THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 
135 
the stars, I was disturbed by a feeling unknown to those who 
are devoted to sedentary life. It was painful to me to re- 
nounce the hope of beholding the beautiful constellations 
near the south pole. Impatient to rove in the equinoctial 
regions, I could not raise my eyes to the starry firmament 
without thinking of the Southern Cross, and recalling the 
sublime passage of Dante, which the most celebrated com- 
mentators have applied to that constellation : — 
Io mi volsi a man’ dcstra e posi mente 
All’ altro polo, e vidi quattro stelle 
Non viste mai fuorch’ alia prima gente. 
Goder parea lo ciel di lor fiammelle ; 
O settentrional vedovo sito 
Poiche privato sei di mirar quelle ! 
The pleasure we felt on discovering the Southern Cross was 
warmly shared by those of the crew who had visited the colo- 
nies. In the solitude of the seas we hail a star as a friend, 
from whom we have long been separated. The Portuguese 
and the Spaniards are peculiarly susceptible of this feeling ; 
a religious sentiment attaches ’them to a constellation, the 
form of w'hich recalls the sign of the faith planted by their 
ancestors in the deserts of the New World. 
The two great stars which mark the summit and the foot 
of the Cross having nearly the same right ascension, it 
follows that the constellation is almost perpendicular at 
the moment when it passes the meridian. This circum- 
stance is known to the people of every nation situated 
beyond the tropics, or in the southern hemisphere. It has 
been observed at what hour of the night, in different seasons, 
the Cross is erect or inclined. It is a timepiece which 
advances very regularly nearly four minutes a-day, and no 
other group of stars affords to the naked eye an observa- 
tion of time so easily made. How often have we heard our 
guides exclaim in the savannahs of Venezuela, or in the desert 
extending from Lima to Truxillo, “ Midnight is past, the 
Cross begins to bend !” How often those words reminded 
us of that affecting scene, where Paul and Virginia, seated 
near the source of the river of Lataniers, conversed together 
for the last tune, and where the old man, at the sight of 
the Southern Cross, warns them that it is time to separate. 
