RIO DE JANEIRO. 17 



Janiiary 22 rd. — I shall not soon forg'et my first 

 view of the shores of the new world. The morning- 

 was beautifully fine^ and with a lig*ht breeze scarcely 

 sufficient to cause a ripple on the water^ we were 

 slipping' past the hig-h and remarkable promontory 

 of Cape Frio^ which at first appeared like an island. 

 A long' beach of g-littering- sand stretched aAvay to 

 the westward^ and was lost in the distance ; behind 

 this a strip of undulating' country , clad here and 

 there in the richest g'reen^ was backed by a rang'e of 

 distant ^^'ooded hills^ on which many clumps of 

 palms could be disting-uished. Few harbours in the 

 world present a more imposing' entrance than that 

 of Eio de Janeiro. Several islands lie off the 

 opening-^ and on either side the coast rang'e ter- 

 minates in broken hills and ridg'es of g'ranite^ one 

 of which^ Pao d'A^ucar^ the Sug-ar Loaf of the 

 Eng-lish^ rises at once from near the water's edg"e 

 to the heig'ht of 900 feet^ as an apparently inac- 

 cessible peak^ and forms the well known landmark 

 for the entrance. 



Passing' the narrows (where the width is a mile 

 and a quarter)^ strongly g'uarded by fortifications, 

 of which Fort Sa. Cruz, an extensive work, with 

 several tiers of g'uns occupying' a rocky point, is 

 the principal, the harbour widens out with beautiful 

 sandy bays on either side, and rocky headlands 

 covered with luxuriant veg*etation. Here the view 

 of the city of Rio de Janeiro is mag-nificent. The 

 glare of the red-tiled buildings, whitewashed or 



VOL. I. c 



