496 BAHIA, BRAZIL. [cuar. xxI. 
on which numerous boats and canoes show their white sails, 
Excepting from these points, the scene is extremely limited ; 
following the level pathways, on each hand, only glimpses into the 
wooded valleys below can be obtained. The houses, I may add, 
and especially the sacred edifices, are built in a peculiar and 
rather fantastic style of architecture. They are all whitewashed ; 
so that when illumined by the brilliant sun of midday, and.as 
seen against the pale blue sky of the horizon, they stand out more 
like shadows than real buildings. 
Such are the elements of-the scenery, but it isa hopeless attempt 
to paint the general effect. Learned naturalists describe these 
scenes of the tropics by naming a multitude of objects, and men- 
tioning some characteristic feature of each. To a learned 
traveller this possibly may communicate some definite’ideas: but 
who else from seeing a plant in an herbarium can imagine its 
appearance when growing in its native soil? Who from seeing 
choice plants in a hothouse, can magnify some into the dimen- 
sions of forest trees, and crowd others into an entangled jungle? 
Who when examining in the cabinet of the entomologist the gay 
exotic butterflies, and singular cicadas, will associate with these 
lifeless objects, the ceaseless harsh music of the latter, and the 
lazy flight of the former,—the sure accompaniments of the still, 
glowing noonday of the tropics? It is when the sun has 
attained its greatest height, that such scenes should be viewed: 
then the dense splendid foliage of the mango hides the ground 
with its darkest shade, whilst the upper branches are rendered 
from the profusion of light of the most brilliant green. In the 
temperate zones the case is different—the vegetation there is not 
so dark or so rich, and hence the rays of the declining sun, tinged 
of a red, purple, or bright yellow colour, add most to the beanties 
of those climes. 
When quietly walking along the shady pathways, and admir- 
ing each successive view, I wished to find language to express 
my ideas. Epithet after epithet was found too weak to convey 
to those who have not visited the intertropical regions, the sens- 
ation of delight which the mind experiences. JI have said that 
the plants ina hothouse fail to communicate a just idea of the 
vegetation, yet I must recur to it. The land is one great wild, 
untidy, luxuriant hothouse, made by Nature for herself, but taken 
