THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 235 



range of jagged peaks on the horizon. Here and there a 

 silver thread of water may be seen trickling down into the 

 valleys, and a gap in the Serra discloses a fine glimpse of the 

 low-lying country to the south of Rio, with the buildings of 

 the Emperor's farm gleaming white in the sunlight, and 

 beyond all, the unruffled bosom of the ocean. 



The garden-plots were stocked with a variety of beautiful 

 flowers, many of them Brazilian, and others among our most 

 familiar favourites at home. Thus there were handsome 

 yellow Bignonice, and a variety of Arads^ Euphorhiacece, and 

 Solanacece, associated with roses and fine plants of double 

 daisies from Edinburgh. Among the domestic animals were 

 a splendid black and white Newfoundland, and a large bay 

 Spanish bull-dog, a fine blue and yellow macaw, and a 

 number of pigeons, guinea-fowls, ducks, etc. After din- 

 ner, when I tasted for the first time a number of excellent 

 Brazilian vegetables, including " mandioca " (the roots of the 

 Manihot utilissima, and an admirable substitute for potatoes, 

 whether in the boiled, roasted, or fried condition), the boiled 

 fruit of the Carica, a green herb somewhat like spinach, 

 called " ora pro nobis" by the Portuguese, and the national 

 dish of Fejjaos e Farinha (a kind of bean and flour of Indian 

 corn), I set out on a stroll with my host, enjoying greatly the 

 deliciously cool and fresh air, which afforded an agreeable 

 contrast to the hothouse-like atmosphere of the neighbour- 

 hood of Eio. Passing through a tunnel near the house, 

 we visited the scene of a recent land-slip, finding a gang of 

 negro labourers engaged in wheeling away the loads of debris. 

 Land-slips, I was informed, are very common on the Serra 

 after heavy rains, and often occur on a large scale. This one 

 had carried away several small houses bodily, besides mow- 



