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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the
+Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume I, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume I
+       (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order
+       of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859,
+       Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the
+       Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the
+       Austrian Navy.
+
+Author: Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+Commentator: Alexander von Humboldt
+
+Release Date: December 31, 2011 [EBook #38456]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRIAN FRIGATE NOVARA, VOL I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Thorsten Kontowski, Henry Gardiner and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+(This file made from scans of public domain material at
+Austrian Literature Online.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: The original publication has been faithfully
+replicated except as listed near the end of this document under another
+Transcriber's Note. Italicized words are indicated _like this_. Bold words
+are indicated =like this=. Fractions are indicated like this:
+3-14159/100000. The oe ligature is indicated like this: man[oe]uvre.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: CHART OF THE TRACK OF THE AUSTRIAN IMPERIAL FRIGATE NOVARA
+ON HER VOYAGE ROUND THE GLOBE _In The Years 1857, 1858 & 1859._]
+
+
+
+
+                               NARRATIVE
+
+                                OF THE
+
+                     Circumnavigation of the Globe
+
+                        BY THE AUSTRIAN FRIGATE
+
+                                NOVARA,
+
+                 (COMMODORE B. VON WULLERSTORF-URBAIR,)
+
+             _Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government_,
+
+                     IN THE YEARS 1857, 1858, & 1859,
+
+           UNDER THE IMMEDIATE AUSPICES OF HIS I. AND R. HIGHNESS
+
+                   THE ARCHDUKE FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN,
+
+               COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AUSTRIAN NAVY.
+
+                          DR. KARL SCHERZER,
+
+                 MEMBER OF THE EXPEDITION, AUTHOR OF
+                 "TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA," ETC.
+
+                               VOL. I.
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                               LONDON:
+
+                      _SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO._
+
+                   66, BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE.
+
+                                1861.
+
+                 [THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.]
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                    PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER,
+                      ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET.
+
+
+                                  TO
+
+                     SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON,
+
+      G.C.S.ST., M.A., D.C.L., V.P.R.S., G.S., L.S., F.R.G.S.,
+
+ DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND,
+
+                     TRUST. BRIT. MUS., ETC., ETC.,
+
+              THE GREAT PROMOTER OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE,
+
+                 These Pages are respectfully Inscribed,
+
+              IN RECOGNITION OF HIS VALUABLE EXERTIONS IN
+                   ADVANCING THE SCIENTIFIC OBJECTS
+                      OF THE AUSTRIAN EXPEDITION,
+
+                              AS WELL AS
+
+  IN GRATITUDE FOR THE HOSPITABLE RECEPTION SECURED TO THE NAVIGATORS
+
+                 THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH DEPENDENCIES,
+
+           WHEREVER IT WAS THEIR GOOD FORTUNE TO CAST ANCHOR,
+
+                                  BY
+
+                 THE AUTHOR OF THE FOLLOWING NARRATIVE.
+
+
+[Illustration: LETTER.]
+
+[Illustration: LETTER CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+                     PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
+
+
+A member of the scientific corps attached to the Expedition, which, under
+the auspices of that enlightened friend of science and liberty, the
+Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, was despatched on a voyage round the globe,
+the high honour has been conferred upon me of having entrusted to my care
+the publication of the Narrative of our Cruise.
+
+In this not more difficult than enviable task, I have been most liberally
+assisted by my eminent fellow-labourers--the whole literary material
+collected during the voyage having been kindly placed at my disposal. The
+comprehensive journals and reports of the venerable Commander-in-Chief of
+the Expedition, Commodore Wullerstorff-Urbair, as well as the various
+memoranda of the other members of the Scientific Commission, contributed
+materially to the elucidation of my own general notes, as well as my
+observations upon special subjects, which latter chiefly referred to the
+Geography, Ethnography, and general Statistics of the various countries
+visited.
+
+While preparing the details of our voyage for publication in my own
+language, the idea perpetually presented itself that a translation of this
+narrative into English might prove not unacceptable to the British public.
+And although fully aware that a voyage round the globe, in the course of
+which little more than the coasts were visited of the various countries we
+touched at, could not pretend to offer much new information to the
+greatest of maritime nations, it seemed, nevertheless, that it might
+interest a people so eager in the pursuit of knowledge as the English, to
+know the impression which has been made upon travellers of education by
+the Colonies and Settlements of Britain throughout the world.
+
+The English language, moreover, being spoken more or less over the greater
+part of the earth's surface, geographically speaking, the author who
+addresses his readers in that tongue is sustained by the flattering
+conviction that he will be understood by the majority of the nations of
+the globe! For it is not alone the educated classes of all countries that
+seek to master a language which possesses such a grand--all but unrivalled
+literature! The political and commercial development which Great Britain
+enjoys under the benign influence of liberal institutions, has made
+English the medium of intercourse among almost all sea-faring nations;
+nay, even barbarous tribes find it their obvious interest to get a slight
+inkling at least of the language of a people whose civilizing and
+elevating energies they may not, it is true, understand, far less
+appreciate, but whose imposing power inspires them with awe, while they
+are more closely attached by the tie of material advantage.
+
+The following narrative describes the most important occurrences and most
+lasting impressions of a voyage during which we traversed 51,686 miles,
+visited twenty-five different places, and spent 551 days at sea, and 298
+at anchor or on shore.
+
+As the purely scientific results of the Expedition will be published
+separately under the supervision of Commodore Wullerstorf and the other
+members of the scientific corps, I shall, in this place, only attempt to
+place before the reader a general outline of the countries and races
+visited during our cruise in different regions of the world.
+
+In relating simply and concisely what was seen and experienced, I have
+endeavoured to avoid incurring the reproach, so frequently launched by
+English critics against German works of travel, of dryness and minute
+detail, such as render them distasteful to the English reader, and make it
+almost impossible to enlist his attention or evoke his sympathy.
+
+If, as is specially the case with respect to natural science, many a
+doubtful point still remains undecided--if the ingenious "Suggestions" of
+the immortal Alexander von Humboldt (for the translation of which I feel
+particularly indebted to that profound scholar, my learned and esteemed
+friend Mr. Haidinger, whose name will be familiar to the scientific world
+in Great Britain), could not be acted upon to the extent and in the
+effectual manner each of us could have wished, the reason for such
+deficiencies will be found in the peculiar mission of the Expedition, and
+in the arrangement of our route, which was specially laid out with
+reference to the numerous and widely different objects, which it was
+specially intended to keep in view throughout the voyage.
+
+Among the more prominent of these, may be specified the opportunity thus
+afforded for the practical instruction of our young and rapidly-increasing
+navy; the unfurling of the Imperial flag of Austria in those distant
+climes, where it had never before floated; the promulgation of commercial
+treaties; the aid afforded to science in exploration and investigation, as
+well as by the collection of those objects of Natural History, the
+acquisition of which is all but impossible to the solitary naturalist,
+owing to the expense and difficulty of transport,[1] and the establishment
+everywhere of friendly correspondence between our own scientific
+institutions and those in remote regions, I have considered it necessary
+to invite the attention of the British reading public to these
+circumstances, in order to make them more intimately cognisant of our
+various and manifold tasks, and thus make them the more readily disposed
+to overlook the deficiencies and discrepancies of this book, which I now
+respectfully commit to their perusal.
+
+[Footnote 1: Notwithstanding the short period at our disposal at each
+port, which concomitant necessity militates so much against the practical
+utility of a circumnavigation of the globe as compared with an expedition
+solely directed to one single centre of scientific observation, the
+collection of objects of Natural History made during the cruise are very
+extensive, and unusually rich in new or rare species. The zoological
+department alone embraces above 23,700 individuals of different kinds of
+animals: viz. 440 mammalia, 300 reptiles, 1500 birds, 1400 _Amphibiæ_,
+1330 fish, 9000 insects, 8900 Molluscs and _Crustaceæ_, 300 birds' eggs
+and nests, besides numerous skeletons. The botanical collection consists
+of _Herbaria_, seeds of useful plants, special regard being had to those
+best adapted for the various climates of the respective Austrian
+provinces, drugs, specimens of dye-woods, and timber, fruits preserved in
+alcohol, &c. The Geological and Palæontological Museums of our country
+have likewise been enriched with various rare and valuable specimens,
+particularly in consequence of Dr. Hochstetter, the geologist of the
+Expedition, having prolonged his stay in New Zealand, where, at the
+special request of the Colonial Government, he explored the province of
+Auckland. The Ethnographical and Anthropological collection consists of
+above 550 objects, among which are 100 skulls, representing the craniology
+of almost all the races of the globe.]
+
+Before concluding, I beg leave to express my hearty thanks to all those
+who have contributed in such various ways to aid my humble efforts--to
+specify some were invidious, as in so doing I must wrong others. To each
+and all I return the most heartfelt gratitude.
+
+May the indulgent reader peruse the following pages with an approving
+eye--may they afford him as much satisfaction and as much interest as I
+experienced in committing to paper the descriptions and impressions
+therein set forth, since in so doing, I, so to speak, made the delightful
+voyage for the second time, and in thought visited once more the different
+localities, from every one of which I, and my fellow-travellers, brought
+away none but the most friendly and agreeable recollections.
+
+It inspires a _German_ traveller with a peculiar and lofty feeling of
+pride and delight that he can look upon himself as belonging to a race, to
+whom seems to have been reserved the diffusion of a New Life over the
+earth--whose special mission it appears to be to make even the most
+primitive tribes in the remotest corner of the world acquainted with the
+blessings of Christian civilization, of political liberty, of intellectual
+culture, and, standing triumphant on the ruins of slavery and despotism,
+to proclaim to the great family of universal mankind, the advent of a new,
+a vernal era of Faith, Freedom, and Happiness!
+
+                                           DR. KARL SCHERZER.
+
+TRIESTE, _18th March, 1861_.
+
+
+
+
+                              CONTENTS.
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+                      PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.
+
+                                                                      PAGE
+
+   Approval of the Plan to fit out an Austrian Man-of-War for a
+     Voyage round the World.--Object of the Expedition.--
+     Appointment of a Scientific Commission.--Preparations.--
+     Fitting out the Frigate _Novara_ at Pola.--Departure for
+     Trieste.--Visit of the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian on board.      1
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+                      FROM TRIESTE TO GIBRALTAR.
+
+   Departure.--Fair Voyage down the Adriatic.--A Man lost and found
+     again.--Passage through the Straits of Messina.--The Steamer
+     _Sta. Lucia_ returns to Trieste.--Regulations and Instructions
+     for further Proceedings.--A Day on Board the _Novara_.--
+     Sunrise.--Cleaning the Ship.--Mental and Physical Occupation.--
+     Moonlight at Sea.                                                  11
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+                              GIBRALTAR.
+
+   Political Significance of the Rock.--Courtesy of the British
+     Authorities.--Fortifications.--Signal Stations.--The only
+     Place in Europe frequented by Monkeys.--Calcareous Caves.--
+     Chief Entrances into the Town.--Shutting the Town Gates.--
+     Public Establishments.--Inhabitants.--Elliott's Gardens.--The
+     Isthmus, or Neutral Ground.--Algeziras.--Ceuta.--Commerce and
+     Navigation.--Excellent Regulation in the English Navy relative
+     to Officers' Outfit.--Small-pox appears on board the
+     _Caroline_.--Departure from Gibraltar.--A Fata Morgana.--The
+     _Novara_ passes the Straits.--Takes leave of Europe.--Voyage
+     to Madeira.--Floating Bottles to ascertain the Currents.--
+     Arrival in the Roads of Funchal.                                   29
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+                               MADEIRA.
+
+   First Impressions.--Difficulty in Landing.--Description of the
+     Island.--History.--Unfavourable Political Circumstances
+     connected with the Cultivation of the Ground.--Aqueducts.--
+     First Planting of the Sugar-cane.--Culture of the Vine.--Its
+     Disease and Decay.--Cochineal as a Compensation for its Loss.--
+     Prospects of Success.--Climate.--A favourable Winter Residence
+     for the Consumptive.--Strangers.--First Appearance of the
+     Cholera.--Observations with the Ozonometer.--Great Distress
+     among the Lower Classes.--Liberal Assistance from England.--
+     Decline of Commerce.--Inhabitants and their Mode of Life.--
+     Decrease of the Population, and its Causes.--Benevolent
+     Institutions.--Public Libraries.--The Cathedral.--Barracks.--
+     Prison.--Environs of Funchal.--Excursion to St. Anna.--Ascent
+     of the Pico Ruivo.--Singular Sledge Party.--Return to
+     Funchal.--Departure.                                               58
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+                           RIO DE JANEIRO.
+
+   Brazil the Land of Contrasts.--Appearance of the City of Rio and
+     its Environs.--Excursion to the Peak of Corcovado, and the
+     Tejuca Waterfalls.--Germans in Rio.--Brazilian Literary Men.--
+     Assacú (_Hura Brasiliensis_.)--Snake-bite as an Antidote
+     against Leprosy.--Public Institutions.--Negroes of the
+     Mozambique Coast.--The House of Misericordia.--Lunatic
+     Asylum.--Botanical Garden.--Public Instruction.--
+     Historico-Geographical Institution.--_Palæstra Scientifica._--
+     Military Academy.--Library.--Conservatory of Music.--Sanitary
+     Police.--Yellow Fever and Cholera.--Water Party on the Bay.--
+     Chamber of Deputies.--Petropolis.--Condition of the Slave
+     Population.--Prospects of German Emigration.--Suitability of
+     Brazil as a Market for German Commerce.--Natural Products, and
+     Exchange of Manufactures.--Audience of the Emperor and
+     Empress.--Extravagant Waste of Powder for Salvoes.--Songs of
+     the Sailors.--Departure from Rio.--Retrospect.--South-east
+     Trades.--Cape Pigeons.--Albatrosses--Cape Tormentoso.--A Storm
+     at the Cape.--Various Methods of Measuring the Height of
+     Waves.--Arrival in Simon's Bay.                                   121
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                          CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
+
+   Contrasts of Scenery and Seasons at Cape Colony.--Ramble through
+     Simon's Town.--Malay Population.--The Toad-fish, or
+     Sea-devil.--Rondebosch and its delightful Scenery.--Cape
+     Town.--Influence of the English Element.--Scientific and other
+     Institutions.--Botanical Gardens.--Useful Plants.--Foreign
+     Emigration.--A Caffre Prophet and the Consequences of his
+     Prophecies.--Caffre Prisoners in the Armstrong Battery.--Five
+     young Caffres take Service as Sailors on Board the _Novara_.--
+     Trip into the Interior.--Stellenbosch.--Paarl.--Worcester.--
+     Brand Vley.--The Mission of Moravian Brethren at Genaadendal.--
+     Masticatories and intoxicating Substances used by the
+     Hottentots.--Caledon.--Somerset West.--Zandvliet.--Tomb of a
+     Malay Prophet.--Horse Sickness.--Tsetse-fly.--Vineyards of
+     Constantia.--_Fête Champétre_ in Honour of the _Novara_.--
+     Excursion to the actual Cape of Good Hope.--Departure.--A Life
+     saved.--Experiments with Brook's Deep-sea Sounding Apparatus.--
+     Arrival at the Island of St. Paul in the South Indian Ocean.      196
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+    THE ISLANDS OF ST. PAUL AND AMSTERDAM, IN THE SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN.
+
+   Former History.--Importance of the Situation of St. Paul.--
+     Present Inhabitants.--Preliminary Observations.--To whom do
+     the Islands belong?--Fisheries.--Hot springs.--Singular
+     Experiment.--Penguins.--Disembarkation.--Inclement Weather.--
+     Remarks on the Climate of the Island.--Cultivation of European
+     Vegetables.--Animal Life.--Library in a Fisherman's Hut.--
+     Narrative of old Viot.--Re-embarkation.--An official Document
+     left behind.--Some Results obtained during the Stay of the
+     Expedition.--Visit to the Island of Amsterdam.--Whalers.--
+     Search for a Landing-place.--Remarks on the Natural History of
+     the Islands.--A Conflagration.--Comparison of the Two
+     Islands.--A _Rencontre_ at Sea.--Trade-wind.--Christmas at
+     Sea.--"A man overboard!"--Cingalese Canoe.--Arrival at Point
+     de Galle, in Ceylon.                                              267
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                                CEYLON.
+
+   Neglect of the Island hitherto by the English Government.--
+     Better Prospects for the Future.--The Cingalese, their
+     Language and Customs.--Buddhism and its Ordinances.--Visit to
+     a Buddhist Temple in the Vicinity of Galle.--The sacred
+     Bo-tree.--Other Aborigines of Ceylon.--The Weddàhs.--
+     Traditions as to their Origin.--Galle as a City and Harbour.--
+     Snake-charmers.--Departure for Colombo.--Cultivation of the
+     Cocoa-nut Palm a benevolent, Buddha-pleasing work.--
+     Polyandria; or, Community of Husbands--Supposed Origin.--
+     Annual Exportation of Cocoa-nuts.--Rest-houses for
+     Travellers.--Curry the national Dish.--A Misfortune and its
+     Consequences.--The Catholic Mission of St. Sebastian de Makùn,
+     and Father Miliani.--Annoying Delays with restive Horses.--
+     Colombo.--A Stroll through the "_Pettah_," or Black Town.--Ice
+     Trade of the Americans with Tropical Countries.--Cinnamon
+     Gardens and Cinnamon Cultivation.--Consequences of the
+     Monopoly of Cinnamon.--Rise and Expansion of the Coffee
+     Culture in Ceylon.--Pearl-fishery.--Latest Examination of the
+     Ceylon Banks of Pearl Oysters, by Dr. Kelaart, and its
+     Results.--Aripo at the Season of Pearl-fishing.--The Divers.--
+     Pearl-lime, a chewing Substance of wealthy Malays.--Annual
+     Profit of the Pearl-fishery.--Origin of the Pearl.--Poetry and
+     Natural Science.--Artificial Production of the Pearl.--The
+     Chank-shell.--The Wealth of Ceylon in Precious Stones.--Visit
+     to a Cocoa-nut Oil Manufactory.--The Cowry-shell, a Promoter
+     of the Slave Trade.--Discovery of valuable Cingalese MSS. on
+     Palm-leaves.--The heroic Poem of "Mahawanso," and Turnour's
+     English Translation of it.--Hospitality of English Officials
+     in Colombo.--A second Visit to Father Miliani.--Agreeable
+     Reception.--The Antidote-oil against Bites of Poisonous
+     Snakes.--Adventures on the Journey back to Galle.--Ascent of
+     Adam's Peak by two Members of the Expedition.--The Sacred
+     Footprint.--Descent.--The "Bullock-bandy," or Native Waggon.--
+     Departure from Galle for Madras.--The Bassos (Shallows).--A
+     Berlin Rope-dancer among the Passengers.--Nyctalopia; or,
+     Night Blindness.--Fire on Board.--Arrival in Madras Roads.        345
+
+
+                                CHAPTER IX.
+
+                                  MADRAS.
+
+   "Catamarans" and "Masuli" Boats.--Difficulty of Disembarkation,
+     and Plans for remedying it.--History.--Brahminism.--Festival
+     in Honour of Vishnù.--Employment of Heathens under a Christian
+     Government.--Politics and Religion.--Laws of Brahminic Faith.--
+     The Observatory.--Museum of Natural History and Zoological
+     Garden.--Academy of Fine Arts.--Medical School.--Infirmary.--
+     Orphan Asylum.--Dr. Bell.--Lancastrian Method of Teaching
+     Children first Applied in Madras.--Colonel Mackenzie's
+     Collection of Indian Inscriptions and MSS.--The Palace of the
+     former Nabob of the Coromandel Coast.--Journey by Rail to
+     Vellore.--_Féte_ given by the Governor in Guindy Park.--Visit
+     to the Monolithic Monuments of Mahamalaipuram.--Excursion to
+     Pulicat Lake.--Madras Club.--_Féte_ in Honour of the Members
+     of the _Novara_ Expedition.--"Tiffin" and Dance on Board.--
+     Departure from Madras.--Zodiacal Light.--Shrove Tuesday in the
+     Tropics.--Arrival at the Island of Kar-Nicobar.                   424
+
+
+
+
+                       LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                               VOL. I.
+
+
+                                                        PAGE
+
+         The Track Of The Austrian Imperial Frigate
+           Novara.                            _frontispiece_
+
+         Letter.                                         iii
+
+         Letter Continued.                                iv
+
+         Notes.                                          xvi
+
+         Departure.                                        1
+
+         Gun-room of the _Novara_.                         4
+
+         Plate: Vertical Section of the Frigate
+           "Novara".                                       7
+
+         Geodetical and Astronomical Instruments.         10
+
+         Look-out Man.                                    11
+
+         Track from Triest To Madeira.                    11
+
+         "Palinurus".                                     16
+
+         Seamen off duty.                                 21
+
+         View of Gibraltar from Seaward.                  28
+
+         Rock of Gibraltar.                               29
+
+         Rock Cavern in Gibraltar.                        34
+
+         South Gate, Gibraltar.                           38
+
+         Inhabitant of Frangola.                          47
+
+         Cape Trafalgar.                                  52
+
+         Loo Rock (Madeira).                              57
+
+         Scene in Madeira.                                58
+
+         Bridge over the Ribeiro Seco.                    70
+
+         Carapuça, or Cap worn by the Natives of
+           Madeira.                                       91
+
+         Cathedral of Madeira.                            95
+
+         Sleigh party in Madeira.                         97
+
+         Village of Fayal.                                99
+
+         "El Homem em pié".                              101
+
+         Erica Trees.                                    103
+
+         Track From Madeira to Rio Di Janeiro.           107
+
+         Cape Frio.                                      120
+
+         The Quay at Rio.                                121
+
+         Island of Paquità, Bay of Rio.                  156
+
+         Track from Rio Di Janeiro to the Cape
+           Of Good Hope.                                 182
+
+         Cabo Tormentoso.                                195
+
+         Cape Town.                                      196
+
+         Rifle Volunteer _Fête_ at Stellenbosch.         217
+
+         Paine's Kloef as it was.                        220
+
+         Paine's Kloef as it is.                         220
+
+         Crossing the Breede River.                      226
+
+         Hot Springs of Brand Vley.                      227
+
+         Hottentot Huts at Genaadendal.                  233
+
+         Church and Mission Houses of the Moravian
+           Settlement at Genaadendal.                    237
+
+         Tomb of a Malay Prophet at Zandvliet.           245
+
+         Interior of the Mausoleum.                      246
+
+         Tsetse Fly.                                     252
+
+         Track from the Cape Of Good Hope to St. Paul's
+           Island.                                       259
+
+         Arrival at St. Paul.                            266
+
+         View of St. Paul.                               267
+
+         Distant view of Crater-Basin of St. Paul.       275
+
+         Rainy day at St. Paul.                          300
+
+         Track from St. Paul to Point De Galle (Ceylon). 309
+
+         Cingalese Canoe.                                344
+
+         View of Adam's Peak from Colombo.               345
+
+         Buddha Temple near Galle.                       353
+
+         Interior of a House at Galle.                   359
+
+         Track from Point De Galle To Madras.            418
+
+         Masuli Boat at Madras.                          423
+
+         View of Madras (and Proposed Pier).             424
+
+         The Holy Mountain.                              458
+
+         The god Ganeza.                                 461
+
+         Bivouac at Mahamalaipuran.                      464
+
+         Bas-relief on one of the Monolith Temples.      467
+
+         Entrance to One of the Temples.                 470
+
+         Track from Madras to the Nicobar Islands.       480
+
+         Arrival at Kar-Nicobar.                         482
+
+
+[Illustration: LETTER.]
+
+Transcriber's Note: The text of the letter above, along with supplemental
+address information, are in the first volume of the German edition:
+
+  Sr. Hochwohlgeboren
+  dem Herrn Oberst von Wüllerstorf,
+  kais. kön. Linienschiffs-Capitän,
+  Befehlshaber S. Maj. Fregatte Novara,
+  Ritter hoher Orden &c. &c. &c.
+  in
+  Triest.
+
+
+               Hochwohlgeborener Herr,
+
+             Hochzuverehrender Herr Oberst, k. k. Linien-Schiffs-Capitän.
+
+Ew. Hochwohlgeb. wollen, als Befehlshaber Sr. Maj. Fregatte Novara, die zu
+einem großen, edeln, das deutsche Vaterland und die Wissenschaft ehrenden
+Unternehmen durch kaiserliche Huld bestimmt ist, den Ausdruck meiner
+Verehrung nachsichtsvoll empfangen, indem ich, von der Zeit naher Abfahrt
+in halber Genesung bedrängt, es wage, Ihnen einige _physikalische_ und
+_geognostische Erinnerungen_ ganz gehorsamst vorzulegen, von denen Einiges
+vielleicht den ausgezeichneten Gelehrten, die die Expedition zu begleiten
+das Glück haben, von Nuzen sein kann. Ich würde dies Wenige nicht
+angeboten haben, wenn eine so genädige und liebenswürdige Aufforderung Sr.
+kaiserl. Hoheit des Herrn Erzherzogs Ferdinand Maximilian mich nicht dazu
+bestimmt hätte. Was ich Nautisches über Richtung und Temperatur der
+Meeresströhmungen, über die magnetischen Curven eingeflochten habe, muß
+ich besonders _Ihrer_ Nachsicht empfehlen. Wenn man erinnert, scheint man
+belehren zu wollen, und von dieser Anmaßung bin ich weit entfernt. Da kein
+Entwurf, keine Abschrift meiner, wenigstens fleißigen, mit Zahlen
+überladenen Arbeit existirt, so wäre es vielleicht vorsichtig, sie von
+Jemand, der der behandelten Gegenstände kundig ist, abschreiben zu lassen.
+Meine gelehrten und mir lieben Freunde Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter, Dr. Karl
+Scherzer und Dr. Robert Lallemant, der mich bei seiner letzten Durchreise
+durch Berlin, um mir sein wichtiges Werk über das Gelbe Fieber in der
+Tropenzone zu geben, verfehlt hat, wage ich dringend Ihrem besonderen
+Schuze und Wohlwollen zu empfehlen.
+
+Mit der innigsten Verehrung und den heißesten Wünschen für den Erfolg
+eines so schön vorbereiteten Unternehmens
+
+                              Ew. Hochwohlgeboren
+
+                                               gehorsamster
+                                               Al. Humboldt.
+
+Berlin, den 7. April 1857 Nachts.
+
+
+
+
+                 PHYSICAL AND GEOGNOSTIC SUGGESTIONS,
+
+                                 BY
+
+                       ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.
+
+
+In compliance with the gracious invitation which H.I.H. the Archduke
+Ferdinand Maximilian was pleased to address to me from Trieste (December
+12th, 1856), and as yet barely recovered from an indisposition, I jot down
+these hasty notes, without presuming to give definite instructions, such
+as those I drew up, conjointly with M. Arago, for the guidance of the
+French expeditions, or for Lord Minto, then First Lord of the Admiralty,
+on the occasion of the Antarctic Voyage of Discovery of Sir James Ross
+(1840-43). The following pages consist simply of hints which may possibly
+prove serviceable to the distinguished and highly informed gentlemen, who
+have the good fortune to sail on board the Imperial Frigate, _Novara_,
+under the command of Commodore von Wüllerstorf. With two of these savans,
+Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter and Dr. Karl Scherzer, I have had the pleasure,
+here in Berlin, to agree verbally on various subjects.
+
+As I do not exactly know what course it is intended the _Novara_ shall
+follow in navigating the Atlantic, nor in what meridian it is proposed to
+cross the Equator, (in conformity with the sound and useful directions of
+my friend Lieut. Maury, of Washington), on her voyage to Rio de Janeiro,
+nor how near she shall keep to Cape San Roque and Fernando de Noronha, I
+must content myself with inviting the attention of the voyagers in a
+general way to the temperature of the sea, as also to the variations and
+aberrations of the magnetic curves, and their currents.
+
+A lower degree of temperature is usually observed W. of the Canaries, and
+Cape Verde Islands, commencing with the Salvages, the thermometer
+indicating as low as 72°·7 Fahr. This has been already ascertained by Mr.
+Charles Deville, in his chart of temperature on the voyage "aux Antilles,
+à Ténériffe et à Fogo." I consider this diminution of temperature results
+from the North Guinea current, bringing with it cold water from the north
+southwards as far as the Bight of Biafra and the River Gaboon, at which
+point it is encountered by an opposite current flowing northwards along
+the south-western coast of Africa from Loando and Congo.
+
+In 1825, Captain Duperrey had accurately laid down the point of
+intersection of the magnetic, with the terrestrial equator. In 1837, we
+learned from Sabine's investigations of magnetic inclination near the
+Island of St. Thomas (on the Equator, adjoining the above portion of the
+coast of Africa), that this point of intersection had already shifted
+four degrees to the westward. A period of twenty years having elapsed
+since Sabine's expedition for determining observations with the pendulum,
+it would be most desirable that fresh investigations should be made in
+that neighbourhood, for the purpose of verifying the secular changes of
+all magnetic curves, especially with regard to their variation. In 1840,
+the line of no declination in America began 9° 30' E. of South Georgia,
+whence it ran to the S.E. coast of Brazil, near Cape Frio, thus traversing
+the mainland of South America only between the latter point and the
+parallel of 0° 36' S., when it leaves the continent a little to the east
+of Gran Parà, near Cape Tigioca, cutting the terrestrial equator again,
+but in 50° 6' W. According to Bache's Map of Equal Magnetic Declination,
+it reaches the coast of North America near Cape Fear, to the south-west of
+Cape Lookout. This line, along which the magnetic declination is _nil_,
+extends to a point in Lake Erie, 2° 40' W. of Toronto, where the
+declination is already 1° 27' W.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: Wherever, in this paper, it is not precisely expressed to the
+contrary, the scale of the Centigrade Thermometer, the longitude from the
+Meridian of Paris, the French foot (_pied du roi_=12·79 inches English),
+and the geographical mile, 15 to a degree of the Equator, measuring 3807
+"toises," are meant.]
+
+It is evident from the observations of Captains Beechey and Findley, and
+still more particularly from those of the French Captain Kerhallet, that
+the remarkable subdivision of the main equinoctial current, flowing from
+east to west into two branches, one directed to the N.W., the other to the
+S.S.W., commences at a considerable distance from the Capes of St. Roque
+and St. Augustin. This bifurcation has always, and with good reason, been
+ascribed to the protruding convexity of the South American continent at
+these two promontories. It would be an important step gained in verifying
+the theory of currents, could the precise distance be ascertained by
+chronometer. It is apparently like an "_actio in distans_," probably a
+phenomenon of what is known as "packing." As the frigate, on leaving Rio
+de Janeiro is to make for the Cape of Good Hope, the opportunity will
+present, should she steer sufficiently southerly, for many interesting
+observations with respect to the _connecting current_ W.N.W. and E.S.E.
+which encounters that from Madagascar and Mozambique, close to the Cape,
+more especially with regard to the temperature of the sea.
+
+If the frigate is intended to approach the small cluster of islands of
+Fernando de Noronha, E. of Pernambuco (Lat. 3° 50' S.), I would recommend
+to that excellent geognostic, Dr. Hochstetter, the hornblendic phonolithe
+rock found there, far from a volcanic crater, but with trachytic dykes and
+basaltic amygdaloid. The flat little island of St. Paul (Peñedo de San
+Pedro), 1° N. Lat., singular to say, is not volcanic at all, containing,
+like the Malouin or Falkland Islands, slaty green-stone passing into
+serpentine.
+
+Should the frigate alter her course and cross the Equator more to the
+eastward, without touching at Rio de Janeiro, she might possibly fall in
+with the Marine Volcanic region, (Lat. 0° 20' S., Long. 22° W.), which
+has quite lately become famous again by the U. S. Expedition of the Brig
+_Dolphin_ (1854), commanded by Lieutenant Lee. On 19th May, 1806, columns
+of black smoke were seen issuing from the sea by Krusenstern, and volcanic
+ashes were gathered, after a singular bubbling of the sea from 1748 to
+1836, according to careful investigations by Daussy.
+
+As the frigate is commissioned to visit Ceylon and the Nicobar Islands,
+she cannot sail direct from the Cape to Australia; and the hope must
+therefore be abandoned of her visiting the small basaltic islands, known
+as Prince Edward's (47° 2' S., 38° E.), and Possession (46° 28' S., 47°
+30' E.), belonging to the Crozet's Group, or the two islands, long
+confounded with each other, of Amsterdam (Lat. 37° 48' S.) and St. Paul
+(Lat. 38° 38' S.) The latter island, the more southerly of the two, (a
+very characteristic drawing of which was given by Willem de Vlaming so far
+back as 1696), is supposed to be volcanic, not only by its form, which
+will at once remind the geologist of Santorin, Barren Island, and
+Deception Island, (one of the New Shetland group), but also in consequence
+of the eruption of steam, and the flames occasionally observed there.
+
+As for Amsterdam, which consists of a single densely-wooded mountain, the
+puzzle remains for solution as to how, during the expedition of
+D'Entrecasteaux in 1792, the whole island seemed, during two entire days,
+enveloped in smoke; whereas, on landing there, the naturalists of that
+expedition were satisfied that the mountain was not an active volcano,
+and that the columns of steam issued out of the ground near the shore! As
+yet, the phenomenon remains entirely unexplained.
+
+If we examine any map of the Indian Ocean, we may trace the continuation
+of the Sunda group from Sumatra, N.W., through the Nicobar, and Great and
+Little Andaman Islands, and thence through the volcanoes of Barren Island,
+Narcondam and Cheduba, nearly parallel with the coasts of Malacca and
+Tenasserim, all on the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The minor
+volcanoes just enumerated will present valuable opportunities of
+geological enquiry.
+
+Along the coasts of Orissa and Coromandel, the western portion of the Bay
+of Bengal is quite free of islands, Ceylon, like Madagascar presenting
+rather the type of a continent.
+
+Off the W. coast of the peninsula of India, (that is opposite the
+Neilgherrie hills, and the coast of Canara and Malabar), there is a series
+of three archipelagoes, extending from 14° N. to 8° S., viz., the
+Laccadives, the Maldives, and the Chagos, which appears, as it were,
+continued through the banks of Sahia di Malha, and Cargados Carajos, to
+the volcanic group of the Mascarenhas and Madagascar. As the first-named
+archipelagoes, so far as is yet known, consist solely of coral, and are,
+consequently, true "atolls," or reef-lagoons, the bottom of the ocean
+should be examined over a large extent, adopting the ingenious hypothesis
+of Darwin, that it is to be considered _as an area of subsidence_, rather
+than an elevated region.
+
+It would also be a matter of great importance to get observations
+respecting terrestrial magnetism, particularly so as to define the
+position of a given segment of the magnetic equator. Capt. Elliott, as the
+result of his comprehensive studies, (1846-49), ascertained that the
+magnetic equator passes through the north end of Borneo, and thence nearly
+due W. to the northern extremity of Ceylon. In this region the curve of
+minimum intensity is nearly parallel to the magnetic equator, which
+intersects the Continent of Africa near Cape Guardafui--according to
+Rochet d'Héricourt, in lat. 10° 7' N., long. 38° 5'. E. Between this point
+and the Bight of Biafra nothing is known.
+
+The South Asiatic islands comprise Formosa, the Philippines, the Sunda
+group, and the Moluccas. The great and little Sunda Islands and the
+Moluccas embrace 109 volcanoes, with fiery eruptions, and 10 what are
+called mud-volcanoes. This is not a mere estimate, but is the result of an
+enumeration by Junghuhn, who, within the last year (1856), has returned to
+Java, and thoroughly equipped by M. Pahud, Governor-General of the Indian
+Netherlands, will be of great assistance to the Imperial Expedition.
+
+An exact mineralogical determination of the volcanic rocks (trachytes) is
+unfortunately wanting everywhere.
+
+The most active volcano of Sumatra is the Gunung Merapi (8980 feet), which
+must not be confounded with a volcano in Java, of the same name. That of
+Sumatra was ascended by Dr. L. Horner, and Dr. Korthals in 1834. We may
+pronounce Indrapura (11,500 feet, but this measurement is very uncertain),
+and Gunung Pasoman (9010 feet), the Ophir of our maps, to be utterly
+unknown geologically. The highest of the Java volcanoes is Gunung Semeru
+(11,480 feet), ascended by Junghuhn in 1844, 1220 feet higher than the
+Etna. The largest craters of the 45 which are disposed in a line along the
+shores of Java, are Gunung Tengger, and Gunung Raou. Dr. Junghuhn has
+recently given the outlines of each separate volcano in his splendid
+topographical and geological map of Java, in four sheets, published in
+1856, which does great credit to the Dutch Government.
+
+The following subjects are worthy of special attention while the frigate
+is at Java.
+
+1. The curious phenomenon of the ribbed surface. (_Vide_ Junghuhn, Java,
+Part II., p. 608.)
+
+2. The disposition, as yet unaccounted for, of a series of
+regularly-shaped hills, formed by the mud-streams ejected in the year 1822
+by the volcano of Gunung Galungung. (_Vide ut suprà_, pp. 127-731.)
+
+3. The ejection of water by the Gunung Idjen, on 21st January, 1817, (pp.
+707, and 717-121).
+
+4. The erroneousness of the assertion that the volcanoes of the Island of
+Java do not emit streams of real lava.
+
+It must be admitted that the mighty Javanese volcano, Gunung Merapi,
+already alluded to, has not, within the historic period, presented any
+coherent compact streams of lava, but mere fragments and boulders;
+although in 1837, lines of fire were seen running uninterruptedly from
+the top down the sides of the cones in eruption. But each of the three
+volcanoes, Tengger, Idjen, and Slamat, present examples of black lava
+currents, descending as far as the tertiary strata.
+
+Streams of stone-boulders, red-hot, similar to those of the Cotopaxi, but
+scarcely touching each other, flowed from Gunung Lamorgan on 6th July,
+1838.
+
+No active volcano is known in the island of Borneo. The highest mountain
+of the whole island, perhaps of the whole insular world of Southern Asia,
+is the Hina Baïlu (12,850 feet?) on the northern point of Borneo. It is as
+yet unexplored. According to Dr. Lewis Horner, son of the astronomer of
+the Krusenstern expedition, there occur among the syenite and serpentine
+mountain range of Rathus, on the S.E. of the island, deposits yielding
+gold (which has even been worked by diggings), diamonds, platinum,
+iridium, and osmium,--presenting, in fact, a similar association to those
+of the Ural mountains. No mention is made of palladium. Rajah (now Sir
+James) Brooke describes in the province of Sarawak in Borneo, a low hill,
+Gunung Api ("hill of fire" in Malay), the slags of which attest former
+volcanic activity. A visit to Borneo would be of very great service.
+
+There are eleven volcanoes in Celebes, and six in Flores, all active.
+
+It is still uncertain whether the conical mountain Wawari, or Atiti,
+which is more generally known as the volcano of the island of Amboyna,
+ever poured out anything except hot mud (1674), or whether it should be
+merely classed as a _solfatara_. The main group of the South Asiatic
+Islands is connected through the Moluccas and the Philippines with the
+Papua and Pellew islands, and the Caroline Archipelago of the South Sea.
+
+The most important geological fact to be remarked with reference to the
+island of Formosa, abounding in mineral coals, is the break in the line of
+direction of the open vents, when, instead of N.E. to S.W., the central
+line follows the meridian line, which it pursues nearly as far as 6° S.,
+passing through Formosa and the Philippine Islands (Luzon and Mindanao),
+respecting which deviation nothing certain is known, and in which region
+every mountain of conical shape, or outline is invariably set down as a
+volcano, even though there should be no indications of a crater. The
+Sooloo Archipelago forms the connecting link between the islands of Borneo
+and Mindanao, the long, narrow island of Palawan, constituting that
+between Borneo and Mindoro.
+
+The Island of Yesso, separated from that of Niphon by the Straits of
+Sangar, or Tsugar, and from the islands of Krafto (Saghalien) and Tschoka,
+or Tarakai, by the Straits of La Pérouse, connects, through its North
+Eastern Cape, with the archipelago of the Kuriles. From Broughton's
+Southern Vulcan Bay up to its northernmost point, Yesso is traversed by an
+uninterrupted range of volcanoes--a fact the more worthy of being
+recorded, as in the expedition of La Pérouse there were found red porous
+lavas, as well as wide areas, covered with slags, in the Baie des
+Castries, in the narrow island of Krafto (Saghalien), which is, as it
+were, merely a continuation of Yesso. In our own day these regions command
+a higher interest, from a political point of view, more especially since
+Russia, dissatisfied with the situation of Okhotsk, at the sanded mouth of
+the Amoor, was anxious, after the destruction of Petropaulowski, on the
+coast of Kamtschatka, to obtain, on the S.E. coast, a harbour suitable
+for a military station.
+
+Among the three islands which form the main portion of the Japanese
+Empire, six volcanoes are known to have had eruptions in the historic
+period. The volcano, Fusi Jama, in Niphon, province of Suruga (Lat. 35°
+18' N., Long. 136° 15' E., altitude 11,675 feet), is said to have risen
+out of the plain 286 years before the Christian era. Its last eruption was
+in 1707. The volcano, Asama Jama, in the district of Saku, between the
+meridians of the two capitals, Miaco and Jeddo, was last in eruption in
+1783. On the island of Kiusiu, adjoining the peninsula of Corea, four
+volcanoes are situated, from one of which, called Wanzen, there was a most
+destructive eruption in 1793.
+
+The beautiful work of Commodore Perry, U.S.N., detailing his mission to
+Japan, on the part of the United States Government, in 1852, containing
+excellent photographs of races, as also drawings by the Berlin artist,
+Wilhelm Heine, does not, as yet, comprise the scientific results of that
+expedition.
+
+Proceeding northwards, the volcanoes are more densely crowded, and are
+found arranged in series. Of the fifty-four which I enumerated as still in
+activity among the islands of Eastern Asia, there are thirty-four on the
+Aleutian, and ten on the Kurile Islands. The Peninsula of Kamtschatka
+contains nine volcanoes, which have been in activity within the historic
+period. Lying under the 54th and 60th degrees of northern latitude, we see
+a long strip of sea-bottom between two continents undergoing a perpetual
+process of destruction and re-arrangement.
+
+The South Sea, the superficial extent of which is one-sixth greater than
+that of the entire solid crust of our planet, actually presents a smaller
+number of active volcanoes, less vents for communication between the
+centre of the earth and its atmospheric envelope, than the single Island
+of Java! Out of 40 volcanic cones, including those which are extinct, only
+26 have been seen in eruption during the historic period. They are not
+scattered at random, but, on the contrary, as was pointed out by Mr. James
+Dana, the ingenious geologist of the great United States Exploring
+Expedition, under the command of Capt. Wilkes (1838-42), they have been
+thrown up, at widely extending clefts, communicating by submarine mountain
+systems. They are arranged in groups and distinct regions, analogous to
+the mountain chains of Central Asia and Armenia (in the district of the
+Caucasus), and belong to two quite distinct systems, one running S.E. to
+N.W., the other S.S.W. to N.N.E.
+
+In the Hawaiian Archipelago (or Sandwich Island group), we find Mauna Loa,
+according to Wilkes, 12,900 feet in height, which does not present any
+cone of volcanic scoriæ (resembling, in this particular, the volcanoes of
+the Eifel), but has emitted streams of lava. The lava basin of Killauea,
+13,000 feet in its greatest, by 4800 in its smallest diameter, is not a
+_solfatara_, but a true lateral vent on the flank of the powerful Mauna
+Loa itself, exactly resembling the less elevated sheet of lava of Arak.
+Mauna Kea is 180 feet higher than Mauna Loa, but is extinct. Tafoa and
+Amangura, in the Tonga group, are still in eruption, the last discharge of
+lava having occurred in July, 1847. The volcano of Tanna was in full
+eruption during Capt. Cook's Voyage of Discovery in 1774, as was also the
+volcano of Ambrym, west of Malicollo in the archipelago of the New
+Hebrides. At the south point of New Caledonia, lies Matthew's Rock, a
+small smoking rocky island. The volcano of Santa Cruz, N.N.W. of Tina
+Kora, with periodical eruptions occasionally occurring at intervals of 10
+minutes, had been already noticed as a volcano by Mendana, so far back as
+1595. In the Salomon Archipelago, there is found the volcano of Sesarga,
+while others are said to be in full activity in the Marianas or Ladrones,
+just like those of Guguan, Pagon, and El Volcan Grande de Asuncion, which
+appear to have broken forth along a line that follows the meridian. In New
+Britannia, three conical mountains were observed vomiting streams of lava,
+by Tasman, Carteret, and Labillardière. There are two volcanoes in full
+activity on the north-east coast of New Guinea, opposite Admiralty
+Islands, which themselves are so rich in obsidian. In New Zealand,
+numerous regions abound in basaltic and trachytic rocks. Of active
+volcanoes there are Puhia-i-Wakati (the volcano of White Island), and the
+lofty cone of Tongariro (5816 feet). To the absence of centres of volcanic
+agency in New Caledonia, where sedimentary formations and seams of coal
+have recently been discovered, is ascribed the vast development of coral
+reefs. Dana was the first to ascend the Peak of Tafua, in the Island of
+Upolu, one of the Samoa group, not to be confounded with the still active
+volcano of Tafoa, south of Amangura, in the Tonga Archipelago. Dana found
+in it a crater overgrown with thick forest. So, too, on the isolated Vaihu
+or Easter Island group, there is found a range of conical mountains with
+craters, but inactive.
+
+Of the volcanic groups of the South Sea, the most violent is the farthest
+east, adjoining the shores of the New World, viz., the archipelago of the
+Gallipagos, which consists of five considerable islands, very admirably
+described by Darwin. There are streams of lava down to the very shore of
+the sea, but no pumice. Some of the trachytic lavas are said to abound
+with crystals of albite. It is important to examine whether or not this
+is oligoclase, as on Teneriffe, Popocatepetl, and Chimborazo; or
+labradorite, as on Etna and Stromboli. Palagonite, exactly similar to that
+of Iceland or in Italy, was discovered by Bunsen in the specimens of tufa
+from Chatham Island, one of the Gallipagos.
+
+New Holland does not show any signs of recent volcanic activity, except at
+its most southern point (Australia Felix), at the foot of the Grampian
+Mountains. N.W. from Port Philip, as also towards the Murray River, there
+are numbers of volcanic cones and sheets or flows of lava.
+
+It would be of great interest and utility to observe the relative
+inclinations of the Magnetic and the Geographical Equators, by means of
+the dip of the magnetic needle, though this will be rendered more
+difficult, from the fact of the ship's course being easterly, that is,
+contrary, to the Equinoctial current. As regards the low temperature of
+the current, which I discovered in 1802, running up from 40° S. to the
+Gallipagos along the coast of South America, and then turning westward, it
+would be highly important to investigate whether in the eastern part of
+the South Sea in 7° N. and between 117° and 140° W., there really exists
+in every season a _counter current_ from west to east. But I need not
+enlarge upon this topic to such attentive navigators.
+
+The line of no inclination was crossed six times by Duperrey between 1822
+and 1825. When I first discovered, near Truxillo, the low temperature of
+the cold Peruvian current, it was 12°·8 Réaumur (60°·8 Fahr.). The
+temperature observed in the course of twenty years by Mr. Dirckinck von
+Holmfeld, in the neighbourhood of Callao, expressed in degrees of Réaumur,
+were as follows:--
+
+ September  1802     12°·8  (Fahr. 60°·8)  }  Thermometer in the air.
+ November    "       12°·4  (  "   59°·9)  }  13°·3 Réaumur.
+ December,  end of   16°·8  (  "   69°·8)  }  (61°·92 Fahr.)
+ January    1825     12°·7  (  "   60°·57)
+ February    "       15°·3  (  "   66°·42)
+ March       "       15°·7  (  "   67°·32)
+ April       "       14°·5  (  "   64°·62)
+
+The temperature of the sea I found to be 22° Réaumur (81°·5 Fah.) north of
+Cape Blanco, when on my way from Callao de Lima, at which point the cold
+current diverged towards the Gallipagos.
+
+Between the Gulfs of Guayaquil and Panama, north-east of the cold current,
+the temperature of the sea during the month of April rose as high as
+24°·5, (87°·12 Fahr.). Within the range of the current, Mr. Dirckinck had
+carried on his observations in compliance with my instructions, by means
+of thermometers that had been compared by Arago. Everywhere in the
+current, in December 1824, he found from 16° to 18° (68° to 72°·5 Fahr.);
+between Quilca and Callao, in January, 1825, from 18° to 19° (72°·5 to
+74°·75 Fahr.); between Chorillos, near Lima (Lat. 12° 39' S.) and
+Valparaiso, in August, 1825, from 13°·8 to 10°·5 (63°·05 to 55°·62 Fahr.);
+between Chorillos and San Carlos de Chiloe, in June, 1825, from 18°·8 to
+9°·2 (74°·3 to 52°·7).
+
+In sailing from the Sandwich Islands to the west coast of America, the
+Imperial Expedition will have to choose between the Ports of San Francisco
+or Acapulco. The first choice would be of great mineralogical advantage
+for those regions of the United States, lying North of the river Gila.[3]
+Parallel with the chain of the Rocky Mountains, which, according to
+Marcou, contains up to the present day several volcanoes in full activity
+in its northern part (Lat. 46° 12' N.), run single, and at certain points
+double ranges of coast chains from San Diego to Monterey, from 32° 15' N.
+to 46° 45' N. They begin with the coast range specially so-called, which
+is a continuation of the high ridge of the Peninsula of Lower or Old
+California; after which, farther to the North, there follow in succession,
+first the Sierra Nevada di Alta California, between 36° and 38° N. the
+lofty Shasty mountains, and the Cascade Range, nearly twenty six miles
+distant from the littoral, including many high and active volcanoes, and
+extending far beyond Fuca Straits. The following are still in
+eruption:--Mount St. Elias (46° 2' N.); Mount Regnier, or Rainier, (46°
+46'); and Mount Baker, (48° 48'.) These three active cones would be most
+conveniently visited by the geologist of the expedition from San
+Francisco, as would likewise the whole Cascade Range. We have as yet no
+certain intelligence as to the geology of the entire longitudinal
+auriferous valley of the Sacramento River, (where a trachytic crater, in
+a state of disintegration, is known as the Butt of Sacramento). Does the
+auriferous quartz occur in veins, and are these still _in situ_, or are
+they broken up? What description of rock is traversed by these veins? Does
+the wash-gold here contain occasionally, as in the Ural Mountains,
+fragments of vein-stones with isolated cavities, in which are found
+impressions of leaves and membranes, clearly proving that they have not
+been rolled, or transported by water, any great distance to the spot they
+now occupy? Have these been found, alongside of gold, diamonds, platinum,
+osmium, iridium, or mercury?
+
+[Footnote 3: The Gila falls into the Colorado about forty miles above the
+embouchure of the latter into the head of the Gulf of California.]
+
+Should the frigate steer for Acapulco, it may be assumed that there exists
+an intention to cross the Continent to Mexico and Vera Cruz, from the
+volcano of Colima (1877 toises) as it were, along the parallel of the
+range of volcanoes, and greatest heights rising in detached groups between
+the two seas, about the parallel of 19° N. New astronomical observations
+are greatly needed for determining the position of the volcanoes of Colima
+and Jorullo (667 toises). The volcano of Colima, with its twin peaks _de
+fuego_ and _de nieve_, should be carefully examined, as also the volcano
+of Jorullo, with the fragments of granite enclosed in its lava; the Nevado
+de Toluca (2372 toises), Popocatepetl (2772 toises), Itztaccihuatl (2456
+toises), Cofre de Perote (2098 toises), and the volcano of Tuxtla (18° 28'
+N.), on the eastern slope of the Sierra St. Martin, from which a column of
+flame shot up with great violence on 2nd March, 1793, a fair specimen of
+what the Spaniards term _Malpays_, the Sicilians _Sciarra viva_. The face
+of the country is covered over with boulders of lava, at San Nicolas de
+los Ranchos, at the foot of Popocatepetl, adjoining the city of Puebla de
+los Angeles, after which, on the road from Puebla to Vera Cruz, will be
+observed two narrow strips of boulders of cooled basaltic lava, rich in
+olivine. Similar examples will be found at Parage de Carros, near
+Tochtilacuaja and Loma de Tablas, between Cancas and the Casas de la Hoja.
+The mere ascension of volcanic cones is geologically of far less
+importance, than the bringing away numerous specimens, carefully selected,
+of various trachytic rocks, which, by their oryctognostical composition,
+are characteristic of each volcano. I would nevertheless recommend that
+the Pico del Fraile of the Toluca volcano (2372 toises) should be
+ascended, proper caution being used. From this very sharp peak, I brought
+away thin plates of trachyte perforated by lightning, and within the holes
+of a melted glassy surface, resembling those brought from Little Ararat.
+Both for the miner and geologist, an interesting and useful visit might be
+paid to the rich mines of Guanaxuato and the Mines de la Biscaina and
+Regla, on the road from Mexico to Real del Monte, so as to observe the
+close connection subsisting between the richer silver ores, occurring in
+trachytic porphyry without quartz, but with felspar, (glassy felspar?),
+and the thoroughly volcanic Cerro del Jakal, abounding in obsidian, and
+the Cerro de las Navajas (Razor Range), which remind one of the environs
+of Schemnitz, with the sole exception, that the trachytes "_porphyres
+meulières_" of Beudant, are wanting here.
+
+As it is highly desirable that considerable time should be devoted to the
+volcanoes of Quito, Peru, and Chili, it appears uncertain whether the
+course of the frigate, on leaving Acalpulco, will be shaped direct for
+Guayaquil, thus reversing the route taken by myself, or whether she will
+not touch at some of the central American ports--Realejo or Sonsonate. The
+crowded series of volcanoes in Central America, of which no less than
+eighteen, conical or dome-shaped, may be considered as still in active
+eruption, would yield a rich harvest of facts of all kinds in elucidation
+of the theory of volcanic action, such as have never hitherto been
+sufficiently taken advantage of. We are still in need of the mineralogical
+determination of the rocks, while the form and situation of the mountain
+masses have been well described by Squier, Oersted, and other modern
+travellers. The greater number, indeed, of the eruptions of scoriæ and
+slag were unaccompanied by streams of lava, as, for example, those of
+Mount Isalco, abounding in ammonia. But recently eye-witnesses have
+furnished us with quite different accounts regarding these eruptions, in
+the case of several volcanoes--as the Nindiri (a twin volcano with that
+called Massaya), on which Dr. Scherzer has lately shed much light; the
+Volcano el Nuevo, erroneously called Volcano de las Pilas, that of
+Coseguina, situated on the Great Bay of Fonseca, and that of San Miguel de
+Bosotlan, from which there flowed an extensive stream of lava in July
+1844. It would be most tempting to pass by land from Mexico southwards to
+Oaxaca, and thence to the Isthmus of Guasacualco or Tehuantepec, and
+Chiapas, so as to rejoin the frigate at Realejo or Sonsonate. Facts might
+be obtained, in such a journey, of great value in determining the
+dependence of geological phenomena on each other; but it is to be feared
+it would be attended with too much fatigue and loss of time. For similar
+reasons, it cannot be proposed that the scientific gentlemen attached to
+the Expedition, should leave the frigate for three or four months, when
+they reach Central America, in order to cross by rail the Isthmus of
+Panama, with the object of examining the Volcancitos of Turbaco and Gabra
+Zamba, both active, and thence ascend the Rio Magdalena from Carthagena de
+las Indias, as far as Honda, whence they could proceed by Bogotà and
+Popayan to Quitó.
+
+It will be also unavoidable to forego the examination of the sedimentary
+rocks, rich in fossils, between Honda, Bogotà and Ibagues, the Mastodon
+fields (_Campos del Gigante_), and the Salto de Tegumidama on the plateau
+of Bogotà, the wax palm (_Ceroxylon Andicola_), and the Azufrales of the
+Passo de Quindiu, the volcanoes of Tolima, measured by myself and ascended
+by Boussingault, and of Paramo de Ruiz (4° 15' N.), as also the two
+volcanoes of Popayan, the Puracé and the much more interesting but now
+extinct Sotará. As a middle course, I may suggest a disembarkation, not
+exactly at Guayaquil, but on the gold and platinum coast of the Choco,
+near San Buenaventura, so as to proceed thence to Popayan, and afterwards
+return to the volcanoes of the province of Pasto, which are highly
+important, and so on to Quitó, by way of Guachucal, Tulcan, and Villa de
+Ibarra, rejoining the frigate only at Guayaquil.
