The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-05-22
BRAZlllANS AT TABLE
People Who Brsskfast ct Noon and Dine
OF . Mountain-Top.

eRAZILIANs At TABLE.
People Who Breakfast at Noon and Dine
on . Mountain-Top.
Back OF Rio rises three thousand feet
into the sir the mountain of Corcoyado.
The city is around the base of the
mountain and struggles up its spurs.
A fifteen-minute ride from the center
of the city takes one to the base of the
mountain and at the station of the rail.
road, built after the plan Of the one on
Mount Washington, which runs to the
summit. Here and there, up the
mountain side, are country houses sur
rounded by gardens and commanding
a view of the city and harbor. And
everywhere, all over the mountain is
the dense tropical vegetation of palms.
and vines, and shrubs, and trees, and
flowers. The bride path by which,
before the railroad was built, the
ascent of Corcovado used to be made,
winds in a zigzag manner through all
this prodigality of vegetable life. 4
hundred feet from the summit the rail-
road stops and there a path leads up
to an iron pavilion on a crest of bare
rock.
Descending five hundred feet one
reaches the rocky platform overlooking
the sea where the little hotel of the
Pineras is built. We sat at u table in
the open air and took in the darkening
ocean view with our dinner. At other
tables around were gay Brazilians
come up from the heat Of the city to
dine al tresco in the bracing mountain
air. 1t is the fashionable thing to do,
for have not Dom Pedro and all the I'm
perial family set the example9 Cool
winds blew up from the ocean, and
odors of woods came from the mount
aims. To add to it all the dinner was
excellent. We had soup, the finest
shrimps l ever saw, roast beef, fruit,
cheese and coffee; and it cost us seven
ty cents each. There were Barons and
Counts at the table near US, but the
hotel-keeper forebore to make any *
ira charge on that account. The only
way we could show that we appreci-
ated the good company we were in was
to give the waiter an extra large
tip" l think he got thirty cents in
all.
After dinner we descended into the
valley and a thunderstorm. At the
Hotel Freitas l was conducted, through
a courtyard filled with tropical plants
in the midst of which a fountain was
playing, to a bedroom on the ground
floor. 1t was a large stone apartment,
entered through great iron doors and
and on a level with the street. In
spite of the gas and the electric bells
there was a medieval air about the
room. The great windows looking out
on the street were heavily barred with
iron and closed with thick wooden
shutters. The stone floor was covered
with mats and every noise had a hol-
low sound, echoed from the high
roof. At one side of the room seats
we're arranged after the South Amer
lean manner, which is this: A cane
seated settee forms the base of the de-
sign, and from either end of it extends
at right angles a row of chairs facing
inward. In every house, in every
room almost, all over South America,
you see this arrangement. In the
morning 1 astonished the hotel people
by demanding a hearty breakfast. The
Brazilian, like other Latins, takes coffee
and an orange when he gets up in the
morning. and breakfasts at eleven
o'clock. How they 60 about and work
in the enervating heats of December,
sustained and soothed from eight
o'clock until nearly noon by a cup Of
coffee and an orange, is o than !
can understand. The Brazilians, tax
ing their coffee in the dining.room,
looked at me, l was aware, with some
thing of the feelings which the cult
waited Romans must have experienced
when they say the Northern barbara.
ans of their day gorging themSelve'
with beef and strong ale. l legan
myself to think that there was 1me.
thing uncivilized and brutal about
chops and eggs at eight o'clock in the
morning, but the idea did not prevent
my makinga good breakfast. RID de
Jateiro Cor. ~ Y. Tribune.
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