“WHERE THE NUTS COME FROM”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 140, 3 September 1927, Page 24

“WHERE THE NUTS COME FROM”

Life m Beautifo! Rio . . . Extravagant Hotels and Gay Casinos, ., A Race of Gamblers (Written for THE SUN 6 y GERTRUDE DUNCAN)

«W¥TraE.V I tell you I have come from Brazil, of j course, you are going to , WpiMlw/jk add, "Where the nuts come from,’’ but I never saw a Brazil nut (or "Nigger-toes,” as they call them) growing in all the years I spent in that country. You can buy them at four milreis a kilo. A “milreis” is equal to our teupence, the same value as the French franc. The nuts mostly grow in Para. There was a song brought out while I was there

with just the noise of the wash of the waves to disturb the complete silence. The silhouette of the palm trees, fitting into the night, and the soft, warm air on your cheeks. Oh, the man who wrote the song, “Rio Nights,” knew. People will tell you it is difficult to say which is the most beautiful, Rio or Sydney Harbour. For my part, I do - not think Sydney touches Rio, with , its cluster of wonderful islands. Rio , is a natural harbour. Then there is | the Sugar Loaf Mountain with its i aerial railway stretching to the main-

tailed “Fructas do Conde e Castanhas j do Para’’ (Fruit of the Conde and the | nuts of Para), but I know more of the j capital, Rio de Janeiro. One of the most beautiful sights j imaginable is Rio Harbour on a moonlight night, the Praias do Flamingo, Botafogo.and Copocabana, to the Avenidas Atlantica, and Nemeyer, forming ; a wonderful drive along the seashore. ! Imagine a full moon, a star-studded j sky which seems very near to you, the j Southern Cross plainly visible, hardly . a breath of breeze, and the perfume of tropical flowers; thousands of elec-, trie lights from marble palaces on one j side, and on the other the open sea. Riding in a beautifully appointed automobile right to the mountains j

land and a huge statue of Christ called the “Sacred Heart” sanding on the top of the Corcovado Mountain, which can be seen fliany miles out at sea. The hotels are extravagantly beautiful and the casinos at some of them put Monte Carlo in the shade. A number of the streets in the city are inlaid with black and white mosaics and the electric lighting is Wonderful. “Rio” is a blaze of lights. You can take a car to the top of the Mountain “Santa Thereza” and look down. It is like looking into fairyland. The chief industry of Brazil is cof-fee-growing, but, like everything else, is a gamble. The Brazilians live on gambling. Santos, the export harbour of the

| coffee trade, is a pretty seaside town, although a few years back it was the dread of every ship of call, a deathtrap of yellow fever and malaria. Now canals have been cut in almost every thoroughfare, and it has developed into a health resort. Here, within a stone’s throw* of each other, are 26 casinos, where roulette is played. Lottery sellers are at every street cor- : ner, the lotteries being arranged by the Government. Nearly the whole of the world’s trade in coffee is done in a little street about the size of Swanson Street. Each coffee seller carries a small tin of sample coffee beans. He • has no office but tramps up and down show'ing the contents of his tin to i prospective coffee buyers. Millions j are exchanged daily on the faith of i the sample. One has to be a naturalised Brazilian and have a guaranteed account ; at the bank before taking this stand, and a man is often a millionaire one day and a beggar the next.

The game of roulette differs here from Monte Carlo by the use of the double zero. The price of “chips” ranges according to the elaborate fittings of the casino; every man can play according to his pockets. There is a casino in Santos that has a full band, a big dining hall, an open-air cinema, a reading-room with all the latest papers in different languages, and a wonderful dancing-hall gloriously fitted in blue and silver. You can go here and have a full-course dinner with wine, liqueurs and cigars, while listening to good music; you can dance on a floor like glass then stroll on to the verandah to eat an ice and watch the cinema—and for all (Continued on Page 25)