's
sister was carried off by Indians, with some other women and children.
After riding many leagues, she seized her opportunity, pushed the
Indian who was carrying her off his horse, turned the animal's head
round, and galloped back across the plain, hotly pursued, until within
a mile or two of the colony, by the rest of the band. It was a plucky
thing for a little bit of a woman to attempt with a great powerful
savage, and she is deservedly looked upon in the village as quite a
heroine.

The journey between Rosario and Cordova occupies twelve hours by the
ordinary train; and as Frayle Muerto is exactly half-way between the
two places, the trains going in either direction commence their
journey at the same hours (6 a.m. and 6 p.m.), by which means the
passengers meet each other here in time to breakfast and dine
together. There is a fine bridge over the river near Frayle Muerto,
but the place is principally celebrated as having been the site of the
Henleyite colony, which caused disappointment to so many young men of
family, who were induced to come out here from England and to go up
country, with no other result than the loss of all their money. The
scheme was supposed to be perfect in all its details, but proved upon
a closer acquaintance to be utterly worthless. The iron church at
Rosario is still standing, which the members of the expedition took up
there, and we have also met some of the young men themselves at
various times.

The train did not reach Cordova until 7.30 p.m., and it was therefore
too late for us to see much of the approach to the city, but to-morrow
we intend to do a good deal in that way. In the middle of the night we
were aroused by a violent thunderstorm. The lightning was most vivid,
and illuminated our room with many colours. The rain fell heavily,
flooding everything, and making the streets look like rivers, and the
courtyard of the hotel like a lake. It is one of the oldest, and, at
the same time, one of the most unhealthy, of the cities of South
America, for it is built in the hollow of the surrounding hills, where
no refreshing breezes can penetrate.

Travelling in Brazil is like passing through a vast hothouse, filled
with gorgeous tropical vegetation and forms of insect life. In the
neighbourhood of Monte Video you might imagine yourself in a perpetual
greenhouse. Here it is like being in a vast garden, in which the
greenest of turf, the brightest of bedding-out plants, and the most