EMMELINE'S COSY CORNER CLUB.

Otago Witness, Issue 3003, 4 October 1911, Page 72

EMMELINE'S COSY CORNER CLUB.

FIFTH MEETING. - —Travellers' Meetirg.— The club will travel m order that all tastes may be met, and the people who enjoy hot climates may do eo without interfering with .the cold weather enthusiasts. We will divide ourselves into two parties. I will ask liangiora to captain one. party of tourist 3 and Country Mouse the other, and the chosen countries shall be Russia and South America,-both teeuuug with interest. My Dear Comrades, —After the brilliant and delightful success of our booklovers' meeting, we shall perhaps be somewhat unduly critical to-day. Still, though most of our travellers preftrred the sunny, tropic, lands, to which Coin.try Mouse set somewhat unwilling sail, to Rangidra's more strenuous objective, we have no reason to grumble. Travel papers, except for those with good libraries or within reach of publio institutions, are so much more difficult to write than merely pleasant recollections of favourite fiction. But the very! fact of realising how little we actually 'know of these, interesting place* is sufficient proof of how much a travellers' meeting ■ benefits us, ~ For my part, L heartily thank all my comrades for the pleasure they have given nie, while regretting the absence oi such ' dear familiar faces as Lex, Val, . Oscar, Elsie, and many others- . ~. •., ....... A Dear Emmeline and the many adventures our pasty have.met with in travelling through the land of the Czar, let us turn aside to the town of .Stavopc-1 and watch a Russian wedding ceremony in the great church that crovns the hill, wearing Foster Fraser-s glasses for the purpose of getting a good view. "The bride, quite 'Bayawater-like in ber moire silk tulle -.veil and orange blossoms, was taken into church by her heavily-epauletted officer brother. In ' the centre- of the building was. a little desk, ■ where a silver cross lay and a massive candle flared. The equivalent for "The. voice that: breathed o'er Eden' was sung by "a 'full-, lunged choir, and then the great ornate gates before the altar were dramatically thrown open, revealing two tall priests in rich golden vestments and top .boots showing beneath. They*4advai.ced sedately, and the younger handed tinselled .'•..candles to- the '.presumably, happy but certainly nervous couple. These; were held in the;hand during, all. the service, while,the wax .trickled down : over the glovea in a characteristic and-pro-voking candle-like way.- After much singing and-intoning and chanting,, the elder or the,-priests produced -..two gold rings on a little silver tray, and,- waving each , three times in the sign of the cross, put them on the third fingers of the. right hands of- the marrying couple. Two golden vcrowns were brought from the altar, and-.for. a full half hour they were balanced over, the heads ni the groom and bride by spruce" officers. Led Lv jthe priests, the couple perambulated the church thrice, while the -crown-bearing friends hopped along, performing not. very successfully the task of holding the crowns oyer, the two head 3 and keeping their feet from, the ■ bride's, luxuriant 4r*in:.... -There was next the" administering ajf ■ the sacrament, three sips, and the. kissing .of the" silver cross three .-times,- much, blessing, much majestic roa ring of, choi al voices, and than a wild. scramble, 0f.,a11. the ladies in;.the* church to see the, pair drive-off.-'. (N-B-.VrWe all"agreed that sooner than get; married Russian fashion we would remain "unappropriated blessings" to the end of the chapter.) ;..'< • •' . RANGIORA. It would certainly be difficult to maintain the graceful dignity of the ideal bfido while carefully dodging' the crown, 1 should think, Rangiora. And' as to the poor bridegroom! Well,* I wonder if there is an undue proportion of bachelors in Russia? IN THE LAND OF THE CZAR. Dear Emmeline, —It is in the ship of dreams that I sometimes set sail' for the "great lone lend." It lures and calls by-the weird, ineffable fascination of its great silences, the wide, wind-swept steppes and its immerse, slowly-flowing rivers between great i.anks, hewn out of the levels .by the water's force as fox - ages ■ long it has passed on to swell the ocean. There, is a fascination in the spell of the open road and "the rivtr's call" that is- ui-analysable;- it snares the Romani blood that is in many of us and wakes the thirst to follow, follow on. On the magic film of dreamt brief pictures flash. Of a droschky drawn by shaggy ponies with merrily ringing bells trotting briskly over the snow-clad waste, of red suns sinking over the world of white while a wind comes up, ice sharpened and space fed, singing eerily of many things—of lost travellers that •the -wind has converted into snow mounds and covered in Nature's shioud with the wind to sing a requiem; of the. awesome, blood-curdling sound of the wolves on " the trail, and the snarling of the ice when spring comes and the rivers begin to flow once again. A lonely- land of sorrows that has not yet thrown off the yoke of tyranny and tears, and anon a land dearly loved of all her children where the peasants, with their rude implements, till the soil and huddle round the one stone in winter, and so live out life's pageant with something of the pathetic dimb stolidity of beasts. Laden barges passing down the Neva with the boatman singing a I wailing, slow, toneless song that has caught the burden of all sorrows. Wide streets and great white buildings, the clip-clap of galloping hcofs and tinkling bells from the horses' harness, the tramp of the guards and the command oi the grey-clad Cossacks and the laughter o. some beautiful woman wrapped in furs being borne along, surrounded by the evidences of all that money can . buy. Great forests