Brazil, like most other tropical lands, is fortunate in having a fair portion of her surface considerably elevated above the sea, and thus with an agreeable climate of quite temperate character. The Coast Range, which includes the Serra do Mar extending from Espirito Santo to Santa Catharina is indeed a godsend to the country, endowing it, through regions of great extent, with wonderful scenic beauty, besides modifying the climate; while in São Paulo and Minas Geraes, a parallel range with two peaks, Itapeva and Marins, 7000 and 8000 feet, confers additional advantage. Between these two ranges, as also west of the second, the land is high, the lowland being confined to a narrow strip along the coast. Unlimited water power, one estimate is 2,000,000 horsepower, now unexploited, is a valuable asset of the State; for the various tributaries of the Paraná have a number of large cataracts both useful and beautiful, the Itapura Fall 1500 feet wide and 40 high, the Avanhandava 50 feet high, and others. In spite of this the rivers in considerable stretches are navigable. Besides the cultivation of coffee for which the State is pre-eminent, sugar, cotton, rice, and tobacco, fruit and cereals are, or soon will be, important productions.
PORT OF SANTOS
Santos. The port of Santos (Hotels, Grande, Washington, Internacional), called one of the best and most important of the world, receives annually more than 1500 steamers besides sailing vessels. The largest ocean liners anchor alongside the quay, which extends from the São Paulo Railway Station two miles down along the front of the town. The fine docks were built by a local company, which in 1892 began the construction, on a base from 10 to 20 feet thick, of a huge sea wall of granite rising 5 feet above high water mark. Hydraulic and other machinery is provided to receive and discharge freight, and commerce has grown rapidly until, in 1911, it amounted to $160,000,000 exports and $65,000,000 imports.
Santos is an ancient town founded in 1544 or earlier by Braz Cubas. A hospital established by this gentleman, the first charitable institution in Brazil, was called Todos os Santos, from which the name Santos was gradually used to designate the town. After his death at an advanced age, Braz Cubas was buried in the chapel of the hospital. Its early origin might seem to indicate that the place was particularly unhealthy, and it has in fact had a bad reputation as a seat of yellow fever; but for some years now it has been as healthful as need be. The State and City authorities, awaking to the importance of such matters, accomplished the sanitation of the port by means of a perfect system of drainage and a good water supply.
Though the fact is not apparent, Santos, a city of 70,000 people, is situated, 3 miles from the ocean, on an island, the northeast shore of São Vicente; but so close is the island to the mainland that in the dry season when the river has no water it becomes a peninsula. On the opposite side of the river-like channel by which ships enter the harbor, is a larger island, Santo Amaro. It is all very pretty, as luxuriantly clad hills slope almost to the water’s edge. At the southwest end of the island, São Vicente, is the old town of that name, an hour by rail from Santos. Toward the south end are two popular summer resorts where some of the Santos people, especially the foreigners, live all the year around, while from the interior many come down for the summer. At the entrance of the channel called Guarujá, the fortress of Barra Grande on the east guards the harbor, while opposite is the suburb of Barra with charming country homes. Half way up the channel the docks give evidence of commercial activity. Opposite the city of Santos on the island Santo Amaro, beyond the hills is the seashore resort Guarujá, called the most picturesque in South America, on a rounded knoll overlooking the ocean, among higher hills clothed with virgin forest. This fashionable resort which is reached by means, first, of a short sail across the channel, then of a half hour’s railway ride, not so grand or expensive as Mar del Plata, has natural advantages far greater. Near the white sandy shore are pretty streets lined with chalets and Queen Anne cottages, a casino, a large hotel with gardens, and luxuriant natural vegetation; accommodations may be procured here at reasonable prices, except during the season, when people from all over Brazil make the place full to overflowing.
