they are valuable not only for the feathers but also for the eggs, which make excellent omelets and often form a portion of the peons' food. Half an hour's ride from the Atalaya is a hill which has been dug up in all directions by disappointed treasure-seekers, an old native woman of reputed wealth having lived here, and no one ever knew what became of her money, if she had any. The ruins of her house are still standing.

6

From the Atalaya to Yaguaron is a ride of four hours, the distance to Artigas being ten leagues, and then across by the ferry. There are several streams and thickets on the way which were formerly infested by matreros,' and one place which now serves as a wayside inn and is kept by a German has the unenviable notoriety of two families who resided there having been murdered successively. The lawless condition of the Oriental Republic is indicated by the iron bars on all the windows, which you never see when you cross the frontier into Brazil. Even at present it would not be well for a single traveller to ride about the Rincon de Ramirez unless he had a trusty vaqueano' or guide, and a good revolver: the thickets or banks of rivers are often dangerous, and only three years ago there was in the prison of Cerro Largo a fellow

named Fernandez who confessed to have murdered over twenty persons; he had not the least remorse for it, and was so fond of display that the fringe of. his poncho was hung with silver two-real pieces. It is more than probable he is again at large, not 100 miles from these parts. The townsfolk of Cerro Largo, when the order came to remit him to M. Video, knowing that assassins invariably got free again in a few months, proposed to bribe the escort to shoot him on the way and allege that he had tried to escape; but a revolution broke out soon after, and the order for his removal was countermanded. It often happens in these revolutions that a 'guapo,' one who has murdered several people, is released from prison and promoted.

If time and companions offer, the traveller might make a pleasant journey from Yaguaron to the gold-washings of Cunapiru near Sant-Ana do Livramento, which are partly in Oriental, partly in Brazilian, territory. General Goyo Suarez, Mr. Rogers, and others have establishments there.

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XVI.

GERMAN COLONIES IN SANTA CATHARINA AND OTHER PROVINCES.

BESIDES the colonies in Rio Grande there are others no less flourishing in Santa Catharina, San Paulo, Parana, Espirito Santo, Minas Geraes, and Rio Janeyro.

The Blumenau colony, in Santa Catharina, stands among the foremost for the numbers and wealth of its community, and takes its name from the founder, Dr. Hermann Blumenau, who afterwards transferred it to the State. The Paris Exhibition awarded it one of the special prizes set apart for institutions of most benefit to humanity; nor can anything be devised more beneficial for the surplus population of Europe than colonies such as this. Since its transfer to the Imperial Government this colony is known as Itajahy. Its first foundation dates August 4th, 1860; it has an

area of 140,000 acres, of which about 4,000 are under crops. The population is 6,947, of whom two-thirds are Catholics, one-third Protestants, with chapels, schools, and cemeteries for each denomination. The annual returns show three times as many births as deaths. Besides such articles for their own consumption as sugar, rice, maize, wheat, and farinha, the colonists raise a large quantity of tobacco, their export returns showing 9001. worth of tobacco in rolls, and 4,8001. of sawn timber. Their imports amount to 8,500l. The colony counts no fewer than 73 saw-mills, distilleries, &c., and 6 schools. The farming stock is small, viz.306 horses, 987 cows, 26 goats, 1,431 pigs, 5,300 hens, and 205 bee-hives. The colonists have made 46 bridges, 48 miles of high roads, and 50 miles of bridle-path through the woods. Dr. Blumenau acts as agent at Hamburg for the Brazilian Government, and selects the most suitable emigrants, shipping them for even a lower rate of passage than they would have to pay to New York, the Imperial Treasury paying the difference. In 1868 he sent out 9 vessels with 1,097 adults and 489 children for this colony, charging the Government 26 thalers (say 41.) per head for adults, and 20 for children; but in the following year he reduced

it to 23 for adults and 17 for children. Thus the total cost of the emigrants to the Brazilian treasury, when landed in the country, is not much over 31. per head, big and little. Two-thirds are Prussians, and the rest chiefly from Saxony, Hanover, &c., except 3 per cent. Austrians and Swedes.

Doña Francisca was founded by the State in 1847. The Hamburg Colonisation Company sends out 400 settlers yearly, at the same time constructing a road 160 miles in length, and purchasing from Government at a reasonable price 100,000 acres along the route of the same. The colonists are chiefly natives of Prussia, and nothing can be more flourishing than their condition: they have their own municipal council, and their exports annually rise to a high value. This colony is now more generally called San Francisco. The popuJation numbers 5,237, including the village of Joinville, which counts 1,172 souls. They are nearly all Protestants, there being only 734 Catholics. There are pastors of both persuasions, and 12 schools, attended by 561 children. The Minister of Agriculture reports as usual that the colonists are industrious, and crime of any kind is unknown. They have 35 sugar-factories, and 77 mills and