blockades of sand and earth, washed down from the hills during an unusually heavy fall of rain. In 1883 some of the street-cars were stopped two days by such obstruction.

The principal means of communication are street-cars, drawn by mules over very smoothly laid steel rails. The pioneer street-railway was to the Botanical Garden, established several years ago by American enterprise. It accommodates the Botafogo and Larangeiras districts. Naturally the money for the undertaking was raised by the sale of the company's bonds, and from that fact the streetcars in Rio are universally called "bondes." "Are you going to take the 'bond'?" means in Rio, “Are you going to take the street-car? The street-railways are well managed, comfortable, and popular. The first-class cars are open, yet provided with leather or oil-cloth curtains, to exclude rain or sun. The seats of polished Brazil-wood or mahogany face to the front, and the backs can be swung over when the direction is reversed. Each seat accommodates four persons, who can sit very comfortably. It is only on the cheaper, or second-class cars, that more than the regular number of passengers are allowed to crowd in. A conductor passes along outside on a footboard to take the fare. For a distance of two miles, or less, the fare is a nickel of two hundred reis, equivalent to eight cents. These first-class cars are habitually used by the wealthy, yet the humblest person is admitted without distinction of color, unless barefooted. So comfortable are they, that people, of an evening, often take a ride in them for pleasure. They afford opportunity for noticing the manners of the people, who, as a rule, are quiet and well-bred. Of course, smoking is universally allowed. Perhaps half the gentlemen on a street-car in the morning will be smoking cigars or cigarettes. Soon after the

Brazilian has taken his seat, he proceeds with great deliberation to prepare to smoke. He takes from his pocket a neat pouch of tobacco, from a pocket-book a ready-cut cigarette-wrapper, generally of corn-husk, into which he puts a few small pinches of tobacco, at the same time distributing it along, and pressing and rolling it into proper form; he folds the wrapper around it with care, then takes from another pocket a little box of explosive matches, lights his cigarette, and proceeds to smoke. He is in no hurry about anything. Perhaps, seated next to him, is one of the many devout Sisters of Charity, in her uniform of white bonnet and gray, woolen dress, and who, by the movement of her lips, her downcast expression, and slow telling of her beads, is saying prayers.

For public carriages there is the one-horse chaise (tilbury) and hacks drawn by two mules. Distances being long, the pavements rather rough, and the main streets much intersected by railways, there is little inducement for private equipages, of which there are but few. Besides, there is not in Rio, nor in its suburbs nearer than the mountains of Tijuca, any pleasure driveway-a great lack, indeed, in respect of recreation for the wealthy. Probably the Copacabana Beach, which is right along the ocean and favored with mountain views, is not too distant for this purpose. Were a macadamized road built there, and nicely shaded with trees, it would afford a driveway as fine as that at Marseilles. Such things will come in their time-say a hundred years from now, when the city will be much richer than it is at present. The general absence of elegant private carriages, and the habit of genteel people riding in the "bondes," give Rio a democratic characteristic that few other cities possess. Rich and poor travel in the pleasant, open street-cars. The exceptions

are the imperial family and the cabinet ministers. Each of the latter, by fashion's edict, maintains a two-horse coupé, which is generally driven very fast, and closely followed by a couple of mounted guards.

The street most frequented is the Rua do Ouvidor, extending from the water about half a mile to the Largo, or Square of São Francisco, and its locality should be well fixed in the mind of the stranger, because eight or ten street-railway lines for the direction of São Christovão start from the Square of São Francisco, where it ends, and the Botanical Garden and Larangeiras lines leave it at the foot of Rua Gonçalves Dias. In the vicinity of where it leaves the water are the custom-house, post-office, Merchants' Exchange, public market, the principal banks, and the shops of the money-changers. It is not much more than twenty feet wide, contains some of the best shops, in whose plate-glass windows are displayed costly jewelry or silks, and is so much occupied by pedestrians that carriages are not allowed in it from early in the morning till late at night; though the big one-mule garbage-carts, with their dust and smells, detained by late risers, are often not through their daily service till after ten in the morning. About that time squads of business-men, brokers, and clerks, who left their homes from half an hour to an hour before on the street-cars, and have just alighted, are seen hurrying along through this street, with umbrella in hand, to their several places of business. Besides having the best dry-goods, millinery, and jewelry stores, it also has some of the best and most frequented coffee-restaurants. There, about the middle of the day, and especially on Mondays, fashionable ladies, often accompanied by their daughters, are to be seen shopping. The Polytechnic School and College of Dom Pedro II being near one end

of this street, it is a convenient place for students to linger a little after the hours of examination. A person walking from the Chamber of Deputies to the Senate would pass there. From these and other circumstances, it happens that, from noon till about two o'clock in the afternoon, the street is generally crowded with people, many of whom are standing in groups conversing. If there is a Cabinet crisis or other political excitement, a crowd will be reading the latest bulletins at the newspaper-offices. Matronly and richly dressed ladies with their handsome children by their side, wealthy planters from the country, senators and deputies some of the most distinguishedlooking men of the empire; groups of students, and often a little party of foreign travelers just stopping off from a steamship for a few hours' stroll-these, together with the hundreds hastening along on business errands, help to make up an animated throng which is numerous enough to impede one's progress. With the temperature at 90° Fahr. in the shade, the heat on such occasions is oppressive, though the awnings in front of the shops keep off much of the sun.

The dress of the Rio people differs scarcely any from that of Europeans and Americans. The Brazilian gentleman wears the "stove-pipe" or stiff silk hat, a doublebreasted frock-coat of black cloth, closely buttoned even in the warmest weather, and trousers of the same material. Business men generally wear the common stiff felt hat; and, in hot weather, trousers and vests of white linen are common. Straw hats are less used than in the United States. There are any number of ready-made clothing stores at Rio, and apparently the goods are about the same as supplied in northern climes.

The type of countenance is Latin; complexion dark,

hair and eyes black, forehead high, nose prominent. The eyes are generally large, and the expression amiable. Ladies, at middle age, are inclined to be fat; and while one frequently sees tall men at Rio, the stature of the people is lower than that of Americans and the inhabitants of the north of Europe. It is only in the Amazon Valley that there has been much mixture of races.

Sea-bathing is very popular, though the water is that of the bay, and not quite as pure as the ocean. Some ladies rise at four in the morning, ride a mile or two in the street-car to a beach, bathe in the salt water, and then go back home and go to bed again.

There is a good deal of reserve in the female character; although, as a rule, Brazilians are informal. Especially are the young unmarried ladies of the higher society dignified and formal. A single gentleman sitting near one of them at dinner, even though he had been introduced, would need to be cautious in offering his assistance. If he were attentive, for example, in passing her different things within his reach, a look of surprise on her part would be likely to warn him that he was making himself too free. These young ladies have more color than would perhaps be expected in a tropical country. They have black eyes, an abundance of black hair, and their education consists principally of a knowledge of the French language, music, and embroidery.

Macedo, a popular Brazilian author, wrote in regard to Brazilian women previous to 1873: "The ancient anachronic and oppressive Portuguese customs which compelled the ladies-mothers and daughters-to live secluded from society, shut up in the depths of the domestic hearth, only visible to relations and intimate friends, and only to be guessed at in the churches and public