Mr. Hargreaves most kindly invited us to dinner, and we spent a very delightful evening. He showed me a number of geological specimens of rocks taken from cuttings and tunnels on a line he is constructing to Ouro Preto, the capital of the Province. Some of the specimens were very fine, e.g. a beautiful rose-coloured marble, used for walls, which would be worth a good deal if it could be taken to Rio and shipped; some hæmatite, very pure; some splendid quartz crystals-the Brazilian crystal so extensively used for spectacles; and two fine cubes of iron pyrites, very perfect. He tells me that rattlesnakes are very numerous, some as much as four feet long; but they are not at all dangerous if permanganate of potash be injected hypodermically immediately after the bite is received, as then in two hours you are all right. Armadilloes are also plentiful, but only small ones, the larger ones being found more in the north of the province. There are besides pumas (the Brazilian lion), but very small ones; and likewise plenty of hornets, which can sting a horse or a man to death easily; so we must be cautious.

Estação Paraopeba.

July 2.-Our luggage arrived at Queluz at 9 a.m., only eighteen hours after ourselves, having been twenty-one hours coming nineteen miles, at the modest cost of eighty milreis (about £6 10s.).

This morning it was very cold and windy, with a thick mist; however, it cleared off when the sun was up, and turned out a beautiful day, not too hot, with plenty of clouds about, but no rain. We shall, in fact, have no rain to speak of for about three months, the rainy season here

During the whole time I was out I never fell in with any rattlesnakes, and never even heard of any "pumas," though I was told of “onças."

being from October to March; but no one stops work longer than is absolutely necessary, even during the rains.

We had the usual solid breakfast. There are only two meals a day, as a rule, in Brazil-breakfast and dinnerthe first about eleven, and the latter about four; there is no difference between them, except that sweets are not served, as a rule, after breakfast. Coffee comes at the end of each meal, when the wine is removed. After breakfast we went to the engineers' offices, examined plans and sections of the lines and extensions now in course of construction, looked over the best maps that are to be had, and had another long talk. Our party then broke up, I having to return to Carandahy, while my three companions started for Ouro Preto to interview the President of the Province. Ouro Preto is a nine-hours' ride from Queluz.

I left Queluz for Paraopeba station at 12.15, alone with the guide, and the three horses we were taking back, fresh ones being engaged for the Ouro Preto journey. I found my book, "Colloquial Portuguese," most useful, and managed to say everything I wanted to my man; though he, presuming on my powers, poured out a great deal I could not quite grasp. Most of the return journey we went the same way as we came yesterday, but followed the mule track for the last few miles, which portion we traversed yesterday on the engine. We passed many ox-carts on the road. From ten to sixteen oxen are yoked to each cart, which only carries about a ton, and they travel two and a half to three leagues a day (ten or twelve miles). The wheels are solid, and the axles keep up the most awful humming screech the whole time, which informs you half a mile off that they are coming; so you have time to get off the road into the forest, or whatever may be at the roadside. The warning is, therefore, useful, because sometimes

the road is sunk six or eight feet below the ordinary surface, so that as there is no room to pass the cart, on meeting it you would have to retrace your steps, for the oxen could not turn round.

Arriving here (Paraopeba) at 4.20, I first presented a letter from Dr. Rebouças to the contractor, Senhor Trajano Machado, asking him to place the engine at my disposal. But it had just gone up the line, and would not be back for an hour. I therefore came over to the hotel, the only house, except the engineer's, within miles, and presented another letter to the man who owns this place. I arranged to take four bedrooms and a sitting-room, for fifty milreis a month, and then had some dinner. Macaroni soup,

onions, bad sausages, and feijões (black beans) failed to satisfy me; so I ordered half a dozen poached eggs, and wound up with preserved pine-apples and cheese-somewhat of a mixture! Returning to the station, I found the engine was not available till ten o'clock to-morrow, so came back here, not sorry to have a quiet evening to write home; otherwise the delay is inconvenient, as I have, among other things, to telegraph to London.

July 3-Left for Carandahy at eleven on the engine. About half-way we came to a place where, owing to a bad foundation, the soil was being cut away from under the rails to put in a dry stone culvert, never expecting the engine in that direction. The pleasing result was that we had to wait three-quarters of an hour, while the rails were being underpinned and made secure, so that we did not reach Carandahy till 1.15; having been two and a quarter hours over eleven miles, and twenty-five hours covering the thirty miles from Queluz!

July 5-Yesterday the luggage arrived at Carandahy, having been only six days en route from Rio de Janeiro!

In the evening I returned to Paraopeba, having passed the whole day hunting up the district engineer, who had promised a train to bring us and all our language en masse to this place; but, after all, I was unable to make arrangements. To-day I have spent five hours in a preliminary exploration of this valley, as I am strongly inclined to make use of it for the railway. I went on foot, not caring for the expense of a horse, and feeling more free to go anywhere. Everybody who passed apparently thought me insane, for no one walks an inch when they can help it. One thing I already see clearly, that the country is not as easy as was represented, and we shall have our work cut out for us.

I have to-day had my baptême d'insectes, in the shape of a delightful little creature called the "carrapato," a kind of tick which burrows its head in your flesh, and has to be dug out with the point of a knife. I also saw one snake, but he glided away from me.

Paraopeba.

July 7.-At length I have found out the real cause of delay. The contractor's engine is supposed not to be powerful enough to bring all our luggage, and there is a bridge near Carandahy which is hardly finished, so that the large engine cannot cross it; but I now expect we shall all be here together to-morrow. Two of the staff, however, tired of waiting, wished to come up last night, so I arranged for the engine to come down for us about 5.30. A truck was in readiness at 4.30, and we placed our light luggage on it; the engine arrived at 5.30, but, owing to the usual indifference to delay, we did not leave till 7.30. We three rolled ourselves up on some mat-beds we had bought, and laid in the ballast truck to keep ourselves warm; but

* The railway is now constructed along this valley (January, 1886).

just before starting, some twenty niggers climbed up on to our truck, so we were closely packed. Soon, however, the sparks from the engine, which only burns wood, were so dense and continuous that we were afraid of our rush-mats being set on fire; therefore, at our first stoppage-for we stopped a dozen times-we rolled them up, and mounted the seat in front of the engine. We came across several cows and horses on the line, which is a common occurrence, and had to pull up quite close to them, blowing the whistle till they moved off. We also stopped to take in water, and again in the middle of a forest for wood. At last we reached this station at 9.30, and, crossing the clearing through a chilly mist, found the house locked up and everybody in bed. We managed to knock them up and get something to eat before turning in, and very glad we were to have left Carandahy. Our bedroom there had two window-frames, both without any glass, one looking on the road, and the other on the general stable, pig, and poultry yard, with the ditch into which we had to empty the slops just under the window. Hardly pleasant, certainly not healthy!

Now, one word as to this "hotel." The owner, yclept Senhor Abailard José da Cunha, some three months since bought a portion of land-about an acre-touching the railway embankment at the station; he paid £30 for it, and forthwith set to work to build this house.

He was pre

viously engaged on a fazenda, about three leagues off, where he grew sugar-cane and made rum, the aguardente of the country. However, he thought this would prove a more profitable spec.

This house is a one-story affair, with a neat exterior and clean interior-because it is new. The frame is of wood, and, as usual, the walls are bamboo framing filled in with mud,