their experiences and
ours in the hope that the knowledge of them may bring to the reader a
better appreciation of the missionary and the great cause for which the
missionary labors so self-sacrificingly.

Richmond, Va.

CHAPTER I.

THE COUNTRY.

We had sailed in a southeasternly direction from New York twelve days
when we rounded Cape St. Roque, the easternmost point of South America.
A line drawn due north from this point would pass through the Atlantic
midway between Europe and America. If we had sailed directly south we
should have touched the western instead of the eastern coast, for the
reason that practically the entire continent of South America lies east
of the parallel of longitude which passes through New York.

After sighting land we sailed along the coast three days before we cast
anchor at Bahia, our first landing place. Two days more were required
to reach Rio de Janeiro. When we afterwards sailed from Rio to Buenos
Aires, Argentina, we spent three and one-half days skirting along the
shore of Brazil. For eight and one-half days we sailed in sight of
Brazilian territory, and had we been close enough to shore north of
Cape St. Roque, we should have added three days more to our survey of
these far-stretching shores. Brazil lies broadside to the Atlantic
Ocean with a coast line almost as long as the Pacific and Atlantic
seaboards of the United States combined. Its ocean frontage is about
4,000 miles in length.

This coast line, however, is not all the water front of Brazil. She
boasts of the Amazon, the mightiest river in the world. This stream is
navigable by ships of large draught for 2,700 miles from its mouth. It
has eight tributaries from 700 to 1,200 miles and four from 1,500 to
2,000 miles in length. One of these, the Madeira, empties as much water
into the larger stream as does the Mississippi into the Gulf. No other
river system drains vaster or richer territory. It drains one million
square miles more than does the Mississippi, and in all it has 27,000
miles of navigable waters.

The land connections of Brazil are also extensive. All the other
countries on the continent, save Chili and Ecuador, border on Brazil.
The Guianas and Venezuela, on the north; Colombia and Peru on the west;
Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay on the south--eight countries
in all.

It is indeed a vast territory. The United States could be placed within
its borders and still there would be left enoug