throvigh which the wild boar finds cover, the wheat areas taming .the splendid isolation of the scene and rolling to the horizon's line, with here and there the scattered low brown roofs of villages. In dreams I drift along on the wide . bosom of the yellow Volga, swollen with the waters of a hundred rivers that rise towards the Ural Mountains, drift along between high banks and past towns that star the banks—towns in which the West and East jostle one another, towns that might belong to another world, and yet with the strange incongruities that is ihii gift, as the curse, of civilisation. And in my dreams do I pass Moscow ? where once the Man of Destiny wrote despatches in a deserted palace before the smoke, of war littered the sky and before the great retreat thai, strewed the way with the .awful sign of death. ' That city that arose again, and is once more shadowed by the Kremlin. Russia, that in one little spot fringing the Black Sea, saw the death of many of England's bravest men, and some of the greatest deeds of valour that are the beaxiliful white punctuation marks of the red book of war. A land that holds # within its bosom the wealth of a world, a land that has groaned beneath the heel of a Feudal, system, _ a land towards which Freedom is matching with a song of liberation on her lips; a

land that claims our hearts by its sorrows; a Rachel among lands: "The Hercules of nations, shaggy-browed, Enormous-limbed, supreme on steppe and plain." QUEENSLAND OPAL. There ij no country in the world more interesting, I think, than Russia, .and you have successfully touched upon its striking natural features, my comrade. Can one wonder that the Slav race, encompassed by these stupendous vistas of silerce and desolation, ig a mournful people? The studies of Setoi Meiriman on Russian character, the pictures of Russian landscape which he has drawn, are most enthralling. The blood of the Russian is so tinctured with the fatalism of the East, he is at cmce so brilliantly courteous end so brutally cruel that, whether in the lazy young nobles or among the* "dumb dii\en cattle" of the peasantry* Ulthy in their habits, sad in temperament,, and full of an inborn pessimism—the Russian is of a strange and surpassing interest. IN I"HE HOME OF THE HUMMINGBIRD. ' Dear Enimeline, —This to great you from the banks of the Eis&equibo. I am far from the " madding throng," yet from these tangled thickets and impenetrable groves of tropical verdure my thoughts fly swiftly first to our own " summer isles of Eden and you, riext to the Land of the Czar, where, I suppose, Rangiora and his company are wandering by Neva's waters, under the shadow of the Kremlin, it may be, shuddering with affright at the raucus clangour of the age old Tocsin, or speeding in up-to-date trains to Siberia, while frozen steppes,- swift sleighs, pursuing wolves, and Nihilists supply a border of thumb nail, pictures—interesting, if not attractive. But, loving sunshine, colour, fragrance as I do, dear lady, you cannot wonder at my preference for the home of the humming bird—the happy hunting grounds of Anderson, Biiffon, and Watertoh. The sleigh bells are jingling above the tossing manes of th»-snow-powdered steeds in. St. Petersburg, but for me the Caimpanero is tolling-"his_ pretty bell, the windows 1 of the" Winter" Palace flash brightness under : sombre skies—for me, the Counacouchi lovely with «very hue of the rainbow, coils and uncoils his sinuous length, monarch of the serpent tribe, and roaster of the bush. The whip snake, of lizard green, and harmless, the speckled brown and deadly labarri,; and the. formidable caymien; ". like ah old tree trunk," lie basking in .'."the sun. I do not hear the baying at the mcon, .but the monkey Howling,, or moaning, its midnight and Pawning misery (whatever it may be--whether'" thother-in-law, mieaales, or mos--quitces—deponent showeth not). The owl, ■the .whip poor' will, afld the vampire" bat are-with roe, and as the last-mentioned sucks the warm life current from my toe, as L *ie dreaming in . my- hammock ■ of happier,; if less vivid,, days, and safer, if less sensational, nights, T know quite well, dear Emmeline, that I, am of the .small, select, intrepid . sisterhood of. woman travellers Whose daringi deeds I never. thought to emulate.. Let mo dream on. There "is breath of wind to swing -hamtfhofik; on the riverl-cher mooniight Mis a&' on~ a silver shield, the owls, the fregs, the tiger, and the caymen contribute 'weird': "and "awful interjections.-' Yes, this out-Ballantyhe's Ballantyne. When the mornitg dawns,' I' take my blowpipe guii, • with' > its.' inner rod 'called';" omiah," - its outer •' sneath " samomah,*' tie on the airow-poinit of prickly; leaf, to .the formCT, having first dipped it in s wbmali poison—a • devil's 1 compound of womiali juice, counacouchi, and laharri.snake: fangs.. Pepper—A deadly black ant, and a" fated red ant, boiled in a new pot, under cover of a solitary hut, 'denied to womian and -abandoned after the brewing. Two dioga''teeth provide sights for my. weapon. With 'lndian celerity and stealth I approach a grove of conoorite palms, where a flock of dazzling" parrots of- the' sun are at matins. With one-strong effort of breath I speed the fatal 'dart, and lo," at my feet . almost falls the lovely-p!umaged ' creature, its blue, scarlet, green, and-yellow a marvel of " creation. A thousand voices' of trees, flower*, perfumes are calling -for recognition. I am under a spell—hypnotised by Nature. - I long'so intensely to interpret her message, to sha,re this" marvel hour with my comrades of the C.C.C. that the very longing defeats its object, ROSLYN. Thanks for the charming tropic interlude, Roslyn. I felt the cold of those Russian plains penetrating my very heart. I am glad to be with you among your humming