A. S. Forrest

“ Tall palms, feathery bamboos wafted by the gentlest breezes, give a sense of life even on the calmest days. Rio is a fitting mistress for an exuberant poet, for he could never weary of versing her charms, extolling her exceeding beauty, or revelling in her enchantment. Its shores and its mountain slopes, the fascination of their varied aspects, provoke his enthusiasm at every turn. They possess wonders that can never stale, charms that can never tire. Even if this world-famed harbour is entered when night has hidden the wonders of its mountains from view, the scene is most impressive ”

“ If the republic in many of its features cannot compare for sheer interest with its neighbours, it has yet a commanding claim to the attention of antiquarians, for it possesses the city of Cartagena, which was the most ancient and strongest of the Spanish power in South America. The renown of the city’s prototype in Spain, itself inheriting the name of the still more ancient and famous colony, Carthage, was transplanted to the New World, and for two centuries it enjoyed the esteem of the whole maritime world. Its sun-bleached walls still endure, stern relics of the power of Spain. ”

“ The towns and villages that lie along the route are partially hidden by the dense foliage of the tropical vegetation that bespeaks the richness of the soil. The undulating hills through which the railway winds offer a change of view at every moment of the journey. The rich red earth accentuates and intensifies the green of the foliage, whilst the stain of it tinges everything it touches. The railway carriages, constructed on American models, are full of the fine red dust, and the passengers have a ruddy hue when they descend from a journey through the country. ”

“ ENTRANCE TO RIO HARBOUR.
growth and vegetation, the wild, disordered beauty of nature’s arrangements, the rich-growing wilderness of tropical greenery that springs up everywhere is past belief. When examined closer, the vegetation upon the islands and the mountain slopes is bewildering in its profusion. The colour of all nature, under the tropical sun which shines through the misty haze of the moist heated atmosphere, is full of mystery and charm. The forms that the giant trees assume, with innumerable parasites clinging to them, are indescribable. ”

“ Although the city stands upon flat ground, it has a magnificent panorama of undulating hills spread before it. Innumerable islets, bays, and capes fill the great harbour, and as the steamer makes its way across the smooth waters it passes many of the loveliest bits of tropical scenery to be found anywhere. Cartagena formerly possessed untold wealth; rich and powerful merchants prospered within its protecting walls. Its fame was world-wide, and attracted the unwelcome attentions of the pirates, adventurers, and privateers of the sixteenth century. ”

“ There is little interesting about the ruined city except its associations with the past. It is dead, and nature is striving hard to inter it decently beneath a luxuriant pall of green. One can only visit the spot to stir the imagination and call up its wondrous past. On this spot Pizarro banded his followers together, and from the now overgrown harbour walls his little fleet set sail on one of the most momentous voyages on record. The happenings in “old Panama” make the first page in the voluminous history of the great sub-continent. ”

“ The air is alive with melody. The whir of wings, and the rustling of the dew-drenched grass as the tame deer bounds along, vary the sounds. The warm light of the new-risen sun tinges all objects with the mellowest hues. The greens are softer in the morning light; the thousand distant isles and hills lie veiled in the melting mists; the colonial architecture of the dwellings on the island imparts an air of homely comfort to the scene—an air that most tropical scenery generally lacks. ”

“ Confused masses of shrubs and plants met my gaze, which would have been greeted with enthusiastic admiration if seen in English hot-houses. Wild bananas grew in large clumps, their long leaves torn by the wind, their stems covered with climbing ferns. Bamboos sixty or seventy feet high swayed in the faintest breeze and creaked in every joint.
The richest woodland in northern latitudes is tame compared with the tropical forest. During the midday heat the leaves where the sun beats on them became lax and drooping and languishing for the rain to come and cheer them. ”

