RIO JANEIRO. 53 
Foreigners are usually employed to take charge of the latter, which 
sail under the Brazilian flag. Steamers are beginning to be used. 
One plies between Rio and Santos, and during our stay, another 
left the harbour for Montevideo. The greater part of the vessels in 
the bay are under foreign flags, and I was much surprised to observe, 
how few comparatively are English, and how many are from the 
north of Europe. 
The harbour of Rio may be considered as not extending farther 
than Enxados Island, above which few vessels lie. The front of the 
city is not well adapted for wharves, and none exist. There are 
some landing stairs ; but they are not well protected from the sea, 
which at times renders landing almost impossible. 
The environs of the city were visited by many of our naturalists 
and officers, and although this ground has been so often gone over by 
others, it was yet found to oifer many objects of interest, and we 
believe of novelty, particularly in the waters of this bay. 
In Rio, the vegetation seems to fix the attention above all other 
things, especially of those situated as we were in the harbour, having 
it continually before one's eyes, and I can well understand the 
deprivation Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander must have expe- 
rienced in their visit. Our naturalists remarked that although 
the productions are still American in character, the same families 
prevailing, often the same genera, yet that they were entirely distinct 
in species from those of other parts of the continent, As an example, 
the Furcrcea takes the place of the Mexican Agaves. The Furcrcea 
is a peculiar plant, and attracts attention by its bayonet-shaped leaves, 
branching up in every direction ; some of these are ten or twelve feet 
in height and ten inches in diameter. This plant, with the well- 
known Cecropia, with its candelabra branches, and the prevailing 
yellow blossoms of the trees, gives a peculiar and lively character to 
the landscape and woods, when compared with the dull sombre hue 
of our own forests. 
Here, as in all tropical climates, the truth of the remark made by 
a botanist "that every thing grows into shrubs and trees," is obvious. 
Herbaceous plants are rare, and annuals may be said to be almost 
wanting. The fruit trees were generally seen bearing fruit and 
flowers at the same time. This took place, as observed by one of 
our party, even in the cultivated apple on the Tejuca Mountains. 
The vegetation near the coast differs considerably from that of the 
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