+
+I believe, however, it would be more advisable to select Quitó as the
+starting-point, whence to examine the important elevated volcanic region
+De los Pastos (between 2° 20' and 0° 56' N.), containing the volcano of
+the town of Pasto, the volcanoes of Tuguerres, Chiles and Cumbal, and the
+Azufral de Pasto, and not to land at any port of the Choco coast, not even
+from the Bahia de Cupica, which for half a century I have recommended in
+vain on account of its vicinity to the Rio Naipi, one of the tributaries
+of the Atrato. In drawing up a list of names of the volcanoes of the
+renowned lofty plateau of Quitó, I may include, Imbaburu, Cotocachi, Rucu,
+Pichincha, Antisana, the much-disputed question of the stony walls like
+streams of lava, on the east slope of Tana Volcan, and Reventazon de
+Ansango; Cotopaxi, with its strange inexplicable quarries of pumice, of
+Guapecho and Zumbalica, in the neighbourhood of Llactacunga and San
+Felipe, the pumice containing oligoclase, not glassy felspar, deposited in
+strata, like any rock _in situ_ for a considerable distance on all sides
+of Cotopaxi; Tunguragua (mica slate), studded with garnets, and beds of
+granite, which dip under the former, and have themselves been pierced by
+the trachytes of Tungurahua at Rio Puela and the Hacienda de Ganace; the
+hills of Moya, near the village of Pelilco, cast up in the celebrated
+earthquake of 7th February, 1797, and still in a state of activity; the
+Chimborazo, which M. Jules Rémy, accompanied by an Englishman named
+Princkley, was in the belief they had ascended, on the 3rd of November,
+1856, to the very summit, "_mais sans s'en douter_." Poggendorff, (Vol. X.
+p. 480), has clearly demonstrated that the boiling point given by Rémy for
+the summit, would not give 6544 mètres (little different from my own
+trigonometrical admeasurement of 6530 mètres), but fully 7328 mètres. As I
+distrust my own half-barometical measurements, I have vainly implored
+travellers, these fifty years past, to have a new series of
+trigonometrical observations made of the summit of Chimborazo. The merit,
+then, of settling this moot point, it also remains for the members of the
+_Novara_ Expedition to obtain.
+
+It would be important to examine the Sangay (16,068 feet)--which, like
+Stromboli, is in constant activity, yet without any traces of
+lava-streams--on account of the grains of quartz discovered by Wisse in
+the trachytic boulders ejected by the volcano, which is of such rare
+occurrence in the trachytes out of Hungary; and also on account of the
+close vicinity of beds of granite and gneiss, which are broken through by
+the Sangay trachyte, forming an island, as it were, of not hardly two
+miles in breadth. Still more deserving of attention is the extinct volcano
+El Altar de los Collanes (Capac Urcù) a sketch of which I presented in
+the atlas published in my "Kleine Schriften" (Plate V. p. 461), formerly
+higher than Chimborazo, and still (?) 16,380 feet. Not a single specimen
+of its trachyte has ever been deposited in a European museum. The Altar
+itself is readily accessible from Riobamba Nuevo. In its vicinity may also
+be seen mica slate and gneiss, cropping out at the Paramo del Hatillo near
+Guamote, and Teocaxas, which are so seldom fallen in with in the highlands
+of Quitó. Tradition relates that gold-mines were worked here during the
+days of the Incas, in the neighbourhood of volcanic trachytes. From the
+Altar the geologist might proceed, by way of San Luis, (Query, whether the
+primitive clay-slate found here be of the Silurian formation?) and
+Guamote, to Paramo del Assuay (2428 toises), and Cuenca, as far as Atausca
+(2° 13' S.), where an immense mass of sulphur, lying in a quartz seam is
+worked, forming a bed in the mica slate. Of what rock does the easily
+accessible Cayambe Urcù (18,170 feet) consist, crossing the Equator, S.E.
+of Otavalo? _En route_ from Quitó to Cayambe, the rich deposits of
+obsidian near Quinche should also be inspected, which furnished the large
+mirrors to the Incas, and farther to the north of which are the volcanoes
+of Los Pastos, which form a separate system by themselves.
+
+For examining the rocks and exploring the volcanoes of Southern Peru and
+Bolivia--respecting which see the last edition of Pentland's Maps, not
+those published between 1830 and 1848, in which the height of Sorata was
+indicated at 3949 toises (25,257 feet), and Illimani at 3753 toises
+(24,004), and accordingly both as much more lofty than Chimborazo, which
+is 3350 toises (21,426 feet)--the best starting-point would be the port of
+Arica, which may be reached, sailing the whole distance against the cold
+current, from Guayaquil, after a short stay at Callao de Lima. Of the
+volcanoes of Peru and Bolivia only three are now active.
+
+(_a._) The volcano of Arequipa, three miles N.E. of the town of the same
+name, which, according to Pentland and Rivero, is situated about 7366 feet
+above the level of the sea. The measurements of M. Dolley, of the French
+navy, which were published under my superintendence, give the summit of
+the volcano as 10,348 feet above the town of Arequipa, so that its total
+elevation above the sea would be 17,714 feet. In the table of heights for
+Mrs. Somerville's "Physical Geography," Mr. Pentland speaks of the summit
+as being 20,320 English feet in height, or 19,065 Paris feet, closely
+approximating to the old trigonometrical measurement (19,080 feet) given
+by Thaddeus Haenke, a Bohemian, who accompanied the expedition of
+Malaspina, in 1769. What a deplorable state for the science of hypsometry
+to be in! which the _Novara_ ought to put an end to. Samuel Anzon, a North
+American, in 1811, and Dr. Weddell, in 1847, have ascended the volcano of
+Arequipa.
+
+(_b._) Sahama (18° 7' S.), according to Pentland's new map of 1848, is 871
+feet higher than Chimborazo (which he gives as 20,970 feet), and is still
+active. The true heights of Illimani and Sorata, ascertained since 1848,
+are, instead of 3949 and 3753 respectively, only 3329 toises (21,266
+English feet), and 3307 toises (21,145 English feet).
+
+(_c._) Volcano Gualatieri, in the Bolivian province of Carangas (18° 25'
+S.), height 20,604 feet.
+
+The southern group of South American volcanoes, that, of Chili, presents
+the largest number of active fire-mountains--only second, indeed, to that
+of Central America, there being from eleven to thirteen. In order to
+increase the geological exploration of this region which has been so well
+prepared by the memorable expedition under Captain Fitzroy, in the ships
+_Adventure_ and _Beagle_, the excellent generalizing theories of Mr.
+Darwin, and the naval astronomical expedition of Mr. Gilliss, for 1849-51,
+the _Novara_ will probably land at Valparaiso. A great desideratum between
+Coquimbo and Valparaiso is an exact measurement of--
+
+_A_. The volcano of Aconcagua (32° 39' S.). Its height has been stated, in
+1835, by Captain Fitzroy, as 21,767 feet, Pentland's correction assigning
+22,431 feet; while Captain Kellet, of the frigate _Herald_, gives it as
+21,584 feet. Miers and Darwin are both of opinion that the Aconcagua is
+still in activity, which is denied by Pentland and Gilliss. The most
+recent measurement of Aconcagua--that by Pissis in 1854 (see Gilliss, Vol.
+I. p. 63)--makes the height 20,924 feet. M. Pissis has published, in the
+"Anales de la Universidad de Chili," for 1852, the geodetical elements of
+his survey, which is based upon eight triangles. Aconcagua being probably
+the highest mountain in the New World, a new measurement is eminently
+desirable. Neither Dhawalagiri, with his 4930 toises, nor Kintsinjunga,
+measured by Colonel Waugh, with his 4406 toises, are any longer considered
+the highest mountains in the Himalaya range, but the Deodunga (Mount
+Everest), which is 29,003 English feet, equal to 27,212 Paris feet, or
+4535 toises.
+
+_B._ The volcano Maipu (34° 17' S., height 16,572 feet), ascended by
+Meyen. The trachytic rock on the summit has broken through the Jurassic
+strata, in which Leopold von Buch has ascertained, from heights of 9000
+feet, the existence of _Exogyra couloni_, _Trigonia costata_, and
+_Ammonites biplex_. This volcano has no streams of lava, but only
+eruptions of volcanic slags. It would be most desirable that Dr.
+Hochstetter should examine this remarkable protrusion of dislocated
+strata.
+
+_C._ The volcano Antuco (37° 7' S.), the geology of which was described by
+Pöppig, is a lofty basaltic crater, having a trachytic cone rising up in
+its centre to an elevation of 8672 feet. It was observed in full activity
+by Domeyko in 1845. Gilliss gives an account of an eruption in 1853.
+According to Domeyko, a fresh-burning cone was thrown up on the 25th of
+November, 1847, which remained in activity for a whole year. Molina
+considers the Nevada Descabezado (35° 1' S.), ascended by Domeyko, to be
+the highest mountain in Chili; but its height is estimated by Gilliss at
+only 12,300 feet. The most southerly volcanoes are the still active
+Corcovado (43° 12' S.), 7046 feet; Yanteles (43° 29' S.), 7534 feet; and
+the Volcan de San Clemente, opposite the granite formation on the
+peninsula of Tres Montes. Still further south, in 51° 41' S., another, the
+Volcan de los Gigantes, is laid down on the old maps of South America, by
+La Cruz Olmedella, as opposite the archipelago of La Madre de Dios.
+
+Should the _Novara_ return to Europe through the Straits of Maghellanes,
+it would be very desirable the members of the Expedition should visit the
+locality from which Prince Paul of Würtemberg, after long zoological
+travels through North America, has, within the last year, brought back to
+Germany a very large collection of specimens.
+
+Altogether, I calculate the number of active volcanoes on the surface of
+the earth to be upwards of 225--one-third of which, or 75, are upon the
+various continents, and the remainder upon the insular world. The Western
+Continent has 53 active volcanoes--of which, North-Western America, north
+of the river Gila, has 5; Mexico, 4; Central America, 18; South America
+about 26. Viewing the globe as a whole, there presents itself an extensive
+oblique region in which volcanoes most abound, stretching from S.E. to
+N.W. in the more westerly part of the Pacific, between 75° W. and 125° E.
+of Paris, and between 47° S. and 66° N. In this region, the fused elements
+of the interior of our earth may be said to be most permanently in
+communication with the atmosphere.
+
+The greatest attention should be paid, with the view of improving them,
+to the sections and maps of Chili, contained in the work, "Buenos Ayres
+and the Provinces of Rio de la Plata," published in 1852 by Sir Woodbine
+Parish, and still more so, to that entitled "Map of the Republic of Chili,
+compiled from the Surveys of Gilliss, Pissis, Allen, Campbell, and Claude
+Gay, between 23° and 44° S., as contained in Gilliss' 'United States
+Astronomical Expedition, 1847-52 Washington, 1855.'"
+
+The chief object to be aimed at by the _Novara_, with respect to
+scientific enquiry, seems to me to be the formation of a collection in the
+Geological Institute of Vienna, in comparison to which all the collections
+which at present aspire to be considered rich in volcanic specimens, (such
+as those of Berlin, Paris and London), should appear to be insignificant.
+In all periods of history, travellers are only the representatives of the
+state of knowledge of their own time, and consequently, collections always
+present the readiest means of promulgating new discoveries by
+oryctognostical examination or chemical analysis. In order to set on foot
+a grand Volcanic Museum, it would be necessary to bring home from every
+one of the volcanoes visited, not less than 10 or 12, but still better 15
+or 18, specimens of the porphyritic trachytes, all carefully selected,
+well-shaped, containing crystals not disintegrated, and of sufficient size
+to admit of a fresh fracture being made. For such quantities, however,
+there cannot be provided on board ship, even with the kindest patronage of
+the commanding officer, sufficient space for the accumulations of two
+years' arduous efforts in forming a collection. The greatest part,
+therefore, should be sent by other conveyance to Trieste, the most secure
+channel being through the consuls of the Austrian Empire, or those of
+allied powers, or through the medium of British, Dutch or American
+mercantile establishments, or by the regular packets.
+
+Duplicates, say four or five specimens, from each volcano, should be taken
+on board the _Novara_ in boxes of about 3 feet long. It would be too
+disheartening to have any misgivings of the success of this glorious
+scheme for getting together a Museum of Volcanic Rocks in Vienna, of all
+the regions of the globe, arranged upon a regular geographical system,
+each labelled with its own name, so as to promote a general acquaintance
+with these branches of knowledge:
+
+   1. Europe.
+
+   2. Atlantic Islands.
+
+   3. Continent of Asia, South Coast of Arabia (Aden), Kamtschatka.
+
+   4. Islands of Eastern Asia and India.
+
+   5. The Indian Ocean.
+
+   6. The Pacific.
+
+   7. Continent of South America: Chili, Peru, Bolivia, Quitó and
+      New Grenada.
+
+   8. Central America.
+
+   9. Mexico, south of the river Gila.
+
+   10. North-Western America, north of the river Gila.
+
+   11. West Indies.
+
+Much of this work might be done on board the _Novara_. As to Nos. 3 and 4,
+Kamtschatka, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, the Red Sea, and the West
+Indies, it will not be difficult to procure specimens at some future
+period.
+
+Our piping times of peace are favourable to the execution of this project,
+which should be zealously kept in view throughout the Expedition.
+Travelling as I was, during the great wars, I did not dare shrink from the
+difficulty of having to carry along with me 44 large boxes, as I did on
+the road through Mexico from Acapulco to Vera Cruz, whence they were sent
+to Cuba, Philadelphia, and so to Bordeaux. The mechanical labour of having
+the collections carefully packed, keeping duplicates distinct, and sending
+away geological, botanical, zoological and ethnographical collections, is
+itself quite as important as the purely scientific work.
+
+The exhibition of comprehensive volcanic collections brings to light the
+strong analogy subsisting between the trachytes belonging to volcanoes,
+far distant from one another, while it indicates the existence of great
+differences in the mineralogical composition of volcanoes situated very
+near each other. My most excellent friend and fellow-traveller in Siberia,
+Professor Gustavus Rose, recently subjected the trachytes of the Berlin
+Museum, the greater number of which were collected by myself, to careful
+crystallographical and chemical investigation. He found oligoclase and
+pyroxene on the trachytes of Chimborazo, Popocatepetl, Colima,
+Tunguragua, Puracé, Paramo de Ruiz, and the Peak of Teneriffe, which has
+recently been accurately examined by Mr. Charles Deville. The trachytes of
+Toluca, Orizaba, Gunung Barang, and Burung Agung, on the Island of Java,
+Argæus, in Asia Minor, Cuneguilla, south of Sta. Fé de Nuevo-Mexico, the
+Sièrra de San Francisco, west of the Rocky Mountains and Pueblo Zuni,
+consist of hornblende, oligoclase, and brown mica. The trachytes of
+Stromboli and Etna, those of the Siebengebirge (Drachenfels), and of Kara
+Hissar in Phrygia, consist of large crystals of glassy felspar, with
+numerous smaller crystals of oligoclase, some hornblende and mica.
+Oligoclase, having been mistaken for albite, led to the fantastic idea of
+a peculiar rock, the _Andesite_, prevailing in the Andes, and even led our
+great master, Leopold von Buch, to make some curious distinctions,
+(Déscription des Iles Canaries, 1836, pp. 186-87.)
+
+To ascertain the average height above the level of the sea, I propose that
+furrows should be cut in the rocks of the different regions along with
+inscriptions, which might carry information to unborn ages, as has been
+done, on my suggestion, now some 25 years ago, by the Academy of Science
+at St. Petersburg, on the Caspian Sea, while Sir James Ross, in his
+"Voyage of Discovery in the Southern and Antarctic Regions," 1839-43, Vol.
+II. p. 23, regrets not having done so, or, at least, of having only once
+adopted this plan.
+
+I would also, with all deference, suggest observations regarding the daily
+atmospheric variations or tides, so as to obtain tables of _maxima_ and
+_minima_. In order to obtain these, whenever the frigate is at anchor near
+any coast, but particularly within the tropics, hourly observations with
+the barometer and thermometer (the latter affixed to the barometer, and
+also freely suspended in the open air), should be made through several
+consecutive days and nights. During the occurrence of an Aurora Borealis
+(or Australis), attention should be paid to the perturbations of the
+magnetic variation, and the magnetic intensity of the horizontal needle.
+Boreal Auroras have been seen in the southern latitudes of the Peruvian
+Pacific, as low down as 12° 13' S.; but the occurrence of such phenomena
+there is of much less frequent occurrence than that of Austral Auroras in
+Scotland. It is important to keep an exact register of the intensity of
+blackness in the "coalbags," when the smallest stars surrounding them are
+still visible to the naked eye. The daily meteorological observations, as
+also those on the temperature of the sea, will probably be made on board
+ship, in conformity with the views of Lieutenant Maury, and the method
+agreed upon at the last nautical congress.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As I shall have long ceased to be numbered with the living, when the
+_Novara_ returns to Trieste, richly freighted with scientific treasures of
+all kinds, with fresh information relating to organic and inorganic
+nature, to the races of man, their habits and languages, I now pray to
+Almighty God that His blessing may rest upon this great and noble
+enterprise, to the honour of our common German Fatherland! And
+concluding, in this night, these oblique, illegible lines, I remember, not
+without emotion, and with very mingled feelings, that joyous period of my
+life when, fifty-eight years ago, in the beautiful gardens of Schönbrunn,
+preparing myself for a long journey, I was enjoying with grateful mind the
+friendly kindness of the venerable Jacquin and Peter Frank.
+
+                                                     A. v. HUMBOLDT.
+
+ Berlin, in the night of 7th April, 1857.
+
+[Illustration: DEPARTURE.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  I.
+
+                     Preparations for the Voyage.
+
+   Approbation of the Plan to fit out an Austrian Man-of-War for a
+     Voyage round the World.--Object of the Expedition.--
+     Appointment of a Scientific Commission.--Preparations.--
+     Fitting out the Frigate _Novara_ at Pola.--Departure for
+     Trieste.--Visit of the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian on board.
+
+
+In the autumn of 1856, His Majesty the Emperor was graciously pleased to
+approve of the proposal for a voyage round the world, as projected by his
+Imperial Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, the head of the
+Austrian navy, and to commission the sailing frigate _Novara_ for that
+purpose, a vessel qualified to meet every requisite condition.
+
+The chief object of the Expedition--a circumstance which must not be lost
+sight of--was to afford the officers and cadets of the ship an opportunity
+of acquiring that practical acquaintance with naval affairs which, added
+to the theoretical knowledge previously attained, would render them
+thoroughly familiar with nautical routine, and thus materially contribute
+to the further development of the Austrian navy.
+
+This branch of the public service, placed since 1848 on an entirely new
+basis, has with difficulty worked its way through all those embarrassing
+circumstances inseparable from the organization of a new system; but the
+honest zeal and energy of the board appointed, supported by favour from
+the highest quarters, have succeeded in introducing many improvements, and
+in increasing by degrees the numerical strength of the men, thereby laying
+a secure foundation for the rising naval force, the importance of which,
+at this moment, every reflecting patriot will acknowledge.
+
+The intended Expedition offered, besides the advantages for the service,
+another not less important for the State, namely, the recognition of the
+Austrian flag in remote quarters of the globe, to which it had never
+hitherto penetrated; and by thus opening new channels for the outlet of
+our natural products and manufactured goods, to promote the industrial,
+commercial, and maritime interests of the empire.
+
+In order to satisfy the scientific requirements of the age, the
+illustrious head of the navy issued orders, that the officers on board
+should in every way assist in the researches to be made, connected with
+navigation and geography; and was, moreover, pleased to invite the
+Imperial Academy of Sciences to nominate two members, he himself naming a
+third, to accompany the Expedition for the purpose of observing and
+investigating phenomena pertaining to the different branches of physical
+science, as well as collecting rare specimens and interesting objects of
+natural history. To this commission were ultimately attached a botanist, a
+practical zoologist, an artist, and a flower-gardener.
+
+The Academy had, for the guidance of these gentlemen, drawn up
+instructions which, with a multitude of other papers containing useful
+hints and interesting queries, received from the Imp. Geographical,
+Geological, and Medical Societies, as well as from numerous foreign and
+native scientific men, formed a most valuable collection of materials for
+the purposes of the Expedition.[4]
+
+[Footnote 4: Of these instructions, "The physical and geognostical
+remarks," with which the Nestor of natural science honoured the voyagers
+of the _Novara_, being of a more general interest, are published at the
+end of this volume, together with the facsimile of an autograph letter of
+Baron von Humboldt to the commander of the Expedition.]
+
+Foremost amongst these _savans_ stood Alexander von Humboldt, that
+illustrious man, who up to the last moment of his existence was alive with
+youthful enthusiasm for every scientific enterprise. In England great
+interest in the success of the Expedition was evinced by Sir Roderic
+Murchison, Sir W. Hooker, Sir Charles Lyell, General Sabine, Admiral
+Smyth, Admiral Fitzroy, Professor Robert Owen, Professor Philips,
+Professor Bell, Professor W. A. Ramsay, Professor Goodsir, of Edinburgh,
+W. J. Hamilton, Esq., Charles Darwin, Esq., L. Horner, Esq., James Yates,
+Esq., B. Davis, Esq., &c., &c. From the United States of North America, we
+received most valuable communications from Commander M. F. Maury, National
+Observatory, Washington, D. C.--Captain Rodgers, and others.
+
+Letters of introduction were received from Germany, and particularly from
+England, to influential parties and societies in a variety of places
+abroad, amongst which were many warm and friendly recommendations from the
+English Government and Admiralty, as well as the Directors of the then
+East India Company, to various administrative authorities in the British
+Colonies.
+
+[Illustration: GUN-ROOM OF THE _NOVARA_.]
+
+The frigate _Novara_ was laid up in the arsenal of Pola, where all
+requisite steps were taken to complete her outfit, and prepare her
+thoroughly for the voyage. The ventilation of the lower deck was improved,
+and the number of cabins increased in proportion to the number of
+individuals for whom accommodation was to be provided.
+
+The gun-room was, by command of the Archduke, converted into a
+reading-room, and provided with a well-selected library as well as with
+all the charts and maps necessary for the information of the officers, who
+here made their calculations and executed their drawings.
+
+The store-rooms for the sails and tackle were enlarged, so as to hold a
+double quantity.
+
+A distilling apparatus, the same as patented by M. Rocher, of Nantes, was
+fixed on the gun-deck, and being placed in connection with the ship's
+coppers, it was found that, during the few hours each day that the latter
+were used for cooking, enough sea-water was distilled to supply the entire
+ship's company with excellent water to drink. This distilled water, after
+having been kept in iron tanks for a month, was found pleasant to the
+taste, and agreed very well with the health. The excellent health enjoyed
+by all the crew throughout the voyage must, in a great measure, be
+ascribed to the circumstance, that scarcely any other but this distilled
+sea-water was used, so that the men were enabled entirely to forego
+drinking river or spring-water, which in the tropics are frequently found
+injurious.
+
+The use of such an apparatus permits a great diminution in the store of
+water usually carried by a vessel. The space gained by this diminished
+bulk of water, enabled us to take on board a larger cargo of coal and
+provisions, such as preserved beef and compressed vegetables. The sailors
+were not, however, particularly fond of the preserved beef, because in
+cooking it loses a great part of its flavour (though the broth is strong
+and good); nor does it seem as an article of diet to have had a
+particularly beneficial influence on the health, for the sanitary
+condition of the crew was equally satisfactory, and the number of
+scorbutic patients not materially increased when, towards the end of the
+voyage, the fresh stores were exhausted, and only salt and pickled rations
+were issued.
+
+Compressed dried vegetables were of great benefit to the health of our
+men, and cannot be sufficiently recommended. The so-called _melange
+d'équipage_ of Chollet, as well as _sauer kraut_, potatoes, and other
+vegetables, have an excellent taste, improve the soups when mixed with
+them, and are easily preserved, provided they be protected from the effect
+of damp. Hence it might be advisable to keep them enclosed in
+well-soldered tin boxes. The price of these vegetables is so moderate,
+that it is surprising they are not more generally employed.
+
+The long-continued satisfactory state of health of the crew must also
+partly be sought for in the constant use of shower-baths. For this
+purpose, apertures, three-quarters of an inch in diameter, were bored in
+the planks of both the deck and forecastle, under which a perforated disc
+could be screwed, and above which a pail of water was placed. By these
+simple means every one was enabled to enjoy the luxury of a bath; when,
+however, the desire for that refreshment became general, so that the
+arrangement above-mentioned was insufficient, a hand fire-engine was made
+use of, so as to accommodate as many at once as might present
+themselves--a process which found great favour with the jolly tars, as
+affording abundant opportunities for fun and merriment.
+
+[Illustration: VERTICAL SECTION OF THE FRIGATE "NOVARA."]
+
+The frigate _Novara_ had been placed on the stocks in the arsenal of
+Venice in the month of February, 1845, and was launched in April, 1850.
+She was pierced for 42 guns, but during the voyage carried only thirty
+30-pounders,[5] and four of smaller calibre.
+
+[Footnote 5: The 30-pounder marine guns answer very nearly to the English
+32-pounders.]
+
+The principal dimensions of the frigate (Vienna measurement) are:--
+
+ Length between perpendiculars      165 feet  5-1/2 inches.[6]
+ Length of water line               156 "     5       "
+ Greatest breadth                    44 "     11-1/2  "
+ Greatest breadth on water line      43 "     2       "
+ Depth of hold                       19 "     3/4     "
+ Draught of water aft                18 "     9       "
+ Draught of water fore               17 "     5-2/3   "
+
+[Footnote 6: 96-423/1000 Austrian feet = 100 English.]
+
+The superficial area of the ship, or the load-water line, amounted to
+5685.35 square feet; quantity of water displaced 2107 Austrian, or 2630
+English tons. The superficial area of the principal sails amounted to
+18,291 square feet.
+
+The frigate proved herself to be an excellent sailer, as, of the various
+vessels which, throughout the voyage, sailed in company with us, only
+three clippers outstripped her.
+
+The question may here be asked, why, in the present state of navigation, a
+sailing-vessel was preferred to a steamer for this voyage? The principal
+consideration which decided this selection was the greater disposable area
+which a sailing-vessel offers in comparison with a steamer of the same
+dimensions, in which coal and machinery occupy so large a space. On the
+present occasion, it will be perceived that what was specially wanted was
+room for as great a number of officers, cadets, and men as possible, who
+were, as has been stated, to make this voyage for improvement in nautical
+affairs. Plenty of space was also required for the numerous instruments
+and bulky collections of objects of natural history; while in most parts
+of the ocean which we were to traverse, the winds blow so regularly, that,
+with very rare exceptions, sails form the best motive power. The expense
+of fuel requisite for a steamer, and the trouble of replacing it during
+the voyage, are thus saved; whilst, finally, the space occupied by the men
+employed in the management of the machinery, and that required for the
+stowage of special stores, would be withdrawn from more important objects.
+
+After the frigate had been properly fitted up in the arsenal of Pola, she
+sailed on the 15th March, 1857, for Trieste, where she cast anchor on the
+17th in the Bay of Muggia. H.I.M.'s corvette _Caroline_, likewise fitted
+out at Pola for a voyage to the coast of South America and Western
+Africa, followed in her wake, and it was now seen that the frigate was a
+better sailer than the corvette, a circumstance so much the more
+satisfactory, that the latter had hitherto been considered the swiftest
+ship in our navy.
+
+The unfavourable state of the weather interfered so much with the works
+which were to be finished at Trieste, that the embarkation of provisions,
+swinging the compasses, &c., &c., could only be proceeded with very
+slowly.
+
+At last, the members of the Commission arrived, and the vessel only waited
+for sailing orders.
+
+Before leaving on so interesting an enterprise, with which the most
+pleasing recollections of our lives will ever be associated, we had the
+gratification of being honoured by a visit on board from the Archduke
+Ferdinand Maximilian. The commander of the Expedition introduced the
+officers and scientific gentlemen to his Imperial Highness, who addressed
+them in affecting terms, and concluded his remarks by expressing a hope
+that the frigate _Novara_ would, with God's help, return happily from her
+mission to her own honour and that of the country.
+
+The narrative of the voyage is now presented, and, probably, the results
+of the various scientific investigations will very shortly be offered to a
+discerning public, leaving it to them to judge how far we have succeeded
+in realizing the hopes of the illustrious Prince. But if we have not
+satisfied all the expectations entertained, it certainly was not from
+insufficiency of means; for everything was complete in that respect, and
+we owe it chiefly to the circumspection and kind care of the
+Commander-in-chief of our navy, that this enterprise had been so wisely
+planned, and its details brought in so short a time to such a degree of
+perfection that, during the whole voyage, it was not found necessary to
+make the slightest alteration in the original arrangements and
+regulations.
+
+[Illustration: GEODETICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS.]
+
+[Illustration: LOOK-OUT MAN.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  II.
+
+                       From Trieste to Gibraltar.
+
+   Departure.--Fair Voyage down the Adriatic.--A Man lost and found
+     again.--Passage through the Straits of Messina.--The Steamer
+     _Sta. Lucia_ returns to Trieste.--Regulations and Instructions
+     for further Proceedings.--A Day on Board the _Novara_.--
+     Sunrise.--Cleaning the Ship.--Mental and physical occupation.--
+     Moonlight at sea.
+
+
+The departure of the frigate was fixed for the 30th April, 1857, and
+H.I.M.'s corvette _Caroline_, Captain Kohen, was ordered to accompany her
+as far as the coast of South America. H.I.M's steamer, _Sta. Lucia_,
+Captain von Littrow, received orders to tow both ships as far as the
+extremity of the Straits of Messina to avoid loss of time, such as
+frequently arises in the Adriatic during the spring, from calms and
+unfavourable winds.
+
+With the dawn of the day fixed for the departure of the ships, all was
+bustle on board; craft of all kinds hovered around, and relatives and
+friends had assembled in great numbers to take leave. The verdant and
+thickly-wooded slopes of the promenade to St. Andrea, near the shore, were
+thronged with spectators, and the fair and lovely picture of our native
+coast developed itself once more before our eyes, clad in all its charms
+of spring, as if to wish us a hearty farewell, an auspicious voyage, and a
+happy return!
+
+At 8 o'clock A.M. we weighed anchor, and the steamer _Sta. Lucia_
+approached the _Novara_ for the purpose of towing her from the Bay of
+Muggia into the roads of Trieste. She had all her colours displayed, and
+saluted the city of Trieste, Austria's chief and most important emporium,
+with 21 guns. The salute was answered from the castle, whilst the band on
+board struck up Haydn's beautiful hymn: "God preserve the Emperor!" The
+frigate moved out of the road-stead, accompanied by a great number of
+boats, and followed by the best wishes of the numerous crowds assembled on
+shore, and of all true patriots, who looked upon this Expedition as a
+cheering evidence that a new and energetic spirit of enterprise had arisen
+in their native country.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE I.--TRACK FROM TRIESTE TO MADEIRA.]
+
+The corvette _Caroline_, which was waiting outside the roads, was attached
+to the frigate, and soon Trieste appeared like a dim cloud on the distant
+horizon. The outlines of the Carinthian Alps became fainter, and the
+excitement of the parting scene was calmed by that busy activity required
+from every one embarking on a long voyage, if he desires to attain any
+degree of comfort, however little, in the cramped and limited space of a
+crowded ship.
+
+A perfect calm, a smooth sea, and a but-slightly-clouded sky,
+prognosticated fair weather, and promised leisure to complete those
+arrangements which had been left undone. The steamer _Sta. Lucia_
+performed her task of towing the two vessels most satisfactorily, and,
+favoured by the prevailing currents of wind and water, we made five miles
+an hour, and came, on the day of departure, in sight of the promontory of
+Pola.
+
+The passage down the Adriatic was on the whole most pleasant, with the
+exception of some showers of rain near the heights of Isola Grossa; which,
+however, on this occasion saluted us only with a slight puff of wind. The
+ship moved so gently and quietly on her way, that those occupying the
+lower cabins could scarcely have fancied themselves at sea, had they not
+been made aware of it by other impressions.
+
+On the 1st of May, the crew became highly excited by a man being missed,
+when the morning watch was called. Some thought he had, from fear of a
+slight punishment hanging over him, jumped overboard, but as nothing of
+the kind had been observed by the watch on deck, every corner was
+searched, but without success, upon which the man was given over as lost.
+When, however, the dinner hour arrived, and the tables and benches were
+being removed from the lower deck, how great was the surprise, when the
+culprit was discovered crouching among them! A peal of laughter roused the
+poor fellow, who this time was let off with the fright and the punishment
+of being made an object of ridicule by his comrades.
+
+On the 3rd of May, being clear of the Adriatic, the steamer _Sta. Lucia_
+was at midnight despatched to Corfu to complete her store of coal, whilst
+we sailed for Cape Spartivento, on the Calabrian coast, which had been
+assigned as our _rendezvous_. On the 5th, we sighted this the most
+southerly promontory of Italy, when, in consequence of a fresh breeze, the
+sea began to make itself rather disagreeably felt. The novices on board
+became somewhat alarmed. A feeble voice was even heard, which endeavoured
+to prove from this phenomenon that man is a creature made for _terra
+firma_, and not for the watery element; but this excellent idea came
+rather late; mankind are obliged to submit to existing circumstances, and
+this thought alone held out some hope, that a longer stay on board would
+prove the best cure for the evil. Such indeed was the case; though pale
+faces, want of appetite, and even worse effects, were produced, whenever
+the ship made a heavier roll than usual. But these slight inconveniences
+of sea life became rarer and rarer, till at last they appeared only in
+really stiff gales. On the 7th the steamer _Sta. Lucia_ returned and took
+us again in tow.
+
+The weather during our passage through the charming straits of Messina
+was delightful. The colossal Etna exhibited in all its glory its
+snow-capped summit, gilded by the rays of the rising sun, and Messina
+shone with all the attractions of its splendid situation. The coast of
+this part of Italy is mostly bare and rugged, the broken outlines of the
+mountains imparting to the landscape that characteristic peculiarity which
+makes so deep an impression on the mind. We passed the famous Charybdis,
+in which a multitude of dolphins were disporting themselves. The
+neighbouring coast formed a brilliant panorama, and we kept so close in
+shore as to be able to distinguish the movements of the people. The
+appearance of our three goodly ships seemed to have attracted the
+attention of the inhabitants, for they stood in groups in the streets and
+squares of Reggio and Villa San Giovanni, saluting us by waving their
+handkerchiefs. When towards the evening we had passed the straits, we
+could descry the Neapolitan coast as far as Monte Bulgario, in the Bay of
+Policastro, and distinguish the imposing Stromboli, with its volume of
+smoke, far on the Western horizon.
+
+The following morning found us in sight of the small island of Alicudi,
+situated on the north of Sicily. The estimable captain of the _Lucia_ came
+on board to take leave, on his return to Trieste. The steamer, being
+relieved of her burden, made her way briskly towards her destination; and,
+before an hour had elapsed, we could perceive nothing but a small streak
+of smoke in the haze of the horizon.
+
+With light breezes, we came, on the following day, in sight of the island
+of Ustica. Sea-gulls (_Thalassidroma pelagica_) enlivened the scene, as
+they, from time to time, flew after the garbage thrown from the ship, or
+sought for sea-nettles and other small inhabitants of the sea's surface.
+These birds much resemble our land swallows, and their movements are so
+graceful, that one cannot but admire them, especially when they lightly
+touch the agitated water with their little webbed feet, and directly, as
+if repelled, withdraw. The muscular power of these feathered creatures is
+truly wonderful; they follow the ship for entire days continually on the
+wing, ever on the watch to snatch at the little food which the sea seems
+but scantily to supply to them.
+
+[Illustration: "PALINURUS".]
+
+Whilst we were passing down the Mediterranean, a great deal of time was
+employed in drawing up regulations, and in digesting all those
+instructions which had reached the Commander of the Expedition from all
+sides, and by which we were to be guided in our future proceedings.
+
+The scientific gentlemen were the first who received certain rules for
+their guidance; for, life on board a ship, and especially of a man-of-war,
+is so entirely different from that on shore,--the etiquette and usages
+practised appear, to those unused to the sea, so vexatious and annoying,
+that it was absolutely necessary to inform them of the regulations which
+are essential in order to keep so singular an organization as that of a
+ship at sea in working order. Erelong every one perceived, that the
+matutinal annoyance of holystoning the decks, the daily cleaning of
+everything on board, &c., are measures of importance, which contribute
+materially to the preservation of the health of the crew, and that a
+strict observance of discipline is absolutely necessary to exercise their
+powers, and thus to fit them for all eventualities.
+
+For the better accommodation of the naturalists, a place on the lower
+gun-deck was fitted up for those operations which, on account of the
+limited space and noxious exhalations, could not well be performed in the
+cabins.
+
+We had a large quantity of alcohol on board, destined for the preservation
+of interesting objects of natural history. In order to prevent any
+calamity by fire arising therefrom, the whole quantity was put in a large
+iron tank placed in the hold, and covered over with sand. It will,
+however, be seen in the sequel, that even this precaution proved
+insufficient to protect the ship from the ignition of this
+highly-combustible substance.
+
+The meteorological observations, and those connected with the physical
+geography of the sea, were entrusted to four officers, who, like those
+attached to the watches, had alternately to be at their posts, and had, at
+prescribed hours, to observe the barometer, thermometer, and psychrometer,
+as well as the temperature of the surface of the sea, the state of the sky
+and the ocean, and to note down the obtained results. One of the junior
+officers was intrusted with the nautical observations on shipboard, as
+well as the astronomical and magnetical on shore.
+
+The midshipmen were at the same time trained by study and practice, so as
+to enable them to assist the officers in their duties. Besides the men on
+the look-out, one of the midshipmen was employed on the same service. In
+stormy nights, when the wind is howling, and rain or snow falling, this
+post is certainly not very pleasant, but is, as may readily be imagined,
+most important.
+
+Life in the limited space of a ship, completely cut off from the external
+world, is so peculiar and interesting to those unacquainted with the sea,
+that we will endeavour to describe a day passed on board the _Novara_,
+from the instant when at daybreak the bustle and activity begin, till the
+late hour when night reminds one of repose, those sweet moments which
+carry the voyager to his distant home on the wings of a dream.
+
+As the sonorous bell strikes the fifth hour of the morning, the crew are
+called on deck by the boatswain's whistle, the hammocks are slung up and
+stowed away, and the work begins.
+
+This is the busiest time of the day, and for the mere spectator the most
+uncomfortable. On all sides scouring, rubbing, sweeping are going on,
+floods of water are streaming along the decks, and he who is not as yet
+familiar with these cleaning processes, runs some risk of a ducking as
+soon as he makes his appearance outside his cabin. These morning ablutions
+are, however, indispensable evils on board ship, for cleanliness is a
+condition essential to the preservation of health, and even the quantity
+of humidity which penetrates the timber, and renders the air damp, appears
+to be less injurious than the omission of these daily scourings.
+
+When the cleaning of the various parts of the ship is finished, the
+idlers, and such of the officers as are off duty, appear on deck, whither
+people come to enjoy the fresh air, and to greet the opening day. It may,
+however, be permitted to observe, that a sunrise at sea, notwithstanding
+its various charms, is by far less imposing than the same scene on a lofty
+mountain, where the veil of night seems to vanish as if by magic, and
+luxuriant nature lies at our feet like a smiling infant awaking from a
+lovely dream. That wild majesty of scenery, that overpowering grandeur of
+gigantic mountain forms, such as one sees in the Swiss or Tyrolese Alps,
+is wanting at sea, where the rising sun pours his beams only over a
+boundless world of water.
+
+The sailors breakfast at 7, the officers at 8, and the Commander at 9. At
+the latter hour the bugle sounds the order to "clear the ship," when the
+cleaning of arms, guns, and all other articles of metal connected with the
+ship's armoury, begins. During this process the band plays cheerful airs,
+so that the work is done whilst keeping time with the music, which serves
+to lighten the labour. This duty requires to be completed within
+forty-five minutes, and terminates with an inspection of the men and their
+arms.
+
+This being over, officers and midshipmen off duty assemble together with
+the naturalists in the reading-room. Most of the books in the library
+referred to those countries likely to be visited by the Expedition, so
+that every one might previously obtain useful information relative to
+their physical, historical, and social conditions.
+
+The naturalists employ the greater part of the day in their cabins, noting
+down their observations, and preparing for those to be made in the course
+of the voyage. The crew are kept in activity by being drilled and
+otherwise occupied.
+
+The men dine at 12; the dinner of the officers is served up at 3, and that
+of the Commodore at half-past 3 o'clock P.M. The remainder of the
+afternoon is spent in prosecuting the labours begun in the morning. Thus
+steals on the evening, when a general assemblage takes place on deck, for
+air and exercise.
+
+[Illustration: SEAMEN OFF DUTY.]
+
+The occurrences of the day, the sunset, the curious formation of the
+clouds, or the bewitching beauty of a brilliant tropical sky at night,
+form interesting topics for lively discussion. It is, however, rather
+daring to institute a comparison between the splendour of the sky in the
+tropics and that of our higher latitudes. For, most men become more or
+less unjust towards the beauties of a new and foreign natural scenery, in
+consequence of their not being able to divest themselves of former
+impressions produced in them by phenomena of a similar nature. What
+impressions are, for instance, deeper in young and old, and excite more
+delightful recollections than the starry sky of home? And can it be
+disputed that the association of ideas has a most powerful effect upon
+the impressions made by those phenomena of nature which are so peculiarly
+attractive and so deeply fixed in the human mind?
+
+The conversation generally becomes more lively on those evenings when the
+moon, placid friend of the sailor, appears on the distant horizon,
+shedding her silvery beams over the unbroken expanse of water. The
+influence which she exercises on the state of the weather, even the
+prejudices and superstitions connected with our satellite, offer subjects
+of interesting debate; involuntarily the mariner looks with grateful
+feelings towards that heavenly luminary, the mild soothing light of which
+diminishes the number of his anxious nights, protects him in present,
+warns him of remote dangers, and influences so powerfully that vast
+element on which he passes the greater part of his life. Indeed he who has
+ever spent a dark and stormy night on the ocean, when the ship, lashed by
+the fury of the waves, and borne resistlessly along, stands in constant
+peril of coming in violent collision with a vessel similarly
+circumstanced, or of being dashed to pieces on some iron-bound coast of
+rugged rock, easily comprehends and will excuse the sailor who ascribes to
+the moonlight somewhat of a supernatural and mysterious power.
+
+In this manner, and notwithstanding the continued sameness, days and
+months glide away like hours, until we again cast anchor, and only the
+work accomplished gives an idea of the length of time which has been
+passed at sea.
+
+Sunday alone breaks the monotony of life on board, when, after the diurnal
+cleaning of the ship, and the inspection of the crew, the officers, and
+all the men who are not on duty, assemble for divine service on the lower
+gun-deck, where the chaplain says mass on a temporary altar, whilst the
+ship's band performs sacred music. In the afternoon the men off duty amuse
+themselves for a couple of hours with the "_tombola_," a game much liked
+by our sailors. Between 6 and 7 P.M. the band plays on deck, whilst the
+sailors are cutting grotesque figures to the music. The singular capers by
+which all evince their happiness; the good-humoured awkwardness with which
+each clings to the brawny arm of his companion; the mock graceful air
+those who enact the gentler sex assume in the dance, and, finally, the
+affected attitude with which the cavaliers bow to their partners as if
+they really were of the gentler sex--all this is most ludicrous and
+amusing. The playing the national dance "Monferina" always elicits a
+particularly hearty reception. There is a peculiar charm in national
+melodies, even though they awaken no political reminiscences like the
+Marseillaise, or the Rakoczy; they electrify alike the educated and the
+men of the people; a thousand pleasing recollections suddenly crowd into
+the memory, and when the well-known tunes strike the ear, the heart seems
+to live again in bygone times! As if touched by magic, the sailor from the
+Adriatic, as soon as the Monferina is struck up, seizes his neighbour by
+the arm with a noisy shout and hurls him about in wild hilarity; his
+thoughts seem as if flying towards his distant home, where, in the country
+inn, with a buxom lass on his shoulder, he has waltzed away many a happy
+hour. The whole village, with all its familiar faces, seems to revive in
+his memory during the playing of the melody,--now he fills his glass; now
+he clinks it merrily with that of his companion; now he presses his
+sweetheart more closely to his side: Lo! suddenly a shrill whistle pierces
+the air, the music ceases, the call is heard "to fall in," and the yet
+dance-stricken sailor, suddenly, as if awakening from a sweet reverie, is
+once more standing on the deck of the _Novara_!
+
+The frigate, in the Mediterranean also, maintained her superiority as a
+sailer. The corvette _Caroline_ was able to keep the prescribed distance
+from the _Novara_ only by the latter reefing some of her sails. As some
+magnetic observations were to be made at Gibraltar, and, as we had to
+ascertain the results of the various chronometers on board, on the 12th of
+May we signalled the corvette to take her own time and rejoin us at
+Gibraltar, as we were anxious to avoid unnecessary detention.
+
+The acquisitions of the naturalists had, as yet, been very scanty: to
+their great annoyance they could not even obtain any of the tortoises,
+which, from time to time, approached the ship, though they were repeatedly
+fired at, and on one occasion a boat was launched, in the hope of catching
+some of them. The specimens which we saw were from fifteen to twenty
+inches in diameter; they mostly floated quietly on the surface, and seemed
+sleeping or basking themselves in the sun.
+
+The night of the 16th May was exceedingly boisterous, and almost tangible
+darkness prevailed; thunder, lightning, and occasionally strong easterly
+squalls, raged furiously, and only subsided towards the morning, when it
+cleared up with fresh southerly breezes. Not being far from Cape de Gatt,
+on the Spanish coast, prudence required us to change course, and, during
+the continuance of stormy weather, to keep at a respectful distance from
+the shore. Here a merchantman, apparently an American, bore down so close
+upon us, that, in the darkness, an unpleasant collision seemed
+unavoidable. However, we tacked about, and thus, fortunately avoiding our
+dangerous neighbour, safely proceeded on our course.
+
+It is truly astonishing how often merchantmen, entirely forgetful of their
+own safety, from want of caution, or presumption, or it would occasionally
+seem, sheerly from acting upon peculiar and abnormal principles of
+navigation, wantonly expose ship, men, and cargo to many dangers, which
+might easily be avoided, particularly in cases where no tacking is
+required, and only a slight touch of the rudder would suffice to prevent a
+collision, which is always attended with danger to the smaller ship. In
+this respect the North Americans are very unpleasant neighbours on account
+of their national vanity, and the Dutch for their phlegmatic temperament
+and the indifference they evince on such occasions.
+
+On the 18th of May, the small rocky island of Alboran, in the narrow part
+of the sea between Africa and Spain, was observed; being flat and without
+vegetation, it is scarcely perceptible, and the land-fall during the night
+should be carefully avoided. The erection of a lighthouse on this island
+would certainly be regarded as a great boon by all who navigate the
+Mediterranean.
+
+On the 19th of May, the sea suddenly assumed a peculiar orange colour; a
+dust-like covering was observed on the surface of the water, and at some
+depth white points might be seen, mingling with each other in the wake of
+the ship. Clouds of this orange-like matter appeared spread upon the sea,
+which thereby lost its usual transparency. On closer examination this
+phenomenon appeared to arise from a mass consisting of myriads of minute
+animalculæ, which had a yellow opaque kernel, the gelatinous covering of
+which was transparent and colourless. A quantity of sea-water impregnated
+with this matter, having been brought into a dark room, gave out a light,
+and when agitated, such brightness proceeded from it, as justified the
+anticipation that, during the night, the whole sea would be illuminated.
+Accordingly the wake of the ship was illuminated by a wonderful stream of
+light, in the depths of which larger masses of luminous matter could be
+discerned, whilst on the surface there was a sparkling and glittering, as
+if all the stars of the firmament were reflected in the water.
+
+This phosphorescence of the sea, for the explanation of which we are
+chiefly indebted to Professor Ehrenberg, proceeds for the most part from
+the emanations of light from molluscæ of the genus _Medusa_, and other
+living phosphoric animalculæ; sometimes, however, as for instance in
+Venice, it arises from the putrescent fibres of decayed molluscæ, and
+other organisms in a state of decomposition.
+
+On the evening of the 20th the splendid Ceuta Light was seen, which, even
+at a distance of twenty miles, looks as if it were quite near. This
+lighthouse is of the utmost importance to ships emerging into the Atlantic
+from the Mediterranean, as the current is exceedingly powerful, and during
+the night is apt imperceptibly to carry a vessel out of her course. On the
+morning of the 21st, the ship lay in a calm before the rock of Gibraltar.
+Barren, gray, and gloomy rose now before our sight this rocky,
+gun-studded, colossal sentinel of that vigilantly-prudent, energetic, and
+jealous Power, which is so constantly seeking to extend her rule wherever
+her own interests are concerned, or where she thinks it advisable to make
+herself respected by other nations.
+
+A light breeze sprang up, and at half-past 3 P.M. the anchorage, eleven
+and a half fathoms in depth, was reached. The frigate now lay in front of
+the Alameda or public gardens of Gibraltar, situated near the town gate,
+called the Ragged Staff. This anchorage is tolerably safe at this season,
+but in autumn and winter, as well as generally in strong easterly winds,
+it is not to be recommended, it being preferable to haul further in
+towards the place where the merchant-vessels usually lie. We saluted the
+English flag on the fortress with twenty-one guns, which were immediately
+answered from the ramparts. There were no English men-of-war in the Roads,
+except the sloop _Curlew_, Capt. Horton. The following morning our
+consort, the _Caroline_, anchored in our vicinity.
+
+The first day of the arrival of a man-of-war in harbour is attended with
+much inconvenience, particularly if she carries the flag of the
+Commodore, or it happens that the mail packets are arriving or departing,
+or that there are many ships of war in the Roads. The latter was not now
+the case, but so many visitors, letters, and newspapers arrived at once,
+that neither the one nor the other could be thoroughly enjoyed.
+
+The local authorities, the governor, Sir James Fergusson, at their head,
+were extremely obliging and attentive; Mr. Falkland, an officer of the
+Engineers, was placed at our disposal; a specially-reserved site was
+assigned us for astronomical and magnetical observations; huts were
+erected by the workmen of the arsenal for the protection of the
+instruments, and in short everything, calculated to promote scientific
+labours, was provided. The Chancellor of the Austrian Consulate, Mr. John
+Frembly, himself a geologist, proved likewise to be of great service to
+our scientific men: and it was considered a fortunate omen to have found,
+at this our first anchorage, so much sympathy with the objects of the
+Expedition.
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF GIBRALTAR FROM SEAWARD.]
+
+[Illustration: ROCK OF GIBRALTAR.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 III.
+
+                              Gibraltar.
+
+             STAY FROM THE 20TH TO THE 30TH MAY, 1857.
+
+   Political Significance of the Rock.--Courtesy of the British
+     Authorities.--Fortifications.--Signal Stations.--The only
+     place in Europe frequented by Monkeys.--Calcareous Caves.--
+     Chief Entrances into the Town.--Shutting the Town Gates.--
+     Public Establishments.--Inhabitants.--Elliott's Gardens.--The
+     Isthmus, or Neutral Ground.--Algeziras.--Ceuta.--Commerce and
+     Navigation.--Excellent regulation in the English Navy relative
+     to Officers' Outfit.--Small-pox appears on Board the
+     _Caroline_.--Departure from Gibraltar.--A Fata Morgana.--The
+     _Novara_ passes the Straits.--Take leave of Europe.--Voyage to
+     Madeira.--Floating Bottles to ascertain the Currents.--Arrival
+     in the Roads of Funchal.
+
+
+This remarkable promontory, which in our days has obtained so much
+political importance, the Calpe of the ancients, constituted of old, with
+the opposite Abyla,[7] the so-called pillars of Hercules, celebrated, at
+the same time, as the boundary of the then-known world. It derives its
+name from the corrupted Arabic _Gebel_ (mountain) and _Tarik_, the name of
+a Moorish conqueror, who had pitched his camp here (A.D. 711). Like a
+colossal giant, guarding the portal of Europe, and converted, by the
+energy and ingenuity of the British, into an almost impregnable outpost,
+this precipitous rock has, as regards the Mediterranean, the same high
+strategic importance for that great maritime people, as Heligoland for the
+German Ocean, Aden for the Red Sea, Ceylon and Singapore for the Indian
+Archipelago, Hongkong for the Chinese waters, or the Cape and St. Helena
+for the Atlantic Ocean.
+
+[Footnote 7: The present Apes Hill.]
+
+Gibraltar was already strongly fortified, when it belonged to the
+Andalusian kingdom, but its grandest fortifications date from the treaty
+of Utrecht (1713), when it became an appanage of the British crown.
+Stupendous and incomparable are the works which since that period have
+been executed on it, though the calcareous formation of the locality and
+its numerous caves may have considerably facilitated their construction.
+
+The English authorities, who so kindly assisted in the scientific
+researches, obligingly furnished each individual of the frigate's staff
+with a written permission to inspect the fortifications as often as they
+pleased, and thereby afforded them the particular gratification of being
+able to view and admire these vast structures in all their details.
+
+Excellent and well-kept roads lead to the principal fortifications, which
+only begin at an elevation of several hundred feet above the town. The
+galleries, hewn in the solid rock, forming a kind of casemates, are of
+such breadth and height that they may be conveniently traversed by a man
+on horseback with his hat on. They have been constructed at an immense
+expense of labour and money, and are designated by various names, as
+"Upper gallery," "Lower gallery," "Queen's gallery," "St. George's Hall,"
+and so on. Their extent is estimated at an English mile, but is probably
+much greater. Besides these galleries, passages run for miles in the
+interior of the rock, affording the garrison a thoroughly-protected
+connection with all points that may chance to be threatened.
+
+The grandest and most imposing of these marvellous excavations are the
+"Queen's gallery" and "St. George's Hall." According to carved
+inscriptions, most of them were begun and completed between the years 1783
+and 1789. At the period of our visit, there were mounted on the different
+fortifications 707 guns, about one hundred of which peeped out of the
+smaller embrasures. Since that date, however, the number is said to have
+been increased so as to amount now to about 1500.
+
+During the stay of the _Novara_, it fortunately happened that the birthday
+of Queen Victoria was celebrated, and thus an opportunity was offered of
+seeing the fiery mountain in full activity. Though the occasion was
+peaceable, yet the imposing spectacle gave a tolerable idea of the
+elements of destruction which Gibraltar could put in action if really
+attacked. The governor of the fortress, surrounded by a brilliant staff,
+in which the Spanish governor of Algeziras and his officers played but a
+sorry part, reviewed the garrison, consisting of infantry, cavalry, and
+artillery, to the number of from 5000 to 6000 men; and whilst the troops
+defiled in slow and quick step, lightnings and thunders issued from all
+the crevices and embrasures of the artificially-perforated rock; huge
+volumes of dense smoke followed, and a rolling subterraneous rumbling gave
+the mountain exactly the character of a volcano suddenly burst into
+action. The echo of these salvoes of rejoicing must have been heard, not
+only in the adjacent parts of Spain, but also on the more remote coast of
+Africa; and he who was ignorant of the real cause, might have supposed it
+a grand rehearsal of that fearful tragedy which the English seem
+determined to perform in the event of an attack. The supposition, however,
+that the guns of Gibraltar are able entirely to command the Straits is
+erroneous, for these, at their narrowest part, are 12-1/2 miles wide, and
+not even the Armstrong guns, with which the fortress has lately been
+furnished, have so extensive a range. The English are, however, able to
+command the Straits by a fleet, which would find in the Bay of Gibraltar a
+sufficiently safe and roomy anchorage.
+
+From the fortifications, a narrow and rather steep path leads to the
+telegraph station, at an elevation of 1300 feet above the level of the
+sea. Steamers and men-of-war, as soon as visible, are signalled from this
+point by means of immense balls and flags. It would be very difficult to
+signal merchantmen in the same way, as, during a prevailing westerly wind,
+multitudes of ships often appear to the eastward of the rock, anxiously
+waiting for a favourable easterly breeze to carry them through the
+Straits; in the same way the westerly horizon is sometimes crowded with
+ships, prevented by contrary winds from entering the Mediterranean.
+
+We found at the station an Aneroid-barometer, and a thermometer. The
+advantages for navigation and physical science of extensive meteorological
+observations, regularly made, are so evident, that it is astonishing to
+see how often opportunities are neglected for making them, such as are
+offered here.
+
+There was no opportunity for seeing any of those families of monkeys, the
+occasional appearance of which on the Rock of Gibraltar has given rise to
+tales found in books of travel of the existence of a submarine
+communication, through which this single representative of the genus in
+Europe has found its way to this rock from Africa. Sometimes, however,
+during easterly winds, single individuals are observed on the highest
+peaks on the eastern side of the rock, where it is completely
+inaccessible; probably the remnants of that species (_Inuus ecaudatus_),
+which at some former time, either by chance, or human agency, have found
+their way hither from the Moorish coast.
+
+The calcareous caves are very remarkable. That on the western side, called
+St. Michael's, situated at a height of 800 feet, is the most important. It
+contains beautiful stalactite formations, and seems to be of considerable
+extent; it has, however, not been closely examined hitherto, as only a
+small part is conveniently accessible. St. Martin's Cave, on the
+south-east, likewise about 800 feet above the level of the sea, is
+smaller, but its stalactites are of a purer whiteness. A third was
+discovered a few years since on the eastern side of the rock at a height
+of only 80 feet, the lower portion of which consists of accumulations of
+sand and recent shells. There have also been found bones and teeth of
+large herbivorous animals.
+
+[Illustration: ROCK CAVERN IN GIBRALTAR.]