At Santos every one goes ashore if only for the few hours that all ships tarry. The business streets are close by and the pretty central plaza but a short distance. This old part of the city between the docks and the 15th of November street preserves the narrow old-fashioned alleys, we should call them, of the colonial period, by no means unpleasant on a hot day. Although warm, it is usual to see persons hurrying about, for business is done between ten and four, a shorter day than in most Brazilian cities; here imperative, as many business men daily come in the morning from São Paulo, returning by the afternoon train. A Brazilian writer whose translator’s English is frequently amusing says, “People do not run, they fly. The sweat dampens the collars, the converses are resumed to the exchange of monosyllables, as it is necessary that everything be finished before the last train starts.” Away from the business section are broader streets and fine houses, with a hotel called excellent. Two long wide avenues, Nebia and Anna Costa, crossed by streets which are gradually being built up, extend towards the sea. Street cars run in this and other directions, and if time permits it is a pleasant ride to a pretty seashore suburb with rolling surf and attractive dwellings at the end of the route.
But now we must climb the Cubatão Hill, we might even say mountain, to the capital city, by the São Paulo Railway. An elevation of 3000 feet is gained in a very short distance, as the Serra do Mar is indeed close to the shore. The height seems too steep to climb with any ordinary means, and in fact it is. Extraordinary means are employed, inclined planes on a much larger scale than we have seen before, of novel construction and carrying regular railway coaches. It is a strange and wonderful ride through tropical forests, along the side of steep inclines of great picturesque beauty. Often when the region is shrouded in mist a rift therein, disclosing a tremendous chasm below, has a rather startling effect.
This railway is ranked by experienced British engineers among the great mechanical achievements of the world, such as the Brooklyn and Forth bridges. Due to the initiative of Visconde de Mauá, it makes an ascent of 2600 feet in the short distance of seven miles. Beginning only 15 feet above the sea five inclined planes with a grade of eight per cent, each about a mile and a quarter long, serve for the rapid climb. Four intermediate levels of about 600 feet each separate the planes; a bankhead at the top is a little longer. Above each plane is a stationary engine to run the cables, and to grip these a small special engine is attached to each car. The winding engines for the cables are built under the track, partly underground, receiving light from the side. One is surprised to see two double roads, but the first proving insufficient for the freight traffic, soon after 1895 a new incline was begun, just above on the same slope, with improved technical arrangements. The tracks are very curious. On the inclines each double-track has but three rails for both up and down, these being 1.6 meters distant one from another, the middle rail serving for both the ascending and the descending cars, which obviously do not meet on the inclines, but may on the intermediate levels. On each side, in the center of the space between the middle and the outside rails, the pulleys are fixed which carry the cable. This is an endless steel wire of enormous strength, run by a 1000 horsepower engine, and capable of carrying 6 freight or 3 passenger cars at a time. The entire capacity of the cables is 17,500 tons daily, or under pressure 22,000 tons. These remarkable engineering works as greatly deserve the attention of the tourist as the scenery. In this short section there are 16 viaducts, 15 tunnels, and two miles of retaining wall, with a volume of masonry exceeding 80,000 cubic meters. For one cutting over 150 feet deep, 300,000 cubic meters of earth was removed. The Grota Funda viaduct is 334 feet long and nearly 150 feet high in the center. Two viaducts have masonry arches, the rest steel. A difficult problem was the drainage, and many surface drains of the extensive system may be observed in passing. The road, though but 100 miles long, extending from Santos to Judiahy and passing São Paulo half way is one of the richest in the world. In spite of the enormous expense involved in its unusual construction, from the fact that it carries the most freight and charges the highest prices, it yields the largest dividends of any road in Brazil, sometimes fifty per cent. Its heaviest earnings come from the transport of coffee, as in the section served by this line there are perhaps 15,000 plantations with 500 million coffee trees. From these the road carries 7 of the 10 million bags annually exported, besides ordinary freight transportation. The passenger traffic hardly pays, or greatly increases in volume, as the two hours’ ride from São Paulo to Santos is more than most men care to take daily.