A YEAR IN BRAZIL. 



turns off at right angles toward the Jardim Botanico. We 

 continued our walk round the bay along a rough road, 

 passing a huge morro, or hill, which is being extensively 

 quarried for building stone. We examined in the sheds the 

 dressed stone, a kind of grey granite, and admired the 

 great skill with which it is chiselled into elaborate mould- 

 ings. We then reached a very fine building, the Hospicio 

 Pedro II. (the lunatic asylum), where three lunatics yelled 

 at us through the barred windows, which look upon a well- 

 kept garden surrounded by handsome wrought-iron railings. 

 We next proceeded to the military school (Escola Militar), 

 situated on a sandy spot between the Morro da Babylonia 

 and the lofty hill which culminates in the Pao d'Assucar. 

 On each side of the military school is a concrete wall, 

 which prevented our reaching the Atlantic, that washes 

 the shore beyond. Here we had fine views of the Organ 

 Mountains through the entrance to the bay, and in the 

 other direction, of the curious square-topped Gavea or Table 

 Mountain beyond the Corcovado. Before returning, we 

 conchologized for the first time, and picked up a few 

 pretty shells on the sandy beach. 



" In the gloaming " I sat alone in a Pompeian alcove on 

 the upper terrace outside our house, and gazed on the 

 warm colouring of the volcanic Sugar-loaf, seen through 

 the rustling leaves of fan-palms, and between the trunks ol 

 the lofty Oreodoxa palms, revelling in the balmy breeze, 

 listening to the rippling of the wavelets on the beach, 

 thrilled with the beauty of the scene and the remembrance 

 of such a day's experiences. One day like this would be 

 almost worth while coming out for. 



July 2. — I must mention the corruption and bribeiy 

 that obtains in all the Government offices, and the ex- 



