With land in sight about half the time, it was almost a three days’ journey to cover the intervening distance of seven hundred and fifty miles to Rio de Janeiro. On the morning of the third day the passengers were on deck early, for the capital was nearing. The sandy shores of the mainland were visible, with their background of rugged peaks. Little rocky islands with the surf dashing up against their jagged edges rose out of the water, and were successively passed. Schools of fish that swam so near to the surface, that they could be followed by the agitation of the water which they caused, were chased by flocks of birds that ever and anon dashed beneath the surface and came up with their prey. As the morning fog lifted, curious forts with disappearing guns could be outlined on the shore, and one imposing fort on a prominent peak seemed to protect the city. Then old Sugar Loaf, which has been so much pictured, lifted its lofty head out of the gloom, with Corcovado and the other peaks in the background. Gradually the harbour of Rio de Janeiro, which is said by all travellers to be one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful bay in the world, unfolded itself; and back of the blue waters of the bay were the white walls and red-tiled roofs of the city, and above and beyond the city were the fantastic peaks of the many oddly formed hills which form the background of this fascinating city. There are a number of other states in this section of Brazil, each of which deserves some mention. Between Pernambuco and Bahia lie two of the smaller states, Alagoas and Sergipe. The former is a state almost as large as Indiana, and is the most populous in the republic. It is a rich agricultural state, with sugar and cotton as the principal crops. The name, A-lagoas, means the lakes, and it is upon one of the principal of these that the capital, Maceio, is situated. This is a pretty little town of forty thousand or more inhabitants. The people of the state are generally Portuguese, with more or less mixture of the native or negro races. The two military presidents of Brazil were from this state. Sergipe, the smallest state, is nearly twice as large as our own state of Massachusetts, and has a population of about half a million. On the coast it is low, hot and swampy, but in the interior the soil is higher, and most of it very fertile. It has neither a railroad nor a good port, so that the state is greatly handicapped in its commerce. The capital is Aracajú, which is a pretty little tropical city of about twenty-five thousand people. It is quite probable that Sergipe will one day be absorbed by one of the larger states, as the financial problem is a serious one.