=Rio de Janeiro=, the capital of Brazil, with a population of 1,200,000, the second city in South America and the fifth in the Western Hemisphere, is generally conceded to have the finest harbor in the world. It is also the most beautiful city in respect to natural advantages, while the improvements which have recently been carried out have made the artificial structure of the city in harmony with its picturesque surroundings. In the early part of this century the Government awoke to the disadvantages of the narrow streets, the poor facilities for commerce, and the notoriously bad conditions of health. Immense improvements were inaugurated and speedily executed. Fine drainage canals were installed, mosquitoes practically exterminated, wide avenues were cut through dense quarters, and port works constructed, so that in health, beauty, and commercial convenience, nothing remains to be desired. A new Central Avenue, now renamed Rio Branco, is counted among the finest in the world; other splendid avenues are lined with fine commercial structures or beautiful private residences, perhaps with royal palms; along the shores are magnificent boulevards unrivaled in beauty, often thronged with luxurious automobiles, all amid surroundings of ideal loveliness of sea-shore and of mountain. Hotel accommodations, hitherto only fair, and inadequate, are improving with the erection of needed new structures, as increasing travel for business and pleasure demanded. Living expenses are called high in all parts of Brazil, but on the whole Rio has seemed no dearer than New York. The city may boast of a splendid opera house, said to have cost $5,000,000, of the largest library in South America, and the finest art gallery, a wonderful botanical garden, museums, delightful sea and mountain resorts, etc., etc. [Illustration: EASTERN BRAZIL] STATES AND CITIES As the country of Brazil is so large and of such diversity in its various sections and even in single States, with many independent systems of railways connected with its numerous harbors, it may be desirable to speak of its ports and to some extent of its railways in connection with a review of the different States. In this we may begin with the Coastal States, coming up from the south, and conclude with those of the interior.