Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

84 SANTA CATHARINA SANTOS. July but chiefly from their having descended from active and enter- prising, though lawless settlers, who were ejected from other places ; and from a few respectable colonists induced to emi- grate from the Azores. Before I quit the neighbourhood of frequented ports on this coast, one possessing peculiar interest, Santos, ought to be mentioned ; to remind seamen that they may there also obtain any refreshments, and secure their ships in a sheltered creek, quite easy of access. For several leagues round Santos there is an extensive flat, covered with thick woods, but intersected by rivers and salt water inlets, whose banks are lined with thickets of mangrove trees. Inland a mountain range abruptly rises to the height of two or three thousand feet, every where clothed with almost impenetrable forests. The climate is, however, unhealthy in December, January, and February ; and during the whole year there is a great deal of rain. Returning to the coast southward of Santa Catharina, I may mention that Cape Santa Martha, and the shores extending northward of it, are high and woody, like the greater part of the coast of Brazil ; but that on the south side of the promon- tory there is a complete change of character : lofty ranges of mountains sinking into low treeless shores, whose outline is as tame and unvai*ying as that of the former is bold and pic- turesque. While sailing along the level uninteresting coast just men- tioned, with a fresh breeze off" the land, we found it bitterly cold, though the thermometer never was below 40°. Faht : so much does our perception of heat or cold depend upon com- parison. Some of our exaggerated opinions as to the coldness of the southern hemisphere may have arisen from the circum- stances under which voyagers usually visit high southern lati- tudes, immediately after enduring the heat of the tropics, and without staying long enough to ascertain the real average tem- perature during a whole year. On the 22d of July we were near the river Plata, and as the weather, after sunset, became very dark, with thunder and lightning, though with but little wind, we anchored in the