590 



BAHIA— BRAZIL. 



Aug. 1836. 



are only a few spots where the bright red soil affords a strong 

 contrast with the universal clothing of green. From the 

 edges of the plain there are distant glimpses either of the 

 ocean, or of the great bay bordered by low wooded shores, 

 and on the surface of which numerous boats and canoes 

 show their white sails. Excepting from these points, the 

 range of vision is very limited: following the level path- 

 ways, on each hand alternate peeps into the wooded valleys 

 below can alone be obtained. Finally, I may add that the 

 houses, and especially the sacred edifices, are built in a 

 peculiar and rather fantastic style of architecture. They 

 are all whitewashed; so that when illuminated by the 

 brilhant sun of midday, and as seen against the pale blue 

 sky of the horizon, they stand out more like shadows than 

 substantial buildings. 



Such are the elements of the scenery, but to paint the 

 effect is a hopeless endeavour. Learned naturalists describe 

 these scenes of the tropics by naming a multitude of ob- 

 jects, and mentioning some characteristic feature of each. 

 To a learned traveller, this possibly may communicate some 

 definite ideas : but who else from seeing a plant in an 

 herbarium can imagine its appearance when growing in its 

 native soil ? Who from seeing choice plants in a hothouse 

 can magnify some into the dimensions of forest trees, and 

 crowd others into an entangled jungle? Who when ex- 

 amining in the cabinet of the entomologist the gay exotic 

 butterflies, and singular cicadas, will associate with these 

 objects, the ceaseless harsh music of the latter, and the 

 lazy flight of the former, — the sure accompaniments of 

 the still, glowing, noonday of the tropics. It is, when the 

 sun has attained its greatest height, that such views should 

 be beheld: then the dense splendid foliage of the mango 

 hides the ground with its darkest shade, whilst the upper 

 branches are rendered from the profusion of light of the 

 most brilliant green. In the temperate zones, as it appears 

 to me, the case is different, the vegetation there is not so dark 