birds. They "always have for me the fascination that pertains to childhood's memories. When my father's beautiful collections of stuffed humming birds were looked over from time to tame, I wa3 allowed to bring my little hassock and nurse the tiny creatures swaddled in their paper caps in my lap. Now and then when some brilliant favourite, glittering like a jewel in the sua. was revealed, I might be'permitted to gentlv smooth the soft little body in my small hands, and fieast my eyes upon the gorgeous colouring. I knew all about the forests of Brazil in those days; the trees, the flowers, and the birds were more familiar to me than the quiet valley round my home. ... RIO DE JANEIRO. Dear Emmeline, —Being a lover of Nature, I would dearly love a trip to Rio, de Janeiro, in South America . Who can describe the grandeur of the gates of the Bay of Rio and the wonderful beauty of the bay itself? Here is a gulf that tian-. scends all one's wildest dreams of the magnificence of. tropical scenery. The entrance of this bay is between stupendous and iaintastioally serrated mountains. Steep and forbidding domes of granite fall sheer. into the .boiling surf. The aspect of this coast from the sea is grand' and terrible in the extreme, but once within the bay all changes. What a scene Was there round us, what a variety of beautiful form and colour! To give any adequate description of. this bay is quite impossible. It is studded with the moat beautiful islands, whose beaches ore lined with coocanuts and stately palms. All round the bay rise the stupendous mountains, some covered with gorgeous coloured forests, others of barren crags and towering precipice. And there stretching far along the shore is the empire city, Rio Janeiro, the queen of South Amerioa, lying at the foot of an amphitheatre of great mountains.' And all round the' inland sea are sheltered bays, the most beautiful imaginable, with the beaches of silver sand and wonderful tropioal forest's covering the mountain sides whore the guova and mango grow in wild profusion, and there are islands in these b < ys, too, like the gardens of Eden: ' Our first stroll through the city gave us_a very favourable impression of it, —we were evidently in a civilised and luxurious capital, where we could recreate and relax very pleasantly for a. short time. Rio Janeiro is a fine city of about SOCf,"ObO inhabitants. Tramways, of course, are everywhere; gas and tramways are the specialties of Rio. NV> town in the world is so welL. lit. Far beyond the city, up to the mountain tops, through country lanes,_ are the tram meta?*l laid and the lamps planted. Far out to se» is the city visible at night by the great

glare of it Nigh* was now upon us and the .aspect of the city and the bay from the elevation at which we were was very strange and beautiful. Steep ravines and hillsides sloped from, our feet to the city, mountains were round us, and all were iit by myriads of gas jets. The crags were covered with the rich vegetation of the tropics,-a most fairy-like view, a wonderful contrast of city streets and Nature at her grandest. Rio is a lively town, for here we have theatres, an opera house, an alcazar, concert gardens like those of Pans, and other dissipations. Carriages are prohibited from traversing after dark, for it is- then the Brazilian ladies promenade this narrow thoroughfare to do their shopping. Ten p.m. is the fashionable hour. The famt fights of the charcoal burners' fires are seen here and there on the far-off hillsides where the virgin forests are. Now add to this the still warm night air, heavy with the odour oT flowers and fruits -and spices, the sad splash of the waves on -the rocks, and you have the surroundings for the lover of Nature who loves to ponder silently over his cigar and coffee, or rather, not even to ponder at all, but sink into that feeling of thinking of nothing, his mind intoxicated with the beauty of all that fervid yet lazy Nature around him. What -city on earth has such marvellous scenery in its immediate neighbourhood as Rio Janeiro? "Why, even in the narrow streets of the city itself you come suddenly on the most lovely little oases of tropic . vegetation. Here, for instance, is a gloomy and ugly old mansion. in a squalid lane* It has som© pretensions to architecture, and" it is the palace, maybe, of some merchant prince, but it is dingy and uninteresting-looking. You are passing it, when suddenly the portal of it is opened, and there is revealed a glimpse of Paradise itself. Under that dark door as a frame is seen a bit of bright azure sky above, and below a garden, but what a garden, what colour,, what form! Among the dazzling creepers and bushes stone fauns and nymphs -disport themselves, and fountains splash on cool marble and tesselated pavements. And down the great garden 13 a drive through an avenue of immense palms 6mooth and straight. as columns with their leaves joining overhead, like the aisle of_a cathedral of giants. ■ It seems to me to be a real glimpse • into fairyland, bo our trip to Bio. Janeiro closes with a feeling of thankfulness at being privileged to see so much beauty and joy of Nature at Rio. 1 hope, the captain of our party and the fellow members of the South American party will enjoy this trip to Rio Janeiro as much as I have; and I think we will return home feeling it was a great joy to be alive and make the trip to Rio even in imagination. So we return to our work feeling refreshed and invigorated. LEX. Your description of Rio is a most enjoyable one, Lex, and reminds me. so much of the pictures I have of that glorious bay, and ihe little sketches of the tropical forest where, in the little open glades, the slender cassia trees drop their pendant, spicy fruits upon the sunlit grass, and the big butterflies chase the tiny humming birds.

