PASSAGE TO RIO JANEIRO, BRAZIL. 29 



watch of the 13th, proceeding from the Pleiades, and shoot- 

 ing in a northerly direction. The weather was now de- 

 lightful, 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 experiences 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 im- 

 presses 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 nebulas 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 contemplating 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 phosjmorescent 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 Eio 

 Janeiro directly ahead. At 4.30 P. M., showed our num- 

 ber together with the rest of the squadron, which was an- 

 swered by the United States frigate " Independence," the 

 fiag-ship of the Brazil station. At 5 we passed Fort St. 

 Cruz, situated at the entrance of the harbor, and in the 



