October i, 1890.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRI0ULTURI©T« 
the empire, Bio he Janeiro. The luggage depart- 
ment IS tjo small, and IS coustaotly filled oy unruly 
crowds o. people ; porters, barrowmen, and muio 
carlmen, are oontiuually fighting round a single 
weighing machine, placed on a narrow verauciah 
about 20 ieec by 10, open to the street and divided 
Irom the platiorm by an irou railing. 6. single 
clerk has to do duty ol writing out the receipts and 
receiving the money at a window opening from the 
end of me verandah beside the weighing machine. 
Bassengt ra have to pay ror all that goes into the 
luggage ■> an, a rate per kilogramme. 
The vassenger has to depute someone else to 
see alter his luggage, and all he knows of it is 
from the receipt which may be handed to him in 
at the o irriage winuow, just as the train is start- 
ing Iron which he suiipuses it is safe. The plat- 
form IS broad but not enough of it, and there is 
a crush at the arrival and departure oi every train; 
and it colonists, newly arrived from Europe, are 
going with the same train, there is scarcely moving 
about at all on it. The refreshment-room is a dark 
dismal looking place, and the lavatories are re- 
pulsive. A new station ought long ago to have 
been built, and the engineer of the line told me 
he had planned and estimated for one years ago, but 
the sauction of Government had always been with- 
held. iiithough the fiscal engineers allowed 
liberally tor general upkeep of the line, they were 
always averse to improvements which were to cost 
a large sum of money. On all guaranteed railways 
the Government have a fiscal engineer who watches 
over all expenditure, so as to keep down to a low 
limit the Government quota for interest on capital 
guaranteed. The contract with the bao Paulo Bail- 
way Company allowed 8 per cent to go to the 
sharehoiuers, but all above this, m the net profits, 
had to go to the Government, to repay it for, in- 
terest paid during construction, or on account of 
other expenses connected with the guarantee. The 
Government have now been paid up all that had 
been so spent, and i daresay bao Paulo will soon 
have a lailway station built on British lines with 
grand accommodation for ail. 
As few carriages are run, in proportion to the 
number of passengers, there is some difficulty in 
securing room for ourselves, and lor the small parcels 
which Wo are allowed to take into tue carnage, 
but at the junctions with other lines we find 
more room as we go along. The old cross*seated 
English carriages formerly on this line have been 
lurucd into saloon carnages witn one door in the 
middle opening directly on to the platform, but the 
barbarous practice of locking the passengers in 
still prevails on this line and on others in the 
i proviuce of Sao Pauio. This was adopted at the 
j commencement of railway travelling in this coun- 
! try, because of the dread that the ignorant native 
Would be often opening the door, and accidents 
I might n..ppen. Bow that me native is educated, 
the railway officials stick to it because it saves 
them boiner in having to wait xor pa .stngers who 
may get out at small stations on 1..0 -me from 
meie cu losity. This being the starting point of 
the train it starts puactually to time at 6-20 a. m. 
1 had met no old friends in Sao Paulo, as 1 
arrived loo late at night and had to leave early 
next moiaing. A white mist lies low on the valley 
of the l..iete, but the hills beyond towards the 
north are clear ; irom these at a distance of some 
twelvo miles comes the water which supplies the 
' city. The water company although having its head 
cilice m bao Paulo has many British shareholders, 
I and the engineering oi the work was executed by 
I Briush eugiueers, and piping and other materials 
hot found m the country, were imported from 
! Englaud. The river Tide is crossed by an iron 
lattice bridge about six miles from Sao Paulo. 
Here the elevation is about 2,380 feet above the sea. 
The physical features of the country are not very re- 
markable. Erom Bio de Janeiro as noted formerly after 
crossing the Serra de Mar we arrived at Barra de Pirahy. 
The latter place is 67 miles from Bio and the 
height above the sea is 1,180 feet. 
Erom Barra de Pirahy we go alongside the 
river Parahyba for 196 miles to Guararema, which 
is 1,824 feet above the sea. We pass over some 
hilly ground on our way to Sao Paulo, which is 46 
miles further on, and has an elevation of 2,503 
feed. We have had the ranges of the Serra de Mar 
to our left and east of us, and the Serra de 
Mantiqueira the highest peak of whieh is btatiana 
on our right and west of us. The hilly ground 
alluded to forms a sort of connection between these 
two great ranges of hills, and the hills we notice 
to the north of the city of Sao Paulo are some of 
the spurs of the Mantiqueira, and these join on to 
another range which runs east and west called the 
Serra Begra, and forms for some distance the division 
between the Provinces of Sao Paulo and Minas 
Gerfies. These do not rise to a great elevation but 
they form the water-parting between the river 
Tiete, which flows through the centre of the Province 
of Sao Paulo and the Sapucahy which runs through 
the southern part of Minas Geraes, and both run 
into the Paranfi. It is in the smaller ranges of 
hills scattered over the Province of Sao Paulo where 
coffee, the principal agricultural product grown for 
export, is cultivated. These hills and mountains 
bo 111 large and small which we have at present under 
notice are all more or less of the same formation, 
granite or gneiss forming the foundations; and 
laterite sometimes sandy often chalky but generally 
shaly and largely impregnated with oxide 
of iron, underlies ine cultivatabie soil. As we go 
further west in the Province of Sao Paulo me 
formation partakes largely of this latter description, 
and it is of this slatey clay that the famous terra 
rocha, a red waxy soil, is formed and which is 
the most valuable for coffee growing. Indeed 
we do not find much coffee grown in the Pro- 
vince of Sao Paulo until we go west, where this 
soil is to be found. We notice the improvement in 
agriculture as we go west owing to this superior 
quality of soil. 
At Belem, 24 miles from Sao Paulo and 2,544 
feet above the sea, we go through a tunnel per- 
haps 200 yards long. The hill it passes through 
IS not over loO feet above the level of the railway. 
At 30 miles from bao Paulo, Campo Limpo is the 
junction of a line 10 Bragemea, a metre gauge 
called the Bragantina Bailway, It goes direct 
north towards the Serra Negra, a distance of 
32 miles, at 37 miles from Sao Paulo we come 
to Sundiah, 2,330 feet above the sea, and here 
the English Company’s railway ends. At 
Sundiah is a beautifully commodious station 
and finished quite in the English style ; here is the 
junction with the Stuana Bailway. The Stuana 
goes south to the town itu, famous for its 
Bonools and convents, and has an extension to the 
river Piracioaba on which are small steamers. To 
Iiu the distance is 44 miles and the extension is 
67 miles more: the gauge is a metre. It was 
hrst opened in 1374 to itu and has been going on 
gradually extending. The guarantee is 7 per cent 
on ii200,000. The branch towards Piraoicaba taps 
a large coffee producing district. There are also 
three sugar factories on the side of the line, 
enjoying a Government guarantee, but the planters 
do not supply them witu enough cane. 
The bao Paulo Bailway whicn ends here starts 
f roru bantos, and has a length of 93 miles ; the gauge 
is 5ft, 3in. It cost £2,509)600, and the Government 