ON THE ESSEQUIBO. Bear Einmelinc,—Yqui,appeal is.•'.«> urgent thart I really must, make, an attempt at re spending, though I had' hoped that my position as a humble member. of the A.O. OF. would have, exempted;mo, from further effort. (If , any members ayo .unable _ to in-, terpret the ttgnifioation of those oabalistia letters, .'Emrnieline baa; my .permission to reveal the secret.) The. only thing that I can think of that has. any, bearing on, -the allotted topic ie an extract from Waterton's "Wanderings in Sourth America," a book that is now well nigh forgotten, though written' by one oi the. most enthusiastic and diligent of observers of Nature. I think it was our own Captain Barry.who claimed to have ridden on a live whale, and Frank Bullen and a few mates found, on one occasion, a - temporary - refuge-; on the _ oarcase of a dead one; but Waterton eclipsed them all by mounting a live cayman on the bank of the Essequibo. " About half-past 5 in the morning the Indian stole off to look at the bait On arriving at the place he sot up a tremendous shout "We all jumped out of our hammocks and ran to him. The Indians got there before -me, for they had no clothes to put on, and, I lost two minutes. in looking for my trousers and in slipping into them. We found a cayman 10 feet and a-half long fast to the end of i)& rope. Nothing now remained but to get him out of the water without injuring his scales. We mustered strong—four South American savages, two negroes, a Creole, and myself (a white man from Yorkshire). I informed the Indians that it was my intention to draw "him quietly out of the water and then secure him.. They looked and stared at each other, and said I might do it myself, but they would have no hand in it; the cayman would worry some of us. On saying this they squatted on their hams with the most perfect indifference. Daddy Quashi was for applying to our guns, as usual, considering them cur be3t and, safest friends. I immediately off ered, to knock him down for his cowardice. My Indian asked to be allowed to shoot a dozen arrows into him and thus disable him. This would have ruined all. I had come above 300 miles on purpose to get a cayman uninjured, and not to carry back a mutilated specimen. I rejected their proposition with firmness, jini darted a disdainful . eye on the Indians. Daddy Quashi was again beginning- to remonstrate, and I eba«ed him on the sand for a quarter of a mile. Then we Stood in silence, like a oalm before a thunderstorm. They wanted to kill him; : I wanted to take him alive. At last I *ock the mast out of the canoe and wrapped the 'sail round the end of it Now, it appeared clear to me that if I went - on one knee and held the mast as a foldier holds his bayonet, I could force- it down tho cayman's throat should he some open-mouthed at me. When this was told to the Indians they brightened up, and said thev would help me to pull him out of the river;* Brave squad ( said I to myself, now that you have got me betwixt yourselves and danger. I then mustered all hands for the last time before the battle. Daddy- Quashi hung in the rear; I showed him a large Spanish knife that I always carried in my waist-belt, and he Bhrugged up ■ his " shoulders in absolute despair. I now- took the roast, of the canoe in my hand and sunk down upon one knee about four yards from the water's edge, determined to thrust it down his throat if he gave me the opportunity. The people pulled the caymen to the surface; he plunged furiously as soon as he airrived in the upper regions, a.nd immediately went below again on their slackening the rone. They pulled again; and out he oaime till he was i within two yards of me. I dronoed the mast.' sprang up, and jumped on his back, turning half round- as I vaulted, so that I gained my'seat with my face in the right position. I immediately seized his forelegs, and by main force twisted them on his back; thus they served me as a bridle. After repeated attempts - to regain his liberty, the cayman gave in through exhaustion. I now managed to tie "up his jaws and secure his fore feet in the position in which I had

held them. We had now Tanother struggle for superiority, and while some of the people were pressing on his head and shoulders, I threw myself on his tail to prevent him from kicking up another dust. Finally he was conveyed to the canoe- and then to the place where we had suspended our hammocks." KERANL As ever, Kerani, you have brought the human interest into the "ploy," if you know what that Scotch word means. Waterton was a book friend of my childhood, in the days when I nursed humming birds and strutted about in my father's cocked hat and epaulets, and read of tropic travels and fairy tales impartially! But I am eo glad you consented to join your comrades to-day 1 No one else can take your place, not even as an A.0.0.F. —member of the Ancient Order of Old Fellows—but " Friends " would be truer. IN MEXICO. Dear Emmeline, —In th© day's of youth, when I had just domed my first long dress and had discarded hair-ribbons for hairpins, Mexico laid a spell upon me by means of a book of Dorothea Gerard's. What I read in the pages of "Reata" I have practically' forgotten, but I have always carried with ma the remembrance of a bar or two of music—an old Spanish air called "La Palonoa"—which Reata, a Mexican girl, plays. The description of this music, wild, mournful, sighing like the wind across the Mexican prairies, roused my first desire to see the land of Mexico, and now, when by the magic of Cosy Corner methods, I am given an opportunity of realising my desires, I will book my