loo Voyage of the Novara. 



At 2 A.M., therefore, our cavalcade set out, followed by a 

 host of boys and porters carrying provisions and instruments for 

 observations. Nature was still buried in sleep, the air quiet 

 and motionless ; the full moon, shedding her pallid light over 

 sea and mountain, feebly shadowed forth the outlines of the 

 hedges and bushes of roses, fuchsias, and hortensias, that lined 

 the narrow path, and brought out dimly in faint relief tlie 

 ghost-like white figures which, standing at the doors of 

 their poor cabins, looked inquisitively at the riders, that 

 were already so early on their way. The path led up to 

 the mountains in steep and numerous windings, sometimes 

 on soft ground through ravines, sometimes on solid basalt, 

 or over the uneven surface of indurated lava. And when at 

 last, emerging from deep glens, steep precipices, and rocky 

 walls, all yet buried in the shades of night, the blue star- 

 spangled sky burst upon us in all its beauty and grandeur, the 

 eficct was almost overpowering. A faint glimmer of light ap- 

 peared on the distant horizon, masses of vapour moved over the 

 ocean, and rising mists gathering into clouds, undulated like 

 the surface of an agitated sea. It was only along the ridges 

 of mountains and through the ravines, that one might glance 

 between mist and land down to the calm boundless expanse of 

 water at our feet. 



At 4 o'clock a halt was made near a solitary hut, called 

 Choupana, at a height of 4400 feet, when the horsemen dis- 

 mounted, and left their horses behind, preferring to reach 

 on foot the termination of their journey. 