+
+The characteristic vegetation of the mountain is Spanish broom (_Spartium
+junceum_), the yellow blossom of which strikes the eye pleasingly at a
+great distance. There is also one species of cactus, and one of the dwarf
+palm (_Opuntia vulgaris_, and _Chamærops humilis_), which grows in great
+abundance, and forms, on the south face of the rock, almost the only
+vegetation, whilst, on account of difference of temperature, it is
+altogether absent on the remaining sides.
+
+Gibraltar has little to attract strangers to settle; barracks, military
+store-houses, and fortifications, render the appearance of the place
+peculiarly monotonous, the more so that there are no elegant buildings, or
+fine shops, on the rock. There was nothing observed, however, to confirm
+the statement, in a celebrated geographical work, copied by all later
+compilers, that "most of the houses are painted black, to soften the glare
+of the sun, and prevent an attacking enemy having a distinct view of the
+place." The town, which is built in terraces on the side of the rock, is
+accessible only from three points. The greatest portion of the traffic
+passes through the so-called Old Mole at the north end, whilst the
+entrances on the south are generally used by men-of-war sailors only. All
+are opened at 5 in the morning, and, according to the season, shut between
+7 and 8 in the evening, precisely twenty-five minutes after the first
+signal-gun. This closing of the gate is attended with ceremonies verging
+on the comic. A broad-shouldered corporal, carrying in his hand a heavy
+bunch of immense keys, marches, visibly impressed with the importance of
+his mission, in measured steps, accompanied by a number of red jackets
+with fixed bayonets, towards the massive town-gate; the bridge is then,
+with much ado, drawn up, and the horribly-creaking gate, with great
+exertion, closed, bolted, and finally locked. After "gun fire" no one can
+leave the town by the Old Mole; at 10 P.M., however, and at midnight, a
+little postern is opened, through which those jolly stragglers, who have
+forgotten in merry company the measure of time, may slip out to return to
+their floating abodes. From this hour till morning all communication with
+the harbour is arrested, and the utter impossibility (except in
+extraordinary cases) of leaving the town _after_ this hour, has given rise
+amongst the people to the saying, "There is only _one_ thing more
+difficult than to get _out_ of the town after midnight, and that is to get
+_in_."
+
+There are in the city two Anglican churches, one Wesleyan, one
+Presbyterian, two Catholic chapels, and two synagogues. The garrison
+library, where likewise a great number of journals and magazines are kept,
+possesses 22,000 volumes, amongst them several very rare and costly works,
+especially of ancient Spanish literature. It was founded in 1793 by
+Captain Drinkwater, and has been hitherto kept up by private subscriptions
+and the profits arising from a printing-establishment attached to it.
+
+Gibraltar owes to the energy and public spirit of the governor, Sir James
+Fergusson, the foundation of several important establishments and
+undertakings. Since the beginning of his administration in 1856, the
+number of public schools has been considerably increased, the town
+supplied with gas, and well-arranged public baths established.
+
+The city does not possess a single well or spring; the water used is
+obtained from tanks, in which the rain is collected. The quantity of rain
+that fell during the twelve months of 1855 amounted to 78 inches; in 1856,
+it is said to have been only 24 inches. Nevertheless, there is at no time
+any scarcity of water. The Government have lately caused the erection of
+a distilling apparatus for making sea-water fit for domestic purposes,
+which, however, hitherto has not been used.
+
+The population of Gibraltar, including the garrison of 6000 men, amounts
+to about 20,000 souls, consisting of Spaniards, English, Italians (mostly
+Genoese), Portuguese, Moors, Turks, Greeks, and Jews; indeed, a mixture of
+races, customs, and manners such as scarcely can be found at any other
+place in Europe. The native residents call Gibraltar briefly _the rock_,
+and themselves, with a kind of pseudo-patriotism, _rock people_, though by
+the officers of the garrison and navy generally complimented with the name
+of "rock-scorpions."
+
+The permanent settling of foreigners, in consequence of its being a
+fortress, requires a number of formalities, which have the effect of
+limiting the population; and even the English portion must be considered
+migratory, as it consists chiefly of military and government officers,
+who, after the lapse of certain intervals, exchange in regular order.
+
+The only really beautiful walk in the place is Elliott's Gardens, situated
+at the south end of the town, laid out in a grand style, but disfigured by
+a tasteless bronze statue of General Elliott (afterwards Lord Heathfield),
+the heroic defender of Gibraltar in 1782. In the evenings, when one of the
+military bands is performing, the grounds are thronged by visitors on
+foot, horseback, and in carriages, whilst loving couples, of all races and
+grades, ramble in happy union through the shady avenues.
+
+Near the gardens, towards the south, is a second quarter of the city,
+which mostly consists of government buildings. On the lowest terrace,
+which juts furthest into the sea, stands the lighthouse, on the celebrated
+"Europa Point."
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH GATE, GIBRALTAR.]
+
+Gibraltar is connected with the Spanish continent by a sandy neck of land,
+called by the Spaniards _El Istmo_, and by the English "the neutral
+ground." It runs between the Mediterranean and the bay, one mile and a
+half in length and 2700 feet in breadth. This plain, which is not more
+than 10 feet above the water, owes its origin to the formation of a dune
+in the rocky bed of the ocean. Strong easterly gales seem by degrees to
+have accumulated the sand on this shallow run of the sea, which formerly
+separated Gibraltar from Spain.
+
+A similar sand formation, near Catalan Bay, has attained the enormous
+height of 1000 feet. The Government have caused a portion of the sand, at
+the point where the isthmus joins the rock, to be excavated, and the water
+of the bay to be let in, so that there only remains a narrow low dyke of
+firm ground, which probably in time of war may be completely submerged.
+The stagnant water of this cut must, however, during the hot season,
+considerably increase the amount of fever.
+
+From May till October the troops are encamped under tents on this isthmus,
+along which the neighbouring Spaniards come to market daily in crowds,
+with provisions of all kinds, displaying their rancour against the foreign
+intruders by endeavouring to make them pay the highest possible price for
+their produce.
+
+The adjacent Spanish settlements, Campamiento and St. Roque, are much
+resorted to by excursionists from Gibraltar, and, during the summer, are
+selected by numerous families for even a longer stay; for however little
+pleasure or interest a ride over this arid and sandy plain affords, once
+arrived at Campamiento, the rider enjoys a most charming prospect, while
+there is probably no other point from which the isolated rock appears more
+grand or picturesque than from this neat little village.
+
+In following the road that runs from Campamiento along the bay, the
+charming little town of Algeziras is reached. It lies on the western
+shore, exactly opposite Gibraltar, with which it is in regular
+correspondence by daily steamers.
+
+Algeziras, formerly a poor fishing-village, has greatly increased in
+extent and prosperity, through the smuggling trade. This clean and
+pretty-looking place has a population of 10,000 souls, and makes by
+contrast an extremely pleasant impression on coming from the dismal and
+gloomy fortress. Men and things here have quite an Andalusian appearance.
+The small but neat one-storied houses are mostly painted a bright white,
+and ornamented with green verandahs; at almost every window beautiful
+flowers are exhibited; and the public promenade, shaded by fine trees, is
+delightful. The principal square is likewise planted with trees, and the
+lower stories of its houses are occupied by apothecaries' shops,
+coffee-rooms, confectioners, and one by a bookseller even. The churches
+appear in every respect insignificant; the hospital of San Juan de Dios,
+however, is an ancient and noble structure, the management of which is
+admirable. One of the arrangements here was eminently characteristic of
+Spain: in the ward for male patients stands at the upper end, by the side
+of the beds for common patients, a large, broad, elegantly-polished
+bedstead, which, the porter told us, was intended for "_caballeros_."
+
+At a short distance from the town is the Amphitheatre Constantia, a large
+wooden booth, said to hold nearly 9000 spectators. It is chiefly used for
+bull-fights, which always attract a large audience. The aqueduct here,
+taken with the fine scenery around, forms an exceedingly picturesque
+object.
+
+The inhabitants of Gibraltar sometimes make excursions to the peninsula of
+Ceuta (the Sebta of the Moors), situated on the opposite coast of Africa.
+The lighthouse of this little promontory has been lately furnished with a
+Fresnel apparatus, throwing out a most intense light, which is visible at
+a greater distance than any other observed during our voyage. This place,
+which is used by the Spaniards as a penal settlement, numbers 6500
+inhabitants, and has a very indifferent harbour. The "rock people" also
+occasionally make excursions to Tangier, the most westerly town of the
+strait, and the most important as regards the commerce of Morocco.
+
+A great number of steamers on their various routes touch at Gibraltar, for
+discharging and embarking freight and passengers, and to coal. The
+quantity of the latter thus shipped is estimated at 30,000 tons annually,
+all imported from England. There is also a regular correspondence by
+sailing vessels with all the leading Italian ports, and those of the
+Levant, as well as with Constantinople, Corfu, and Trieste.
+
+Gibraltar being a free port, there are no customs' dues, except those on
+wines and spirits. All flags enjoy equal privileges, and in all disputes
+the English law decides. It is impossible to obtain a satisfactory
+statement of the amount of imports and exports, as no Custom-house exists,
+and the official reports merely give the number and nationality of the
+flags of the ships that arrive and depart. Smuggling is carried on to a
+great extent, and, being a lucrative trade, will continue to be so, as
+long as Spain retains her prohibitory duties on English goods.
+
+The principal items of commerce in Gibraltar are English cotton goods,
+which are exported to Barbary in considerable quantities. To compete
+successfully with the English in this branch of trade would be very
+difficult for any other nation; but there are a great number of other
+articles which might find a ready sale on the African coast, and which are
+produced cheaper in several States of the European continent than in
+England; a consideration of so much the more importance in trading with
+the Moors, that these people regard lowness of price rather than the
+quality of the goods.
+
+For this very reason, small but industrious Belgium has become a powerful
+competitor of mighty England. Thus, for instance, that country exports to
+Morocco, by way of Gibraltar, sugar, both in loaves and crushed,[8]
+hardware and cutlery, nails and screws, zinc, as well as all sorts of
+earthenware and glass. A portion of these articles goes into the
+neighbouring Spanish provinces.
+
+[Footnote 8: The superior quality and cheapness of Belgian sugars have of
+late in a great measure driven all others out of the market. It is also
+worthy of remark, that though Gibraltar is a British colony, all the
+accounts are kept in Spanish currency, and that there are more Spanish and
+French coins in circulation than English, which, when changed, even
+sustain a small loss. The Spanish measures and weights also are more in
+use than the English.]
+
+It is rather singular that the Belgian glass goods are in Gibraltar
+represented as of _German_ manufacture, and thereby obtain a readier sale.
+This seems to be a proof that German (_i. e._ Bohemian) glass articles
+have been patronized before the Belgian, and lost the market only through
+the importation of the latter.
+
+The intercourse between Gibraltar and Spain is carried on by coasting
+vessels, and by French as well as Spanish steamers, while the postal
+communication with Great Britain is conducted by the Peninsular and
+Oriental Steam Packet Company.
+
+Correspondence with Spain and other parts of the Continent is carried on
+overland, but is little to be relied upon, as, owing to the horrible
+condition of the Spanish roads, a delay of from six to eight days
+sometimes occurs in bad weather. Between Gibraltar and Cadiz, a distance
+of only sixty English miles, the letter-bag is said to have often been six
+days on its way.
+
+The narrative of our stay at Gibraltar would be defective if we omitted
+mention of the numerous proofs of hospitality we experienced on all sides.
+Invitations were repeatedly received from the Convent (Government House),
+as well as from private families, and everywhere we experienced the most
+cordial reception.
+
+We must in particular mention a visit paid to Captain Warden, the
+superintendent of the station and arsenal, as it afforded an opportunity
+of becoming acquainted with a feature in the English naval service, as
+practical as it is worthy of imitation. The superintendent of the arsenal
+inhabits a beautiful roomy house, belonging to the Government, situated in
+a large garden, well planted with splendid plane-trees, laurel, and
+orange-trees, and ornamented with most beautiful and odoriferous flowers.
+As a superintendent's income would not admit the outlay necessary properly
+to furnish so large an edifice, this is done by contractors, who let out
+the furniture at the rate of five per cent. annually on the value. This
+sum is deducted monthly from the pay. The same system is also adopted on
+board English men-of-war. The cabins of the officers are there furnished
+and provided with all the requisite comforts by contractors under the
+superintendence of the Admiralty. The value of each article is marked in a
+printed list deposited with the authorities. The captain pays a yearly
+rate of five per cent. on the valuation, and binds himself besides, in the
+event of the ship's being paid off, or of being appointed to another
+vessel, to return in good condition all the articles specified, and pay
+the value noted in the list for everything missing. This agreement is
+registered at the Admiralty, and the contractor receives the amount
+monthly. The advantage of such an arrangement to the commander of a ship
+will be more fully appreciated by those who, from personal experience, are
+aware of the expense attending an outfit, and the great loss which an
+officer transferred from one ship to another suffers through a sudden and
+forced sale of his property. The commander of a ship is moreover often not
+in a condition to spend for his personal outfit a sum of perhaps a
+thousand pounds sterling, but he can conveniently pay annually from £40 to
+£50 for the hire in monthly instalments; and it thus becomes easier for
+him to maintain the appearance due to his position.
+
+The commander and officers of the _Caroline_, which, after an absence
+since the 12th of May, had rejoined us on the 23rd, were, like ourselves,
+received in the kindest manner by all the authorities of Gibraltar.
+
+It had been arranged that we should make the voyage to Madeira in company
+with the _Caroline_, but an unexpected incident prevented it. The
+small-pox[9] made its appearance on board, and although in a mild form and
+in but a few cases, yet it was sufficiently alarming to interrupt, as a
+matter of precaution, all communication, and to postpone indefinitely her
+departure, as a great part of the crew might be overtaken with the disease
+whilst at sea, exposed to sudden changes of temperature, thereby causing
+the most serious consequences. Such is not the case with diseases which
+are in some degree localized, as cholera, yellow fever, dysentery, &c.,
+when it is even prudent to set sail, notwithstanding the presence of the
+malady, as a change of place and climate is frequently accompanied with
+beneficial results.
+
+[Footnote 9: As there has lately been some difference amongst the medical
+men of Europe as to the utility of vaccination, the following observations
+from the report of Dr. Wawra, the principal physician on board the
+_Caroline_, regarding the appearance and the course of this epidemic, may
+not be out of place:--"A day before our departure from Trieste a man
+complained of a slight fever and headache, and his skin was covered with
+spots which were judged at once to be indications of an approaching
+eruption of small-pox. The man was immediately sent on shore as a matter
+of precaution; but, nevertheless, eight days after our departure we had a
+second, and ten days after that a third case: the epidemic was on board,
+and though in a mild form, yet serious consequences were apprehended. The
+_re-vaccination_ of the men was therefore decided upon, and carried out,
+as far as the virus on board would admit. Only five individuals of the
+whole had not been vaccinated at all; some had undergone the operation in
+their childhood, a great part of them, however, had been vaccinated on
+board other vessels, from two to five years before. Only fourteen cases
+occurred. Most remarkable, and evidently in favour of those who advocate
+re-vaccination, is the fact, that amongst most of those who had been
+vaccinated in their childhood, the disorder was more severe than among
+those who had been re-vaccinated on board the ship. Among those who had
+_never_ undergone the operation before, the vaccination on board was most
+successful; not one of them caught the disorder. Among the _re-vaccinated_
+only four cases occurred, with slighter symptoms than among those who had
+been once only operated upon. We met with several instances of the kind at
+other places where we touched. At Buenos Ayres, where the vaccination laws
+are stricter than anywhere else, the small-pox is extremely rare. Among
+the Brazilians, who entertain an absolute prejudice against vaccination,
+the _variola_ is one of the most common and most frightful diseases. It
+prevails still worse amongst the negro slaves, among whom, from the
+ignorance and prejudice of their masters, vaccination is neglected. The
+white marks of the disease are particularly visible in the black skin, and
+are evident proofs how virulently it has raged amongst them."]
+
+After we had got through our duties at Gibraltar, an attempt was made,
+with the first favourable wind, to set sail and reach the Atlantic; the
+_Caroline_ remaining behind for the benefit of the sick on board. She was
+to follow only when the health of the crew no longer excited any
+apprehension.
+
+On the 30th May the wind changed to south, and as the current in the
+harbour was also favourable, we weighed anchor in the hope that in the
+Straits we might meet with an easterly wind. The _Novara_ passed the
+_Caroline_, which saluted with a round of cheers, when we tacked to clear
+the roads, after which all sail was hoisted to beat out against the
+western current in the Straits. The sea was covered with a mucous
+substance, which generally indicates that there is scarcely a chance of a
+fresh breeze; however, even the little we had, would have sufficed to
+carry us through the Straits, but towards 6 P.M. a perfect calm overtook
+us, and notwithstanding the press of sail, we were carried back towards
+the East, and about midnight found ourselves again in the Mediterranean,
+which did not seem disposed to part with us. There was no improvement next
+day, and at sunset we were exactly twenty-five miles east from the point
+we had occupied the preceding day. The clouds passed from West to East
+across the moon, and in the night from the 31st of May to the 1st of June
+the westerly wind became so fresh that we had even to reef the sails.
+
+Current, wind, sea, everything was against us; even tacking was of no
+service, as we lost ground visibly with each tack. When at last all hope
+of making the West had disappeared, we anchored, like many others of our
+companions in sorrow, on the 1st June, at 6 P.M., in the Bay of
+Frangerola, fifteen miles north of Malaga.
+
+Here were anchored nearly sixty merchantmen, all wind-bound. Behind the
+Punta Molinos, near Malaga, there must have been quite as many more. Fresh
+additions were constantly being made to the already considerable fleet,
+which had involuntarily collected together, whilst those merchantmen which
+with fruitless obstinacy kept on tacking about us, were getting more and
+more out of their course, as with every successive hour their position was
+changed for the worse.
+
+[Illustration: INHABITANT OF FRANGOLA.]
+
+In the hope of a favourable wind we were all a-taunto on the 2nd June,
+perfectly prepared for a start. Under these circumstances no one could go
+on shore, but an officer was despatched in a boat to make inquiries as to
+whether there were any sanitary board in the neighbouring village. A
+relative of the President of the Junta de la Sanidad came on board, and
+stated that, though as a rule only vessels clearing from Spanish harbours
+were permitted to have intercourse with the shore, an exception should be
+made in favour of ourselves. This Andalusian was very communicative, and
+amongst other things told us that the inhabitants were supported almost
+entirely by fishing. Many ships had now been waiting several weeks for a
+favourable wind to pass the Straits. Some had thrice attempted to sail
+towards the West, but in every case were driven back by wind and current.
+In 1847, a year of scarcity, Louis Philippe had caused several French
+steamers to be stationed in the Straits in order to take in tow ships
+coming from the Black Sea laden with grain, and thereby to facilitate
+their passage between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. In the afternoon
+we had a visit from about thirty inhabitants of Frangerola, who came on
+board in fishing-boats to view the ship. None of these people had ever
+seen so large a man-of-war, and they all therefore regarded the ship with
+great curiosity. The ship's band greatly delighted them, but the
+signal-gun at sunset seemed to terrify them and to hasten their departure.
+
+In the evening we felt from time to time some warm blasts of wind from the
+east, and enjoyed for nearly an hour the delightful spectacle of a "Fata
+Morgana." This phenomenon, as is well known, arises from two currents of
+air of a different density, separated by a distinctly-formed plane,
+generally produced when the temperature of the two currents happens to
+vary. When, for instance, as is frequently the case at sea, a considerably
+warmer current of air comes suddenly in contact with a colder current
+having a lower position, the plane of separation of the former becomes
+condensed, and forms a mirror for all those objects which are in the lower
+current, so that their image is inversely reflected. As this surface of
+separation is not level throughout, various contractions and distortions
+result, which impart to the whole a singular appearance. On land, as for
+instance in the deserts of Africa, where the warmer current of air is on
+the surface of the ground, the aërial mirror is formed beneath the eye of
+the observer, by which the same phenomenon is produced that results from
+the reflection of objects on the surface of the water.
+
+In the present case the temperature of the atmosphere was about ten
+degrees higher than that of the sea's surface at the point of
+observation. The surface of the current of warm air appeared like a light
+fog, inclining in the East towards the Spanish coast, and in the
+South-east to South towards the surface of the sea. Where it was highest
+it reached nearly five degrees above the horizon. The images of the ships
+at anchor near Malaga, and those at sea under sail, appeared reversed, and
+assumed curiously fantastic forms, particularly in those places where the
+reflecting surface became irregular, and inclined towards the horizon. The
+appearance of these distorted ships in the air, joining in the most
+singular way the real ones actually floating on the sea,--the warm vapour
+which is from time to time wafted on the face of the observer, as well as
+the perfect and almost death-like stillness which, under such
+circumstances, prevails both on the sea and in the atmosphere, may easily
+produce the belief in a mysterious power, among a people who are generally
+prone to ascribe to supernatural agencies every phenomenon they cannot
+understand or explain.
+
+This "Fata Morgana"[10] was not merely interesting in itself, but also gave
+reason to indulge in the hope of a favourable wind. A light easterly
+breeze accordingly sprang up towards midnight, the current became
+reversed, the anchor was weighed, and all sail made with this favourable
+wind towards Gibraltar, the rock of which was distinctly recognizable
+through the misty air, at a distance of nearly sixty miles.
+
+[Footnote 10: The name Morgana is of Breton origin, and signifies "sea
+woman," from _mor_, sea, and _gan_, a fine woman;--the fairy mermaid of
+English legendary tales.]
+
+A calm still prevailed near Europa Point, but as the day wore on, the
+easterly breeze blew strong through the Straits, and, in company with
+innumerable other ships, the Pillars of Hercules were at length passed.
+The wind freshened, and the frigate cracked merrily on down mid-channel;
+for, though the set of the current was dead against us, yet the wind
+proved more than a match for it, which in our case was the more apparent,
+that those merchantmen which sailed along the coast, not having the
+advantage of this wind, seemed as though left motionless in the rear.
+
+When towards noon the _Novara_ was off the place where the _Caroline_ had
+been anchored, that ship was no longer visible. She had probably set sail
+in the morning. We supposed her to be among the crowd of ships which were
+sailing in the fog, but did not discover her, even after we had overtaken
+and examined all of them. We now endeavoured to reach the Atlantic as
+speedily as possible, making from nine to ten knots an hour, and, with
+joyful sensations, sailed through those beautiful straits, on whose shores
+the ancient world unrolled its grand panorama, thanking Providence here,
+at the entrance of that vast ocean, which now shone so brilliantly, that
+we were permitted to carry the Austrian flag into distant regions.
+
+At 4 P.M., aided by the fresh evening breeze, we passed the most southerly
+point of Europe. We were just going to dinner when the last glimpse of the
+old world passed before the cabin windows, and we gazed once more with
+sorrowing eyes at the rapidly-disappearing coast, which, illuminated by
+the rays of the setting sun, seemed to wave us a last farewell in letters
+of fire. However beautiful, however inspiring the prospect of our task;
+however inviting the magnificent ocean that lay extended under our eyes,
+magically lit up by the silvery beams of the bright moon shining from a
+starry sky, yet the painful sensations of parting with that old world,
+with which so many pleasing associations--so many cherished recollections
+were bound up, had a powerful influence, and gave rise to melancholy
+impressions, of which we were only relieved by the comforting hope that we
+should one day return to all so dear to us.
+
+[Illustration: CAPE TRAFALGAR.]
+
+The night was delightful. Not a single cloud obscured the sky, and the
+ship, with all sails swelled by a fair wind, ploughed the dark waves,
+leaving a glittering track behind. We were now on the ocean! Below, blue,
+foam-crested billows; above, the sky studded with stars;--below, the wide
+desert of the sea; above, the infallible guides to lead us safely through
+it.
+
+We awoke to new activity on that great element, which conceals so many
+charms and so many hardships, where the continued alternations of hope and
+fear, of enjoyment and privation--where weariness and disappointment, and
+yet again the new strength imparted by returning success--so excitingly
+animate, and so gloriously manifest the innate power of the human mind.
+
+Life on board, the various excitements at sea, the different countries and
+people seen during a voyage, all tend to arouse feelings and sensations
+which are reserved for the mariner alone, and which render his life, if he
+knows how to use it properly, happy and most enviable. At sea the mental
+and physical eye gains strength, man there seeks to unravel Nature in all
+her phases, and to know and to admire more thoroughly her works. The
+seaman owes his energy, his straightforwardness, and his piety, to a life
+spent in the midst of nature, to his direct intercourse with creation.
+Between him and the Sovereign of the Universe there is, as it were, no
+mediator--he lives and labours uninterruptedly on the steps of the throne
+of his Creator and Preserver. In this great temple he directs to Him alone
+his complaints, his thanks, and his prayers. At sea he learns law and
+order from Nature herself in her constantly-recurring functions; here he
+admires the omnipotence and goodness of God in the sunrise after a stormy
+night, and in the brightness of the moon that lights up his path; here he
+learns by his actual experience the truth of that maxim of life, that "God
+only helps him who helps himself."
+
+The wind, hitherto easterly, chopped round to the North-east, which,
+according to Maury's excellent directions and charts, may be considered as
+a trade wind, and in this season might be called so. In fact, the trade
+winds are produced by a current of air, which is directed towards the
+Equator, and only in consequence of the earth's motion round its axis
+acquires a north-easterly direction to the north of the equator, and a
+south-easterly to the south of it. But the trade winds become perceptible
+at a certain distance from the equator, or rather from the hottest zone of
+the earth's surface; and it is clear, that when the zone assumes a greater
+breadth, the boundary of the trade winds is extended further towards the
+poles, as the position of this zone and its heat obtained from the sun are
+the causes of these phenomena.
+
+This is exactly the case in these waters; Africa, with its sandy deserts,
+presents a broader zone of the greatest heat than is possible on the sea,
+and the trade winds, accordingly, reach further towards the north. Its
+direction, however, cannot always be north-easterly, and depends
+necessarily on the direction of the northern boundaries of this zone of
+greatest heat. Accordingly, we at first had a more northerly wind, which
+in our progress towards Madeira became much more easterly. The weather
+continued on the whole beautiful, the sea was calm, and only the increased
+length of the waves showed the greater expanse of water we were now
+navigating.
+
+We overtook some other ships, which were sailing towards the west. As we
+saw nothing of the _Caroline_, we concluded that she was considerably
+ahead. The current, which near Gibraltar has a westerly direction, tending
+towards the Mediterranean, loses its power at a distance from the land,
+and half-way to Madeira it changes its direction in such a way that the
+ship is carried imperceptibly southwards, though only a few miles a-day.
+This current is a lateral branch of the great Gulf Stream, which from the
+Gulf of Mexico is directed towards England, but about the latitude of New
+York sends off a branch in a south-easterly direction, which passes round
+Madeira, and, near the Canaries, takes a parallel direction with the coast
+of Africa and forms the commencement of the Guinea current. The
+temperature of the sea water, which in the midst of this current is
+generally rather higher than that of the air, indicates to the mariner
+that he is in the Stream, and he must take care that his ship is not
+carried more to the south out of its course than he wishes. This shows
+clearly of what importance ocean-currents are to navigation; and it
+becomes evident that it is the duty of the scientific navigator not only
+to find out their direction and strength, but to use all means at his
+command, in order to ascertain their general movement in given districts
+of ocean.
+
+For this latter purpose, it is customary (as often as circumstances seem
+to render it advisable) to throw overboard, and commit to the mercy of
+these currents, a well-corked empty bottle, in which has been deposited a
+card with the name and position of the ship. The bottle thus prepared, and
+made conspicuous by a covering of white linen cloth, or some such
+material, wanders hither and thither with the current, until it is picked
+up by some other ship, or is stranded anywhere on _terra firma_. The fact
+of such a bottle having been picked up is usually published, together with
+the particulars enclosed, by means of which it is obvious that an estimate
+can be formed of the average strength and direction of the current.
+
+At 1 P.M. each afternoon, it was our custom to despatch one of these
+ocean-posts, under given conditions; but only rarely did we afterwards
+receive any information with respect to them. In each bottle was placed a
+card with the following particulars, written in German, English, French,
+Italian, and Spanish:--
+
+"H.I.M. frigate, _Novara_, such and such a day of the week and month, hour
+at which thrown overboard, Longitude from Greenwich, Latitude. Whoever
+finds this bottle, which is about being thrown overboard well-corked and
+in good order, is requested to forward for publication, to the nearest
+spot at which there is a newspaper, the day, hour, latitude and longitude,
+in which the bottle has been found, together with the particulars of a
+similar nature already enclosed."
+
+On the 7th June, towards evening, we were not more than 55 nautical miles
+distant from the E. point of Madeira, and as the wind was favourable and
+pretty fresh, it became necessary to shorten sail, so as to reach the
+anchorage by daybreak.
+
+About 2.30 A.M., a vessel was perceived, which, by its lights, was made
+out to be a man-of-war. We now burned a port fire which was not merely
+replied to, but accompanied by signalling the number of the _Caroline_.
+She was steering exactly our own course, and after having had to struggle
+with calms on nearing the coast, we cast anchor together, in the roads of
+Funchal, in 32 fathoms, sandy bottom, immediately South of the Loo Rock, a
+singular-looking, lofty, conical rock, which marks the best anchorage for
+large ships. The U. S. corvette, _Dale_, lay in our vicinity, and sent a
+boat on board with an officer to extend to us the usual greetings, after
+which she saluted the Commodore's standard with a salute of thirteen
+guns,[11] which, as is the etiquette, we returned, gun for gun. We now had
+the pleasure of hearing that the small-pox had entirely disappeared on
+board the corvette _Caroline_, those attacked being now in a fair way of
+convalescence, while on board the _Novara_, the health of the ship's
+company was eminently satisfactory.
+
+[Footnote 11: Commodores of other nations receive only eleven guns by way
+of salute.]
+
+[Illustration: LOO ROCK (MADEIRA).]
+
+[Illustration: SCENE IN MADEIRA.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  IV.
+
+                               Madeira.
+
+               FROM THE 8TH TO THE 17TH OF JUNE, 1857.
+
+   First Impressions.--Difficulty in Landing.--Description of the
+     Island.--History.--Unfavourable political circumstances
+     connected with the cultivation of the ground.--Aqueducts.--
+     First Planting of the Sugar-cane.--Culture of the Vine.--Its
+     Disease and Decay.--Cochineal as a compensation for its loss.--
+     Prospects of Success.--Climate.--A favourable Winter Residence
+     for the Consumptive.--Strangers.--First Appearance of the
+     Cholera.--Observations with the Ozonometer.--Great Distress
+     among the Lower Classes.--Liberal Assistance from England.--
+     Decline of Commerce.--Inhabitants and their Mode of Life.--
+     Decrease of the Population, and its Causes.--Benevolent
+     Institutions.--Public Libraries.--The Cathedral.--Barracks.--
+     Prison.--Environs of Funchal.--Excursion to St. Anna.--Ascent
+     of the Pico Ruivo.--Singular Sledge Party.--Return to
+     Funchal.--Departure.
+
+
+Delightful and striking is the first impression of Funchal, its luxuriant
+gardens smiling with gorgeous flowers, and its mountain sides cultivated
+almost to their summits; and although the grander and more gigantic forms
+of true tropical vegetation are wanting, and the landscape displays rather
+the character of an island off the shores of Italy than of the torrid
+zone--still Nature exhibits herself here with such varied charms that
+imagination can scarcely conceive a sweeter or lovelier scene. The most
+beautiful plants of the temperate and sub-tropical zones meet here in
+their highest development, whilst some representatives of the tropics
+intermixed enhance the richness of the wonderful picture. Odoriferous
+magnolias, large flowering tulip trees, plane trees, laurels, myrtles,
+acacias, passion and trumpet flowers, tree-like fuchsias with immense
+blossoms, gaudy hortensias, sweet-smelling roses, blooming oleanders,
+aloes, 40 feet high, in full flower, imposing camellias with shining green
+foliage, covered with beautiful rose-like flowers, chestnut trees,
+Brazilian pines, cypresses--all delight the eye, together with
+pomegranates, tamarinds, bananas, sugar-canes, coffee-shrubs, gigantic
+dragon trees, pine-apples, mangroves, papayas, and aquacatés. Certainly,
+at a later date, we met in the primitive forests of the Nicobar islands,
+or in Java, Luzon, and the Caroline islands, with grander and more
+imposing scenery; but none that surpassed in fragrance, luxuriance, and
+loveliness the floral beauty of Madeira.
+
+The anchorage of Funchal[12] is merely an open, exceedingly unsafe
+roadstead, which affords so little protection to ships that often in
+southerly winds they are obliged to get under sail. This is especially the
+case in the winter, when the sea often rushes into the small unprotected
+bay with fearful violence. In October, 1842, five vessels were cast on
+shore within the space of a few hours, and another sank whilst at anchor;
+a similar violent gale from the south raged in December, 1848, when a like
+number of ships met with the same fate, and were dashed to pieces. The
+British sloop of war _Daphne_ only escaped by making the open sea in time.
+In order to run less risk of being surprised by such gales, sailing
+vessels generally cast anchor to the south of the Loo Rock, where there is
+tolerably safe anchorage at a depth of twenty-five to thirty fathoms. In
+that position they are clear of the rocky headlands, and can therefore
+more easily set sail before the sea rushes in with all its irresistible
+violence. Steamers, which are better able to resist the force of the waves
+than sailing vessels, generally cast anchor nearer the shore, so that
+passengers may be more easily landed, and coals shipped with greater
+facility.
+
+[Footnote 12: The Portuguese for fennel-field, because the first
+discoverers of the island found this plant in great abundance.]
+
+The Portuguese Government has done nothing to compensate for the
+shortcomings of nature with regard to safe landing-places in this island,
+otherwise so highly favoured. Though the rocky condition of the Funchal
+roads, (the only anchorage for larger ships which the island possesses,)
+offers sufficient means for the construction of a harbour for boats and
+small vessels, yet the Government has hitherto done so little, that the
+landing of passengers can only be effected by small, peculiarly-built
+boats, which, whilst tossed by the waves, have to be drawn on shore by the
+natives wading knee-deep in the water. If, therefore, the ship remains any
+length of time at Funchal, the communication with the land is attended
+with considerable expense. We laid out, in payments to the boatmen, during
+a stay of nine days, the sum of forty-five Spanish piastres[13] (£9 15s.
+sterling), although they had not over-charged us.
+
+[Footnote 13: Spanish piastre = 4s. 4d. at par.]
+
+The formalities at the custom-house, which strangers--even those belonging
+to a ship-of-war of a friendly Power--have to go through, are extremely
+annoying, and entail a great loss of time. Before landing, passengers'
+boats are boarded in the open roads by officers, who are stationed a few
+cable lengths from the shore. On landing, the stranger is obliged to
+repair to the custom-house, where even small and open packages are
+subjected to a second rigid examination. The time lost during this
+process, unnecessarily minute, is exceedingly unpleasant. The reason
+assigned for these vexatious regulations is the extent to which, of late,
+smuggling has been carried on in the island, and which, in the opinion of
+the Governor, required these measures of precaution. It seems, however,
+that this system rather promotes contraband trading, by making it very
+lucrative. The Austrian consul, Charles Bianchi, Esq., did all in his
+power to diminish the frequency of the continual examinations, and
+likewise, in all other respects, endeavoured to promote the objects of the
+Expedition.
+
+The greatest length of the island of Madeira, from Ponta Furado in the
+east, to Ponta do Pargo, in the west, amounts to 30 miles; its greatest
+breadth, from Ponta do Cruz in the south, to Ponta do Saõ Jorge in the
+north, is 12-1/2 miles, and its area is about 240 square miles. This
+volcanic and mountainous island is intersected by innumerable deep ravines
+and defiles, and its whole surface is so much broken and irregular, that
+the representation Columbus once gave to Queen Isabella, of the Island of
+Jamaica, when she asked him for a description of its configuration, might
+perfectly be applied to the aspect of Madeira also. The great navigator,
+after having crushed a sheet of paper in his hand, and partly opened it
+again, placed it on the table, saying, he could convey to Her Majesty no
+clearer idea of that island than that crumpled piece of paper afforded.
+
+A large portion of the island is not susceptible of cultivation; for the
+heathy region which constitutes nearly one-third of its surface, and rises
+to a height of about 2500 feet above the level of the sea, is extremely
+steep, and too much exposed to winds and rains in summer, to admit of any
+kind of cultivation, even that of grain; whilst another not less
+considerable tract is too rocky and precipitous for that purpose. In the
+south of the island, the highest limit of cultivation is estimated to be
+at a height of 2500 feet, though in several places rye and barley grow at
+2800 feet. In the north of the island, where a better system of irrigation
+prevails, the extreme boundary of cultivation reaches a higher altitude,
+and on the declivities of the Ribeiro Frio, it is met with at an elevation
+of above 3000 feet.
+
+The earlier history of the island has had such a great influence upon its
+present industrial and social condition, that a few remarks on the most
+important features of its history may find a place here.
+
+Madeira was discovered in 1419, by two Portuguese, Joaõ Gonsalvo da
+Camara[14] and Tristaõ Teixeira, and, about 1421, a colony of Europeans
+settled on the island. Camara obtained, as a gift for his discovery, the
+south-eastern, and Teixeira the north-eastern part of the island, together
+with the most extensive powers and privileges. Funchal was then the
+principal place of Camara's territory, and Machico that of Teixeira's.
+These two recipients (_donatarios_) enjoyed the exclusive privileges of
+erecting flour and saw mills; they alone were allowed to build ovens for
+public baking (private baking being permitted to all); they, moreover, had
+the monopoly of trading in salt, had claims upon the tithes of the royal
+revenues, and were empowered to grant portions of the land to settlers.
+Every settler was required to erect within five years a house, a cottage,
+or barn, on his ground, and to cultivate the land. If these conditions, at
+the expiration of the fixed period, had not been complied with, the donor
+had the right of granting the land to some one else. These grants were
+hereditary, and lapsed to the crown, or the donors, if alive, in the event
+of there being no direct successors. Such extraordinary privileges and
+immunities were deemed necessary in order to reconcile the holders with
+the dubious character of the early settlers in the island; for, though in
+those times the highest families in Portugal took part in all adventurous
+expeditions, yet most of the settlers were taken from prison and convict
+hulks; and the first settlement of Madeira had much more the character of
+a place of banishment for criminals than that of a colony of free
+emigrants.
+
+[Footnote 14: Vulgarly called Zargo, or the Squinter.]
+
+With a view to obtain more ground for cultivation, the first settlers are
+said to have set on fire so large a portion of the primeval forests, that
+they were soon unable to check the conflagration. According to old
+writers, the fire, particularly in the south of the island, lasted several
+years; and the heat is said to have been so intense, that many persons in
+order to escape from it, sought refuge on board the ships in the roads of
+Funchal.[15]
+
+[Footnote 15: The name _Madeira_, signifying in Portuguese "timber or
+wood," justifies the statement that the island was at one time richly
+wooded.]
+
+This act of vandalism against nature, which is confirmed by ancient and
+modern authors, is being avenged even at present, though centuries have
+passed since the deed. The cedar, once a denizen of the island, is no
+longer to be found; and only the ceilings of the cathedral and of old
+houses, which are constructed of this costly material, show the magnitude
+which this noble tree formerly attained in the island. Of the dragon tree
+(_Dracæna Draco_), which was once the ornament of the forests of Madeira,
+there are at present, in the whole island, only six or seven specimens in
+existence, which are shown as curiosities to strangers. The Til-tree
+(_Oreodaphne f[oe]tens_), the Vinhatico (_Persea indica_), and the Folhado
+(_Clethra arborea_), formerly the most numerous representatives of the
+native flora, are likewise at present very rarely to be met with, and
+their places are occupied by plants and trees of the temperate zone,
+particularly the Spanish chestnut, the fruit of which furnishes the
+inhabitants with food, whilst the tree itself has served hitherto in the
+north of the island as a support to the vine. The destruction of the
+forests has, at the same time, considerably contributed to the
+modification of the climate in general, and to the diminution of humidity
+in particular. At the date of the discovery of the island, and a long time
+after, the Rio Socorridos, the largest river in the island, is said to
+have been so deep, as to float timber from the interior to the sea; at
+present this river is quite insignificant, and almost dried up.
+
+The island remained for two centuries in the possession of the direct
+heirs of the original owners, and when at last, from want of legal
+successors, these privileges lapsed, the crown granted them to other
+favourites; but with some restrictions. The exclusive right to corn and
+saw mills was then entirely abolished, and the salt monopoly with other
+privileges was retained by the crown. The descendants of the first
+settlers had in the mean time acquired considerable property in land,
+whilst the cultivation of the sugar-cane, now very generally adopted, the
+introduction of negro slaves from Africa, and the foundation of large
+estates, contributed materially to the prosperity of the inhabitants. The
+ruins of many large buildings in various parts of the island are even now
+mute witnesses of the opulence of their former occupants.
+
+This prosperous state of the island was, however, at the beginning of the
+last century, materially affected by the introduction of the so-called
+_vinculos_ or entails, which, introduced under the protection and in
+favour of the church, were a great burden upon the land. Frequently, rich
+proprietors left to the church portions of their incomes in order to have
+masses said for the repose of their souls, and encumbered their lands with
+so many burdens, that only a small remainder fell to their heirs. So long
+as these claims were in existence the proprietors could not grant leases
+for a longer period than four years, nor impose fresh burdens on their
+lands. The union of several such vinculos was called a _morgado_ (entailed
+property). Under the severe but wise administration of the Marquis of
+Pombal, a law was passed which forbade the future creation of morgados
+(unless the property yielded an income of 1200 piastres annually, and even
+then the special licence of the crown had to be obtained), declaring the
+whole system of entails "as contrary to the rights of property and the
+well-founded claims of the other members of the family." The law of Dom
+Pedro, dated the 4th February, 1802, was still more severe, as it allowed
+at the same time the abolition of single entails, the value of which was
+below 200 Spanish piastres annually, as well as that of every morgado,
+the annual value of which did not exceed the sum of 600 piastres. As,
+however, a great number of these entails exceed 200 piastres, these
+oppressive restrictions still weigh upon four-fifths of the land,
+notwithstanding the above-mentioned laws. Among the creditors who still
+have claims, there are three nunneries (which alone, of all other similar
+institutions, outlived the revolution of 1821), the hospital of Funchal,
+and the Portuguese Government. The institution of these vinculos and
+morgados produced a kind of feudal dependency between the cultivator of
+the estates (_caseiro_) and the landlord or holder of the morgado. On the
+occasion of his marriage, or the birth of an heir to the latter, the
+caseiro brought presents of such fruits as his land produced; when the
+landlord removed from the town into the country, the caseiro carried his
+litter and luggage; in conversation the caseiro addressed the landlord as
+_meu amo_ (my lord). The revolution of 1821 did away with many of these
+usages, and in various ways altered the relation between the caseiro and
+the landlord.
+
+Another impediment to the improvement of agriculture, is the system of
+parcelling ground into small allotments, which has been continued up to
+the present time. The farms are in general extremely small. In the richer
+and more fertile parts of the island they rarely exceed an acre in extent,
+very often they are not half so large, and sometimes not even the tenth
+part of an acre. The late Conde de Carvalho, the proprietor of nearly
+one-third of the whole island, had upwards of eight thousand tenants.
+Supposing that this mode of farming existed in the remaining two-thirds,
+there would be in Madeira 24,000 farmers, caseiros or tenants; or, taking
+the population at 100,000 souls, nearly every fourth inhabitant would be a
+tenant farmer. This state of things is not to be wondered at, considering
+that almost every day-labourer farms a small patch of ground, the extent
+of which is not greater than the ordinary size of a large garden bed, on
+which he grows vegetables, potatoes, figs, peaches, sugar-cane, and
+sometimes even grain.
+
+In the north and west of the island, where agriculture has made more
+progress than in the south, rent is paid in money; generally, however, the
+system of paying in kind is still in existence, in which the harvest,
+(after deducting the _tithe_, which, at Madeira, belongs to the State and
+not to the church,) is divided between the landlord and the tenants.
+According to this principle the landlord receives half of the produce of
+the ground, be it grain, sugar-cane, wine, fruit or vegetables, which are
+brought for sale, and not consumed on the farm itself. It sometimes
+happens, however, that the harvest is sold in a lump, while yet on the
+ground. Oxen are the only animals employed in agriculture. They are
+diminutive and singularly unsightly, but of a very powerful breed, and
+furnish very good meat for the table. They are generally fed in stalls,
+but in the mountainous districts they graze in open pastures. There are
+only a few badly-fed sheep on the island, so that the mutton is almost
+unfit for consumption. Pigs and fowls are in abundance, and the rearing of
+poultry is generally the principal means of living possessed by the
+peasantry. What is asserted by some authors regarding wild rabbits and
+boars to be met with on the island, wants confirmation. The few rabbits we
+saw were perfectly identical with the European species (_Lepus
+cuniculus_), and lead to the supposition that rabbits as well as pigs, now
+found in a wild state here and there on the island, are only the progeny
+of those which have formerly been introduced from Europe.
+
+The numerous open and walled water conduits (_levadas_), which are of
+considerable height, and lead to all parts of the cultivated land, are of
+particular importance. Each levada is placed under the superintendence of
+a committee, selected mostly from the landowners, who have a direct
+interest in them. Sometimes one person only, generally the most
+considerable landowner of the district, under the title of _juiz da
+levada_, is entrusted with the control of the water, and receives for his
+services the use of the water during twenty-four hours. The right of using
+these levadas is very strictly guarded, and often leads to law
+proceedings. Every piece of ground within a district through which such a
+conduit runs, is entitled to the use of the water by turns, during a
+certain number of hours (generally not more than twenty-four). These turns
+are different, according to the extent of the district, from fifteen to
+forty days. The distribution of the water is entrusted to a so-called
+_levadeiro_, who places himself at the upper end of the land through which
+the water is to flow, and with an hour-glass in his hand measures--a
+modern Saturn--the time during which the owner is entitled to the use of
+the beneficent element. After the expiration of the fixed period, the
+water is made to pass on to the ground of another proprietor. These
+conduits, so extremely important to the farmer, were constructed partly at
+the expense of the Government, and partly by the contributions of the
+landed proprietors. Those who have no other title may obtain the right to
+this privilege either by purchase or by government grant. For every
+twenty-four hours' use of the levadas 400 reis[16] are paid, which tax is
+employed to keep them in good order.
+
+[Footnote 16: 1000 reis or milreis=to one Spanish piastre, or about 4s.
+4d.]
+
+The high roads of Madeira are, with but few exceptions, in a deplorable
+condition. They are generally laid with small pointed stones, and at
+numerous places they have an inclination of from 23 to 27 degrees. Every
+adult male native is obliged to pay annually one Spanish piastre, or to
+give five days' labour for their repair. On account of the bad condition
+of the roads in the interior of the island, most of the natural produce is
+conveyed from one place to another in boats, or, as is the case with wine,
+is carried to the harbour in skins and casks, on the backs of the
+inhabitants.
+
+[Illustration: BRIDGE OVER THE RIBEIRO SECO.]
+
+The first attempt at cultivation in Madeira was the planting of
+sugar-canes, introduced soon after the discovery of the island, through
+the instrumentality of Prince Henry of Portugal (son of John I.), which
+grew so abundantly, that for a considerable period the produce of the
+island sufficed for the supply of the whole kingdom of Portugal. In
+commemoration of this flourishing epoch, as regards the cultivation of the
+sugar-cane, two sugar-loaves were introduced into the arms of the island.
+In the year 1452 was erected the first sugar factory, near Machica, and at
+the end of the fifteenth century there existed as many as 120, in which
+slaves chiefly were employed. The Jesuit, Antonio Cordeyro, who wrote his
+_Historia Insulana Lusitana_ at the beginning of last century, makes
+mention of a considerable number of sugar factories, which had been
+erected in almost every part of the south coast. On the estate of the
+Genoese, Juan Esmeralda, half a league from Ribeiro do Taboa, there were
+annually manufactured 20,000 arrobas[17] of sugar. By degrees, however, the
+culture of the cane fell, into decay, whether through disease of the plant
+or its cheaper production in the Brazils and West Indies is not known, so
+that in the year 1840, only two sugar factories were at work in the whole
+island; and even these only produce molasses and rum, of which the latter,
+in the year 1856, amounted to 1500 pipes. The cultivation of the
+sugar-cane, however, has increased since the vine disease has fallen so
+heavily on the landowner. In the summer of 1857, there were eighteen
+factories again in activity on the island, though so late as 1855, the
+importation of sugar, for the consumption of the island, amounted to but
+31,176 arrobas.[18]
+
+[Footnote 17: One arroba = 32 arrateles or pounds. One pipe = 108 gallons.]
+
+[Footnote 18: From 64 lbs. of sugar-cane are obtained 4 galls. of juice,
+and from 4 galls. of juice are made 8 galls. of rum. The average price was
+2200 reis per gal. of sugar-juice. The rum of commerce (from 22 to 23
+degrees) is sold at one Spanish piastre the gallon.]
+
+The greatest elevation at which, in the south of the island, the
+sugar-cane can be grown, is, like that of the banana tree, about 1000 feet
+above the level of the sea. In the north, the cultivation of the cane
+would be remunerative only at those points where, as, for instance, at
+Fayal and San Jorge, ground and temperature are most favourable for it. To
+judge by the soil and climate, the cultivation of the cane in Madeira
+might, with care, even at the present time, prove advantageous. In the
+south-west part of Lousiana, where, in 1796, this plant was introduced
+exclusively for the manufacture of _Taffia_,[19] there exist at present as
+many as 1500 sugar factories, producing annually, on an average, 200,000
+hogsheads of sugar. The planter of Madeira is not, as in Lousiana, obliged
+by the frost to cut the cane before it is ripe; there it ripens
+thoroughly, blooms in January, and is harvested in March.
+
+[Footnote 19: A beverage resembling brandy in taste, much liked in the West
+Indies.]
+
+The motive power of the sugar-mills is mostly water and steam. There are
+also a dozen large distilleries at work, possessing the most modern
+English improvements. An acre of land, planted with sugar-cane, is said to
+yield from 100 to 120 Spanish piastres, a result for the landowner more
+profitable than that arising from the cultivation of the vine, even in its
+best days.
+
+As regards the culture of cotton, for which the climate and soil are
+peculiarly suitable, no attempt has as yet been made. The same remark
+applies to olive trees; though the Government ordered the latter to be
+planted so long ago as 1768. The cultivation of tobacco, however, is
+prevented from extending, being a government monopoly. As for wheat, it
+is not produced in sufficient quantity to meet one quarter of the
+consumption of the inhabitants. In the year 1854, wheat, to the amount of
+216,918 bushels, was imported from the north of Africa alone, a quantity
+nearly twice as great as that which the island produces. Wheat and maize,
+or Indian corn, are also imported from the Azores, and some ports of the
+Mediterranean; an importation which is likely rather to increase than
+decrease.
+
+The potato belongs to that small class of vegetables which grow at
+considerable elevations, and, by proper irrigation and dressing of the
+ground, three harvests may be obtained in the course of the year.
+
+The Inhame [not the Yam (_Dioscorea alata_) of the West Indies and South
+America, but a kind of grume (_Colocasia esculenta_)] grows in large
+quantities near to rivers and water conduits, where the ground is humid.
+It is much sought for by the people, on account of its cheapness, though
+rather a coarse kind of food, which, as Cordeyro naïvely says, "picao
+algum tanto na garganta" (scratches the throat).
+
+Sweet potatoes (_Convolvulus edulis_, Lin.), water-melons, gourds, as well
+as all kinds of European garden vegetables, are found throughout the year
+in the market, though not of a particularly good quality. Oranges, lemons,
+bananas, guavas, pine-apples, figs, apricots, and peaches, are abundant
+during the summer season, and on higher ground even apple and pear-trees
+are to be met with.
+
+On the "Desertas," three uninhabited little islands south-east of
+Madeira, and belonging to it, there grows on the rocks the orchilla
+(_Rocella tinctoria_), a species of lichen, celebrated for yielding a fine
+purple colour, much used in dyeing. Considering the great importance for
+industrial purposes of this lichen, it might, with some care, be
+advantageously grown in Madeira. Formerly there was a small quantity
+brought to market, and sold for 14,000 reis the quintal. At the present
+time the yield has entirely ceased, though it is found in large quantities
+in the neighbouring islands. It is considered not to be of such good
+quality as that of the Azores, where, as is the case with all lichens,
+that grow in more southern and warmer climates, it is of a better quality,
+and more highly esteemed.
+
+The product, however, which hitherto has yielded the largest profit to the
+natives, and made the name of Madeira famous and familiar, even to those
+who do not profess a particular interest in the beauties of nature in this
+romantic island, is its _wine_. Though this article of exportation has,
+through the vine disease, entirely lost its former importance, yet it may
+be of some interest to take a glance at its history and culture, in order
+the better to comprehend the magnitude of the calamities that have
+overwhelmed the people of Madeira, in consequence of the bad vintages of
+the last seven years.
+
+The vine was introduced from Cyprus, almost at the same time with the
+sugar-cane, under the auspices of Prince Henry of Portugal, in 1425, but
+its culture did not attain much importance till the beginning of the
+sixteenth century. Some authors even suppose that the wine of Madeira owes
+its reputation chiefly to those plants which were, at a much later date,
+imported by the Jesuits from Candia. This much is certain, that the
+produce grown on the estates of the Jesuits greatly surpassed in quality
+all others in the island, and maintained a higher price in the market even
+when those estates had changed hands. The grape ripens in the north at an
+elevation of 2700 feet, but such as are fitted for the manufacture of
+wine, grow only as high as the Curral das Freiras (2080 feet).
+
+Hitherto four sorts of vines have been cultivated in the island, namely,
+the _Bual_ and _Tinta_, both of which were brought from Burgundy, the
+_Sercial_ from the Rhine, and the _Malvasia_ or _Malmsey_ from Candia.
+There are four species of the last-mentioned, (_candila_, _roxa_,
+_babosa_, and _propea_); the delicious flavour of which by many people is
+considered to have a great similarity with the Hungarian _Tokayer_. The
+most esteemed sorts were grown west of Funchal, near Cama de Lobos, and
+Estreita. Excellent qualities were grown also at Santa Cruz, on the north
+side of the island, and the valleys near Ponta da Cruz; in general,
+however, the grape of the northern district proved to be of inferior
+quality, and was therefore only used in the manufacture of rum. In the
+north the vines were trained on chestnut trees, but in the south, as in
+Lombardy and the Tyrol, in festoons, supported by a kind of cane (_Arundo
+sagittata_), and tied up by a species of willow (_Salex rubra_),
+specially cultivated for that purpose.
+
+Though nearly a fifth of the cultivated portion of the island was thus
+planted, yet the individual vineyards were but small in extent, the
+largest of them not exceeding three or four acres. In the wine-growing
+countries of Europe fresh plants are set at least every twenty years; but
+in Madeira they are allowed to remain in the ground so long as they yield
+any fruit. The native growers do not relish improvements; of all the
+agricultural implements which some English landowners, settled near
+Funchal, wished to introduce, the garden-rake alone was adopted by these
+enemies of innovation. The vineyards of Madeira were usually let out to
+farmers (_caseiros_), and rarely cultivated by the proprietors themselves.
+The yield of an acre was estimated at from one to three pipes. In 1848 the
+cost of producing a pipe of Madeira amounted to from 12 to 40 Spanish
+piastres. In the same year the total production of the island amounted to
+30,000 pipes, of which only 10,000 were exported, as the inferior sorts,
+not keeping well, are not suited for the foreign markets. Of the wines
+exported, half went to Russia and the Baltic provinces, the other,
+comprising the best kinds, were sent to England, the West Indies, and the
+United States. Up to the year 1851, when the last good vintage occurred,
+the price of a pipe varied from 12 to 14 Spanish piastres. So late as
+1845, when the Danish corvette _Galatea_, on her voyage round the world
+for scientific purposes, put in at this island, the inferior sorts were
+so cheap that Captain Steen Bille considered it more profitable to supply
+the crew with wine mixed with water than beer. Since that time prices have
+become ten times higher, and the best quality now sells for from £110 to
+£150 a pipe, and will doubtless rise in proportion as the older stores are
+exhausted.
+
+Though the yield of the vine had been decreasing, year after year, for a
+considerable time, yet the actual vine disease only made its appearance in
+1852, when the leaves and fruit were covered with a kind of fungus
+(_Oïdium Tuckeri_),[20] like a white dust. The Portuguese Government sent a
+commission for the purpose of investigating the causes of the calamity.
+The report[21] is not decisive on the point, whether the fungus is the real
+cause or only a symptom of the disease, nor does it offer any advice as to
+how it may be checked. Dr. Hermann Schacht,[22] who resided during a period
+of 18 months in the island, and has published a valuable treatise, states
+that the vine-disease appears there in the same form as in Germany, even
+as regards the season, which is soon after the blossom disappears. At
+first the young leaf is covered with a whitish matter, chiefly on its
+lower side; it then assumes a crumpled appearance, becomes spotted, and
+at last decays. The young diseased grape likewise becomes covered with a
+white dust, at first partially, and then entirely, the green skin by
+degrees assuming a brown colour, the grape increasing at same time in
+size, until it as large as a currant, or a small cherry, when it becomes
+black, and perishes together with its diseased stock. In this decayed
+condition the grapes remain on the vine till late in the autumn. Dr.
