THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 491 



structed by the Uniao E Industria Company, who, I believe, 

 enjoy a monopoly of the entire traffic, and possess three 

 thousand mules for the service of the diligences and waggons. 

 The stages are at about an hour's distance from each other, 

 and as we were supplied with fresh mules at every stage, an 

 admirable rate of speed was maintained, the mules being 

 splendid animals, and so ready to take to the road that the 

 leaders were not fastened to the traces till the moment of our 

 departure. The route, throughout nearly its entire extent, 

 passes through the most splendid scenery, winding along by 

 the side of hills covered with virgin forest, between plant- 

 ations of oranges, coffee, and mandioca, and in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of rivers foaming over their rocky beds. I 

 was greatly delighted with the variety of beautiful flowers 

 and brightly -coloured birds and insects, many of which 

 we had not observed in the neighbourhood of Eio. At 

 Entre Rios, thus named on account of its situation between 

 the Parahyba and Parahybuna rivers, and about midway 

 between Petropolis and St. Juiz da Fora (where the coaches 

 from these places meet the Pedro Segundo Railway, which at 

 the time of our visit had its terminus there), we halted for an 

 hour, and had a substantial Brazilian breakfast, after which 

 we continued our journey. Serraria was, if my memory 

 serves me right, one of the next places we stopped at, and 

 between this and Parahybuna we drove for some distance 

 through an avenue of tall bamboos, the tops of which, bend- 

 ing over, formed a series of regular Gothic arches. On reach- 

 ing Parahybuna, we passed from the province of Rio Janeiro 

 into that of Minas Geraes, and soon after, when we were 

 nearly midway between that place and the next stage, Simao 

 Pereira, the sky to our dismay began to darken, and as we 

 were passing along the side of a steep hill rain descended in 



