THEATRES OP SOUTH AMERICA. 307 



Whenever the curtain drops^ the house is as 

 quiet as a church, and instead of that din we are 

 constantly annoyed with in England, it is the 

 most quiet time of the whole performance. 



The thermometer in Rio harbour stood at 84% 

 on the shore 89° and 90^ 



At daylight on the IStk we weighed anchor, 

 and being calm, were towed out of the harbour 

 by the boats of the British men-of-war. On 

 making an offing got the breeze from the NE. 

 which, with little variation^, carried us up to the 

 equator crossing it on the I2tk March^ in longi- 

 tude 35"* W. with a light breeze and pleasant 

 temperate weather. I have to regret not being 

 able to register the temperature any further, 

 my thermometer being broken by a mischievous 

 monkey we had on board, but should imagine 

 that it was not higher than 82'' for the three or 

 four days that we were within a degree of the 

 equator. 



As I had often heard it contended that the 



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