NfcW YVHK 

 WJTAiNICAt 



TORRE Y A 



Vol. 24 No. 6 



November-December, 1924 



SKETCHES OF TRAVEL IN SOUTH AMERICA 



William A. Murrill 



The Botanical Garden in Rio 



The "Van Dyck" arrived at Rio on Sunday afternoon, 

 January 27, and remained there until Tuesday morning, giving 

 the passengers time to stretch their limbs a bit and look about 

 the city. The place of greatest interest to me was the " Jardim 

 Botanico," so I spent Monday morning there. Leaving the 

 boat at seven, after a light breakfast, I walked up the Avenida 

 to the Avenida Hotel and boarded a trolley which took me to 

 the garden without transfer in less than an hour. I gave the 

 conductor a 5 mil reis note, from which he extracted 400 reis 

 for the fare one way, or about 4 cents. The route lay through a 

 beautiful section of this most beautiful city, passing along or 

 near the Avenida, the site of the recent Exposition, the harbor 

 with its beaches, and the base of Corcovado where so many 

 splendid homes are located, embowered in all the beauty of 

 vegetation which the Tropics afford. Finally, the car was 

 stopped on the Rua Jardim Botanico and I was put off at the 

 entrance to the garden. 



At this early hour, I was the only visitor, and I enjoyed the 

 freshness and quiet and the singing of the birds all by myself, 

 while wandering around under the fine old trees and watching 

 the brilliant Heliconia butterflies flitting about in the sunny 

 spaces. Everywhere there was cool shade, and restful benches, 

 and pavilions, and the sound of water gurgling in brooks or 

 leaping in cascades from the steep sides of Corcovado. Ferns 

 and orchids and great climbing vines covered the ancient tree- 

 trunks while water-lilies and other aquatic plants adorned the 

 streams and ponds. Even the lowly fungi forced themselves 

 upon my attention in the shape of a splendid display of the green- 

 gilled Lepiota growing on the bank of a brook beneath a large 

 breadfruit tree. There were 13 fine plants in the group and 



91 



