Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-04-29

l9k the year round. 1t is
~ in the mountains just
back of Rio, at an al
| S>@ titude of more than
w. 81: Ia: al? !: ii: = s e: i: 4:
reach it in less than
| three hours. The scenery about it is more
| like that of Switzerland than the tropics,
and it's climate is such that into it the yell
| low fever never comes.
Suppose you could put a range of hills
| 1900 feet high just back Of New York or
| Philadelphia, and away up in their tops
| build beautiful city of say 10000 popula-
| ton. Suppose you could reach this by a
| short ride across the most beautiful bay of
the world and then climb the hills by a cog
road like that which goes up Mount Wash
| ington. If you can imagine this you have
Petropolis.
| To get to it you first ride twelve miles On
| steamer. Next there are cars which
whisik you over the swamps at the foot of
| the mountains where you get little Bald
win locomotive which pushes you up an in
clined plane SO steep that you have to keep
| your feet on your vaIise to prevent it :oll-
| ing down to 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 feathery bamboos rustic
in the breeze as the LITTLE engine puffs by
Now you are on the side of green noun
tam hanging over a ravine 800 feet deep,
and under great green spotted wall 1000
feet nigh. Now you round curve and the
rocks rise above you like a great fort
"a nd SyyiIr1 Mos Ill
of stone a thousand feet thick and weigh
ing thousands of tons hang over you, and a
mighty wall 1000 feet high appears to be
about to drop down upon you / have secn
some of the rock wonders of the world TIE
formation of the Andes, the Himalavas ana
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 1t is of this coast range of Brazil
1T is different from any other picturesque
IN Inc extreme, and gorgeous in its clothing
| of iuXurant Vardure.
The views of Rio and its great bay are
magnificent and the cloud effects are diff
tefent every hour. l have been living at
Petropoiis during my stay here and go 10
ana come from the city daily. The other
| day, when we left the tons of the noun
| tains. Rio and the harbor We're covered
| with sheet of bilIowy clouds. Not 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
| 70 now IN and out among these massive
hills in rivers of silver. which empty out
| upon the plain into a 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
reu-foofed, White-Walled city of Rio.
In PetropoIis,
Petropolis is a combination of SwitZer-
land and Japan, of the tropics and the
faf 1fNn,.a 70
are covered with verdure for the pure air
Is moist and all green things grow lux
uriantly. Dom Pedro had his palaces here
and he laid out the town most beautifully
An aqueduct filled with running water
flows through it. This is crossed by red
bridges, which fit in with the picturesque
surroundings.
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 go 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.
Our American Minister to Brazil.
I came to Petropolis to find out how
Uncle Sans chief representatives live and
what they are doing for US in Brazil. Be
lore describe the legation L 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
well known in Illinois and the Rockies. He
was at time a miner in the west and
was a member of the Colorado legislature
This was when he was little more than
boy, and afterward when he came back to
his home in Illinois he was sent to the
legislature 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 remembers how he was once handled on
the knees of his great grandmother, the
sister of Light Horse Harry Lee.
This was in 1879. Colonel Bryan was
then three years old, and he must have
been a ffne-looking baby. He is now forty
four. but he is fine looking still. In this
land of little men he towers like a giant
above the Portuguese and Brazilians and
when with his tall hat and dark morning
around his well-flled form, he goes at
2:40 pace along the Ouvidor, he is in truth
the cynoSure of the promenade.
Minister Bryan is about six feet tall. He
has a form, complexion and features not
unlike 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 one ride 1t Is said all Athens
tipped its hat to him.
Colonel Bryan Is q man Of fine education
and high social culture. He speaks French
and German fuently 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, first chosen by President Nc