TO RIO DE JANEIRO. 



calm ; the current carried the ship with great violence against the 

 rocks : she was dashed to pieces, and sunk with the whole crew, 

 while the American had meantime got far into the open sea. 



Our sailors were forced to labour with all their might against the 

 waves, which ran very high, without exactly knowing in what direc- 

 tion the Janus might be. We also exerted ourselves to the utmost to 

 assist them ; baled the water again out of the boat with our shoes ; 

 and had at length the good fortune to perceive, above the lofty waves, 

 the tops of the masts of the Janus. After long and severe exertions, 

 we reached the ship, where they were beginning to be uneasy on our 

 account. The wind being so faint, we indeed proceeded extremely 

 slowly ; but anchored however, when evening came, in the very 

 contracted entrance to the great bay of Rio de Janeiro, which was 

 formerly called Ganabara by the aboriginal tribes who dwelt round it. 

 This entrance is striking, and extremely picturesque. On both sides 

 rise lofty rugged mountains, like those of Switzerland, with many 

 curiously shaped peaks, and horns, as they are called in the Alps, 

 some of which have their peculiar names. Among them, two sepa- 

 rate points are called the Duos Irmaos, the Two Brothers ; another 

 is called by the English, Parrot-beak ; and farther in, lies the lofty 

 Corcovado, to which people repair from Rio de Janeiro, in order to 

 jenjoy from its summit, an extensive prospect of the whole beautiful 

 country. 



When we had cast anchor about an English mile from the fort, 

 our eyes eagerly scrutinised the grand scenes of nature which sur- 

 rounded us. The high rugged mountains are partly covered with 

 wood, amid the dark green of which the graceful cocoa-palms proudly 

 tower. In the morning and the evening, clouds settled on those 

 mountains, and veiled their summits : at their foot the sea broke, 

 dashing its white foam, and caused a noise which we heard all 

 around us during the whole night. In the beams of the setting sun. 



