Hospitals, asylums, theatres, colleges, academies, schools, and similar institutions appropriate to a great city are not lacking in Rio, and their abundance and good management speak well for the administration of the government. Beyond the Botofago suburb is the Botanic Garden, which no visitor should neglect; it contains an avenue of palms not surpassed in any similar garden in the world, and there are other stately trees which tell of the tropical situation. The place is on the plan of the Experimental Gardens of the English colonies, or the _Jardins d'Essai_ of the French, and forcibly reminded our young friends of what they had seen in Ceylon, Singapore, Algiers, and other places or countries on the other side of the world. Most of the trees and plants of the continent of South America are cultivated in the Botanic Garden, and there are rare exotics from all parts of the globe. Frank espied a grove of cinnamon and clove trees at the same moment that Fred called his attention to a collection of tea-plants from China and Japan; Dr. Bronson pointed out a bread-fruit tree side by side with cacao and camphor trees, while not far off were maples and pines that seemed like old friends from the home of their boyhood. Many trees from tropical Asia have found a home in Brazil through the instrumentality of the Botanic Garden, which has demonstrated their fitness for the climate of South America. [Illustration: THE AQUEDUCT.] Water is brought to the city through an aqueduct which was built a hundred years ago, and is in good condition; some of the best modern houses are supplied through pipes from the aqueduct, but the greater part of the inhabitants rely upon the water-carriers, who are similar to their fellow-craftsmen whom we have already seen at Para. In the early morning the streets abound with these men, and with numerous house-servants, bearing buckets or small casks of water on their heads. The fountains are the great meeting-places for gossipers, as similar places have been since the days when the New Testament was written, and sometimes the scenes at the fountains of Rio are animated to a degree bordering on commotion. Of course, the aqueduct is one of the sights of the city, and the drive along the road leading past it was greatly enjoyed by the youths. [Illustration: A BRAZILIAN FOREST, WITH CHARACTERISTIC MAMMALIA.] The aqueduct is twelve miles long, and at one place it crosses a valley seven hundred and forty feet wide and ninety feet deep, on double arches. It is insufficient for the wants of the city, and a new one is likely to be completed before long. People die in Rio as well as in other cities, and the cemetery is one of the institutions of the place. The old cemeteries of Rio adjoin the churches; since 1850 no interments have been allowed in them, and new cemeteries have been established in the suburbs. The foreign cemetery is at Gamboa, on the shore of the bay. [Illustration: COFFIN CLOSED.]