A Tour Through South America

by A. S. Forrest

SANTA CRUZ.

this class are being built to continue the coastal trade right up the Amazon to Manaos. From 1894 the rebuilding of the destroyed island has gone steadily on. Each year additions have been made, and the great rock which covered the larger part has been cut through to form a dry dock. The material removed was utilised to extend the shore and circumference of this island, and its contiguous neighbour, Santa Cruz, which Sen. Lage purchased in 1902. Large and spacious stores have been erected, with machine shops, bonded warehouses, foundries, boiler-makers’ shop, electric power station, and shipbuilding yard, houses for the employees, and all the buildings necessary for a growing shipbuilding and repairing yard. The island of Santa Cruz is a little paradise, and is now connected with the industrial Vianna by an imposing bridge. It has been laid out as a large park, and upon it are beautiful houses which its owner has built for the members of his family. These houses are in the American colonial style, luxuriously appointed, and lacking in no comfort which the furnishing world can supply. From the windows and balconies magnificent views of the expansive bay are obtained, while the surrounding grounds are filled with many varieties of exotic shrubs and trees. Flowers, fruit, and kitchen gardens flourish on Santa Cruz in ordered beauty, and from every spot upon the island vistas and views of astonishing loveliness meet the eye. Nature and art combine to make an entrancing island, unsurpassed by any, even in this silvery bay so famous for the beauty of its shores. Birds, native and foreign, of many brilliant hues, flit unmolested through its trees and along its shores; their confidence in the protecting care lavished upon them holds them to a spot where they find perfect freedom and plentiful provision for all their needs. Upon gravelled paths, on lawns of softest green, water and grain are daily spread for their repast by thoughtful hands. So tame are many of these birds that they respond to the call of their master’s voice, and even fly in through the open windows and perch on chairs and tables. In the early morning the mingled song of myriad songsters heralds the dawn. In the shade of leafy mango trees the woodpigeon coos his tender notes. The air is alive with melody. The whir of wings, and the rustling of the dew-drenched grass as the tame deer bounds along, vary the sounds. The warm light of the new-risen sun tinges all objects with the mellowest hues. The greens are softer in the morning light; the thousand distant isles and hills lie veiled in the melting mists; the colonial architecture of the dwellings on the island imparts an air of homely comfort to the scene—an air that most tropical scenery generally lacks. The trailing and climbing flowers that hang from the balconies and walls call up thoughts of England. The gardeners who tend with care the lawns and walks are early astir, and accomplish much of their day’s work before the sun’s rays gain their full strength. The sound of voices and the faint echoes of hundreds of busy hammers in the sheds upon the neighbouring island blend with the music of the birds. Nature, art, and industry are brought into closest contact upon the twin islets of Vianna and Santa Cruz. Order, taste, and industry have transformed one of them from an overgrown, chaotic, mangrove fringed wilderness into an Eden. A Chinese writer who, centuries ago, in answer to the question “What is it we seek in the possession of a pleasure garden?” said, “The art of laying out gardens consists in an endeavour to combine cheerfulness of aspect, luxuriance of growth, shade, solitude, and repose, in such a manner that the senses may be deluded by an imitation of nature. Diversity, which is the main advantage in a judicious choice of soil, an alternation of chains of hills and valleys, gorges, brooks, and lakes covered with aquatic plants. Symmetry is wearying, and ennui and disgust will soon be excited in a garden where every part betrays contrival art.” Had the writer of these lines seen Santa Cruz as it is to-day he would have been satisfied that it fulfilled all the requirements necessary to a perfect garden.

SANTA CRUZ.

CHAPTER XXV
Some Excursions from Rio

THE vast territories which amalgamated to form the United States of Brazil suffer more than anything else from the lack of that railway communication which has opened up the beauties and resources of the country immediately surrounding the Federal capital.

The first railway in Brazil was due to the enterprise of the Viscount de Maua, and the line was originally named after him, as was the town at the northern end of the Bay of Rio from which it started. Originally this line extended only from Maua to the foot of the mountain below Petropolis, but to-day it passes through that town, and extends far beyond it, having developed into the vast railway system known as the Leopoldina. No longer need intending passengers travel by boat across the extreme length of the bay, for the line from Entroncamento to Maua is now a mere branch of the main line which, starting from the capital itself, extends northwards far into the interior. At a distance of about thirty miles from the terminus in Rio and at an elevation of three thousand feet above the sea-level but backed by higher hills and mountains covered with dense woods, stands the picturesquely beautiful city of Petropolis. Many years ago this place was a mere colony of agricultural Germans, but its ideal situation marked it out as a summer resort for the wealthiest Brazilians, and when the capital was ravaged by continual epidemics of yellow fever it gained in popularity by the permission granted to the foreign Legations by their home Governments to take up their residence in this salubrious spot. Ever since for six months of the year it has been the centre of the social life of the republic, for society and fashion invariably follow the Diplomatic Corps. The Emperor built himself a magnificent palace in the place, setting an example which was speedily followed, until to-day it is a collection of noble and imposing mansions, surrounded by the most exquisite gardens and grounds.

The route to this garden-like mountain city discloses a continual panorama of tropical scenery, and the profusion of the vegetation on the mountain slopes is indescribable. As the train climbs the steep gradients, endless and ever changing prospects meet the eye, and the comparatively short journey furnishes an excellent idea of the characteristic scenery of the environs of the finest harbour in the world. With the improved health conditions in Rio the season in Petropolis is gradually becoming shorter and shorter, and there is a probability that the Legations may again take up permanent residence in the capital, but the mountain city will never fail to attract lovers of the beautiful. Another important branch of the Leopoldina Railway has its terminus in the State capital Nictheroy, on the opposite side of the harbour from Rio. This line branches at Porto das Gaixas into two great arms, which embrace the whole of the eastern portion of the State, and connect it with Victoria, the capital of the adjoining State of Espirito Santo.