134 
A. NEW hemisphere. 
one hemisphere to the other, we see those stars, which we have 
contemplated from our infancy, progressively sink, and finally 
disappear. Nothing awakens in the traveller a livelier re- 
membrance of the immense distance by which he is separated 
from his country, than the aspect of an unknown firmament. 
The grouping of the stars of the first magnitude, seme scat- 
tered nebula, rivalling in splendour the milky way, and tracts 
of space remarkable for their extreme blackness, give a pecu- 
liar physiognomy to the southern sky. This sight fills with 
admiration even those who, uninstracted in the several 
branches of physical science, feel the same emotion of delight 
in the contemplation of the heavenly vault, as in the view of 
a beautiful landscape, or a majestic site. A traveller needs 
not to be a botanist, to recognize the torrid zone by the 
mere aspect of its vegetation. Without having acquired any 
notions of astronomy, without any acquaintance with the 
celestial charts of Elam stead and I)e la Caille, he feels he is 
not in Europe, when he sees the immense constellation of 
the Ship, or the phosphorescent Clouds of Magellan, arise on 
the horizon. The heavens and the earth, — everything in the 
equinoctial regions, presents an exotic character. 
The lower regions of the air were loaded with vapours for 
some days. We saw distinctly for the first time the Southern 
Cross only on the night of the 4th 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 silvery light. 
If a traveller may be permitted to speak of his personal 
emotions, I shall add, that on that night I experienced the 
realization of one of the dreams of my early youth. 
When we begin to fix our eyes on geographical maps, and 
to read the narratives of navigators, we feel for certain 
countries and climates a sort of predilection, which we know 
not how to account for at a more advanced period of life. 
These impressions, however, exercise a considerable influence 
over our determinations; and from a sort of instinct we 
endeavour to connect oru’selves with objects on which the 
mind has long been fixed as by a secret charm. At a period 
when 1 studied the heavens, not with the intention of devot- 
ing myself to astronomy, but only to acquire a knowledge of 
