along over a good hard bit of road at a good pace to Jundiahy, the end of our adventurous journey. The station is a little distance from the town, which stands on a hill, and after partaking of some solid refreshments, which we fortunately found ready at the Railway Hotel, in half an hour we were again on a ballast truck going through the same process of changing from one truck to another, walking over slippery ground, until we finally again joined the carriage on the opposite side of the broken culvert, before arriving at which a thunder storm came on, accompanied by torrents of rain, and most of us were thoroughly wet through. The storm continued nearly to San Paulo, but it is amongst the gorges of the mountains it comes down most furiously.
It is not my intention to comment further on the errors that have been made in the construction of this railway. No doubt obstacles had to be met at every step; nor can shareholders be supposed to know much about engineering details of this kind. They subscribe their money on the faith of a Government guarantee, believing in the estimates, and that of course the line will, under any circumstances, pay its working expenses. The late Mr. Brunel used to repudiate the existence of engineering difficulties. It was a mere question of money; but I think had he surveyed the intended line of the San Paulo Railway he would have said both these points were involved, the result being that the original estimates are greatly exceeded, and the works still require a considerable outlay before they can be permanently relied on. The thing certainly appears incredible, if it were not the fact, that to work a line consisting almost entirely of short curves and heavy gradients, the directors should have sent out rigid locomotives suited to a first-class English railway, without even bogie frames attached, causing great wear and tear to both engines and rails. I quite believe that with suitable locomotives the line may be safely and properly worked, and it seems exactly a case in point for such engines as Fairlie's. The question as to maintenance of way must always be a very important one; whether in such a mountainous country, subject at seasons to heavy rains and flooded rivers, and with a treacherous soil, the nature of the works is such as can be relied on, for unless this is the case, as the public journals of San Paulo justly observe, the real utility of the railway is destroyed. Coffee growers and cotton planters have been looking to it as a sure and certain means of getting their produce down to Santos, and unless this can be depended on they will have to resort to the old, cumbrous, and expensive mode of carrying it upwards of one hundred miles on the backs of mules as heretofore. It is a momentous question for this province whether or not they can depend on railway conveyance, which I think may fairly be looked for when the line becomes consolidated, but both shareholders and the Government must be prepared to make sacrifices of no common kind before this end is finally attained. That the officials and managers of the line in Brazil are doing all they can is very certain, and it is for the company or the shareholders to provide them with everything required to ensure the permanent success of the company. They entered into a solemn contract with the Brazilian Government and the Provincial Government here, which it is their duty to fulfil, no matter at what sacrifice, and the sooner the shareholders look their position in the face the better, instead of being guided entirely by directors, who could only appreciate their position if they came out in a body and personally inspected the line. One thing is very certain, that if it had not been for the great liberality of the Baron de Mauá in coming to the rescue of the concern, the works might never have been completed or the line opened.
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