1S32.I CROSSING THE EQUATOR, 203 



santly, and when apparently not employed, he is thinking. If 

 he does not kill himself, he will during this voyage do a won- 

 derful quantity of work. I find I am very well, and stand 

 the little heat we have had as yet as well as anybody. We 

 shall soon have it in real earnest. We are now sailing for 

 Fernando Noronha, off the coast of Brazil, where we shall not 

 stay very long, and then examine the shoals between there 

 and Rio, touching perhaps at Bahia. I will finish this letter 

 when an opportunity of sending it occurs. 



February 26th. — About 280 miles from Bahia. On the 

 10th we spoke the packet Lyra, on her voyage to Rio. I sent 

 a short letter by her, to be sent to England on [the] first 

 opportunity. We have been singularly unlucky in not meet- 

 ing with any homeward-bound vessels, but I suppose [at] 

 Bahia we certainly shall be able to write to England. Since 

 writing the first part of [this] letter nothing has occurred 

 except crossing the Equator, and being shaved. This most 

 disagreeable operation consists in having your face rubbed 

 with paint and tar, which forms a lather for a saw which repre- 

 sents the razor, and then being half drowned in a sail filled with 

 salt water. About 50 miles north of the line we touched at 

 the rocks of St. Paul ; this little speck (about \ of a mile 

 across) in the Atlantic has seldom been visited. It is totally 

 barren, but is covered by hosts of birds ; they were so un- 

 used to men that we found we could kill plenty with stones 

 and sticks. After remaining some hours on the island, we 

 returned on board with the boat loaded with our prey. From 

 this we went to Fernando Noronha, a small island where the 

 [Brazilians] send their exiles. The landing there was attended 

 with so much difficulty owing [to] a heavy surf that the Cap- 

 tain determined to sail the next day after arriving. My one 

 day on shore was exceedingly interesting, the whole island is 

 one single wood so matted together by creepers that it is very 

 difficult to move out of the beaten path. I find the Natural 

 History of all these unfrequented spots most exceedingly 

 interesting, especially the geology. I have written this much 

 in order to save time at Bahia. 



