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page 123 ----- Rio de Janeiro ---July 15, 1817---

The day was delightfully serene and bright, and a favorable wind carried us past the lofty cape, and soon after the noble entrance of the bay of Rio de Janeiro, though still at a distance, opened to our view. Steep rocks, like portals to the harbor, washed by the waves of the sea, rise on the left and the right; the southern, Pao d'acucar [Sugar Loaf Mountain] in the form of a sugar-loaf, is the well known guide for ships at a distance.

Towards noon, approaching nearer and nearer to the enchanting prospect, we came up to those colossal rocky portals, and at length passed between them into a great amphitheatre, in which the mirror of the water appeared like a tranquil inland lake, and scattered flowery islands, bounded in the background by a woody chain of mountains, rose like a paradise full of luxuriance and magnificence.

View of Bay of Rio de Janeiro and Viana island

Some naval officers from the fort of Santa Cruz , by which our arrival had been announced to the city, brought us permission to sail further in. While this business was transacting, the eyes of all feasted on a country, which, for beauty, variety and splendor, far exceeded all the natural beauties which we have ever beheld. The banks in bright sunshine rose out of the dark blue sea; and numerous white houses, chapels, churches and forts, contrasted with their rich verdure. Rocks of grand forms rise boldly behind them, the declivities of which are clothed in all the luxuriant diversity of a tropical forest. An ambrosial perfume is diffused from these noble forests, and the foreign navigator sails delighted past the many islands covered with beautiful groves of palms. Thus new, pleasing, and sublime scenes, alternately passed before our astonished eyes, until at length the capital of the infant kingdom, illumined by the evening sun, lay extended before us; and we, having sailed past the little island of Cobras, cast anchor close to the city at five o'clock in the evening.

Wharves in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro

A sensation, not to be described, overcame us all at the moment when the anchor struck the ground of another continent; and the thunder of the cannon, accompanied by military music hailed the desired goal of the happily accomplished voyage.

page 125 ---plant zones---equatorial wildlife---

Notes to Chapter IV

Note 1.

The Dyer's Lichen was first exported from the islands of the archipelago to Venice, Genoa, France, and England for the use of the dyers. Towards the commencement of the last century it was discovered in the Canary Islands, and was soon placed among the regalia of the Spanish crown. This excited the attention of the Portuguese, who collected it without restriction in the Cape Verde islands, Madeira, Porto Santo, and the Azores. In the year 1730, the Jesuits asked of King John V. the privilege of collecting the Hervinha secca; but the crown took the advantage into its own hands, and farmed the right of collecting it. At a later period the Lichen was ceded to the mercantile company of Grao Para and Maranhao; and lastly, in the year 1790, the government again took this branch of commerce under its own care, because it had declined considerably under the bad management of the company. At present the exportation is small; but more considerable, however, from the Cape Verde islands. *