supply the inhabitants with clear fresh water from the hills. The effect of its lofty arches rising through the green clumps of palms and other fruit trees in the suburbs is very striking. The most fashionable side of Rio is the southern division, where the Gloria Hill and the neighbourhood of Botafogo bay are occupied by many delightful residences.

In the city itself the spirit of business engrosses all attention, and every street is full of activity. The Exchange is crowded during business hours, and loungers seem out of their element. Everybody looks as if his whole existence depended upon some transaction in sugar, coffee, or tobacco. Immense numbers of negroes crowd continually up and down the streets with heavy bags and bales, keeping always on the move like strings of ants, laughing, joking, and singing as they trot along with their burdens. Rio is unfortunately by no means clean, but the City Improvements Company, with the support of the Government of Brazil, has undertaken to purify it completely, and there is no reason why they should not succeed.

Before the sudden arrival of yellow fever, about a dozen years ago, the delights of this neighbourhood must have been almost without a drawback; but that horrible scourge has given many a severe blow to society, though, at the worst, it was not nearly so destructive as in many cities of the United States. Fortunately, it has been much less violent in the last

few years, and very possibly it may depart as it came; but in the hot months of January, February, and March, the risk is considered serious. The Austrian consul at Montevideo told me that in a long residence at Rio during the worst yellow fever seasons, he had carefully kept statistics on the subject, and had come to the conclusion that the mortality was in proportion to the badness of living among different sections of the community. Thus, he said the Italian residents lived. most poorly, and suffered most; next to them he classed the Germans, and then the French, as both cleaner and better fed; lastly, he said the English suffered least of all, because they lived well and drank good brandy and water.

I fortunately had a letter of introduction to Mr. Westwood, the English consul, who kindly asked Captain Woolward and myself to dine with him in the evening. We returned to the ship, and about sunset, on as lovely a day as was ever seen, we were rowed through the shipping towards the consul's house on the Gloria Hill. In about half an hour we landed on some rocks, among which a gentle swell was swaying languidly, and ascended, by a sloping path overhung with the shady foliage of trees on each side, and ornamented with lovely creepers and orchids, till we passed into the garden and reached the house, which, with open doors and windows, was cooling itself after the heat of the day.

I had the pleasure of finding that Sir Stephen Lushington, the English Admiral on the station, was one of our party, and he was good enough to offer me the hospitalities of his flag-ship, the Leopard, for the remaining two days of my stay at Rio; so after a very delightful evening we broke up with an understanding that I should visit the Leopard about noon next day. An old negro, with a lantern, lighted us under the balmy trees to our boat, which was waiting among the cool rocks, and in about half an hour we reached the Magdalena again, after having an excellent opportunity of seeing from the water the singular effect of the city illuminated by countless gas-lights. The long line of beach is for several miles brilliant with them, for they are placed nearer together than in England, and the many suburbs which crown different hills with their various lights make a charming scene in the darkness.

About one o'clock next day I was rowed to the Leopard, and found the Admiral ready for a start. His barge was alongside, rigged with two tall white lattern sails, and manned by a dozen splendid bluejackets: the sweet sea-breeze was just beginning to ripple the water, and my heart bounded with delight as we flew towards the eastern side of the harbour. There is no greater admirer of Rio Janeiro than Sir Stephen himself, and I was fortunate indeed in having such an able cicerone. Never shall I forget the enjoyment of that day and the next; it was the very perfec

A CRUISE IN THE BAY.

29

tion of lotus-eating.' For hours we glided over sunny bays, and between lustrous islands covered with masses of palms, cactus, ferns, and aloes, mixed with mangoes and other trees of intensely green foliage and impenetrable shade, many of them trailing into the water, which reflected every leaf and flower on its surface. Then we recrossed the harbour for a cruise in the lovely scenes of Botafogo Bay, out of which rises, to the height of 1,200 feet, the astonishing cone of the Sugarloaf Mountain. Here we landed for a while on an island, the Admiral wishing to take me to the top of a small hill to enjoy one of his favourite views. As we returned, the sun was fast sinking, and a golden glow stealing over palm and cactus, and all the wonders of that glorious vegetation, and warming the fantastic shapes of the Organ mountains in the distance, produced a kind of sleepy enchantment which seemed to deprecate the interruption of human speech. The sailors themselves seemed to feel the spell, as we made the most of the dying breeze, which soon failed us entirely. Stand by the sails,' said the Admiral, and in a few moments everything was stowed away with man-of-war precision. Out oars,' and away flew the boat with the united strength of twelve true sons of Neptune, away and away over the shining water to dinner on board the flag-ship. All honour, by the bye, to the midshipman of the day, who was one of the very, very select few who have reached the granite crown of

the Sugarloaf-an enterprise which ought at once to admit him to the fellowship of the Alpine Club; for the rock is nearly as steep as rock can be, and far too profusely ornamented with prickly cactus instead of beds of snow.

Those of us who were bound for the Rio de la Plata, or River Plate, as it is generally called, were transferred to the branch steamer Mersey; and on the 8th of May we steamed out of the harbour of Rio Janeiro. I left the place with sincere regret, for little did I then imagine that circumstances would induce me to return there in the autumn for a visit of some length. Inside the fort the water was smooth as a mill-pond, but, as we exchanged challenges with the officials, we dipped and plunged into the swell which sets in from the Atlantic. This is sometimes tremendously heavy in bad weather; and I heard that an island not far from the entrance, which is used as a prison, was once so covered with the sea for several days together, that some of the prisoners were drowned in their subterranean dungeons, while their keepers were scarcely able to save themselves from starvation during the impossibility of procuring any assistance from the city.

On sped the gallant Mersey, and tender stomachs suffered all those agonies which, if previous experience had not assured me of my own invulnerability, might have checked my ardour in seeking pastime on the bosom of the ocean. My old friend the Colonel pointed