I do not believe it possible to -write & letter from any place well within 

 the tropcis without referring not only to the "doldrums" but to the Southern 

 Cross, Strange association is it not? Curious literary bedfellows'. I tried 

 to be. an exception to the rule in my former screeds, but you must have a 

 little patienc'S'with me this time, remembering that it is my first acquain- 

 tance -south of the equator with the southern heavens. 



Moreover, this urgent need or, better, fashion, of telling all about the 

 latter subject was first set by an American. When Amerigo Vespucci, on his 

 first voyage, saw the constellation he wrote in triumph that he had beheld the 

 Cross - and Dante's "four stars," A friend has drawn my attention to the 

 poet's description:- 



"To the right I turned and fixed my mind 

 On the other pole attentive, where I saw 

 Four stars ne'er seen before save by the ken 

 Of our first parents. 

 Heaven of their ray seemed joyous. 

 0, thou northern site, bereft 

 Indeed, and widowed, since of these deprived." 

 This quotation is from Canto I, of the "Purgatorio in Cary's translation. 



The Cross lies directly south of the constellation Crater, and about 30 

 degrees of the pole. The Precession of the equinoxes is carrying the Cross 

 steadily southward and it is said to be a fact that the constellation was 

 last seen on the horizon in the latitude of Judea about the time of Christ's 

 crucifixion. I remember that at the season of the year we were at Assouan 

 the four stars (perhaps only two of them, really) were barely visible on the 

 horizon, for a short time in the early evening. Strictly between ourselves, 

 I do not agree with Pigaf etta that it is such a Croce maravigliosa , but then 

 I was more gradually introduced to it than he, and I didn't see it with his 

 deeply religious and fervent eyes.. 



One loses much, I fear, if unable to view the universe with the eye of 

 faith! 



It must not be forgotten that Job saw it as a familiar heavenly series 

 in his northern skies, as did many another ancient and reliable astronomer,- 

 and yet they were not much impressed by this kite-like group. Let me add that 

 of the four stars that outline the cross the third largest (Gamma, at the top 

 of the Cross) is orange-colored; the others are white. 



The Breadfruit Tree , as I have seen it in the West Indies, SouthiAmerica 

 and.:- one these islands, is a very handsome ornament of the landscape. The common 

 variety (Artoca rpus inci sa) may grow to a Height of 50 feet and, with its long, 

 dark, glossy leaves, at once attracts attention. The fruit is round-oval, is 

 about the size of a child's hoad and is covered with lozongo-shaped elevations. 

 The unripe fruit is green; yellow when mature. For cooking, it should be 

 gathered before it is fully ripe. 



The fruit is then baked and served with the rind, aftpr the maimer of our 

 squash. Stones are. heated in th© usual Polynesian fashion (or a more up-to- 



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