COMMUNICATIONS OF BRAZIL. 279 



railway enterprise began the only highways opened to wheeled traffic were, in 

 fact, the fine road from Rio to Petropolis, continued through the Parahyba valley 

 to Juiz de Fora, and a few others in the neighbourhood of the towns. The so- 

 called "main highways," connecting Rio with Minas Geraes, Goyaz, and Matto 

 Grosso, are nothing more than broad tracks, winding up and down hill, scored 

 with deep ruts in the marshy district, and branching into lateral by-ways at the 

 steep inclines. Along these dusty, muddy or rocky tracks teams of six, eight, or 

 ten pairs of oxen slowly drag their lumbering and creaking waggons, while 

 convoys several hundred j^ards long are organised for the transport of large quan- 

 tities of minerals and general merchandise. Large convoys of pack-animals, 

 chiefly mules, are also employed for the transport of merchandise along the 

 wretched tracks across the swampy and mountainous districts, which are inacces- 

 sible to wheeled traffic. These convoys are usually headed by the so-called ma- 

 clrinha, an old horse who carries no load, but wears an arrangement of tinkling 

 bells, and is also often gaily decked wdth feathers and strips of coloured cloth. 



In 1856 the first railway was opened from Rio to the foot of the coast range 

 in the direction of Petropolis. Two years later followed the line also from Rio 

 across the marshy and wooded plains towards the upper Parahyba valley, but 

 stopping short at Bêlera at the foot of the Serra do Mar, Eventually the 

 mountain barrier was overcome by steep gradients and sixteen tunnels, and from 

 this trunk line between Rio and the Parahyba basin other branches ramified in 

 various directions. 



The Serra do Mar has been surmounted altogether at five different points, of 

 which three are in the vicinity of the capital. The Serra de Mantiqueira and the 

 Serra do Espinhaco have also been crossed, and nothing now remains except to 

 extend the system over the gently-inclined slopes of the inland plateaux. The 

 highest point reached by the engineers is at a cutting 4,475 feet above sea-level 

 on the Ouro Preto branch. Although the locomotive has scarcely yet reached the 

 region of the great rivers, some imposing viaducts have already been constructed, 

 notably the bridge spanning the Paraguassu between Cachoeira and S. Felix, that 

 of the Rio Grande on the Uberaba line, and the viaduct over half a mile long in 

 the Tubarâo coal-mining district. 



Meanwhile only two systems properly so-called have yet been developed, one 

 with its seaward terminus at the capital, the other radiating from Santos. These 

 are, however, themselves connected by a line 370 miles long ascending the Parahyba 

 valley and descending to S. Paulo. The Rio network penetrates far into Minas 

 Geraes, and yearly advances one or two stages into the Rio das Velhas valley at 

 the head of the navigation in the S. Francisco basin. 



Still more rapid progress has been made in the State of S. Paalo, where the 

 lines ramifying through the coffee region have already reached the navigable Rios 

 Grande, Pardo, Mogy Guassu, Tieté, and Piracicaba. Elsewhere there are only 

 a few isolated lines, or local systems, such as those of Recife and Bahia Bay, 



A great trunk line, such as might ^\\q unity to all these isolated sections, is 

 an undertaking still beyond the resources of Brazilian finance. The lines most 



