The Republican journal., 1892-06-23

in glittering piles, scaly, Shiny and odor-
Gus, but showing lovely lines of ruby, opal,
emerald, pearl and gold If you are brave
enough to penetrate the depths of the in
terror, you will find more gypsy like, half
naked hucksters squatted on the ground,
their chatter sounding above the gibber-
ing of monkeys, the paw. paw. of shriIl
voiced parrots, and the squawlling of i'm
prisoned poultry. To the very roof
/ the commodities are piled, and from the
strings Of sausage, tripc, salted fish, az
| ticles of clothing, and goodness knows
what not Birds, whose brilliant plum
age looks as if it had been dipped in melt
ed jewels, hop about in cages of wild
| bamboo: skins Of toncans, tlamingoes and
other gorgeous feathered creatures, hang
/ ON door posts; countless monkeys mock
/ humanity; and hundreds of 'frigate
! birds lowering over all, with wings like
those tie early italian painters bestowed
upon Rcelzcbub and his attendant devils,
add confusion 10 the cutlery and bewild-
ermont OF motion to the scene
You naturally essay to purchase certain
fruits and enriosites and are warmly en-
( coWaged thereto by perspiring merchants
at their baskets and counters: but YOU
are amazed to find that the price of every
! tling you approach is promptly advanced
thousand per cent. Being travellers. of
course from affair. YOU are believed to
/ have unlimited cash concealed about
| your person. Therefore tie oranges, FIGS,
/ pears, etc. that You have just seen sold
at the rate ot hall dozen for penny,
are now quoted at a shilling apiece, and
no abatement by the quantity. And you
will find the same condition of affairs all
over the country, for every dealer, great
OF small. scents money in the air at the
approach of a presumably opulent foreign
you come upon heaps OF crabs, shrimps.
Holsters and other Shiny vermin of the
sea; and a dirty lot of Greek fishermen,
cleaning, sailing and selling their tinny
| llNllNltl, blloNlIlS tut olltl llllo lllS street
for pedestrians to walk over, and swear
ing like troopers the while-if it be
true that troopers swear worse than any
body else.
One of the sights that most impress
! stranger in Rio is the old Carioca acQue-
duet, a remnant OF Colonial times, con-
structed a century and Il half ago, and as
| picturesque as historically Interesting. 1t
is twelve miles long. and crosses the val
! ley between Santa Thereza and san An
tonic hill on double series of arches. the
gap being ninety feet deep and 40 feet
wide. Its water supply is drawn from
several small streams flowing down the
| Carioca hills, an at its head are three
tanks built OF cut stone called the Mae
d Aqua mother of water The work
OF conveying water into the city was be
GUN 10y the .Jesuits aS carly aS 1913. and
their equeduct-nade OF open tile Laid
| on foundations OF masonry passed down
! Calioca. 1t was partly built by the con
quoretl indians. hut completed by African
slaves which the municipality imported
for the purpose; and though somewhat
demoralizcd by wind and weather, it is
yet in use. The later acqueduct did not
follow quite the same course, though it
cmlties at the same place, and its tail
stone arches, spanning the busy ltua
(>treet) dos ARGOS, ninety feet above
form one of Rio $ qraintcst attractions.
As the city grew the water supply had
TO be further increased; and now much of
it comes from Rio do Ouro water works
The latter being OF modern construction,
are much more elaborate in character than
the old ones, but probably will not last as
long. The plans were furnished to the
government by English engineers and exc
cuted by English contractors, at the cost
of about two and a half millions sterling
Its minimum daily supply is estimated
at ten million gallons, and its receiving
reservoir is four hundred feet above the
sea-level thirty three miles from the main
distributing reservoir, from whence the
water is carried throughout the city in
iron pipes, supplying the best modern
| houses. Y ct the great bulk OF the popu-
lation still so to the old reservoir on the
Largo da Carioca. OF depend upon the
water carriers for the daily supply; and
to them the old Jesuit acullc,luct is The
! first and greatest wonder OF the world
never to be equaled by modern engineer
| in@. In the early mornings the streets
swarm with water carriers, and with
house servants going after the day 5 sup
ply, bearing casks and buckets upon their
heads, As in the days when Rebecca
went to the we'll, the public fountains are
the great meeting places for gossipers
Those OF Rio present Il scene OF perpetual
animation: and often Il detachment of
soldiers have to be called to preserve
order. Among the ancient landmarks is
the little Church on Castle Hill, whose
construction was begun in l567. immedi-
atcly after the site OF the city was chang
ed from Villa Nelha to that it now occll-
pies 1t was dedicated to sac Sebastlao,