The farmer and mechanic., 1915-09-14
RIO DE JANEIRO
How the Great City Looks From the Top Of
the SugarlOaf

\ New City With Million lnhabl-
,ants-Its Municipal Improvements
Pavement of Mosaic and Side !
walks OF TiIc-The Palaces of the
N,cnida Central and the Stores of
The Ou>idor-Thc Gay Crowds i'm
the Strccts-iIigh Price Marks
Silk Shirts at $4,000 Apiece and
Diamond Rings at S1,0OO.OOO.
(Cipyright, 1915, by Frank c. Car
penter.)
RIO DE JANEIRO.
stand with me on the top of the
Sugarloaf and take look at the har-
Dor and city Of Rio de Janeiro. We
are on a mighty rock, almost three
times as high aS the Washington
Monument and more than One-thlrd
higher than the Eiffel Tower. in the
center of Paris. This rock stands at
the entrance to the harbor of Rio. 1t
rises almost precipitously out of the
sea and commands a panorama of
water and land such as can be seen
nowhere else in the world. Right be-
low us are the three great islands that
guard the entrance to the harbOr, and
beyond them at the east rolls the At
lantic ocean, extending on and on to
the horizon At our left begins wall
of gray mountains that extends like a
great horseshoe about magnificent
bay, on the shores of which is the city
of Rio. The mountains are green at
the base and far up their sides, but
their ragged peaks are lost IN the
clouds. Some of them are over three
thousand feet high, and one, on the
opposite side of the harbor, is so tall
so slender and straight that it seems
to point to the heavens, and is known
by the people as The Finger OF
God. "
Now turn your eyes to the harbor o.
Rio. with its city of a million ant
more hugging its shores and climbing
the mountains behind. 1t is the mos
beautiful harbor on earth. | have
heard it compared to that of Sydne.
and Constantinople, but to me it out
ranks them both. In coming to Sgd
ney you wind through the mountains
and enter a narrow bay surrounded b,
hills, with the town on one of tn
slopes. COnstantinople has the Col
den Horn, with Pera at the right an
Scutari facing you on the Asiatic ShOr
over the way. Neither has the won
derful mountain effects Of Rio. an
the beauties of the ocean are lost b
their being far inland. Here you hav
mountains and sea, and that unde
skies as cerulean as those that cove
the Bay Of Naples or the waters Of tn
PiraeuS, near Athens.
ii is spotted with islands. There is q
outer and an inner harbor, the cute
having an opening in the center of tn
half moon. The inner harbOr forms
part of the bend Of the moon; and
is around it that the great city run
having a sea-Wall like the frame of
picture.
Back Of the wall the buildings ris
covering the foothills. The great dri'
OF Rio which runs around the sea ca
be plainly picked out with the ey
hut the distance dwarfs the tall pain
and other trees to bushes, and II
automobiles look like ants or bee
flying along over strip of black rOa
which from the Sugarloaf seems on
as wide as a pencil mark. That av
nue. runs along the sea for miles. T.
tiny buildings at it's back are palaC.
and. together with the tumble
houses that climbs up the green hill
they form one of the most beautif
ciues of the world
Now let your eye follow the Sho
line. 1t winds in and out of ore b
after another. Now it circumscrit
an island, and now goes up and dOV
q peninsula. Everywhere there q
buildings, everywhere trees, and he
and there great gardens or beauti
parks. That white speCk at the l
is the Monroe Palace of Peace a
the broad street upon which ii stan
cutting through from one side of
peninsula TO the other. is the Aven
Central. The new boulevard of
Brazilian capital that surpasses 9
in Paris. 1t is only ten years of a
but it is one of the finest streets
the world.
But stop moment and see VIII
YOU are. How did you get to the
of this mighty cone rising straight
from the ocean You could n
reached it only by an aeroplane a
years ago. The rock is so bare :
so steep that a goat could not eli
it. But now it has an Observat