2o8 A YEAR IN BRAZIL. 



the bay, and a puff of white smoke rose from its bows, 

 followed a few seconds afterwards by the boom of the gun 

 noting its arrival. Just below me lay the Botanical Gar- 

 dens and the dark green slimy waters of the Lagoa 

 Rodriguez de Freitas, its dirty and unhealthy waters con- 

 trasting wonderfully with the clear blue of the bay and the 

 Atlantic, from which latter it is separated by a strip of 

 white sandy beach. I could distinctly hear the pleasant 

 jingle of the bells on the tram-car mules some two thousand 

 feet below, and even the trampling on the hard setts, and 

 could just see the cars crawling along, like specks, on the 

 long straight white road ; but the mules were hardly 

 visible, or individuals either, unless they carried open 

 umbrellas. 



I stayed on the top for three-quarters of an hour, and 

 then reluctantly descended through the cool forests, where 

 the sun was then hidden behind the mountains. I heard 

 the rushing brooks, saw the lovely waterfall, and an hour 

 afterwards was in the tram. I shall never forget this day, 

 and hope to go up once more before leaving Rio. 



July 10. Our chief departs for England in three days, 

 so he gave a farewell dinner to the staff and some friends 

 this evening at the hotel restaurant, Novo Mundo. The 

 room where we dined is very large, magnificently fitted up, 

 and had a profusion of flowers and plants. The dinner 

 and wines were irreproachable ; it is the only elaborate 

 dinner I have attended since I have been in Rio, as, the 

 Minister being in England, I could not follow up my intro- 

 duction of a year ago by visiting him, and I have had no 

 time to make friends. The chief had engaged a box for 

 the opening night of a travelling English company at the 

 St. Luiz Theatre, and thither we repaired after dinner. 

 The pieces were "Pygmalion and Galatea," and a bur- 