+Schacht was successful in arresting the progress of the disease in its
+earlier stages, by washing all parts of the plant with a solution
+consisting of one part of glue to sixteen parts of water; an operation
+which had been likewise performed with good effect in the Royal hothouses
+of Sans-souci in Prussia. He rubbed the leaves and grapes infected by the
+fungus with this solution, and, where possible, dipped the grapes in it.
+The solution very soon dried, and gave the grapes and leaves a glossy
+appearance. All that had once been operated upon in this way remained in a
+healthy condition, and even those affected by the fungus recovered beneath
+the crust, the operation thus seeming to afford a protection against the
+fungus. The practice of strewing the plant over with powdered sulphur,
+which was so much lauded, seems to be of little use. At Teneriffe, Dr.
+Schacht found the fungus widely spread, notwithstanding the application of
+sulphur. Keeping the grape close upon the ground is also recommended as a
+protection against the disease, having proved very successful in the
+south.
+
+[Footnote 20: Vide Botanical Gazette of 1852, page 9; of 1853, page 583;
+and of 1854, page 137;--Fulasne, "Sur le Champignon, qui cause la Maladie
+de la Vigne."--_Comptes Rendus_, vol. xxvii. 1853;--Dr. Schacht on
+Madeira, pages 52 to 58.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Memoria primero sobre a mangra e doenza das vinhas nas ilhas
+da Madeira e Porto Santo, por Joao de Andrade Corvo. Lisbon. 1854.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Madeira und Teneriffa mit ihrer Vegetation, &c. Von Dr. H.
+Schacht. Berlin. 1859.]
+
+The pecuniary loss sustained since the first appearance of the malady
+amounted in the autumn of 1852 to 1,137,990 Spanish piastres, £190,000,[23]
+and after having waited in vain a period of five years, for a better state
+of things, the impoverished landowners entirely gave up cultivating the
+vine. A traveller who chances now to visit Madeira can scarcely believe
+that but a few years ago the greater portion of the island was covered
+with the plant. The cause of its disappearance must, however, not be
+ascribed entirely to the disease, but partly also to the utter neglect of
+its culture in favour of that of other products, so much so that of late
+it was scarcely possible to procure a sufficient quantity of grapes for
+invalids to whom they were medicinally prescribed. Moreover, the sugar
+plantations, which annually increase in extent, have contributed to the
+destruction of the vines, as the former require irrigation, which causes
+the roots of the latter to rot in the humid ground.[24]
+
+[Footnote 23: The quantity of wine produced amounted, in the year 1851, to
+10,374 pipes; in the following year (1852), only to 1413-1/2 pipes.]
+
+[Footnote 24: The vine disease seems, however, to have been already
+prevalent in Madeira at a former period. In an old lease, referring to
+land or property in the west of the island, there is a clause to the
+effect that "In the event of the young grape being covered with mildew
+(_mangra_), the contract would be null and void." In Portugal also, the
+disease is said to have existed more than fifty years ago, though not to a
+great extent.]
+
+The present situation of the people of Madeira claims alike the sympathies
+of the philanthropist and the attention of the political economist. We
+here behold a population of upwards of a hundred thousand souls, deprived
+at once of a product, which has been for more than three centuries the
+principal means of obtaining their living, and by which many an
+industrious grower made a considerable fortune.
+
+The farmer of Madeira, accustomed for generations to this branch of
+industry, is now forced to apply his energies to another, on the fortunate
+selection of which will depend his welfare for the future, or at least for
+years to come.
+
+Some of the wealthier growers have not entirely abandoned the culture of
+the vine, and have been assisted in their endeavours by the Consul of the
+United States in Funchal, the liberal-minded Mr. Marsh; experiments were
+made by engrafting and setting fresh and healthy plants, brought from the
+banks of the Ohio. They proceeded on the principle, that it is most
+advisable, and likely to be productive of the best success, to obtain
+young plants only from countries where the disease has never appeared. The
+choice fell upon the Isabella and Catawba grapes, which are indigenous to
+the United States; and, whatever may be the final success, the merit of
+transplanting, at a considerable expense, these two North-American grapes
+to Madeira, is due to Mr. Marsh. It is, however, a question, whether they
+will be able to replace those hitherto cultivated, the conditions of
+climate and soil being so different. As is well known, none of the
+European vines succeed in North America; and the two indigenous sorts,
+which are grown in great quantities on the banks of the Ohio and the
+Missouri, cannot stand a comparison with any of our finer kinds. The juice
+of the American grapes is best suited for the manufacture of what is
+called sparkling hock, which is very like the Austrian Schaumwein.
+
+Some of the wealthier landowners formed an association for the purpose of
+introducing the culture of cochineal, to supply the place of that of the
+vine. Several plantations of nopal, or cactus, were laid out, and the
+first harvest was gathered in 1858. The nopal (_Opuntia cochinillifera_)
+is the only kind of cactus on which the cochineal insect breeds, and the
+south of the island, up to an elevation of 500 feet, the only part adapted
+for its cultivation. An attempt was made to introduce the culture of
+cochineal in the island by Señor Miguel de Carvalho, as far back as 1836.
+But the indifference of the people, and their prejudices against
+innovation, as well as the limited spirit of enterprise possessed by the
+native merchants, rendered the attempt, in that instance, abortive. In
+consequence, however, of the vine disease, the idea of cultivating
+cochineal was resumed, without considering, as it would appear, the
+probable results in a mercantile point of view. At the time of our visit
+there were about thirty acres of land planted with cactus, and the "seed"
+of the cochineal insect was expected from the Canary Islands. One cannot
+but think the notion of substituting the cultivation of cochineal for that
+of the vine was not a lucky one, the large capital required, and the
+limited market for the article, holding out small chance of success. The
+entire consumption of cochineal in the whole world amounts to no more than
+about 30,000 quintals, and towards this quantity, Guatemala furnishes
+15,000, the Canary Islands 6000, Mexico 8000, Java and the Philippine
+Islands together 1000 quintals. There is little prospect, therefore, that
+the cochineal culture of Madeira will ever become an important source of
+gain, or advantageously compensate for the loss of the vine. Few
+landowners in the island seem to possess sufficient means to withstand the
+chances and fluctuations to which its culture is subject. To illustrate
+this, it may be mentioned, that during our visit to the highlands of
+Guatemala, in 1854, when the cochineal harvest was bad, the tercio (150
+lbs.) of cochineal cost 140 Spanish piastres. In the following year, when
+it was unusually productive, the price declined to 80 piastres. A tercio
+of dried cochineal costs the grower, or nopalero, about 50 piastres; a
+nopal plantation must lie fallow every third year, being consequently only
+productive during two years. Have the landowners of Madeira considered all
+these disadvantages, and will they be able to bear all the drawbacks
+peculiar to the culture of cochineal? The climate and soil seem to hold
+out far greater advantages for the cultivation of the sugar-cane, coffee,
+cotton, and tobacco.
+
+There are few spots on the earth's surface which possess a climate so
+delightful, and so little subject to extremes as Madeira, the mean annual
+temperature being 64 degrees Fahrenheit, or only 5 degrees higher than in
+the most southern parts of Europe. The lowest temperature during five
+years' observation was 50 degrees, the highest, 74. An invalid residing at
+Funchal, within his own doors, may always have a temperature not lower
+than 64, nor higher than 74 degrees. Violent siroccos occur in the course
+of the summer, which drive the thermometer up to 90 degrees in the shade;
+these storms, however, occur only twice or thrice a year, and rarely last
+longer than a couple of days. Dr. Renton, who lived in Madeira from 1825
+to 1831, only once during all that time saw the thermometer marking 90
+degrees, two hours after sunset. The rainy season, marked by west and
+south-west winds, begins at the end of September or the beginning of
+October. In November the weather clears up, and generally keeps fine till
+the end of December. At this period snow falls on the mountains, and rain
+at Funchal, accompanied by north-westerly winds, lasting till about the
+end of February, during which time the weather is wet. The remainder of
+the year is comparatively dry, the annual fall of rain at Madeira
+amounting, according to Sir James Clark,[25] to 36 inches, there being in
+all about 73 wet days,[26] whilst at Rome, for instance, it rains, on an
+average, during 117 days, though the amount of rain-fall is only 29
+inches.
+
+[Footnote 25: On the Sanative Influence of the Climate of Madeira. By Sir
+James Clark. London. 1841.]
+
+[Footnote 26: The fall of rain, according to Dr. Hoberdon's observations,
+is, on a seven years' average, 30·62 inches per annum. Dr. Mittermayr,
+from Heidelberg, states, on a three years' average, the rainy days to be
+95 per year. Johnston, in his Physical Atlas of Natural Phenomena, states
+the fall of rain on an average to be 29·82 inches, and the number of rainy
+days 100 per annum, viz. 48 in the winter, 17 in the spring, 4 in the
+summer, and 31 in the autumn.]
+
+In some respects the winter is warmer at Madeira than the summer, owing to
+the north-westerly winds and the regular sea-breezes of that season,
+which keep the atmosphere continually at an even temperature; and hence
+the island is the favourite resort of consumptive patients during the
+winter season. England, which seems to possess the very unenviable
+privilege of furnishing to the annual mortality in Europe the most
+numerous contingent of phthisical patients, provides this island likewise
+with the greatest number of this, the most to be pitied of all classes of
+patients. The climate of Madeira will, however, be of little benefit in
+advanced and decided cases; although it seems to have a curative effect on
+young people in the first stage of the malady, as well as in cases where,
+being hereditary, its presence is merely apprehended.
+
+The number of strangers who annually, during the winter, resort to Madeira
+for the benefit of their health, amounts to from 400 to 500, and the money
+thereby circulated in the island reaches the sum of about £30,000. The
+number of English alone in the year 1855 was 285. But in the winter of
+1856-57, the English invalids who came to Madeira scarcely reached 100.
+The reason of this was another calamity, the cholera, which suddenly made
+its appearance in Funchal on the 4th of July, 1856. Until this epoch, the
+island had been spared this devastating scourge of our time. The epidemic
+is said to have been introduced by a detachment of Portuguese troops,
+which shortly before had arrived from Lisbon, where cholera was then
+raging. The circumstances under which this epidemic appeared in Madeira
+leave little doubt of the correctness of this supposition, and seem to
+confirm the view of Professor Pettenkofer,[27] relative to the importation
+of the disease by ships, and its propagation by human excrements, a theory
+advanced by this learned German physician in his famous work, with as much
+soundness as sagacity.
+
+The first individuals attacked were four soldiers of the 1st battalion of
+infantry, and the first who fell a victim to the epidemic was a boatman,
+who had landed some of the soldiers from the steamer. He was attacked on
+the 7th of July, at 1 P.M., and nine hours afterwards was a corpse. A few
+weeks later the scourge had spread over the whole island, raging with
+fatal severity, in consequence of the poverty, distress, and helplessness
+of the inhabitants. We cannot forbear mentioning a phenomenon observed at
+the time of the first appearance of the pestilence by Major Dom Pedro de
+Azevedo, one of the most distinguished men in Funchal. According to the
+observations regularly made by him, during two years, with reference to
+the quantity of ozone[28] contained in the atmosphere, he found that, as
+long as the pestilence was raging, it scarcely amounted to 2, whilst,
+under normal circumstances, the quantity, according to the ozonometer of
+Schönbein, is said to reach 6 to 7.
+
+[Footnote 27: Dr. Pettenkofer's Investigations and Observations on the
+Spread of Cholera. Munich. 1855.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Ozone, or oxygen in an allotropic condition, is found in more
+perceptible quantity in pure localities than in those where great
+quantities of putrescent substances are accumulated, as the ozone
+disappears by oxidation. Observations on the quantity of ozone contained
+in the air during an epidemic are, therefore, of great interest, because
+they may throw a light on the influences of the atmosphere in the
+propagation of certain diseases.]
+
+In the beginning of October the malady gradually began to decrease, the
+last case which happened on the island occurring at Funchal, on the 16th
+December, 1856. It appears, from official reports, that out of a
+population of 102,837 souls, 7041 fell victims to the epidemic; other
+statements, that seem not less reliable, even raise the number of fatal
+cases to a much larger figure. A variety of local circumstances tended to
+heighten the fearful violence of the epidemic: the great distress among
+the people, arising from the deficiency of the vintages during several
+years; the potato disease, which occurred in the summer of 1856, and
+deprived the population, whilst suffering from other calamities, of one of
+their most important means of sustenance; and finally, to bring
+misfortunes to a climax, even that source of gain was dried up which the
+people derived from the temporary residence of numerous wealthy families.
+Terrified by the reports which were in circulation as to the ravages
+caused by the cholera at Madeira, hundreds altered their original plan of
+passing the winter there, and even resident strangers, horror-stricken,
+left the island, which had been so suddenly converted from a paradise into
+a burial-ground. The loss arising from the latter cause is estimated at
+£20,000, an immense sum at a time when pestilence and famine were raging
+so fiercely. The British Government, as well as English philanthropists in
+general, deserve the highest praise for the liberality with which they
+promptly and generously hastened to the assistance of the sufferers. Soon
+as intelligence of the great distress arrived in London, two steamers of
+war, the _Salamander_ and _Hesper_, with provisions, medicine, clothing,
+bedding, and money, were despatched to Funchal, where the former arrived
+on the 18th and the latter on the 31st of October, 1856. This assistance
+essentially contributed to the rapid extinction of the epidemic, as it
+sufficed to relieve the more pressing wants.[29] Considerable contributions
+arrived also from the United States; and, according to public statements,
+the relief that came from foreign countries amounted to £8895.
+
+[Footnote 29: Old chronicles report that Madeira has been visited by a
+pestilential disease, that raged within the years 1521 to 1535. But the
+cholera was never in the island before the year 1856. The yellow fever is
+altogether unknown.]
+
+The commerce of the island was, as a matter of course, seriously affected
+by such a train of calamities. The principal exports had hitherto
+consisted of wine, cattle, fruit, and wicker-work; the first and most
+important of these articles--wine--had, as already stated, all but
+entirely disappeared from the list for several years, the small quantities
+still exported being merely the remnants of old stocks.
+
+According to custom-house registers, the entire value of the produce
+exported in 1851 amounted to £164,960, of which £96,950 were shipped in
+English, £26,500 in American, and £16,650 in Portuguese vessels. The
+exports of 1855 were only £95,470, and in 1855, when the wine export had
+entirely ceased, the value did not exceed £2400!
+
+The imports were of a more numerous and varied description; calico, cotton
+and woollen goods, hardware, spices and provisions from England; timber,
+salt meat, and other articles from the United States; grain from the
+Mediterranean and the Black Sea; and sugar, coffee, oil, rice, and other
+colonial produce from Lisbon and the Portuguese settlements. The commerce
+is almost entirely in the hands of the English,[30] whose liberality during
+the cholera epidemic has much raised them in the estimation of the
+inhabitants.
+
+[Footnote 30: Three-fifths of the 50,000 tons annually imported are
+_English_ manufactures.]
+
+The absence of a regular banking establishment is much felt by the trading
+community, particularly in times of temporary distress. Singularly enough
+there are few Portuguese coins to be met with, and even these are not
+liked by the inhabitants. The moneys chiefly in circulation are English
+and American gold and silver coins, French five-franc pieces, and Spanish
+dollars. The sailing vessels in the roads of Funchal are mostly under
+English and American flags. The steamers which keep up the intercourse
+between Europe and the Brazils call regularly at Funchal for mails and
+passengers,[31] and a steam-packet arrives regularly every fortnight on its
+way from Europe to South America.
+
+[Footnote 31: An English coal depôt has been established in Funchal since
+1848.]
+
+The trade carried on under ordinary circumstances is, as we have seen, by
+no means inconsiderable, and by proper management might enable the people
+to extricate themselves from their present depressed position; but though
+not exactly lazy, they are entirely deficient in the energy requisite for
+effectively improving their condition. Whenever they have enough of yams
+and potatoes, they no longer think of exerting themselves or of acquiring
+a more comfortable or independent mode of existence. Neither in Ireland,
+nor in the Silesian mountains, nor even amongst the Indians in North or
+South America, have we witnessed such a degree of poverty and wretchedness
+as we beheld among the labouring classes in the mountainous districts of
+this island. On entering a village, shoals of haggard-looking beggars
+covered with rags were seen, whose features indicated their unhealthy way
+of living, and an utter lack of the most common necessaries of life. The
+calamities of the last five years have certainly contributed to this
+excess of misery, and a traveller who visited Madeira twenty years ago,
+may have carried away with him quite a different impression of its
+inhabitants.
+
+The race inhabiting the island, notwithstanding some favourable
+exceptions, is rather unprepossessing and decrepit, owing to the elements
+of which it is composed. The first settlers, as already stated, belonged
+by no means to the better classes of Portugal, but consisted of a motley
+assemblage of ruffians, who came to the newly-discovered island merely in
+search of adventure. The admixture which afterwards took place with the
+black race imported from Africa, materially contributed to deteriorate the
+people both physically and morally. Though there is not one single pure
+negro in the whole island, yet the features of a considerable proportion
+of the inhabitants denote their African descent. In the population of
+Punta da Sol, a village on the west side of the island, the negro type is
+said to be exhibited in its strongest character.
+
+The dress of the native is extremely simple; a pair of white trowsers, a
+shirt, and linen jacket, constitute the entire toilette; with a few rare
+exceptions we never saw shoes: but even the poorest of the poor wears a
+curiously-shaped small cloth cap (_carapuça_) of a blue colour, with red
+lining, terminating in an erect pointed tail, six inches long. This seems
+to be a remnant of a turbaned head-dress, worn formerly by the inhabitants
+of the African coast, with whom the first settlers, allured by the
+slave-trade, once carried on an active intercourse.
+
+[Illustration: CARAPUÇA, OR CAP WORN BY THE NATIVES OF MADEIRA.]
+
+Many of the inhabitants of Funchal obtain their livelihood by acting as
+guides to strangers. The roads being very steep, and formed of pointed
+stones, horses of an excellent breed are used in going even short
+distances; however fast the visitors may gallop, the guide follows the
+horses on foot, to which the natives are habituated from their earliest
+years. This practice is undoubtedly one of the principal causes of
+consumptive complaints, which are more frequently met with here than might
+have been expected considering the climate, though bad nourishment and
+unhealthy dwellings may have their part in causing the prevalence of the
+malady. The common people are mostly lodged in small low cabins of wood or
+timber, thatched with straw, the only opening being the door, through
+which air and light are admitted. Their sleeping-places are wooden
+benches, covered with straw, raised only one or two feet from a ground
+which, during nine months of the year, is damp.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to state that the wealthier classes offer a more
+pleasing aspect. They are extremely obliging, kind, and attentive towards
+strangers, and evidently endeavour to impress the visitor with favourable
+ideas of themselves and the island. To the hospitality of the Austrian
+Consul, as well as to Major P. A. de Azevedo and Don Juan Muniz, so
+deservedly celebrated for his knowledge of the flora of Madeira, the
+members of the _Novara_ expedition are indebted for many a happy and
+delightful hour.
+
+The population is perceptibly on the decrease. The causes are emigration
+to the British West Indies, and devastation by the cholera. The number of
+inhabitants in the two islands, in 1836, amounted to 115,446; in 1854, to
+103,296; and in 1855, to only 102,183. The emigrants during the last
+twenty-five years (1835 to 1860) are said to have amounted to 40,000, many
+of whom depart secretly, in order to avoid the heavy emigration tax.
+
+Numerous benevolent institutions indicate the charitable disposition of
+the inhabitants. The hospital, or Santa Casa de Misericordia, standing in
+a beautiful square, planted with planes and magnolias, can receive 104
+patients, and is exceedingly well managed. It appears, however, rather
+singular that the surgical are separated from the medical cases, whilst no
+separation exists amongst the patients who may happen to be labouring
+under contagious diseases. The most frequently recurring diseases are
+cutaneous, a circumstance which need excite no surprise in a country where
+the natives pay so little attention to the cleanliness of their bodies,
+and where Government itself favours as it were this carelessness by
+levying a considerable tax upon the importation of soap! Dysentery
+prevails throughout the year; intermittent fever and inflammatory diseases
+occur more rarely; but apoplectic cases are at times very numerous. The
+nominal amount of the funds of the hospital is estimated at £40,000; the
+annual income being about £1800 sterling.
+
+The hospital for lepers is fitted up for the reception of about forty
+patients, most of whom come from places in which the black has least mixed
+with the white race.
+
+The workhouse, for 230 paupers, was founded in 1847 by public
+subscription, and has an annual income of from 3000 to 4000 piastres.
+
+The nunnery of St. Isabel, for the reception of female orphans, was
+erected as early as 1726. Great care is taken of the education of the
+inmates, who are not permitted to leave the establishment, except in case
+of getting married or respectably employed.
+
+Foundlings, of whom, in one single year, 839 were maintained by the
+commune of Funchal, are given out to nurse; and there has been a most
+singular expedient adopted, in order to prevent abuse as regards obtaining
+the board money, which amounts to about one piastre a month, for each. A
+piece of tape is put round the infant's neck, the two ends of which are
+fastened with a lead seal, and stamped, so that, in the event of death, it
+cannot be taken off and put on another child's neck. The witnessing of the
+process of fastening and stamping this necklace is most unpleasant,
+although no real pain is inflicted on the child.
+
+In the year 1855 there existed in the entire island twelve elementary
+schools, attended by about 200 scholars, and likewise forty-nine Sunday
+schools, having about 2400 pupils. Funchal also possesses a college, with
+six professors and 120 students, an ecclesiastical seminary for
+twenty-four pupils, and a medical school, with four professors, which,
+however, during the year of our visit, had only seven students. Though the
+Government is very rigid in exacting the attendance of the children at
+school, yet only about a seventh part of the whole number living in the
+island really avail themselves of the benefit.
+
+A hospital for the consumptive is now in course of erection, at the
+expense of the Empress dowager of the Brazils, as a memorial of her
+daughter, who, in 1853, died of this disease on the island.
+
+There exist several public libraries and book societies at Funchal; and in
+several of the clubs a great many of the leading English, French, Spanish,
+Portuguese, and German journals, are to be found. Four weekly papers, in
+the Portuguese language, are published at Funchal. The first newspaper
+ever published there was the _Patriota Funchalense_, the first number of
+which appeared on the 2nd of June, 1821.
+
+[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF MADEIRA.]
+
+The public buildings offer little to attract notice; the churches are
+insignificant, and even the cathedral, a building in the Basilica style,
+is in no way remarkable otherwise than by the innumerable garlands and
+nosegays, offerings of pious devotees, which as it were transform its
+interior into a fragrant temple of flowers.
+
+That which was once a Jesuit monastery, has been now converted into a
+barrack, in which the whole garrison of the island, amounting to 400 men,
+are lodged. The daily pay of these soldiers amounts to 20 reis, or about
+one penny!
+
+An ordinary dwelling-house has lately been converted into a town gaol, in
+which the prisoners are very humanely treated. Passers-by may have an
+undisturbed talk with them through the lattice-work; and once we even
+observed a man who had thrust his foot through the iron bars, in order to
+have his measure taken by one of the inmates for a pair of shoes!
+
+The charms of beautiful walks, and a most enchanting neighbourhood,
+enhance the pleasantness of the climate of Funchal so much resorted to by
+invalids. In the interior of the town, not far from the sea-shore,
+splendid avenues of magnificent planes, large-flowered magnolias, and
+massive oaks, form delightful promenades, and afford repose and shade on
+numerous seats under the dense foliage of their wide-spreading branches.
+
+Seated on a gently-ambling steed, one may reach most pleasantly the
+summits of those lofty mountains, which rise close to Funchal, where a
+balmy fragrance perfumes the air, and the eye roams with delight in all
+directions over scenery of the most striking description.
+
+One of the favourite points from which such a view may be obtained in all
+its beauty, is the terrace in front of the church of Nossa Senhora de
+Monte, situated 1965 feet above the level of the sea, on a ridge of the
+Arrebantao mountain, reached in less than an hour by one or other of the
+existing conveyances; these are either horses, or hammocks and
+sedan-chairs, or sledges, covered with tasteful canopies, and drawn by a
+couple of small oxen.
+
+[Illustration: SLEIGH PARTY IN MADEIRA.]
+
+Though a vehicle, reminding one so strongly of a northern winter, appears
+rather odd in a climate such as that of Madeira, yet its practicability
+and convenience is very soon perceived, when comfortably sliding away over
+the smooth stones of Funchal. Wheel carriages, such as used in Europe, are
+unknown here.
+
+But he who has bodily strength and health enough to be able to wander
+through the interior of the island, will find spots which command
+landscapes by far more grand and sublime than that seen from Nossa Senhora
+de Monte. Cape San Lorenzo, with its petrified fauna;--the awe-inspiring
+Entroza pass, that wonderful sculpture of nature which bears so powerful a
+witness to the corroding action of water;--the lovely and solitary cascade
+of Rabacal;--the Pic Arrieiro, with its craggy rocks, offering to the
+geologist such a remarkable peep into the geognostical history of the
+island;--the numerous gigantic rocky skeletons of volcanic cones, on which
+the geologist is able to make the most interesting studies and
+investigations, just in the same manner as the anatomist on a corpse;--all
+these wonders of nature are calculated to awaken the reflection and excite
+the admiration of the beholder.
+
+The most delightful event during our stay in the island was an excursion
+of several days, made to the romantic localities of the northern coast. A
+stately cavalcade of twenty-two horsemen set out, early on a fine June
+morning, from Funchal to Nossa Senhora, and from thence over the Pic
+Poizo, through the glens of Metade to St. Anna. After a ride of two hours,
+the Casa de Abrigo was reached, a small house, situated about 4500 feet
+above the level of the sea, erected by the Government some years ago for
+the shelter of travellers. From this point the path runs through a hilly
+country covered with heath, from which the majestic Pico Ruivo, with the
+fantastic forms of its rugged volcanic walls bathed in gold by the rays of
+the rising sun, presents a most imposing sight. On the whole route only
+one small miserable village, called Fayal, was passed, consisting of a few
+straw thatched huts, exhibiting a picture of poverty and wretchedness,
+which can scarcely be paralleled in any part of the habitable globe.
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE OF FAYAL.]
+
+At last, after a ride of eight hours, we reached St. Anna, an extensive
+village, with a large church and some brick buildings prettily situated in
+flower-gardens, the most stately of which was--the inn. The good cheer and
+repose found here for a few hours of the night, compensated in some degree
+for the fatigues of the past day, and prepared us for those to be
+encountered on the morrow.
+
+The frequent fogs prevalent in Madeira during the month of June, render it
+indispensable to start early in the morning, if the traveller wishes to
+enjoy the beauties of the scenery. At 2 A.M., therefore, our cavalcade
+set out, followed by a host of boys and porters carrying provisions and
+instruments for observations. Nature was still buried in sleep, the air
+quiet and motionless; the full moon, shedding her pallid light over sea
+and mountain, feebly shadowed forth the outlines of the hedges and bushes
+of roses, fuchsias, and hortensias, that lined the narrow path, and
+brought out dimly in faint relief the ghost-like white figures which,
+standing at the doors of their poor cabins, looked inquisitively at the
+riders, that were already so early on their way. The path led up to the
+mountains in steep and numerous windings, sometimes on soft ground through
+ravines, sometimes on solid basalt, or over the uneven surface of
+indurated lava. And when at last, emerging from deep glens, steep
+precipices, and rocky walls, all yet buried in the shades of night, the
+blue star-spangled sky burst upon us in all its beauty and grandeur, the
+effect was almost overpowering. A faint glimmer of light appeared on the
+distant horizon, masses of vapour moved over the ocean, and rising mists
+gathering into clouds, undulated like the surface of an agitated sea. It
+was only along the ridges of mountains and through the ravines, that one
+might glance between mist and land down to the calm boundless expanse of
+water at our feet.
+
+At 4 o'clock a halt was made near a solitary hut, called Choupana, at a
+height of 4400 feet, when the horsemen dismounted, and left their horses
+behind, preferring to reach on foot the termination of their journey.
+
+[Illustration: EL HOMEM EM PÉ.]
+
+We had just climbed up some steep basalt rock and reached an open spot,
+when the first rays of the sun tinged the eastern sky. Beaming in all his
+majesty on the sharply-defined clouds that hovered beneath, they sparkled
+like so many ice-capped peaks of Alpine glaciers; and when the great
+luminary ascended higher, distributing mingled light and shade in such
+gradations of tint as only Nature's cunning hand can mingle, the chaotic
+masses of vapour assumed the appearance of gigantic islands and lofty
+towering mountains, whilst a chorus of feathered songsters rung cheerfully
+out from the depths of the wooded valleys. The path wound along a
+precipitous declivity, grown over with tangled Til-trees, past a group of
+basaltic columns, which rose isolated to a height of 40 feet above the
+beautiful grassy carpet that clothes the ground, and in the crevices of
+which an old laurel, the last of its genus at this height, had taken root.
+The natives call this singularly-shaped group _Homem em pé_, or the man
+standing erect.
+
+Arrived at an open space of meadow ground, the Barreiro, or Encumiada
+Caixa, a gigantic rocky ridge, suddenly rises to a prodigious height, from
+a frightful abyss of almost fathomless depth. We now hastened across a
+plain covered with lava, to the rough basaltic summit of the Encumiada
+Alta. Safe on an eminence[32] above yawning gulfs, beneath a deep blue sky,
+in the brilliancy of a lovely morning sun, we abandoned ourselves to the
+thrilling impressions of the magnificent picture which nature here brought
+forth of earth, rock, and manifold vegetation. Towards the south an
+immense mountain ridge, with serried peaks (called Torres and Torinhas),
+rises to a height of 6000 feet, declining almost imperceptibly on the left
+hand, whilst on the right it descends abruptly in terraces, with
+perpendicular walls of rocks 1000 feet in height, connected by an
+inaccessible ridge with the imposing, stupendous, cupola-shaped summit of
+the Pico Ruivo. All this is disclosed to the eye within a radius of little
+more than two miles. Deep clefts and ravines run from the rocky crevices,
+and unite in a gloomy and profound abyss of 3000 feet, which forms the
+mouth of the ravine of Ribeiro Secco. Similiar chasms open to the right
+and to the left, and when they are too distant to be distinguished by the
+eye, dark shadows rising on the rocky walls indicate the deep crater-like
+basin of the Curral, and the gulfs of the Metade river, and the Ribeiro
+Frio. It would seem as if the whole island has, in a series of fearful
+convulsions, burst from a single central point in all directions; as if
+entire mountains had sunk into the deep, or had, by the action of torrents
+permeating their crevices, been converted into rubble, and carried as sand
+and fragments into the ocean.
+
+[Footnote 32: 5883 feet, according to the geologist's barometrical
+measurements.]
+
+The summits of the Torres and Torrinhas are nothing but barren naked
+rocks,--not a blade of grass, not a shrub, not a trace of vegetation is to
+be seen. At the highest points, strata nearly horizontal extend in
+remarkably regular layers, chiefly distinguished by the most manifold
+variety of colours and tints.[33] A dark grey schistus of volcanic ashes
+alternates with strongly-marked red, yellow, and violet layers of tufa,
+dross, and scoriæ, together with brown and grey conglomerates. Just as red
+predominates on the upper part of these _Torres_, green prevails on the
+lower. From the spot where the springs first issue out of the crevices of
+the basalt, everything seems covered with a dense green carpet. These are
+the celebrated "clefts" of Madeira, in which, even on rocks of 1000 feet
+high, not an inch is to be discovered bare; they afford a rich harvest to
+the botanist, whilst they fill the spectator with delight and admiration.
+
+[Footnote 33: The celebrated American geologist, Mr. Dana, mentions that
+these wild contorted masses of mountain reminded him of the crater-walls
+of the Kilauea at the Sandwich Islands.]
+
+[Illustration: ERICA TREES.]
+
+Generally speaking, the scenery of Madeira does not owe its character to
+the grandeur or magnitude of its trees; the peculiar charm of the
+landscape arises more from grasses, ferns, shrubs, and different kinds of
+moss, all of which grow so rank and luxuriant, that the rocks, chasms, and
+abysses overgrown with them, appear like so many swelling cushions, or as
+if laid with soft velvet carpets in all directions. The different shades
+of green indicate the characteristics of successive zones of vegetation.
+Through the lower parts of the valleys run the beds of those mountain
+waters which, though nearly dried up in the summer, swell in the winter
+into torrents. Along these are scattered the straw-thatched huts of the
+natives, surrounded by vineyards and fields planted with rye, barley,
+potatoes, yams, and in the lower parts with single bananas. These
+cultivated lands rise to a height of 2000 feet, and in many places even to
+3000. Wherever on the steep declivities there is the smallest shelf to be
+found, even if only a square yard in size, it is turned to account. Next
+to this region, in ascending, is that of the brush and laurel woods.
+_Vaccinias_ (blackberries), and different kinds of heath, often attaining
+a growth of five or six feet, occupy the whole of the ground, and in the
+month of June, when the broom is in full flower, a bright golden-coloured
+belt girts Madeira, at a height of from 3000 to 4000 feet. We beheld this
+golden girdle in its richest splendour, set off by the dark masses of
+evergreens in the clefts. Higher up is the true region of the _Erica
+arborea_, which, with its light-green and _paille_ tint, contrasted with
+the deeper colour of the laurel, represents the underwood of our secondary
+mountain ranges. The _Erica arborea_ attains here the height of a large
+tree, and, on some spots, 30 to 40 feet of its gnarled stems stretch along
+the ground. Thus it may be traced, in company with other heaths, to the
+summit of the Pico Ruivo.
+
+After having made some physical observations, and enjoyed a most
+delightful prospect, we re-packed our instruments, filled our boxes and
+pouches with plants and geological specimens, and prepared for our
+departure. The guides, despite their heavy burdens, marched steadily on,
+humming in plaintive cadence their native songs. We soon reached our
+horses, and, penetrating through layers of clouds, rapidly descended the
+steep mountain sides to St. Anna.
+
+A walk on the same evening towards Porto Santo Jorge was not less
+charming than instructive, especially as we gazed on those hardened
+streams of lava, so interesting as regards the geological history of the
+island, out of the numerous crevices of which grew luxuriant magnificent
+rosettes of _Sempervivum_. Fuchsias and heliotropes were gathered from the
+bushes, and each took a share, now with the geological hammer, now with
+the botanical box, or the butterfly-catcher, in the harvest of objects of
+natural history. We passed in this neighbourhood several houses
+delightfully situated, surrounded by hedgerows of luxuriant shrubs and
+splendid native flowers.
+
+In the fine garden of the inn, amidst myrtles, bignonias, euphorbias, and
+fuchsias, was a handsome _Camellia japonica_, which had attained the
+imposing height of 15 feet, with a diameter of 9 inches, the top spreading
+fan-like in numberless branches.
+
+The following morning we returned to Funchal, accompanied by a troop of
+ragged and diseased natives, pertinaciously appealing to our charity.
+Plenteous alms were given them, for where Nature is so prodigal of her
+gifts, the human mind becomes more sensitive and liberal. At noon, we
+again reached the beautiful terrace of Nossa Senhora de Monte, and here
+the excursion was wound up by a diversion of quite a peculiar character;
+for, instead of returning to Funchal on horseback, we slid down a mountain
+1500 feet high, right into the town, on small double-seated wooden
+sledges, thus travelling down what is probably the grandest natural
+_Montagne Russe_ in the world. A train of more than a dozen sledges
+started at the same time. These singular vehicles are guided on either
+side with admirable adroitness by two natives, who avoid slipping by
+moistening their shoes; and, notwithstanding the velocity of these
+conveyances, even slight accidents are unheard of. Sledge parties of this
+kind, being cheap, constitute the most favourite amusement of the people
+of Funchal.
+
+The whole company met together once more at a convivial dinner in the
+hotel, where, agreeably to the custom of the country, not only the room
+and table, but even every single dish served up, was adorned with garlands
+of fragrant flowers.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE II.--TRACK FROM MADEIRA TO RIO DI JANEIRO.]
+
+On the 17th June we again weighed anchor. The intention had originally
+been to steer direct for Rio de Janeiro; but as we learned, two days
+before our departure, that the yellow fever, though on the decrease, had
+not yet entirely ceased, we were in no hurry to arrive at the capital of
+Brazil, and therefore determined to employ the time so gained, in
+investigating the nature of the winds and currents prevalent in these
+latitudes. For though the proper course of ships between England and North
+America has been admirably laid down, for nearly every month of the year,
+by the long-continued ingenious labours of Commander Maury, of the
+Washington Observatory, yet there still exists great difficulty in
+steering sailing vessels from Gibraltar or Madeira to South America, by
+the directions hitherto existing; the more so, as the seafarer in these
+latitudes, close to the limits of the north-east trade-wind, generally
+falls in with variable breezes and frequent calms, caused partly by the
+African coast and partly by the cluster of isles from the Azores to the
+Cape Verde Islands, and which are of still more frequent occurrence in the
+summer of the northern hemisphere.
+
+We kept Madeira, or rather the clouds which, during the summer, gather
+daily round the mountains, a long time in view; and on the 19th, at a
+distance of 120 miles from the island, some persons on board thought they
+could still distinguish them.
+
+We steered at first in a south-westerly direction, with light breezes and
+fine weather. Advancing, however, towards the limits of the trade-winds,
+showers became frequent, and the wind chopped about much oftener; a more
+southerly course was therefore taken, in order to come as soon as possible
+under the influence of the north-easterly trade-winds.
+
+There was now an opportunity of directing attention to the formation of
+the clouds, which, in these latitudes, assume at times very curious
+appearances. The _cirri_ disappeared by degrees, and the _cumuli_ towered
+up on the horizon in colossal masses. These latter are formed under the
+influence of the sun, when most powerful, and are therefore seen chiefly
+during the afternoon. As soon as they rise they vanish by absorption, just
+as fast as they are formed by evaporation from the sea. Rain very rarely
+proceeds from them. The alternation of their shades, tints, and colours,
+is beautiful in the extreme, particularly at sunset, when their outlines,
+as they stand out in bold relief on the clear blue sky, vary in hue from
+the deepest grey to the most brilliant golden yellow.
+
+The nearer the tropics are approached the more does ocean teem with
+animated orgasms. A net cast into it was immediately filled with an
+immense number of little living creatures. Pretty-looking blue cockles,
+sea-nettles, and various other inhabitants of the deep, all of the most
+minute size, lay rolled up in one lump with small sea-weeds of beautiful
+forms and tints, from which those tiny things endeavoured, with great
+exertion, to extricate themselves. The microscope discloses to the
+observer an entirely new world in the economy of nature, as displayed in
+the animal life of the surface of the sea. The entire oceanic creation,
+from the smallest infusoria to the huge whale, are all specially adapted
+to the element in which they exist, and organized to contribute to the
+preservation, as well as the further development, of the whole globe.
+
+This is beautifully illustrated by the operations of the zoophytes; the
+water of rivers dissolves the chalky substances of the land and carries
+them down to the ocean,--immense numbers of these form, for themselves,
+habitations from this matter;--by successive accumulation, produced
+through the action or the dead bodies of these creatures, the ground is
+raised gradually into the reefs, banks, and rocks, so dangerous to
+navigation; or into islands inhabited by man, who, in the development of
+his moral and physical powers, performs his mission in his high position,
+just as definitely as the imperceptible animalcuæ do in their narrow
+sphere.
+
+Exceedingly beautiful in the tropic seas are those small _physali_, a
+species of _Acalephæ_, known to sailors as "Portuguese men-of-war." They
+sail along by means of their large air-bags, exposed to the wind, whilst
+their numerous long, dark-blue tentacles, like fibres or roots, reach deep
+into the water, extending or contracting in order to secure their food.
+The fringes of these air-bags are of a violet colour, and resemble, when
+in sunshine, a splendid flower, floating about the sea in all directions.
+
+Approaching the zone of the trade-winds, the aspect of the sea is animated
+by flying-fish. It has been long a matter of doubt whether this fish
+really moves through the air by flying, or whether, being pursued by
+enemies, it merely darts from fear out of the water, and sustains itself
+in the air by means of its long pectoral fins, though the long distances
+it moves are out of all proportion to its size and probable muscular
+power. This doubt seems to have originated with those who never have had
+an opportunity of personally observing flying-fish; or who have merely
+seen these creatures in the Mediterranean, where they are so small as to
+render it rather difficult to decide in what the movement really consists.
+
+But in the tropics all doubt vanishes, for the fish here attains a length
+of from 6 to 8 inches, and its pectoral fins are so much developed that
+they may perfectly well be used as wings. By closely observing them, it is
+seen that these fins, or wings, have an oscillating or vibratory motion,
+like that of the grasshopper, by which they assist the oblique spring from
+the water, produced by muscular power; they move at a height of from two
+to three feet above the surface of the sea, to a distance of from 50 to
+100 yards, and at the same time change the direction of their flight in
+exactly the same way as grasshoppers.
+
+It seems, however, to be neither pleasure nor want of food that drives
+these creatures from their own element. They have numerous enemies, of
+which the principal is the bonita (_Scomber Palamy_); whenever flying-fish
+were seen the bonitas likewise made their appearance; we often saw the
+latter darting out of the water and snapping at a flying-fish, when, if
+they did not succeed, they were perceived hastening under water in the
+same direction that their prey was taking. But the flying-fish is quite
+aware of the movement of the enemy, and, therefore, sometimes turns back
+abruptly, evidently with a view of dodging his pursuer. The advantage of
+the wings is, however, more apparent than real, for whilst they escape by
+these means from the bonitas, dorados, and dolphins, they fall a sacrifice
+to the seagulls and man-of-war birds (_Tachypetes aquilus_), which reach
+them like arrows shot from a bow, before they are able to conceal
+themselves again in the ocean. Those which were seen on the north of the
+equator, were invariably of the smaller kind (_Exocætus volitans_); whilst
+in the south, also, the larger species (_Exocætus exulans_) made their
+appearance. They often drop during the night on the decks of small vessels
+with low bows, but on the _Novara_, which rose about 20 feet over the
+surface of the water, this was not possible; however, some fell upon the
+chains, which were caught and preserved in alcohol by the zoologists.
+
+On the 27th June, at midday, we had arrived in 27° 2' N. Lat., and 24° 7'
+W. Long., and lay in a perfect calm, the mirror-like aspect of the sea
+allowing us to take a deep-sea sounding with what is called Brooke's
+apparatus. This consists of a tube, which runs through a thirty-pound
+shot, fastened to a thin line. As the shot, however, cannot easily be
+drawn up after the sounding, there is an ingenious mechanism, by means of
+which, on touching the ground, it is detached from the tube, which may
+then be drawn up, the shot remaining in the sea. The tube has a
+funnel-shaped opening at its lower extremity, by which a portion of the
+ground may likewise be brought up for scientific examination.
+
+In the afternoon a boat provided with everything requisite for the
+sounding, was launched, and the operation began. Unfortunately there were
+only 4050 fathoms of line, as we did not find at Gibraltar the quality
+required for the purpose. The whole stock ran entirely out without
+reaching ground; we could therefore do nothing more than make the attempt
+to heave the tube without the shot. In this, however, we succeeded only in
+so far as regarded the first 2000 fathoms; then the line broke, and the
+remainder was lost. One of the causes of this accident was the sudden rise
+of the trade-wind which increased so much as to engross nearly our entire
+attention.
+
+To convey an idea of the time a ball of this kind takes to descend through
+the different strata of water, which increases in density in proportion to
+the depth attained, we annex the length of the different periods required
+in paying out the line during the experiment:--
+
+                                                       Minutes. Seconds.
+
+    The first 1000 fathoms occupied                       19      8
+ From 1000 to 2000  "                                     21      3
+   "  2000 to 3000  "                                     40      6
+   "  3000 to 4000  "                                     76      6
+   "  4000 to 4050  "                                      3      5
+                                                      ______________
+ Total time in running out the entire length     Hours 2  39     28
+
+As the winding up of the tube requires at least the same period, it may
+easily be conceived how great is the expenditure of time necessary for
+such an experiment, and on what chances the success of the whole operation
+depends. Though this trial was partially unsuccessful, yet so much is
+certain, that at this point, 24,300 feet of line were run off without
+reaching the ground. There is always, however, to be taken into
+consideration the under-current, which draws the line out of the
+perpendicular, and renders the result of the operation rather doubtful.
+
+We now sailed with a fresh and steady trade-wind towards the thirtieth
+degree of W. Long., and thence along that meridian to the southward.
+
+In the night, between the 29th to the 30th, we crossed the parallel of the
+sun's declination, upon which the direction of our shadows, already for
+several days scarcely perceptible, was of course changed from north to
+south.
+
+We soon crossed the belt of the north-eastern trade-wind, as we made daily
+from 180 to 200 miles. On the 3rd of July the wind became very unsteady,
+and on the 5th, in 8° 30' N. Lat. and 29° 30' W. Long., it entirely left
+us. The sky often became dark and threatening; indeed, its aspect changed
+at times with surprising rapidity, without any particular disturbance in
+the direction or strength of the wind; nor had we to complain of as much
+rain as might have been expected in these regions.
+
+The calms in the so-called "belt of calms" were fortunately not of long
+duration, for in 6° 43' N., and 28° 49' W., a fresh south-east wind sprang
+up. When we came within the influence of the south-east trade-wind, we
+endeavoured to approach the coast of South America, for the purpose of
+observing the currents in that latitude, this being one of the
+investigations suggested by the letter of instructions drawn up by
+Alexander v. Humboldt. The great oceanic stream, which, on leaving the
+western coast of Africa takes a westerly direction, is divided by the
+projecting American Continent into two branches, of which the stronger
+turns N.W. towards the Caribean Sea, while the weaker moves south-west
+along the coast of Brazil.
+
+We had already felt its influence whilst in the zone of calms, and it
+became still more perceptible the more the equator was approached. The
+continuance of the south-easterly trade forced us to cross the Line at a
+more westerly point than usual. This, however, causes no disadvantage to a
+good sailing ship; nay, Commander Maury has proved indisputably that ships
+make extremely short passages, which reach the Equator so far to the west
+that they run a risk of hugging the coast too closely. Those on the other
+hand, which, from over-anxiety to avoid the current, keep too far to the
+east, lose much time, being compelled to pass weeks in the zone of calms,
+which increases in breadth towards the east, whereas the others come very
+little in contact with it, and avail themselves of the changes of wind
+near the shore, to double the Cape of St. Roque on the American coast, so
+much dreaded by the former. We cannot here forbear expressing our high
+admiration of the great merits of Mr. Maury, whose classical work on the
+physical geography of the sea, as well as his inestimable wind and current
+charts, deserve the especial attention of all who navigate these seas.
+
+The nearer we approached the Line, the more striking became the aspect of
+the southern constellations. The light of the northern polar star grew
+fainter and fainter, its altitude diminished, and it at length entirely
+disappeared. But, on the other hand, the Southern Cross, the Magellan
+clouds, the ship Argo on the "coal-bags," or starless, dark spots of the
+southern hemisphere, became more elevated in proportion as the northern
+sky moved away, and for a moment we felt some difficulty in recognizing
+our old acquaintances of the northern hemisphere in their relation to the
+new stars.
+
+On the 15th, at 3 A.M., we crossed the Line in 33° 50' W.L. This event,
+which with all sailors forms a marked epoch in their seafaring life, had
+in this case the additional feature of being actually the first occasion
+of an Austrian man-of-war entering the southern hemisphere, and our crew,
+who had long before enjoyed, in anticipation, the merriment to which it
+would give occasion, had commenced the ceremony the preceding evening.
+Neptune, accompanied by an appropriate retinue of mermaids, tritons, and
+nereids, appeared at sunset, to announce with the utmost gravity to the
+Commodore, in a set speech, the astounding news that the vessel was
+entering his dominions, demonstrating the fact mathematically by an
+immense sextant, a chart, and pair of compasses a yard long, all
+manufactured by the ship's carpenter, and claiming his right to see the
+act of shaving and baptizing properly performed on all those who for the
+first time came into his kingdom. Amidst streams of water from the masts
+and fire-engines he made his exit down the rope ladder in a blaze of blue
+fire, followed by an ignited tar-barrel, which floated along like a globe
+of fire on the mirror-like surface of the sea.
+
+The real farce, however, took place the next afternoon, when Neptune
+re-appeared, accompanied this time by his good lady and a hopeful youth,
+all decked out in real sea-god-like attire, in a car drawn by six tritons,
+still accompanied by his farcical retinue blowing a flourish on their
+bugles, when, after a second set speech to the Commodore, the great ruler
+of the waves declared that the ceremony was now to begin.
+
+Every sailor was obliged, whether he would or no, to undergo a lathering
+with a nasty mixture of tar and grease, and submit to be scraped by an
+immense tin razor; which operation being performed, the unfortunate
+sufferer was thrown into a sail suspended by its four corners, and there
+deluged from head to foot from pails, pumps, hose, pots, dishes, and
+everything else that would hold water. The officers and other gentlemen
+escaped the ordeal by a contribution in money or wine towards the
+festivities.
+
+When the greater part of the sailors had undergone this process, and the
+scene, amidst formidable gushes of water, rioting, uproar, and excitement,
+had reached its highest point, behold! a voice thundered from the
+quarter-deck the words "two o'clock," and everything resumed its wonted
+aspect.
+
+Though the Line had been crossed at a more westerly point than usual, we
+were able, in the night from the 18th to the 19th of July, to pass
+easterly between the rocks Las Roccas and the island of Fernando da
+Noronha.[34] On the 20th July we were carried again by unfavourable winds
+to a distance of 100 miles from the Brazilian coast, where we parted from
+our faithful companion, the _Caroline_. She sailed for Pernambuco, whilst
+we kept out to sea in order to continue the observations on the westerly
+currents, and be able freely to double Cape St. Augustin. Bad weather,
+showers, and heavy swells prevented complete success in our task; it was,
+however, ascertained that the current close to the land is not so strong
+as at some distance from it, and that the extreme point of divergence is,
+at this particular season of the year, somewhat east of the south point of
+Fernando de Noronha. In the angle formed by the direction of the two
+currents between the point of division and the land, partial currents
+(according to circumstances and the strength of the wind), run towards one
+or the other side, of which the stronger tends towards the north-west.
+
+[Footnote 34: This island, situated 300 miles from Pernambuco, which
+supplies it with provisions, is at present used by the Brazilian
+Government as a penal settlement. It is extremely beautiful and fertile,
+but very little cultivated, and admirably suited for a coal depôt, and a
+place for ships obtaining stores, particularly when epidemics are
+prevalent in Rio de Janeiro.]
+
+On the 23rd July the weather cleared up; we approached the coast and came
+in sight of Cape St. Augustin, the first land descried since leaving
+Madeira. On the 1st of August a rock was announced ahead; as nothing of
+the kind was indicated in the charts, we were curious to know what this
+could be. A boat was manned, and we were soon made aware, by our olfactory
+organs, of the real nature of the object, which turned out to be the
+carcase of a dead whale in a state of putrefaction, over which a number of
+birds were hovering, whilst a troop of sharks feasted on the putrid mass,
+boring themselves into the body. This incident shows how many rocks marked
+in charts as doubtful may owe their origin to similar circumstances; for,
+had we not been convinced of the real nature of the object, we should have
+believed this carcase to be a rock, and thus augmented the number of
+"doubtfuls" and interrogations in the charts of the Atlantic.
+
+On the 3rd August we made Cape Frio, and after a rough and stormy night
+reached at last, on the morning of the 5th, the numerous small islands
+situated in front of the harbour of Rio. The _Sugar Loaf_, that remarkable
+black basaltic rock at its entrance, stood grandly forth, as we ran in.
+Unfortunately the gloomy state of the atmosphere prevented the enjoyment
+of the exquisite beauty of this so often described charming bay.
+
+Here we found an English, a French, and an American frigate, as also a
+dirty old Brazilian sloop of war. Besides these ships of war, a Spanish
+frigate and galliot lay in the mercantile dock for repair; they had
+shortly before their arrival lost their masts in a _pampero_,[35] which,
+however, had borne all the characteristic marks of a cyclone.[36] The
+occurrence of tornadoes in the South Atlantic has been so often and so
+decidedly denied, that the mariner does not readily believe the violent
+storms of those latitudes to be hurricanes. This Spanish frigate had
+accordingly sailed heedlessly into the storm, and, with only such
+precautions taken as referred to mast and sail, had without further
+concern proceeded on her course. She thus had got into the very heart of
+the cyclone, and escaped entire destruction only by a fortunate chance.
+Now, had her commander considered this storm to have been a real hurricane
+he would have undoubtedly steered a different course, and probably in that
+case would have reached the harbour in safety. But the notion of the
+non-existence of hurricanes in these waters is so pertinaciously
+maintained that it was no wonder the careful and able Spanish commander
+had also been misled. Our own opinion is, that any storm in the ocean may
+assume a revolving motion, and it is therefore highly advisable always to
+bear in mind the well-founded theory of cyclones, in order to act upon it,
+as circumstances may require. Were this always done, how many valuable
+lives and property might be saved from destruction!
+
+[Footnote 35: A squall of wind of the South American Pampas.]
+
+[Footnote 36: The following succinct statement of the characteristics and
+general laws of cyclones will be found useful by way of reference:--
+
+1. It has been fully ascertained that in both hemispheres the air in the
+cyclone rotates in a direction _contrary_ to that of the sun. Thus, in the
+N. hemisphere, the course of the sun being from E. to S., W., and N., the
+course of the hurricane is from N. by W., S., and E.; and in the S.
+hemisphere, the sun's course being from E. by N., W., and S., the
+hurricane runs from N. by E., S., and W.
+
+2. They originate in the space between the equator and the tropics, near
+the equatorial limit of the trade winds.
+
+3. There is no instance on record of a hurricane having been encountered
+on the equator, nor of any one having crossed the Line, although two have
+been known to be raging at the same time in the same meridian, but on
+opposite sides of the equator, and only 10° to 12° apart!
+
+4. Their movement, which is always oblique from the equator to the poles,
+is usually from E. to W. at first, and towards the end W. to E., which is
+but a development of the gyratory motion that forms their most essential
+characteristic.
+
+5. The "motion of translation" varies from so low as 9 miles an hour to 43
+miles an hour. There is no precise estimate of the velocity of the
+gyratory motion.
+
+6. They are liable to dilate and contract in area, the contraction always
+implying a great accession of violence. (See _post_, p. 183.)]
+
+[Illustration: CAPE FRIO.]
+
+[Illustration: THE QUAY AT RIO.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  V.
+
+                           Rio de Janeiro.
+
+   Brazil the land of contrasts.--Appearance of the city of Rio and
+     its environs.--Excursion to the Peak of Corcovado, and the
+     Tejuca Waterfalls.--Germans in Rio.--Brazilian literary men.--
+     Assacú (_Hura Brasiliensis_).--Snake-bite as an antidote
+     against leprosy.--Public Institutions.--Negroes of the
+     Mozambique coast.--The House of Misericordia.--Lunatic
+     Asylum.--Botanical Garden.--Public instruction.--
+     Historico-Geographical institution.--_Palæstra Scientifica._--
+     Military Academy.--Library.--Conservatory of Music.--Sanitary
+     Police.--Yellow Fever and Cholera.--Water Party on the bay.--
+     Chamber of Deputies.--Petropolis.--Condition of the Slave
+     population.--Prospects of German emigration.--Suitability of
+     Brazil as a market for German commerce.--Natural products, and
+     exchange of manufactures.--Audience of the Emperor and
+     Empress.--Extravagant waste of powder for salvoes.--Songs of
+     the sailors.--Departure from Rio.--Retrospect.--South-east
+     Trades.--Cape Pigeons.--Albatrosses.--Cape Tormentoso.--A
+     Storm at the Cape.--Various Methods of measuring the height of
+     waves.--Arrival in Simon's Bay.
+
+
+Brazil--situated on the ocean-highway to the South Seas and the shores of
+India, endowed by nature, over the greater portion of her territory, with
+a salubrious climate, and a soil of tropical fertility, very nearly as
+large as Europe, and ten times the size of France, and yet containing not
+above 8,000,000 souls--has, far beyond all other States of South America,
+concentrated on herself, during more than half a century, the interest of
+the naturalist, as well as of the political economist--of the merchant as
+well as of the emigrant. Indeed, we may say that there are few countries,
+beyond the limits of Europe, which in certain parts have already been more
+thoroughly explored than the Brazilian Empire, while at the same time it
+can boast the possession of a rich and valuable stock of literature,
+treating of its history, since its discovery by the Portuguese Admiral,
+Pedro Alvarez Cabral, on the 22nd of April, 1500, down to the present
+time.
