Paranaguá is a thriving town of ten thousand or more, and has one of the finest harbours on the coast. From this port a railway has been built to the capital, Curytiba, and Ponta Grossa, the second largest town in the state, a distance of nearly two hundred miles. This line is a triumph of engineering, for it climbs over the Serro da Mar without resorting to the aid of cogs or cables. A ride over it affords some magnificent views in the richness and variety of views to be seen as the train runs around bends, and bursts forth from the many tunnels along the line. This route is said to have been the scene of many tragic deaths during the revolution of 1893-4, when revolutionists were carried by train to the highest points along the line, and then brutally hurled into the depths below. It is a journey of about four hours to Curytiba, which is a pretty little city of half a hundred thousand people, more or less. It is one of the largest cities south of São Paulo, and is situated at an altitude of 2,500 feet above sea level, thus giving it a pleasant and equable temperature. The city is comparatively modern with the usual public buildings of a capital, plazas filled with shrubbery and flowers, and a Botanical Garden of which the people are very proud. Paraná is a rich state in natural resources. It was formerly united with São Paulo as one province, and the original inhabitants have many of the same qualities as the Paulistas. Many foreign colonies have been established by state aid, and some of them have prospered. Italians, Poles and Germans constitute the colonists, of whom the Poles are probably the most numerous. There are large areas of forests, of which a tree known as the Paraná pine is the most common, as well as most useful. This tree grows to a lofty and imposing height, with a trunk several feet thick. It is used much the same as our own pine, and a great deal of it is exported to the other Brazilian states, as well as to Argentina and Uruguay. The most valuable article of commerce at the present time is the _Ilex Paraguayensis_, from which the herb maté, or Paraguay tea, is made. Brazil is a great producer of this tea as well as coffee. From this maté is brewed a beverage that is used by twenty million or more of South Americans, for one will see its disciples in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina, and probably other countries as well. The early Jesuit missionaries were the first discoverers of the virtue of this plant, when they found the Indians chewed it, and by doing so were able to undergo great hardships with very little solid food. These fathers experimented with the shrub, or rather tree, and instructed the Indians in its cultivation. At a later time immense forests were discovered, and it is from them that the principal crop is now obtained.