TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. §99 



through him arrived safe at Munich. We mention 

 this Httle circumstance with pleasure, as a proof of 

 that good fortune which attended all our collections 

 of natural history, which, though exposed to innu- 

 merable hazards and dangers, have all, without ex- 

 ception, reached their final destination ; a success 

 which few travellers can boast. Travelling by 

 night in the tropical countries is extremely agree- 

 able, especially from the coolness which refreshes 

 the traveller after the parching heat of the day. 

 The landscape, too, appears in new and often strik- 

 ing forms, which excite in a peculiar manner the 

 fancy of the European, by the uncertainty of their 

 outlines. Only, travelling by night is not good for 

 the animals, because they prefer resting from mid- 

 night till the morning. During the last few days 

 we had descended lower and lower out of the nar- 

 row valleys of the mountains, and now sometimes 

 saw in the moonlight, to the right, before, and on 

 the side of us, the summits of a part of the Serra 

 Mantiqueira, which runs from Minas southward, 

 behind tlie Serra do Mar. Their bluish outlines 

 formed a magic back-ground to the landscape, in 

 which wood and open spots alternated. The lofty 

 trees of the forests through which we passed were 

 veiled in black shadow, and many strange and 

 never before heard nightly voices resounded ; all 

 united to excite in us sensations equally singular 

 and uncommon. The conduct of the troop by 

 night requires double attention in tlie driver, that 



