THE BOOT BERN I BOSS. 



their i me blackness ve a peculiar physiognoriy to 

 the Bouthern sky. This sight fills with admiration even 

 tip'-.- who, uninstructed in the several branches of physical 

 feel the same emotion of delighl In the contempla- 

 tion of the heavenly vault, as in the view of a beautiful 

 landscape, or a majestic rite. A traveller needs not t<» be 

 a botanist, to recognise the torrid zone by the mere aspect 

 of its vegetation. Without having acquired any notions 

 of astronomy, without any acquaintance with the celes- 

 tial charts of Flamstead and De la Cattle, he feels he is 

 not in Europe, when Ik 1 sees the immense constellation 

 of the Shi]», or the phosphorescent Clouds of* Magellan, 



arise on the horizon. The heavens and the earth, 

 everything in the equinoctial regions, presents an exotic 

 character." 



The lower regions of the air were loaded with vapours 



for soup' da\ They saw distinctly for the first time 

 the Southern Cross only on the night of the 4th of July, 

 in th<- sixteenth degree of latitude. It was strongly in- 

 clined, and appeared from time to time between the 

 clouds, the centre of which, furrowed by uncondensed 



lightnings, reflected a silvery light. 



The pleasure the travellers felt on discovering the 



•uthern Cross was warmly shared by those of the crew 



who had visited the colonies. In the solitude of the 



.ve hail a star as ;i friend, from whom we have long 



been separated. The Portuguese and the Spaniards are 

 peculiarly Busoeptible of this feeling; a religious senti- 

 ment attaches them to this constellation, the form of 

 which recalls the sign of the faith planted by their an- 



rtora in the desi rte of the New World. 



The two greal stars which mark the summit and the 



