The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1922-08-03

Brazil is not backward In railroad
construction, having $1,000 miles OF
track. Yet so vast is the country that
railway construction seems barely be-
gun. Brazil has yet to build its trans
continental lines. With Il single ex-
ception the railroads are confined TO a
belt along the coast from $50 10 $50
miles deep. The exception is the road
extending from the port of Santos 500
on the Paraguay river.
Rio de JaneirO, capital of Brazil.
in which the exposition celebrating the
centenary of Brazilian independence
is To be held. has a population between
million and million and half. and
is therefore one of the greatest of cit
les II shares roughly with Vienna.
Osaka. Picking. Hankow and Calcutta
the rank of tenth city of the world. In
South America it is surpassed in size
only by BuenoS Aires. Set in a series
Of valleys. backed and all bur encir-
cled by mOuntain-like hills clad in a
riot of tropical vegetation, and with
magnificent harbOr at its feet, Rio
de JaneirO is one of the most beauti-
ful-many travellers assert the most
beautiful--Of the cities of the world.
Mans hand has helped nature in bring
ing about this beauty. Broad boule-
wards rim the deep crescents of the
harbOr and the rough, picturesque adj
joining coast; one of the most famous
OF botanical gardens has been created;
and avenues are lined by towering
palms, while stately buildings are set
in spacious parks.
"As muticolored and varied in
beauty as the butterflies of the trop-
les" is the characterization of one re-
cent visitor to the metropolis of Bra
zil "In splendor of hue and setting.
this great city Of the South is IN
rivaled the world over. Here granite
peak and turquoise sea, trOpic forest
and rainbOw-tinted town, meet and
harmonic.
This city Of lure terraces up from
a glorious bay-the Bay of Guanabara.
mountain-encircled, isle-bejeweled
From the shore, where parks and
boulevardS are fast crOwding out the
old Rio of narrow streets, rise fOrested
hills on whose slopes the lovelier pOr-
ton of the city lies"
Rio Seen From the Mountains.
To see Rio at its best and lOveliest
one must 90 70 these mountains that
tower over the city. Turning hayward,
one looks down, through a frame of
tangled vines and branches, onto the
tree-tOps of the slOping virgin forest.
Far below, set in verdure, CLEANS the
Kaleidoscope city, with its crescent
shores. In numerous creScents the
Dreaming sea meets the beaches
FOrmosa, Santa LuZia, Lapa, Gloria.
Flamingo, Botafogo, Vermelha. The
bay, set in its amphitheater of hills,
sparkles like a sapphire. To and fro
among the ships at anchor ply the
busy paddle-wheel ferry-boats to the
islands and to Nictheroy, the little
sister city across the way. In the dis
lance tower the blue spires of the lofty
Organ mountains.
Oceanward one looks down on
titanic granite mountains rising sheer
from the sea. There is bulky Baby
great sail unfurled. Between them lie
Rios suburban beaches-Leme Cap
acabana, Ipanema, Leblor-in
glistening chain, their white villas
nesting between hill and shore. The
Avenida Atlantica, which connects
them, is eQualed only by bouleyards
along the Mediterranean.
One can motor from the city to
these beaches and on to Gavea over a
new road cut in the rock high above
the sea, climb to the divide at Tijuca.
and drop down. on the bay side Of the
range, to his starting place in the city
"a wonder circuit of forty miles or
more
Avenida Rio Grande, Rios finest
thOrOughfare was hand made" after
the city had attained practically it's
present extent. In 1904 1t was decided
to carve this great modern avenue out
Of the city, over GOO homes being sac
rificed.
The avenue, more than a mile In
length and SO wide that II consists
Of two distinct bOulevards separated
by row Of shade trees, is thronged
day and night with automobiles.
The sidewalks. the widest the
traveller is likely to find in all his
world travels. are Of black-and-white
stones laid In mosaic designs, like
those In vogue in Lisbon. Both stones
and workmen were brought from
Portugal. but similar pavements, cOfi-
structed later in other parts Of the
city, are "home made"