36 ARRIVAL AT SAN SALVADOR. 



alluded to : but before we presume to pass any 

 censure upon those who preceded us in the honours 

 of maritime discovery, and the labours of maritime 

 survey, it will be proper to bear in mind the ceaseless 

 changes to which the earth's surface is subject, and 

 that, though our knowledge is but limited of the 

 phenomena connected with subterranean and vol- 

 canic agency, still, in the sudden upheaval and 

 subsidence of Sabrina and Graham Islands, we have 

 sufficient evidence of their vast disturbing power, to 

 warrant the supposition that such might have been 

 the case with the rocks for which our search proved 

 fruitless. Nor are these the only causes that may 

 be assigned to reconcile the conflicting testimonies 

 of various Navigators upon the existence of such 

 dansrers ; the orisfin of which mav be ascribed to 

 drift timber — reflected light discolouring the sea, 

 and causing the appearance of broken water — or to 

 the floating carcase of a whale, by which I have 

 myself been more than once deceived. 



A succession of winds between S.S. E. and S.E., 

 with the aid of a strong westerly current, soon 

 brought us near the Brazils. We made the land on 

 the morning of the 17th, about 15 miles to the north- 

 east of Bahia, and in the afternoon anchored ofi^ the 

 town of San Salvador. 



Though this was neither my first nor second visit 

 to Bahia, I was still not indifferent to the magnificent 

 or rather luxuriant tropical scenery which it pre- 

 sents. A bank of such verdure as these sun-lit 



