INSCRIPTIONS ON THE ROCKS AT RIBEIRAO.
During one of their halts, while passing the falls, Frank and Fred amused themselves by copying some curious inscriptions on the rocks. These were more numerous at the falls known as the Ribeirao than at any other place, and were evidently the result of long and patient work.
CUTTINGS ON STONES NEAR THE RAPIDS.
The inscriptions are nearly all in regular lines, and were made with great care. They are certainly not the work of the people now occupying this region, and their signification is unknown. They were made ages and ages ago, judging by the appearance of the stones, and it is supposed that the cutting was done with chisels of flint or quartz. The stones bearing the inscriptions are very hard and smooth, and not far from the edge of the river at the low stage of water. In the season of floods they are covered, and the action of the water has worn away some of the lines so that they are barely visible.
Near another fall there are some deep lines cut in one of the granite rocks; they are nearly half an inch in depth, and cross each other at different angles. Whether they were made at the same time and by the same people as the others it is impossible to ascertain.
On the eighth day the passage around Teotonio, the last of the falls, was safely accomplished, and the garitea floated in front of San Antonio. This is a small town, which was founded when the surveys of the railway were begun, and has had a somewhat checkered existence. The boatmen were paid off and discharged; the baggage of the party was stored in a little house temporarily hired for its reception, and for the accommodation of the travellers.
San Antonio owes its existence to the railway enterprise. At one time several hundred men were gathered there, principally laborers from Spain and the West Indies, and it was expected that the work of opening the railway line would be vigorously prosecuted. But the men died off so rapidly as to seriously impede the undertaking; those that survived became alarmed and deserted the spot, and down to the visit of our friends all attempts to make a permanent settlement at San Antonio had failed.
There was but one white man in the place—a Brazilian, in charge of the property that belonged to the railway company. His haggard features and sallow complexion told that he was suffering from fever, and he promptly confirmed what had been said of the unhealthiness of the region.