OCR Text |
Show 590 BAUIA-·URAZIL. Aug. 1836. are only a few spots where the bright red soil affords a strong contrast with the universal clothing of green. From the edges of the plain there are distant glimpses either of the ocean, or of the great bay bordered by low wooded shores, and on the surface of which numerous boats and canoes show their white sails. Excepting from these points, the range of vision is very limited: following the level pathways, on each hand alternate peeps into the wooded valleys below can alone be obtained. Finally, I may add that the houses, and especially the sacred edifices, are built in a peculiar and rather fantastic style of architecture. 'rhey are all whitewashed; so that when illuminated by the brilliant sun of midday, and as seen against the pale blue sky of the horizon, they stand out more like shadows than substantial buildings. Such are the elements of the scenery, but to paint the effect is a hopeless endeavour. Learned naturalists describe these scenes of the tropics by naming a multitude of objects, and mentioning some characteristic feature of each. To a learned traveller, this possibly may communicate some definite ideas: but who else from seeing a plant in an herbarium can imagine its appearance when growing in its native soil ? Who from seeing choice plants in a hothouse can magnify some into the dimensions of forest trees, and crowd others into an entangled jungle ? Who when examining in the cabinet of the entomologist the gay exotic butterflies, and singular cicadas, will associate with these objects, the ceaseless harsh music of the latter, and the lazy flight of the former, -the sure accompaniments of the still, glowing, noonday of the tropics. It is, when the sun has attained its greatest height, that such views should be beheld: then the dense splendid foliao-e of the mano-o hides the ground with its darkest shade, ~vhilst the upp~r branches are rendered from the profusion of lio-ht of the most brilliant ~ee~. In the temperate zones, as 5 it appears to me, the case 1s different, the vegetation there is not so dark Aug. 1R36. PERNAMBUCO • 591 .or so rich, and hence the rays of the declining sun, tinged of a red, purple, or yellow colour, add most to the beauties of the scenery of those climes. When quietly walking along the shady pathways, and admiring each successive view, one wishes to find language to express one's ideas. Epithet after epithet is found too weak to convey to those, who have not visited the intertropical regions, the sensation of delight which the mind experiences. I have said the plants in a hothouse fail to communicate a just idea of the vegetation, yet I must recur to it. The land is one great wild, untidy, luxuriant hothouse, which nature made for her managerie, but man has taken possession of it, and has studded it with gay houses and formal gardens. How great would be the desire in every admirer of nature to behold, if such were possible, another planet; yet to every one in Europe, it may be truly said, that at the distance of a few degrees from his native soil, the glories of another world are open to him. In my last walk, I stopped again and again to gaze on these beauties, and endeavoured to fix for ever in my mind an impression, which at the time I knew, sooner or later must fail. The form of the orange-tree, the cocoa-nut, the palm, the mango, the tree-fern, the banana, will remain clear and separate; but the thousand beauties which unite these into one perfect scene must fade away; yet they will leave, like a tale heard in childhood, a picture full of indistinct, but most beautiful figures. AuGUST 6TH.-In the afternoon we stood out to sea, with the intention of making a direct course to the Cape de Verd Islands. Unfavourable winds, however, having delayed us, on the 12th we ran into Pernambuco,-a large city on the coast of Brazil in latitude 8° south. We anchored outside the reef; but in a short time a pilot came on board, and took us into the inner harbour, where we lay close to the town. Pernambuco is built on some narrow and low sandbanks, which are separated from each other by shoal channels of salt water. The three parts of the town are connected together |