Hortus Fluminensis. 
337 
The great bay—no river, in spite of the name—green, and 
island-studded, nearly landlocked too, save for the narrow gate 
where the towering Sugarloaf guards the way, stretches up some 
forty miles or so into the country, where, at the head of it, the 
Organ Mountains stand: but close by here, where lies the city, the 
quaintly shaped peaks crowd down to the very water edge ; and 
in and out and roundabout among their foothills, twenty sprawling 
miles of it, lies the city among its palms, on the most extraordinary 
site for a metropolis that ever man chose. 
Rio is a very large and splendid city, where one may obtain 
everything of the latest—at a price. It models itself pretty success¬ 
fully upon Paris; and is perforce delightful. 
There is unfortunately no University in Brazil as yet, but 
there is a celebrated School of Medicine in Rio itself, whence 
emanates most of the botanical interest in the country. 
The Gardens lie in the southern outskirts of the city, some 
seven or eight miles from the landing-place, on a piece of level 
ground (a somewhat rare commodity hereabouts) between the peak 
of Corcovado and a wide lagoon ; facing, not into Rio Bay, but 
towards the open Atlantic. As one approaches the Gardens, the 
first thing that appears is the line of giant West Indian Royal 
Palms (Oreocloxa oleracea) bordering the road. Passing in by the 
main entrance, one finds oneself facing along the famous central 
avenue of these Royal Palms, an avenue half-a-mile in length 
composed of individuals which are upwards of 150 feet in height. 
The effect of this gargantuan colonnade is unique, and somewhat 
overwhelming, but I cannot agree with the critics who find it 
displeasing. Its size is the saving grace of it, the one feature which 
no picture gives any true rendering of. This avenue traverses the 
main garden from North to South, and provides a magnificent tnise - 
en-scene for glimpses of the mountains which rise all around. 
There are also two lateral avenues of the same order of size, all 
three meeting at the principal entrance. 
A traveller’s first impressions of a tropical garden are apt to be 
a little mixed, and depend, indeed, a great deal upon the sort of 
weather prevailing at the moment. If one’s arrival at Rio be in the 
winter-time—any time that is, between April and September—the 
uppermost idea is likely to be astonishment, for here the newcomer 
finds a garden multitudinous with palms and epiphytes, yet an atmos¬ 
phere so cold that he must wear English clothes or an overcoat, 
and keep all his flimsy tropical gear in the background. During 
the winter the climate resembles that of late spring in England. 
It is the dry season, the skies are clear, the sun is comparatively 
low and most vegetation passive ; for Rio is 22^° S., and is only 50 
miles within the Southern tropic. In September the rain begins to 
increase by periodical downpours, and every time the sun comes 
out it is a little stronger and a little hotter; while the hottest time 
of all, the height of summer, comes in January and February. 
During the summer which is par excellence the rainy season, 
the sky is very often overcast and the air is extremely moist, yet 
for some obscure reason, even when the sun stands vertical in a 
cloudless sky it has nothing of its Eastern power. The sun-helmet 
is unknown—one can even spend an hour in the sun without any 
head covering at all, and escape unhurt—a luxury which those who 
