VOYAGE DP THE POTOMAC. 
[October, 
overlooking the castle Santa Cruz. At the distance of about a 
mile from the city, another fort is seen, emerging, as it were, 
from the water, and occupying a position just half way between 
Fort Lucia and the citadel on Dos Cobras. Still further north, 
on the eastern shore of the basin, appear romantic little villages, 
hamlets, gardens, orange-groves, and rustic cottages, without 
number; giving a beautifully picturesque finish to the whole 
picture. 
At the time of the Potomac's arrival at Rio, it being their first 
summer month, rains were very frequent, and the clouds hung 
heavy around the summits of the neighbouring mountains, giving 
to their spiral points, peering above this misty covering, the ap- 
pearance of immense rocks suspended in the air. The city 
itself looked dismal and gloomy, as if to be in keeping with the 
manners of its inhabitants. The climate here, however, 
is perhaps as favourable to health, comfort, and even to longevity, 
as that of any other place between the tropics. Situated under 
the extreme edge of the celestial belt, they have the sun nearly 
vertical for a few weeks in December, when the heat is oppres- 
sive, particularly during the Christmas holydays, which is their 
midsummer. At this season a monsoon regularly sets d9wn the 
coast to the southwest, and refreshing seabreezes seldom fail to 
visit the inhabitants at about ten o'clock in the morning, invigor- 
ating them with new life and spirits. 
During all the summer months, say from October to April, they 
also suffer considerable inconvenience from heavy rains, to which 
they are seldom subject in the months of May, June, July, 
August, and September, when the monsoon blows in an opposite 
or contrary direction. Both climate and soil are favourable to 
the growth of wheat and other grains of the United States, to- 
gether with vegetables and fruits of almost every description. 
Industry and enterprise are all that is necessary to render this 
iiegion the garden of the world ; but these are qualities seldom 
found beneath a tropical sky, or in any climate where all the 
necessaries, and many of the luxuries of life, are produced spon- 
taneously, and where lassitude and indolence are constitutional 
maladies. 
The food served up at their meals is not such as would gener' 
ally please a guest from the United States, the principal part of 