“ On the fore deck, huddled together in endless confusion, are labourers from the island just left; behind their “household gods”—parrots, monkeys, poultry, and dogs—enjoying in many cases more comfort than their owners.
In the dim shadows cast by the awning spread to protect them from the glare of the burning sun, or the torrential rain which might at any moment descend; reclining upon chairs, hammocks or bedding spread upon the deck, men and women of varying age, colour and costume, seek oblivion in sleep from the nausea occasioned by the monotonous rolling of the ship. ”

“ Pheasants, partridge, snipe, and pigeon fly over land and water, great flocks of parrots, with harsh, strident cries, break the silence of the evening calm. At sunset, when the dying hues of the sun incarnadine the expansive waters, the prevailing tone of greyness comes as a welcome relief, after the blinding glare of the daytime, when from a myriad diamond points the reflected light dances upon the rippling waters. ”

“ The palms and ferns, cut and cropped into fantastic shapes, mingle with the cactus, which needs no such attention. In the shady bowers are welcome resting-places, where the wearied sit in the patches of sunlight that splash warm upon them through the branches, reading the papers in French, Italian, and Portuguese, smoking eternally, conversing frequently, and moving but seldom. Flower-sellers move here and there, offering tempting bunches of the loveliest pansies, violets, and roses, and add colour to the scene. ”

“ FOREWORD THE artist or the writer who visits South America to-day finds it as a diamond of a hundred facets, and his main difficulty is to select those points upon which to concentrate his gaze. So vast is the subject, so full of romance, glamour, pulsating life, and world possibilities that not one book but many must be written upon it before the reader can form the barest idea of the well-nigh illimitable nature of the theme. ”

“ The views are endless, each seeming to challenge comparison with any rival. Language almost fails to describe the beauty of the scenery. The infinite variety of the shapes and contours of its bays and islands as seen from the summit of Corcovada is an ever fruitful source of charm. Ships are but mere dots upon its surface when viewed from the distant heights of the surrounding hills, battleships but tiny specks and smaller craft invisible to the naked eye. The harbour is one of the largest and safest in the world, with an entrance nearly a mile in width. ”

“ In many places fantastic and exaggerated tree trunks grow from the water’s edge, and grassy plains, barely rising above the river’s surface, extend for miles. Close by the shores alligators bask, with their ugly snouts just above the water, disappearing immediately they are disturbed by the wash from the passing steamers or the approach of small boats and canoes. On both sides of the river, cattle, horses, and ostriches graze in wild freedom upon the meadowland. Mud huts appear at intervals, and natives in dirty white, ragged garments loll under the shade of thatched verandahs. ”

“ But the dweller in cities will not be depressed by this changelessness of landscape. He will rather welcome the escape from the congested haunts of man, drinking in with gusto the fresh clean air that has blown over countless leagues of grassland, and revel in the sense of liberty which comes when one stands in the great open spaces and vast solitudes of nature. If the unending sweep of green and the herds of innumerable cattle become oppressive, the eye can seek relief in following flights of hawks and other birds, or in searching for a clump{173} ”

“ The new capital is about a six-hours’ railway journey from Rio, and is laid out on an ambitious scale on a beautiful site surrounded by gently rising hills with broad avenues and streets, parks and gardens, Senate Houses, Government buildings, a splendid presidential palace, a fine theatre, hospitals, schools, and every possible requirement for a prosperous and flourishing city. Rows of trees line the broad avenues. Houses, mostly of one story, await the population that has not yet arrived to occupy all the vast accommodation that has been provided. ”

“ Vianna and Santa Cruz are two islands lying in the north-west corner of the bay, about an hour’s run from the Caes Pharoux, the picturesque landing-stage and promenade of Rio. The journey across the bay is full of interest; indeed there is not a nook, corner, or islet of the great harbour that does not call forth some expression of admiration, surprise, or pleasure. The surrounding hills are ever changing in expression, and give a sense of security and protection to the shipping, large and small, that can never crowd the vast waters. ”