passage to that country. But rumour has whispered that there are leas-known parts of Mexico than the prairie A boat is waiting at New Orleans,, and we will take our tickets by steamer to Coatzaooalcos, and by rail across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the town of the same name —Tehuantepec. Ccatzacoalcos, set down on a sandy shore, and branded with the curse of fever, :s a very different region from- the Mexico of our dreams, and when we have left the fields of pineapples behind us we find ourselves wondering if this can be truly the country which we are seeking. For our train has plunged into jungle, where the vegetation is so dense and grows so rapidly that, to prevent Ht overgrowing the railway it has to be killed every now and then with scalding chemical liquids sprayed on to it from a tank car on the train. From our carriage- windows we get glimpses of gorgeous tropical flowers,- of trees smothered in ferns and orchids, of chattering monkeys and slinking panthers, and of bright-coloured panots flashing among the shadows. Then suddenly we leave the forest behind us, and the train takes its way through low scrub, and' from thence into barren, wind-swept hills, which are dotted here and there with organ cacti. Here we are close to the Pacific coast, and have reached our destination.— Tehuantepec. The town itself is built on the banks of a river, and its name signifies "Hill of the Jaguar," so called by the natives to them the irregular patches of white quartz on the hillsides seem to bear resemblance to that animal. The dust and the cocoanut groves surrounding the town suggest to us Northern Africa, but in the streets we know that we have come among a Mexican people. Here you will see men in: shirts, gaily-striped fcerapes, - and hats,- and women in gorgeous colours, shoeless and stockingless, buti wearing wonderful head-dresses of starched iace, and jingling necklaces-of coins, Cigars are smoked everywhere, and are-even seen .between the lips of the smallest children-. •: Here women rule w the roost, because onoe in ' troublous times the mien' were wiped out . by slaughter, and those that are left are weaklings. The women are superb creatures,, counted among the most graceful and beautiful women in. the world. Where business is concerned they are in. the forefront, while th© mien linger in the background. All business is done through the women. The town is made up of low-built houses. Earthquakes visit it very frequently, and it 'is no unusual sight to see the inhabitants kneeling praying, in the street while the world around them rocks like a ship at sea. They are a superstitious people these, blending with the teachings of their padres hidde l superstitions of their own. Romance lives in their community, and at night-time, when, the heat of the day is over and the stars come out,-you may see the young men beneath bedroom windows serenading the lajles of their choice. Stevenson, in Mexico, spoke of the serenading, of the sound of the "old. heart-breaking Spanish lovo songs," sung in "that high-pitched, pathetic, womanish alto which is eo common among Mexican men and which strikes on the unaccustomed ear., as something not entirely human, but altogether sad." Perhaps that, coupled with the rare beauty of the woman, is the strongest memory we will carry with us when we cross the isthmus again, and, leaving Tehuantepec behind us, make our way to other lands. EVE. Mexico has a dual fascination for most people' nowadays. The" old familiar one, which spoke from the spell of that strange barbaric civilisation of the Incas, the mysterious rites of Aztec: temples, the sad, compelling allurement of spendours and conquests and tragedies that shall never be fully revealed. Then there is the new fascination, fruit of man's hopeful, helpful compact and partnership with science, for the still further pursuit of science. In Mexico is situated one of those interesting, experimental gardens of the American Department of Agriculture—one of the finest dei elopments of American foresight and energy. In this tropical garden, year in and year out, patient, far-reaching work is done in acclimatising tropical trees, plants, fruits, and grasses from all over the world, and then, by careful, skilful hybridising, to create new forms from which the faults of the parent plants are eliminated and their virtues enlarged and intensified. Thus it is hoped in time to convert immense areas of waste lands into habitable regions capable of supporting human life under pleasant and very enjoyable conditions. Then there are the irrigation schemes—gigantic undertakings, whese successful completion will "make the desert to blossom as the rose"; but that I dare not venture on —it is too se due live! A BRAZILIAN SKETCH. Dear Emmeline, —As I do not like a very cold country, I have chosen to travel in South America. I had friends living in Brazil, and from their description of that country, I think it would be pleasant to travel there. The scenery is grand and of great variety; the climate on the whole delightful. I think on our arrival in that country we shall get a good motor car and go from one town to another, and if we do not travel too fast—say, about 15 miles an hour—W'a should be able to enjoy our travels. There are good metal roads on the coastHue, but in the interior I fear we shall get some bumpings. Som© of the towns are very pleasant, but there is nothing attractive in i he town of Santro: the atmosphere is hot and oppressive, the hills surrounding the town sheltering it from "the sea breezes. One of my friends took his breakfast there.

