One day an enormous Sea Turtle was seen leisurely- 

 swimming on the surface of the sea near the vessel. 



Of birds there were none or nearly so. 



When crossing the line I saw some pairs of little sooty 

 black Petrels with white rumps, and a day earlier I saw 

 a bird which looked very much like a rufous coloured kite, 

 but probably was some kind of Skua. It did not come near. 



In due time we reached the Brazilian coast and one 

 morning at 3 o'clock (the 22d day after having left Amster- 

 dam) the entrance of Rio de Janeiro harbour. 



The ca'^tain had kindly promised to wait with entering 

 the harbour untill it was daylight and so at about 5 we 

 enjoyed from the highest accessible part of the vessel the 

 magnificent sight of the entering into the most beautiful 

 port of the world. 



After having passed between the most fantastically 

 shaped stony mountains and rocks partly bare and partly 

 overgrown with palmtrees the town itself came into view 

 stretched along the sea with the mountains behind it. 



The first birds I saw there were a lot of Black Vtiltures 

 which came flying from the mountains of Petropolis, where 

 they had probably spent the night, to their dayquarters 

 in and around the town. 



As the morning advanced a most weirdlooking bird all 

 wings, points and angles, like a floating rag, appeared above 

 the bay and began to fly restlessly backwards and forwards. 



This was my first acquaintance with the Frigate Bird, 

 and a most extraordinary sight it truly is! 



Some Gulls were also appearing and some DolpJdns were 

 playing among the ships. 



At last after all the formalities with the Brazilian officials 

 had been completed and we were allowed to land we took 

 a boat and soon afterwards landed in the Brazilian capital, 

 where we were met by a lot of dusky looking people that 

 offered us their services. 



After having taken a walk through the principal streets 

 we had some lunch and after that hired an auto that 

 was to show us the more interesting parts of the town 



Notes from the Leyden Museum, Vol. XXXV. 



