382 A SKILFUL PILOT. 
At daybreak the chief pilot came on board. 
This little fat man, proud of his name of Vasco 
de Gama, which he professed to have inherited 
in a direct line from the celebrated navigator 
to the East Indies, was in many respects a good 
specimen of his countrymen. He was wholly 
uneducated, as they mostly are; and, next to 
his ancestry, that in which he took the greatest 
pride was the independence of Brazil. This 
feeling, which is general among all classes, en- 
lists each individual personally in support of 
the existing government, and is its surest 
guarantee. 
Although our pilot had not attained to the 
renown of his great ancestor, I must do him 
the justice to say that he understood his busi- 
ness, and guided us very skilfully through the 
narrow mouth of the Bay. This small entrance, 
commanded by a fort ona height, is tolerably 
well secured from the approach of an enemy ; 
and might, by stronger batteries, be made wholly 
inaccessible, as the channel is so narrow, that a 
ship in working its way in must always be 
within half-shot distance. We anchored near 
the town, among numerous vessels of various 
