for use on the plantation, and its connecting line running through the ‘Fazenda Schmidt,’ was used by Mr. Schmidt, my hospitable host, for shipping his coffee to the trunk line and so on down to Santos.” [Illustration: COFFEE PICKING.] HOMEWARD BOUND. It is October. You choose to leave here before it grows too warm. The young spring buds are already adding their delicate green to the darker old foliage. Rio is reached by rail in fourteen hours. You would like to go home in one of the great New Zealand steamers which makes the round trip from London to London in ninety days, and which always carries charming passengers for the whole voyage by Suez, New Zealand, Straits of Magellan, Rio de Janeiro, Madeira, London. Everybody here knows what variety is provided by this journey, not only of interesting sights in port, but of amusement of every description at sea. They also know when one of these steamers has arrived by the unwonted varieties of game, vegetables, and well-hung beef and mutton in the markets. No. You decide to go directly to New York, for you have come by way of England, so sail on the “Wordsworth.” Even she is English and there is no longer an American Line. You will touch at Bahia, Pernambuco, and St. Lucia, one of the West Indies, and see New York harbor in twenty-four days from Rio. Bahia you saw hurriedly on the way down, but it looks even more attractive as you approach it the second time. It is invested with some added interest, also, since learning that the court came here from Portugal for shelter in Napoleonic times; and that this city has always been the center of Jesuitical influence. The Bahian blacks, a finer race of negroes than you have ever seen, and said to have been Mohammedans, make a very strong impression now. They are physically superb. The low-necked, short-sleeved linen garment worn by the women is frequently beautified with “drawn-work.” The great strings of gold beads around their necks are their substitute for a bank account, for banks are not a convenience to a people who cannot read. The Bahian oranges are like the finest Floridas, and far superior to any others you have had. Bananas are everywhere the food of the poor, and not better than are for sale at home, and other tropical fruits have been a disappointment. At Pernambuco you find you own the wonderful reef, and the pine-apples, and the catamarans; for have you not seen them before, and do they not now prove themselves old friends and permanent possessions!