86 RIO DE JANEIRO. 
needless, and quite as inconvenient, as that of the Chinese. 
Previous to the landing of the Ambassador, Dr. G. and myself 
went on shore, and on stepping out of the boat we were ac- 
costed bj the officer on guard, who requested we would 
follow him to the palace. " Pray, gentlemen, what is the 
" object of your landing ?" was the first question that was 
put to us. We replied, " To catch butterflies;" which was 
really the case. .To convince them, however, that we were 
in earnest, and to avoid the appearance of levity or imper- 
tinence, we unfolded our gauze nets, forcipes, and chip- 
boxes, with the rest of the apparatus necessary for fly-catch- 
ing. Comprehending the nature of this occupation better 
than the transit of Venus, which we are told by Captain 
Cooke the Viceroy conceived to be the passing of the north 
star through the south pole, they seemed to be satisfied in 
this respect, and next inquired as to the situations we held in 
the embassy, which having also ascertained to their satisfac- 
tion, an ofiicer was immediately appointed to accompany us. 
We proceeded to the skirts of the town, where myriads of 
beautiful insects were fluttering in the air. Such swarms of 
butterflies, particularly one species marked with black and 
yellow bars, were hovering about the tops of the trees and 
the tall shrubbery, that in certain places they filled the air 
like the flights of locusts in Southern Africa. Our pursuit 
continued so long, that the oflficer, having no relish for the 
chace, took an opportunity of slipping away and, to our 
great satisfaction, leaving us at full liberty to follow our 
amusement. It was pretended that the only reason for plac- 
ing a guard on every stranger was to protect him from being 
robbed or insulted by the blacks or vagrants that might be 
