ACROSS UNKNOWN SOUTH AMERICA 
required. At Franca, much to my surprise, I found an 
imposing dinner of sixteen courses waiting for me in the 
station hotel, with repeated apologies from the pro¬ 
prietors that they could not produce more, as the telegram 
announcing my arrival had been received late. On no 
account whatever was I allowed—as I wished — to pay 
for anything. I was rather interested to watch in the 
station restaurant the wonderful mixture of people who 
had assembled: priests, monks, railway porters, com¬ 
mercial travellers — some black, some white, some a 
combination of the two—all sitting together in a jovial 
manner, sipping coffee or devouring a meal. 
The city of Franca itself, 2 kilometres away from the 
station, 617 kilometres from the sea at Santos, 528 kilo¬ 
metres from Sao Paulo, was in the most remote northerly 
corner of the State of Sao Paulo, and had a population 
of 9,000 people or thereabout. The electric light had been 
installed in the town, and there was a theatre. Much diffi¬ 
culty was experienced in obtaining sufficient water for the 
needs of the population. In the municipality there existed 
a number of machines for use in rice and coffee culture, 
as well as two steam saws, a butter and a sugar factory. 
There were several trails — so-called roads — branch¬ 
ing off from this town and leading to Borda de Matta, 
Garimpo das Canoas, Potrocinio do Sapucahy, S. Jose 
da Bella Vista, etc. 
The climate was healthy and delightful. While I was 
there, the Fahrenheit thermometer registered 76° at an 
elevation of 3,450 feet. With a fairly good soil, the 
municipality could produce cereals in plenty under proper 
cultivation. Land was cheap enough in that region — 150 
milreis per alqueire for good land for cultivation, and 25 
to 30 milreis per alqueire for campos. 
We proceeded on our journey north the next morning, 
passing through Indaya, 3,450 feet above the sea level — 
a settlement boasting of two houses upon the highest 
40 