+
+After so brief a sojourn as ours, we can hardly offer more to the reader
+than a short sketch of our own few experiences, and some remarks regarding
+the alterations which took place in the appearance of the city and in its
+social and political condition, since the period when Martius and Spix,
+Rugendas, Prince Neuwied, Helmreichen, Natterer, Pohl, d'Orbigny, Wilkes,
+Castelnau, Burmeister, and others visited Brazil, and so accurately
+delineated it both by pen and pencil.[37]
+
+[Footnote 37: Before we left Europe, the wish was repeatedly expressed to
+us that, during our stay in Rio, more accurate information should be
+obtained as to the fate of numerous scientific works and collections, by
+several German naturalists who died in Brazil in recent times, such as
+Frederick Sello, Dr. Müller (a companion of Castelnau), Dr. Engler, and
+others. Unfortunately, we can only give the little consolatory
+intelligence that, with the exception of the scientific memoranda left
+behind by Dr. Engler, chiefly relating to Itù in the province of St. Paul,
+there was nothing further to be hoped for. The collections have all been
+dispersed through want of care, and the manuscripts nearly all destroyed
+through ignorance of their value.]
+
+The magnificent scenery of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro still continues to
+possess the same absorbing interest for the new comer, wherever it has not
+suffered by the expansion of the rapidly-increasing city, or the axe of
+the emigrant settler; it is but little one can add to or alter in the
+picturesque description which travellers, alive to its natural beauties,
+had already given, half a century ago, of the wonderful haven of the
+Brazilian metropolis! Very different, however, is the impression, when the
+stranger, on disembarking, sets foot on the new world, and has to make his
+way through narrow, steep, filthy streets, greeted by yelling crowds of
+blacks and whites, poor negro slaves, and wealthy planters, into the
+interior of this bustling port. An entirely altered state of affairs has
+sprung up since the separation of Brazil from Portugal, and he who has not
+seen Rio within the last ten years would hardly recognize the capital of
+the Brazilian empire. Along with the most conspicuous deficiencies, in
+numerous particulars, one finds such institutions as are not to be met
+with, in a similarly flourishing condition, in any other State of South
+America, or among the republics of the Isthmus. But Brazil is emphatically
+"The Land of Contrasts."
+
+When the traveller, stepping on shore from the anchorage for ships of war,
+(which is a little to the south of that for merchant vessels), has forced
+his way through the swarms of human beings at the landing stage, and in
+front of the hotel Pharoux, he finds himself on the Largo do Paço, or
+Palace Square. Here on his left rises the singular-looking Imperial
+Residence, and on his right, close to the shore, the Market Hall. A dense
+bustling crowd throngs the streets, while numerous vehicles, some drawn by
+horses, others by mules, as also omnibuses of all colours and dimensions,
+and crammed within and without, dash swiftly about, emulating the din and
+confusion of European capitals. Turning now to the right, into the Rua
+Direita, and thence a little further into the Rua do Ouvidor, the two most
+elegant but none the less most-neglected streets of Rio, there dazzles the
+eye, in the splendid, richly-decorated shops and arcades, the same profuse
+luxury as in Regent Street, or on the Boulevards. But how disagreeable the
+contrast with those cities, presented by the pools of stagnant water,
+which occur even in the most-frequented streets!
+
+The city proper presents the figure of a square of about one mile and
+three quarters each way, between the sea beach and the Campo da Santa
+Anna, and is divided with tolerable regularity by narrow streets built at
+right angles to each other. Except the most important public buildings,
+such as the National Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Military
+Academy, the Naval Arsenal, the Custom House, the Market Hall, the
+Imperial Palace, the Chamber of Deputies, and several of the churches,
+only shops and mercantile counting-houses are to be met with.
+
+From the city stretch the suburbs like long tentacles in every direction,
+on one side along the beach as far as St. Christoph, the winter palace of
+the emperor, and, in the opposite direction, as far as the charming Cove
+of Botafogo, while backwards they extend to the valleys leading to the
+Corcovado, to the suburbs of Larangeiras, Catumbý Grande, and in the
+direction of the Tejuca mountains, as far as Engenho Velho, and Andarahý.
+Elegant little villas, frequently built in the strangest and most
+_bizarre_ style of architecture, alternate in these suburbs with ordinary
+dwelling-houses, all having most beautifully laid-out gardens. The
+merchant, the manufacturer, in fact every individual in easy
+circumstances, remain in the city only long enough to transact daily
+business. Each has his residence in the suburbs, where his family lives,
+to whose quiet circle he returns every evening. Among these suburbs, those
+of Caminho Novo and Catete, along the road leading to the charming cove of
+Botafogo, are more specially the diplomatic quarter, and the residence of
+the moneyed aristocracy of the capital.
+
+Amid so much that calls for censure in Rio Janeiro, and of which the
+æsthetic perceptions of the visitor will apprize him in the course of a
+stroll in any part of the city, there are two improvements which deserve
+grateful acknowledgment. The first of these consists in the lighting of
+the city by gas (prepared from English coal), which had been introduced
+shortly before our arrival, and is now extended to the extreme outskirts
+of the suburbs; the second is the magnificent aqueduct, which provides
+every quarter of Rio with a lavish supply of excellent drinking-water.
+However ugly Rio may look in the daytime, the gas at night gives
+it a magnificent and splendid appearance, particularly from the
+harbour. When, the evening after our arrival, we gazed out upon the
+brilliantly-illuminated city that lay before us, we could not help
+thinking there must be some festive occasion for such a flood of light,
+ignorant as we then were of what we learned afterwards, that Rio is as
+fairy-looking by night as it appears gloomy by day.
+
+Not less surprising, and forming a strong contrast with the deficiencies
+and requirements in other particulars, are the stately fountains that
+adorn the squares. Close by the corner of each street, gushes out through
+metal cocks, a stream of clear, fresh spring-water, which has been
+conveyed by the great aqueduct a distance of 10 or 12 English miles from
+the slopes of the neighbouring Carioca or Tejuca mountain-chains. The
+water supply has been in existence for 120 years, but the present immense
+reservoir and various improvements in it have been introduced by the
+Brazilian Government. With the exception of the Croton aqueduct, near New
+York, which supplies that city with 40,000,000 gallons daily, we do not
+remember to have seen in any part of the world a similar work of such
+magnitude.
+
+The dreary, uncomfortable feeling left by the city, gives way to most
+enjoyable impressions so soon as one emerges from the suburbs of Rio, and
+seeks compensation for the absence of the appliances of European
+civilization in the eternal grace and majesty of Nature. Walks may be
+taken in every direction, each opening up a fresh point of view, while, if
+the visitor take horse or mule, he may in the course of an hour or two
+transport himself into the very midst of the most extraordinary features
+of tropical vegetation.
+
+Among the most charming of these is a ride to the rocky peak called
+Corcovado, 2300 feet high, the road to which runs through magnificent
+shady forests. On the highest pinnacle of this rocky cone, which rises
+rather abruptly on the side of the valleys of Clementi and Broca, a
+parapet has been erected within these few years, so that the traveller can
+gaze over the delightful panorama below with as much, or even more,
+comfort and security, than from the Righi or the great Winterberg in the
+Saxon Switzerland. In the south and south-east rise the two stern-looking
+mountains, Gavia and Dos Irmaos, both of considerable height, and
+encircled by the mirror-like lagoon, Rodrigo das Freitas, near which
+stands out, clothed in the most luxuriant verdure, a part of the botanical
+garden; thereafter follows the beautiful valley of Clementi and Broca,
+with the splendid Lunatic Asylum and the fort of Praya Vermelha; beyond
+which is the smiling cove of Botafogo, and the singular Sugar Loaf, which
+forms such a characteristic feature of the entrance of Rio harbour; close
+beside the latter is the fort of San Juan; and lastly, facing the entrance
+of the bay, that of Santa Cruz, the strongest in the empire. At our feet
+lay stretched out the city itself, with the beautiful valleys of
+Larangeiras, Engenho Velho, and Catumbý Grande. On the other side of the
+bay, just opposite Rio, is Praya Grande, the capital of the province, and
+in the background the lofty, spectre-like mountain-chain of the Organos--
+so called from the rocky peaks projecting like so many organ-pipes. What a
+wondrous prospect! It is scarcely possible to have, from a single point of
+view, a grander or more varied natural picture. We lingered here more
+than an hour, and tore ourselves away with reluctance from all those
+glories which Nature has shed with so profuse a hand over this enchanting
+landscape.
+
+One of our companions was the veteran Brazilian naturalist, the venerable
+Dom Antonio Ildefonso Gomez, who passed several years in Europe when a
+young man, and had, together with Humboldt, once attended the lectures of
+Cuvier at Paris. M. Auguste de St. Hilaire, during his visit to Rio, spent
+several months at Dom Ildefonso's hospitable abode. Although now a
+septuagenarian, the old physician is uncommonly hale in person, full of
+his pristine enthusiasm, indefatigable in the pursuit of knowledge, and
+able to pass an entire day on the back of his mule, so that he can ride to
+the most distant consultations without betraying any symptoms of
+exhaustion. He had brought with him a number of large oranges, some cheese
+and bread, and a bottle of excellent port wine, so that there was no want
+of wherewithal to recruit our strength; and there, on the summit of the
+Corcovado, our hearts swelling with rapture as the eye ranged over the
+marvellous landscape that lay unrolled at our feet, we drank to the
+prosperity of Brazil. Dom Ildefonso, a warm friend to all foreigners,
+remarked that within forty years Brazil will probably be more German than
+Brazilian or Portuguese, and expressed a hope it might be so, as only by
+that means, so far as his observation went, could his beloved native land
+hope for a prosperous future.
+
+We returned through most charming forest scenery by way of Larangeiras
+and Andarahý. Throughout the entire distance we rode amidst the most
+exquisite specimens of tropical vegetation, palms, ebony trees, bignonias,
+plantains, mangoes, papayas, and bread-fruit trees, mingling with which we
+could discern the various trees and shrubs of the Northern Hemisphere, and
+occasionally strange plants from China, Japan, and Australia, which had
+been planted here by the enterprising hand of foreign settlers.
+
+Not less charming is the excursion to the Falls of the Tejuca, to which a
+broad road leads through blooming flower-gardens, and past delicious
+country seats, extending far into the mountains, and surrounded and
+overshadowed by a wall as it were of verdure, consisting of the flowers of
+_Bignonia bella_, intermingling with the shining leaves of the gigantic
+_Bougainvillea_. The coral tree (_Erythrina coralliflora_), the indigenous
+magnolia, the fan-shaped _urania_, numerous species of palms, and lofty,
+carefully-tended screw-pines, plantains with gigantic fruits, bread-fruit
+trees, eugenias, casuarinas, and melon trees--such are the blooming
+odoriferous attractions that here adorn garden and field. Ever threading
+his way among such charming plantations, the traveller finally reaches the
+path which, hemmed in between two mountain ridges of moderate height,
+leads direct to the Tejuca mountains, while to the right branch off
+numerous narrow paths conducting to the various adjoining eminences, from
+which a view can be obtained of the small cascade. The tropical richness
+and profusion of vegetation, has here crowded together upon a few square
+feet of soil hundreds of plants of all kinds. They strike into the soil,
+or struggle upwards to the light, or give out roots from the stems or
+branches, and all twine and tangle with each other to such an extent that
+often in these tufts and thickets one sees the top of a fern, without
+being able to distinguish any part of its stem, or a passion-flower
+without any visible stalk or leaves, all suspended in mid-air, like so
+many elegant festoons.
+
+A short distance from this singular, thoroughly tropical landscape, is the
+second, known as the Great Cascade, which, however, owes its special
+attractions rather to the character of the surrounding vegetation than to
+the volume of water. The trees here grow on a sort of amphitheatre of
+rocks, all of colossal size, and the most widely different forms, no two
+of the same species adjoining each other, their stems and branches adorned
+with the most beautiful parasites and the blood-red leaves of innumerable
+creepers, which in their lavish luxuriance now stretch like garlands from
+tree to tree, now hang perpendicularly down from the very highest branch
+of the tree like a network of green lace, till they sweep along the
+ground.
+
+The water welling out from the granite rock, rushes into the abyss below
+after traversing a rocky declivity, somewhat resembling a sloping terrace
+of about twenty fathoms wide. Its track is indicated by the
+irregularly-shaped blocks piled upon each other, some of which at a little
+distance below, their huge wide ridges enclosed by retaining walls, serve
+as spots in which to dry in the sun the ripe berries of the coffee plant,
+which in many parts hereabout forms an almost impervious forest.
+
+As we prosecute our wanderings further, we finally emerge upon the green
+hills of the vicinity, and obtain a charming glimpse of the ocean; we have
+now arrived in front of the gigantic outline of the Gavia, and directly
+facing us lies the salt-marsh, known as Tejuca-Lake, in the midst of which
+rises an island, thickly overgrown with mango-trees, standing on their
+distorted hundredfold roots; melancholy-looking examples of the inactivity
+and absence of all attention of the Brazilian authorities, who permit such
+a hot-bed of poisonous miasma to remain in the immediate vicinity of the
+city, and leave these plants unchecked to carry on their pestiferous vital
+processes!
+
+Returning from such a delightful excursion to Rio de Janeiro, the stranger
+feels doubly uncomfortable and lonely in the dreary and sombre city. The
+Brazilians are in general neither very social nor hospitable, and only,
+after many years' acquaintance, is a familiar intercourse formed with
+strangers.
+
+In this respect they bear a strong resemblance to the Spanish-Americans,
+whom they also greatly resemble in many of their habits of life.
+Foreigners settled in Rio spend their evenings generally at their country
+seats, some distance from the town, so that the occasional visitor is
+deprived of the social intercourse that might otherwise be so accessible.
+We met with a most hospitable reception at the houses of the Austrian
+Minister, Chevalier de Sonnleithner, and our Consul-General, as well as
+from some German families, and also from the "Germania," a Club founded by
+twelve Germans as far back as 1821. This Society numbers now about 200
+members, and is well supplied with German newspapers and periodicals,
+besides possessing a well-selected library of several thousand volumes,
+and a reading-room, with _restaurant_, smoking, billiard, and
+dancing-rooms attached. Of the various nationalities represented at Rio,
+the Germans are the most respected by the Brazilians. They are about 3000
+in number, and as the majority are Protestants they have their own church,
+founded by three Germans in 1827, which now numbers 600 members, and has
+an annual income of 5000 milreis.[38] The community is under the protection
+of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Council in Berlin, and accordingly, as often
+as public worship is joined in, prayers are offered up for the King of
+Prussia, as head of the church. Despite its existence for more than thirty
+years, the position occupied by the Evangelical church with reference to
+the State, has never been accurately defined, so that differences are
+constantly occurring. In connection with the congregation are a school,
+and a society for aiding distressed Germans, which numbers 200 associates,
+and has an annual income of from 6000 to 7000 milreis (£600 to £700). The
+objects of the association are the advance of money, pensions, payment of
+passage-money for transport, assistance to unemployed or sick German
+workmen, education of orphan children, and so forth. The German choral
+union had given a concert in aid of this humane society, which alone had
+realized 3100 milreis (above £300)!
+
+[Footnote 38: One milreis = 1000 reis = about 2_s._ English. The Brazilian
+milreis is of this small value as compared with that of the Portuguese (3
+to 7), in consequence of its being represented by paper-money of
+fluctuating value, which gradually became so depreciated that Government,
+when regulating the value in 1846, were not in a position to restore it to
+its par value of 3_s._ 4_d._ sterling.]
+
+It is not alone, however, as merchants, engineers, and artisans, that the
+Germans in Rio occupy a conspicuous position; they likewise contribute
+their mite to the advancement of art and science. For example, the most
+important literary enterprise in the empire is in German hands, viz. the
+printing and bookselling business of the brothers Laemmert. Their
+publications embrace two hundred and fifty works, chiefly of Portuguese
+(not Brazilian) authors, original or translated, treating of Brazilian
+legislation, history, medicine, public instruction, poetry, popular
+literature, works on religion, novels, romances, kalendars, and theatrical
+pieces. One publication due to the founder of the firm, Mr. C. Laemmert, a
+Bavarian by birth, has already proved of immense utility, the "_Almanak
+administrativo, mercantil, e industrial_," compiled by himself, first
+published in the year 1843. From a most defective little pamphlet at its
+start, this periodical publication has, in the course of time, become
+developed into an elegant, simply-classified octavo volume, 1400 pages
+thick, which, compiled carefully and kept constantly corrected to the
+latest moment, despite the most disheartening material difficulties, gives
+a very interesting insight into the entire internal organization of the
+empire, and at the same time supplies the most authentic information as
+to the scientific, commercial, and industrial activity of the city and
+province of Rio. Even more important as a medium for the diffusion of
+useful knowledge among the masses is a sort of popular kalendar, which is
+published in duodecimo form, under the title of "_Folinhas_" (Leaves), and
+for 320 reis (about 7-1/2_d._ English), gives upon 360 pages an immense
+amount of useful information. Of this publication 80,000 copies were sold
+throughout the empire in the year 1857. There are very few works of
+importance written by native authors, as they devote their energies
+chiefly to periodical literature. Of daily and monthly publications there
+are abundance, both in Rio and in the provinces, but they have only an
+ephemeral existence. The press enjoys the most unbounded freedom, and
+probably in very few continental cities would such language be tolerated
+as that of the _Courier du Brésil_, edited by a French refugee. If the
+influence of journalism in Brazil is as yet insignificant, it is in
+consequence of the prevailing ignorance, as four-fifths of the population
+are unable to read or write, and the papers published are consequently
+only in the hands of the upper classes.
+
+While we found but few opportunities of intercourse with Brazilian
+families, the public authorities received and treated us in the most
+obliging and distinguished manner. In this respect, we were particularly
+indebted to Dr. de Lagos, Dr. Schüch de Capanema, Dr. F. de Paulo Candido,
+and Dom M. de Portoalegre.
+
+These gentlemen took especial pains to make our stay in Rio as instructive
+as useful, and likewise gave us in reply to various scientific queries the
+most valuable information and practical hints. Thus, for example, we were
+favoured by Dr. de Lagos with the following particulars respecting the
+alleged efficacy of the milky sap of the assacú tree (_Hura
+Brasiliensis_), and of the bite of the rattlesnake as antidotes in cases
+of _Elephantiasis_, as also regarding the "Curaré," that celebrated poison
+with which the Indians of Brazil tip their arrows.
+
+The assacú had long been employed as a remedy for the frightful malady
+known as _Elephantiasis Græcorum_, and its use was occasionally followed
+by the happiest results, without any attempt having been made thoroughly
+to investigate the specific action of the juice, although, like that of so
+many other Brazilian plants, it would probably surrender, if
+scientifically analyzed, the therapeutical energies which enable it to
+overcome occasionally the most obstinate cases of disease. The assacú is a
+tree growing in the northern provinces of Pará, on making an incision into
+which there exudes a resinous sap, of a brownish or reddish-white colour,
+which coagulates, and gradually hardens. This inspissated substance is of
+a dark brown, rather resembling gum than resin, and readily soluble in
+water. When dissolved, it regains the colour and odour of the sap as it
+first trickles from the tree. A committee of physicians of Pará long ago
+presented to the Brazilian Government a memorandum as to the practical
+efficacy and peculiarities of the assacú in cases of the above malady,
+according to which it appears, that the symptoms of the patient improve in
+the most marvellous manner from the very first day on which the remedy is
+used; the illness seems to be suddenly arrested, or, at all events to make
+but very slight progress. The milky sap is exhibited internally, in the
+form of pills, and a decoction of the bark is also administered by way of
+a beverage for the patient,--externally an infusion of the bark is used
+for bathing purposes. Some of those affected, to whom this remedy was
+applied, felt a sensation as of formication, immediately on taking it,
+while others experienced a feeling as though they had been submitted to a
+series of shocks of electricity, only weaker and more equable.
+
+It is a well-established fact that in many parts of South America, a
+popular belief prevails that the bite of the deadly _Cobra de cascavel_,
+or rattlesnake, heals _Elephantiasis_, or pustular leprosy, in which
+disease, as is well known, the legs and feet of those attacked are covered
+with a scurf resembling the cuticle of the elephant. However, instances of
+the practical application of so terrible a remedy, which seems to be
+almost more dreadful than the disease it professes to cure, are in all
+probability of rare occurrence, and are therefore doubly important when,
+as in the case detailed to us, they occurred under the very eyes of a man
+of science, and are related by the observer himself.
+
+A native, named Marianno José Machado, from Rio Pardo, in the province of
+southern Rio Grande, fifty years of age, had long been afflicted with
+morphea (_Elephantiasis Græcorum_), and had already passed four years in
+the Lazarus Hospital at Rio, when one day, worn out with his loathsome
+malady, he resolved as a last chance of being delivered from his dread
+disease, to submit to the bite of a rattlesnake. All the warnings and
+representations of the physicians, who entertained well-founded doubts as
+to the remedial efficacy of so dangerous a remedy, were disregarded.
+Marianno betook himself to a house in the Rua da Imperatriz, the occupant
+of which possessed a living rattlesnake, and there in the presence of
+numerous witnesses declared, signing at the same time a document to the
+same effect, that what he was about to do he did of his own free will,
+without any influence on the part of strangers, and that he assumed to
+himself the entire responsibility of his own deed. Marianno was of
+middling stature and athletic build; his entire skin was covered with
+rugosities, but without any appearance of ulceration, while his face was
+frightfully disfigured. The points of his fingers, moreover, had entirely
+lost their form, the skin readily peeling off from them.
+
+The daring sufferer opened the box in which lay the deadly reptile, and
+roughly seized it; but it at first attempted to escape, as though it too
+was disgusted at the horrible object before it. When, however, it felt
+itself once more squeezed, the snake turned round in self-defence, and bit
+the man on the finger. Marianno was sensible neither of the puncture of
+the teeth, nor of the instantaneous activity of the injected poison, but
+it became ere long apparent that he had been bitten, from the blood making
+its appearance, coupled with a slight swelling of the hand. Several
+physicians watched by the bedside of the sufferer; almost every half-hour
+the observed results were circumstantially reported. When, however, the
+symptoms rapidly became worse, antidotes were applied, and every effort
+made to save the patient. Nevertheless, the result of the experiment was
+as anticipated--within twenty-four hours after the bite of the rattlesnake
+Marianno was a corpse.
+
+Several members of the medical society of Vienna laid great stress on our
+procuring a considerable quantity of the celebrated poison, "_curaré_,"
+used in South America for tipping arrows, with the view of instituting
+fresh experiments--similar to those already made, so as to elucidate its
+chemical and physiological properties. As the curaré is not to be procured
+in Rio, but comes thither from the northern province of Pará, where the
+natives procure it from the sap of the _Strychnos toxifera_, Dr. de Lagos
+promised he would take care to procure some, so as to transmit samples
+direct to the Vienna _savans_, and at the same time gave us much
+information as to the latest researches touching this substance, with
+whose remarkable properties Alexander v. Humboldt had made the scientific
+world acquainted, more than half-a-century previously, in his classic
+"Travels through the Equatorial Countries."
+
+One special peculiarity of the curaré consists in the fact that, like most
+other organic poisons, it is only active when absorbed into the
+circulating system, and proves entirely innoxious, nay in some cases even
+beneficial, when introduced into the body by other means.
+
+The more the faculty became acquainted with the terrific activity, and
+invariably fatal results of this poison, the more zealously did science
+bestir itself to discover some means of neutralizing the operation of the
+curaré. Quite recently the preparations of iodine-natron, when
+administered in certain proportions, have been recognized as antidotes;
+dissolved with the curaré they seem entirely to obviate its evil effects.
+Careful observation and a gradual acquaintance with the properties of the
+curaré, have further led to the conclusion that it may be regarded as a
+remedy in certain cases, and it has actually been administered with good
+results to animals affected with tetanic convulsions. May it be reserved
+to the physicians of our native country, to elicit from the quantity of
+this subtle and singular poison, which they may expect to receive through
+the kindness of Dr. de Lagos, such results as shall make its remedial
+properties available for man, instead of leaving its baleful energies as
+at present solely directed to the destruction of organic life!
+
+In the company of our Brazilian friends, already mentioned, we also
+visited the most interesting of the public charities and educational
+institutions of Rio.
+
+On the occasion of a visit we paid to the in part newly-erected Casa de
+Correçâo, which is managed on what is known as the Auburn system, we were
+shown three Mozambique negroes, who, in 1852, had been smuggled in a
+"slaver" from the east coast of Africa into Brazil, there to be sold as
+slaves, despite the interdicts against the introduction of slaves, then
+actually in force. The vessel was, however, captured by the Brazilian
+cruisers, and the negroes forthwith restored to liberty, when, in their
+own interest, and with the view of preventing their being a second time
+sold into bondage, they were removed to a quarter of the prison away from
+the rest, and specially set apart for what are called "free Africans,"
+where they had been carefully educated and instructed in various
+handicrafts, all at the expense of the State. As a vocabulary of the
+idioms spoken by the Mozambique negroes, was an especial desideratum of
+the class of philosophic history in our Imperial Academy of Sciences, and
+there seemed to be but little prospect of our expedition visiting the
+eastern coast of Africa, we gladly availed ourselves of this unexpected
+opportunity to compile the wished-for vocabulary, in which Professor
+Portoalegre, Director of the Academy of Fine Arts, materially assisted us.
+Two of these negroes, Camillo and Ventura, were born in Quillimani, and
+belonged to the Mananpi race; the third, Jeremias, was born about sixty
+days' journey from the coast, of the Maqua race, and spoke a dialect of
+the Mozambique idiom. Ventura, a youth of, at the outside, seventeen years
+of age, related that he could perfectly remember having been stolen one
+night from his parents in Quillimani, when he was brought to a
+slave-dealer named Jones, after which he was shipped off in a wretched
+leaky vessel to the coast of Brazil. On our asking these three swarthy
+fellow-labourers, hearty of aspect and neatly clothed, who had been so
+carefully tended by the State, and earned, one as a house-servant, the
+other two as stonemasons, thirty milreis (£3 3s.) a month, whether they
+did not feel themselves better off in Rio than in their own home,--they,
+with one accord, answered that they longed to return to Quillimani, where
+it is hardly requisite to work above six months, and the rest of the year
+may be consumed in a genuine "_dolce far niente_" existence, instead of
+being compelled, as in Rio, to work the whole year round!
+
+In spite of long-continued efforts, the vocabulary turned out much less
+complete than we wished, in consequence of the limited capacity of these
+negroes. We did not content ourselves, however, with merely transcribing
+the answers to our questions, but also endeavoured to obtain a more
+accurate idea of the precise meaning attached to each, by repeating each
+of the words of the Mozambique language, and translating into it from the
+questions put in Portuguese. This method seemed to be the most effectual
+for ensuring the correctness of the pronunciation, so as to permit of its
+being afterwards reduced to writing. In the arrangement of the vocabulary,
+we availed ourselves of what is known as Gallatin's method, as it appeared
+to us more complete and comprehensive than that sent to our academy by the
+celebrated naturalist and traveller, Dr. Martius, of Munich, with a
+request that it should have his list of Latin words translated into the
+various languages hitherto unknown, or such idioms as have been as yet but
+little examined and investigated.
+
+The race, to which these three negroes belonged, seems to have been
+already converted to Christianity. At least, they all had Christian names,
+but could give us no information either as to certain heathenish rites in
+their own country, or concerning an idol of carved ivory which we showed
+them, brought from the east coast of Africa, and the method of worshipping
+it.
+
+Two of the most elegant edifices of Rio Janeiro, worthy indeed of being
+placed side by side with the largest charitable establishments in Europe,
+are the immense palace-like Hospital of the Santa Casa da Misericordia, in
+which between 8000 and 9000 patients are received and treated annually,
+and the really splendid Lunatic Asylum (_Asylo dos Alienados_), in the
+cove of Botafogo. The latter institution, founded in 1841, which, whether
+as regards the tastefulness of its architecture or its munificent
+endowment, can hardly be rivalled anywhere, owes its existence to one of
+the most estimable benefactors of his native country, Don José Clemente
+Pereira, Minister of the Interior at the time of its erection. This
+genial, benevolent soul, deeply acquainted with the human heart and its
+weaknesses, hit, as we were told, upon the following eminently original
+and ingenious method of raising the sums required. All grades of the
+various Brazilian orders, as well as the titles of Baron, Count, and
+Marquis, were put up for sale at fixed prices, the proceeds resulting
+from which purposes were applied to the erection and endowment of the
+asylum! And thus arose, at the south end of the cove of Botafogo, a
+splendid palatial edifice--a monument less of humanity and love of our
+afflicted neighbours, than of the vanity and frailty of poor human nature,
+the tributes to which erected it. Unfortunately, in this establishment,
+mere succour is all in all, and the cure seems entirely lost sight of, the
+sanative treatment of the patients lagging far behind their careful
+supervision; in short, it being rather a place for the safe confinement
+than the recovery of those deprived of their reason.
+
+One of the most instructive examples of how little the inhabitants of Rio
+make use of the natural capabilities of the site of their capital, is
+incontestably furnished by a piece of ground immediately adjoining the
+Lunatic Asylum, which has been dignified with the name of the Botanic
+Garden. With the exception of a very fine alley of hundreds of graceful
+king-palms (_Oreodoxa regia_), which present a magnificent spectacle,
+growing as they do with such admirable regularity as to appear rather
+artificial columns than planted trees, the eye encounters nothing but
+uncultivated land, abounding with the commonest vegetation, alternating
+with badly-selected nursery plantations, although both in the climate and
+the soil every facility is at hand for enabling this garden to be made a
+means of representing the vegetation of every zone of the globe. Even a
+large tea plantation, for the cultivation of which 10,000 Chinese were
+imported at the cost of Government, and from which, if the experiment had
+proved successful, the most important results might have been anticipated,
+stood there uncared-for and untended, a melancholy witness of how things
+are inaugurated in Brazil, and then suffered to fall through. When we
+enquired how long the garden had been laid out, our guide, a witty
+Portuguese, replied with a sarcastic smile; "Since the beginning of the
+world!" In that part of the garden which adjoins the Lagune, called
+Rodrigo das Freitas, stands a common mud hovel, with broken windows, and
+doors hanging by the hinges. This was pointed out to us by a labourer as
+the spot at which the Emperor alights and reposes when he visits the
+Botanical Garden.
+
+Singular to say, Brazil possesses no regular university! The jealousy with
+which any one city invested with certain privileges and prerogatives is
+regarded by the rest, is the reason that induced the Government to
+separate the medical and juridical classes, so that each of the four chief
+cities of the Empire benefits by the presence of a certain portion of the
+students. Thus the medical schools are in Rio Janeiro and Bahia, while
+those of jurisprudence are held in St. Paul and Pernambuco. The entire
+number of students attending these establishments amounted of late years,
+on an average, to upwards of a thousand. Great prominence has been
+assigned by Government, especially of late, to the extension of public
+instruction. In March, 1857, there were throughout Brazil, 2452 schools,
+(765 private, and 1687 public,) in which instruction was given to 82,243
+children of both sexes.[39] A school of industry, having for its object the
+instruction of able-bodied persons, was opened in 1856, and classes for
+teaching natural philosophy and political administrative science, are in
+process of being introduced. Amongst the scientific establishments of the
+country, the Historico-Geographical Institute occupies the first place,
+the meetings of which are generally attended by the Emperor as honorary
+president. This institution, which occupies in Brazil about the same
+position as the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, directs its special
+attention to the publication of old documents and manuscripts relating to
+the history of Brazil and the aboriginal population; but investigations
+relating to natural history are also included in its domain of enquiry.
+The sittings are held every alternate Friday. The naturalists of the
+_Novara_ attended one of these meetings, which took place in one of the
+wings of the palace. At half-past 6 P.M., the Emperor entered the hall, in
+plain clothes, attended by two chamberlains. All the gentlemen present
+approached one after the other and respectfully kissed the hand of their
+sovereign. On this occasion we remarked that even ladies, when presented
+to the head of the State, were accustomed to kiss his hand. The Imperial
+Honorary President, whose simple apparel was relieved only by the star of
+some order worn on the breast, took his seat at the upper end of a long,
+wide table, covered with green cloth. The associates, with the exception
+of the Vice-President and Secretaries, seemed to have no fixed seats, but
+sat in the order of their arrival. During the sitting there was the most
+marked absence of ceremony, and the business was transacted in the freest
+and easiest manner.
+
+[Footnote 39: Among the higher class of educational institutions, the
+College of Pedro Segundo ranks foremost, and is at present attended by
+about 900 students.]
+
+The proceedings were uninteresting, the greatest portion of the time being
+occupied in reading over the minutes of the last sitting, and replying to
+certain strictures upon the incapacity of land-surveyors in Brazil. Sir
+Robert Schomburgk had, in one of his works published in 1843, upon the
+subject of New Guinea, made some disparaging observations as to the method
+of admeasurement pursued in Brazil, and one member of the society, Dr.
+Schüch de Capanema, seemed to consider it his duty in his double capacity
+as a Brazilian and an engineer, to protest--somewhat tardily it must be
+owned!--against these, according to his opinion, unjust remarks. After the
+discussion was over, a manuscript was next brought forward concerning some
+of the native tribes; His Majesty expressed a wish to have this treatise
+read. The secretary accordingly made the attempt, but the writing was so
+illegible, that he was obliged to abandon the task. At the conclusion of
+the meeting, which lasted upwards of three hours, His Majesty conversed
+very affably with the Austrian gentlemen, and presented each with a copy
+of a national poem, "Conferaçao dos Tamoyos," by a native poet, Gonçalves
+de Magalhaes, and recently printed at His Majesty's expense, which relates
+the wars of the Tamoyos with the Portuguese residents of San Vincente--
+the last struggle of that heroic Indian race, the founding of Rio, and the
+subjugation of the entire force, under Nictheroy, by the Portuguese.
+
+The _Palæstra Scientifica_ is a branch of this institution, the members
+being chiefly naturalists. The gentlemen of the _Novara_ Expedition were
+invited to one of the meetings, which was inaugurated by the secretary
+reading aloud an ancient manuscript upon the natural resources of various
+provinces in Brazil, according to explorations, which had been undertaken
+in 1798, by the directions and at the cost of the then Portuguese
+Government. There was also read a memoir upon the culture of linseed,
+formerly carried on in the province of St. Catharina, which, however, is
+now entirely discontinued. Dr. Schüch presented to the Society
+vocabularies of the Croado and Puris languages, compiled by M. R. F. de
+Senestes, a retired Belgian ship captain, now resident at Minas, who had
+long traded with these two Indian races. Dr. Schüch also exhibited a
+pigment, or dye-stuff, extracted from the wood of the Ipé-tree, a species
+of bignonia, extensively used in the manufacture of axles. State
+Councillor and Senator Candido Baptista de Oliveira, [formerly Minister
+and Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and at that time publisher and editor of
+the _Rivista Brasileira_ (Brazilian Review)], brought forward some
+meteorological tables, and explained his new method for measuring
+altitudes. The proceedings are usually conducted in the Portuguese
+language; but out of courtesy to the foreigners, French was principally
+spoken, and the President kindly proposed that Dr. Schüch de Capanema, who
+is thoroughly versed in German, should translate into that idiom the
+proceedings as carried on in Portuguese. At the close of the sitting, the
+commander of our Expedition and the various members of the scientific
+commission were named associates of the _Palæstra Scientifica_.
+
+This society had projected an expedition to explore the western provinces
+of the empire, and some of their members were appointed to draw up the
+plan for carrying it out. The arrangements for the enterprise were on the
+grandest scale. The requisite books and scientific apparatus were ordered
+from London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin. Every branch of science had its
+representative,--an astronomer, botanist, zoologist, ethnologist, &c.,
+were to accompany the Expedition; each section had a number of assistants,
+the astronomical as many even as nine. When we arrived in Rio, the printed
+instructions for the use of the members were just being distributed; and
+it was asserted that nothing but the non-arrival of the instruments from
+Europe prevented the departure of the Expedition. In short, the
+preparations which were made in the year 1857, justified the hope that a
+most brilliant success would be the result of an undertaking got up on so
+expensive a scale. The only pity is, that up till now--more than three
+years later--the Expedition has had but little result, and, according to
+the latest intelligence from Rio, some of the members in the north-east of
+the province of Cearà cannot proceed any further for want of money (_por
+falta de dinhero_), and expect new funds in order to continue their
+explorations and their efforts in search of the wild tribes (_em busca das
+tribus selvaticas!_) in the interior of Maranhao.
+
+There is, generally speaking, in Brazil, as in all other South-American
+States peopled by the Roman race, much of good-will, and still more
+vanity, to follow in the wake of northern European civilization in
+everything pertaining to progress and investigation; but there is wanting
+that energy, that perseverance so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race,
+which are essential conditions in successfully carrying out any
+undertaking, however zealously entered upon. This probably is the reason
+why in Brazil so many things in science and social life are begun and
+never brought to a conclusion; there is nowhere more talk about _what is
+to be done_, than at Rio de Janeiro. Thus, for example, the Museum of
+Natural History at the Campo Santa Anna, is an elegant building, with
+magnificent apartments, and large elegantly fitted cases--which, however,
+contain as yet but few objects of natural history, even those being most
+unsystematically arranged.
+
+Another educational institution--the Military Academy--founded under John
+VI., in 1810, for the instruction of the engineers and officers of the
+various scientific corps, has, since then, undergone nine reforms, and was
+just about to undergo another one! In this establishment the highly
+objectionable practice still exists, of making every pupil acquainted with
+the chapter and verse of the subjects of examination twenty-four hours
+before it takes place.
+
+The Public Library, though little more than begun at the period of our
+visit, already comprised 86,000 volumes, and is annually increased by an
+addition of five or six hundred. This institution was, in 1856, visited by
+3407 readers, who perused 7717 volumes, mostly in Portuguese and French,
+consisting of 238 on theology, 1046 on political economy, 2879 on natural
+science, 153 on the fine arts, 1083 on history, and 2318 on
+belles-lettres, which furnishes a very fair criterion for estimating the
+education of those availing themselves of these advantages.
+
+Another institution, which is an evidence of the efforts now making by the
+Brazilians to gratify their national vanity, is the _Conservatorio da
+Musica_, a newly-established institution for the promotion of the _opera
+lyrica nacional_, the number of pupils attending which averages 100. A
+custom has lately prevailed of sending one or two of the most gifted of
+these annually to Europe to complete their musical studies. During a four
+years' residence there, each pupil has a stipend from the Imperial
+exchequer of 3000 francs per annum; and in the event of obtaining a prize
+abroad, he receives a gratuity of 1000 francs; his compositions, however,
+in that case become the property of the parent institution. By this means
+the Brazilians hope to render themselves entirely independent of foreign
+musical talent. "Why should we annually pay hundreds of thousands of
+francs to foreign singers and concert-givers?" said a Brazilian to us one
+day in all earnestness. "We shall soon have our own artists--Brazilian
+Thalbergs, Grisis, and Lablaches!" Confessedly the inhabitants of the
+United States have been vain enough in all conscience; but when we
+consider the wonderful advances made by that active, energetic people, and
+contemplate their surpassing qualities, such a national foible is readily
+overlooked. In Brazil, on the contrary, the contempt affected for
+everything foreign, the fretful impatience to become emancipated from the
+smallest resemblance to European customs, is exceedingly childish and even
+ludicrous in a country which can hardly yet be said to be able to stand
+alone, since the pressure of circumstances is daily making them more and
+more dependent on other countries, and where it is necessary to import
+from abroad not merely the evidences of high culture, but the very first
+necessaries of life, even to obtaining supplies of foreign labour. This
+overweening self-esteem has rather increased, since it has become the
+fashion of young Brazilians, of the better classes, to visit Europe for
+the completion of their studies, as will, perhaps, be best illustrated by
+the following laughable anecdote:--A young Brazilian, the son of a German
+father and a native lady, who had but recently returned from Europe,
+overheard one of his friends asking another if he could tell of what
+country he thought the fresh arrival to be, at the same time indicating
+the youth, who just came from the academy of Freiberg. "There can be no
+doubt on that point," was the reply; "the blue eyes, light hair, and fair
+complexion, distinctly indicate that the gentleman is a German." "God
+forbid!" (_Deu m'en guarda!_) exclaimed the young gentleman, who seemed as
+it were ashamed of his foreign descent, and to feel even more indignation
+than a full-blood Brazilian at such a mortifying imputation.
+
+Among the various institutions recently established in Rio, the
+introduction of which is intended to be made available in promoting the
+physical well-being of the people, the foremost place must indisputably be
+assigned to the Board of Health (_Junta Central de Hygiena Publica_). It
+owes its origin to the appearance of the yellow fever and the cholera,
+which had never been known before in the country. The former broke out on
+the 29th December, 1850, having been introduced by vessels that had
+cleared from Bahia, at which port it had been raging for some weeks. The
+ravages of this pestilence were fearful in Rio; out of a population of
+250,000 souls, as many as 120,000 were attacked, and upwards of 5000 fell
+a sacrifice to the disease.
+
+The first case of cholera occurred a few years later, on the 15th of July,
+1855; and during the months in which it prevailed, nearly the same number
+(to be more precise, 4826) of the inhabitants of the capital were carried
+off. The fatal cases throughout the empire from this epidemic during the
+eighteen months between May, 1855, and December, 1856, are said to have
+amounted to the enormous number of 107,093! Dr. Francisco de Paulo
+Candido, one of the most eminent physicians of Rio, and the principal
+member of the Board of Health, states, in a report to the Government,
+relative to the statistics of the cholera throughout the empire, that he
+had observed, during the prevalence of the epidemic, three phenomena,
+which seemed to stand in a certain relation to its appearance, increase,
+and decrease, viz., the almost entire disappearance of the ozon in July
+and following months, when the disease was on the _increase_; the gradual
+increase of that atmospheric agent, in proportion to the decrease of the
+disorder; and lastly, the influence exercised by humidity and sudden
+changes in temperature on the intensity of the disease. Dr. Candido has
+added to his highly instructive report some meteorological tables and a
+graphical representation of the presence and absence of ozon in the
+atmosphere, which will be published, in its proper place, in the medical
+section of the present work.
+
+The consequence of the ravages of these two scourges was, that a variety
+of other measures for securing the public health were inaugurated by the
+newly-established Board of Health. Among others, a hospital was set on
+foot in a charming part of the Cove of Jurujuba,[40] at the eastern
+extremity of the Bay of Rio, expressly for the reception of patients
+afflicted with yellow fever or cholera. Every morning since that attack,
+(and during the unhealthy season several times a day), a small Government
+steamer, fitted up for the purpose, plies round the bay, to take up any
+cases that may happen to occur on board the ships arriving, and convey
+them hither free of charge. Two medical men on board the steamer commence
+the treatment, by applying the necessary remedies, during the passage
+from the ship to the hospital. Any vessel at anchor in the bay with an
+epidemic on board, has, according to arrangement, simply to hoist a flag
+on the mainmast, whereupon the Government steamer immediately embarks the
+sick persons. In order more effectually to keep from all contact with the
+population of the town, such shipboard patients as are labouring under
+infectious complaints, another hospital has been established on the Island
+of Marica, situated beyond the bar.
+
+[Footnote 40: Pronounced Shooru-shooba.]
+
+In consequence of these recent epidemic attacks, much greater attention
+than formerly has of late been paid to the cleanliness of the capital of
+the Brazilian empire, though a great deal has yet to be done in this
+respect. Rio used to be, without exception, the dirtiest city in the
+world. As there were neither gutters nor sewers, all impurities
+accumulated during the twenty-four hours used, towards evening, to be
+carried by negroes on their heads, in pails and casks, to the bay, and,
+singularly enough, emptied in the immediate vicinity of the Imperial
+palace, whereby several quarters of the city, particularly in the hot
+season, were rendered entirely uninhabitable. The execution of proper
+drainage and sewerage works in a city such as Rio, which lies on a flat
+and is densely built near the water, must be at all times attended with a
+very large expenditure of money. But who would boggle at any amount for an
+object which concerns the bodily health, not merely of the present, but of
+all succeeding generations? At the period of our visit, the Government had
+entered into a contract with Messrs. Joaquim Pereira de Lima and J. F.
+Russell, by which, in consideration of a lease for ninety years of
+certain taxes specially levied, the two contractors have undertaken to
+introduce into the capital of Brazil a system of harbour and street
+purification, similar to that which has long been in general use
+throughout England. There had also been lately started a _Companhia
+Reformadora_, having for object the widening and beautifying of certain
+streets, and the improvement of the paving. One must have lived in Rio,
+where each street and open square is a hotbed of fever and sickness, to be
+able aright to estimate the importance of the two last-named associations.
+
+A war steamer was, by the command of H.M. the Emperor of Brazil, placed at
+our disposal, to afford us an opportunity of viewing more closely the most
+beautiful points in the magnificent bay of Rio. There were on board with
+us the Captain of the Port, Dom Francisco de Perura Pinto, the captains of
+the Brazilian men-of-war lying in the harbour, as also several members of
+the Historico-Geographical Institute. A military band enlivened the party
+by playing national airs during the day. We first visited the south-east
+part of the bay at the villages of San Domingo and Ponta da Armacao,
+opposite to Ponta da Aréa, whence steamers, for navigating the bay and
+adjoining coast, are run by an English company, which employs 667 hands,
+(of whom 298 are foreigners, 207 natives, and 162 negro slaves). Except a
+part of the funds advanced by native capitalists, the whole undertaking is
+carried out by foreigners. England furnishes the engineers and machinery,
+whilst the requisite timber is brought from Norway and North America. The
+value of the labour employed during 1856 amounted to nearly £90,000.--We
+proceeded hence past the islands of Salinas and Honorio, and between the
+island of Baretto and the eastern shore of the bay, as far as the
+luxuriant island of Paquetá, on the lovely shores of which we landed. It
+has a circumference of five miles, and is inhabited by 16,000 persons, who
+convert shells into chalk; nearly all the houses on shore are chalk-kilns.
+During the dry season this island is the favourite Sunday resort of the
+_fluminenses_, as the Rio de Janeirians delight to call themselves. From
+this sweet spot the steamer carried us to the north side of the bay. In
+the back-ground, the Organos mountains now appeared in all the majesty of
+their imposing outline, whilst on one of the projecting ridges, the church
+San Francisco de Croara forms an extremely picturesque object.
+
+[Illustration: ISLAND OF PAQUITÀ, BAY OF RIO.]
+
+The more the northern portion of the bay is approached, the more romantic
+becomes the panorama of the mountains: from this point stand out in their
+full grandeur the Serra da Estrella, the Serra da Tinguá (which is
+currently believed to be the highest mountain, not merely on the bay, but
+in Brazil), then the deep valley of Santa Cruz, next to which the
+mountain-chains of Suaratyba, and the Serra de Iguassoú, rise
+majestically, melting away into the charming Tejuca chain, the Gavia, and
+the world-renowned Corcovado, whilst the Sugar Loaf, that gigantic
+guardian at the entrance of the harbour, splendidly terminates this
+magnificent amphitheatre.
+
+We passed the largest of the islands in the bay, the Ilha do Governador,
+which has a circumference of upwards of seven miles, and is inhabited by
+about a hundred persons chiefly employed in the chalk-kilns, sail-cloth
+and soap manufactories; and touched at some wild spots that promised a
+harvest for our naturalists. Here and there, from the deep blue waters,
+sprang up islands of the most luxuriant vegetation, like tropical idylls
+of rock and forest, such as the eye marvels to rest upon, but the pen
+refuses to describe. Indelibly impressed on our minds remains in this
+respect the lovely islet of Catalán, with its beautiful flowers and palms.
+
+On approaching the capital, towards the east of the bay, passing the
+island Bom Jesus, with a magnificent Franciscan monastery, and the Ponta
+do Cajù, with charming country seats, a forest of masts, strikes the eye
+in bold contrast with the Sugar Loaf in the east, and the Morro de Viracao
+and the fort Pico in the west, which covers the position of Santa Cruz.
+Unfortunately we went down, just at this point, to a splendid banquet,
+etiquette requiring that we should exchange the quarter-deck for the
+state-room; for in Brazil also, upon such occasions, meals and
+speechifying play an important part, and greatly prejudice the special
+object of travel--the enjoyment of nature.
+
+We were not yet done, however, with our excursion. Again we turned towards
+the beautiful Cove of Jurujuba, where on the shore lay pretty little
+cottages embowered in the richest foliage, while, through a deep
+depression, appeared the masts of ships which were still on the bosom of
+the ocean outside, on the point of entering the harbour. As the vessel
+steamed in, the scenery changed character at every moment, like a fairy
+landscape, full of the loveliest, most enchanting glimpses of the
+surrounding country. At Jurujuba, we landed to visit the _Hospital
+Maritimo de S. Isabel_, erected in 1853, for the reception of sailors in
+ill-health of all nations and creeds. It proved of immense utility during
+the prevalence of epidemics. In the five years of its existence at the
+period of our visit, there had been admitted nearly 6000 cases of yellow
+fever.[41] For the excellent management of this fine hospital the utmost
+credit is due to the physicians in charge, Dr. Bento Maria da Costa, and
+Dr. José Teixeira da Souza.
+
+[Footnote 41: In the year 1856, 2452 patients were received into the
+hospital at Jurujuba Cove, of whom 175 died, 2195 were dismissed cured,
+and 82 remained under treatment. By comparison with former years, the
+number of sick seemed to have fallen off 13 per cent., while the expenses
+of management had increased 9 per cent.]
+
+The ground immediately surrounding the hospital has been reclaimed by the
+hand of man, and transformed into a garden, in which flourish, in
+solitary majesty, the shady _Aleurites triloba_ and the _Anda Gomesii_,
+growing in avenues or other regular groups, after all wild vegetation had
+been cut down. But at the first step beyond, the foot of the wanderer
+through these solitudes strikes into paths leading through the richest,
+densest forest scenery Casuarinas (_Anacardium occidentale_), with its
+luscious pear-shaped fruits, the Indian mango-tree, the various species of
+Eugenia, so rich in ethereal oil, the Figuera Branca (_ficus doliaria_),
+the canoe-tree, a gigantic species of _Bombax_, protected by sharp spines,
+and other lofty forest-children, reach to the very buildings; while, amid
+the dense underwood that grows unchecked, and a few paces distant only
+from the dwellings of man, lurk dangerously poisonous snakes, who find
+here a secure haunt. Within our own experience, as one of the botanists of
+the Expedition was placing a ladder against a primæval forest tree, the
+progenitor of numberless scions, he stumbled upon a poisonous Jacaraca,
+ready to defend from intrusion his accustomed resting-place.
+
+At the north-west entrance of Jurujuba Cove, rises a lofty island, with
+the appropriate name of Bom Viajem ("a happy voyage"), with its church of
+the Virgin of the same name, situate on the extreme summit, 400 feet in
+height. As, during our visit to the hospital, the twilight had crept
+stealthily on, we returned without further stoppage to Rio; when the
+company, landing at the usual landing-place of the arsenal, separated,
+full of the most pleasing impressions, arising from the beautiful scenery
+enjoyed during the day, and a deep sense of gratitude for the noble
+hospitality shown us by our amiable hosts.
+
+Another favour was conferred by Drs. de Lagos and Schüch, who formed a
+fishing-party on a grand scale, which was greatly enjoyed by all, though
+the gun proved more profitable to our naturalists than rod, line, or net.
+
+As the number of days at our disposal in Rio Janeiro began to diminish, we
+applied ourselves to seeing the utmost possible with the smallest
+sacrifice of time. The morning after our excursion on board the Santa
+Cruz, we attended a sitting of the Chamber of Deputies. The hall, oval in
+shape, is plainly, but comfortably fitted up. The members sit on benches
+in a semicircle. Opposite the president stand tables for the ministers of
+state; at the upper and lower end of the hall are galleries for the
+public, and one is specially assigned to the diplomatic body. Each member
+speaks from his place. Their language is very free and their behaviour
+still more so,--they sometimes carry this so far as not to allow a speaker
+to proceed; and in screaming, brawling, and violence, they excel even
+certain members of the late French Chamber of Deputies. There are said to
+be some very able speakers amongst the Brazilians. The subject of debate
+was a petition presented to the House for an inquiry into the conduct of a
+late minister of justice, who was accused of having tyrannically dismissed
+a government officer in the province of Maranhao. The subject had created
+great interest in the public mind, and the galleries were crowded to
+suffocation; we did not remain till the conclusion of the debate, but the
+minister is said to have justified the proceeding by proving that the
+officer had allowed himself to be bribed.
+
+On the same day we made an excursion to the Serra da Estrella and
+Petropolis, a place which has of late excited so much attention in the
+public journals, since the question of German emigration to Brazil, with
+its accompaniments of agitations by the Brazilian recruiting agents, began
+to assume its present remarkable proportions. Though the distance from Rio
+to Petropolis may be accomplished in four hours, yet three different
+vehicles are required:--in the first place, a steamer from Rio to the
+railway-station on the opposite side of the bay, then the railway to
+Fragosa, and lastly, a carriage to the final destination over an excellent
+road which runs through the mountains to Petropolis.
+
+This fine work, which was opened in 1848, is unfortunately the only one of
+its kind in the whole empire,[42] as are likewise the five miles of
+railway between Mauá and Fragosa; and yet how highly important would
+railway communication prove from the metropolis to the northern provinces,
+by means of which the excessive cost of carriage by mules might be so
+considerably reduced, benefiting alike the landowner and the merchant! As
+an illustration, the fact may be mentioned, that the cost of transit for
+an arroba (32 lbs.) of coffee from the coffee district of Vassouras to
+Rio, a distance of about 50 miles, amounts to from 700 to 800 reis (about
+1_s._ 8_d._). The trouble and expense connected with this miserable mode
+of conveyance, so much enhance the price of some kinds of natural produce,
+that it does not pay to transport them to the harbour of the capital.
+Several companies have latterly been projected, and money subscribed for
+constructing railways in the various provinces of the empire, and a few of
+these are already under weigh, as, for example, that of Dom Pedro Segundo,
+which will put the richest provinces in direct communication with Rio, and
+for which the amount of money required has been entirely subscribed. But
+in this, as in all other Brazilian enterprises, energy is wanting to make
+these good intentions bear fruit; and so long as there is not a greater
+admixture of foreign go-a-head-ativeness in the country, much must remain
+confined to the mere expression of patriotic wishes. And in this
+connection, foreign immigration, of which we shall treat further on, will
+prove of immense importance.
+
+[Footnote 42: This road is to be continued from Petropolis as far as
+Parahyba; and in various other directions also the building of roads for
+commercial traffic is being fostered by Government. The Brazilian
+Government are at the same time turning their attention to improving the
+existing means of transport by importing dromedaries for use. As it
+withstands variation of temperature, and thrives on almost any kind of
+nourishment, the dromedary is certain to do well, especially in the
+northern provinces, and will prove exceedingly serviceable in the
+transport of the products of that section of the country. The great heat
+and drought which prevail in Maranhao, Piauhy, Matto Grosso, and that
+direction generally, is eminently suitable to the dromedary, which does
+not thrive in hot _damp_ weather. It is calculated that a dromedary, which
+can carry an average weight of 700 pounds, (being six times what a horse,
+and four times what a mule will carry on his back), costs, in his own
+country, from £12 to £16; and after paying cost of transport to Brazil,
+will be worth £48. With the introduction of the "ship of the desert," that
+of the date-palm must go hand in hand, as that fruit constitutes the chief
+food of the dromedary, and will probably simultaneously effect a great
+change in the articles of consumption by the lower orders.]
+
+The journey by carriage through the Sierra from Fragosa to Petropolis is
+extremely beautiful. He who is not fortunate enough to enter deeper into
+the interior, at least obtains here an idea of what constitutes a primæval
+Brazilian forest. The wonders of tropical vegetation, as manifested not
+only by vastness of form but also by gorgeous and rank luxuriance, strike
+the eye at first-sight almost the same way as an overpowering chorus
+affects the ear. It requires time to collect the thoughts, so as to be
+able to appreciate and enjoy thoroughly the extraordinary beauties that
+impress the wondering mind.
+
+If the eye of the astonished traveller has been but in the most cursory
+manner directed to the vegetable phenomena that surround him, it must have
+rested on a climbing plant, which constitutes one of the chief marvels of
+the native woods. This singular creeper is the _Cipo matador_, a climbing
+plant of a very peculiar aspect, at once the most powerful and most
+destructive of all the Cipo tribe. It twines round the stems of lofty
+trees, which its flattened coils gradually constrict with almost life-like
+cruelty! Its aërial roots run out from all parts and embrace the tree like
+artificial clamps, forming in some places complete rings, and in others
+growing into the very bark. The tree, in consequence of this parasitic
+embrace, dies away by degrees, whilst its destroyer continues to grow
+gaily on the corpse of its victim, and spreads its leafy crown until it
+falls and perishes simultaneously with the support that had hitherto
+upheld it. To what profound reflections does the contemplation of this
+spectacle give rise! Involuntarily our thoughts fly from the wild
+Brazilian forest to the plains of civilization,--to the modern society
+where, likewise, many a noble human nature is slowly undermined by a
+treacherous Cipo matador of flesh and blood, till too surely he falls
+prone on the ground!
