R. C. McLean . 
33 § 
know the torrid Indian suns appreciate immensely. Neither is the 
rain always like Eastern rain; quite uncommon are the torrents from 
the skies which destroy paths and plants together in a few hours: 
here is gentle English rain, even sunshine showers. 
To find equatorial vegetation and a pure development of rain¬ 
forest at so great a distance from the Equator is indeed astonishing. 
The reason may he found in the local physiography—a low-lying, 
narrow, littoral belt, backed by high mountains, with a prevailing 
wind off-sea. The coast is perennially humid: whenever the wind 
blows off-sea it rains, whatever the season of the year may be, so 
that the weather is as incalculable as that of an English summer. 
The Equatorial current keeps the sea warmed for an abnormal 
distance south, and the effect of this upon the climate may be seen 
by a glance at any vegetation map of the world showing Drude’s 
phytogeographic areas. Not only does the Tropical American 
region extend down to the Tropic of Capricorn, but it passes right 
out of the tropics altogether, and reaches as far as Porto Alegre and 
the Rio Uruguay, into a region that should be purely temperate. 
Indeed, one of the finest and richest pieces of untouched rain¬ 
forest yet remaining in Brazil is found at Alto-da-Serra, between 
Sao Paulo and Santos, in a district actually south of the Tropic. 
On the other coast of South America exactly the opposite 
climatic conditions occur, for the northward-moving Antarctic 
drift carries the temperate area right up into the Tropics themselves, 
and even under the Equator, torrid weather is not at all usual. 
This piece of forest territory, which is now in the hands of 
the Government of the State of Sao Paulo, can be recommended 
in the very highest terms to any who wish to study true rain-forest. 
It is of wonderful richness, and, I am told, will compare favourably 
with anything in the Orient. All the well-known characters of 
jungle are developed abundantly. On the other hand it is very 
easily accessible, has a healthy, but very moist climate (with a 
rainfall of 3J metres per annum) and there is available a comfortable 
and splendidly situated bungalow on the area. The ground has 
been for some years past the property and peculiar care of Herr von 
Hiring, director of the Sao Paulo Museum, who has cleared paths 
through the dense jungle, and projected other improvements. 
But to return to the Botanic Gardens of Rio. They consist 
of two portions separated by a road. The one, much smaller 
portion, comprising about 14 hectares, lies between the road and the 
marshy edge of the Lagoa Roderigo da Freitas, and remains in a 
wild condition. The soil is wet and unsuitable for cultivation, but 
to the botanist the ground is equally interesting in its jungle 
condition, full of Bamboos and other moisture-loving plants. Big 
trees will not grow in this part of the garden, and the wood, though 
dense, does not stand much higher than in England. 
The other area, the garden proper, contains about 27 hectares, 
being practically bisected by the main Palm Avenue. There is not 
very much open ground, for the marvellous collection of Palms 
gives rather a woodland aspect to the garden, an appearance which 
has been intensified by a rather too liberal planting of Mangos. These 
latter do not fruit in the Gardens, for the water-table is very near 
the surface, the level of the ground being only some 3-4 feet above 
the surface of the Lagoa, and the fruit-trees suffer from what 
