Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

Aug. 1836. PERNAMBUCO. - 591 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 ad- miring 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 be- hold, 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, 1 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 wiU leave, like a tale heard in childhood, a picture fuU of in- distinct, but most beautiful figures. August 6th. — 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 board, 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