332 CHARLES WILKES. 



sea immediately. Accordingly, the next day the 

 squadron under his command sailed from the port 

 of Norfolk, and on the 19th he passed Cape Henry 

 light. The vessels were well provisioned and well 

 armed in every respect ; the officers of the several 

 vessels had been selected with care, with special 

 reference to their fitness for their respective duties ; 

 and every preparation had been made to secure 

 success. On the 16th of September the squadron 

 reached the island of Madeira. Having disem- 

 barked with a portion of his officers and his corps 

 of scientific men, Captain Wilkes explored the in- 

 terior of the island and the more important harbors. 

 The greatest natural curiosity here is a peculiar for- 

 mation termed the Curral, a spot full of beauty and 

 grandeur, which seems to have been in former ages 

 the capacious crater of an active volcano. 



On the 25th of September, 1838, the squadron 

 sailed from Madeira and directed their course south- 

 ward, with the intention of passing over those locali- 

 ties where shoals were supposed to exist which had 

 not yet been sounded. They touched at the Cape 

 cle Yerd Islands. On the 23d of November they 

 came in sight of the magnificent harbor of Rio do 

 Janeiro, which appeared proudly in the distance. 

 They soon touched the pier in the famous capital of 

 Brazil. Their chief object here was to replenish 