for which he paid 4s 6d, ai an hotel, where, he ©aid, be had an excellent opportunity 01 becoming acquainted with the habits of the rat tribe, many of these little animals running about the room and picking up the crumbs under the table. As I have a great dislike to rats, I think we will net atop in Santro, but go on to San Paulo, the capital of the province. San Paulo 16 the fashionable resort of the wealthy merchants from Santos. Its altitude ie 2800 ft above sea level. The climate is temperate. From San Paulo we will go on to Campinas, a town about half the size of San Paulo. It is important as being the market for a very large and flourishing coffee district. The coffee trees grow to the height of 10ft in Brazil. Here there is an excellent college ; where Protestants' and Roman Catholics Eons attend. All the boys learn six languages. Rai Claro is another interior town of some importance. To go to Curitiba we have to ascend mountains covered with bush, but round the town is open grass land, with here and there clumps of bush. About Porto Aligri you meet with woody hills some thing like what you see m going from Port Chalmers to Duriecin. The scenery is very lovely, and the position of the city is remarkably fine. I think, dear Emmeline, that I have told you enough about Brazil to let you see it is a country worth travelling. I have not mentioned the very fine fruit that grows there.—Yours truly, SWEETBRIAR.

I had no idea there was that college at Campinas, Sweetbriar; it is very interesting to hear of it. What has often struck me about Brazilian sketches I have is the enormous thickness of the walls, the deep overhanging eaves, and the little loopholelike windows. Such dwellings would seem very strange to one at first.

Dear Emmeline, —We will aeroplane, so put cm your warm: capes and coats. Did you ever imagine what the foam-tipped waves, seen so far on every hand, would look like as you . skimmed above them?—did you think of gazing down at the wheeling seabirds" instead of ~up ?r And can that steamer ploughing through the waiter be similar to those, in which we used; to journey? Yet it .is a fin© boat; ."look at it well, for the magic of our ,v'anderings will' carry us past it to others email and primitive in worlds old yet new. A blot only at first greets our sight; a low cloud hanging far down on the horizon; but someone whispers the words "South America!" From afar we see its mountains, then we glide high above it. Remember how it stands Outlined upon the map—broad to the north, tapering "to'a slender point at the south, and behold it now, washed by two mighty oceans. From bleak Tierra del Fuego we travel northward, moving hither and thither to embrace the whole. Aooye boulder-strewn Paiagonia with its rushing rivers and the vast treeless 'pampas of the Argentine Republio; ever the land of the Chilians with their fierce loves and hates, Paraguay, Bolivia, the great State of Brazil, with that beautiful harbour misnamed "January River," Peru, "and onward across Or.lumbia to Guiana tnd Venezuela, aid so com© to that great engineering feat of these modern days, the Panama Canal. So then we turn, and drop a little closer. We hsve marked the busy ports with their multitude of shipping, the produce marts rich in merchandise,- the stock upon the pampas, the growing coffee, sugar, tobacco, cotton—an endless array, —and' through ali moves a motley throng—natives shoulder to shoulder with men' of all. countries, with always at every turn a Spanish face to speak of the grip of the Don that was once upon the lan'i. What oar. a few words, tell of the mighty Cordilleras where nests the condor, or "those vast forests which hold such limitless life? Watch the glow and the rich colours, and look again—a change has come in . mysterious [fashion ■ over the country. Th© land; is more sparsfely .populated, the steamers which ply along the coast are small paddlo boats, and w© pucker our brows and ask bow this can ba! And a voice answers. "You aie floating now down the aisles ©if Time." Eiven a 9 w© look •at on© another we see white billowing sails upon the water and men m stocks . and knee breeches; and a fine, -brave lot they are. We know without question that we are gazing upon the days r when our grandfathers and great-grandfather®.. won their spurs. Again w© feel our aeroplane sink a trifle nearer, and strange galleons, sail even to the westward, and bulldog -craft that fly the flag of England, 'and wa cry together, "Drake! Drake'" Above the great and . glorious Orinoco we pause, and