Brazil, the Amazons and the coast . second-growth ; the ground is carpeted withferns; the rocks are covered with them ; in the ravinesthere are wonderful tree-ferns, twenty feet high or more,vying with the stately palms, and broad-leaved philoden-drons. Nature loves to decorate these mountain-woods,even after her proudest glories have been shorn away. It is a hard climb to the top of the Corcovado, but it isworth the pains. The peak itself is a mere point, or rathertwo points, with a bridge between them, and low parapetwalls ; for if one were to fall off from these rocks, he wouldgo sheer down
Brazil, the Amazons and the coast . second-growth ; the ground is carpeted withferns; the rocks are covered with them ; in the ravinesthere are wonderful tree-ferns, twenty feet high or more,vying with the stately palms, and broad-leaved philoden-drons. Nature loves to decorate these mountain-woods,even after her proudest glories have been shorn away. It is a hard climb to the top of the Corcovado, but it isworth the pains. The peak itself is a mere point, or rathertwo points, with a bridge between them, and low parapetwalls ; for if one were to fall off from these rocks, he wouldgo sheer down, fifteen hundred feet or more, to the forest-covered slope below. The Corcovado peak is accessibleonly from the south ; on the other three sides there arebare, perpendicular precipices. Down below, the city and bay are seen on one side ; on the other, the Botanic Garden, with the picturesque Rodrigo de Freitas lake before it ; in front, the suburb of Botafogo, and the Sugar-loaf rock towering above the mouth of the 31 482 harbor ; beyond all, the blue ocean, fading into immensity,the horizon so distant that it is lost in haze. Often theclouds gather around this peak, and through the rifts youget telescopic glimpses of houses and rocks below. Again,the clouds have covered everything, you are floating in grayspace ; nothing visible above, around, below ; only this rock without a founda-tion, and the wetmist beating in yourface. Once only I hada sight here, thelike of which I maynever meet withagain. The cloudswere floating, per-haps a hundredyards below, and onthem the afternoonsun painted a com-plete and most vividrainbow ; a circle,like a halo, with theshadow of the moun-tain-top in the cen- Botafogo and the Corcovado. trC. It laSted OUly for a moment, but it was worth the chmb, and the voyageof five thousand miles. Here, from the hills, I look down on the city below, andmy thoughts are healthier, as the air is purer about me. Ihave faith in the future of Brazil, beca
Size: 1855px × 1348px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublishernewyorkcscribnerss
