A TRIP HOME.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 3009, 5 October 1908, Page 5

A TRIP HOME.

THE VOYAGE DESCRIBED.

(By J. C. Alpass.)

No. 3.

We had only a few hours to spend in Rio, so, of course, wanted to make the best of our time, and see all we could. The two most important sights are a] trip by cogged railway to the top of a cliff more than a thousand feet high, from which on a clear day a most magnificent view of the whole city can be obtained. The train for Voco-Vado, the name of this mount., did iot start until one o'clock, and would not return until too late for our ship, so we gava up all ideas of that t-ip. The second in importance is the Botanical Gardens. We were told that these were closed on Tuesdays and Fridays, but, fortunately for us, THIS PROVED A MISTAKE, as far as Tuesday was concerned at least. These gardens are situated seven mile 3 from the tram station, which is near the centr iof the city, so thither we made our way. I was in favour of going to an exchange bank and getting some Brazilian money, but the majority of our party reckoned that English money would pass anywhere, so they were somewhat chagrined when the tram officials would have nothing to do with foreign money. We Wi-ra in a bit of a fix; none of our party could speak a word of Portuguese, the chief language of Rio. Luckily, one of us overheard a remark in English made by a passerby, and immediately seized the opportunity of gathering some information from the gentleman who had spoken in our native tongue. From his dress, I took him to be a clerical of some kind. With his assistance we soon exchanged sufficient money into reis and milreis to pay for our tram fares to the gardens and back. This cost us 700 reis each, about tenpenee halfpenny in our money. One thousand reis make on mil-rei, equivalent to about Is 3d in English money. Much of the money of Rio is in small paper notes. There are also coins made of various materials and sizes. It seemed a bit funny to U3 to get hold of two coins the colour of which was almost the same, yet the coin valued at 500 reis was only half the size of another coin valued at 100 reis. Trams leave the central station every twenty minutes for the gardens, so we were soon on our way, and what a

GLORIOUS SEVEN-MILE RIDE that was few can realise unless they have been three weeks on board ship with a promenade limited to about seventy yards. We turned out of the Vernida Central into a much narrower street. We saw old Rio as far as the shops were concerned, noticing particularly that there was very little window display. Instead of windows there was generally numerous openings like tall doorways. In some of these the craftsmen sat at their work —shoemakers, etc. If you wanted to see the wares it was necessary to go inside. Many of tha business places in this part of the town were l.ke wide passages, with one end open to the street. In some of these people could be seen feeding at little tables. In others there would be a row of easy chairs, where people would be comfortably reading while their boots were being polished. 1 noticed one place where there was some kind of musical entertainment going on. The whole end of this room was open to the street, four or five rows of chuirs running back from the street. Sometimes we passed nice private residences standing back from the street and surrounded with banana and other tropical trees, with often a few branchless palms holding their tuft of drooping foliage far above everything else, like a small umbrella with a gigantic handle, ironically keeping the sun off some little spot on the dwelling far below. Then we would pass a bit of old Rio where the

, POORER CLASSES LIVE in old-fashioned houses like we see in pictures of Spain and Portugal. Again we would pass the end of a new street and get a glimpse of modern built villa residences, similar to what we see in our own towns. We passed the magnificent Munroe Palace, built of white marble, being ; of modern construction and evidently built regardless of cost. It struck me as the finest building in Rio. This palace was originally erected at the St. Louis Exhibition, emblematically in some way connected with the Munroe doctrine. It was purchased by the Brazilian Government, transported to Rio, and re-erected at immense cost. As yet it has not been used for any particular purpose, but it is proposed shortly to hold an exhibition in it. From an outsider's point of view it appears pretty much of

A "WHITE ELEPHANT" in the shape of a white palace. The cost was no doubt defrayed out of borrowed money, like all other improvements in Kio; but if the mortgagee should have to take over the Munroe Palace I fear it would prove a difficult matter to make it pay interest. Evidently the modern Brazilian idea is to go in for beauty and comfort at almost anv cost; the paying for these luxuries being relegated to some indefhite time in the future. No meeting trouble halfway abcut them: time enough to think about where their money is coming from when the time to pay comes round. After passing this palace our route lay for a short distance parallel, and only separated by the lovely esplanade from the harbour. This portion of the esplanade being apparently newer than the first I mentioned, is on a larger seals and laid out much more elaborately. It is quite evident Brazilians are not lacking in taste or the love of the beautiful, as evidently they have done much to beautify their city in reference to fostering commerce. What would have been said of Wellington if, before wharves had been built, a lovely esplanade from two to three chains wide had been laid j out from Thurnclon baths round to Oriental Bay? This is practically what has been done in Rio. We arrived at the gardens and passed in through a gate in a kind of a porch, in which two men sat to see that no person entered unless he wore a collar and tie. This is a rule adopted at all except one pleasure

resort in Rio, to keep what we should call tramps out of the gardens and parks. A guide in uniform accompanied us from the entrance. As he could not speak a word of English, and neither of us could speak one word of his language, it can easily be understood that the information we gained was somewhat limited. The trees being all tropical we could recognise but few of them, except some acacias. There were very few flowers in bloom, as it was midwinter; coleus appeared to be in their native habitat, as they grew luxuriously, their variety and the gorgeous nature of their foliage being astonishing. Little rivulets musically descending over many miniature waterfalls came down from the higher ground, and wandered through the gardens, here and there emptying into miniature lakelets; but the BEST SIGHT OF ALL is the avenue of palms. As we walked down tnis path with rows of stately palms towering on either side without a vestige of foliage, except on the very summit, the scene presented was so unique that it is net likely to fade from our memories as long as we retain our normal senses. On our trip to the gardens I took particular notice of the buildings, while on the return journey the people occupied my attention more particularly. The majority of the people had dark or black hair, and dark complexions; for my part I did not see one person with auburn or carroty hair. There were a few with fair skins, but if any of these sat near, me on the car 1 found myself listening to hear if I could catch a word of English. We had expected to see all the men wearing thin clothes and broad straw hats. But nothing of the kind as far as dress was concerned. One might have been in New Zealand or an English town for all the difference observable. The ladies were generally well attired, quita a large proportion of them wearing expensive dresses, but instead of wearing a miniature flower show on their heads, like some of our temperate climate ladies, a very large proportion wore no head dress whatever, but they one and all had their hair done up most carefully, and with such [good taste that our lady passengers expressed grest admiration. (To be continued.)