"Yes," said her uncle. "It was built of stone nearly two hundred years ago and is over four miles long. In some places its arches are over sixty feet high and it is as strong as when it was built. Through it passes all the water drunk in Rio, and is so delicious that we have a saying 'Who has drunk of the waters of Carioca can drink no other water,' and 'When you have drunk of the water of Carioca, you can live nowhere else but here.'"
"When Rio people speak of the friends who have lived in Rio they say, 'He is a Cariocan.'"
"Then mamma is a Cariocan!" cried Lola, and Maria added,
"And my father, too."
"It seems to almost walk across the chasm," said Affonzo. "Where does the water come from?"
"When we reach the top of the mountain, I will show you," said his uncle. "See those magnificent waterfalls and cascades! The scenery around here is as fine as any in Brazil."
"It is almost as nice as the White Mountains at home," said Maria wickedly. She loved to stir up her cousins and knew that to compare anything with the States always provoked a discussion. This time her remarks were met with a storm of protest, at which she only laughed naughtily.
"I don't believe you have such trees," said Lola at last. "There are mangoes, tamarinds, bread-fruits, bananas, cocoa trees, oranges and palms all growing together. Aren't they splendid?"
"Yes, indeed," said Maria. "And the flowers are simply gorgeous. Those trees with the flowering vine all draped around them and hanging down in long racemes are as beautiful as anything I ever saw."
"Here we are at the end of the railway," said Martim. "Now for a climb."