PETEOPOLIS. 



197 



on the globe. " Witn a peifectl}' cloudless sky," writes Mr. Dent, " the eye 

 ranged from the Organ Mountains on the north side, some 50 miles away, to Cape 

 Frio, 75 miles to the east, and to a Cape beyond the Ilha Grande near Paraty, 

 some 70 miles or more to the west ; while to the south lay the broad expanse of 

 the Atlantic, whose ripplets broke in silver threads upon the sandy shores, or 

 dashed against precipitous rocks. All the mountains on the Nictheroy side 

 appeared a promiscuous mass of dark green hillocks. The whole of the Bay of Hio 

 de Janeiro, with its countless islands, was mapped out. At a dizzy depth below lay 

 the vast city, its numerous morros, or hills, scarcely appearing to rise above the 

 plain. To the west, by glimpses through the rough-and-tumble forest-clad 

 mountains, were lovely scraps of the Atlantic and the Cape in the far distance, on 

 the borders of the province of S. Paulo. The horizon of the xitlantic was lost in 



Fig. 82. — Petbopolis. 

 Scale 1 : 300,000. 



A5'20 



West or breenw ch 



43°I0 



6 Miles. 



the haze ; but on its blue bosom were seen, as tiny white specks, ships in full sail, 

 and one or two steamers. Just below lay the Botanical Gardens and the dark green 

 slimy waters of the Lagoa Rodriguez de Freitas, contrasting 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 2,000 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." * 



Nova Frihiirgo, which occupies a position analogous to that of Petropolis on the 



A Year in Brazil, p. 209. 



47 



