RAILWAYS. 271 



where I passed five months, and thence, gaining the valley of the 

 Para (one of those originally proposed for the Government 

 Trunk Line), it will proceed along this valley to the town of 

 Pitanguy. A glance at the map will show the importance of this 

 railway, especially when one bears in mind the gold deposits at 

 Pitanguy. Pitanguy is at least twenty leagues (eighty miles) from 

 Sahara and the Rio das Velhas, besides which there are two 

 ranges of mountains to be crossed ; the first dividing the Para" 

 from the Paraope'ba, and the second separating the Paraopeba 

 from the Rio das Velhas. The valley of the Para is wide, 

 beautiful, and very fertile, well-populated for those regions, and 

 capable of untold development. Our line of railway will be of 

 the utmost service, as at present merchandise to and from 

 Pitanguy has, at least, some thirty-six leagues of transit to 

 the Estrada de Ferro Dom Pedro II. ; and, since the opening 

 of the line to Queluz, it is nearer than the Sao Joao del Rey 

 Railway. The Minas Central was strongly opposed by this last- 

 named branch, which is easily understood, as it will tap the 

 districts whence they derive much of their traffic ; and the shares 

 of that line fell heavily when the news was published of the arrival 

 of our staff at Rio de Janeiro. The authorities of the Sao Joao 

 Railroad presented a petition to the provincial government at the 

 close of 1883, objecting to the Minas Central as infringing 

 on their privileges ; but the Government, having considered their 

 request, refused to listen to it. All the landowners to whom I 

 spoke on the subject invariably said that the Sao Joao line acabou 

 (was done for) now our railway was in hand. Certainly the line 

 to Pitanguy is a necessity certainly it would vastly increase the 

 cultivation and population, as has been the case in the last year 

 along the newly opened Trunk Line ; and the line should be 

 made, if Brazil continues to retain the favourable opinions of 

 English investors that it has to-day. It has a guaranteed Govern- 

 ment interest, and must be at least as profitable as many of the 

 others, while it may in time far surpass them. Che sard, sard ; the 

 future of this scheme, of the province, of the empire, is fortunately 

 in abler hands than mine, and I presume that no statements that 

 I may have occasion to make in my notes on the finances of 

 Brazil can do anything to retard the construction of the Pitanguy 



