Show ORBAT VAniBTT or PALMS Of ono sort of vegetation that which especially distinguishes Brazil tbo palm tree we obtain somo ravishing glimpses from afar It is said that thero are up wards of live hundred varieties of the palm in South America and notwithstanding the common character which they possess as a class thero Is the most striking difference between tho various kIndsthe feathery Jupatisj drooping over the waters edge tbo giant Miritls otrotching straight and true to lU green dome like too columns of a temple the graceful Assaia shooting skyward like a rocket tho Baccaba or wine palm from which the flowers droop in long crimson cords sot at intervals with bright groan barrios the cocoanut palm whoso flowers burst from the sheath in such I long heavy plume of creamy blosioma that a strong man coultt not lift it and others too numerous to mention No wonder the palm tree has boon named tho Prince of the Vegetable Kingdom I ought also to be called the special province of South America for it furnishes the natives remote from cities ciIcs with nearly all tho necessaries of life Take for example the hut of an Amazonian Amazon-ian Indian Itf rafters Bra formed by the straight tall leopoldinu pulchra palm It is thatched with leaves or tno carana palm the doors and framework aro the split atoms of the irlurtoa oxborlga palm From another species ho takes the wido bark that grows beneath tho fruit for cloth from which to make his scanty dress His swinging bqd is woven from the fibers of several palms and so is his bowstring and fishlmc Tao comb which ho uses in adorning his bead is mado from the hardwood hard-wood of 1 palm and his lishnooksfronl the spines of the samo He makes caps for his head bags in which to carry his jarrito of dead arrowpoison and most treasured feather ornaments from tho fibrous spalhea of tho mauicarJa uacojfeu From eight species ho can obtain intoxicating liquor from others ho receives harvests of fruit that sorve for food By burning the little nuts of the Jara assu bo produces a substitute substi-tute for salt Ho gets his cylinder for squeezing mandioca pulp from another whose wood resists the action of tho poison juice for a longtime Tho enormous spathes of the masiaiillana rogla arc used by hunters to cook meat in as with water insida they stand lire as well as iron Arrows are made from the eplnous processes of tho Pit na palm and lanoso and heavy harpoons irom theIrlateaventri The long blow cosa pipe through which ho send poisoned arrows to bring down birds peccaries tapirs etc is furnished by the Sotigora palm Thu great bassoon like musical instruments used in Indian Inian hdevl worship 1 are made from the stems of young palms Others furnish him with for candles oils for wax illuminating candles luminating purposes pur-poses cordage for hammocks fuel and goodness knows what not Sailing for days within sight of an end d S a p S Si c less variety of tHe tropical monarchs wa thought of th aeciusting lands of the Orient of Palmyra the city of the I palms I and Persia and Babylon of date I bearing palms In the oasis of Africa and similar varieties shading tho ruins of ancient I an-cient JEgypt The worda of an old lyn ran in our minds Ob fainting soul that rad est well this story longing through pain for deaths benignant balm Think not t win a heaven of rest and glory I thou sholt reach Its gate without thy palm But were our feet aotu ally beneath those palms that viewed from a ships deck mako the shore appear like an enchanted land we would probably not live to tell the tale of the palmers pilgrimage for the jungles are alive with ferocious beasts and enormous serpents and poisonous insects Acting upon the captains advice we arose at daybreak on the morning of the fourth days voyage in order to witness the approach to Bahia the OLDEST CITY IN OnTJ AERrL Brazils second city in size though not in commercial importance It was founded 883 years ago and was of considerable im pcrtauce before the littlo French settlement settle-ment a thousand miles further south Ve1ega non now Rio do Janeiro founded in 1555 was heard of For more than two centuries Bahia was the capital of all the Portuguese possessions in South America up to the year 1763 when too Brazilian government transferred its soat to Rio The ancient capital was christened ban Salvador but took its present name from the magnificent sheet of water in front of lit which Americus Vcpucias discovered in 1503 and piously called Hauls do Todos os Santos Bay of all Saints It is simi lar to that of Rio in shape and size and lies north and south thirtyseven miles long twentyseven miles wide and with an average av-erage depth of forty fathoms But I linlilrn RID Viarr with ltd aimnOrY ingly narrow entrance this has two openings toward the south one of them ten miles wide And this i not environed by a wall of crazy peaks leaning in all ditec tons out of plumb but thero is no land in sight rising higher than 500 feet The bay has also given its namo to tho province which is one of tho most important import-ant in Brazil with an area of 200005 Brazi with 20000 square miles Including many towns villages and rich plantations Bahlu oranges arc the best raised in South America and its to bacoo is good enough to be made into cigars and sold in the United States and ins Europe in-s genuine Havanas I also pro UUGCT onuruiuua quantities 01 sugar cotton and rice tome of the most famous diamond dia-mond mines in the world aro found In Bahia province and part of our business hero is to visit them if practicable Stoamingslowly past tho great palm covered island of Itaparica we como to the tall round lighthouse directly opposite which marks tho southern beginning of the city At the foot of tho lighthouse Ightbouse I is a fort and presently wo pass another and another Then on an enormous I boulder a short distance from shore is the fourth a high circular castle its top completely com-pletely covered with guns which was built many years ago by the Dutch and looks to day like a great Dutch cheese Babla is rich in forts for several others are scattered along the city and all the hills are bristling with them The situa tion of the town reminds one of Valpa raiao for all along the shore from 200 to 800 feot back from the line of the surf rises precipitous bluffs whose blufs average al titude is 250 feet The original averlKo Salva dor lies close to tho water and to this day comprises nearly all the business portion of the city though in some parts but one street widethe Rua de Praya four miles lone lined with shops and warehouses and public buildings The growing city gradu ally crept up the bights and back into the country and noW everybody lives in the town above though transacting business below A CITY OP CUDRCHES While waiting the coming of the health and custom officials wo have time to count the domes and towers and spires ann steoDlcl of the slxtVRlvnn hnh tht aro tho favorite boast of its 200000 inhabitants i inhabi-tants We are surprised to see that tho houses most of thorn solidly built of stono are three four and five stories hlghutboir white yellow and palo blue walls roofed S with red ties and many of them braced up on the very brink of the precipice by gigan tic stono buttresses They have green jalousies and are broken out all ovor with tiny balconies like warts The great yel low trapiohes warehouses that lino the water front havo Iron latticed windows and everybody roof is shadowed by a towering palm or fig or mango tree Tho old town below and the nowor town abovn are connected by several steep rocky roads constructed centuries agp at great oxpense and also by a bran new passenger newpasenger elevator Landing at tho stairs of tho alfandega custom house you step at once into tho oldest portion of the town and the center of its business activity and are besieged by the darkest darkies that over were seen I enema that all Bahia was highly colored Dozens of negroes offer you all manner of services They want to carry you up the hill in a cadlera curtained chair for the sedan or palanquin is as common hero as at Hong Hongor Calcutta Other importune you to buy feather flowers manufactured by tho nuns hand made laoo living snakes and tanned skins of dead ono monkeys parrots fruits and the instant your luggage is released from tho alfandega an ebony Hercules who was brought over from Mlnaa in slavery days swings your ironbound Saratoga on top of his woolly pate a lightly as If it were a feathers weight and trots with it grinningly up the steep street to the hotel half a mile from the landing FANNIE B WARD |