222 AMAZONIA AND LA PLATA. 



course, the mucli-frequented shrine of Ja Penha, crowning a bluff east of the 

 city, and the imposing but still unoccupied palace of Ipiranga, the finest architec- 

 tural building in Brazil, erected by the Italian architect, Bezzi, to commemorate 

 the establishment of the empire. 



Santos, formerly Todos os Santos, " All Hallows," is at once the depot and 

 outlet for the trade of S. Paulo. The first settlement on this coast dates from 

 1532, when the present watering-place of S. Vicente Wiis founded five or six 

 miles farther east. Here was produced the first sugar in Brazil, extracted from 

 the cane introduced from Madeira, and here the Jesuits established the first 

 primary school in 1566. This outer port, standing like Santos itself on an island 

 separated by a narrow strait from the mainland, continued till the year 1709 to 

 rank as the capital of the section of the Brazilian seaboard stretching for about 

 600 miles between Macahe and Cananea. 



Santos, regularly planned, but badly kept, extends along the foot of the 

 steep Monserate eminence, which occupies the centre of the island, and which 

 is crowned by a church commanding a superb panoramic view. But the site of 

 the city is hopelessly insalubrious ; or at least to make it healthy it would be 

 necessary to raise the miry soil, sodden with the rain and tidal waters mingling 

 with the slush of the sewers. Mudbanks are exposed at low water, while the 

 putrid carcasses of cattle embedded in the sands, are left to the carrion birds, 

 which do duty as scavengers. Hence no place in the New World has suffered 

 more from yellow fever in jjroportion to its population than Santos. At times all 

 work has been suspended by the death or flight of the employees, and vessels 

 abandoned by their crews have been seen drifting helplessly in the bay. As the 

 bad season approaches, nearly the whole population takes refuge in the health 

 resorts of the surrounding heights, or in Balnearia and other watering-places on 

 the coast. 



Yet, despite these recurrent epidemics, Santos is the centre of a large import 

 and export trade, averaging collectively about £15,000,000 a year. Formerly it 

 exported the produce of Minas Geraes, and even of Matto Grosso ; but at present 

 it is the outlet mainly of the State of S. Paulo, whose trade, however, is steadily 

 increasing. To meet the growing traffic various harbour works have been under- 

 taken, and the largest vessels will soon be able to load and unload at the 

 wharves. The English, and next to them the Norwegians, take the largest share 

 of the general movement of Santos, which is regularly visited by as many as 

 twenty lines of steamers. A splendid railway, constructed by English engineers, 

 across the primeval forests of Cuhatao, and over the coast range, serves to bring 

 down the coffees of S. Paulo, and to forward to the interior rice from India, 

 Newfoundland cod, English coal, and all kinds of European manufactured 

 goods. 



But this line is already quite inadequate to meet the demands of the local 

 trade, and the frequent blocks and delays in forwarding goods, are driving 

 commerce to seek new and costly routes. Two Paulist companies, one in the 

 west, the other in the east, have been formed to compete with the English society 



