The State of Paraná is better off for connections; in addition to the north and south link with the sister states of São Paulo and Santa Catharina, she has a railroad running off from it at the station of Ponta Grossa due east to Serrinha (whence a branch connects with Rio Negro directly to the south), on to the pleasant capital town, Curityba, and down the wonderful mountain road already referred to until the port of Paranaguá is reached, one of the lively younger shipping points of the southern littoral. São Paulo, the next state northwards, is the possessor of the best system of penetrating railroads in Brazil: she has more mileage than any other single state in the Union, counting over four thousand miles. In his Message read before the S. Paulo Congress on July 14, 1916, the President of the State, Dr. Altino Arantes, remarked: “During the past year we had an addition of one hundred and forty-two kilometers to the railroad mileage of the State, bringing the figures of the total system to six thousand two hundred and seventy-nine kilometers on December 31. Of this total four thousand three hundred and fifty-five kilometers belong to private enterprises; one thousand five hundred and sixty-nine to the State and the remaining three hundred and fifty-five to the Union.” The most important of the lines belonging to the State referred to by Dr. Altino Arantes is the Sorocabana, with over eleven hundred kilometers of track, which is leased to the Brazil Railways: the other two state properties are the Funilense Railway and the Cantareira Tramway, running from S. Paulo city up a green, well-settled valley to picturesque waterworks among woods.