I " í
are only a few spots where the bright red soil affords a strong
contrast with the universal clothing of green. From the
edges of the plain there are distant glimpses either of the
ocean, or of the great bay bordered by low wooded shores,
and on the surface of which numerous boats and canoes
show their white sails. Excepting from these points, the
range of vision is very limited: following the level pathways,
on each hand alternate peeps into the wooded valleys
below can alone be obtained. Finally, I may add that the
houses, and especially the sacred edifices, are built in a
peculiar and rather fantastic style of arcliitecture. They
are all whitewashed; so that when illuminated by the
brilliant sun of midday, and as seen against the pale blue
sky of the horizon, they stand out more like shadows than
substantial buildings.
Such are the elements of the scenery, but to paint the
effect is a hopeless endeavour. Learned naturalists describe
these scenes of the tropics by naming a multitude of objects,
and mentioning some characteristic feature of each.
To a learned traveller, this possibly may communicate some
definite ideas : but who else from seeing a plant in an
herbarium can imagine its appearance when growing in its
native soil ? Who from seeing choice plants in a hothouse
can magnify some into the dimensions of forest trees, and
crowd others into an entangled jungle? Who when examining
in the cabinet of the entomologist the gay exotic
butterflies, and singular cicadas, will associate with these
objects, the ceaseless harsh music of the latter, and the
lazy flight of the former,—the sure accompaniments of
the still, glowing, noonday of the tropics. It is, when the
sun has attained its greatest height, that such views should
be beheld: then the dense splendid foliage of the mango
hides the ground with its darkest shade, whilst the upper
branches are rendered from the profusion of light of the
most brilliant green. In the temperate zones, as it appears
to me, the case is different, the vegetation there is not so dark
or so rich, and hence the rays of the declining sun, tinged
of a red, purple, or yellow colour, add most to the beauties
of the scenery of those climes.
When quietly walking along the shady pathways, and admiring
each successive view, one wishes to find language to
express one’s ideas. Epithet after epithet is found too weak
to convey to those, who have not visited the intertropical
regions, the sensation of delight which the mind experiences.
I have said the plants in a hothouse fail to communicate a
just idea of the vegetation, yet I must recur to it. The land
is one great wild, untidy, luxuriant hothouse, which nature
made for her managerie, but man has taken possession of it,
and has studded it with gay houses and formal gardens. How
great would be the desire in every admirer of nature to behold,
if such were possible, another planet; yet to every
one in Europe, it may be truly said, that at the distance of
a few degrees from his native soil, the glories of another world
are open to him. In my last walk, I stopped again and
again to gaze on these beauties, and endeavoured to fix for
ever in my mind an impression, which at the time I knew,
sooner or later must fail. The form of the orange-tree, the
cocoa-nut, the palm, the mango, the tree-fern, the banana, will
remain clear and separate; but the thousand beauties which
unite these into one perfect scene must fade away; yet they
will leave, like a tale heard in childhood, a picture full of indistinct,
but most beautiful figures.
A u g u s t 6t h .—In the afternoon we stood out to sea, with
the intention of making a direct course to the Cape de Verd
Islands. Unfavourable winds, however, having delayed us,
on the 12th we ran into Pernambuco,—a large city on the
coast of Brazil in latitude 8° south. We anchored outside
the reef; but in a short time a pilot came on hoard, and
took us into the inner harbour, where we lay close to the
town.
Pernambuco is built on some narrow and low sandbanks,
which are separated from each other by shoal channels of salt
water. The three parts of the town are connected together