There are many beautiful opera houses in Brazil. At Manaos, a thousand miles up the Amazon, in a city surrounded on all sides by almost impenetrable forests, stands the Amazonas Theatre, a structure finished in white marble and richly decorated with allegorical paintings, the cost of which exceeded a million dollars in gold. In Pará, near the mouth of the same stream, is the La Paz Theatre, built by the state government, and which is a beautiful structure. Pernambuco, Bahia and many other cities have creditable theatres, but the _teatro municipal_ of Rio de Janeiro, and the one at São Paulo, are the finest examples in Brazil, and perhaps in all of South America. The municipal theatre in São Paulo has not been entirely completed, although it has been in course of construction for several years. The interior and exterior are both richly decorated, the exterior with statues and allegorical designs, the interior with paintings. The musicians’ stand is below the level of the orchestra seats in accordance with the Wagner system. The total cost will be about two million dollars in gold. The municipal theatre of Rio with its marble front, bronze decorations and beautiful dome one hundred and forty-seven and one-half feet high, which gives a crown effect, is the handsomest public building in that capital, and cost considerably more than the one at São Paulo. These municipal theatres are sometimes rented for other public functions, but in general the dignity and character of the entertainments is preserved. CHAPTER XII RAILWAYS AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT Brazil has an excellent system of fluvial waterways throughout the Amazon district, where this great river and its many affluents give access to nearly every part of that basin. Upon these streams boats are run at regular or irregular intervals, which make connections with the regular lines on the Amazon running to Pará. The Amazon Steamship Company maintains forty small vessels on the Amazon and its tributaries, and there are other smaller companies operating in the same waters. Regular lines of steamers ply to the United States and Europe from Iquitos, Manaos and Pará. It will never be necessary, perhaps, to construct railroads through this richly watered country, except where rapids obstruct navigation, for railroad construction is difficult and the cost of transportation would necessarily be much more expensive. Coast lines run from Pará as far down as Rio de Janeiro, a journey of ten days to two weeks, including the various stops that are usually made. From Rio there are many lines that touch at Santos, and two Brazilian lines that run down as far as Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost port. There is also communication by steamer from Rio up the Plata, Paraguay and Paraná Rivers to Cuyaba, capital of the state of Matto Grosso. In all there are several hundred vessels flying the Brazilian flag and operating either along the coast or on the rivers of the republic.