THE SUGAR-LOAF BY NIGHT, RIO.
The notable improvements in the Federal capital were carried out under President Penna. He was fortunate in having some
A BIT OF RIO HARBOUR.
of the ablest men in Brazil in his ministry, who, with the assistance of the best engineers and architects in the country, set about the reconstruction of the city. Dr. Lauro Muller (the present Minister for Foreign Affairs) was responsible for the general plan of the improvements, and his scheme was worked out in detail by Dr. Paul de Frontin, one of the most talented and all-round engineers in the republic, and at present the General Manager of the Central Railway, the largest in Brazil. Dr. Frontin has had a career crowded with many successes, and he still finds time to fill the professional chair of mechanics and astronomy in the National Gymnasium. He has been associated with nearly all the big engineering schemes in the republic of recent years, and has built canals, railways, bridges, waterworks, and docks, as well as opening out the avenues of the capital, which necessitated the removal of hills that to many would have been mountains. He has done much to make the new Rio almost worthy of its magnificent setting. In Rio the automobile has almost supplanted the “Tilburies,” those curious, old-fashioned gigs, capable of holding only one passenger, who sits beside the
THE GAVEA, RIO.
driver, a few specimens of which may still be seen plying for hire. Electric tramways (called, curiously enough, the “Bond,” by the natives, who associate them with the bonds that were issued for the capital of the first companies) run through the winding city and distant suburbs. These tramways are run by the Rio de Janeiro Light and Power Company, which owns extensive concessions and properties throughout the State, including some twenty-two miles of territory on either bank of the Parahyba River, seventy-five miles distant from the city of Rio, and an installation fifty miles from the capital, where the Lages River passes through a narrow ravine about three hundred feet wide, betwixt solid rock. Here a dam has been constructed, so that the waters above are formed into a lake fifteen miles long by some seven or eight miles wide. From this huge reservoir the water is conducted a distance of one and a half miles through steel tubes to a power-house some thousand feet below in elevation, providing an enormous power for the generation of electricity both for motor and lighting purposes in the city.
The cars run out to the Botanical Gardens, among the most beautiful in the world, and much favoured by climate. As they are approached tall palms are seen that mark their boundary near the border of the great Lake Rodrigo do Frietas, a curious piece of water separated from the Atlantic by a narrow strip of land over which great billows break during a storm. The gardens cover two thousand acres. The avenue of royal palms is half a mile in length, and gives a strongly marked character to these gardens. Fountains and arbours, rustic bridges and ponds, rivulets and waterfalls add to the charm of this sylvan spot. At the foot of the hill grow great clumps of bamboos, whose trembling leaves bend down the pliant stems till they meet and form an arch overhead. The bases of these stems have grown to great proportions, and are so close together that they form an almost solid mass. Narrow shafts of light stream through the roof of leaves, and pattern the path with many curious forms. An infinite variety of ferns abound of lovely shades of green and beautiful design. But for the incessant buzzings of mosquitoes and flies the spot would be perfect. Lizards dart across the ground and birds flit twittering through the trees, and in the sparkling sunlight, brilliantly coloured humming-birds flutter round strange flowers. Butterflies soar high and so rapidly that they can easily be mistaken for birds. Near by a small waterfall that makes rippling music stands a tall palm protected by railings; it is the parent of all the palms in Rio, and sprang from a seed planted in 1808 by João VI, whose bust stands on a pedestal in close proximity.