ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
are inclined to lead, a good deal of the enthusiasm of 
youth dies out in later years; still Brazil has in its younger 
generation a great many men who are ambitious and 
heartily wish to render their country service. It is to be 
hoped that their efforts may be crowned with success. It 
is not talent which is lacking in Brazil, it is not patriotism; 
but persistence is not perhaps the chief characteristic 
among races of Portuguese descent. In these days of 
competition it is difficult to accomplish anything great 
without labour and trouble. 
I left London on December 23, 1910, by the Royal 
Mail steamship Amazon, one of the most comfortable 
steamers I have ever been on. 
We touched at Madeira, Pernambuco, and then at 
Bahia. Bahia seen from the sea was quite picturesque, 
with its two horizontal lines of buildings, one on the sum¬ 
mit of a low hill range, the other along the water line. A 
border of deep green vegetation separated the lower from 
the upper town. A massive red building stood prominent 
almost in the centre of the upper town, and also a number 
of church towers, the high dome of a church crowning the 
highest point. 
I arrived in Rio de Janeiro on January 9, 1911. 
It is no use for me to give a description of the city of 
Rio de Janeiro. Everybody knows that it is — from a 
pictorial point of view — quite a heavenly spot. Few 
seaside cities on earth can expect to have such a glorious 
background of fantastic mountains, and at the same time 
be situated on one of the most wonderful harbours known. 
I have personally seen a harbour which was quite as 
strangely interesting as the Rio harbour — but there was 
no city on it. It was the Malampaya Sound, on the Island 
of Palawan (Philippine Archipelago). But such an 
ensemble of Nature’s wonderful work combined with 
man’s cannot, to the best of my knowledge, be found 
anywhere else than in Rio. 
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