Ch. VI.] 1831—1836. 131 



this we went to Fernando Noronha, a small island where the 

 [Brazilians] send their exiles. The landing there was attended 

 with so much difficulty owing [to] a heavy surf that tho Cap- 

 tain determined to sail the next day after arriving. My one 

 day on shore was exceedingly interesting, the whole island is 

 one single wood so matted together by creepers that it is very 

 difficult to move out of the beaten path. I find the Natural 

 History of all these unfrequented spots most exceedingly 

 interesting, especially the geology. I have written this much 

 in order to save time at Bahia. 



Decidedly the most striking thing in the Tropics is the 

 novelty of the vegetable forms. Cocoa-nuts could well be 

 imagined from drawings, if you add to them a graceful light- 

 ness which no European tree partakes of. Bananas and plan- 

 tains are exactly the same as those in hothouses, tho acacias or 

 tamarinds are striking from the blueness of their foliage ; but 

 of the glorious orange trees, no description, no drawings, will 

 give any just idea ; instead of the sickly green of our oranges, 

 tho native ones exceed the Portugal laurel in the darkness of 

 their tint, and infinitely exceed it in beauty of form. Cocoa- 

 nuts, papaws, the light-green bananas, and oranges, loaded with 

 fruit, generally surround the more luxuriant villages. Whilst 

 viowing such scenes, one feels tho impossibility that any 

 description should come near the mark, much less bo over- 

 drawn. 



March ls£. — Bahia, or San Salvador. I arrived at this place 

 on the 28th of February, and am now writing this letter after 

 having in real earnest strolled in the forests of the new world. 

 No person could imagine anything so beautiful as the ancient 

 town of Bahia, it is fairly embosomed in a luxuriant wood of 

 beautiful trees, and situated on a steep bank, and overlooks the 

 calm waters of the great bay of All Saints. The houses are 

 white and lofty, and, from the windows being narrow and long, 

 have a very light and elegant appearance. Convents, porticos, 

 and public buildings, vary the uniformity of the houses ; the 

 bay is scattered over with large ships ; in short, and what can 

 be said more, it is one of the finest views in the Brazils. But 

 the exquisite glorious pleasure of walking amongst such 

 flowers, and such trees, cannot be comprehended but by those 



at last, froh pudor ! my geological hammer was the instrument of death. 

 We soon loaded the boat with birds and eggs. Whilst we were so 

 engaged, the men in the boat were fairly fighting with the sharks for 

 such magnificent fish as you could not see in the London market. Our 

 boat would have made a fine subject for Snyders, such a medley of game 

 it contained." — From a letter to Herbert. 



K 2 