+
+Petropolis is, on account of its more temperate and healthy climate, a
+favourite residence of the wealthy Rio de Janeirians, and during the hot
+season, when the sultriness of the air, if not something worse, renders
+life almost unendurable, Petropolis is said to have the appearance of a
+European spa. It is at the same time the summer residence of the Emperor,
+and the only place in Brazil where an electric telegraph--uniting it with
+Rio de Janeiro--has been established. The town contains about 7000
+inhabitants; the streets, when completed, will be broad and handsome,--but
+only one has as yet been finished, the others being merely marked out,
+while even among the clean and neat houses already erected, there are
+frequent and wide gaps.
+
+The German colony, planned by a German engineer, Julius Friedr. Köhler, is
+at a little distance from Petropolis. The first colonists who arrived on
+the 30th of July, 1845, came mostly from Baden and the Rhenish provinces.
+The Government granted to each family a cottage, with a slice of forest
+near it, a cow, a dozen of chickens, and about £5 in money. Such at least
+was the information given us at Petropolis. Köhler soon afterwards met
+with a sad end at a newly-formed shooting ground. Many an emigrant family
+perished in misery; others, however, overcame the difficulties that beset
+them at the commencement; more emigrants arrived, and now one may walk,
+within a few hours, through the Rhine and Mosel valleys, Nassau,
+Darmstadt, Ingelheim, Bingen, the Palatinate and Switzerland, as the
+emigrants, in fond commemoration of their native homes, call their small
+settlements, which run some distance through the mountain valleys. The
+German origin of these settlements displays itself distinctly in the
+cleanliness and neatness of their log cabins, the affability of the
+people, the heartiness of their greeting, the fair hair, curly heads, and
+beautiful blue eyes of the children, as well as the language and music
+which is now and then heard.
+
+Petropolis is, however, not an agricultural colony in the real sense of
+the word, the majority of the 2500 Germans settled there obtaining a
+livelihood as artizans and labourers. The Government has done much to
+promote the growth of the colony, by making roads, and establishing
+schools. Still the people never become agriculturists, on account of the
+sterility of the soil; but as the road to the province of Minas Geraes
+runs through the place, the settlement will always retain some importance.
+For the cargoes of coffee which are conveyed by mules from the interior to
+the harbour, Petropolis is the last station, and will remain so for a long
+time yet, for the large outlay required renders it unlikely that the
+projected railway will soon be completed.
+
+Several attempts have been made to establish similar German colonies in
+various provinces of the empire, but, unfortunately, with as yet even less
+success than in the Serra da Estrella. However, the activity of the
+Brazilian emigration agents has much increased in different German ports;
+for the remarkable words of the Emperor, with which he opened the
+Chambers in May, 1854, at Rio,--"The necessity of a settled industrious
+population becomes more and more urgent,"--have become since then even
+more significant; in fact, the result of the endeavours on the part of the
+Government to increase the amount of labour by immigration, is now a
+question of life or death for the empire. Every disinterested person feels
+that, without an increase of labour, productive activity is impossible;
+nay, some even apprehend a considerable decrease in the producing
+capabilities of the country, in consequence of the effect to be
+anticipated in Brazil from the abolition of the slave-trade by the
+interference of England. Up to the year 1851, the importation of negro
+slaves continued undiminished, notwithstanding the treaty with England of
+1826, in which the abolition of the slave-trade forms one of the
+conditions on which the recognition of the Brazilian crown by the
+Government of Her Britannic Majesty was made specially contingent.
+According to a statement of the Foreign Office, there were from 1842 to
+1851 (despite the treaty) 325,615 negroes sold as slaves in Brazil, so
+that the amount of the slave population is now upwards of 2,000,000 souls.
+
+The condition of the black population in this country is materially
+different from that of the United States and the West Indies. The colour
+of the skin, which renders the life of even free and prosperous negroes
+almost intolerable in the northern states of America, where they are
+subject to so many humiliations, makes in Brazil no difference whatever.
+The question here is not whether white or black, but whether free or a
+slave. Free negroes may here occupy the highest places in the State, and
+even exercise a certain influence on the destiny of the white inhabitants.
+Slaves also are treated here with more humanity and less prejudice than in
+any other country visited by me, on which the curse of slavery yet rests;
+yet it must be confessed, without hesitation, that slavery, as beheld in
+Brazil, seems even a greater misfortune to the white population than to
+the black; for neither agriculture nor industry can thrive in a country
+where labour is not considered, as in free States, an honourable
+occupation--but rather as a disgrace--in consequence of its being
+performed by slaves. Not merely the blacks, who have no interest in being
+industrious, but their masters also are lazy, and approaching ruin becomes
+more and more certain. Free labour alone, by obtaining the upper hand in
+the country, can remedy these things. Slave labour cannot long compete
+with it. The intelligence, activity, and perseverance of 100,000 free
+white labourers will promote the prosperity and the happiness of Brazil,
+much more than the compulsory labour of two millions of negroes in
+bondage.
+
+In consequence of repeated and energetic remonstrances on the part of the
+British Government, the slave-trade has now ceased in Brazil, and "one of
+the grandest monuments of our century," as the celebrated declaration by
+the Congress of Vienna termed the entire suppression of the
+slave-trade,[43] may be considered by this circumstance approaching its
+termination.
+
+[Footnote 43: Déclaration des puissances sur l'abolition de la traite des
+nègres, du 8 Février, 1815. L. Neumann, Recueil des traités et conventions
+conclus par l'Autriche (Leipzig, 1856. Vol. II., p. 502).]
+
+As the Government became convinced that there was not the least hope of
+reaping any advantage from civilizing the aboriginal tribes, it had
+recourse to free immigration, and promoted it in every way.[44] It
+endeavoured, particularly in the warmer northern provinces, to replace the
+deficiency of negroes by Chinese Coolies, who were imported from different
+parts of China; but they could not stand the climate, and were not found
+capable of advantageously replacing the negro in his various and often
+very heavy labour. This partially arose from the indiscriminate selection
+of the immigrants, as the agents, when they could not obtain able-bodied
+men, did not scruple to make up their cargo with whatever came to hand.
+
+[Footnote 44: It may be useful, however, on many accounts to observe, that
+the Brazilian Government take considerable pains to adapt this doomed race
+for a civilized mode of existence. A law of 19th September, 1855, assigned
+an annual sum of £6000 for the proper execution of this humane project. In
+order to remedy the very marked deficiency of suitable missionaries, the
+Government, through its representative in Paris, invited a number of
+Catholic priests from France--men, whose rearing and zeal for their faith
+had effected such marvels among the Indians of Canada. But the aborigines
+of Brazil seem hopelessly degraded, and are destined, after having filled
+their appointed place in the history of nations, to make room for a more
+energetically endowed race.]
+
+The Government pays, therefore, the utmost attention to European
+immigration; it has agents in Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, and
+especially in Germany; and endeavours to organize associations that have
+for their object the settlement of industrious labourers in the country,
+and to support colonies already in existence, till they are in a position
+to maintain themselves. In Brazil, the conviction is pretty general, that
+only an emigration _en masse_ of white labour can save this splendid
+country from ruin, though there are individuals who entertain a different
+opinion, and think--perhaps not altogether without reason--that the energy
+and industry of European settlers might eventually--considering the
+indolent and careless disposition of their countrymen--prove destructive
+to the national element!
+
+The most striking proof of how thoroughly in earnest the leading members
+of the Brazilian Government are in their efforts to procure an immigration
+of foreign labour, may be found in the report of the Commission upon the
+new tariff, in which the following passage occurs, illustrative of the
+advantages which may be expected to be reaped from European emigration on
+a large scale:--"'These foreign labourers arrive here poor, and depart
+from the country laden with our gold and silver, and, like blood-suckers,
+absorb our natural riches!' is the remark of those who are ignorant of the
+true interests of Brazil. For to whom are we indebted for our capital, for
+the industry and commerce which we have? To whom belong those
+manufactories which the people want to protect, and in whose favour so
+much is said? Why, to foreigners! Foreign hands and foreign capital
+cultivate our soil, expand our trade and commerce, and promote the arts.
+The _results_ of their labour remain, though they may themselves quit the
+country! Foreigners man our ships, build our manufactories, and supply
+them with hands; foreigners buy our produce and carry it to distant
+markets; foreigners render our forests and rivers productive; they work
+our mines, uncover the metallic wealth of our country, and educate our
+children! Capital, practical science, instruments, and machines, with
+which we perform our labours, belong mostly to foreigners; and,
+consequently, these blood-suckers are just the very men who render our
+land productive, preserving, instead of, as some erroneously imagine,
+depriving us of our vitality. The money which they take back to their
+homes is amply replaced by the treasures they leave behind in the product
+of their labour, and in the branches of industry which they have
+introduced or improved."[45]
+
+[Footnote 45: Of the sixty-four manufactories and workshops, twenty-eight
+belong to foreigners; and there is not a single industrial establishment
+in which foreigners are not employed, either as managers, engineers, or
+labourers.]
+
+More explicitly and discerningly it was hardly possible for Government to
+speak, and to enumerate the glorious results which the country may expect
+from the introduction of foreign industry and foreign activity, although
+such an official avowal could not fail to wound the national pride of the
+Brazilians.
+
+Notwithstanding this strong language of the Government, and all the
+enticements and zealous activity of the Brazilian agents in the various
+ports of Europe, the emigration to that country, in 1856, amounted to
+only 13,800 souls.[46] Among this number there were but 628 agriculturists,
+all the others coming merely with the view of obtaining a livelihood in
+the capital as artizans and labourers. There are probably in all the
+Brazilian agricultural colonies, at this moment, not more than 40,000
+emigrants settled, that is to say, about as many as emigrate in the course
+of three months to the United States!
+
+[Footnote 46: Namely: 9159 Portuguese, 1822 Germans, and 2819 of other
+nations.]
+
+The number of Germans emigrating to Brazil is strikingly small, when
+compared with the total annual emigration from that country. Of 61,413
+individuals, who, in 1856, embarked from Hamburg and Bremen, only 1822
+went to Brazil. The cause of this may be that, simultaneously with the
+large promises held out by the agents, warning voices were heard depicting
+in the most gloomy colours the terrible trials that await the unfortunate
+immigrant on his touching Brazilian soil.[47] Of late such excellent works
+have been published concerning Brazil, that we may advise all who take a
+special interest in the condition of that empire to study these works, the
+more so as the views therein expressed exactly coincide with our own
+impressions.[48]
+
+[Footnote 47: Among these, the opposition of the late Consul-General for
+Brazil at Dresden, Mr. John Sturz, deserves special mention, as, despite
+the threats of losing his appointment, that gentleman was incessantly
+occupied in exposing the iniquities of the Parceria system (see _post_),
+and recommending the immigrant, so long as such a slavish system
+continued, to refrain from turning his steps towards Brazil. Mr. Sturz had
+recently the enviable misfortune of being sacrificed to his own strong
+sense of justice, and dismissed from all employment by the Brazilian
+administration, though not without carrying with him the respect and
+admiration of every friend of humanity. An excellent and circumstantial
+description of the present condition of the German colonies in southern
+Brazil will be found in Dr. Avé Lallemant's attractive "Travels through
+Southern Brazil in 1858." (Leipzig, 1859.)]
+
+[Footnote 48: H. Handelmann's "History of Brazil" (Berlin, 1860), a
+remarkably profound and instructive work, devotes a special section (p.
+933) to the subject of German emigration, and gives a very copious and
+complete insight into the various missions and works since 1819 to the
+present day, which treat of German emigration and colonization.]
+
+So long as the unoccupied lands are not surveyed, laid out in lots, and
+sold at a small rate to the settler, as, for instance, in the United
+States; so long as the immigrant is unable to improve for himself his own
+plot of ground, but must remain a mere field-labourer, working for some
+foreign master, according to the iniquitous _Parceria_, or half-profits
+system;[49] so long as the expense of transport of the emigrant is to be
+worked off by future payments out of his labour, so long must every friend
+of humanity strongly dissuade the emigrant from proceeding to the great
+South American Empire.
+
+[Footnote 49: The modern Brazilian system of _Parceria_ may be shortly
+stated as that by which a planter engages in Europe such of the poorer
+classes as are desirous of emigrating, and has them transported at his own
+cost to Brazil, where they are engaged as farmers, with half profits, upon
+the coffee and sugar plantations, and contracting to reimburse him, by
+their personal services and labour, for the outlay he has been at for
+their transport, maintenance, instruction, &c. Until all these have been
+repaid by the improvement in the rent or productive powers of the land,
+they must remain, as working out their emancipation from the lord of the
+soil, veritable "_adscripti glebæ_." After that has been attained they are
+free people, and may leave if they please, or may sink into the rank of
+"unattached labourers," which implies their assigning half of the net
+produce of the land to the ground landlord, the remaining half being their
+remuneration for labour. Proprietorship in the soil is never attainable by
+these farmers on half profits, inasmuch as the Parceria system can only
+exist where the soil is already exclusively vested in a planting
+aristocracy. (See Handelmann, etc., p. 568).]
+
+For Brazil, beautiful, fertile, and abounding in undeveloped natural
+wealth, two alternatives are alone open at present--either ruin to the
+producing power of the population through deficiency of industrial power,
+or the throwing open the land to foreign emigration by means of the most
+extensive concessions. The longer this is deferred, the more oppressively
+will the want of manual labour manifest itself; and the more advantages
+will foreign emigration secure.
+
+Once, however, these important stipulations are conceded, the German
+emigrants may forthwith bend their steps to the coasts of Brazil, where
+the glorious dawn of a magnificent future is surely breaking for them.
+While, in the United States, the problem to be solved by the German
+emigrants seems to be, to mingle German industry, German capacity, and
+German knowledge, with the keen spirit of enterprise and restless energy
+of the Anglo-Saxon race, and gradually to assimilate with it,--on the
+other hand, in the South American continent, it appears as though the
+German element were about gradually to gain the upperhand of the Latin
+stock, and permanently to conquer for German industry and German commerce,
+one of the fairest countries on the globe with the weapons of peace--the
+spade and plough.
+
+Brazil is, however, of great interest to Germany not merely on account of
+the prospects she holds out for its overflowing population. A market,
+teeming with the most important colonial products, with an area[50] of
+3,956,800 English square miles, and an annual consumption of nearly
+£10,000,000, must in the highest degree attract the attention and excite
+the most favourable anticipations of a country such as Germany, the
+majority of whose inhabitants are engaged in manufactures.
+
+[Footnote 50: According to the computation of the Historico-Geographical
+Institute of Brazil.]
+
+The chief article of Brazilian trade at present is coffee, the production
+of which, in consequence of the great profit of late years derived from
+it, has increased so much, that it has superseded the cultivation of all
+other produce; thus, notwithstanding the fertility and capability of the
+ground, even the commonest necessaries of life, as, for instance,
+potatoes, must be imported from abroad, the majority of the rural
+population being engaged in labour for the foreign market, and only very
+few for home consumption. This is the principal cause of the enormous
+prices which, even the most indispensable necessaries have reached in Rio
+de Janeiro.
+
+Brazil grows annually, in the provinces of Rio, Bahia, and Santa
+Catharina, 5,190,000 quintals of coffee, consequently more than
+three-fifths of the entire amount produced on the whole earth, and of this
+the province of Rio de Janeiro alone yields two-thirds.
+
+The most important objects of export, besides coffee, are sugar, rice,
+cotton, hides, and dried meat, together with dye and cabinet woods. The
+progressive decrease of late years in these articles may probably be
+ascribed to the want of sufficient labour, as well as to the great extent
+to which the culture of coffee has been carried.
+
+Although the trade carried on between Brazil and Europe, and its great
+importance, will form the object of a special work, we cannot help
+noticing in this place as a very interesting fact, that among the
+importations, that of wheat-flour holds a very conspicuous place, above
+300,000 barrels of 200 lbs. each being annually consumed, of which
+seventeen twentieths are supplied by the United States, two twentieths
+from Trieste and Fiume, and the remaining one twentieth from Lisbon and
+Valparaiso. The flour from Trieste, by reason of its whiteness and
+superior quality, commands a high price, so as to necessitate its being
+mixed in baking with that from Baltimore. We were told it occasionally
+happens, that the best quality of the much-appreciated Trieste or Fontana
+flour reaches the price, altogether unapproachable by the finest American
+flour, of 64 to 66 shillings the barrel.
+
+As in the interior of the country the flour chiefly used is that called
+Mandioca, prepared from the root of _Jatropha Manihot_, it follows that
+the chief consumer of wheaten flour is Rio itself, the monthly consumption
+amounting to upwards of 16,500 barrels. The reason for the small sale of
+the Austrian manufactures in Brazil must be sought for, not so much in the
+deficient supplies of the articles required, as in the circumstance that
+the Austrian manufacturers have not hitherto found it much their interest
+to study the Brazilian market, so as to make the requisite alterations in
+the method of producing their fabrics, and thus render them suitable for
+that purpose. What little of our Austrian manufactures is at present
+exported for Brazilian consumption, seems at present to follow the, to all
+appearance, much less natural route northwards, and instead of proceeding
+from Trieste direct, is exported from Bremen or Hamburg as fabrics of
+Northern Germany.
+
+During our stay at Rio, Commodore Wüllerstorf, accompanied by Captain
+Pöck, and one of the members of the scientific commission, had the honour
+of being presented to the Emperor and Empress of Brazil, at a private
+audience. The reception took place at the winter residence of St.
+Christoph. It is an old unsightly building, and still unfinished, the
+central part especially having been for some years in a ruinous condition.
+The Emperor seems not to be partial to display, and a very characteristic
+anecdote in this respect, which does him great credit, is very generally
+reported. On the occasion of a visit to the splendid lunatic asylum of
+Botafogo, one of the ministers remarked to His Majesty that the inmates of
+the establishment were better and more elegantly lodged than himself. "It
+will always afford me great pleasure," was the reply, "to know that these
+unfortunate people are better provided for than I am."
+
+At the entrance of the palace at St. Christoph, the gentlemen of the
+Expedition were received by an ecclesiastic, who led them into an
+exceedingly plain ante-chamber, the furniture of which seemed to belong to
+bygone centuries. Several of the ministers of state, whose servants
+carried large portfolios, exchanged compliments with the Austrian
+minister, and entered the contiguous apartments. Chamberlains and
+domestics of the court looked stealthily at the strangers, and disappeared
+as rapidly as they had come. It seemed as though these presentations were
+of infrequent occurrence. At last, about half-past 6 P.M. the door opened,
+when His Majesty and the ministers walked through the room into the hall
+of audience, into which the gentlemen of the Expedition were soon
+afterwards conducted by a chamberlain. The Austrian minister presented
+each separately to His Majesty Dom Pedro II., who is the son of an
+Austrian Archduchess, and received the gentlemen in the uniform of an
+admiral, surrounded by all his ministers. He is a fine-looking man, of
+some 30 years of age, of stately appearance, but with a voice somewhat too
+thin for so robust a person. The portrait on the Brazilian coinage is
+remarkably like. The conversation was carried on in French; it is said,
+however, that the Emperor speaks German fluently. He conversed very
+affably and graciously with every one, and had something agreeable to say
+to each, expressing much interest in the _Novara_ Expedition. After
+several questions, the Emperor wished us success on our future voyage, and
+retired, upon which the audience was at an end.
+
+After the members of the Expedition had remained a short space in a corner
+of the audience chamber, they were conducted through a narrow boarded
+passage to the apartments of the Empress. In the ante-chamber we again
+encountered the Emperor, who had exchanged his admiral's uniform for plain
+clothes, and now stood before us in the undress black frock he usually
+wears.
+
+We were now ushered into the small and very plainly furnished
+reception-room of the Empress, in which there was nothing to attract
+attention except a couple of highly-finished portraits. Her Majesty, a
+sister of the late King Ferdinand II. of Naples, and of Queen Maria
+Christina of Spain, was in mourning owing to a death in the family. She
+was only attended by one lady in waiting, and received us with infinite
+grace. She is rather short in stature, and although still young, looks
+aged; in conversation she becomes however very animated, and thereby gains
+in gracefulness; her favourite theme was Italy, on which she dwelt with
+childlike fondness. Speaking of Naples, its charming bay, of the Vesuvius,
+and the lovely walk of Santa Lucia, near the sea, the tone of her voice
+became involuntarily more lively. Notwithstanding the tropical splendour,
+and an Imperial throne, the Princess seems to have a great longing for her
+native land. Alas! even an imperial crown is no protection against the
+yearning for home!
+
+During our stay here, the anniversary came round of the birth of our
+gracious Emperor, which was celebrated in the most festive manner. From
+early dawn the frigate appeared decked out in her gayest flags, which was
+similarly responded to by the English and French ships of war in the
+harbour. At 8 A.M., with the customary salutes of the ensign, a salute of
+twenty-one guns was fired, as also at mid-day and sunset. At 11 A.M., the
+crew were paraded and divine service was performed, to which our resident
+envoy and his family were invited, together with the acting
+Consul-General, the captain of an Austrian vessel, and a few Austrians who
+happened to be at that time in Rio. After service, the foreign guests and
+several officers of the staff were entertained by the commodore at
+breakfast. In the evening there was a banquet at the hotel of the envoy,
+at which were present several notabilities of the empire of Brazil, among
+others, Viscount Maranguapè, minister of foreign affairs, and the Senator
+Viscount de Uruguay. In the garden of the club the frigate's band of music
+played chiefly German and Austrian pieces, which awoke in the bosoms of
+many the most tender recollections.
+
+The frequent arrival of men of war in the bay of Rio gives rise to an
+almost continual firing; each vessel entering fires a royal salute, which
+is answered by the fortress and the other ships of war in the harbour.
+During our stay we discharged not less than 432 salvos, while all the men
+of war together fired at least 1500 salvos, thus making, within three
+weeks, about 5250 rounds of gunpowder, used merely in salutes.
+
+The 31st of August had been fixed as the date of our departure. During the
+latter days of our stay, there had been frequent collations on board to
+make some return to those who had shown us attention. Several of the sick,
+one midshipman and two sailors, had to be left behind in hospital, where
+they received the most careful treatment, while Dr. Avé Robert Lallemant,
+who, by the kind recommendation of Humboldt, had been permitted by the
+Archduke to accompany the Expedition with the rank of surgeon of corvette,
+for the purpose of prosecuting his studies of yellow fever, was, at his
+own request, put ashore at Rio, whence he afterwards undertook the journey
+through Southern Brazil already alluded to.
+
+The night previous, three sailors had deserted from a boat sent on shore
+to bring back some officers. The system of kidnapping, as is well known,
+flourishes in Rio, and many a ship is said to have lost, in this way, from
+thirty to forty men. The crimps, who make their living by this traffic in
+man, entice young and robust sailors to desert by means of all imaginable
+allurements and promises, making advances in money, and leading them into
+a dissolute life, in order that, when afterwards they find themselves in a
+desperate state, and without resources, they may be sold by the scoundrels
+to the captains of vessels, as sailors, or, what is worse, as white
+slaves, to the planters in the interior. This abominable trade is said to
+be carried on, on a great scale, by an Italian, in Catumbý Grande, and
+though the Brazilian police is perfectly cognizant of the haunts of the
+fellow, yet it seems not to be powerful enough to put a stop to the
+nuisance.
+
+These incidents did not, however, interfere with our departure at the
+specified hour, when we were towed out by the tug steamer _Perseverancia_,
+which we had hired for _£25_. Almost every large ship on leaving Rio is
+towed clear of the bay, so as to avoid having to tack between the islands,
+or perhaps have to anchor, so that the tug, which belongs to a private
+individual, and accompanied us eastward as far as the island of Razza,
+must be a source of considerable profit.
+
+On 31st August, at six A.M., we bade farewell to the splendid harbour of
+Rio. We had fortunately reached Rio after the visit of the yellow fever,
+but the almost continual rainy weather had spoiled many an excursion, and
+deprived us of the opportunity of more closely examining the environs of
+the city. Nor were we more successful in making ourselves at home here,
+notwithstanding the kind reception with which we were favoured by the
+Government and some private individuals. There is, in short, a great want
+of sociability, and we may add, almost utter indifference to scientific
+pursuits, which indeed appeal in vain to the great majority of the
+Brazilian population. Of course there are numerous and agreeable
+exceptions; but slavery, the mixture of races, the egotism and indolence
+of the wealthier classes, are all reasons why a European, just arrived,
+cannot feel himself comfortable. The white Brazilians bear, in some
+respects, a strong resemblance to the Italians, but they are deficient in
+their pleasing, insinuating demeanour, in their cheerful humour, quickness
+of perception, and lively imagination. They occupy a lower scale in social
+culture, without depth of thought or feeling, and seem almost incapable of
+persevering activity. This perceptible deficiency of hearty, energetic
+temperament, in addition to the confused intermingling of other foreign
+nations, which seem to regard the country as booty, to be abandoned so
+soon as success has crowned their labours, imparts to each new arrival a
+feeling of depression, which, so far from being weakened, is yet more
+keenly felt by those who have lived some time in the country, so that not
+merely among foreigners recently arrived, but with those also who have
+spent years at Rio, the desire to leave these shores becomes rather
+increased than diminished by a longer acquaintance.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE III.--FROM RIO DI JANEIRO TO THE CAPE
+OF GOOD HOPE.]
+
+At nine A.M., we cast off from the tug, not far from the little island of
+Razza, with its lighthouse, and spread our sails to the breeze, which
+gradually freshened, but blew from the N.E., which was foul for our
+course. However, we could still derive some advantage from even this as it
+was our intention to steer southerly from Rio, so as to be able to make
+almost exclusively a great circle course to the Cape of Good Hope, after
+we should have got further south than the Antarctic limit of the S.E.
+trades.
+
+The near termination of the winter quarter in this southern hemisphere,
+the approximation of the sun towards the south pole, and the consequent
+tendency of the zones of wind and currents of air to pursue the same
+direction, gave us reason to hope, that when approaching the limits of the
+trades, we should find a change of wind, which should shorten the voyage,
+or at all events keep us clear of storms.
+
+In the open ocean, where there are no hills or extraordinary conformations
+of land to break the uniformity of the earth's surface, and where the
+expanse of water is unbroken by any extensive group of islands, the
+disturbances in the atmospheric belt must necessarily be much less
+strongly marked than where continents are interposed, or in the narrow
+seas. The winds themselves, under such circumstances, display even in
+their shifts a certain amount of regularity, which is usually dependent
+upon the universal laws of nature.
+
+Once any one is so fortunate as to comprehend the latter in all their
+extent, so as to be cognisant of their results, it becomes a mere
+question of the study of local conditions in order to be able to declare
+how these universal laws operate, and to elucidate by the most simple
+explanations many of the phenomena of nature that have till now baffled
+science. Thus, when a wind hitherto steady shifts its direction, there
+must necessarily be, certain active causes for its doing so; if these
+causes perpetually recur in well-marked periodical intervals, the change
+of the wind must follow a definite law. Under certain circumstances the
+direction of the wind is well-defined; as, for instance, at certain
+seasons in the open ocean it remains always the same, or changes with a
+certain regularity, whence it becomes apparent that the causes must remain
+unchanging, and the recurrence of the phenomenon must accordingly admit of
+explanation.
+
+We know, for example, that in the case of hurricanes--those most terrific
+exemplifications of the tendency of the atmosphere to move in circles--the
+wind does not blow in straight lines, but rather in curves described round
+a central point, which again is not immovable, but has a regular
+progression along a definite curve. In that curved plane, however, which
+has been termed a _cyclone_, the wind always blows in one and the same
+direction, and in the Northern Hemisphere runs counter to the motion of a
+watch-hand, while in the Southern Hemisphere it, on the contrary, follows
+that motion.
+
+These facts once granted as accounting for such phenomena, it follows as a
+natural consequence of the general principles laid down, that they hold
+good in minor cases, and must remain of the same efficacy, whether it be a
+hurricane or a dust-whirl which may be under consideration.
+
+So, too, in conformity with those laws, light winds may be found subject
+to a variation in direction of a similar nature, such as may not perhaps
+be fully exemplified in every case, but simply serve to indicate the
+tendency of the wind to follow the same general direction as the
+hurricanes themselves.
+
+The importance of ascertaining such curvilinearity in the direction of the
+winds will be especially manifest at the limits within which the regular
+winds prevail, and when they must necessarily become intermingled with
+other regular currents of the atmosphere.
+
+Accordingly, as we neared the limit of the S.E. Trades, which always
+extend somewhat further south, as the sun's southern declination
+increases, we had to traverse regions where necessarily we encountered
+variable winds, owing to the increased area of the Trades. There are also
+found occasional spots at which a more rarefied atmosphere seems to fill
+the surrounding space, when there is seen a similar process to that in the
+case of hurricanes, first visible perhaps in the higher strata, but
+afterwards extending to those which are lower.
+
+The winds, then, shifted with much regularity, and with them the
+atmospheric pressure, just as in the case of cyclones, except that neither
+the wind nor the sea ever presented the characteristics of a tempest. The
+wind, which began to blow from the North-East, drew gradually to North,
+thence West and South, and returned to S.E., after short intervals of
+calm. We could thus perceive, on referring to the ship's log, that the
+entire cycle was completed in five or six days; so that it became quite
+possible, by examining the central direction of the daily variation, to
+foretell the wind which must be blowing twelve hours later, when, upon
+taking into consideration the path described by such central direction
+from day to day, it appeared that the wind described very nearly a
+parabolic curve.
+
+Even the aspect of the heavens, and the state of the weather, were only
+one degree less regular in their alternations than the hurricanes. With
+the S.E. wind, the sky was bright, but as soon as it began to veer round,
+towards afternoon, a few white belts of cirrhous clouds began to appear in
+the western heavens, constituting a well-marked division of the vault of
+the sky from one side quite to the other. As it drew still further round,
+and neared the line of centres, the weather grew foul, a driving scud
+covered the heavens, and a succession of splendid rainbows were seen, till
+the ship had reached the nearest spot to the storm-centre when there were
+sharp squalls of wind, accompanied by heavy showers of rain. The lower
+strata of clouds, mere vapour, drove before the wind, while those above
+moved in a directly contrary direction, generally that of the forthcoming
+wind. The atmospheric pressure, which at first would be considerable,
+gradually decreased as we approached the central line; as we drew away
+from that centre the barometer rose again, the weather improved, and the
+sky under the influence of southerly winds once more cleared.
+
+Unfortunately it is not practicable with a single ship to ascertain
+whether the veering of the wind follows an exact curve, as we can only say
+what is the direction at the spot where the observation has been made, and
+it is impossible to determine what it may be at other points. But it is at
+all events certain that the shifts of wind are amenable to the same
+general laws as hurricanes. A number of ships sent out for the special
+purpose of this branch of investigation, could render immense services to
+science and navigation, and achieve most interesting results.
+
+We availed ourselves of these general laws to traverse the ocean as
+speedily as possible, in order to reach early our next anchorage, and in
+so doing we experienced altogether three well-marked cycles of wind at
+short intervals. We cannot afford space to prosecute all the interesting
+consequences that result from these phenomena of nature, such
+investigations being more properly reserved for the meteorological section
+of the scientific portion of this work. Here, however, the facilities for
+observation of a sea-faring life have been directed towards an object of
+inquiry, which must prove of immense utility in navigation and commerce.
+And, perhaps, even landsmen may not find it uninteresting, that even that
+proverbially fickle element, air, obeys certain fixed laws, a more
+accurate acquaintance with which must be of the utmost importance to the
+denizen of _terra firma_, as well as those "that go down to the sea in
+ships, that do business in great waters."
+
+On this passage from the American to the African coasts, we were
+continually accompanied by our winged friends, the sea-birds, which,
+notwithstanding the unkind treatment they received at the hands of the
+zoological sportsmen, followed us with the utmost pertinacity, probably
+attracted by the numerous fragments of provisions thrown overboard.
+
+The Cape pigeons (_Procellaria sp._), those prettily-marked sea-birds,
+about the size of doves, the albatrosses, (_Diomedea sp._) the largest of
+the ocean feathered tribe, with their quiet majestic flight, stormy
+petrels of all sorts and sizes, from the smallest swallow to the largest
+of its kind; all these winged inhabitants of the sea's surface followed
+the frigate in motley groups, and seemed never to weary in their active
+search for food.
+
+Sometimes they alighted, rested on the surface of the water, and were left
+far behind; but they collected again with great rapidity as soon as
+anything eatable appeared, and overtook the frigate in a swift flight from
+the remotest point of the horizon. This singular attachment to ships very
+probably arises from their being accustomed to follow whalers, from which
+such a large quantity of garbage is thrown overboard, very much affected
+by these aërial parasites, whence they learn to expect from all vessels
+their favourite food.
+
+They possess a remarkable capacity for remembering the exact time when
+they are likely to receive a large quantity of eatables from on board.
+Every day, about noon, the vicinity of the ship became animated, and
+towards one o'clock, after the crew had finished dinner, these lively
+creatures were close behind, and even fought for the pieces of tow with
+which the coppers had been cleansed. The boldest amongst them was the Cape
+pigeon, which pounced, with the utmost avidity, upon the dainty morsels
+thrown overboard, raising a loud scream, swimming round its prey, diving
+for sinking fragments, or snatching from each other those they had
+secured. Then came the black and brown-spotted and white albatrosses. As
+soon as one of these colossal birds appeared on the scene of strife, the
+uproar of the screaming pigeons at once became still; they kept themselves
+at a respectful distance from the voracious albatross, which quietly
+consumed its lion's share. In a few moments, yet greater numbers of these
+assembled, of which the black ones (_Ph[oe]betria fuliginosa_), like the
+large petrels, are extremely shy, and rarely approach the ship within
+gun-shot. The other large-sized petrels acted similarly, the brown
+spectacled-petrel, so named from two singular-looking black rings round
+the eyes, being the most numerous. Along with these were several small
+Mother Carey's Chickens, and flights of other winged creatures swarming
+over the sea. The darker the sky, the more agitated the sea, the more
+actively do the Cape pigeons tumble and toss behind the ship; it appears
+that in rough stormy weather they see less distinctly and find food with
+difficulty, in consequence of which they are in a famished state. Only
+under these circumstances, and when the ship is moving slowly, can they
+be caught with a line. To angle for birds may appear rather odd to the
+reader, and yet it is common enough in the Southern Ocean, amusing the
+sailor, and providing the zoologist with means of obtaining these birds
+alive. For this purpose, however, circumstances must be comparatively
+favourable; that is to say, the weather must be rough, the sea agitated,
+and the ship making but little headway. When the sky is serene, and the
+sea calm, even the Cape pigeons do not think it worth their while to throw
+a glance at the bait; and if the ship is moving fast, they have not speed
+enough to catch it, because they only swim, and the ship outspeeds them.
+The line, moreover, must be of tolerable length, so as, in the event of
+any bird evincing a desire to snap, to allow as much to be paid out as is
+necessary to leave the bait precisely in the same spot, without towing it
+through the water. It sometimes also occurs, particularly after sunset,
+that these birds, continually following in the wake of the ship, do not
+see the line, strike against it, and entangle themselves so that they may
+be easily drawn on board. The scream of the storm-pigeon when caught,
+makes it betray its fate even before those on board have an idea that it
+has been captured.
+
+For the albatross, it is of course necessary to use a stronger hook, which
+it is best to attach to a copper wire, because this being thinner than
+line, is not so readily perceived. In order that the whole apparatus may
+swim on the surface of the water, a few cork floats are also made fast.
+
+When an albatross has hooked itself, the full strength of a man is
+requisite to draw it on board, for the bird, in its despair, dives and
+keeps its wings spread under water, so that the resistance is very
+considerable, and frequently even the strongest lines are broken. This
+cannot be wondered at when their size is considered, as they measure from
+10 to 14 feet across the extended wings, while their weight amounts to
+from 10 to 18 lbs.
+
+Arrived on deck, none of these sea-birds are able to fly away; they move
+very clumsily on their webbed feet, and can only rise after a slanting
+spring, which, however, they cannot accomplish on firm ground; if in the
+water these birds want to rise into the air whilst swimming, they flutter
+their outspread wings for a little, and use their webbed feet in a kind of
+rowing motion, in order to acquire the requisite impetus. The albatross
+defends itself with its bill, which is often four to five inches long, and
+care must be taken to avoid being wounded in catching them. We also
+remarked that the Cape pigeons, in their rage at being captured, vomited
+up a slimy greasy substance.
+
+The latter bird was of course new to us, and afforded us much amusement.
+Many were knocked over with the fowling-piece, especially when, in their
+inquisitiveness, they came too near the boats, which, as often as our rate
+of progress admitted, were launched with the view of adding to our
+collection of objects of natural history.
+
+In shooting an albatross large shot must be used, as, at a distance of 15
+or 20 feet, small shot do not penetrate the feathers and the down of the
+bird. What is most remarkable as regards these birds is the numerous
+parasites that live upon their bodies. It is most extraordinary how
+certain of these birds (as for instance, the _Puffins_ and _Procellariæ_)
+are infested by insects, their plumage sometimes swarming with small
+specimens of _Crustaceæ_.
+
+On the 26th of September, the famous Table Mountain of the Cape was
+visible, after we had, the evening previous, at a distance of fourteen
+miles, sighted the lighthouse of Table Bay.
+
+The twenty-six days of our voyage hither had flown quickly past, and we
+were still able vividly to recall the impressions made by Brazil, and the
+scenes we had gone through in mid-ocean, as the southernmost point of
+Africa came in sight with its characteristic hills, and our eyes and our
+thoughts were directed to another quarter of the globe. On the one hand,
+excited with the prospect of new scenery, and on the other, anxious to
+complete our elaborate observations upon Brazil, so as to be able to send
+them home from the Cape, we found ourselves in a frame of mind which kept
+us alternately hard at the desk, or drove us on deck to admire the
+remarkable outline of Cape Colony. We did not, at the present season,
+think it advisable to run right into the bay, so as to anchor near Cape
+Town, but resolved to double the Cape, and proceed to Simon's Bay, the
+usual anchorage for ships-of-war. We were, however, sadly disappointed in
+the hope of soon reaching it, as the south-east wind freshened so much
+that on the 27th it had become a gale, which forced us out to sea again.
+The world-known swell off the Cape began under the ever-increasing wind to
+run high, and we were soon involved in one of those famous Cape storms
+which justified the Portuguese in calling the promontory of South Africa,
+"Cabo Tormentoso," or the Cape of Storm.[51]
+
+[Footnote 51:
+
+    "Through such mad seas the daring Gama fought,
+    Incessant toiling round the stormy Cape."
+                        (_Lord Strangford's Camoens._)
+]
+
+The wind and spray roared and lashed through the rigging: higher and
+higher rose the huge mountains of water, with their white crests, that
+tossed the ship like a plaything from side to side. The waves foamed in
+through the port-holes on the gun-deck, while masts, cordage, timbers,
+every part of the ship groaned and creaked, a perfect medley of sights and
+sounds, including woful destruction of crockery, and the heavy rolling of
+erratic cannon-shot that had broken loose from the rack, and were rushing
+about the deck--above all which was heard the shrill whistle of the pipe
+of the boatswain's mate. The scene fairly baffled all powers of
+description, and must have been eminently impressive for those who for the
+first time experienced what is meant by "a gale at sea," especially at
+night, when the moon, struggling through the flying vapours, lit up the
+appalling scene with a livid supernatural tint.
+
+On the afternoon of the 28th the gale reached its highest point, and raged
+fearfully for some hours. The frigate proved herself, in this turbulence
+of the waters, to be thoroughly seaworthy. At the same time the sun shone
+brilliantly, the sky was clear and beautiful, and only here and there some
+feathery clouds were to be seen. There was a curious sense of dualism in
+this serenity of the sky, in contrast with the fury and agitation of the
+waves. Gradually the wind chopped round towards the east, which gave some
+hope that the gale would abate, but, nevertheless, the ship was tossed
+about worse than ever.
+
+The waves, like gigantic ridges, mounted, according to measurement, to the
+height of from 30 to 35 feet above the mean level of the sea, and
+occasioned that terrible rolling of the ship, and those fearful lurches,
+which, once experienced, are not readily forgotten.
+
+Hitherto the altitude of a wave has been generally measured merely by the
+eye, so that the result depended too much on the accuracy of individual
+observation to admit of its being exactly ascertained; and it is for this
+reason that the statements relative to the maximum height of the ocean
+wave are so various that they cannot be considered reliable, for whilst
+some observers estimate them to be from 60 to 70 feet, others reckon them
+only at from 30 to 40 feet.
+
+On board the _Novara_ the following method of admeasurement was adopted:
+we first determined, by a chronometer, the time that a wave takes to pass
+from one end of the ship to the other, whereby the velocity of the
+progressive motion of the wave could be calculated in relation to the
+ship's course and speed, regard being had to the direction and velocity
+of the ship against it. With this velocity ascertained, we were in a
+position to determine and fix the average distance between two consecutive
+waves. Lastly, the height of the wave was ascertained from the angle at
+which the frigate rose and fell in the line of its keel, by the influence
+of each successive wave and by means of the ascertained distance from the
+trough of the sea to the crest of the wave. Though this method, likewise,
+has many difficulties and deficiencies, yet it appears well suited to make
+correct comparisons between the different waves; and, under certain
+favourable conditions, it yields so accurate a result, that at any rate it
+is to be preferred to mere guess-work, besides that the experiment itself
+is susceptible of many improvements. It seems safe to assume that waves
+scarcely ever attain an elevation of more than 40 or 45 feet.
+
+The gale had driven us a long distance out, and only after great trouble
+did we again near the land. On the 1st of October the Cape came once more
+in sight; we tacked, in order to get into the wide gulf termed False Bay,
+by which in some respects the peninsula of the Cape is formed, being
+separated only by a low sandy plain from the Atlantic. Whittle's rock
+renders tacking in its neighbourhood in so far more difficult, as the
+existing charts of the bay are not sufficiently exact to be implicitly
+relied on. Buoys have often been fixed in that quarter, but every new gale
+carried them away again; so that the position of the rock is not
+indicated. An English pilot now came on board, who brought papers, and
+intelligence that a number of letters were waiting for us. Our impatience
+became stronger when towards evening the light breeze entirely ceased, and
+we thereby were forced to bring up at a distance of a mile and a half from
+the actual anchorage. About the same time an officer arrived from the
+British line-of-battle-ship _Boscawen_, under the flag of Rear-Admiral
+Grey, in order to serve as a guide should no pilot have boarded us.
+
+On the 2nd of October, at 7 A.M., the anchor was let go in Simon's Bay, a
+spacious but gloomy-looking sheet of water. Here ships ride much more
+secure than in Table Bay, from which, in a stiff westerly or
+north-westerly breeze, vessels are often forced to run out to sea to avoid
+being driven on shore. The communication with the land is thus sometimes
+interrupted for days. From Simon's Bay to Table Bay, round the Cape the
+distance is forty miles, whilst by land the journey to the capital of the
+colony is, with good horses, performed in three hours.
+
+[Illustration: CABO TORMENTOSO.]
+
+[Illustration: CAPE TOWN.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  VI.
+
+                          Cape of Good Hope.
+
+                   STAY FROM 2ND TO 26TH OCTOBER, 1857.
+
+   Contrasts of scenery and seasons at Cape Colony. Ramble through
+     Simon's Town.--Malay Population.--The Toad-fish, or
+     Sea-devil.--Rondebosch and its delightful scenery.--Cape
+     Town.--Influence of the English element.--Scientific and other
+     Institutions.--Botanical Gardens.--Useful plants.--Foreign
+     Emigration.--A Caffre prophet and the consequences of his
+     prophecies.--Caffre prisoners in the Armstrong Battery.--Five
+     young Caffres take service as sailors on board the _Novara_.--
+     Trip into the interior.--Stellenbosch.--Paarl.--Worcester.--
+     Brandvalley.--The Mission of Moravian Brethren at
+     Genaadendal.--Masticatories and intoxicating substances used
+     by the Hottentots.--Caledon.--Somerset West.--Zandvliet.--Tomb
+     of a Malay Prophet.--Horse Sickness.--Tsetse-fly.--Vineyards
+     of Constantia.--_Féte champêtre_ in honour of the _Novara_.--
+     Excursion to the actual Cape of Good Hope.--Departure.--A life
+     saved.--Experiments with Brook's deep-sea sounding apparatus.--
+     Arrival at the Island of St. Paul in the South Indian Ocean.
+
+
+There can scarcely be a landscape more gloomy and desolate than the
+sterile, rocky mountains, and white sandy plains, which, like
+snow-fields, inclose Simon's Bay. Coming from the charming coast of
+Brazil, with its luxuriant verdure, the contrast becomes doubly
+unpleasing. A narrow green strip of land, running along from a small fort,
+forms a refreshing sight and a resting point for the eye fatigued with
+looking at these grim masses of stone. The traveller who merely touches at
+Simon's Bay without pushing into the interior, or who visits the Cape in
+the winter of the southern hemisphere (from April to September), can
+scarcely form an idea of the voluptuous loveliness which reigns during
+spring and summer in the interior of the colony, and will regard as
+fictitious those brilliant descriptions of its natural beauties, related
+by travellers who have been fortunate enough to visit this point of South
+Africa at those genial seasons.
+
+Had we left the Cape without seeing anything else than the melancholy
+neighbourhood of False Bay and the dull little settlement of Simon's Town,
+on its left bank, we should have carried away very different impressions
+and ideas to those entertained after having during spring passed some
+weeks in the delightful interior, and obtained at the same time an insight
+into the social condition of the colony.
+
+On the very day that we cast anchor in the bay, we took a stroll (our
+first footfall upon the soil of Africa) through Simon's Town, which
+consists of a single street of about forty clean, neat, and tidy-looking
+houses, straggling along the shore. The principal buildings are the
+Arsenal, the residence of the admiral of the station, five churches (one
+of which belongs to Roman Catholics), and two tolerably large hotels.
+
+It is hardly possible to conceive any town occupying a more dreary dismal
+site, with the exception, perhaps, of some of the Peruvian settlements on
+the west coast of South America. While the eye, below this row of houses,
+beholds nothing but granite rocks thickly strewn with shells, the main
+street is overhung by steep sandstone rocks, which, despite the marvellous
+richness of the blooming flowers, that well repay the researches of the
+naturalist, have a naked gloomy aspect, viewed from a distance, and are
+environed right and left by waste patches of white sand.
+
+The favourite walks of this small place seem to be along the shore, or on
+the road to Cape Town, into the soft sand of which the foot of the
+traveller is continually sinking. A number of ladies and gentlemen whom we
+met walking appeared to be somewhat surprised at the unusual appearance of
+an Austrian man-of-war, the flag of which was gaily fluttering in the
+gloomy bay. The residents in Simon's Town, amounting to about 800 souls,
+are mostly Malays, descendants of those numerous compulsory emigrants,
+who, during the period of Dutch ascendency at the Cape, had been
+transported from Java and other islands of the Indian Archipelago, owing
+to the want of labour or for political causes. For the Dutch used to send
+to the Cape Colony, as a place of banishment, many wealthy and influential
+Malay families, by whom the first germs of Mohammedanism were introduced
+into South Africa. It would even seem that the religious opinions of the
+Malay population exercise some influence on the habits of the Christian
+settlers of Simon's Town, as no butcher, for instance, would venture to
+kill and sell pigs for fear of giving offence to his Mohammedan customers.
+
+On a fine spring morning we started in a handsome vehicle from Simon's Bay
+to Cape Town. The road runs close along the seashore, which, seen from a
+distance, apparently consists of nothing but sand and rock, but, on more
+near acquaintance, exhibits at various points delightful nooks decked with
+most beautiful flowers. Everything indicated, by its glorious blooming
+garment, the bursting forth of spring.
+
+One hour's ride led us to a neat little fishing hamlet where an immense
+number of fish were hanging up to dry in the sun. The bones of whales are
+used by the inhabitants for all sorts of purposes; they fence their fields
+and gardens with the ribs, build walls with the vertebræ, make steps and
+stairs of the shoulder bones, and use the large jaw-bones as arches at the
+entrances of their huts. One of the owners of this fishing station was
+kind enough to offer us, as a particular dainty, a piece of flesh cut from
+the jaw of a whale and boiled in fat; but we were not exactly of the same
+opinion after having, from curiosity, tasted a few mouthfuls. The bay is
+very rich in the snook-fish (_Thyrsites Atun_), of which several hundred
+tons are pickled here annually and sent to the Mauritius.
+
+Another fish caught here is said to be extremely injurious to health, and
+even to endanger life--the small toadfish (_Tetraodon Honkenyi_), which
+exists in shoals, and may easily be caught with a line. One of the harbour
+regulations consists of a special paragraph warning seamen against using
+this poisonous "sea-devil." Foreign sailors who have eaten of it have died
+a few minutes after.
+
+On leaving this fishing station the road, leaving the coast, proceeds in a
+straight line over the plain which unites the Cape with the continent. The
+mountains recede, and the eye of the traveller gazes, charmed and
+surprised, on the mountain range of the peninsula, the celebrated Table
+and Devil's Mountains. The plain, which, during the dry season, is nothing
+but an arid desert, was now seen in its fullest beauty, like a flowery
+carpet, on which innumerable blossoms of varied hues and forms were
+interwoven. On the left lie the renowned vineyards of Constantia, and to
+the right stands what is called Halfway-house, the property of a native of
+Würtemberg who, some twenty years before, came to the Cape a poor
+emigrant, and is now a wealthy and respected man, known far and wide,
+holding several official appointments, and showing himself a warm patron
+of his German countrymen. Being a zealous sportsman, and intimately
+acquainted with the locality, Mr. Rathfelder was of great service to our
+zoologists, who took up their residence at this place.
+
+From the Halfway-house to Cape Town the character of the landscape
+completely changes. The road leads through a park-like country; charming
+wood plantations, pines and oaks, stretch on either hand to the extreme
+limits of an undulating plain, intersected by long shady paths, the
+vistas terminating with elegant villas built in the Dutch or English
+style. Here are Cape waggons, drawn by ten to twenty oxen, side by side
+with elegant two or four-horse carriages and densely-packed omnibuses,
+such as one may see in Cheapside. We have now arrived in the charming
+Rondebosch, a village that might well aspire to the dignity of a town,
+chiefly inhabited as a summer residence by the wealthier inhabitants of
+Cape Town. The impression made by this beautiful road will never be
+obliterated from the memory of any one who has ever ridden over it in the
+spring. We were as much delighted by the sight of this smiling and verdant
+landscape as we had been depressed by the sandy plains of Simon's Bay.
+There, extended in charming variety before the fascinated eye, lay Table
+Bay with its ships, Cape Town, and the gigantic rocky wall of the Table
+Mountain resting on its granite base, and rising nearly perpendicular to
+an altitude of 3500 feet, together with the Lion's Head and the Devil's
+Peak. The distant background on the other side of the plain is bounded by
+the precipitous face of high, rugged, and broken mountain walls, the
+summits of which were covered with snow.
+
+Convenient and comfortable quarters were found in the Freemasons' Hotel,
+situated in the Parade, a large square planted with pines. Here, to our
+surprise, we met an Austrian, attending as waiter, who had been driven by
+the wild waves of the late revolution into the wide world, until he met
+with a peaceful existence at the Cape of Storms!
+
+Favoured by introductions to the most eminent men of science, who received
+us in the most friendly way, we succeeded, in the course of a few weeks,
+in acquiring rich and valuable scientific collections, and forming
+important connections for the future supply of our museums. A most cordial
+reception was accorded us by Mr. Julius Mosenthal, the Austrian Consul,
+and the head of one of the leading mercantile firms of the colony. In his
+hospitable house, German music and German song made us entirely forget
+that we were sojourning thousands of miles from home at the southernmost
+point of Africa.
+
+Cape Town is oblong in plan, with long wide streets, intersecting at right
+angles. It is destitute of imposing buildings; a commercial place, with
+pretty dwelling-houses, built in the English style and comfortably
+furnished, all of a light brown hue, owing to the dust, which, in
+south-east or north-west winds, envelopes the town in whirling clouds, and
+may indeed be considered the only plague of this healthy delightful
+climate. The English element, which, with the stereotyped customs of its
+life and its equitable laws, possesses, wherever it obtains a footing, so
+powerful an influence, has almost entirely superseded the Dutch, which
+continues to exist only in the lonely farmhouses far in the interior.
+There is scarcely anything remaining to indicate that Cape Town was
+founded by the Dutch; and were it not for the yellow Malay faces, with
+their gaudy head-coverings or umbrella-shaped straw hats, and the tawny
+mestizoes, who remind us of the aboriginal inhabitants, and give a
+completely foreign colouring, one might easily fancy one's self to be in
+an old English provincial town. Generally speaking, any one arriving here
+with preconceived notions of finding himself amongst Hottentots and
+Bushmen, or in a state of society differing materially from that of
+Europe, will soon discover that he has been entirely mistaken. The
+aborigines whom Jan van Riebeck found, when, with three Dutch ships, he
+landed in 1652 at Table Bay, and in the name of the Dutch East India
+Company established a settlement, have now almost entirely disappeared
+from the capital. If any one desires to see a veritable Hottentot or
+Bushman, he must undertake a troublesome journey, of weeks' duration, into
+the inhospitable interior. In Cape Town this singular race is only now and
+then to be met with in prisons or hospitals, and even then of a mixed
+breed.
+
+The colony has now a population of 280,000 white and coloured inhabitants,
+of whom about 30,000 live in Cape Town; half of these are whites, and
+probably not more than 1000 form the higher and influential class. There
+can be no doubt that when, in 1815, the English took possession of the
+Cape, a firm foundation had been laid already by the Dutch 150 years
+before; but the real progress of the country, and the development of its
+natural resources, date only from the commencement of British rule, by
+which those shackles were thrown off with which the narrow-minded colonial
+policy of the Dutch had fettered this settlement, like all others that
+owned their sway.
+
+The Cape Colony since 1850 has possessed a Legislative Council of 15
+members, and a House of Assembly of 40 deputies. The executive power rests
+in the hands of the Governor-General, appointed by the British Government.
+All bills passed by this parliament require the royal assent before they
+become law.
+
+It is impossible to speak in too high and eulogistic terms of Sir George
+Grey, whom we had the happiness at the time of our stay to find in the
+important position of Governor-General of the colony. Owing to the wisdom
+with which Sir George governed this important colony, he gained for
+himself the love and admiration of the people to such an extent that,
+after the expiration of the regularly fixed period of his office as
+Governor, they petitioned the Queen of England for his re-appointment. Sir
+George is not only an able statesman, but also a sound scholar, possessing
+a most complete collection of books and manuscripts on the Australian,
+Polynesian and African languages, and he is a most zealous patron of the
+numerous scientific institutions of the colony.
+
+The astronomical observatory, under the superintendence of Mr. Maclear,
+has preserved the celebrity which it attained by the great work on the
+constellations of the southern hemisphere, the materials for which were
+collected by Sir John Herschel during his residence here some twenty years
+since. There is now a transit instrument, which in accuracy excels even
+that of the Observatory at Greenwich, and which is said to have cost
+upwards of _£_2000.
+
+The South African Museum, containing collections of natural history, is
+now under the superintendence of Mr. L. Layard (brother of the celebrated
+investigator of Nineveh). This institution, as well as the South African
+public library, the literary, scientific, and mechanics' institutions,
+besides nearly fifty other establishments and societies for religious,
+benevolent and industrial purposes, owe their foundation and flourishing
+condition to the public spirit and the charitable disposition of the
+inhabitants of the colony. In 69 schools scattered over its surface,
+upwards of 18,000 pupils are educated according to a system introduced in
+1841 by Sir John Herschel.
+
+The Botanical Gardens, likewise founded and kept up by private
+subscription, are not only a most agreeable resort, but also afford much
+instruction, arising from the many interesting and useful plants gathered
+here from all quarters of the world. To those which are adapted for
+cultivation in the sandy plains of the Cape, great attention is devoted.
+Some of them have been found available in forming as it were vegetable
+walls of protection against the inroads of the sand, so destructive to all
+cultivation. As particularly serviceable for this purpose, were mentioned
+to us _Fabricia variegata_, a sea-shore shrub of from 6 to 10 feet high;
+_Protea myrtifera_; the so-called Hottentot fig: _Mesembryanthemum
+edulis_; and the Cape wax-myrtle _Myricacordifolia_;--all these are found
+to thrive in the sand without cultivation, put a stop to its ravages, and
+in some respects may be considered as the pioneers of all other plants,
+which do not thrive before the sandy soil has been prepared for them. Nay,
+singularly enough, some of these (as for instance the Hottentot fig),
+become extinct as soon as others make their appearance, just in the same
+way as the pioneer of civilization, the backwoodsman in the west of the
+United States, leaves his lonely blockhouse and hurries on as soon as
+overtaken by the peaceful settler. The wax-berry shrub is also otherwise
+useful to the inhabitants; from its berries a substance is prepared well
+suited for making candles. According to a treatise on its culture two
+workmen are able to realize with a defecator daily 100 lbs. of white wax
+from the berries gathered by six persons. The expense of labour, &c., does
+not exceed 18_s._ per 100 lbs., or about 2_d._ per pound. A large quantity
+of this vegetable substance has lately been sent to London, where it is
+said to have met with a profitable market. In the Botanical Garden of Cape
+Town we first met the two celebrated grasses known as _Holcus Caffrorum_
+and _Holcus saccharatum_, which, by their usefulness in domestic life,
+have more extensively, and perhaps quickly, than any other plant, spread
+over the world. We are indebted to the Secretary of the Board of Public
+Roads, W. De Smidt, Esq., for some seeds of these and other plants, as
+also to Mr. McGibbon, manager of the Botanical Gardens, for similar
+favours.
