190 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



An Indian village stood on this spot in the middle of the sixteenth century, and 

 Jean de Léry speaks of an inaccessible bluff rising like a tower on the neighbour- 

 ing coast, which glittered in the rays of the sun with such dazzling brightness that 

 it might be taken for an emerald. It is difficult to identify this rock, unless it be 

 the superb Frade de Macahé, which is seen in the west rising like a pyramid 

 above the Serra do Mar. 



Cape Frio has given its name to a town standing on a deep creek at the head 

 of the Itamarica passage. Like the other parts of the Serra Abaixo, the Brazilian 

 "Piedmont," Cabo Frio exports sugar, molasses, and rum, besides provisions for the 

 capital, from which it is distant about 60 miles. Here also large quantities of 

 prawns, lobsters and sardines are preserved, and a special industry is the grinding 

 of shells to a powder, which makes an excellent lime much valued by the builders 

 of the capital. Even after their expulsion from the bay of Rio de Janeiro, the 

 French still continued to visit the secluded district of Cabo Frio, where, by the 

 aid of their Tamoyo friends, they obtained cargoes of brazil-wood and of other 

 local produce. In order to jDut a stop to this " contraband " trade, Philip II. 

 founded the settlement of Cabo Frio in the year 1575. 



Pio AND Neighbouring Towns. 



Two cities facing each other at the entrance of Pio Bay take their name from 

 the "Hidden Water" — Nicthevoi/ [NithcroJii/), present capital of the State, on 

 the east side, and on the w^est Rio de Janeiro, metropolis of Brazil. One per- 

 petuates the old Indian name of the basin ; the other bears the Portuguese title 

 recording the fact that, when first discovered, the vast inlet was taken for the 

 mouth of some great " rio " or " river." But both, despite the differences of their 

 political administration, constitute essential parts of the same organism. 



Rio presents an imposing aspect as it is sighted by the traveller who, after 

 rounding the headland of Cape Frio, commands a full view of the island- studded 

 waters, with the superb Itaipu peak on the east side of the entrance. Farther on 

 the heights back of Rio come gradually into view — a world of domes, pinnacles, 

 needles, limited westwards by Marambaia Bay. In the distant background appear 

 the hazy outlines, terraces, crags, and precipices of Gavia, Tijuca, Corcovado, the 

 whole presenting such a prodigious variety of peaks, crests, summits, that the 

 separate forms are lost in a chaos of picturesque mountains, stretching away to 

 the rugged Serra da Estrella and the columnar escarpments of the Organ Range. 



Beyond Cotuntuba Island the imposing mass of the Pao d'Assucar ("Sugar 

 Loaf ") is seen dominating the entrance on the west side, and towering to a height 

 of 1,270 feet above the surface. A headland projecting from the foot of this 

 conspicuous rock is crowned by Fvrt Sao Joâo continued seawards by another 

 fortified islet. The entrance, 1,600 yards wide, is thus disposed in two channels, 

 one on the west, little used hj shipping, the other on the east 1,000 yards broad, 

 giving easy access to the large.'«t vessels. Here the long flat terrace of the Santa 

 Cruz peninsula with its masked batteries, forms the chief bulwaik of the capital, 



