12 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



tions of the sea, proves, by the union of the pro- 

 duce of the north and of the south, the happy 

 situation of the city. Though a high mountain 

 rises near it, and that on the north side, the har- 

 bour is not sufficiently protected against winds, and 

 the cold is sometimes severe. The warm sirocco, 

 which often blows over from Africa, is very re- 

 laxing, and frequently brings on diseases. At the 

 time of our arrival the vegetable world was almost 

 dead, and excepting Helleborus hyemalis. Crocus 

 reticulatus, and Primula acaulis, we found on the 

 bare ground scarcely a sign of the approaching 

 spring. The sea, however, afforded a more ample 

 supply of animals and marine plants j which, with 

 the collections made on our way hither, and the 

 insects which we obtained from naturalists here, 

 were sent to the cabinet of natural history at 

 Munich.* A painful sensation was excited in 

 us by the information which we received, some 

 days after our arrival, that the room which we oc- 

 cupied in the hotel where we put up, was that in 

 which Winkelmann met his death from the hand 

 of an assassin. We were here neighbours to the 

 commander of the two frigates, Signor Nicola de 

 Pasqualigo, a noble of Venice ; a seaman, as much 

 distinguished by general information and nautical 

 knowledge, as by his courage and resolution, of 

 which he gave proofs in the last war. He im- 

 mediately took us to our future quarters on board 



♦ See Note, page 17- 



