ARRIVAL AT RIO, AND JOURNEY TO QUELUZ. 27 



formation. He took us up to his house, regaled us with 

 coffee, and lent us a horse to replace one of ours, which was 

 tired. At length we reached Queluz, soon after three. It is 

 really a nice-looking little place, though very straggling. 

 There are three thousand inhabitants, and three churches, 

 but no resident priest. For a change there had been Mass 

 this morning, so of course every one went, and there were 

 dozens of marriages and baptisms. One man was married 

 to the wrong woman, owing to the service- being only read 

 once for twenty or thirty persons ; hence some muddle took 

 place, and the result of his anxious inquiry as to whether 

 he can be released and married to the right one is not 

 yet known. He had hold of the right woman's hand, but 

 the certificates were made out with the wrong name. 



Arriving at Queluz, we went to the Hotel Central, 

 where we were received by some half-dozen engineers ; and, 

 after a slight refreshment, had a long conference about the 

 railway, comparing maps, listening to experiences and 

 details of different proposed routes, and finding out how 

 very little — in fact, nothing — is known about the country 

 between this place and Pitanguy, the proposed terminus 

 of our railway. The chief engineer here is a Senhor Har- 

 greaves. He is a member of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, English by parentage, born at Lisbon, brought 

 up at Rio ; he travelled in England and Europe with Dr. 

 Rebou^as some ten years ago. He is married, and has 

 three charming children, two boys and a girl, who all look 

 the picture of health. Mr. Hargreaves tells me that the 

 climate here is very healthy, which I can quite understand. 

 Nevertheless, I have to wrap myself up after sunset, though 

 the temperature is not really very low ; it is only the con- 

 trast of the cool nights after the hot days. The minimum 

 on June 28 here was 3° C. or 38° Fahr. (It is now mid- 

 winter.) 



