Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 74.djvu/123

Rh 3,000,000 head of cattle. Rio Grande do Sul has a fine exhibit of live cattle. Special mention may be made of the thoroughbred Durham and Hereford bulls, of which a considerable number are shown.

Whoever thinks of Brazil thinks of coffee, and whoever thinks of coffee-production in Brazil thinks of the state of San Paulo, the greatest coffee-growing district in the world. In the San Paulo exhibit the visitor will see bag after bag, and sample after sample, of coffee, of all grades, varieties, qualities, prices—confusing monotonous, if you will, but very instructive. A large diagram, hung on the wall, shows the export of coffee from Brazil in the year 1906-7. The total amount exported was 20,190,000 sacks, of 60 kilograms each. Santos, the world's greatest coffee port, exported 15,392,000 of these sacks. All countries outside of Brazil exported only 3,595,000 sacks. In this diagram these various amounts are represented by small coffee sacks, and each of the sacks of the diagram really represents 50,000 sacks of 60 kilograms each! Whether the traveler to Brazil can manage to get into the coffee district or not, he should surely not fail to see Santos. As the steamer comes up to the city through the narrow channel, winding about through green fields, one wonders where this famous coffee port is, of which every one has heard so much. You see some houses in the distance, very unattractive to the eye, and are told that is Santos. Your surprise continues to grow until, on making a final turn in the river you see, stretching out on your left, the famous Santos docks and warehouses, with steamers of all sizes and of many flags, lying two deep in many cases, the whole length of the docks. Everybody is busy. Teams, and mule-carts and donkey-engines and traveling cranes and porters—all busy loading coffee. Coffee is everywhere: in the streets, in the stores, on the train. If coffee is injuring the human race, Santos is doing its best to accomplish that purpose. From Santos to San Paulo there is a fine railroad journey up across the Serra do Mar; a steep climb, by cable road, to 2,500 feet above sea level. This trip should be taken by the late afternoon train. The contrast between the hot muggy air of Santos and the cool, fresh air on top of the Serra is then most striking and refreshing; the light on the mountains is then softest and most varied. The views down into the valley, with its many banana plantations, are very fine, and even the least observing traveler can not fail to notice the extraordinary precautions which have been taken to guard the line against washouts. The whole mountainside is actually walled up, in places, and everywhere are seen the brick and cement drains and ditches which carry off the rainfall. One of the engineers of.this road says that the ideal for which he is striving is to know what will become of every drop of rain that falls on these mountain slopes! To maintain this line, in good order, is one constant struggle against the destructive action of