our blood stirs at the vision below us. Even as we can behold the myriad bright-plumaged birds that dart among the forest boughs, the gorgeous butterflies, beetles, dragon flies; even as we can listen to th© calls of the monkeys and the "hort-hort!" of the bullfrogs, so does the man of adventurous heart and poetic brain who stands in our fancy upon the deck of his tiny (vessel forcing his way onward through those vast waters in search of that El Dorado which was never found. Walter Raleigh.. you failed,. but you drank your draught of failure right manfully! Once m-oro '.ve move downwards and hover above the mountain-bound deserts and valleys of Pern —a ghostly throng passes by with murder and bl.-Mxlshed in its train. W© breath© low the nanw ci Pizarro, and know that w© have dropped to th© sixteenth century. Then w© move swiftly, swiftly, through lands _ fresh and where natives roam in ignorance of white man upon the earth, backward to a country where monstrous animals rule supreme, crashing through the forests, and evil-looking reptiles wallow in the rivers and swamp-sedges—teeming life on every side and tropical luxuriance. Suddenly we rise, driven upward- from the grinding, thundrous horror of the Ice Period. Has a mist blinded oar eyes? What has beoom© of the great fertile"lands that we bav© been gazing upon? What do we see now?—"A rocky island against which dash the surges of th© Atlantic on the east and of the Pacific on the West, rising in solitude fromi the wide-ex-tending ocean. Not another spot of dry land to be found . . . between that point and the hills of Cai..ada on the north, or for thousands of miles southward towards the pole." It is South America; but we have got down to the beginning of things. Someone—is it our skipper ?—is quoting Carlyle: "You will find fibrous roots of this day's occurrences among th© dust of Cadmus and Trism-cgistus, of Tubalcain and Triptol©imi3; th© tap-roots of them .are with Father Adam himself, and the cinders of Eve'e first fire." GABRIELLE. Splendid, Gabriell©! Let me congratulate you, dear, on a most enthralling journey, fascinating in either aspect of past or present. Dear Eiunielitio, —In the words of Mr Kipling—"l've never sailed th© Amazon.. I've never reached Brazil; But the Don and Magdalena, They oan go where they will! "Yes, weekly from Southhampton, ■ Great steamers, whit© and gold, - Go rolling down to Bio (Roll dewn —roll down to Rio!).

And I'd like to »I 1 to Rio Some day before I'm old! Meanwhile, you could hardly have chosen a c/orse leader for a party of travellers in South America, aa my ignorance of the subject is absolutely colossal. J have hazy ideas of it as consisting chiefly of republics that are in a constant, state of revolution, and there must be some foundation for this belief, seeing that when the British Government arrested some steamers carrying munitions of war the other day the public at once jumped to the conclusion that they must have been intended for a South American republic. Yellow fever is another of the terors that" I cseociato with the southern continent. You decide to roll down to Rio because "I've never seen a jaguar, Nor yet an armadill— O, dilloing in hia annour, And I a'pose I never will, Unless I go to Rio These wonders to behold" — And then „you are not allowed to land on account of yellow feveT. Plainly a continent to iie avoided by travellers. And yet. there must be habitable spots in it too and places one v.ould like to see. Quito, for instance, which the geography books used to tell us was "under the Equator," and yet eo high up that perpertual spring reigned there. I should not care for that niyaelf. Spring blossoms ere cliarmmg, but after feasting the eyes for a reasonable time one naturally looks forward to a season when one may ei.joy a feast of the palate. Everyone knows that Argentine is cur rival" in the matter cf frozen meat, and Patagonia, its southernmost part, which in my school days I believed to be identical with Tierra del Puego, and a frozen desert inhabited by the lowest savages in ihe world, who. would eat you up as soon .as look at you, I now know to be a. prosperous pastoral country, where not a few New Zoalanders have made fortunes in she* p-breeding. lam not without hope oi some day iiiiaking a trip across South American by means of the new trans-Andean railway now. in progress. lam r.ot very clear where it-: starts from or arrives at, but a little vagueness lends charm to a prospective treat, as atmosphere does to a landscape.; , COUNTRY MOUSE.

