LETTERS FROM BRAZIL 75 



so far, and I do not know whether I am likely to 

 have any more formal presentation. From all I can 

 gather the Emperor receives little except among his 

 Brazilian subjects, has no public levees or drawing- 

 room days. 



TO MISS SARAH G. GARY 



Rio de Janeiro, May 5, 1865 



I HAVE had my first mountain ride, on a horse 

 instead of a mule, with no guide at his head, left en- 

 tirely to his own discretion and my own, and I must 

 say I have never enjoyed anything more in my life. 

 But I must begin at the beginning. Mr. Billings [one 

 of the passengers on the Colorado] has been insisting 

 that one day before the Colorado goes we should all 

 go up the Corcovado with him. Various things have 

 interfered with the plan, but today Mr. Billings said 

 that whatever happened he would go, and he, Agassiz 

 and I, Dr. and Mrs. Cotting and Captain Coster, one 

 of our fellow-passengers, went. We could drive as far 

 as the foot of the mountain on the Larangeiras road. 

 At this point we left the carriage, and your feeble- 

 minded sister mounted a very tall white horse. It ap- 

 peared to me a very perilous moment of my existence, 

 and that I might as well make my peace with the 

 world and consider this as the jumping-off place. 

 But Mr. Billings is an excellent horseman; he took me 

 under his especial charge and after a few minutes of 

 hopeless misery I found myself perfectly comfortable, 

 able to keep up an animated conversation and really 

 enjoying myself very much. Well, we reached the 



