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

5i3 CEREMONIES REMARKS. Feb. at the time, and talk of it long afterwards, cannot easily be judged of without being an eye-witness. During the early ages of navigation, before the invention of the compass, somewhat similar, though really ceremonious rites were observed in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian ves- sels, when they passed the more remarkable promontories then known. A modern voyager, Kotzebue, notices this subject in a manner which appears to me so sensible, that I shall quote his words without affecting to add another remark. " On the 11th of October we crossed the Equator, at twenty- five degrees west longitude, reckoning from Greenwich. Hav- ing saluted the southern hemisphere by the firing of guns, our crew proceeded to enact the usual ceremonies. A sailor, who took pride in having frequently passed the line, directed the performance with nmch solemnity and decorum. He appeared as Neptune, attired in a manner that was meant to be terribly imposing, accompanied by his consort, seated on a gun-car- riage instead of a shell, drawn by negroes, as substitutes for tritons. In the evening the sailors represented, amidst general applause, a comedy of their own composition. " These sports, while they serve to keep up the spirits of the men, and make them forget the difficulties they have to go through, produce also the most beneficial influence upon their health ; a cheerful man being much more capable of resisting a fit of sickness than a melancholy one. It is the duty of com- manders to use every innocent means of maintaining this temper in their crews ; for, in long voyages, when they are several months together wandering on an element not destined by nature for the residence of man, without enjoying even occasionally the recreations of the land, the mind naturally tends to melancholy, which of itself lays the foundation of many diseases, and some- times even of insanity. Diversion is often the best medicine, and used as a preservative, seldom fails of its effect." — (Kotzebue's Voyage,' 1823-26.) Before sunset on the 19th we saw the island of Fernando Noronha, with its singular peak towering aloft, and at mid- night anchored in the roadstead.