+
+Considering the deficiency of labour, and the large sections of fertile
+land as yet uncultivated in the colony, Sir George Grey has directed great
+attention to the immigration of German emigrants of respectable
+characters, of all trades, as well as those attached to agricultural
+pursuits. The plan adopted is an excellent and thoroughly honest one.
+Every emigrant, if single, obtains from the Government thirty acres of
+good land, and, if married, fifty; five for each child above one, and ten
+for every one exceeding ten years of age. The rate of the land is to be
+fixed by Government at a fair and reasonable sum, and, together with the
+passage-money, to be paid four years after the location of the emigrant,
+in five annual instalments. From the moment the colonist steps on African
+ground he is an independent owner of land, although not entitled to sell
+his property until his obligations to the Government are liquidated. The
+local parliament has granted a sum of _£_50,000 to promote emigration. The
+Cape probably offers to an industrious emigrant a more advantageous field
+for active energy than any other country in the world. Some of the German
+colonists, the remnant of the British Legion engaged in the Crimean war,
+who, under General Stuttersheim, have settled in British Caffraria, are
+thriving prosperously. They are the first pioneers of the German element
+in South Africa, and, under the protection of a liberal and free
+government, are increasing in number annually in consequence of the
+favourable reports which they transmit to their native country.
+
+An emigration of a peculiar kind has unexpectedly taken place. An impostor
+amongst the Caffres, who had assumed the character of a prophet,
+pronounced the end of the world as imminent, in consequence of which large
+numbers of them slaughtered their cattle and left their fields
+uncultivated. Being thus, in a short time, reduced to a state of perfect
+destitution, not less than 19,000 of starving Caffres sought help and an
+asylum in the British territory during the year 1857, and before its close
+the number had increased to 30,000. The colonial Government, out of
+consideration to the welfare of the colonists, admitted only those Caffres
+who bound themselves to act as servants, for at least one year, at
+reasonable wages, and in order to prevent any danger arising from being
+congregated in too large numbers, they were located by the Government
+officers in various detached parts of the colony.
+
+A very active society of philanthropists exists here, under the title of
+"The Committee of Emigration from Holland." Its object is to bring over
+orphans and children of the poor from the overpopulated Dutch provinces.
+These useful emigrants are partly located as apprentices to farmers, and
+remain until they are of age under the care of the Committee. During our
+stay a party of seventy boys and girls just arrived from Holland
+assembled, with their conductors, in one of the large avenues of the
+Botanical Garden, to be inspected by the Governor-General. They all looked
+healthy and cheerful, and seemed to have but little suffered from the
+fatigues of a long voyage. When Sir George Grey made his appearance the
+children sang the English National Anthem, translated into Dutch, and
+afterwards the sweet, affectionate song, "When the swallows homewards
+fly." Some young emigrants, who, two years ago, had come under similar
+circumstances from Holland, had already obtained good situations, and
+greeted their little compatriots most heartily. Being asked if they wished
+to return to Holland, they replied, without the slightest hesitation, in
+the negative, declaring that they felt very happy where they were,--an
+announcement of course peculiarly agreeable to the new-comers.
+
+An interesting opportunity was afforded to us of seeing a large number of
+Caffres, of both sexes, who had been brought in as prisoners in
+consequence of having made predatory incursions into the British
+territory. They all arrived in a state of nudity, and in most wretched
+plight, but were immediately provided with European clothes--blue striped
+shirts, sheepskin trousers, shoes, a Scotch cap, and a blanket which
+served during the day as a cloak, and at night as a covering. Their food
+was tolerably good, but their abode during night, in the damp casemates of
+the fort, seemed not to agree with them, and many were visibly in a
+diseased state of health. Nearly all were muscular, and some were really
+specimens of manly beauty. Not one of them knew his age. Their only mode
+of calculating is by certain important events, as by the death of a
+chieftain, or the various wars with the English. The superintendent, Mr.
+Walsh, a very obliging Irishman, had the kindness to cause them to perform
+some of their national dances, wild exercises which served the purpose of
+exciting their warlike spirit. The first dance they performed they called
+"Ukutenga." Six handsomely-built dancers advanced, whilst about thirty men
+closed in a circle around them, and, by their howlings and clapping of
+hands, formed as it were a musical accompaniment to this singular
+performance. The dancers sighed, groaned, hissed, and made the most
+extravagant grimaces and contortions, in order to arouse in themselves an
+artificial excitement. One, a lad twelve years of age, engaged so
+earnestly in the sports, that he perspired from his whole body. There is
+another dance, called "Tklombo," performed in the presence of diseased
+persons whilst the quack doctor practises his deceptive remedies; and a
+third, called "Umduta," which is only practised at weddings and other
+festive occasions. This last seemed to be the most characteristic. The
+semi-nude, slender men hopped, their arms clung together, in ranks of six,
+hissing with scorn, occasionally uttering a cry, then suddenly separating
+and marching one after the other in slow time, in a circle, uttering the
+most singular sounds. Now they bent forward the whole upper part of the
+body, and then back again, each of them making the same violent gestures
+as in the former dance, and pronouncing some words to excite their
+companions, such as, "Be active!" "Be alert!" until they all trembled and
+became fearfully and feverishly excited. The surrounding Caffres, who were
+at first mere spectators, by degrees were seized with this singular
+dancing mania, till at last the entire number, as if stung by a tarantula,
+lashed themselves into a wild and apparently ungovernable frenzy. The
+great difference in the colour of the skin of these Caffres was
+particularly striking, as they evidently belong to one and the same race.
+From the blackness of coal to bronze, all tints and shades were observed,
+and one of them, called "Ngduba" (Sea-shell), appeared to be even of a
+reddish yellow. He belonged to the tribe of the Fingoes, and said that
+both his parents were of the same colour.
+
+The governor permitted five young Caffres to be engaged on board the
+_Novara_, with their own consent, as apprentices, and although they were
+prisoners sentenced for several years, yet the Government took every care
+to secure their welfare. An agreement was signed to provide that their
+return, should they desire it, might be facilitated in every possible way.
+Faithful subjects could not be cared for with more anxiety than were these
+legally-sentenced Caffre prisoners by the colonial Government. Two of them
+went one day on shore, during our stay at Auckland, in New Zealand, and
+never came back; the other three made the whole voyage with the _Novara_,
+and are now sailors on board the imperial yacht _Fancy_. They, of course,
+understood, at their embarkation, only their own singular mother-tongue;
+yet the chaplain of the expedition, the Rev. E. Marochini, after having
+made himself acquainted with their idiom, succeeded in instructing these
+black youths, by means of their own language, in the doctrines of
+Christianity, and, by degrees, imparted some knowledge of the Italian and
+German languages, the happy results of these endeavours being a complete
+vocabulary and a small catechism in the Caffre language, which the
+reverend gentlemen composed during the voyage; and such progress did his
+three pupils make, that, on our return to Trieste, they were so far
+prepared as to be fit for reception, by baptism, into the Christian
+community.
+
+In the house of correction there were a number of female Caffres who had
+been made prisoners at the same time with their brothers and husbands,
+some belonging to the family of chiefs. One, the sister of the chieftain
+Sandilli, was a handsome, tall and slender woman, with mild features and
+piercing small black eyes; another, by the name of Mnovenkeli, the sister
+of the chieftain Mkoseni, was an imposing and earnest-looking figure.
+Several of these women bore a long stripe tattooed on their breasts as an
+ornament. Several were deficient of a little finger of the left hand: this
+mutilation is the effect of superstition, as it often occurs that, in case
+of the severe illness of the child, the distressed mother causes a finger
+of her offspring to be cut off and sacrificed to the evil spirit, in order
+that the rest of the body may be saved and permitted by the evil spirit to
+recover.
+
+One of these young Caffre women had her child wrapped up in a piece of
+linen tied to her back, and endeavoured to lull it to sleep by continually
+moving the left elbow, by which the baby was kept in a swinging motion,
+and an effect was produced like that of a cradle. Various questions were
+put, through an interpreter, to several of these females, who, after their
+timidity was overcome, answered with great readiness. Polygamy is said to
+prevail amongst them. Many women have from ten to twelve children. The
+children are suckled sometimes from two to three years. A numerous progeny
+is the pride of a family. As a proof of the legitimacy of a child, there
+is said to exist a kind of milk trial. Notwithstanding considerable
+trouble in endeavouring to procure information, we were unable to obtain a
+very lucid idea of this singular experiment: it consists in the father
+giving the infant, in the bottom of his hand, directly after its birth,
+some cow's milk to drink, and if the child refuses the draught it is
+considered illegitimate. Caffre women very rarely salute their husbands
+with a kiss, except after a long separation, and even then only on the
+cheek--never on the lips.
+
+In the ethnographical part a detailed description will be presented of
+this most peculiar race, of whom the Bushmen are evidently only a decrepid
+branch. Here it will suffice to observe that a girl, only sixteen years of
+age, was noticed, whose father was a degenerate Hottentot, and whose
+mother was a Bushwoman. The girl measured 4 feet 6 1/2 inches, and weighed
+75lbs. Another Bushwoman, thirty years of age, measured 4 feet 9 inches.
+All the individuals we saw of this race were remarkable for their
+exceedingly small hands and feet.
+
+One week of our stay at the Cape was devoted to an excursion into the
+interior. On the 1st October, early in the morning, we left Cape Town in a
+light two-wheeled vehicle, drawn by four horses--a turn-out which
+certainly seemed better suited for a drive in Hyde Park than a journey,
+however short, in South Africa: for who would suppose that the principal
+roads on the southernmost point of the most unknown quarter of the globe,
+are, in consequence of English civilization and the geognostic nature of
+the ground, in a better condition than most bye-roads in the civilized
+states of Europe? For a country where labour is so deficient and
+expensive, such enormous works could only be executed by means of
+compulsory labour: in this respect the high-roads and mountain passes of
+the Cape afford the most evident proofs of how much more beneficially and
+usefully convicts may be employed in colonial works than in allowing them
+to rot within prison walls, alike a burden to themselves and to society.
+
+Only ten years ago the streets of Cape Town looked at least highly
+dangerous, and the steep rugged old roads, which sometimes run parallel
+with the new ones, evince very clearly the great difference between bygone
+days and the present, as regards the internal communications of the
+colony. The uncultivated state of the country formerly, which indeed, in
+some parts, continues even yet to exist, is the cause of the ancient
+custom having been retained of placing before every vehicle, however
+lightly laden, sixteen to twenty powerful oxen, even on perfectly level
+roads. All longer journeys into the interior are undertaken in heavy
+waggon-like vehicles, exclusively drawn by oxen. As a family is sometimes
+compelled to take up abode in such waggons for weeks together, they are
+completely covered and provided with all possible conveniences; indeed, it
+is a sort of locomotive house. The waggon, which much resembles the
+goods-trucks used on European railways, is at least 18 feet long, and the
+entire length of the set-out, including the oxen, embraces not less than
+from 120 to 180 feet. It may readily be imagined how such a custom impedes
+speedy intercourse, and how much more usefully a great part of the animal
+power might be employed. On the excursion from Cape Town to Stellenbosch,
+a small place only ten miles distant, we met more than 100 waggons, of
+which not one had less than ten, and many double that number of oxen, so
+that at least 1500 heads of cattle were employed in a work which might
+easily have been performed by a third part of the number.
+
+The coachman was a Malay, and wore that singular screen-formed straw hat,
+which so peculiarly distinguishes the male population of his race. These
+men have the reputation of being particularly skilful drivers, and thus
+form a considerable portion of the coachmen of the place. The Malay driver
+had an assistant by his side, who seemed, however, chiefly to serve as
+ballast, in order that our two-wheeled vehicle might not lose its
+equilibrium; for the disconsolate condition of the horses rendered the
+fear of their running away quite superfluous. Our charioteer drove his
+horses, which now and then were rather restive, with so much adroitness,
+that we arrived as early as nine o'clock in that charming settlement
+Stellenbosch, which Wilkes, the American Commodore, even in 1839,
+designated as the loveliest and most beautiful in the whole colony. It has
+completely preserved the aspect of a little Dutch town; the streets are
+straight and wide, adorned with avenues of oaks, many centuries old; the
+houses are extremely tidy and clean, and are built in the genuine Dutch
+style. There is no trace of English influence perceptible. Its 4000
+inhabitants mostly speak Dutch, and cultivate the vine, grain, and fruit.
+No country town seen in the whole course of our long voyage made a deeper
+impression, or left more pleasing recollections, than Stellenbosch. The
+occasion of our visit was certainly of an uncommonly cheerful and festive
+character. On the day of our arrival the Governor was about to review a
+corps of volunteers, raised in Cape Town and its neighbourhood, to supply
+the place of the regular troops about to be dispatched to the Indian
+battle-fields. Extraordinary enthusiasm and interest was manifested
+everywhere in the military movements. Thousands of visitors had assembled
+even from great distances to witness this novel national spectacle. The
+Governor had proclaimed the day as a general holiday; all shops were
+closed; the streets presented an extremely animated appearance, and in
+front of every house was a crowd. The Austrian Consul had been kind enough
+to favour us with a letter of introduction to one of the first families in
+the place; but, taking into consideration the general bustle and continual
+arrival of strangers, we were much afraid of being, at this moment, very
+unwelcome guests, as every nook and corner would already be occupied; for
+in this colony visitors do not come, as with us, for a short time, and
+without encumbrance, but with waggons, horses, servants, household and
+all, regularly to settle down for an indefinite period.
+
+Our own party consisted of five persons provided with four horses, and we
+were now, for want of other lodgings, about to claim the hospitality of
+Mynheer Van Schultze. A pretty, youthful, rosy-cheeked lady, who appeared
+at the door, took--not without some embarrassment--our letter of
+introduction, and disappeared with it into the interior of the stately
+house. We were requested to enter, and were shown into a suite of very
+neat rooms, and were received, not merely with great politeness, but with
+the heartiest welcome.
+
+At ten o'clock we drove out with our hospitable friend, Mynheer Van
+Schultze, to the review, which took place on the common in the
+neighbourhood of the village. The number of spectators was probably twenty
+times greater than that of the volunteers; they had surrounded the ground
+with a wall of carriages, on the tops of which women and children were
+grouped in every picturesque attitude. The rifle volunteers marched, with
+the Governor, Sir George Grey, at their head, and preceded by a band, to
+the ground. There might have been about 300 cavalry and 200 infantry, with
+several pieces of artillery. They all looked very well; their uniform was
+plain and remarkably suitable for the purpose, consisting of tunics and
+trousers of black cloth with metal buttons, and a common cap with a silver
+ornament. They went through the usual man[oe]uvres, whilst a good deal of
+gunpowder was expended. The evolutions of the cavalry were executed with
+wonderful precision, a result due chiefly to the circumstance that, at the
+Cape, every inhabitant is a good equestrian, and is trained from childhood
+to manage a horse.
+
+[Illustration: RIFLE VOLUNTEER _FÊTE_ AT STELLENBOSCH.]
+
+The review finished, a breakfast was served at the Drosdy, or
+Municipality, on long tables, in a magnificent avenue of oak trees;
+nearly 600 volunteers and many other guests sat down, whilst in the
+back-ground a large number of ladies and gentlemen were present as
+spectators. The presence of some members of the Novara Expedition at the
+festival led the Burgomaster, after the toast of the Queen was given, to
+propose the health of the Emperor of Austria, prefacing it with various
+laudatory remarks on the Expedition. The toast was most heartily received,
+the whole company raising their glasses, whilst the band performed the
+Austrian national anthem. The officer to whose lot it fell to return
+thanks, said:--"That he felt deeply gratified with the honour done to his
+country and nation by the enthusiasm with which the health of his
+sovereign had been received by so distinguished an assembly, and that he
+could not forbear expressing his admiration and delight in observing the
+prosperous condition of this fine country, which, like all others where
+the Anglo-Saxon race was predominant, was blessed with freedom, with the
+spirit of progress, and the blessings of Christianity;" and he concluded
+by proposing "Old England for ever."
+
+On the day after the review the journey was pursued early in the morning
+to the village of Paarl (Pearl), about four hours distant. We had come as
+strangers to the hospitable Stellenbosch, and left as old friends, the
+entire family accompanying us to the carriage, and the worthy old mother
+of our amiable host, a thoroughly genuine Dutch matron, was visibly
+touched on taking leave of those whom, in all probability, she would never
+see more.
+
+On the route to Paarl several immensely large ant-hills were met with,
+some of which measured from two to two-and-a-half feet in diameter, by
+about three feet high. The insects were partly black and partly of a
+greyish-brown colour, and must be very troublesome to the farmers.
+
+Paarl, an extremely neat village, consists of a single long street, and
+contains nearly 4000 inhabitants, chiefly occupied in the growth of the
+vine. They are the descendants of those French Protestants who, at the
+close of the 17th century, left their native country in consequence of
+religious persecution. All the detached farm-yards were extremely neat,
+and bore evidence of the wealth of their owners. Nothing reminds one of
+Africa and the neighbourhood of Hottentots, Bushmen, or Caffres. The
+landscape becomes grander the more the mountains, 4000 to 5000 feet high,
+are approached. Among them lies the little town of Wellington, charmingly
+situated; though but a few years in existence, and numbering only 2000
+inhabitants, it has already a joint-stock bank with a capital of £45,000,
+several schools, and some neat places of worship. While taking an evening
+stroll, we passed a well-lighted Reformed Dutch Church, from the interior
+of which the devotional tones of a pious Christian congregation floating
+through the night air, died away among the mountains.
+
+Singular to say, the small, and, one would think, essentially prosaic and
+practical little town of Wellington boasts a quack doctor, named Brabna,
+whom the common people, far and near, come to consult, more, one would
+imagine, to be relieved of their money than their ailments.
+
+[Illustration: PAINE'S KLOEF AS IT WAS.]
+
+[Illustration: PAINE'S KLOEF AS IT IS.]
+
+The route to Worcester, whither we set out the following morning, leads
+at first through the wide, highly-cultivated Waggonmakers' Valley, adorned
+with numbers of rich farm-steads (so named from a number of artisans of
+this handicraft having settled here in former times), after which it
+passes over the difficult pass called Paine's Kloef, 4000 feet high, which
+frequently recalled the well-known road over the Sömmering Alp, or that at
+Optschina. This mountain-pass, first completed in 1853, by the engineer,
+Mr. Paine, greatly facilitates the traffic between Cape Town and this
+fertile district, which previously was quite inaccessible, and whose
+immense natural resources are only now beginning to be developed.
+
+When we reached the highest point of the pass we found a strong south-east
+wind blowing. The thermometer marked 55° F., and when plunged in a spring
+that issued from the mountain close at hand, 48°. South-east winds are
+especially prevalent here, particularly in summer, when they frequently
+cause serious damage; hence all the upper branches of the trees incline to
+the north-west.
+
+We now came to the finest bridge in the country, named Darling Bridge,
+after a late governor, which is thrown across the broad stream called by
+the Dutch, Breede River, and by the English, Broad River, a frequent
+source of error. The English colonists are bent upon driving out the Dutch
+names of rivers and localities, and supplying them with new names of
+English origin. The Dutch, however, hold on obstinately to the names they
+have been accustomed to, and continue to use the ancient nomenclature.
+
+In the neighbourhood of Darling Bridge is a farm where the traveller can
+be comfortably accommodated, and from which, being a post-station, letters
+can be forwarded to all parts of the country. It has regular communication
+with the rest of the colony three times a week. The vehicle, however, in
+which the letters and packets are forwarded, in consequence of the
+wretched roads in the interior, and with the view of expediting the
+transmission of mail matter, is simply a light, open, eminently
+uncomfortable, two-wheel waggon, in which but one passenger can be taken
+each trip. Day and night, up hill and down dale, it continues its journey,
+changing driver and horses every two hours, only the unfortunate
+passenger being condemned to remain glued to the jolting uncomfortable
+car, until he has attained the end of his journey. We were told of an
+English captain, who once travelled on urgent business 400 miles in fifty
+hours in this fashion, and arrived at his destination in such a pitiable
+plight, that he had to be lifted from the car and put to bed forthwith,
+which he kept for several weeks, before he was able to get about again.
+Unfortunately, we were not told whether this unlucky passenger returned to
+Cape Town by a similar conveyance.
+
+In the dining-room of the farm we made acquaintance with several families
+from Graaf Reinet, in the north of the colony, who were _en route_ for
+Cape Town, and had been already three weeks on the road, during which they
+must have passed every night in their unwieldy waggon, or under tents.
+There was also among the assembled travellers a Quaker Missionary, of
+Worcester, who was on his way to the opening of the Spiritual Synod at
+Cape Town, and who was so kind as to furnish us, on the spot, with some
+introductions to his friends in Worcester, a lovely little town, which we
+reached towards the evening. There are places which charm at the first
+glance, just as there are many men who take us by storm as it were.
+Worcester is one of these; so neat, so clean, with a pretty garden in
+front of each little house, every wall of which was entwined with roses,
+and in the back-ground all around, bare, but picturesque groups of lofty
+hills of a blueish-grey tint, which imparted to the entire landscape a
+peculiar and almost magical colouring. Worcester, a creation of
+yesterday, has about 4500 inhabitants, chiefly employed in vine growing
+and sheep pasture. There are some of the peasantry here who own flocks of
+3000 to 4000 sheep! The rich vegetation of the valley has an eminently
+northern character. Alongside of oaks, pines, poplars, willows, will
+appear a tree of Australian origin, of the order of Myrtaceæ, the blue
+gum-tree (_Eucalyptus Globulus_), which, on account of its rapid growth,
+is planted before each door for the purpose of shade. One of these trees
+was shown to us of but four years' growth, the stem of which was already
+twenty feet high! The leaves have a highly aromatic odour, and must be
+especially suitable for the extraction of oil, as the rind is full of
+camphor; as yet, however, the tree is not used by the colonists for any
+other purpose than to supply shade to their gardens.
+
+It is surprising what comfort the traveller encounters among these new
+settlements, from which, even already, all traces have been eradicated of
+the difficulties that originally beset the colonist; so that at every turn
+one meets with evidences of the highest European civilization. Whenever,
+indeed, he finds himself at a settlement, he will remark that it is not
+merely provided with the necessaries of life, or the mere products of the
+soil, but that it sparkles with numerous objects of luxury and refined
+taste; such as handsome furniture, pianos, and other musical instruments,
+engravings, English classics, besides telescopes, barometers,
+thermometers, and other similar evidences of high cultivation. At the
+hotel at Worcester, we met with a degree of comfort such as is found only
+in the chief cities of Europe. Several of the inhabitants, among others
+Dr. Esselin, a missionary of the Moravian brotherhood, and Dr. Meynard, of
+the Episcopal Church, laid us under particular obligations by their
+participation in the objects of our inquiry. The latter gentleman sought
+us out at our hotel, and, after a hearty welcome, remarked that he
+possessed, in his collection, several highly interesting petrifactions
+from Beaufort, about 400 miles north-west of Worcester. We satisfied
+ourselves, however, by a visit which we paid to Dr. Meynard at his own
+house, that his collection was far from possessing the interest he claimed
+for it. In all probability, however, judging by what we heard, Beaufort
+must be a classic soil for the palæontologist, as there are numberless
+fossils in that district, especially of reptiles. In like manner, the
+stalactite grottoes, known as "The Congo Caves," 300 miles from Worcester,
+have never yet been scientifically examined or described.
+
+Dr. Esselin, who is a native of Hesse, was so kind as to accompany the
+naturalists of the Novara Expedition to the hot springs of Brand Vley the
+following morning. The road thither, which lies through a valley partly
+overflowed towards the end of the rainy season, was exceedingly trying to
+the horses, and, but for the kind offices of Dr. Esselin, who was
+acquainted with the difficulties of the route, and undertook the guidance
+of the waggon through the constantly recurring swamps and morasses, we
+should in all probability have had to retrace our steps halfway, or even
+have stuck fast, which would have been a still more serious matter. Only
+after unspeakable exertions did we succeed in threading the valley of
+Worcester as far as the shores of Breede (or Broad) River. Several times
+we were compelled, in order to lighten the waggon, to dismount, and wade
+up to our knees in water. Once the quag was so deep, that to avoid sinking
+in it we had to be carried, one by one, on the back of our Malay driver.
+
+[Illustration: CROSSING THE BREEDE RIVER.]
+
+On the bank is the cottage, (_boeren plaats_), of a peasant who avails
+himself of his proximity to convert the stream into a source of profit, by
+ferrying travellers, who have occasion to pass here during the floods,
+across the river in a small skiff, the waggon and horses being swum across
+afterwards. In summer, on the contrary, the stream is readily forded on
+horseback, and is indeed dry at several points. At the period of our visit
+(in October, 1857), towards the end of the rainy season, this Breede River
+was about 150 feet wide, and about 28 feet deep, and we accordingly found
+ourselves compelled to call in the assistance of the ferryman. Under his
+superintendence the work was gone about quite systematically. First of
+all the four horses were swum across, by a halter round the neck; after
+which the luggage was transported to the opposite bank in a small boat.
+Last of all came the waggon, with the travellers therein. It was thought
+that the upper portion of the waggon might be towed across, swimming on
+the surface of the water, by fastening an empty water-tight cask between
+the wheels; the cask, however, proved unequal to the weight. As the waggon
+left the shore it sank deeper and deeper in the water, till about
+mid-current it fairly capsized, hardly a spoke of the left wheel reaching
+the opposite bank.
+
+Amidst our perplexities, a violent shower of rain came on, making the
+waggon leak in every corner, just as we succeeded, after great trouble, in
+getting it to land, and were busy repairing it. Fortunately, every
+requisite precaution had been taken to remedy any such disaster occurring
+at this dangerous spot; so that the whole affair, though sufficiently
+uncomfortable at the time, left only the recollection of a pleasant
+adventure.
+
+[Illustration: HOT SPRINGS OF BRAND VLEY.]
+
+At last, towards noon, we reached the hot springs of Brand Vley, or Brand
+Valley. This hot spring, which is quite exposed, like a pond or tank, and
+even at the least accessible points is adorned with rich vegetation, is
+about 100 feet in circumference, and is of a triangular shape, rounded off
+at the corners. Among bananas, ferns, and cacti of all sorts, spring up
+numerous specimens of _Calla Ethioptica_, silver poplars, pines, reeds,
+and canes, in wild profusion. Many fruits even, such as pine-apples,
+mangoes, rose apples, &c., which as a rule do not flourish at this
+elevation, grew all round the edges of the basin. Some twigs of a rose
+tree, which, growing luxuriantly in the warmth and moisture, spread across
+the spring, like a green canopy, must have been a second growth of the
+same year. We in fact enjoyed the unusual spectacle of seeing one portion
+of the tree in the flush of its utmost beauty, while the upper and more
+distant branches had not as yet put forth their leaves. The water at the
+hottest point reached 145° F., while the temperature of the air was 75° F.
+It is remarkably clear, has not the slightest taste, and in many
+particulars greatly resembles the springs of Wildbad Gastein. The number
+of patients during the season (October to April) does not exceed from 100
+to 150, the waters being chiefly used in chronic maladies, rheumatic
+affections, scrofula, erysipelas, cutaneous eruptions, and similar
+complaints. Immediately adjoining is a small brook, with a temperature of
+68° F., which rises at the foot of a neighbouring eminence, and has water
+enough during the entire year to keep a mill in constant work.
+
+The only animal inhabiting the spring is the larva of a _Tipularia_, which
+frequents one quarter of the pool where the temperature of the water does
+not exceed 113°.
+
+On the 14th of August, 1857, two shocks of an earthquake were felt in
+rapid succession in Brand Valley, of such violence as to arouse the
+inhabitants out of their sleep, when several of the smaller houses were
+found to have rents and fissures in their walls. The proprietor of the
+bath alleged that the shocks in Brand Valley were much more severe than at
+Worcester, although that town is but six miles distant.
+
+At Brand Valley we took leave of our hospitable companion, Dr. Esselin,
+who presented us with several books on leaving, and set out on an
+excursion to the mission of the Moravian Brethren in Genaaden Dal, in the
+district of Caledon. _En route_ we encountered several families, who came
+from far in the interior of Cape Colony, driving before them enormous
+herds of oxen, some of which were yoked to the waggons that formed the
+caravan, these being fitted up something like dwelling-houses on wheels.
+As night fell, a halt would be called at some selected spot, when the
+draught oxen were unharnessed, a fire lit in the open air, and the evening
+repast prepared. Horses are very rarely used on long journeys, although
+these are in consequence seriously lengthened thereby, especially as it is
+the custom all over the country to unyoke every two or three hours, so as
+to allow the beasts to enjoy a roll on the ground, if only for a few
+minutes at a time.
+
+As neither of our drivers was acquainted with the road we were now to
+pursue, we hired a black guide from Brand Valley, who accompanied us on
+horseback as far as the next farm-house, where we were to pass the night.
+Just as one requires a pilot to take a ship into an insecure or unknown
+harbour, so we now had to avail ourselves of the services of this limber
+young negro, who was an excellent rider, in piloting us through the
+endless morasses and pools of water. Renden was the name of the solitary
+farm (the property of Mr. Pretorius, a landed proprietor, to whom we had
+letters of introduction), where we were to pass the night.
+
+As we approached, we were saluted with the loud barking of a hound that
+had been unchained, and who seemed ready to rush upon his unexpected prey,
+so that we hardly dared to advance one step. At last a man made his
+appearance at the door of the house, with a lantern in his hand, speedily
+followed by the whole family, anxious to learn who could be in the
+neighbourhood at so late an hour. We handed him the letter, which we
+begged him to read, and requested to know whether we could be received for
+the night. We were at once admitted, and speedily found a most cordial
+welcome. We were shown into apartments very plainly furnished, but neat,
+and scrupulously clean, after which we were invited to join the household
+at supper. It was a very numerous family. The father and mother, genuine
+Dutch figures, sat at the head of a long table; next to whom sat the
+son-in-law, who had married the eldest daughter, and then commingled with
+each other, the sons and daughters that were as yet unmarried. They all
+seemed hearty and healthy, and their indurated hands were the best
+diploma of their industry. The youngest son said a short prayer; after
+which venison, potatoes, mutton, vegetables, bread, butter, and cheese
+were set down in huge dishes, besides which two bottles of Cape wine, of
+their own manufacture, went the round of the table. Although this place
+had been only settled four years previously, an immense deal had been
+already accomplished by this stirring, cheerful family to make the soil
+thoroughly productive, and render the house habitable. Even a small garden
+had been laid out in front of the dwelling-house.
+
+The chief article of cultivation in the valley is the grape, for wine
+manufacture, which must in this place return a very handsome profit.
+
+From Renden to Genaaden Dal is a four-hours' journey. The road passes by
+Donker's Hoek, a tolerably high mountain, to ascend the summit of which
+cost our horses some strenuous exertion, although we marched a
+considerable distance on foot. A wide belt of sandstone formation
+presented a marvellous display of flowers, and gave us in little an idea
+of the South African Karroos, a series of terraced clay-patches, estimated
+at from 3000 to 4000 feet high, which, hard and steppe-like in the dry
+season, are speedily transformed in the rainy season into smiling,
+flower-bespangled plains, quite sponge-like under foot, and rich in
+alkaline products.[52] We advanced some six hours before reaching another
+farm-house. This was known as Kleene Islea Plaats (Little Island Farm),
+near which flows the Zonderend River (River Without End), the property of
+a kind and hospitable family of French extraction, whose parents emigrated
+hither from France during the revolution in 1793. As it was Sunday, the
+servants had gone to church, so they could only offer us cold mutton,
+syrup, butter, and bread. Before and after our repast, the devout old lady
+of the house put up a short petition.
+
+[Footnote 52: The English appellation "Karroo" seems to be derived from
+_Karusa_, signifying "hard" in the Hottentot language, and to refer to a
+quality appertaining to the clayey substance of which these terraces are
+composed, by virtue of which the red clay, strongly impregnated with iron,
+and mixed with sand, becomes in the dry season as hard as burnt clay.]
+
+Here, too, we remarked that those born in the country of European parents
+are called Africans: only the English form an exception to this rule, and
+remain with persistent patriotic obstinacy, "Englishmen."
+
+The journey from Kleene Islea Plaats to Genaaden Dal is extremely
+picturesque. One first catches sight of this retired Moravian settlement
+only when actually entering the place itself, embowered as it is among
+lofty trees. What a surprise, when, still fancying one's self at a
+considerable distance from the village, on reaching the end of a beautiful
+valley at the entrance to Bavian's Kloef, one sweeps by a circuit into the
+very heart of the settlement. We alighted at what is called "The
+Lodgment," a house set apart for visitors, and conducted by a brother, in
+conformity with the laws of the community.
+
+The dwellings of the Hottentots lie scattered among the rising grounds in
+the neighbourhood, and with their poverty-stricken aspect impart a
+somewhat melancholy impression. These are built of loam, low in the roof,
+as though intended for a stunted race of men, and rarely have windows, so
+that the door is, generally speaking, the largest aperture in the entire
+building. Our Malay driver laughed at them, and called them _oete kripp_
+(oxen stalls).
+
+[Illustration: HOTTENTOT HUTS AT GENAADENDAL.]
+
+There seem to be three distinct kinds of these dwellings, which apparently
+indicate so many grades of social and pecuniary consideration among the
+resident Hottentot families. The first sort, which consists simply of a
+single apartment, serving at once for kitchen, work-shop, and sleeping
+place, and receiving air and light through a narrow, low-pitched door-way,
+is that most usually met with, and may not unaptly be compared to a
+bee-hive. The next class is of a better description, and may at once and
+definitely be distinguished from the first-mentioned, in so far as it
+possesses a second room, which, if dark and windowless, is at any rate
+partitioned off, and serves as a sleeping apartment. Finally, the third
+kind, which can only be said to be the least poor-looking, consists of
+one large, almost empty chamber, for occupation during the day, with wings
+on either side, one of which is used as a kitchen, the other as a
+bed-room. The wretched ventilation, and damp, moist location of these
+habitations, combined with the bad quality of food, may be regarded as the
+main causes of the unfavourable state of health of the coloured portion of
+the inhabitants of Genaaden Dal, among whom, especially as regards the
+female portion, pulmonary complaints are rife.
+
+We were provided with letters of introduction to the Superintendent of the
+Community, Dr. Köbling, as also to the Physician and Pharmaceutist, Dr.
+Roser, a Würtemberger by birth, and experienced a most cordial reception.
+We availed ourselves of the last hours of declining day to make an
+excursion to the hills, in the country immediately adjacent, so as to
+command at a glance the entire colony. The principal buildings, the
+Church, the school, the workshops, the warehouses, and the dwellings of
+the missionaries, are assembled in a quadrangular open place, to which a
+number of lofty, massive, leafy, venerable oaks impart a sombre, but
+poetical, appearance, eminently characteristic of the community. All the
+buildings are of a uniform dingy-grey tint. Close in the rear of these
+buildings is a large garden, which reaches as far as what is called
+"Bavian's Kloef" (defile), in which, even at present, apes, antelopes, and
+zebras, abound. Near the kitchen-garden is the cemetery of the community,
+which seems to be used by meditative brethren as a favourite resort and
+promenade.
+
+This settlement, situated at the entrance of a mountain defile, at the
+foot of an immense sandstone range, of from 3000 to 4000 feet high, was
+founded in the year 1787, by a brother of the persuasion, named George
+Schmidt, from Moravia, who settled fifty-five miles east of Cape Town,
+near Sargent's River, with a number of Hottentots, whom he began to
+convert to Christianity, and called the station "Bavian's Kloef." From the
+year 1806, the settlement assumed the beautiful name of "Genaaden Dal"
+(Vale of Benevolence), so exquisitely correspondent with the benevolent
+exertions of the brotherhood. It at present numbers 3100 souls, mostly a
+race crossed between Hottentots and Mozambique negroes, of the latter of
+whom a considerable number have settled here since the Slave Emancipation
+Act of 1826. The settlers are partly proprietors of the land, partly
+artisans, cutlers, waggon-makers, tanners, carpenters, millers, &c. In the
+workshops the most exemplary cleanliness and neatness are imperatively
+insisted on. At the Great Exhibition, held in London in 1851, the
+wood-work of the Hottentot carpenters of Genaaden Dal received "Honourable
+Mention," and this elegant testimonial in recognition of their efforts now
+hangs, framed and glazed, in the library hall of the community. It
+somewhat surprised us that the cutlers did not receive, in their section,
+a similar distinction, since, in that department of industry, the
+Hottentots produce articles, which, so far as concerns quality and
+cheapness, are really astounding. The workpeople receive a fixed weekly
+payment, which they may expend as they please. The net proceeds, however,
+of the various articles manufactured belong to the community, and are
+expended in defraying the expenses of, and supporting, the mission. The
+inhabitants of Genaaden Dal are closely connected, by religious ties, with
+the community; and only those who profess the principles of the Moravian
+brotherhood are permitted to settle among them.
+
+The field-labourers, who hire themselves out to labour elsewhere, are
+frequently absent from the settlement for months at a time, and return to
+Genaaden Dal immediately after the completion of seed-time or harvest. It
+is significant that these labourers regard this period of emancipation, as
+a sort of relaxation from the severe discipline and rules to which they
+are subjected in the religious community.
+
+The principal articles of food of the inhabitants consist of maize, beans,
+pumpkins, rice, fruits, tea, coffee, and occasionally mutton. Wine is
+strictly prohibited throughout the settlement, and when a member of the
+_Novara_ Expedition, never imagining that this interdict extended to
+strangers as well, desired the attendant at the house we were occupying to
+fetch a bottle of sherry, that individual regarded him with as
+horror-stricken an air as though he had asked him to participate in some
+crime.
+
+Although the first settlers in Genaaden Dal were pure Hottentots, not more
+than five or six at present speak the idiom of their fathers, the rest
+knowing only the Dutch tongue. The Superintendent had the kindness to
+allow an old blind man, of the name of Sebastian Hendrik, to be presented
+to us, born in the colony in 1775, of Hottentot parents, "_een opregt
+Hottentot_" (an out-and-out Hottentot), as he called himself, and who
+still could speak a number of phrases in his mother tongue, with its
+extraordinary "clicking" sounds; but, on the other hand, no longer had the
+slightest recollection of the customs, usages, or proverbs of that nation
+to which he belonged by birth. In the library of the community, where this
+conversation took place, there were also shown to us numerous sketches by
+Hottentot and Caffre lads, which gave great hope of future excellence. It
+is an especially gratifying indication of intellectual progress, that
+several works of natural history are to be found on the shelves of the
+library.
+
+[Illustration: CHURCH AND MISSION HOUSES OF THE MORAVIAN SETTLEMENT AT
+GENAADENDAL.]
+
+We also found time to listen to the singing in the church, quite a plain
+wooden building, erected in 1800, with white-washed walls, a spacious
+gallery, and an elegant organ, the gift of a benevolent lady of Hamburg,
+who spent some months of the year 1843 at Cape Town in search of health,
+and took an opportunity of visiting the Moravian brethren at Genaaden Dal.
+One of the missionaries sat in the middle of the chapel at a table covered
+with green cloth, and gave out, verse by verse, a hymn in the Dutch
+language, which was afterwards sung, with accompaniment by the organ, by
+the entire community assemble in the edifice. The men and women sat apart
+from each other, on smooth wooden benches, the former on the left, the
+latter on the right of the officiating minister. The chapel was only
+illuminated with a few tallow candles; but the devotional feeling of the
+community seemed to gain by this simple unostentatious ritual, and the
+mysterious solemn obscurity of their place of congregational worship.
+
+Next morning, 12th October, some of the brethren paid us the attention of
+examining in our presence the scholars of the Seminary for Teachers, so
+that we might personally satisfy ourselves of their progress in the
+various branches of education. This academy for the education of suitable
+instructors, was originally established in 1838, through the generous
+assistance of a Saxon nobleman, Count Schönburg, and year by year since,
+has been so liberally assisted by that benevolent nobleman, that its
+future prosperity seems fairly established. At present there are in the
+seminary 14 pupils (Hottentots, Caffres, and half-breeds). Since the year
+of its establishment, 50 young persons in all have been sent out hence; of
+whom, however, only one half proved to be available for the duties of
+teachers. Up to the year 1856, twenty-two pupils were already at work in
+the service of the community, fourteen had been rejected as unsuitable,
+and fourteen were still in the institute. They entered at from ten to
+fifteen years of age, remained within its walls six years for instruction,
+when they were clothed and maintained, and thereafter, without further
+obligations to the society which had educated them, were dispatched into
+the most remote districts of the colony as teachers and apostles of
+Christianity. The examination of the pupils of the seminary took place at
+the Library Hall, which boasts a portrait of a highly meritorious brother,
+the venerable C. J. Latrobe, who, in the year 1815-16, visited South
+Africa as a missionary, and, two years later published, in London, his
+very remarkable book of travels. The examination commenced with a
+performance on the piano by a Mestizo lad of about sixteen, son of a
+Mulatto father by a Hottentot mother. This youth displayed a decided
+talent for music, coupled with truly admirable execution; and besides the
+piano, played the organ, the violin, and the violoncello. Next, a variety
+of questions in geography and history were put to the pupils present.
+These consisted chiefly of easy intelligible questions, principally
+relating to England. Those examined were surprisingly well acquainted with
+the history of Liverpool, London, Manchester, Dublin, &c., and could
+enumerate many particulars about the Thames and Westminster Abbey. What
+proved most disagreeable, was the singular custom that prevailed, of all
+the pupils answering at once, each hoping, by out-clamouring his fellow,
+to prove his intimate acquaintance with the subject under discussion. The
+examiner, for example, put a question to a scholar, whereupon all the
+pupils yelled out the reply in chorus. But it was, on the whole,
+astonishing, and indeed eminently suggestive, to hear Hottentots, Caffres,
+and negroes, at the extreme southernmost part of Africa, speaking of
+England, and her influence over the destinies of humanity, as a
+commercial, maritime, and industrial power. Already the youth of the
+settlement are thoroughly interpenetrated with esteem and affection for
+the mother country and its mighty people. As a _finale_, the assembled
+pupils sang a Dutch _Bergmann's Gruss_, "The Miner's Welcome," and one of
+Mendelssohn's delightful songs.
+
+Before we quitted Genaaden Dal we breakfasted with the missionaries. They
+are all married, and manage their households in common, and accordingly
+partake of their various meals together, each with his family, all seated
+at one table, one of their wives attending to change dishes and wait at
+the table. Nowhere are any particular qualifications to be remarked, and
+it is difficult to conceive more thorough harmony than exists among the
+unpretending, yet zealously religious missionaries of Genaaden Dal.
+
+As we were preparing for our departure, Dr. Roser unexpectedly packed up a
+number of objects of natural history and scientific interest, which he
+kindly presented to the Imperial expedition as a _souvenir_ of Genaaden
+Dal. Besides these, there were also given to us two valuable little
+books,--one a small work upon the Nicobar Islands, written about the
+beginning of this century by a Moravian brother of the name of Gottfried
+Hensel; the other a treatise composed by the excellent Dr. Roser himself,
+upon the pharmaceutics and natural history of Genaaden Dal. With respect
+to the various substances chewed as stimulants, or intoxicants, by the
+Hottentots, in order to deprive themselves of sensation, or rouse
+themselves to a state of high excitability, we found the following
+particulars in this interesting essay. That most in use is composed of the
+bruised leaves of the "_Leonotis Leonurus_." This plant, which grows in
+great quantity in and beyond the Genaaden Dal, is called by the natives
+"Dagga," as also frequently, "Tacha or Takka," and this variation in
+pronunciation is very probably the reason that we find in Berghaus's
+"_Völker des Erdballs_" (Races of the Globe), this celebrated smoke-weed,
+marked as "Donha." What the same author says of certain stimulating
+properties of the plant may well be considered as an exaggeration. It is
+curious how the properties of this plant seem to be inextricably mingled
+with the destinies of the Hottentots. In many places it has been
+extirpated, in order more readily to wean the aborigines from the practice
+of chewing: at other places again, "_Leonotis Leonurus_" is expressly
+planted in order to attract the Hottentots, and so supply any deficiency
+in hands for labour, reckless of the moral consequences. Another narcotic,
+and the most widely prevalent, is the wild hemp (_Canabis Sativa_), the
+dried leaves of which are smoked by the natives. Dr. Juritz, one of the
+most respectable apothecaries in Cape Town, assured us he had been
+compelled, during a previous residence at Stellenbosch, where he was
+engaged in his business, to keep always on hand in his store a large
+quantity of wild hemp for sale to the natives.
+
+The poison with which the Bushmen tip their arrows, rendering them such
+dangerous and terrible weapons, is extracted from the "_Cestrum
+venenatum_."[53]
+
+[Footnote 53: The Dyaks of Borneo poison their arrows with the juice of
+_Strychnos Tieuté_ and _Antiaris Toxicaria_ (Upas).]
+
+Among the animal products of Genaaden Dal of importance in a scientific
+point of view is Hyrazeuma, a substance obtained from the urine of the
+Cape Marmot (_Hyrax Capensis_). It is of a dark-brown colour, somewhat
+tenacious, and nearly hard, of a very penetrating odour, and is found in
+cavities resembling a molehill. This article is made use of with much
+effect in hysterical complaints by the Hottentots. Dr. Roser is of
+opinion, that this Cape Marmot is in all probability the same animal which
+Martin Luther, in Leviticus, c. xi, v. 5, and Proverbs, c. xxx, v. 26, has
+translated by the word "_kaninchen_" (conies).
+
+On our way from Genaaden Dal to Caledon, to which there is an excellent
+level road, we perceived a large number of silver poplars, with pendent
+nests of finches. On a single tree we counted more than forty such pendent
+nests, constructed in a very singular manner.
+
+Caledon is a cheerful, ambitious little town, important as the centre of
+the wool trade, as also for the thermal springs in the neighbourhood.
+These, situated about two English miles outside the town, on a rising
+ground, in a romantic and highly attractive neighbourhood, are impregnated
+with iron, and of a considerable temperature. Even in the bath-house,
+distant about a mile from the source of the spring, a thermometer held in
+a stone trough, filled to overflowing, marked from 100°·4 to 104° Fahr. At
+their respective sources the one spring has a temperature of 116°·6 Fahr.
+and the other 114°·8 Fahr. The colour of the water is ochre yellow. From
+the terrace of the bath-house a rather extensive landscape opens to the
+view, backed by a splendid range of mountains, including the Tower of
+Babel, as the inhabitants have christened the highest peak in this
+vicinity.
+
+Caledon has 600 inhabitants. About twenty years ago there were not more
+than ten bales of wool grown in the entire district. At present about
+800,000 lbs. are shipped annually. One Merino sheep supplies from 1 lb. to
+1-1/2 lb. of wool, worth from 1_s._ 2_d._ to 1_s._ 4_d._ sterling per
+pound. Besides Caledon, the principal wool districts of Cape Colony are
+Swellendam, Beaufort, and Graaf-Reinet. All these districts united produce
+yearly about 15,000,000 lbs. of wool, worth about _£_1,000,000 sterling.
+Within two years the wool produce of the entire colony has increased 30
+per cent., and during last year a strenuous and very costly experiment has
+been made to introduce the Angora breed, with the intention of increasing
+the wool-producing powers of the less fleecy race by a judicious cross
+with the native species.
+
+The road to Somerset-West leads over the high and picturesque Hauw-Hoek
+Pass and Sir Lowry's Pass; the latter is very steep, and parts of it are
+hardly, if at all, inferior in extent and variety of landscape to those
+presented by the Styrian Alps. At the culminating point of the latter
+pass, which surpasses even Paine's Kloef in height and width, one stands
+as upon the ruins of a lofty tower, from which the eye can range at will
+over the entire country beneath. South-east and eastward towers the
+Hauw-Hoek Pass, while southwards and westwards the charming Lowry's Vale,
+and far in the distance the smiling settlement of Somerset-West come into
+view, while all around, farther than the eye can reach, are luxuriant
+pasturages, that only wait to be settled and cultivated in order to
+produce magnificent returns.
+
+Somerset-West, a prettily-built, and very charmingly situated settlement,
+already supports so considerable a traffic with the capital that a daily
+omnibus has proved a remunerative speculation to the promoters.
+
+We now proceeded to Zandvliet, the property of one of the oldest and most
+highly considered families in the colony, named Cloete, where we spent the
+night. With these genial kindly people we soon felt ourselves as entirely
+at home as if with our own families; we sang, laughed, and frolicked, till
+far into the night.
+
+The following morning we drove to a hill, about a mile and a half distant
+from Zandvliet, known as Macassar Downs, on which is the spot of
+interment, (Krammat or Brammat), of a Malay prophet.
+
+[Illustration: TOMB OF A MALAY PROPHET AT ZANDVLIET.]
+
+This individual, so honoured in death, was, if we are to believe the
+Malays, a direct descendant of Mahomet, named Sheikh Joseph, who, expelled
+from Batavia by the Dutch Government for political reasons, settled in the
+colony about a century and a half ago, and died and was buried in the
+neighbourhood of Zandvliet. An especial deputation came over from Malacca
+to Cape Colony to fetch away the corpse of the defunct prophet, for
+conveyance to the land of his birth; but at the disinterment it happened
+that the little finger of the prophet, in spite of the most persevering
+research, could nowhere be found. This circumstance appeared to those
+simple believers sufficient reason for erecting a monument over the spot
+in which the finger of a Malay prophet lay hid from view. Even to this day
+the Malays from time to time perform a pilgrimage to the Colony and
+celebrate their religious ceremonies at the Mausoleum. Four followers of
+the prophet are buried with him, two of them Mahometan priests, who are
+regarded with much veneration by the Malays. An extensive flight of stone
+steps leads to the tomb, the exterior of which is very insignificant, and,
+but for a small pointed turret, hardly differs from an ordinary
+dwelling-house. On entering, a low-roofed vault is visible, a sort of
+front outhouse, which rather disfigures the façade, and much more
+resembles a cellar than the portal of a Mausoleum. Above the arch of this
+vault an Arabic inscription has been engraved with a stylus; but this is
+so painted over in brick colour that it has already become almost
+illegible. Judging by the few words that have been deciphered, it seems to
+consist of the first propositions of the Koran.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE MAUSOLEUM.]
+
+The inner room, provided on two sides with modern glazed windows at
+irregular intervals, is about the size of an ordinary room of 12 feet
+long, 9 wide, and 7 high. In the middle rises the monument, to which
+access is had by some more brick steps. Immense quantities of unwashed
+white linen cloth are heaped upon it, which seem occasionally sprinkled
+with a brown odoriferous liquid (_dupa_). As at the head of Sheikh Joseph,
+so at his feet several figures, resembling those in enamel used to
+ornament tarts, are drawn upon the linen cloth with the overflowings of
+the unguent. These have undoubtedly been formed accidentally, and it
+appears wrong and unfair to attribute to them any more recondite
+significance. The monument rests upon four wooden pillars, with pyramidal
+pinnacles or ornaments, and is richly decorated with fine white muslin,
+which gives to the whole very much the appearance of an old-fashioned
+English "fourposter," with its costly drapery and curtains. While the
+curtains are spread out all around, several small green and white
+bannerets stand at the upper and lower end of the sarcophagus. The whole
+interior is, as it were, impregnated with the incense which devout Malay
+pilgrims from time to time burn here, especially after the forty days'
+fast (Ramadan), or leave behind upon the steps of the tomb in flasks or in
+paper-boxes. On such occasions, they always bring wax-candles and linen
+cloth as an offering, with the latter of which they deck the tomb afresh,
+so that a perfect mountain of white linen rises above the stone floor.
+During their devotions they unceasingly kiss this white mass of stuff, and
+as they are continually chewing tobacco, this filthy habit produces
+disgustingly loathsome stains.
+
+On the same hill which boasts the tomb of Sheikh Joseph, there are also,
+in ground that is common property, nine other graves of eminent Malays,
+enclosed with carefully-selected stones, and likewise covered over with
+large broad strips of bleached linen cloth, protected by stones from any
+injury by weather or violence. At the head and foot of each individual
+interred, is a single stone of larger size. Formerly the black inhabitants
+of the neighbourhood made use of this store of linen cloth to make shirts
+for themselves, without further thought upon the propriety of the matter.
+Latterly, however, a shrewd Malay priest spread a report that one of these
+ebony linen stealers had lost all the fingers off one hand, since which
+the graves of those departed worthies remain inviolate and unprofaned.
+
+At the foot of the hill are some small half-fallen-in buildings, near a
+large hall, painted white, red, and yellow, consisting of a small
+apartment and a kitchen, the whole in a most dirty, neglected, and
+desolate condition. At this point the Moslems must have accomplished
+certain prayers, before they can climb the hill and proceed to visit the
+tomb. Over the door of this singular house of prayer some words are
+likewise engraved in the Arabic character, which, however, are now
+entirely illegible.
+
+On quitting the Malay Krammat, we next undertook a tolerably difficult
+walk to the Downs or sand-dunes, which at this point extend along the
+entire coast line, on which the wax-berry shrub, as already mentioned,
+grows wild in vast quantities, and visibly prevents the further
+encroachments of the moving sand. The Eerst Rivier (First River) may be
+regarded as the limit of demarcation between the sand-dunes and the soil
+adapted for vegetation.
+
+The same evening the naturalists of the Expedition left hospitable
+Zandvliet, though not till after they had been presented by Herr Cloete
+with a splendid collection of fruits indigenous to Port Natal. Having been
+everywhere received with distinction, and enjoyed every sort of assistance
+in our researches, we set out on our return so richly freighted with
+objects of natural history, that the waggon, as we drove through the wide
+streets of Cape Town, presented such a various and substantial assortment
+of each as spoke volumes for the success of our journey. Every available
+corner was called into requisition to dispose of our prizes--even between
+the open windows hung suspended the bottle-shaped nests of the finch, and
+the slender sticks that supported the tilt were entwined with gigantic
+festoons of flowers. In a word, the whole waggon, with its variegated
+contents, resembled a holiday-van on its return from a country excursion,
+so gaily and cheerfully was it decorated.
+
+During our residence in the Cape colony, severe depression existed among
+the agricultural inhabitants of the Western and Eastern districts, in
+consequence of an epidemic which, within two years, had carried off 64,850
+horses (draught horses, mares, and foals), of the value of £525,000
+sterling.[54] Many landowners in consequence entirely gave up rearing
+horses, and turned their attention almost exclusively to the breeding of
+sheep. The visitations of this malady are by no means of late
+introduction, but hitherto they had made their appearance at such long
+intervals, that but little attention was paid to them and people regarded
+their return without much alarm. This disease of the horse, usually
+endemic in Cape Colony, assumed every twenty years, owing to some
+inexplicable causes, an epidemic character, and on those occasions
+extended over an extensive area, as happened with extraordinary regularity
+in the years 1780, 1801, 1819, 1839, and 1854. Hitherto no further
+precaution was taken, than, so soon as the disease appeared, to drive the
+horses from the grass pastures to their stables or covered sheds, and
+there supply them with fodder, the night dew being considered a main cause
+of the complaint. A resident in Stellenbosch, indeed, maintained that the
+dew which was deposited during the continuance of the disease tasted quite
+bitter, and was of an unusual brownish tinge. Singular to say, not the
+slightest symptoms of illness manifested themselves in the swine, dogs,
+and birds of prey which devoured the carcases of horses that died of the
+disease, while the consumption, whether boiled or roasted, of mutton
+which was ever so slightly tainted with the mere germ of this malady,
+never failed to produce the most mischievous consequences on the human
+species. According to Dr. Livingstone the same malignant ulcerous
+imposthumes were produced, if even sound portions were used of the carcase
+of an animal that had died of this complaint. These observations, founded
+on innumerable examples, run counter to the opinion of the French
+physicians and physiologists, that the malignity of the poison in such
+cases becomes neutralized by the process of cooking. Considering the
+importance of the subject to a land-holding colony, it could hardly fail
+that numerous individuals should devote themselves to elucidating the
+causes of this devastating epidemic; but it must ever remain a striking
+and significant fact, illustrative of the high standard of cultivation in
+Cape Colony, that within a very few years 112 different authors published
+treatises respecting this complaint among the horses. The result of these
+numerous researches was, that the malady is epidemic, but not contagious;
+that horses driven into the stable before sunset, and not permitted to go
+out to pasture till the dew has evaporated off the grass, are as a rule
+exempted from attack; that those horses which are kept at night in open
+pounds, or in places where there are heaps of dung, take the disease in a
+milder form than if suffered to roam at large day and night; lastly, that
+horses for which no covered shelter can be provided, may with great
+advantage be sent to hilly localities and dry runs of land. The practical
+remedy which was most resorted to, consisted in immediate and prolonged
+bleeding, pushed to actual exhaustion of the animal, in the first stage of
+the malady, as also the exhibition of 1 drachm of tartar emetic and 2
+drachms of calomel, or, at a later stage, of 30 grains of tartar emetic
+twice a day.
