THE WAR IN BRAZIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9307, 16 September 1893, Page 5

THE WAR IN BRAZIL.

PANIC IN THE CAPITAL. Press Association.—Electric Telegraph. -Copyright Rio de Janeiro, September 14. The residents of the capital are in panic, and are leaving the city. The foreign warships have removed out of the line of fire. London, September 15. News received from Brazil states that the rebels bombarded the ports for six hours. The Brazilian Legation states that no damage was done, and that the Army and the citizens still remain loyal. .

Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, stands on the west side of one of the most magnificent natural harbours in the world. An inlet of the Atlantic, the 3ay of Rio de Janeiro runs northwards for some fifteen

miles, varying in width from two miles to seven. It is girdled on all aides by picturesque mountains, covered with tropical vegetation. The entrace, which is less than a mile wide, passes between two bold headlands, one of which is a <steep conical mass, called the Sugarloaf (1270 f?et). The city and its suburbs stretch nc?rly ten miles along the shore, climbing <vo the numerous irregular eminences, ar.;'i tfwping into the little green val'.'.ys betweu* $'?ii»m, whilst great mountain ranges (1500 o SO?!'; feet) shub in the background. About ->»ry miles south-west of the city stands Y--s precipitous cone of Corcovado (2336 feot), up which a cog railway carries 50,000 visitors every year to enjoy the magnificent view. The streets are mostly narrow and often mean, and the houses and public buildings, though generally quaint and gay with colour, seldom boasb of any t«ry striking architectural features. Although Rio has few magnificent public buildings, it possesses very useful public institutions, as the vast hospital of La Misericordia (1200 patients), the national library (1807), with nearly 150,000 volumes, the i.?«tional museum (with unique collodions), the large lunatic asylum (1841) at the suburb of Botafogo; the botanical gardens, with a celebrated avenue of palms (beyond Botafogo) : the observatory, the Geographical and Historical Institute (1838), the former royal palace at Sao Christovao, the arsenal, the naval dockyards, the academy of fine arts, a cadet school, a school of medicine, a " Pasteur" institute, a conservatory of music, a polytechnic school, etc. In spite of a good water supply, chiefly by an aqueduct (1750) 12 miles long, and a new system of Eewage draining, the city is not very healthy ; the surrounding hills shut out the breezes, and the heat grows intense in summer. Yellow fever prevails during the hot season; and the negro population suffer from small-pox. Population (1872), 274,972; (1885), 357,332, including many foreigners—Portuguese, British, French.and Germans. Rio is also the commercial capital, sending out 51 per cent, of the total exports of the country, and bringing in 45 percent, of the imports. The ex ports average £10,895,000 a-year in value, all except about half-a-million sterling being for coffee; of the total, £0,500,000 go to the United States, more than £1,000,000 to Germany ; Great Britain buys £500,000 less than France and Austria. The imports, chiefly cotton, gold and silver, metals, wool, provisions, and machinery, average about £12,735,000 a-year. Great Britain supplies five and a-quarter millions sterling of this, Uruguay and Argentine Republic about three and a-half millions, France close upon two millions, and Germany nearly one and a-half million. The whole sea frontaee of the city is lined with quays, and in 1889 extensive new harbour works were begun, embracing a dock of 75 acres, a breakwater 3200 yards long, an elevated railway, hydraulic cranes, warehouses, etc. There enter every year some 1500 vessels, of 1,674,000 tons, about one-third (614,000 tons) British. The city possesses cotton, jute, and silk mills, tobacco and hat factories, machine shops, tanneries, etc. On January 1, 1531, a Portuguese captain, Alphonso de Lonza, entered the Bay, and thinking it was the mouth of a large river, he called it Rio de Janeiro— namely, .January River. The French established themselves on one of its islands (Villegagnon) in 1555 ; bub they were driven away by the Portuguese in 1567. Rio was founded in the preceding year ; was plundered by Duguay-Trouin in 1711 ; supplanted Bahia as the capital of the Viceroy in 1763 ; and in 1822 was made the capital of the empire of Brazil. The revolution of November 15, 1889, which transformed the empire into a republic centred ; Rio, and after the re-constifcution of the United States of Brazil, Rio remained the capital, the federal district (municipio neutro) in which the city stands (area 538 square miles) being administered directly by the federal authorities.