A GALA DAY IN RIO
IN the fortnight which followed the four cousins became very well
acquainted with each other. Maria soon lost her shyness, and taught the
others many new games and sports, while they in turn taught her the
Brazilian ones which her father had played when a boy at home.
The little Brazilians found their North American cousin very
interesting. She was different from them in many ways and they never
tired of hearing her tell of things in the United States. Although
admiring her father's country very much, she was devoted to her
mother's as well, and could never be made to admit that things were
better in South America than they were in the north.
"Come, children," said the Senhora Lopez one morning, "this is the
day of the inauguration. The President himself has given your father
tickets, for they are great friends and we must all be ready early so
as to escape the crowd."
"Indeed, mamma," said Martim, "I think the crowd's the greatest fun
of all. I shall never forget the procession the day of the parade in
honour of your Senhor Root, Maria. It was one of the finest we ever had
in Rio."
"I wish I had seen it," said Maria. "When our President is inaugurated
we have grand processions in Washington. My grandfather took me to the
last one, and it was splendid."
"Our inauguration procession is fine, too. You will see to-day that
they know how to do things down here as well as you do," said Martim,
as they started for the reviewing-stand.
"I don't doubt that," said Maria pleasantly. "But I can't quite make
out why you have a President at all. Brazil used to be an empire and
have a splendid emperor. You showed me his statue in the park. What
became of him?"
"The last emperor of Brazil is dead, my child," said her uncle. "He
died in Paris in 1891, some said of a broken heart, because he had been
sent away from his beloved Brazil."
"Why did you send him away; wasn't he a good man?" asked Maria.
"Yes, indeed, very good, and many of the people were very fond of
him," was the reply. "He was always interested in the people and tried
to arrange the laws for their best interests. He was very democratic
and travelled about a great deal, keeping his eyes wide open to learn
everything which might help his people. He even went to your United
States at the time of the Centennial in Philadelphia."
"If he was so good, why did they send him away?" asked Maria puzzled.
"It is rather hard to explain politics to little folk," said her uncle,
smiling.
"Some of the Brazilians wanted to have a republic like the United
States, for they thought that country was so prosperous that they
wanted Brazil to be like it.
"The people thought that the United States had progressed more rapidly
and was more prosperous than Brazil and they did not see why their own
land should not be as great or greater than any other American country.
Brazil was the only South American country which was not a republic. I
think the chief reason, however, was that the heir to the throne was
not at all liked, and the Brazilians were afraid that he would not be
as wise a ruler as Dom Pedro had been. Even those who most wanted a
republic were sorry to have the old emperor expelled, and many of them
cried bitterly when he went away."
"I should think they might have waited until he died," said Maria. "If
he was old he wouldn't have lived long, and then they needn't have had
his heir whom they didn't like. I do not think it was nice at all to
send him away when he had always been good and kind."
"If it had been in the United States you would have shot him, like you
do your Presidents, wouldn't you?" asked Affonzo mischievously, for he
loved to tease his cousin.
"We have only had three Presidents killed out of twenty-six," said
Maria. "How many of yours have been assassinated?"
"I'm sure I don't know," said Affonzo, rather taken aback at the
quickness of her retort.
"In the early days," said Uncle Hilario, "before the republic was very
firmly established, the Presidents used to have to be taken from the
army so they could fight to keep their positions. Now, however, things
are quieter and we do not have to have our ruler backed by sword and
guns."
"Here we are at the grand stand. The music is just beginning to draw
near. Hurrah! There come the soldiers!" cried Affonzo. "Aren't they
fine-looking fellows!"
"What gorgeous uniforms they have!" cried Lola, and Maria exclaimed,
"Aren't the plumed horses splendid!" And they chattered all at once
till their uncle fairly covered his ears with his hands.
They had a good look at the two Presidents--President Campos-Salles
whose term of office was just over, and Affonzo Penna who was the new
President--and returned home quite excited with the events of the
morning.
Next day they had planned an excursion to the top of Corcovado, that
beautiful mountain which rises above Rio, serene and lofty, toward the
clouds, and all was excitement as the little party started off.
"Think of having mamma with us!" cried Lola. "Uncle Hilario, have you
and mamma been up the mountain before?"
"I should say we had," he laughed, then turning to his sister, "Do you
remember the time we were caught in the terrible storm?"
"It was a terrific cloud burst, but we didn't mind it," she said,
laughing too. "In those days climbing Corcovado was something of a
feat. There was no cog-wheel railway as there is to-day but only a
bridle-path. We had to start long before daybreak and climb up the side
of the mountain. We had to take servants along to carry provisions and
there was always a large party going.
