128 Voyaf/e of the Novara. 



more than an hour, and tore ourselves away with reluctance 

 from all those glories which Nature has shed with so profuse a 

 hand over this enchanting landscape. 



One of our companions was the veteran Brazilian naturalist, 

 the venerable Dom Antonio Ildefonso Gomez, who passed 

 several years in Europe when a young man, and had, together 

 with Humboldt, once attended the lectures of Cuvier at 

 Paris. M. Auguste de St. Hilaire, during his visit to Rio, 

 spent several months at Dom Ildefonso's hospitable abode. 

 Although now a septuagenarian, the old physician is un- 

 commonly hale in person, full of his pristine enthusiasm, 

 indefatigable in the pursuit of knowledge, and able to pass an 

 entire day on the back of his mule, so that he can ride to the 

 most distant consultations without betraying any symptoms 

 of exhaustion. He had brought with him a number of large 

 oranges, some cheese and bread, and a bottle of excellent port 

 wine, so that there was no want of wherewithal to recruit our 

 strength ; and there, on the summit of the Corcovado, our 

 hearts swelling with rapture as the eye ranged over the 

 marvellous landscape that lay unrolled at our feet, we drank to 

 the prosperity of Brazil. Dom Ildefonso, a warm friend to 

 all foreigners, remarked that within forty years Brazil will 

 probably be more German than Brazilian or Portuguese, 

 and expressed a hope it might bo so, as only by that means, so 

 far as his observation went, could his beloved native land 

 hope for a prosperous future. 



We returned through most charming forest scenery by 



