The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-04-30
AMERICAN COLLEGE IN BRAZIL
CHAT WITH OUR CONSUL GENERAL
TO RIO ABOUT AMERICAN TRADE.
The Germans of Brazil and Their Ac-
tivity in Securing Good Things
Business I'm Rio De Janeiro.
rcopyrirht. 1899. by Frank G. carpenter.l

you ever heard or PetropolS. IL Is WHeTe
the President of Brazil and the leading
officials go in the summer, and where the
foreign ministers live all the year round.
1t is in the mountains just back of Rio,
at an altitude of more than a half mile
above the sea, and you can reach it in less
than three hours. The scenery about it is
more like that of Switzerland than the
tropics. and its climate is such that into it
the yellow fever never comes.
Suppose you could put a range of hills
5000 feet high just back of New York or
Philadelphia, and away up in their tops
build a beautiful city Of. say. 5000 popula-
ton. Suppose you could reach this by
short ride across the most beautiful bay of
the world and then climb the hills by cog
road like that which goes up Mount Wash
ington. If you can imagine this you have
Petropolis.
To get to IL you first ride twelve miles on
a steamer. Next there are cars which
whisk you over the swamps at the foot of
the mountains, where you get a little Bald
win locomotive, which pushes you up an in
clined plane so steep that you have TO keep
your feet on your valise TO prevent it roll
| ing down 10 the end of the car.
IN THE SWITZERLAND OF BRAZIL
The ride is wonderfully beautiful. Great
| trees loaded with orchids stand high above
| the jungle of matted green bushes. There
are fern trees waving their myriad arms at
! the train. and tall featkery bamboos rustic
| in the breeze as the little engine puffs by.
| Now you are on the side of a green noun
tain hanging over a ravine 500 feet deep
and under a great green spotted wall 1900
| feet high. Now you round a curve and the
rocks rise above you like great fort. They
are brown and grim. Massive blocks of
| stone a thousand feet thick and weighing
| thousands of tens hang over you, and a
| mighty wall 1900 feet high appears to be
| about TO drop down upon you. i have seen
| some of the rock wonders of the world. The
| formation OF the Ardes, the Himalayas and
| the Alps have their own features OF pic
| turesque grandeur. The Garden of the Gods
| and the Yellowstone are of their own kind,
| and so it is OF this coast range of Brazil.
| 1t is different from any other, picturesque
| in the extreme and gorgeous in its clothing
i of luxuriant verdure.
The views of Rio and its great bay are
| magnificent and the cloud effects are diff
| ferent every hour. 1 have been living at
Petropolis during my stay here and l go to
| and come from the city daily. The other
| day, when we left the tops of the noun
| tains, Rio and the harbor were covered
| with a sheet of billowy clouds. Not a tree
nor blade of grass could be seen save on
the mountains, and we appeared to be look
ing down upon snow scene of the Arctic
| ocean. At other times the clouds seemed
| to flow in and out among these massive
| hills in rivers of silver, which empty out
| upon the plain into great cloud lake Now
| you ride through these clouds on your way
| TO the bay, and again, when the clouds lift
| and the sun comes out you sail over that
wonderful sapphire sheet of water to the
| red-roofed, white-walled city of Rio.
1 wish you could be with me one day fl
Petropolis. 1t is a combination of Switz-
| erland and Japan, of the tropics and the
temperate zones. The hills surrounding 1t
are covered with verdure, for the pure air
pis moist and all green things grow lux
4 uriantly. Dom Pedro had his palace here
and he laid out the town most beautifully.
An aqueduct filled with running water flows
through 1t. This is crossed by red bridges,
which fit in with the picturesque surround
ings.
The houses are beautiful; they are of all
varieties of architecture, although the Bra
lillian predominates. The population is
mostly made up of the rich. The swells of
Rio have their summer homes here. The
leading foreigners doing business in Rio
live here to escape the yellow fever dangers
of Rio, and so back and forth daily. AT
| Petropolis are the homes of all the diplo-
mats, and it is here that our American
minister has HIS legation.
THE AMERICAN MINISTER.
1 came to Petropolis 10 find out how
Uncle Sans chief representatives live and
what they are doing for us in Brazil. Be
fore describe the legation 1 want to say
a word about the minister himself. You
have all heard Of him. His name is Charles
Page Bryan and he has for years been
we'll known in Illinois and the Rockies. He
was at one time miner in the West and
was member of the Colorado Legislature.
This was when he was little more than a
boy and afterward when he came back to
his home in Illinois he was sent TO the Leg
islature of that State.
Minister Bryan comes from Chicago. His
father is Thomas b. Bryan. a well-known
lawyer of that city. His mother is of the
same family as Thomas Nelson Page, and
he is also related 10 the Lees. of Virginia
He remembers how he was once handled on
the knees of his great grandmother the
sister of Light Horse Harry Lee.
This was in 1889 Colonel Bryan was
then three years old, and he must have been
a fine looking baby He is now forty-four.
but he is fine looking still. In this land of
little men he towers like giant above the
| Portuguese and Brziians and when, with
hiS tall hat and dark morning suit his
Prince Albert coat tightly buttoned around
his well-filled FORM he goes at a 2:iO pace
along the Ouvidor he is in truth the cyno-
sure OF the promenade.
Minister Bryan is about six feet tall He
has form, complexion and features not un-
like those OF King George of Greece. and
when he visited Greece some years ago he
was again and again mistaken for the King
and during ride it is said all Athens
tipped its hat 10 him.
| Colonel Bryan is man OF fine education
and high social culture. He speaks French
and German fluently and since coming here
he has learned the Portuguese SO that he
can carry on his diplomatic conversations
without the use OF an interpreter. He was
you know. frs, chosen by President Nc
Kinley 10 represent us in China. but the APP
| pointment was afterward changed to Brazil
II seems TO me that the change was wise