Rio, with its superb harbour, as seen from the heights above it, is a picturesque city, as I think the drawing I brought home and now give will prove.  It is built upon piles--that is, the lower part--and as the drainage is bad, it is at times very unhealthy.  On landing, we found ourselves on a large open space with a palace before us, and a fountain in front of it.  Before the palace stood two negro soldiers as a guard. The army, our friend told us, is composed chiefly of negroes, who make very good soldiers; and the navy is manned by them.  Acting with Englishmen, many of whom are in the Brazilian navy, they are as bravo and trustworthy as any men to be found.  Off the square branched a number of narrow streets.  As the climate is so hot, all the streets are made narrow, that they may be kept as much as possible in shade.  The houses are mostly of good size, and the walls are very thick; they thus keep out the heat of the sun.  The churches are also substantially built, and decorated in a very florid style--the interiors being tawdry in the extreme, calculated only to please the uncultivated taste of the negroes and of the lower order of whites.  Railways have been formed in the Brazils, and one runs to Petropolis, a summer resort of the principal inhabitants.  Omnibuses, too, have made their appearance.  The streets are paved with fine blocks of stone, and the city is lighted with gas; indeed, as our friend observed, "under the liberal government of the present constitutional emperor the country has made great material progress.  When her literally unbounded resources are developed, the Brazils cannot fail, unless her constitution is overthrown, of becoming a wealthy and happy nation.  At present, her wretched parody of the pure religion of Christians, and her lazy, profligate, and ignorant priests, tend more than anything else to retard her progress.  Vile as they are, they have been unable to prevent the free circulation of the Scriptures and the toleration of Protestant opinions."