NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



3 



run to the northward, the wind had been easterly and the weather 

 hot. The N. E. trades were undoubtedly blowing between us and the 

 coast of Africa, and we were now approaching their northern verge. 

 It was natural, therefore, to suppose that we had suddenly entered into 

 that section of the stream of air which had recently passed over the 

 mountains of Atlas, probably at that early period of the year still covered 

 with sno^v. If this conjecture be right, it shows that the frosts of 

 these African mountains produce a very perceptible degree of coldness 

 at the distance of 1300 miles from them ; that the scorched desert also 

 has warmed the atmosphere to the same extraordinary distance from 

 the coast, and that the two lines of the current have run parallel to, 

 and almost without inter-mingling with each other. 



It is wonderful how secluded some of the islands in the Atlantic 

 are ; and how slowly the inhabitants are affected by the prosperity or 

 the disasters of Europe. In the voyage just mentioned, we touched 

 at Flores, where the last political fact which the people were acquainted 

 with, had occurred nearly two years before ; the transmission of Napoleon 

 Bonaparte to Elba. The Governor and all about him were extremely 

 astonished, when we told them of his subsequent re-appearance in France, 

 of his defeat at Waterloo, and final deportation to St. Helena. They 

 appeared as if awakened from a state of insensibility, and envied the 

 pleasures which others derived from the knowledge of events as they 

 arise. They felt an irrefragable proof that they were a sort of exiles by 

 nature from the society of men, and though perhaps reasoning upon 

 false principles, they judged themselves less fortunate than the inhabi- 

 tants of more widely spread districts. 



Flores is a lively spot : it slopes to the East, and shows small inclo- 

 sures, neatly walled and well managed ; white cottages are every where 

 scattered ; the people are well made, ruddy, and healthy. They possess 

 some of the social virtues ; but even these lose their charms when 

 accompanied by an unnatural simplicity and inanity of character. This 

 and its sister island, Corvo, when seen from the N. E. about 25 miles 

 distant, exhibit a singular appearance. The first resembles a large lizard 



A 2 



