A FAIRY CITY.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 May 1923, Page 3

A FAIRY CITY.

(By Arthur A 1 ills.) RIO HE JANEIRO. Rio do Janeiro! Perhaps it is the magic of the name, but who has not wanted to see the beautiful capital city of Brazil ? Rio was founded by Estacio (If Sa in 1507. Between 19(13 and 190 bit was almost entirely re-built, the initial sum voted (£12.000,COll) being exclusive Cl the cost of subsequent improvements. One building alone, the Municipal Theatre, built of choice marble, cost £2,000.000 sterling. The Theatre Casino Bheiiix, the fashionable night resort and dancing place ot Rio, makes anything of a. similar nature in London or Paris lock very simple. Rio is a city of spacious avenues, lovely green squares, anil superb sea promenades, such as the four miles A.venida llcira Mar. Ihe town is spotlessly clean and free from the smells often unpleasantly associated with semi-tropical ports. However, had tho Governseut foieseen that the milreis would he woltli (id to-day instead of ils normal Is Gl they might have spent less lavishly. On the other hand, they might lint, for the Brazilieio. when he Is spending money at all. likes to have t'’e best, and a Government that was not going to give him “der urns lovely city in do,- wmhi" while it was about the job might not have remained long in he-

ing. The hen illy of Rio harbour is worldfamous. A fortunate chain i: took me on deck at dawn, just as the R.AI.S.P. Arlanza "as iipprt•aching Cap Frio. \ ct.-el *.hnx'ze hie a . tin -ai, iw»t risen. litL.ith g.-d.l Ihe - Jiff.- of I*<‘U a score of islands; low in the easteni horizon strips of robin egg Line sky interlaced pale sal!roil clouds; in the west the dark peaks of mountains showed above a belt of cloud. An absolute culm lay upon the sea. and as the steamer glided on her way an impression of unreality seized me: I seemed to be in a fairy ship appruueli,ng n fairy land. Two little emerald green islands set j„ a white circle of breaking wavelets guaid the actual entrance to the harbour. The dark mountains show nearer now, rising sharply from the sandoirt shore, though still veiled by lowlying niauvc-tinged clouds. As the steamer sli| s lonvard through tho deep blue water the impression of unreality increases. AYe pass between the islands and the curtain rt-es. lu limit. I'm- 18 miles by 1 - stretches the vast hay; along the water-side beneath the hills the town reveals itself stretching endlessly, as it seems. At anchor eff the A von ibi Rio Branco lie the Minas Gernes and S. Paulo, Biazil s two Dreadnoughts. There is not a great amount of shipping, nothing remarkable compared with the congested roadsteads ot Shanghai or Singapore. 'lbis may he because the population of Brazil is still comparatively small ot j:e,h.i]s Luro pean traders are slow to take their elianees. To get the bust impression of ID > the travellor should take a lnetor-cai and drive via Tijuea. Alta Boa A ista, FitiU's. and hack by the splendid sea road. Leaving Rio l.y the western end the road passes through a prosperous suburban area, and with, startling suddenness plunges into tropical jungle. I his cucrorehing of the jungle and the everlasting fight between man and nature is the pel vailing feature of Brazil. -At one pi int mango swamps, through which there is not even a native canoe track and a few miles on the Avonida Beira Afar. Rio’s fashionable plage, u fin re oil a fine morning costumes maybe seen that would excite envy and admiration at Deauville. As well as the dense undergrowth, cverv sort of tree grows in profusion—vine's bananas, giant palms. Now and i,train an opening in the foliage gives a. lovelv view over the town and hay. The drive ends along the Avonida IDBranco, a magnificent thorouglifaie that is the Bond-street and Rue de Rivli <>f Ri<>- . . .... , As one passes the Municipal I heat e (the Mecca of every operatic star), the ■Tittering .jewellery shops, the display of millinery and frocks, reputed to be in advance of Paris fashions, or at night wanders the streets of this k>'ishlv lit city one thinks ot poverty stricken Lisbon, the parent city of this former Portuguese Colony, and wonders unceasingly with the nulreis at fid where the money comes- from ant whether Brazilians really are riel, or - not.