TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 107 



and the lively Colombine appeared, ridiculously 

 enough put together. This agreeable mode of 

 life suffered only one interruption ; this was in lati- 

 tude 8* 1^^ N., when we descried at a distance a 

 large ship, whose movements appeared suspicious. 

 These seas are so much infested by privateers 

 from Buenos Ayres and North America, that Por- 

 tuguese and Spanish ships in particular must be 

 upon their guard : these pirates, however, do not 

 even spare English ships ; which was experienced 

 by Count V. Wrbna among others, who, returning 

 as express from Rio de Janeiro, in an English 

 packet-boat, was attacked and plundered, and even 

 in danger of his life. On the sight of that ship, 

 the necessary preparations for defence were made ; 

 but we soon found, from the course which it 

 steered towards the coast of Africa, that it had no 

 hostile intention. It was probably a Portuguese 

 slave ship, bound for Guinea. 



While the co-operation of the elements became 

 more and more harmonious, the starry firmament 

 began also to appear more and more in equilibrium 

 to the inmates of the little vessel. On the 15th 

 of June, in latitude 14° 6' 45"', we beheld, for the 

 first time, that glorious constellation of the southern 

 heavens, the cross, which is to navigators a token 

 of peace, and according to its position, indicates 

 the hours of the night. We had long wished for 

 this constellation, as a guide to the other hemi- 

 sphere ; we therefore felt inexpressible pleasure, 



