1832.] FERNANDO NORONHA. st 
feeding and parasitic insects and spiders should be the first in- 
habitants of newly formed oceanic land. 
The smallest rock in the tropical seas, by giving a foundation 
for the growth of innumerable kinds of seaweed and compound 
animals, supports likewise a large number of fish. The sharks 
and the seamen in the boats maintained a constant struggle 
which should secure the greater share of the prey caught by the 
fishing-lines. I have heard that a rock near the Bermudas, 
lying many miles out at sea, and at a considerable depth, was 
first discovered by the circumstance of fish having been observed 
in the neighbourhood, 
Frernanpo Norowna, Feb. 20th.—As far as I was enabled 
to observe, during the few hours we stayed at this place, the con- 
stitution of the island is volcanic, but probably not of a recent 
date. The most remarkable feature is a conical hill, about one 
thousand feet high, the upper part of which is exceedingly steep, 
and on one side overhangs its base. The rock is phonolite, and 
is divided into irregular columns. On viewing one of these iso- 
lated masses, at first one is inclined to believe that it has been 
suddenly pushed up in a semi-fluid state. At St. Helena, how- 
ever, I ascertained that some pinnacles, of a nearly similar 
figure and constitution, had been formed by the injection of 
melted rock into yielding strata, which thus had formed the 
moulds for these gigantic obelisks. The whole island is co- 
vered with wood; but from the dryness of the climate there 
is no appearance of Juxuriance. Half-way up the mountain, 
some great masses of the columnar rock, shaded by laurel-like 
trees, and ornamented by others covered with fine pink flowers 
but without a single leaf, gave a pleasing effect to the nearer 
parts of the scenery. ~ 
Bawa, on San Satvapor. Brazit, Feb. 29th.—The day 
has past delightfully. Delight itself, however, is a weak term 
to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has 
wandered by himself’ in a Brazilian forest. ‘The elegance of the 
grasses, the novelty of the parasitical plants, the beauty of “the 
flowers, the glossy green of the foliage, but above all the ge- 
noral luxuriance of the vegetation, filled me with admiration. 
A most paradoxical mixture of sound and silence pervades the 
