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view of a beautiful landscape, or a majestic site, 

 A traveller has no need of being a botanist, to 

 recognize the torrid zone on the mere aspect of 

 it's vegetation ; and without having acquired any 

 notions of astronomy, without any acquaintance 

 with the celestial charts of Flamstead and de la 

 Caille, he feels he is not in Eorope, when he sees 

 the immense constellation of the Ship, or the 

 phosphorescent clouds of Magellan, arise on the 

 horizon. The heaven, and the earth, every 

 thing in the equinoctial regions, assumes an 

 exotic character. 



The lower regions of the air were loaded with 

 vapors for some days. We saw distinctly for the 

 first time the Cross of the South only in the 

 night of the 4th and 5th of July, in the sixteenth 

 degree of latitude ; it was strongly inclined, and 

 appeared from time to time between the clouds, 

 the centre of which, furrowed by uncondensed 

 lightnings, reflected a silver light. If a traveller 

 may be permitted to speak of his personal emo- 

 tions, I shall add, that in this night I saw one of 

 the reveries of my earliest youth accomplished. 



When we begin to fix our eyes on geographical 

 maps, and read the narratives of navigators, we 

 feel for certain countries and climates a sort of 

 predilection, for which we know not how to ac- 

 count at a more advanced period of life. These 

 impressions, however, exercise a considerable 

 influence over our determinations ; and from a 



