the foundations of government were laid. Much of the State is still unknown save to the wild Indians who roam its forests, but it is gradually being opened up. In addition to the mining industry, which has been carried on for over two hundred years, Minas does a considerable trade in cattle, coffee, tobacco, and other agricultural products. The dairy industry has recently become prominent, and offers a good field for the investment of capital and experience, whilst a fresh source of wealth exists in the manganese discovered in the State when a cutting was being made for the Central Railway. This latter is not only the means of direct communication with the Federal capital, but is pushing out its branches and extensions in all directions. Known originally as the Dom Pedro II Railway, this line is now a Government concern, and aims at bringing all the States of the Union into direct communication with the capital, linking up with other lines, and taking advantage of river transit until inland connection shall be established even with the Amazon, the greatest waterway in the world. If the traveller wishes for a more ambitious excursion, it will be quite easy for him to voyage northwards towards Atlantic seaboard cities almost as fair as Rio itself. But the selection of the steamship line is of the greatest importance. The two lines to be recommended are the Royal Mail Steamship Co. and the Lage Iramos, either of which is preferable to the national line, Lloyd Brazileiro. The traveller will find in Bahia or San Salvador a city of glamour and enchantment. It was one of the earliest European settlements in Brazil, and it had for a long time a chequered and turbulent history, what with Indian ravages and the desperate conflicts between the Portuguese and the Dutch. But to-day its lines are cast in more peaceful places; its inhabitants have grown to 250,000, who, taking advantage of the lavish way in which Nature yields her treasures in this district, seem quite contented and prosperous. The city consists of an upper and a lower town, the former of which is built on the cliffs. Here are the Governor’s palace, the Senate building, the Public Library, and the cathedral. The last-named edifice is one of the oldest buildings in South America, having been founded as a Jesuit college away back in the sixteenth century. Its interior, like the interior of all the other Bahian churches, is full of florid embellishment, and exhibits the tendency of the Latin-American people towards flamboyant expression in their architecture. Bahia is not only one of the most picturesque of all the cities of Brazil; it is the sea-gate of a large and fertile province, where the kindly fruits of the earth grow and ripen with tropical rapidity. The palms of the district yield a special form of nut, which is exported to the east. Tobacco is a flourishing crop, and coffee cultivation an industry of prime importance. Cotton is grown over an extensive area, and not all of it is