Aug. 1836. 



PERNAMBUCO. 



591 



or so rich, and hence the rays of the decUning sun, tinged 

 of a red, purple, or yellow colour, add most to the beauties 

 of the scenery of those climes. 



When quietly walking along the shady pathways, and ad- 

 miring each successive view, one wishes to find language to 

 express one's ideas. Epithet after epithet is found too weak 

 to convey to those, who have not visited the intertropical 

 regions, the sensation of delight which the mind experiences. 

 I have said the plants in a hothouse fail to communicate a 

 just idea of the vegetation, yet I must recur to it. The land 

 is one great wild, untidy, luxuriant hothouse, which nature 

 made for her managerie, but man has taken possession of it, 

 and has studded it with gay houses and formal gardens. How 

 great would be the desire in every admirer of nature to be- 

 hold, if such were possible, another planet; yet to every 

 one in Europe, it may be truly said, that at the distance of 

 a few degrees from his native soil, the glories of another world 

 are open to him. In my last walk, I stopped again and 

 again to gaze on these beauties, and endeavoured to fix for 

 ever in my mind an impression, which at the time I knew, 

 sooner or later must fail. The form of the orange-tree, the 

 cocoa-nut, the palm, the mango, the tree-fern, the banana, will 

 remain clear and separate ; but the thousand beauties which 

 unite these into one perfect scene must fade away ; yet they 

 will leave, like a tale heard in childhood, a picture full of in- 

 distinct, but most beautiful figures. 



August 6th. — In the afternoon we stood out to sea, with 

 the intention of making a direct course to the Cape de Verd 

 Islands. Unfavourable winds, however, having delayed us, 

 on the 12th we ran into Pernambuco, — a large city on the 

 coast of Brazil in latitude 8° south. We anchored outside 

 the reef ; but in a short time a pilot came on board, and 

 took us into the inner harbour, where we lay close to the 

 town. 



Pernambuco is built on some narrow and low sandbanks, 

 which are separated from each other by shoal channels of salt 

 water. The three parts of the town are connected together 



