BRAZIL. 29 



periodical showers of stars. Forty were seen in the mid- 

 watch of the 13th, proceeding from the Pleiades, and shooting 

 in a northerly direction. The weather was now delightful, and 

 the southeast trades were wafting us along at the rate of nine 

 or ten knots per hour. The nights recalled to our minds the 

 beautiful description of the illustrious Humboldt : " One expe- 

 riences an indescribable sensation when, as we approach the 

 equator, and especially when passing from one hemisphere to 

 the other, we see the stars, with which we have been familiar 

 from infancy, gradually approach the horizon, and finally 

 disappear. Nothing impresses more vividly on the mind of 

 the traveler the vast distance which separates him from his 

 native country, than the sight of a new firmament. The 

 grouping of the large stars, the scattered nebulae rivaling in 

 lustre the milky-way, together with some spaces remarkable 

 for their extreme darkness, give the southern heavens a 

 peculiar aspect. The sight even strikes the imagination of 

 those who, ignorant of astronomy, find pleasure in contem- 

 plating the celestial vault, as one admires a fine landscape or 

 a majestic site. Without being a botanist, the traveler knows 

 the torrid zone by the mere sight of its vegetation, and 

 without the possession of astronomical knowledge perceives 

 that he is not in Europe, when he sees rising in the horizon 

 the great constellation of the ship, or the phosphorescent 

 clouds of Magellan. In the equinoctial regions, the earth, 

 the sky, and all their garniture, assume an exotic character." 

 About meridian on the 24th, we made the harbor of Rio 

 Janeiro directly ahead. At 4.30 P. M., showed our number 

 together with the rest of the squadron, which was answered 

 by the United States frigate u Independence," the flag-ship 

 of the Brazil station. At 5 we passed Fort St. Cruz, situated 

 at the entrance of the harbor, and in the course of half an 



