[Footnote 42: This road is to be continued from Petropolis as far as Parahyba; and in various other directions also the building of roads for commercial traffic is being fostered by Government. The Brazilian Government are at the same time turning their attention to improving the existing means of transport by importing dromedaries for use. As it withstands variation of temperature, and thrives on almost any kind of nourishment, the dromedary is certain to do well, especially in the northern provinces, and will prove exceedingly serviceable in the transport of the products of that section of the country. The great heat and drought which prevail in Maranhao, Piauhy, Matto Grosso, and that direction generally, is eminently suitable to the dromedary, which does not thrive in hot _damp_ weather. It is calculated that a dromedary, which can carry an average weight of 700 pounds, (being six times what a horse, and four times what a mule will carry on his back), costs, in his own country, from £12 to £16; and after paying cost of transport to Brazil, will be worth £48. With the introduction of the "ship of the desert," that of the date-palm must go hand in hand, as that fruit constitutes the chief food of the dromedary, and will probably simultaneously effect a great change in the articles of consumption by the lower orders.]
The journey by carriage through the Sierra from Fragosa to Petropolis is extremely beautiful. He who is not fortunate enough to enter deeper into the interior, at least obtains here an idea of what constitutes a primæval Brazilian forest. The wonders of tropical vegetation, as manifested not only by vastness of form but also by gorgeous and rank luxuriance, strike the eye at first-sight almost the same way as an overpowering chorus affects the ear. It requires time to collect the thoughts, so as to be able to appreciate and enjoy thoroughly the extraordinary beauties that impress the wondering mind.
If the eye of the astonished traveller has been but in the most cursory manner directed to the vegetable phenomena that surround him, it must have rested on a climbing plant, which constitutes one of the chief marvels of the native woods. This singular creeper is the _Cipo matador_, a climbing plant of a very peculiar aspect, at once the most powerful and most destructive of all the Cipo tribe. It twines round the stems of lofty trees, which its flattened coils gradually constrict with almost life-like cruelty! Its aërial roots run out from all parts and embrace the tree like artificial clamps, forming in some places complete rings, and in others growing into the very bark. The tree, in consequence of this parasitic embrace, dies away by degrees, whilst its destroyer continues to grow gaily on the corpse of its victim, and spreads its leafy crown until it falls and perishes simultaneously with the support that had hitherto upheld it. To what profound reflections does the contemplation of this spectacle give rise! Involuntarily our thoughts fly from the wild Brazilian forest to the plains of civilization,--to the modern society where, likewise, many a noble human nature is slowly undermined by a treacherous Cipo matador of flesh and blood, till too surely he falls prone on the ground!