The mandioca is a small shrub with a tuberous root that grows in nearly every part of Brazil. It grows to the enormous size of fifteen and twenty pounds, and somewhat resembles an enormous radish or sugar beet. In its natural state it contains a very poisonous juice which must be eliminated before the real substance can be used for food. It is first pressed and then washed, and the water must be thrown away for it is poisonous. The root is then ground into a meal which is very rich in starch. One large root will sometimes produce as much as two gallons of this prepared meal. After being crushed the meal is at once roasted, or otherwise it will turn sour and be spoiled. Tapioca is one of the products of this tropical tuber. The utilization of this root was first discovered by the Indians, who found a method of getting rid of the poisonous qualities. To-day, the mandioca, or farina, flour is one of the principal articles of food in Brazil, not only among the poorer classes but also with the well-to-do. Many of the articles served on the hotel tables are thickened with the mandioca meal. This, with rice and beans, furnishes the almost exclusive food of the poor. On the railway trains one will see that this meal comprises one of the chief articles of the lunches which have been brought by one’s fellow passengers. It is perhaps wrong to think only of the practical in the midst of scenes of natural beauty, but as our train whirled along with its _grande velocidade_, past rapids which could be converted into incalculable power for the manufacturing so essential in the world, I could not refrain from thinking what fine power was here going to waste. A little of it is utilized in generating electricity for the cities of Nictheroy and Petropolis, and there are a few cotton mills run by the water power of this stream. Not one unit of the available power is utilized, however, although in this land of expensive fuel there is a great call for electric power and current. At last the Parahyba River, a still finer stream of water, is reached and the railroad follows up this stream. At Entre Rios (which means “between the rivers”) a change is made from the Leopoldina Railway to the Central, which is a government line. After a couple of hours the train reaches Juiz de Fora, which is the largest town in the state of Minas Geraes. In 1867 Juiz de Fora was described by a writer as a town with “a single dusty or muddy street, or rather road, across which palms are planted in pairs.”