- 

 tation showed themselves at each turn of the road. 

 From the summit, a gentle descent of a couple of 

 miles leads to the main street of Petropolis. 



The place lies about 2900 feet above the sea, in 

 a basin or depression amidst forest-covered hills. 



