historic interest, among others the original correspondence of Lord Cochrane, the defense of Count Barca, a curious manuscript of Father Francisco José da Serra Xavier, etc.; also looked at some of the work of the office.

If Peter II, Emperor of Brazil, lacks some of those great qualities of statesmanship which distinguished Peter the Great of Russia, he must be admitted anyhow to possess much tact as a ruler. Probably he does not exercise a hundredth part of the one-man power that is used by the President of the United States.

In case of his death the Emperor would be succeeded on the throne by his daughter the Princess Isabella, born July 29, 1846, and married, October 15, 1864, to Count d'Eu (Louis Gaston, Prince d'Orléans), grandson of Louis Philippe. The princess bears a strong likeness to her father, and is regarded as an earnest Catholic.

When the Emperor goes out in the city he always rides in the imperial carriage, drawn by six mules or horses, with a mounted escort of eight or ten men, two of which ride ahead. The carriage is always driven rapidly, and the Emperor's coming over the stone pavements can be heard some distance off. He generally sits bareheaded in the carriage, reading, and returns salutations with a slight nod. I am told that his library, into which visitors are not usually admitted, is in a state of great disorder— books, pictures, and other objects being scattered over the floor. He gives no dinners nor balls, but is accessible to the public generally every Saturday evening. He is very benevolent, and gives away a good deal of money to the poor. Though a man of liberal ideas, he fulfills those religious duties and ceremonies required by his office. One of these is to wash annually the feet of a certain number of poor people. Respectable persons are selected

for this rite, who, after its performance, are treated to a good dinner. At Easter likewise he attends the long service at the Cathedral, and publicly drinks a glass of holy water. A beautiful and pious duty, which he never neglects, is to visit his mother's tomb on every anniversary of her death.

The newspapers mentioned that, during the political excitement in April, a young man called at the palace in Petropolis, sent in a card, and asked for an interview with his Majesty the Emperor, which was granted. Upon being introduced, the visitor informed his Majesty that he had come from São Paulo especially to warn him that the Conservatives must be called to take the Government. The Emperor replied that this required reflection, and invited the visitor to remain in an antechamber, from which he was expelled by the servants. Some of his political duties will be referred to in the chapter on Government.

CHAPTER VI.

TIJUCA-PEDRA BONITA.

TOURISTS arriving at Rio in the hot season, frequently go up to Tijuca to spend the nights, or at least to have look at the place. It is a grand mountain-park region, embracing many thousand acres, intersected by excellent carriage-roads, which lead up to magnificent sea and mountain views, such as the Chinese and the Admiral's, abounding also with flower-besprinkled woods, granite cliffs, crystal brooks and cascades. Some of its nooks seem enchanted. There are two villages on the main road, and scattered about on the various eminences are some pretty villas whose grounds are well stocked with orange-groves, fig-trees, vines, thickets of bamboo, big rose-bushes, some of which are always in bloom, and much other vegetation.

The place is now rather quiet. To get there, you take the street-car marked Tijuca at the Largo São Francisco, being careful to select a seat on the shady side; on the way you pass through the long street, Haddock Lobo, in which are the palaces of the Duke de Saxe and Baron Mesqueta, and in an hour reach the foot of the mountain. There you take the stage, or a private conveyance, up the fine mountain-road, admitting of a trot a good part of the way, and in half an hour are at Boa

Vista, the most elevated village in Tijuca. That is as high ground as the stage reaches, but the green-topped mountains on either side are several hundred feet higher. On the winding way up there are two places where very beautiful views are to be had of the bay and part of the city. There are a hotel and several nice residences at Boa Vista, but from there the stage soon begins to descend the other side to another hotel, reached in about ten minutes, and which, though somewhat shut in, has a pleasant prospect from its piazza, and on its grounds a clear stream forming cool basins for bathing, amid a romantic labyrinth of foliage.

The last six months' residence of my family and myself in Brazil was at Sea-View Cottage, Tijuca, a spot whence there is a view of the sea in two places. During this time we had many delightful horseback-rides amid the charming solitudes, especially into the Floresta and its pleasant bridle-paths, where often the most brilliant butterflies, gently winging their way through the moist tropical air of some shady ravine, would pass before us and disappear in the woods.

To illustrate the surroundings, I shall venture to give a familiar account of a horseback-ride which, accompanied by my wife and daughter, I took to the top of the mountain called Pedra Bonita ("Beautiful Rock"). We had been told by an old resident of Tijuca that the road was good all the way there, and that people sometimes made the trip before breakfast. We started at nine o'clock in the forenoon, May 4, 1885, and, after riding something over a mile, on the road leading from Boa Vista to the Chinese View, we turned off to the right and went down into and across a valley having fifty acres or so of flat land watered by a clear stream, traversed by roads

arched over by bamboos, and which was formerly the seat of a coffee-plantation. Of the latter there is no vestige except a durable-looking house. At this time there was a dairy with a good modern barn for cows, some patches of cultivated grass on surrounding knolls, a few scattered dwellings, and on the farther side, down stream, a paper-mill. We rode on as far as the latter place, and found we were on the wrong track; but a Portuguese operative went with us a few hundred yards and showed us where to turn. Soon we began to ascend the mountain over a narrow way or path which had been paved with rough stones many years ago, and which was beginning to be obstructed by high bushes and branches of trees, especially after we had left the only pasture-gate on the way. On we rode. We were ascending the north side of the mountain; some of the way was quite steep and difficult, and, the weather being warm, it was necessary occasionally to let the horses rest. We soon gained a point where we had a full view of the Peak of Tijuca, the Parrot's Beak, and other mountain scenery. In the course of half or three quarters of an hour we came to an old and abandoned house, without floor or windows, but in the yard of which was a fine specimen of the fire tree or plant in full bloom, with bright-red, long-leaved flowers. We rode up into the door-yard to take a look at the place, and to gain, if we could, a good distant view. There seemed to be no very near prospect of our getting to the top of the mountain. However, we kept on our way through high and thickly grown bushes. In the course of half an hour more we came to another deserted, lowroofed, weather-stained house, still more dilapidated than the one we had just seen. Around this were a few rods of pasture, though rather overgrown with bushes. We