“ Truly, here was a people widely differentiated from the ruck of South American natives—those squalid Indians with whom the Spanish adventurers came into contact. Possessed of sufficient enterprise to establish an empire which, from north to south, extended from Quito in Ecuador to the River Maule in Chili, they were a noble and withal peaceful race; and the inexplicable manner in which this fabric of civilisation arose can only be compared in sheer wonder with the sudden manner of its fall. ”

“ In the dark and smoky interiors of the workmen’s cafés and wineshops merry little groups of bronzed and grizzly bearded peons sit round heavy, old-fashioned tables, sipping wine out of great flagons, smoking big black cigars, gambling, and playing cards. Women, with jet-black eyes, and mantillas, move leisurely about the streets, seeking always the shady side, or sit upon stiff wooden chairs placed outside the entrances to their homes, plying their fans vigorously to keep themselves cool, and the flies from settling. ”

“ The streets are fairly well paved, but very unclean and evil smelling. Quaint balconies overhang the pavements, and through the lattices dark, sleepy eyes gaze languidly at the passers-by. The heat is almost unendurable during the summer months, and the inhabitants are to be excused if they lack energy and indulge themselves freely in the use of hammocks and easy rocking-chairs. The fine white dust that covers the streets in the dry season becomes a kind of mud-like mortar when the torrential rains descend, and the tatterdemalion shoeblacks reap their harvests. ”

“ It is almost incredible, until its many fine natural defences are considered, that so small a State could hold out for so long{245} against the combined efforts of three such powerful allies as Brazil, Argentine, and Uruguay. Had national liberty been the object, the struggle would have been magnificent, but being undertaken, as it was, to gratify the caprice of a single man, it was a reprehensible blunder which came within an ace of losing for Paraguay her independence. ”

“ The Camp TO a European the farms of South America offer such contrasts to those he is familiar with in his own country that he finds it difficult to become accustomed to the immense areas of treeless plains that constitute the estancias of the New World. Everything is on a large scale there. A vast territory, now gently rolling like a heaving sea, now flat as an unruffled lake, with few objects to break the eternal straightness of the distant horizon. ”

“ Most of the houses in the narrow streets are of two stories, and are painted with vivid primary colours so dear to Spanish eyes. When fresh applied these colours are blinding in their intensity, particularly when the sunlight falls upon them, but when faded and weather-stained they become really beautiful. The red of the pantiles on the roofs, the vivid greens and blues{123} of balconies and doors, give a sparkle to this otherwise grey city. ”

“ The town of Salto, on the other side of the river, in the Republic of Uruguay, lies white like a Moorish city, the shipping at the wharves by the river side lending animation to the scene. In the suburbs of these towns are many shacks and huts built of mud or old tin cans, a common method all through the country. The dwelling-houses in the town are of the common Spanish type, and one gets accustomed to the pleasant little pictures of family life seen through open doorways. The patio is the living-room of these houses, and the flowers, vines, and creepers make cheerful wall decorations. ”

“ The glowing richness of the country roads is refreshing, after these dry, parched, city streets, and the boundless expanse of green hill and valley which stretches around is broken only by the bright silvery light of the river that winds through many and varied scenes northwards, amidst remote, unknown tropical fastnesses, and southwards towards the largest city south of the Equator. ”

“ The silence is broken by the fluttering flight of parrots, pigeons, and small brown owls disturbed from their solemn doze by the approaching team, moving on from perch to perch, always settling ahead to be disturbed again. The lowing of the cattle, the swift stampede of groups of wild horses, and the vast hum of insects break faintly upon the ear. Along the track and in the adjacent fields the whitening bones of animals stare out from the rich verdure that has not quite enwrapped them. ”

“ The trailing and climbing flowers that hang from the balconies and walls call up thoughts of England. The gardeners who tend with care the lawns and walks are early astir, and accomplish much of their day’s work before the sun’s rays gain their full strength. The sound of voices and the faint echoes of hundreds of busy hammers in the sheds upon the neighbouring island blend with the music of the birds. Nature, art, and industry are brought into closest contact upon{285} the twin islets of Vianna and Santa Cruz. ”