"The time your uncle speaks of, he and I got separated from the rest of
the party going down and we came near losing our way entirely. There
came up a terrible storm and when we finally arrived at home an hour
after the others we were drenched to the skin, and they had sent people
out to hunt for us.
"It is a very different thing to-day to go up the mountain seated in a
carriage, find a café at the top, and have nothing to do but look at
the sights as we pass. They are well worth looking at! See! There is
the bay, its water as blue as the sky, and you get a fine view of the
old aqueduct."
"I wondered what that was," said Maria. "It looks like the pictures I
have seen of the Campagna at Rome. Is it made of stone?"
"Yes," said her uncle. "It was built of stone nearly two hundred years
ago and is over four miles long. In some places its arches are over
sixty feet high and it is as strong as when it was built. Through it
passes all the water drunk in Rio, and is so delicious that we have
a saying 'Who has drunk of the waters of Carioca can drink no other
water,' and 'When you have drunk of the water of Carioca, you can live
nowhere else but here.'"
"When Rio people speak of the friends who have lived in Rio they say,
'He is a Cariocan.'"
"Then mamma is a Cariocan!" cried Lola, and Maria added,
"And my father, too."
"It seems to almost walk across the chasm," said Affonzo. "Where does
the water come from?"
"When we reach the top of the mountain, I will show you," said his
uncle. "See those magnificent waterfalls and cascades! The scenery
around here is as fine as any in Brazil."
"It is almost as nice as the White Mountains at home," said Maria
wickedly. She loved to stir up her cousins and knew that to compare
anything with the States always provoked a discussion. This time her
remarks were met with a storm of protest, at which she only laughed
naughtily.
"I don't believe you have such trees," said Lola at last. "There are
mangoes, tamarinds, bread-fruits, bananas, cocoa trees, oranges and
palms all growing together. Aren't they splendid?"
"Yes, indeed," said Maria. "And the flowers are simply gorgeous. Those
trees with the flowering vine all draped around them and hanging down
in long racemes are as beautiful as anything I ever saw."
"Here we are at the end of the railway," said Martim. "Now for a climb."
It was but a short distance to the top, and the children hurried along,
followed more slowly by their elders.
"Here we are at last," said the Senhor as they reached the top. "Now
you can see seventy miles, for there is Organ Mount fifty miles away,
and yonder is Cape Frio, which is seventy miles away."
"Among the mountain peaks there lies the sea of gold," said Uncle
Hilario. "There is a tale told that in the early Portuguese days in
Brazil a murderer, who had been condemned to death, escaped from prison
and fled to the hills. He wandered about, fed only by the bounty of the
forest and at last he discovered the Lake of Gold. From its shining
sands he made a fortune, and returned in two years to Rio to buy his
pardon."
"The Lake of Gold," said Affonzo. "I wonder if that is where the Gilded
Man washed himself."
"Who was the Gilded Man?" asked Maria.
"It's an Indian story Vicente told me," said Affonzo.
"Do tell it to me," she said, and he told her the quaint tale with
which she was delighted.
They lunched in picnic fashion on the grass and had a merry time,
resting afterwards while the Senhora and Uncle Hilario told them
stories of old days in Brazil. At last it came time to return and the
two boys, after whispering together went to their uncle with a request.
"May we not walk down?" Martim asked. "We won't get lost and we want to
do what you and mother did."
"Oh, do let us!" cried Maria, who always wanted to do every thing the
boys did, but the Senhora shook her head. At last it was arranged that
Uncle Hilario should walk down with the boys, while the girls went
discreetly home in the train with the Senhora. The boys were jubilant.
"See the ships, uncle," cried Affonzo as they looked across the bay to
the broad Atlantic. "They are just over the horizon line. What's that
puff of smoke for?" as a puff came from a ship nearing the harbour.
"Watch the fort," said the Senhor, and there another puff was seen.
"Eyes are better than ears at this range. That was a salute from the
ship answered by the guns from the fort. We can see the smoke, but
cannot hear the report.
"Here is the source of Carioca. The name is from an Indian word,
Kaa-ry-og, and means 'the house of the streams from the woods.' See
how the stream is shaded by these giant trees? That is what makes it
so cold. The water flows amidst all manner of sweet-smelling aromatic
plants, and goes into an aqueduct full of pleasant scents. It is said
to have some medicinal qualities."
"It is nice enough here to cure any sickness," said Martim, and they
went slowly on down the mountain, following the same bridle-path which
their uncle had followed so many years before, reaching home without
any accident, tired but delighted with the tramp.