very beautifully spotted, seems to be the ruler and the
scourge of these little floating worlds, devouring and tearing
m preces with his claws the soft and gelatinous worms, even
after the plant is drawn out of its element.
We were fortunate enough to pass the Line without ex
periencmg any of* those baffling calms and harassing squalls
which occur so frequently in this part of the globe, and on the*
of the above-mentioned month we came in sight of that
point of the coast of South America which is called Cape
F n o ; and having doubled this high promontory in the course
of the night, we entered, on the following day, the magnificent
harbour of Rio de Janeiro. ' *
Although I shall endeavour to sketch a general outline of
the features of this part of the Brazilian coast, yet I am fully
aware that any description which I can employ will convey
but an inadequate idea of the grandeur and beauty of the
country to those who have not had an opportunity of seeing
it The first remarkable object that catches the attention,
after passing Cape Brio, is a gap or rent in the verdant ridge*
of mountains which skirts the sea-coast. This chasm appears,
from a distance, like a narrow portal between two cheeks of
solid stone, which being perfectly naked are the more remarkable,
as every other prominent part of the ridge of
mountains is clothed with luxuriant vegetation. On approaching
this chasm, which is in fact the entrance into the
grand harbour of Rio de Janeiro, the cheek on the left or
western side is discovered to be a single solid stone of a conical
shape or, m nautical language, a sugar-loaf, entirely detached,
not quite perpendicular, but leaning a little towards
the entrance. We took an opportunity, during our stay at
Rio, of ascertaining its height by means of a line measured
on a little sandy beach which skirts its base on the side
next to the harbour, and the angles which it extended
from the extremities of this line. From the result of our
operations it appeared that this solid mass of hard sparkhng
granite is 680 feet high above the surface out of which it rises.
The eastern or opposite cheek of the chasm is a naked mountain,
composed of the same material, but with this difference
in point of form that it has an easy and regular slope from
the water s edge to the summit, which is about the same
height as that of the cone. The whole of this side is occupied
by forts, lines, and batteries, for an account of which I
must refer the reader to the two plates in the following
chapter.
A little island strongly fortified, just within the entrance,
contracts the passage to the width of about three-fourths of a
mile. Having cleared this channel, one of the most magnificent
scenes in nature bursts upon the enraptured eye. Let
any one imagine to himself an immense sheet of water running
back into the heart of a beautiful country, to the distance of
about thirty miles, where it is bounded by a skreen of lofty
mountains, always majestic, whether their rugged and shapeless
summits are tinged with azure and purple, or buried in
the clouds—Let him imagine this sheet of water gradually
to expand, from the narrow portal through which it communicates
with the sea, to the width of twelve or fourteen
miles, to be every where studded with innumerable little