The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

PETEOPOLIS. 107
on the globe. " "With a perfectly cloudless sky," writes Mr. Dent, " the eye
ranged from the Organ Mountains on the north side, some 50 miles away, to Cape
Frio, 75 miles to the east, and to a Cape beyond the ILha Grande near Paraty,
some 70 miles or more to the west ; while to the south lay the broad expanse of
the Atlantic, whose ripplets broke in silver threads upon the sandy shores, or
dashed against precipitous rocks. All the mountains on the IS'ictheroy side
appeared a promiscuous mass of dark green hillocks. The whole of the Bay of Rio
de Janeiro, with its countless islands, was mapped out. At a dizzy depth below lay
the vast citv, its numerous morros, or hills, scarcely appearing to rise above the
plain. To the west, by glimpses through the rough-and-tumble forest-clud
mountains, were lovely scraps of the Atlantic and the Cape in the far distance, on
the borders of the province of S. Paulo. The horizon of the Atlantic was lost in
Fig. 82.
—
Petkopolis.
Scale 1 : .'ifio.oon.
West or Gree/iwicti
6 Miles.
the haze ; but on Its blue bosom were seen, as tiny white specks, ships in full sail,
and one or two steamers. Just below lay the Botanical Gardens and the dark green
slimy waters of the Lagoa Rodriguez de Freitas, contrasting wonderfully with the
clear blue of the bay and the Atlantic, from which latter it is separated by a strip
of white sandy beach. I could distinctly hear the pleasant jingle of the bells on
the tram-car mules some 2,000 feet below, and even the trampling on the hard
setts, and could just see the cars crawling along like specks on the long, straight
white road." *
Is'ota Frihurgo, which occupies a position analogous to that of Petropolis on the
• A Year in Brazil^ p. 209.
43-10