226 



THR SERTAM. 



September until January, than from February 

 until May; likewise the wet weather can be 

 looked for with more certainty from June until 

 August than in January. There are very few 

 days during the whole course of the year of in- 

 cessant rain. What I have said regarding the 

 seasons must however be taken with some lati- 

 tude, as in all climates they are subject to 

 variation. 



The horse I left at the dry lake was faith- 

 fully delivered to me, and I continued my 

 journey on the following day to Natal. The 

 Governor received me with the same cordiality 

 as before. 



I had now left the Sertam, and though it 

 treated me rather roughly, still I have always 

 wished I could have seen more of it. There is 

 a certain pleasure which I cannot describe in 

 crossing new countries, and that portion of ter- 

 ritory over which I had travelled was new to an 

 Englishman. From the sensations which I ex- 

 perienced I can well imagine what those are, 

 which travellers in unexplored countries must 

 feel at every step — at every novelty which 

 comes under their view. There is yet much 

 ground upon the continent of South America to 

 be traversed, and I most heartily wish that it had 

 been my fate to be the civilised individual first 

 doomed to cross from Pernambuco to Lima. 



I have perhaps hardly said sufficient to give a 



