Reise in Brasilien. 183 



is there my social companion, while, in a happy dreaming 

 state, I await the coming day, kept half awake by the buzz of 

 the musquitoes, the kettle-drum croak of the bull-frog, or the 

 complaining cry of the goatsucker. 



" About five o'clock I again look out, and behold the morn- 

 ing twilight. A beautiful even tone of grey, finely blended 

 with a warmth-giving red, now overspreads the sky. The 

 zenith only still remains dark. The trees, the forms of which 

 become gradually distinct, are gently agitated by the land 

 wind, which blows from the east. The red morning light and 

 its reflexes play over the dome-topped caryocars, bertho- 

 letias and symphonias. The branches and foliage are in 

 motion, and all the lately slumbering dreamers are now awake, 

 and bathe in the refreshing air of the morning. Beetles fly, 

 gnats buzz, and the varied voice of the feathered race resounds 

 from every bush ; the apes scream as they clamber into 

 the thickets ; the night moths, surprised by the approach of 

 light, swarm back in giddy confusion to the dark recesses of 

 the forest ; there is life and motion in every path ; the rats 

 and all the gnawing tribe are hastily retiring to their holes, 

 and the cunning marten, disappointed of his prey, steals from 

 the farm-yard, leaving untouched the poultry, to whom the 

 watchful cock has just proclaimed the return of day. 



" The growing light gradually completes the dawn, and at 

 length the efiiilgent day breaks forth. It is nature's jubilee, 

 The earth awaits her bridegroom, and, behold, he comes ! 

 Rays of red light illumine the sky, and now the sun rises. 

 In another moment he is above the horizon, and, emerging 

 from a sea of fire, he casts his glowing rays upon the earth. 

 The magical twilight is gone ; bright gleams flit from point 

 to point, accompanied by deeper and deeper shadows. Sud- 

 denly the enraptured observer beholds around him the joyous 

 earth, arrayed in fresh dewy splendour, the fairest of brides. 

 The vault of heaven is cloudless ; on the earth all is instinct 

 with life, and every animal and plant is in the full enjoyment 

 of existence. At seven o'clock the dew begins to disappear, 

 the land breeze falls off*, and the increasing heat soon makes 

 itself sensibly felt. The sun ascends rapidly and vertically 

 the transparent blue sky, from which every vapour seems to 

 disappear ; but presently, low in the western horizon, small, 

 flaky, white clouds are formed. These point towards the sun, 

 and gradually extend far into the firmament. By nine o'clock 

 the meadow is quite dry, the forest appears in all the splen- 

 dour of its glowing foliage. Some buds are expanding ; others, 

 which had effloresced more rapidly, have already disappeared. 

 Another hour, and the clouds are higher; they form broad, 



N 4 



