Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-04-09


balconies extending out on each side
from the second stories and nearly
meeting in the center of the street
It seemed rather out of place to
northerners to be suffering with the
heat on Jan. Sd, while we ate lunch
out in the open air on one of these
balconies. We had some interesting
experience in exchanging American
for English money and vice versa.
as the natives seemed to be we'll
trained in short changing and deliver
ing counterfeit coins.
From Barbados to Bahia, Brazil
we sailed days. The first 3 or a
days we're more or less stormy and
about g of the passengers we're off
feed. During these same days we
saw millions of flying fish. They
would rise from the crest of one
wave and fly sometimes $50 or 800
feet and strike like shot into another
They are not large as was my impress
sion but rather small, from to
inches long. On our way to Bahia
we crossed the equator and in the
afternoon of the same day we had
formal initiation of all passengers
who were crossing for the first time.
A NUN Der of the crew were attired
in various costumes and served as
officials of the occasion They
marched about through the crowd and
filed up and sat down on platform,
''bounded on the north by a large
canvass swimming tank Here. father
Neptune with his queen and assistants
were seated and at the call of names,
the passengers responded and were led
to the scene Of action. Here the
subjects were quiZzed for a couple
minutes. being accused of terrible
misdemeanoIs abroad ship such as;
making love, spooning under the
silver moon of the tropics, bringing
abroad quantities of good old Scotch
etc. and then after a shave with a
large wooden razor and a shampoo
with flour paste, they were unexpect-
ingly tipped backward into the tank
where 6 or lads were waiting to
duck them. I might mention in
passing that the ladies were not sub.
jected to all this but merely the
quizz and mouthful of salt water
administered with a funnel. For
such punishment the subjects received
certificate, officially stamped, attest
ing that they had been duly initiated.
have no certificate.
We reached Bahia on Jan 18th and
were glad to leave the combining
quarters of the boat. The day
promised to be quite warm so Mr..
Molgaard, Mr. Cutler (of the Cutler
shoe Co. of Chicago) and myself de-
cided to leave our coats on the boat
as we had our kodaks to carry. We
we're taken ashore all right in small
sail boat belonging to native colored
man but waen we reached the elevator
to 60 to the upper city we were
| stopped. After much gesturing and
welding of the Portuguese language
they made US understand that we
could not enter without coats. It
happened to be Sunday and we were
up against it to get coats. We finally
got to the upper city in a I'd class
elevator but could not ride on the
street cars. At last we found a hotel
where there was an old man who
could speak a little English. Here
we ate lunch and obtained coats for
use on the street cars. After a two
hour ride we returned to the hotel
and paid 10000 reis for our service
The Brazilian currency is as follows :.
Coins; 100, 200, 400, 500, 1000, 1000
reis. Paper; 5000, 10000. 20, 600.
so, 600 etc.. 5000 reis or mil-reis are
equivalent to $1.OO American money.
After about 3 days we arrived at
Rio de Janeiro (river of january
where we anchored for about two days.
Rio is the best South American city
l have seen. 1t has one of the finest
harbors in South America and all the
European YES sci stop at Rio, where
as they do not at the other ports
unless they have special cargo. The
city is located foot of mountain which
surrounds the entire bay and affords
splendid scenery for the many tourists
who enjoy the cool air up in the
shaded glens. We took trip up to
the top of one of the highest peaks,
1.-The Corcovada, on the electric car.
Here we had a splendid view of the
city and the harbor. The clouds were
drifting about below us. A large
cable was Suspended across from the
Corcovada to nearby peak and
tourists were carried across in a car
attached to this cable. This we passed
up, thinking it to be more thrilling