LETTERS FROM BRAZIL 75 
so far, and I do not know whether I am likely to 
have any more formal presentation. From all I can 
gather the Emperor receives little except among his 
Brazilian subjects, has no public levees or drawing- 
room days. 
TO MISS SARAH G. CARY 
Rio de Janeiro, May 5, 1865 
I wave had my first mountain ride, — on a horse 
instead of a mule, with no guide at his head, left en- 
tirely to his own discretion and my own, and I must 
say I have never enjoyed anything more in my life. 
But I must begin at the beginning. Mr. Billings [one 
of the passengers on the Colorado] has been insisting 
that one day before the Colorado goes we should all 
go up the Corcovado with him. Various things have 
interfered with the plan, but today Mr. Billings said 
that whatever happened he would go, and he, Agassiz 
and I, Dr. and Mrs. Cotting and Captain Coster, one 
of our fellow-passengers, went. We could drive as far 
as the foot of the mountain on the Larangeiras road. 
At this point we left the carriage, and your feeble- 
minded sister mounted a very tall white horse. It ap- 
peared to me a very perilous moment of my existence, 
and that I might as well make my peace with the 
world and consider this as the jumping-off place. 
But Mr. Billings is an excellent horseman; he took me 
under his especial charge and after a few minutes of 
hopeless misery I found myself perfectly comfortable, 
able to keep up an animated conversation and really 
enjoying myself very much. Well, we reached the 
