160 



less rapidly than is commonly thought. The 

 dip of the needle was 42* 75°, cent. div. ; and the 

 number of oscillations, expressing the intensity 

 of the magnetic forces, rose to 229 in 10'. 



The vexation of seeing the stars disappear in 

 a foggy sky was the only one we felt in the val- 

 ley of Caripe. The aspect of this spot has 

 something in it at once wild and tranquil, 

 gloomy and attractive. Amidst a nature so over- 

 whelming, we experienced only feelings of peace 

 and repose. I might even add, that we are less 

 struck in the solitude of these mountains with 

 the new impressions we receive at every step, 

 than with the marks of resemblance which we 

 trace in climates the most distant from each 

 other. The hills, by which the convent is back- 

 ed, are crowned with palm-trees and arbores- 

 cent ferns. In the evenings, when the sky de- 

 notes rain, the air resounds with the uniform 

 howlings of the alouate apes, which resemble the 

 distant sound of wind, when it shakes the forest. 

 Yet amid these unknown sounds, these strange 

 forms of plants, and these prodigies of a new 

 world, nature every where speaks to man in a 

 voice, the accents of which are familiar to his 

 soul. The turf, that is spread over the soil ; 

 the old moss and the fern, that cover the roots 

 of the trees ; the torrents, that gush over the 

 sloping banks of the calcareous rocks ; in fine, 

 the harmonious agreement of colours reflected 



