PROVINCE OF PERNAMBUCO. 



357 



and then returned with the rest of the party, who were waiting for us, to the vessel, 

 our surprise being mutually excited at the extraordinary and intricate mode of 

 communication between the two prayinhas. Whilst we lay at anchor, four 

 Russian frigates entered the bay, in very fine order, and took their stations not 

 far from the British ships of war, the Superb and Vengeur, then in the bay. The 

 Russian frigates were proceeding upon a voyage of discovery to the South Seas. 

 On our departure from the bay of Rio de Janeiro we had a favourable breeze, and 

 in five days were in the latitude of Bahia, having run upwards of ten degrees of 

 latitude, and seven of longitude. The wind now became adverse ; but in five 

 days afterwards we passed Cabo Calor, Rio Real, and Seregipe d' el Rey, and on 

 the following day were close in with land, northward of the St. Francisco. The 

 coast was flat and covered with woods, a few huts being all that we could 

 occasionally discover. 



The currents we found setting in towards the coast much stronger and to a 

 more considerable degree, than any of the charts extant account for. In the 

 course of the 3d of December we indistinctly perceived some catamarans near 

 the beach, and at dusk discovered Cape St. Augustine, affording us the hope of 

 reaching Pernambuco next morning. At day-break on the 4th, Cape St. Augus- 

 tine, Pernambuco, and Ollinda, were in view, with the land of the Cape elevated 

 and jutting out into the sea, but presenting nothing remarkable. The coast near 

 Pernambuco is flat, except some elevations in the distant back ground, and 

 Ollinda situated upon an accumulation of rising eminences. On viewing it we 

 could not but acquiesce in the exclamation of the first donatory of this province, 

 " O que linda situacam para fundar liuma villa."^ The whole country from the 

 sea appeared richly wooded and interspersed with the cocoa-nut tree, and im- 

 pressed the idea of fertility and cultivation. The jangadas, or catamarans, now 

 passed near us on all sides, with their triangular sails, producing no incon- 

 siderable surprise amongst the whole party. They are constructed of eight, 

 ten, and some of tvi^elve trunks of the buoyant jangada tree, rudely secured 

 together by wooden bolts passing horizontally through the whole, and with 

 cross-bars at the top, attaching the rafts more firmly together. The trunks are 

 not of uniform length, and, being almost hid amongst the waves, would not be 

 discovered at all without the sail and the two men who navigate them. The 

 waves pass through the apertures between each trunk, and the men are con- 



* " Oh ! what a beautiful situation for founding a town." Hence its name of Ollinda. 