I am, of course, tremendously amused, dear Country Mouse., when' you profess profound ignoraric©—"colossial" I think yas the exact word —on any topic! You see, I know you too well! However, we will take you at your word, and I will be glad "(for your sake) that w© have so much- excellent information.. on South America to-day. I wonder if I shall bor© you if I' put in my little word about Florida? For on© thing, I-am glad to hav© discovered at last what a'"grape fruit," so often mentioned in American menus, is like. "And this T owe to a beautiful u late; of. a young" grape fruit tree laden with its Bplendid burden in a book entitled "Floridav. Enchantments." .. The : fruit looks smooth, like an apple' or persimmon, the;' leaf apparently stiff end glossy. "Already," says the author, "within the borders 'the Big Cypress' groves "of oranges and grape fruit, and flourishing fields of cane. Young grape fruit trees three of four' inches in diameter can be seen. bearing clusters of fruit of wltich single specimehs measure 18in in circumference, and th© slender branches must be carefully propped to keep the weight of the fruit from tearing them off the trunk. Often the ends of saplings from th© parent stem are grafted into th© trunk or branches of th© already grafted tree to give it double support and sustenance." Do you know this: "Grape fruit" his so long baffled me that I feel quite, elated at having tracked it down at'last? I MAINLY ABOUT BKITISH GUIANA. Deai ;Emmeline,—At the outset I confresß to the hariest conceptions of our travel countries. In my mind Russia stands for autocracy, bureaucracy, tristocracy, moujikb, droskies.' steppes, and iftoms. Everything in that country seems to be on a colossal scale, and should call forth some enlightening papers. Even a sober geographer has been enthusiastic enough to call South America a model continent, and only the arresting fear of Emmeline's blue pencil will keep me within thei modest, limits of an inch or two of space. I ; if such fascinating '.'place names as Mara jo, Cotopaxi, Orinoco, Riobamba, and Maracaybo are due to Soanish and Italian influences. No other country can boast of such weird animals as .a mapourie, pumia, jaguar, armadillo, llama, karouni, kyderkoorie," or a kinkajou, or such feaisom© birds as a condor, rhea, durragnarra, or a kiskedi- Think of Peru, land of the Incus, of Drake and th© buccaneers capturing Spanish galleons in American seas, of the Pampas, the- Selvas, and the marvellous Amazon and v order not at my choosing British Guiana, because 1 know so little about it. and will therefore be able to keep within reii-onable hail of the word limit. British Guiana is a splendid land of forests, mountains and rivers. Georgetown, th© capital, is a handsome town. Main street is divided up the ©enfete by a wide canal full of Victoria- regia lilies. Handsom© houses are built, on each side of th© street, with gardens full of crotons, palms, poinsettias,., -and bourgainvillias. The colonypossesses miles of virgin . forest, eavannaho capable of supporting thousands of cattle pjjd hills rich in gold, but will never really be a white roan's country on account of the tropical climate. Th© forests ar© magnificent —palms, flowering trees, and the finest woods and aromatic gums grow in tropical luxuriance. The Victoria regia lily, p th© largest lily in the world, floats upon the, lakes, and all. tropical and sub-tropical fruits oan be grown. It is a land of perpetual summer, and life is said to be very monotonous. Ants, beetles, mosquitoes, snakes, and other beasties abound, and if you sleep out of doors in a hammock you' must hang a lamp above your.head to frighten away vampire bats. Th©re are no large animals such as abound in African forests, but monkeys and brilliant-hued butterflies and birds exist m immense numbers. Guiana, originally occupied by Indian tribes and conquered in turn by Spaniards, Frenchmen, Dutchmen, and Englishmen, with an immigrant population of Chinese, Portuguese, Congoes. Hindoos, supplies a bewildering number of racial types and! a polyglot mixture of tongues. " The governing and professional classes ar© Britons, th© labourers coolies, negroes, and mulattoes. If you become thirsty in Demerara (and it is an exceedingly thirsty place) you are given a "swizzle," a concoction of Hollands, water, bitters, syrup, and ice mixed with a swizzle stick. Instead of flounders for breakfast you would have Tuffum or luckaninni, and for desert star apples, mangoes, or maybe sapadillas. •I hope some enterprising traveller will conduct a party up th© Amazon and settle my doubts as to colour or the lack of it in a, tropical forest. Some travellers speak of gorgeous colouring, and others of th© gloom and uniform dulness, and I should love to go and tee for myself. I should like to see a lackawinki climbing up a tooroo palm and hear a Hskadi singing in a mango tree. SHASTA.

Now you, dear garden-lover-rof an airy rather than a deadly earnest type, at least, so I fancy—-biw is it that you have jm»* b«&r>

orchid hunting in this paradise of the Strang* aerial splendour? And yet I should be glad, for though I knew about the Odontogloesum and the other miracles of orchid) loveliness for -which the hunter searches these tropio forests, I knew nothing of that canal m Main street, Georgetown> where Victoria regia sleeps on her high-floating lily pads. But the notion is so fascinating that henceforward it is a mental "film" clearly registered. For which, dear, the flower-lover's thanks. And so, with thanks to our fair and enterprising guides, another travel meeting, draws to its close. But the memory of these fireside travels lingers long and pleaaantly. EMMELINE. Sixth meeting, November 1. —Papers must be in by October" 18. —Members' Mooting.— Members make an entirely free choice of topics. NB,—At the sixth and last meeting of a, most enjoyable session Eanmeline asks every one of the club members, old and new, who can possibly dto> so to make an effort to be present. Let the 1911 session close right worthily I