Rio Grande do Sul of to-day is a thrifty little city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants, with pretty parks and narrow streets, but nothing outside of its shipping to attract much attention to itself. There are schools, colleges and churches, charitable institutions and a library, all of which are excellent in themselves. It is about eight hundred miles from Rio harbour. A decade hence it will be a much more important and a much larger city than at present. A few miles farther up the lake is the larger town of Pelotas, which is the centre of the beef curing establishments, of which there are so many along this lake. In addition to the beef consumed locally these _xarqueados_ prepare and export more than $6,000,000 worth of this dried and salted meat annually. The southern part of Rio Grande do Sul is composed of prairie lands, called _campos_, which comprise perhaps two-thirds of the area of this state, which is twice as large as the state of New York. These plains are covered with pasture, and contain only a little timber along the streams. These great _campos_ are divided up into _estancias_ or _fazendas_, which are frequently many thousands of acres in extent. Natural boundaries, such as streams and ridges, have generally been chosen, which not only serve as natural fences, but settle absolutely all questions of ownership. The house of the _estanciero_ is generally situated on an elevation which overlooks the estate, and around it are grouped the huts of the labourers. There is, as a rule, no cultivation of the soil except to supply the wants of those dwelling on the estate. The entire attention is devoted to the raising of cattle, of which there are more than four million in the state. A few raise mules to supply the cities. The _Rio Grandense_, as the inhabitant is called, is, first of all, a ranchman. In the spring, men, called the _tropeiros_, visit all the _estancias_, and bargain for the cattle at so much a head for cash. They are then formed into great herds and driven overland to the _xarqueados_, which is the name given to the killing establishments of Brazil. In these establishments the salted and dried beef is prepared, which forms the principal meat supply of central and northern Brazil, where few cattle are raised. [Illustration: SELLING CATTLE IN RIO GRANDE DO SUL.]