The Coolidge examiner., 1933-05-26
BRAZIL'S CITIES
ARE WONDERFUL
Rio, Sac Paulo, Pernambuco
and Bahia Pictured.

Tue Slale spreads over an area
greater than that of the United
States, nearly every great popula-
tIOn center lies on the Atlantic
coast.
There are ten Brazilian cities
with more than 100000 inhabitants.
OF the first four, Rio de Janeiro,
Sac Paulo, Pernambuco (Recife),
and Bahia (Sao Salyador), only Sac
Paulo is inland.
Rio de Janeiro, the capital. con-
tributed nearly 100000 people to
the census enumerators' figures.
Amid Brazil's amazing coastal pano-
rama OF verdant forests. mysterious
rivers, foamlng cascades, untrod
mountains and pOlyglot populOus
towns, Rio remains the very acme
OF human interest.
As the traveller enters gllttering
Rio and beholds the alabaster-like
city OF palms, marble, mountains
and color, he is astounded. Here
IS an illusion from the Arabian
Nights dream, a magnificent su-
per-city never built by man. Look
at those amazing mountain peaks
that rise from the sea. They can
not be of this world; they are un-
real. like a landscape on the moon.
To enter this great world port you
walk down the gangplank and
straight out into a formal garden
with big bronze fountain. This
leads Off into a Fifth avenue-like
boulevard which IL turn flows into
a wide, world-famous beach drive.
past embassies, clubs, and more
palms and geometric gardens. Dingy
docks. pawnshops, pool halls, quick
and-dirty cafes, cheap rooming
houses, touts and runners, dirt,
smells-all the trash and claptrap
OF many other water fronts. are
missing here.
Rising fully 1,20O feet and almost
straight out of the sea. Sugar Loaf,
lofty sentinel OF the Rio harbor, Is
easily the city's outstanding land
mark. Incoming air pilots, II half
lost in fog or rain, hail Its familiar
outlines with grunts of relief. In
a queer aerial trolley-a dizzy trip
which Is a supreme triumph for the
nervous-you can reach its top.
Sac Paulo, second largest OF Bra
lillian cities, is capital and business
metropolis of Sac Paulo state. 1t Is
one OF the oldest cities In South
America, but its age has not de-
prived II of modern commercial de-
yelopment.
Fifty years before the Capt. John
Smith-Pocahonta episode at James
town, Va. Portuguese sailor
founded Sac Paulo and married the
daughter of a native Indian chief.
Later Jesuit missionaries estab-
llshed a church at the settlement
and held the first religious service
on the feast day in celebration Of
the conversion of st. Paul
Sac PauIo's Swift Growth.
For three centuries Sac Paulo en-
joyed isolation. unfettered by colo
NAL laws OF Portugal. 1t was about
1000 miles from the Portuguese
government officials who were, at
that time. at Bahia. In 1875 the ball
of commercial progress started roll
Ing among the inhabitants, and new
comers were instilled with boom
spirit. In slightly more than fifty
years the city has Increased in pop
ulation from 10000 to nearly 900.-
600. New streets that were built
were made broad and straight and
thanked with modern buildings.
The railway depot. municipal and
state government buildings. mu-
seums. libraries, schools. and some
OF its new business buildings would
be flattering additions to many cit
les of the world of the same size.
Three huge public gardens and more
than fifty parks break the monot-
ony of the miles of streets.
Sac Paulo might properly be
called the city that coffee built.
Many of the palatial residences are
those OF coffee ''barons." In Sac
Paulo streets huge trucks. heavy
carts. and perspiring men laden with
sacks OF coffee are always within
eye shot. Coffee was not introduced
into Brazil until two centuries ago,
hut the price OF coffee now largely
governs the rise and fall OF Sac
Paulo's prosperity. While Ethiopia
Is the original home of coffee, Sac
Paulo state has adopted the great
er portion OF the descendants Of the
original coffee berries. II all the
coffee plantations in the state were
in one plantation. it would cover an
area as large as Delaware and Rhode
Island combined.
More than $500 miles of railroads
now use Sac Paulo as hub. The
railroad from Sac Paulo to Santos,
the city's port on the Atlantic. has
been one of the worlds most profit
able steel highways, although its up
keep per mile Is staggering. In the
81 miles of sinuous tracks between
the cities, trains must climb from
sea level at Santo to nearly 5000