RIO DE JANEIRO AND ITS ENVIRONS. 63 



however, I resumed my seat, trying to look as if it were 

 my habit to mount horses on the tops of high mountains 

 and slide down to the bottom. This is really no inaccurate 

 description of our descent for the first ten minutes, after 

 which we regained the more level path at the little station 

 called " the Paineiras." We are told to-day that parties 

 usually leave their horses at this station and ascend the 

 rest of the way on foot, the road beyond that being so 

 steep that it is considered unsafe for riding. However, 

 we reached the plain without accident, and I look back 

 upon yesterday's ride with some complacency as a first 

 lesson in mountain travelling.* 



May 20th, — On Friday, the 12th of May, we left Rio on 

 our first excursion of any length. A day or two after our 

 arrival Mr. Agassiz had received an invitation from the 

 President of the Union and Industry Company to go with 

 some of his party over their road from Petropolis to Juiz 

 de Fora, in the Province of Minas Geraes, a road celebrated 

 not only for the beauty of its scenery, but also for its own 

 excellence. A word as to the circumstances under which it 

 has been built may not be amiss here ; and it must be 

 confessed, that, if the Brazilians are, as they are said to 

 be, slow in their progress, the improvements they do un- 

 dertake are carried out with great thoroughness. It is 

 true that the construction of the road has been intrusted 

 to French engineers, but the leading man in its projec- 

 tion and ultimate completion has been a Brazilian, Senhor 



* Leuzinger's admirable photographs of the scenery about the Corcorado, 

 as well as from Petropolis, the Organ Mountains, and the neighborhood of 

 Eio generally, may now be had in the print-shops of Boston and New York. 

 I am the more desirous to make this fact known as I am indebted to Mr. 

 Leuzinger for very generous assistance in the illustration of scientific ob- 

 jects. — L. A. 



