Remember the Rainforest tm

#29 View from the island of Viana into the bay of Sebastianopolis, the Guanabara Bay in the city of Rio de Janeiro .

Latin translation by Ben Hennelly

There is no reason for me to discourse at length for the sake of explaining this etching, which is perfectly intelligible on its own. The eye reaches across the deeply blue bay, through air brilliantly suffused with Phoebus's (1) light, to the opposite shores of the bay. The multitude of ships and buildings demonstrates how easily the cultivation and elegance of life increases amidst the richness of that most bounteous nature. The traveler looks from the shade of close set trees: one of them is Inga, laden with fruit above, the other Coussapoa Schottii (2), putting out numerous roots into the air. A full thicket of ferns, grasses and Aroideae covers the ground, or parasitically inhabits the tree trunks.

#29 of 42 expedition commentaries