+
+[Footnote 54: At the same time 92,793 head of cattle (draught oxen, cows,
+and calves) fell a sacrifice to a disease of the lungs, and we were
+assured that the original cause of this terribly fatal malady
+(_Pleuropneumonia_) is attributable to a bull having been imported from
+Holland, in the year 1854, in a diseased state. The English public will
+remember the severe panic under which Continental graziers, and others
+connected with the cattle trade, laboured during the years 1854-55 and the
+commencement of 1856.]
+
+[Illustration: TSETSE FLY.]
+
+Another appalling scourge of the settlers in the south-west district of
+Cape Colony is a minute, almost imperceptible insect, of terrible omen,
+the _tsetse-fly_ (_Glossina morsitans_), a puncture from which produces
+such terrible destruction among horses and cattle, that several runs of
+land are uninhabitable--nay, even the mere passing through districts which
+they frequent, proves fatal to the draught beasts of the caravans. This
+insect is principally encountered in copses and brushwood, very seldom in
+the open country, and is about the size of a common house fly, but with
+wings a little longer. In colour it resembles the honey bee. The tsetse is
+uncommonly active, and usually escapes all attempts to catch it with the
+hand; but in the cool of the morning or evening it is less active and
+quick in its movements. The poison which it carries is so powerful that
+the bite of three or four individuals is sufficient to kill the most
+powerful ox. Many animals, especially such as appear perfectly sound or in
+the best condition, die speedily after being bitten, but the majority are
+ill for an entire week, and usually become blind before death. One
+remarkable circumstance is that the bite of these insects is fatal to
+dogs, even when fed with milk, while calves and other young animals, so
+long as they are sucking, remain perfectly exempt from the malefic powers
+of the tsetse. It is especially noticed that the danger seems to be
+confined to domesticated animals, while such as are wild or only half
+reclaimed, such as buffaloes, zebras, jackals, oxen, horses, and wild
+dogs, have not the slightest occasion to dread this insect; nay more, it
+attacks man himself without the least ill consequences. The sensation
+which their bite produces on the hand, or other portion of the human
+frame, would be confounded by any one travelling in the tsetse district,
+with that of another minute and most troublesome, though by no means
+dangerous insect, the flea. Fortunately the tsetse-fly has an appointed
+circuit to range in, in the south-west of the Cape Colony, which it never
+changes or extends. The landowner may erect his cattle-pound on one side
+of the stream in perfect security, although the opposite bank may resound
+with the hum of swarms of these insects. When the natives, who are
+acquainted with the localities in which the tsetse-fly abides, are
+compelled, as they constantly are, to shift their ground, and, in changing
+their pastures, to transgress upon the district of the tsetse, they
+usually select the moonlight nights of winter, when the insect, during the
+quiet hours of the cold season, is not likely to molest their charge.
+
+Many travellers whose draught oxen and horses have been killed by the
+ravages of this insect, are annually not merely frustrated in their
+journey, but, it appears, have their personal safety seriously imperilled
+by being deprived of all means of locomotion. Anderson, in his admirable
+work upon "Lake Ngami," relates that some twenty aborigines of the Griqua
+race, who had been elephant-hunting in the north-west of that lake, and
+were provided with three large waggons and numerous oxen and horses,
+found, on their return to their encampment, that they had lost the whole
+of their cattle-team by the bite of the tsetse. So, too, Dr. Livingstone,
+during a short journey over a district frequented by the tsetse, lost
+forty-three strong and useful oxen, although by dint of great vigilance
+scarcely twenty flies had been able to settle among the entire herd. We
+have dwelt at length on the description of the ravages caused by this so
+much dreaded insect, with the view of pointing out the numerous and
+amazing difficulties which present themselves to the traveller or settler
+in certain localities, and how often not only wild and rapacious animals,
+but even small, hardly perceptible insects endanger the life of the
+wanderer, and render large tracts of lands valueless for settlement.[55]
+
+[Footnote 55: Most valuable comprehensive details, as to the natural
+history of the tsetse-fly, its ravages, and its migration into the
+districts which it frequents, are to be found in the "Transactions of the
+Royal Society," Volume XX., page 148; "Proceedings of the London
+Geological Society," page 217; Charles John Anderson's "Lake Ngami; or,
+Explorations and Discoveries during Four Years' Wanderings in the Wilds of
+Western Africa," London, 1856; Dr. Livingstone's "Missionary Travels and
+Researches in South Africa," London, 1857. The agent of the London
+Missionary Society at the Cape of Good Hope, the estimable, highly
+respected Dr. Thompson, gave us a small piece of a root called _fly-root_,
+which is considered to grow from a parasite, and a decoction of which is
+reckoned by the aborigines an antidote to the bite of the tsetse-fly.
+Unfortunately the requisite material was not in sufficient quantity to
+admit of determining the plant itself, or of instituting further
+researches with it.]
+
+No stranger can well leave Cape Town without having visited Constantia,
+the chief seat of the wine cultivation of the country. Accordingly we had
+a day of exceedingly pleasant relaxation while visiting High Constantia.
+Mr. James Mosenthal, the very hospitable Austrian Consul, had carefully
+selected the most beautiful spot in the immediate vicinity of Cape Town,
+the charming residence of his friend Mynheer Van Reenen, at which to get
+up a splendid _fête champêtre_ on an extensive scale, in honour of the
+visit of this the first man-of-war that had borne the flag of our country
+into these remote seas. The entire staff of our frigate was invited, and
+over a hundred guests, comprising the flower of the fair sex of Cape Town,
+took part in the festivities. Immense four-horse coaches conveyed the
+company in the forenoon to the hill of Constantia. The company wandered at
+leisure under the gigantic oak trees, or in the beautifully laid-out
+garden of this extensive domain, and after a sumptuous _déjeuner_, the
+majority set to dancing. A small orchestra of stringed instruments played
+alternately with the ship's band in the garden, and in the tastefully
+decorated apartment. Those who did not care to dance, or whom a burning
+afternoon sun prevented from walking in the open air, might escape into
+cool and most elegant cellars, where our hospitable entertainer had stored
+large quantities of "spiritual treasures." The costly nectar which the
+Cape, and especially High Constantia, produces, finds its way but seldom
+to European tables, because the quantity produced is very much below the
+demand; for although the first cultivation of the grape for wine dates in
+Cape Colony so far back as 1668, the wine manufacture has only of late
+years expanded in a marked degree,--viz., 45 per cent. from 1855 to 1856,
+and 70 per cent. from 1856 to 1857, so that at present the entire quantity
+produced of red and white Cape wine (Pontac and Frontignac) may be stated
+at 24,000 pipes, worth £380,000 sterling.
+
+At the conclusion of the _fête_ we sat down to a splendid banquet in the
+open air, in a shady avenue, so as to admit of all the guests sitting at
+one long table. At the upper end, under the umbrageous boughs of some
+venerable oaks, that towered like a canopy overhead, fluttered the flags
+of England and Austria. The mayor of Cape Town occupied the chair; the
+toasts customary on such occasions were given and responded to, allusion
+being made to the pleasure felt at the arrival of an Austrian man-of-war,
+as also to the gratitude of the members of the Expedition for the hearty
+welcome prepared for them, and expressing an earnest hope that both
+Governments may ever continue faithfully allied, as both nations are, by
+descent, sympathy, and intellectual pursuits. A few days after this
+splendid entertainment, we returned to Simon's Bay, whence the _Novara_
+was already preparing to sail. The several weeks' stay of the frigate at
+the little settlement of Simon's Bay, together with a certain quantity of
+repairs, had called forth a most unwonted briskness of business. Amid so
+circumscribed a population, the sudden influx of more than three hundred
+additional consumers, with their varying wants, speedily made itself
+perceptible in every class of the community, the more so as most of the
+heavy stores for the voyage were bought here, so that the sum set in
+circulation during these few weeks amounted to some £2,000. At the same
+time the Expedition were readily permitted to contribute a mite towards
+building the Catholic Church in Simon's Town, and to present some priests'
+garments, altar cloths, and church fittings, which had been intended by
+the Austrian Government for distribution among four Catholic Missionaries
+in the various quarters of the globe visited.
+
+Some members of the Expedition also set out on an excursion some thirty
+nautical miles, to where the peninsula of the Cape stretches out to the
+real Cape of Good Hope itself--a longer, more difficult, but also more
+interesting expedition, which gave fresher impressions, and conveyed a
+pretty accurate and more just idea of the physical features of the
+Peninsula of the Cape, its vegetation, zoology, and geological structure,
+than could be obtained by a cursory examination, of the natural features
+of a large portion of South Africa. For whoever has clambered up the torn,
+broken, rocky masses of Table Mountain, worn out and eaten away by the
+atmosphere, and has scrambled among its wild hollows, with its forests of
+the greyish green _Pratea Gargentea_ at his feet, amid its far extending
+rocky plateaux, full of stagnant water-pools; whoever has strayed thence
+among the wine-producing terraced hills of Constantia, with their rich
+vegetation; over the sandy table-lands backed by rocky ridges, over
+streams of copper-coloured water, and the boggy tracts that extend to the
+extreme south-west point, as far as the Sandstone rocks, 800 feet high,
+which, descending sheer into the tempest-tossed, fearsome, boiling ocean,
+constitutes the actual Cape of Good Hope--obtains a tolerably just and
+correct idea of the appearance of Southern Africa for one hundred miles
+into the interior, and along the coast line, 400 English miles in length,
+which stretches from St. Helena Bay as far as the River Samtoos, west of
+Algoa Bay. All is sandstone or clay-slate, with occasional granitic knobs
+cropping out; no trees, but such as are planted in clumps around the
+sparsely scattered farms, conspicuous from an immense distance; while, on
+the other hand, in spring, an indescribable flush of blossoms and flowers,
+and instead of trees, millions of ant-hills, with their regularly shaped
+cones from three to four feet high, impart a peculiar character to the
+landscape of South Africa. But on the so-called Lowlands of Algoa Bay,
+beyond the River Samtoos, Nature assumes an entirely different character
+in her forest vegetation. Unfortunately, the original designs of the
+geologists of the Expedition, of Examining the petrified treasures of this
+renowned district, fell through, which was all the more to be regretted as
+this geological Eldorado promised a great accession to our collection.
+
+During our stay at Simon's Town, we also experimented with our
+astronomical instruments, which, at our next station, St. Paul's Island,
+were to be brought fully into requisition for the first time. On this
+occasion, as on many others, the unfailing courtesy and kindness of the
+renowned astronomer and director of the Observatory of Cape Town, Mr.
+Thomas Maclear, assisted us most materially in the observations for
+comparison with our own physical instruments.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE IV.--FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TO ST. PAUL'S ISLAND.]
+
+On the morning of the 26th October it fell calm, changing to variable
+breezes and light puffs of wind, that made it doubtful whether we could
+sail that day, as we needed a catspaw from the West in order to weigh
+anchor. From the English line of battle-ship _Boscawen_, there floated
+across the bay as we worked out, the Austrian National Anthem, played as a
+farewell--a graceful mark of recognition--which was replied to by our band
+performing the sister hymn, "God Save the Queen."
+
+We steered between Noah's Ark and Roman Rock, coasting along till we made
+Whittle Rock, but the wind shifting, we were, ere long, compelled to tack.
+Had we not seized the favourable moment to get away, it would, a couple of
+hours later, have been impossible to put to sea, as the wind sprang up
+from the S.E. and blew fresh. Towards sundown, the sky cleared up, and we
+once more caught sight of the serrated outline of the southernmost point,
+with its desolate, worn, hollowed-out, rocky masses, which, however, with
+the _souvenirs_ of the hearty reception that had been accorded us in Cape
+Town seemed on this occasion much more home-like and habitable. All of
+us, indeed, carried with us in our breasts the most cordial and agreeable
+reminiscences of the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+In spite of many drawbacks and deficiencies of physical requisites, which
+oppose the rapid development of its natural resources, Cape Colony
+possesses in its healthy climate its valuable indigenous products, and its
+free political institutions, a guarantee for its perhaps gradual, but on
+that account more substantial, progress. It is a favourable specimen of a
+prosperous agricultural colony able to maintain itself, whose inhabitants,
+seeking in the peaceable cultivation of the soil their sole reward, are
+exposed to none of those ruinous reverses of fortune, which make life in
+those lands that are rich only in a metallic currency so stormy and
+uncomfortable, and render their future so problematical.
+
+A colony, which already employs annually, in its commerce all over the
+world, a thousand ships, which has a trade valued at nearly £2,000,000
+sterling, and before long will be in a position to export 30,000,000 lbs.
+of wool a year, besides an unlimited quantity of wines already in great
+demand, whose soil, owing to its prolific nature, returns, under human
+cultivation, crops of one hundred-fold, while in its unexplored districts
+as many additional vegetable and mineral treasures lie unavailable as yet--
+such a colony carries in itself the germs of a splendid development into a
+great and most enviable future. Provided with laws of a most liberal
+scope, and institutions corresponding to the spirit of our times, which
+leave each colonist entirely at liberty to develope his powers and
+capabilities in whatever direction he pleases, Cape Colony must, ere long,
+stand forth as the pattern colony for all others in the different
+countries beyond sea,--a majestic monument of the reward so justly due to
+the English nation for its policy in promoting the moral and material
+progress of mankind in the most remote corners of the earth.
+
+We lay a southerly course in order to strike the regular Westerly winds,
+which we might hope to fall in with in the neighbourhood of 40° S., and
+already we again saw our old friends, the albatross, the cape pigeon, and
+the stormy petrel, in innumerable quantities.
+
+By the evening of the 28th we had attained our limit in the South-west,
+but the West winds had not yet made their appearance, so that we had to
+contend till 1st November with baffling light winds alternating with
+calms. At length in 37° 30' S. and 18° 4' E., we encountered Westerly
+breezes, which, ere long, freshened, veered to the southward, and
+compelled us to shorten sail. We were at this time not quite as yet in the
+zone of West winds, but had to do with variable winds; which, however, as
+the prevailing winds must be west or south, could generally be made
+available to enable us to lay our course for St. Paul. Although in the
+month corresponding to May in the southern hemisphere, we found ourselves
+shivering with cold, the thermometer barely reached 18° Cent. (64°·4 Fah.)
+during the day in the open air, and our bodies, accustomed of late to a
+milder temperature, felt as though it were twice more rigorous than it
+actually was, in consequence of the wind coming from the ice-bound
+antarctic regions.
+
+On the afternoon of 4th November, a great excitement arose on board; a
+violent shower filled the lifeboats with water, and a large black object
+was observed swimming in the sea. Fortunately, it was not a man, though it
+proved to be a great favourite that had fallen overboard. Bessy, an ape,
+had got loose from her chain, and while being chased, fell in her
+eagerness into the sea, which fortunately was tolerably smooth. The droll
+little brute had quickly made itself such a favourite with the crew from
+its comical attractive ways, that its sudden fall overboard awoke
+universal sympathy. A boat was lowered, and Bessy rescued, who speedily
+recovered from her fright, and although dripping wet, proceeded to consume
+an orange that was handed her with an expression of entire satisfaction.
+
+On reaching 40° S., 31° E., the West winds became more steady, with a
+perceptible increase of motion, giving an average of 33 feet as the height
+of the waves, while the frigate rolled heavily. Sometimes several
+"Rollers" would follow one after the other, which made the ship heel over
+from 20° to 25° on either side. At each roll, streams of water poured in
+upon the gun-deck. The cannon-shot kept up a deafening dance from one side
+to the other, while stools, tables, chests, and in short everything that
+could move, were unmistakably "lively." The temperature of the air during
+the night fell to 41° Fahrenheit, and was felt yet more keenly in squalls
+accompanied by rain, which made our life on board anything but agreeable,
+although the certainty that we were proceeding favourably with the
+so-called "_Fair_" Westerly winds indemnified us in some degree for the
+discomfort.
+
+On 14th November, in 40° 44' S., 60° 8' E., we availed ourselves of a dead
+calm and smooth sea to try a cast of Brooke's Patent Deep-sea Lead.
+
+While at Rio, we had been supplied, through the kindness of Don José de
+Barnabé, Commander of the Royal Spanish Frigate _Bilbao_, with a large
+quantity of lead-line, after an unsuccessful attempt to purchase it there.
+Unfortunately, however, the line had become somewhat decomposed by
+moisture, and gave way at 6,170 fathoms (37,020 English feet) while still
+running out, so that on this occasion also, we could only tell that bottom
+had _not_ been reached with the portion of the line paid out.
+
+The times occupied by the line in running out were as follows:--
+
+         1st 1000  fathoms  15 minutes 36 seconds.
+         2nd   "      "     26    "    59    "
+         3rd   "      "     34    "    20    "
+         4th   "      "     43    "    25    "
+         5th   "      "     61    "     5    "
+         6th   "      "     75    "    55    "
+ And the last 170     "     11    "    40    "
+             ____           ______________________
+      Total 6,170     "     4 hours    29 minutes.
+
+To the apparatus two 30-lbs. shot were attached, and the first 100 fathoms
+of line were doubled. By this observation we satisfied ourselves that such
+soundings are only successful when none but the best materials are
+employed, and, moreover, that the line becomes deteriorated in an
+extraordinary degree by long stowage on boardship, so that it is better in
+long voyages not to take such large supplies of line, but to adopt most
+stringent measures to prevent its being weakened by damp. Very probably a
+light coating of tar over the line would tend to keep it in good
+preservation, and it also seems advisable proportionately to strengthen
+the first 500 or 1000 fathoms.
+
+On the 18th November the look-out man descried from the main topgallant
+mast-head the Island of St. Paul, the goal of our wishes, the object which
+had so long occupied our thoughts, and on which our scientific
+capabilities were to be called into enviable activity. The necessary
+arrangements were completed for facilitating astronomical observations,
+the instruments and other necessaries taken out and got in readiness to be
+conveyed to the island, and the various stations and duties of the
+different members specified, so as to admit of the observations being
+completed in the shortest possible time.
+
+On the 19th November, at daybreak, we found ourselves close in with St.
+Paul's Island, while on our port-side the outline of New Amsterdam was
+visible in the shape of two lofty peaks on the horizon. As the wind blew
+from the N.W., we kept the ship's course past the north promontory of the
+island, and ranged along the eastern side to the selected anchoring
+ground. As we doubled the northernmost point, the conical-shaped Nine-Pin
+Rock came into view, while the high and precipitous margin of the island
+in the N.E. with the entrance into the crater became visible. How great,
+however, was our astonishment, when we observed some neatly laid-out
+terraces, of a fresher green hue than were observed in the upper
+table-lands of the island! These were evidently spots cultivated by former
+or present residents in the island. But no traces of habitation were seen,
+whether of mankind or of the seal. Only flights of albatrosses, bryons,
+ospreys, and sea-swallows, with now and then the protracted screams (like
+human groans) of immense flights of penguins, those singular-looking
+sea-birds, which awaken so deep an interest alike for their striking
+appearance as by their mode of life.
+
+An examination of the rock of the island showed layers of black lava,
+alternating with yellow and red tufa, which seemed stratified regularly
+from the rim of the crater to the extreme circumference of the island.
+"Thirty fathoms, and no bottom," sung the wearied leadsman; and presently,
+"Thirty fathoms,"--and a few minutes before 9 A.M. the anchor rattled out,
+on the 24th day after we left Simon's Bay, after retracing our steps
+Eastward some 3000 miles. Our anchorage, as we afterwards became aware,
+was not the best possible, as we ought to have lain closer in to the
+island. But when one anchors nearer the land in a less depth of water,
+one is by no means more protected from storms sweeping in from seawards,
+to which the entire eastern half of the island lies exposed. Only on the
+west side does the island, with the steep margin of the crater some 700 or
+800 feet high, afford any protection against the west winds, which,
+however, seldom blow here.
+
+[Illustration: ARRIVAL AT ST. PAUL.]
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF ST. PAUL.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 VII.
+
+                 The Islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam,
+
+                      IN THE SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN.
+
+   Former History.--Importance of the situation of St. Paul.--
+     Present inhabitants.--Preliminary observations.--To whom does
+     the Island belong?--Fisheries.--Hot springs.--Singular
+     experiment.--Penguins.--Disembarkation.--Inclement weather.--
+     Remarks on the climate of the Island.--Cultivation of European
+     vegetables.--Animal life.--Library in a Fisherman's hut.--
+     Narrative of old Viot.--Re-embarkation.--An official document
+     left behind.--Some results obtained during the stay of the
+     Expedition.--Visit to the Island of Amsterdam.--Whalers.--
+     Search for a Landing-place.--Remarks on the Natural History of
+     the Island.--A Conflagration.--Comparison of the two islands.--
+     A _rencontre_ at sea.--Trade-wind.--Christmas at sea.--"A man
+     overboard."--Cingalese canoe.--Arrival at Pont de Galle, in
+     Ceylon.
+
+
+The visit of the Austrian frigate _Novara_ to the Islands of Amsterdam and
+St. Paul, so long confounded with one another, was one of the cherished
+objects of interest to the immortal Alexander von Humboldt.
+
+Although St. Paul has been in very recent times visited and surveyed by
+illustrious English navigators,[56] and although the doubt hitherto
+existent as to the precise discoverer, and the correct application of the
+names of the two islands, has been set at rest by the discovery of the
+original log of Antonio Van Diemen, kept on his voyage from the Texel to
+Batavia (16th December, 1632, to 21st July, 1633), by which it is made
+plain, beyond possibility of contradiction, that that renowned navigator
+passed for certain on 17th July, 1633, between both islands, and conferred
+on the northern the name of New Amsterdam, and on the southern that of St.
+Paul;[57] yet the two islands still continue to present points of great
+interest on closer examination and observation. Of the various ships
+which, since the discovery of those islands, have visited them for
+scientific purposes, hardly any have remained long enough to be in a
+position to acquire a thorough acquaintance with the various objects of
+natural history and scientific interest that present themselves. Even the
+visit paid by the naturalist attached to the expedition on board the
+English ship _Lion_ and _Hindostan_ which, on the 2nd of February, 1793,
+touched at St. Paul, _en route_ to China, and to whom we are indebted for
+the first detailed account of this island, erroneously spoken of as
+Amsterdam (following the example of former English navigators), did not
+come within the original design of that Ambassadorial expedition. It was
+the result rather of accident that, as the _Lion_ and _Hindostan_ were
+passing close in with St. Paul, two human beings were descried on the
+shore, waving in the air a piece of canvas fastened on poles, who
+apparently were anxious to convey to the expedition their desire to
+communicate with their ships. It was supposed these were shipwrecked
+mariners, stranded on this dangerous coast, who regarded the arrival of
+the _Lion_ as an unexpected means of rescue. To save these
+fellow-creatures from so desperate a position, the Captain of the _Lion_
+declared to be a pleasing duty assigned by Providence, and rejoiced to
+have been selected as the instrument of their deliverance. When, however,
+the boat of the British man-of-war, which was despatched to take off the
+castaways and bring them on board ship, had landed on the island, the crew
+speedily discovered the singular delusion which all had laboured under.
+The men, whom motives of humanity had intended to rescue from this
+inhospitable place, turned out to be anything but involuntary residents on
+the island, being seal-hunters, who for five months had dwelt here, and
+purposed remaining ten months longer, with the intention of completing a
+cargo of 25,000 seal-skins, for which at that time there was a very
+considerable and lucrative demand in the Chinese markets,[58] and the
+signals which had first attracted their attention, it now appeared were
+for no other object than to enable them to feel themselves once more,
+after such an interval, in the company of their fellowmen.
+
+[Footnote 56: Captain C. P. Blackwood, of H.M.S. _Fly_, 1842, and Captain
+Denham, C.B., of H.M. Surveying Ship _Herald_, 1853. M. Tinot "_capitaine
+du long cours_," who visited St. Paul in the summer of 1844, published
+likewise some interesting memoranda relating to that island, in the
+"_Nouvelle Annales de la Marine et des Colonies_," for November, 1853.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Previous to the resuscitation, after considerable difficulty,
+of this important, indeed decisive document, by Mons. L. C. D. Van Dyk,
+among the archives of the East and West India Company of Amsterdam, of
+which he was Librarian, the utmost uncertainty prevailed as to the
+discovery, name, and geographical position of the two islands. Now,
+William Van Flaming, a Dutch navigator, was supposed to be the
+discoverer,--now, the hardy Van Diemen. Atlases, charts, and books of
+travels, spoke of the name St. Paul belonging, here to the northern
+island, there to the southern. This long-continued confusion of names had
+naturally left ample space for the most contradictory statements as to the
+position, conformation, and geological conditions of both islands. One
+traveller, for instance, describes Amsterdam as an island with good
+anchorage on the North side, and an extinct crater, into which ran a
+fissure, forming a natural link with the ocean; while, on the other hand,
+he described St. Paul as a desert island, with steeply sloping shores,
+which make it matter of difficulty, if not utterly impracticable, to
+effect a landing; while other voyagers, again, give directly contrary
+accounts of both islands. Compare the following:--"An authentic account of
+an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China,
+together with a relation of the voyage undertaken on the occasion by
+H.M.S. _Lion_, and the ship _Hindostan_, E.I.C.N., to the Yellow Sea and
+Gulf of Pekin, as well as of their return to Europe, taken chiefly from
+the papers of H.E. the Earl of Macartney, &c., by Sir George Staunton,
+Bart. (London, 1797), vol. I., pp. 205-27."--"Rélation du Voyage à la
+recherche de _La Pérous_ fait par l'ordre de l'Assemblée constituante
+pendant les années 1791-92, et pendant la 1^{re} et la 2^{de} année de la
+République Française. Par le citoyen La Billardière, Correspondent de
+l'Académie des Sciences de Paris. Au VIII. de le République Française.
+Tome I. pp. 120-123."--"Johnston, A.K., General Gazetteer of the World
+(London, 1855)."--"Hamburgh, James, India Directory; or, Directions for
+Sailing to or from the East Indies, China, Australia, and the adjacent
+parts of Africa and South America (London, 1855). 7th Edition, vol. I., p.
+101."--"Voyage to the South Pole, and Round the World, by Captain Jas.
+Cook, R.N. (London, 1777)." An interesting and tolerably circumstantial
+treatise on these islands is also to be found among the transactions of
+the Imperial-Royal Geographical Society of Vienna for the year 1857,
+second division, pp. 145-56, by Mr. A. C. Zhishman, Professor of Geography
+and History, in the I. R. Nautical Academy at Trieste.]
+
+[Footnote 58: "It seems," says Lord Macartney, "that the Chinese possess
+remarkable skill in the dressing of seal-skins, by which they remove the
+long coarse hair, so as to leave merely the soft tender skin, and
+simultaneously manage to render the hide thin and pliant. Only the
+prospect of some such enormous profit could at any time induce human
+beings to pass fifteen months at a stretch on so ungenial a spot, which,
+moreover, their occupation must render yet more loathsome. They killed the
+seals as they basked in the sun on the rocks along the shore, and around
+the broad natural rock basins. As only the skins were of any value to
+them, they left the flayed carcases exposed to rot on the ground, and
+these lie heaped together here in such masses that it was difficult to
+avoid treading on them, when one reached the shore of the island. At every
+step some disgusting spectacle presented itself, while an unutterably
+nauseous smell of decaying matter poisoned the surrounding atmosphere. In
+the summer months the seals flock hither, all at the same period, in herds
+sometimes numbering 800 to 1000, of which usually only about one hundred
+are killed at a time. This is the utmost number that five men can skin in
+the course of a single day, it being necessary to peg them together on the
+spot, on account of the drying up of the skin. For want of the requisite
+vessels only an inconsiderable quantity of the train-oil, which these
+animals contain, is collected. A portion of the best of the blubber is
+melted, and serves these people in lieu of butter. The seal which
+frequents these islands is the Southern or Falkland seal (_Arctocephalus
+Falclandicus_ of Gray--_Phoca fusilla_ of Schreber). The female weighs
+ordinarily from seventy to one hundred and twenty pounds, and is from
+three to five feet long, the male usually considerably larger. In their
+natural state these animals are not particularly timid; sometimes, indeed,
+they plunge all together into the water when any one approaches them; but
+quite as often they remain sitting quietly on the rocks, or raise
+themselves erect with a menacing growl. A sharp blow on the snout with a
+stick seems sufficient to kill them. Most of those that approach the shore
+are females, the proportion they bear to the males being about thirty to
+one. This apparent disproportion between the sexes, according to
+observation hitherto, is explained as follows:--The Southern seal at
+certain periods often undertakes distant wanderings from one tract to
+another; and certain of these tracts, such as the Cape of Good Hope and
+the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, are only frequented by the females
+when about to bring forth, and by the younger males of the school. In
+winter the huge snouted seal, or Sea Elephant (_Macrorhinus_, "long
+snout," _elephantinus_ of Gray--_Phoca leonina_ of Schreber), which
+sometimes attains a length of twenty-five or even thirty feet, comes in
+great numbers to these islands, where they herd together like sheep in the
+natural coves which the coast is broken into, in which the males announce
+the presence of a herd by a vehement growling, deepening into a loud
+roar."]
+
+Owing to the important situation of St. Paul, midway between the
+southernmost point of Africa and the Australian continent (from each of
+which it is about 3150 miles distant), a complete, accurate survey of the
+island seemed of great importance, not merely to the scientific world, but
+also in the interests of navigation; as most of the ships bound for China,
+Australia, and New Zealand, as well as the East India liners, pass pretty
+close to these islands, especially during the winter season. Many captains
+trading in the Indian ocean see in St. Paul an advantageous haven for
+recruiting the strength of their scurvy-stricken crews, while the ships of
+others, shattered almost to the point of foundering in the storms of a
+tract of ocean where for thousands of miles there is no other land, can
+find here their only prospect of preservation.
+
+For the voyagers on board the _Novara_, an interest of an entirely
+personal sort attached to their visit to the island. Among the
+unfortunates, who on the 24th August, 1853, suffered shipwreck on the
+shores of New Amsterdam, in the British ship _Meridian_, was a native of
+Brienz, in Switzerland, named Pfau. This person, together with the
+captain, Richard Hernamann, and a Frenchman had disappeared, leaving no
+trace, when, on the following morning, the surviving passengers of the
+wrecked ship were rescued by a whaler that happened to be cruising in the
+neighbourhood. It was supposed that the three unfortunate men had
+endeavoured to reach the adjacent island of St. Paul in a small boat, and
+probably were still living there. The father of the Swiss made
+application, through an indirect channel, to the chief of the Expedition,
+earnestly requesting him on his visit to the island to institute some
+enquiries with the view of finding some trace of his ill-starred son,
+still unwilling to renounce all hope that he might yet be found living at
+St. Paul.
+
+We hove to about one mile and a half distant from the great crater-basin,
+in whose eastern buttress a natural communication has been opened with the
+sea through a breach in its side. When the Dutch captain, William Van
+Flaming, cast anchor before the island in 1697, the wearing action of the
+waves had not yet completed this breach, there existing at that period a
+dam of some five feet high between the sea and the cavity of the crater.
+At present small boats can, at any hour of the day, pass into the
+crater-basin, protected from the swell of the ocean by two natural
+barriers, which leave between them a passage of about 300 feet wide. Our
+last admeasurement gave a length of 600 feet for the southern barrier, and
+1002 feet for that in the north; while the intervening water passage
+measured 306 feet in breadth, with a depth of 9.6 feet at high water, and
+from 2 to 3 feet at ebb tide. On the north side of the entrance to the
+straits stands a lofty pyramidal rock, called Nine-Pin Rock, round which
+circle innumerable sea-fowl, which to all appearance brood among the
+chinks and crannies of the rock, while in the water below crowds of sharks
+lash the water into foam. It must be highly dangerous hereabouts to be
+capsized in a boat, as there would be little possibility of any one being
+rescued, no matter how speedily assistance might be rendered.
+
+Scarcely were we anchored, ere we in the ship perceived a boat approaching
+from the island, which rapidly neared the frigate, with three men who had
+taken up their abode in even this desolate wilderness. Our imagination
+deluded us with the pleasing idea that these three forlorn, forsaken
+figures might be the long lost men wrecked in the _Meridian_, whom pitying
+billows might have wafted to this solitary island.
+
+Presently there stepped on deck by the side-ropes a grizzly figure, with
+deeply-furrowed features and long, grey beard, clothed in a blue blouse
+and coarse linen trowsers, that seemed to have weathered many a winter's
+storm. This primitive-looking old man proved to be a Frenchman named Viot,
+who had lived here for a considerable time as overseer of a fishing
+establishment on the island. Our first question had reference to the
+missing men from the _Meridian_. But how sore was our disappointment when
+the old sailor in the blouse told us he knew all the particulars of the
+catastrophe of the ship, but that he had never come across the slightest
+trace of the three unfortunates whom we had enquired about. Viot had
+visited the island regularly every year since 1841, except that in which
+the _Meridian_ had been lost. The fate of these three shipwrecked men must
+therefore remain for ever undetermined, although, considering the
+tempestuous weather which usually prevails in the Indian Ocean in the
+month of August, it is highly improbable that a boat of such small
+dimensions as that to which the captain and his two unhappy
+fellow-travellers committed themselves, could reach St. Paul, which was
+distant 42 miles from the spot at which the ship was wrecked.
+
+About 11.30 A.M. the naturalists, accompanied by the officers appointed
+to assist in the scientific operations, proceeded in two boats to the
+shore, for the purpose of making some preliminary observations. When we
+reached the bar there opened to our view, covered with luxurious grass
+growing in tufts, the walls of a majestic crater, the exquisite regularity
+of the cavity of which left the exact impression of an enormous natural
+amphitheatre.
+
+[Illustration: DISTANT VIEW OF CRATER-BASIN OF ST. PAUL.]
+
+On either side the ground rises nearly perpendicularly to a height of
+about 800 feet, which probably is likewise the average height of the walls
+of the crater. On the north side of the basin, a kind of terrace was seen
+low down, with huts thatched with straw, while on the shingle of the bar
+was planted a not very perpendicular flagstaff, on which, in honour of the
+arrival of a ship of war, old Viot had run up the French ensign. As the
+_Novara's_ boat swept into the crater-basin, he saluted with the
+proverbial courtesy of his nation, which not even the rough occupation of
+a whale-fisher had been able to rub out of him. Viot had last come hither
+in the preceding March, with a mulatto and a negro on board of a fishing
+craft, named the _Alliance_, of 45 tons, in which he had sailed from St.
+Denis, on the Island of Bourbon, anew to take charge of the little fishing
+station here, which is at present the property of M. Ottovan, a French
+gentleman domiciliated in St. Denis.
+
+While at Cape Town we were informed, in reply to our enquiries, by the
+first authority in the country, that the Island of St. Paul belonged to
+England, and was a dependency of the Mauritius; here, to our astonishment,
+we on the other hand learned from the inhabitants that St. Paul at present
+was under the protection of the French Government, and, in fact, was an
+appendage of the Island of Bourbon, the governor of which long previously
+had ordered the French flag to be hoisted, with all the naval formalities,
+by a detachment of French soldiers who had been landed from a French ship
+of war. According to Viot--who is to all appearance a thoroughly
+trustworthy man, but on whom, however, we throw the responsibility of the
+correctness of the following information,--the island seems, in fact, to
+have been, some twenty years since, the property of a French merchant of
+St. Denis, named Camin, who somewhat later entered into partnership with a
+person named Adam, a Pole by birth, to whom he ultimately resigned the
+entire island.[59] Adam, who was described to us as a man of exceedingly
+fierce and determined character, did wonders for the cultivation of the
+island. He left a number of Mozambique negroes, whom he compelled to work
+through the entire year, exposed to the severest privations, and employed
+in hewing stone from the rocks, with which huts were erected, in preparing
+a landing-quay on the north side of the basin, and in sowing a number of
+plots of ground along the lower margin of the crater with European
+vegetables.
+
+[Footnote 59: According to Captain Denham, who visited this island in 1853,
+the present proprietor called this fishing station, Marie Heurtevent, and
+said he had bought it about five years previously for 6000 dollars from a
+Polish merchant of St. Denis, where he himself also resided. (_Nautical
+Magazine_, pp. 68, 75).]
+
+About eight or ten years since, Adam (who afterwards, in the course of a
+voyage from Bourbon to New Zealand, met a disgraceful death, having been
+thrown overboard for his cruelty by the black crew of a small vessel, whom
+he had driven to desperation) sold the islands to their present possessor,
+M. Ottovan, a ship-chandler of St. Denis, who since then has twice each
+year, during the fine season, despatched a small craft of some 30 to 45
+tons, manned by from 15 to 18 fishermen, from St. Denis to St. Paul
+Island, so as to turn to advantage the unusual abundance of this
+fishing-ground. This vessel leaves St. Denis regularly every November on
+its voyage of from 24 to 30 days to St. Paul. The return voyage to St.
+Denis takes place during the prevalence of the South-East Trades, and
+occupies a much shorter time, rarely exceeding 14 to 16 days. The fishing
+sloop, during its stay at the island, anchors inside the basin of the
+crater, so as to discharge her provisions for the fishermen, and to
+facilitate the freighting for the homeward voyage with the fish that have
+been caught, as also to guard her against sudden changes of weather, which
+in these latitudes, as we ourselves experienced, is, even during the best
+season, very stormy and dangerous. The fishermen use the excellent
+whaleboats (or _baleinières_), so admirably suited to the heavy swell of
+the Indian Ocean, in which they go out in the morning, returning to the
+shore at nightfall. The species of fish which is found in greatest
+numbers, and is caught exclusively by the hook, is usually called by the
+fishermen, "Indian Cod:" it is by no means, however, of the _genus_
+Haddock, and very slightly, if at all, resembles the codfish of northern
+waters, or common stock-fish, but seems to belong to the class of finger
+fish (_cheilo-dactylus-fasciatus_), which is usually classed among the
+crow fish (_sciænæ_). These are salted, dried in the open air, packed in
+casks, and dispatched in large quantities to the markets of St. Denis. It
+is calculated that the number thus sent off in the course of each year
+amounts to about 40,000. which are sold in the market of St. Denis by the
+hundred, for from 40 to 60 francs (£1 12s. to £2 8s.--total £640 to £960).
+The expenses of maintaining the settlement is very small.--Viot has 57
+francs a month (£2 6s.); his two companions 40 francs and 25 francs
+respectively (£1 12s. and £1); the men engaged in the fishery receive 25
+to 30 francs a month, besides provisions. The second voyage of the vessel
+ordinarily takes place in January or February, so as to return in April or
+May, with a similar cargo. It often happens that the owner of the vessel
+finds some more profitable employment for it, when it only returns during
+the second year, and their provisions, as meal, rice, biscuit, tobacco,
+&c., get rather short. The settlers, however, employ what leisure time
+remains after their work is done, in cultivating a number of plots of
+ground with cereals and vegetables, potatoes especially returning from
+time to time an excellent yield. Of these useful tubers, which grow with
+remarkable luxuriance in the turf-soil of the island, they raise from 60
+to 80 cwt. annually. Fresh vegetables being articles in great request are
+more particularly made available by the inhabitants of St. Paul, by way of
+barter, when trafficking with the whalers, from 20 to 30 of which touch
+here in the year, to exchange their salt fish, rice, tobacco, cheese,
+brandy, &c., for the fresh provisions grown on the island. The number of
+vessels that pass within sight of St. Paul in the course of a year may be
+reckoned at from 100 to 150, of which, however, only a very few, except
+the whalers, visit the island.[60] In the year 1857, for example, it
+occurred only twice (one case being an English man-of-war), that passing
+ships sent boats to the island, five months of the year having elapsed in
+the first instance, and two in the second.
+
+[Footnote 60: All the Dutch Indiamen on the home voyage from Batavia,
+during the months of October till May, have been for many years in the
+habit of running south till they sighted St. Paul, so as to catch the S.
+E. Trades. But it has never been the policy of the Dutch to attract
+attention to the eastern seas, and accordingly no information found its
+way to Europe respecting these interesting islands, till the period
+mentioned in the text.]
+
+When the take of fish in the immediate vicinity of the island does not
+seem sufficiently remunerative, the fishermen occasionally launch out to
+greater distances. They then bring out from the basin of the crater the
+barque that brought them from Bourbon to St. Paul, and remain at sea for
+several days, or make for the adjoining island of Amsterdam, the shores
+of which are even more frequented by the fish than those of St. Paul.
+
+As already remarked, our first movements were directed solely towards an
+examination of its physical features. We were accompanied on this tour of
+inspection by Ferdinand, an active, intelligent Mulatto, with thoroughly
+French manners. The French stock has this peculiarity as compared with the
+German, that it remains unmistakably French, even when mixed with
+two-thirds African blood. Ferdinand was for the first time in St. Paul,
+having been conveyed hither in the _Alliance_ in the previous March, to
+work for M. Ottovan. Family troubles had been the cause of his banishment
+to this dismal island. Although only 24 years of age, he was already the
+father of two children, whom, he informed us, he had placed at school in
+St. Denis; and in sheer despair at the worthless conduct of their mother,
+had hired himself hither as a labourer at 40 francs a month, paid by the
+owner of the island. He proposed returning to St. Denis in the next ship
+that left St. Paul, in the hope that peace might be by that time restored
+in his family.
+
+At various spots in the lower rim of the crater-basin, within which
+Ferdinand acted as guide, we perceived heavy volumes of smoke emerging
+from the shallow parts of the water, which obviously implied the existence
+of hot springs. The two most active and largest in circumference were on
+the north side of the crater-basin, and were known, the one as the Bath,
+the other as the Drinking Fountain. Moreover, at several points on the
+north bar, hot water bubbles up from the soil, of such a temperature that
+the same person who, with a hook and line had caught a fish in the cold
+water basin, might, with the same motion of his hand, let them drop into
+the hot adjoining spring, where, in fact, it is boiled within a few
+minutes and fit for eating! We have ourselves made this experiment, which
+is also mentioned by Lord Macartney, and found the fish thus prepared
+exceedingly palatable.
+
+At high water the whole of the hot springs become mingled with the brine
+of the ocean, and thus indicate a temperature which is barely perceptibly
+higher than that of the latter. Adjoining the landing-place, several late
+visitors to the island have endeavoured to perpetuate the record of their
+fleeting presence on some compact granite blocks of rock, which are
+scattered in the path to the hot springs. Thus, on one of those stones,
+fast becoming obliterated by the weather, may be read:--"Savouret, 1841"--
+"J. D. Rogers, 1855, Mars."--On a second huge block:--"Hte. Rogers, 1852
+to 1857;" and lastly, these names, with difficulty decipherable,
+"Pallefournier-Emile, Mazarni-Denoyarez, Grenoble, Canton de Sassenage,
+Département de l'Isère, 1844." In general we found none of the
+inscriptions on the island that can be recognized.
+
+On reaching the plateau above, which is reached by a narrow, steep, and in
+many places rather fatiguing path, from the settlers' huts on the north
+side of the basin of the crater, we came to a breeding-place of the
+yellow-tufted "Crested or Hopping-Penguin"[61] (_apterodytes chrysocome_)
+in which we found at the lowest estimate from 500 to 600 of these singular
+creatures, which are adorned with grey-yellow tufts of feathers arranged
+in a semicircle above the eyes, and which, as was well remarked by the
+naturalist attached to the _Lion_, with the peculiar plumage and the
+almost scaly covering of their fin-like wings, suggest a remote
+resemblance to the form of a fish. Living part of the year in the water,
+and passing most of the remainder on land, Nature has, in a manner,
+adapted them for these widely differing modes of life. The dirty
+greyish-brown attire of the young contrasts so strongly with the gay
+plumage of the old penguin, that at the first glance they hardly seem to
+belong to the same species. The females lay only one or two eggs, usually
+in October, so that at the time of our visit, the young were only about a
+month-and-a-half or so old. These penguins, so graceful and nimble in the
+water, as if it were their proper element, are very awkward on land, so as
+to be easily caught, or knocked down with a stick. Only in so doing it is
+necessary to be on one's guard against a blow from their long sharp bills,
+with which they can inflict on their pursuer a by no means trifling wound.
+In the course of centuries, during which they have paid undisturbed visits
+to this island, they have trodden a well-marked path from their
+breeding-place to the edge of the sea; and it is a proof of the wonderful
+instinct of this creature, that this place is almost the only point on
+the entire island, at which it would be possible for it to reach the sea.
+A flock of these hopping penguins presents an odd and peculiar appearance,
+as, after leisurely bathing in the sea, and providing a sufficient supply
+of food for their young, their elegant heads emerge from the water, when
+carefully calculating the effect of the breakers, they ride their crest
+and allow themselves to be deposited on the beach; or, after hopping from
+stone to stone, the plumes on their heads nodding to and fro, suddenly
+plunge headforemost into the sea, like so many somersault-throwers! Not
+less diverting are the movements of these animals when, returned from
+their laborious wanderings, which they undertake two or three times a day
+in search of food for their young, they bend their tottering steps back to
+the roosting-place, waddling in their walk like ducks. One always leads
+the way as guide and forager-in-chief, and the rest, usually from ten to
+fifteen in number, follow him in a column; on reaching the roosting-place,
+a piece of level winding ground, they give a shrill cry, and comport
+themselves anything but peaceably towards their neighbours, especially if
+these have possessed themselves of their accustomed seats. Continual
+squabbling and disputing go on, and their croaking and screaming are
+prolonged far into the silence of night. They show much tenderness for
+their young, shelter them with great care, and defend them with
+extraordinary courage and pertinacity against the southern hawk gull[62]
+(_stercorarius antarcticus_), which frequently swoops upon the
+breeding-ground, and even ventures within reach of man, from whom it
+defends itself by violently striking and biting with its beak. Always at
+war under ordinary circumstances, they are nevertheless the most faithful
+of allies in moments of common danger or necessity. The flesh of the old
+penguin has so rank a smell that it is only used by those frequenting the
+island in case of the most extraordinary necessity; that of the young, on
+the other hand, has a far more agreeable flavour.
+
+[Footnote 61: Called also the "_Jumping Jack_" by the English sailors, from
+its custom of jumping quite out of the water, like a porpoise, on its
+encountering the slightest obstacle.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Called by the English sailors "Port Egmont Hens" from their
+frequenting Port Egmont in the Falkland Isles. They seem to be identical
+in species with the "skua," or "bonxie" of the Shetlands.]
+
+The breeding-place of the penguin is about 300 feet above the level of the
+water in the basin of the crater.[63] Four hundred feet more of laborious,
+steep scrambling, brings the adventurer to the plateau at last, from the
+highest peaks of which he readily obtains a view of the greater part of
+the island, which is utterly treeless. At many places we found the ground
+quite warm, and at one slimy tract, about 600 feet wide, which was noticed
+by the naturalists on board the _Lion_, there was positive danger of
+sinking several feet into the hot, yielding soil, if we did not advance
+with great care. On the other hand, the fierce tongues of flame, which
+Lord Macartney alleged were visible at night from the deck of the ship,
+and which greatly resembled the celebrated nocturnal fires of Pietra Mala,
+in the mountains between Florence and Bologna, were nowhere visible, at
+least during the time we were on the island.
+
+[Footnote 63: A second breeding-place, somewhat larger, but much more
+inaccessible than that described, occurs on the north-west side of the
+island. There among rugged fantastically broken masses of rock, these
+extraordinary creatures can sun themselves undisturbed, and have hardly
+anything to dread from the destroying hand of man, who could only get
+thither with much difficulty, and not without peril to life, by clambering
+along the face of a precipitous wall of rock.]
+
+On the north-west side of the islands, facing the sea, two lofty pinnacles
+of scoriæ, with truncated summits, rise in cones of such exquisite
+regularity of form as speedily attracted the attention of our geologist,
+and became somewhat later the chief scene of his activity. In the
+immediate vicinity, many traces of lava-streams are visible, which plainly
+show the direction in which their currents had flowed. From the upper edge
+of the great basin of the crater the ground slopes gradually to the sea,
+ending abruptly in a precipice, descending sheer 150 or 200 feet into the
+sea.
+
+In order to avoid retracing our steps by the same path, we directed our
+guide, the ever active Ferdinand, to conduct us back to the shore by some
+other track than that by which we had clambered up to this point;
+whereupon he stopped at a point of the upper rim of the crater, where the
+ground fell suddenly away quite perpendicular, grasped the rich luxuriant
+grass hand over hand, and having proceeded a few steps, invited us to
+follow. At the first glance we involuntarily recoiled at the bare idea of
+descending into the abyss by such a route, but presently we found our
+advance less dangerous and appalling than had at first appeared, when it
+was found we might, without any misgiving, let ourselves down by the long
+tough grass, the strong stalks of which supplied a safe means of descent.
+
+In less than three-quarters of an hour we had descended from the upper
+margin of the crater to the settlement, and at once proceeded on our
+return to the frigate. A pretty fresh N.W. breeze had sprung up in the
+meantime, which rendered our re-embarkation in our small short boats,
+totally unsuited to the tremendous swell of the Indian Ocean, exceedingly
+uncomfortable. Arrived at the ship's side, the sea ran so high, and had so
+increased the difficulty of laying the boats alongside, that we at first
+endeavoured to reach the deck by the Jacob's ladders suspended at the
+poop. When, however, one of the sailors (who confessedly have much greater
+readiness in clambering than ordinary mortals), while holding on to one of
+the ladders, was reached by a tremendous wave, and half his body being in
+the water, ran a risk of being carried off by a shark, the scientific
+gentlemen in the boats preferred making for the starboard side of the
+ship, whence they reached their haven of refuge by the man-ropes.
+
+Although this accident sufficiently manifested the impracticability of our
+original plan of returning every evening on board, and of being able to
+remain beside the ship during the carrying out of the objects of our
+visit, no man supposed as yet that, at this season, the summer of St.
+Paul's, the weather might suddenly become so stormy and generally
+unfavourable, as thus early to necessitate our re-embarkation, and that
+the ship would be compelled, with all speed, to leave her anchorage, and
+put to sea for a week under most uncomfortable circumstances.
+
+On 20th November, about 6 A.M., the officers and naturalists, together
+with a portion of the crew, 32 in all, left the frigate with a large
+quantity of instruments, scientific apparatus, and baggage. This little
+expedition was supplied with provisions and water for six days, there
+being no springs of fresh water on the island, the frequenters of which
+are compelled to depend for their whole supply of drinking-water, partly
+on the rain-fall, partly during long-continued dry seasons on the water of
+one of the hot brackish springs which occur on the north side of the lower
+circuit of the crater. Long accustomed to these fluids and to their
+peculiar taste, the inhabitants feel no evil results from their
+employment, which very probably would not be the case with those persons
+who visit the island for the first time, and whose arduous exertions
+necessitate their drinking daily large quantities of water.
+
+On a small eminence, about 150 feet high, above the fisherman's huts on
+the north side of the crater-basin, a small wooden cottage was erected for
+the protection of the astronomers; and at a distance of about 40 feet, a
+second for the magnetic instruments, both of which, with their contents,
+were entrusted to Lieutenant Robert Müller. Lieutenants Batlogg and Eugen
+Kronowetter, were respectively entrusted with the observations by
+theodolite, and with the surveying board. To the last-mentioned gentleman
+were also confided the observations with the meteorological instruments,
+the researches with the tide-gauge, the instruments for measuring the
+velocity of currents, as also the soundings in the basin, and on either
+side of the bar,--to assist him in the execution of which Cadet Count
+Borelli and Head Quartermaster Cian were detached. We quartered ourselves
+as well as we could in the wretched filthy huts which, in summer, serve
+the fishermen from St. Denis as a shelter. In one of these hung several
+pictures--one representing Napoleon I. riding the inevitable white horse,
+the majority consisting of female portraits and scenes of Parisian life,
+so that the whole place had quite a Frenchified appearance.
+
+Hardly had the instruments, apparatus, men, and baggage been placed under
+shelter, when once more a strong north wind came on, which, during the
+night between the 20th and 21st, increased to such a height, that it blew
+down the two huts intended for the observations, which had not been quite
+finished, and in which, fortunately, the instruments had not yet been
+placed--exposing the work already begun to very considerable interruption.
+
+Early in the morning, a whaler approached the island, and sent one of her
+boats off for fresh provisions. She proved to be the _Herald_, of New
+Bedford, Massachusetts, U. S., out 27 months, and expecting to require to
+remain out 11 months longer, in order to complete her lading of oil and
+whalebone. She was last from St. Augustin's Bay (Madagascar), which place
+she had left two months previously. When the captain, who chanced to be in
+the boat, saw the activity of the scientific corps, the results of which
+were already beginning to be visible in the hitherto deserted island, he
+said that one of his crew had fallen from the mast a few days previously,
+and severely injured himself, and forthwith asked whether we could render
+him any surgical assistance. Considering the precarious circumstances
+under which we ourselves were on the island, we judged it more advisable
+to receive the unfortunate whaler on board the frigate, where we could
+give him all necessary assistance. As we afterwards learned, the surgeon
+of the frigate, Dr. Ruschitztha, notwithstanding the inclemency of the
+weather, was ordered from the frigate, and had the satisfaction of
+rendering valuable assistance to the invalid.
+
+The foul weather continued all day, and during the night of the 21st, it
+became so tempestuous that the frigate was at last compelled to put to
+sea. About 3.30 A.M. she began to labour heavily with an unusually high
+sea and frequent shifts of wind, accompanied by showers of rain, after a
+heavy blow from the N.W., so that at first it was thought on board that
+one of these furious gusts, which for several hours past had followed each
+other at regular intervals, had sprung the cable, and that the anchor
+would be lost. The jib accordingly was hoisted, and the fore-topsail set
+with four reefs in it, and an attempt made to weigh anchor. This
+operation, at all times laborious, was now especially so, and seemed as
+though it would never have an end. Although the capstan was manned, as
+already said, at 3.30, it was not till past seven, or four hours later
+that the anchor hove in sight. It was the port anchor that had been
+weighed, and it was now perceived that one of the flukes had given way,
+and was entirely broken off. In such stormy weather it seemed very
+uncertain whether the anchor could be brought on board, as it struck with
+much force against the ship-side, in consequence of her severe rolling,
+and it was only secured at great risk to the life of the men employed. The
+cable was unbent, and the anchor slipped, so as to relieve the ship (for
+which the anchor still on board was sufficient in the meantime), from the
+vehement thumping. The frigate now had to encounter a regular
+North-wester, and only after three days of the most furious rolling or
+pitching, was she able, aided by northerly breezes, again to reach her
+former anchorage. The members of the Expedition, left at St. Paul to
+prosecute their scientific labours, occasionally experienced a somewhat
+peculiar feeling when the frigate, owing to the severity of the weather,
+remained invisible during these three long days; and fancy involuntarily
+depicted themselves in the position of men whom the stormy waves of
+destiny had cast away on this lonely island in the Indian Ocean, there
+perhaps to languish for weary months out of reach of assistance or means
+of rescue.
+
+Old Viot, who had come for the sixth time to the island, alleged that such
+rainy tempestuous weather at this season of the year was quite an unusual
+phenomenon,--an opinion which somewhat later was confirmed by the reports
+of several North American whalers. Ordinarily the fine season commences at
+the beginning of November, at which period the South wind is the most
+prevalent, the sky often remaining clear and hot for weeks together. The
+hottest month of the year is January, the coldest June. From May to
+October it is exceedingly difficult to land with boats on the island, and
+cases not unfrequently occur during the continuance of the stormy season
+resembling that which is instanced by the historiographer of Lord
+Macartney's embassy to China, in which, during September, 1792, a ship
+anchored on the east side of the island, was only able twice, during the
+lapse of eight weeks, to send a boat to the island with provisions. On
+this station the fishery is confined to the fine season (from November to
+April), while for the rest of the year the various huts of the fishermen
+are entirely abandoned, being only inhabited by a couple of men, in whose
+charge are left the few but by no means valueless implements and apparatus
+of the island. These men lead a very monotonous life, though not one of
+privation, for the crater-basin supplies the whole year round the most
+delicious fish, and craw-fish of the finest kind.
+
+Our sailors used to hang a basket with bait close to the edge of the
+crater-basin, sunk a few feet in the water, which they would draw out
+every time full of lobsters. In a few hours they frequently caught from
+eighty to one hundred pounds' weight of these large and extremely delicate
+species of shell-fish. An excursion which was got up one morning to the
+South side of the island, in a fisherman's boat, was rewarded in a few
+hours with some fifty different sorts of denizens of the deep, some of
+which weighed twenty to twenty-five pounds each.
+
+According to Viot's account, snow does not fall often in winter, and in
+consequence of the heat inherent in the volcanic soil, never lies long on
+it. On the other hand, hail is a tolerably frequent visitant. Rain is of
+constant occurrence, and sometimes falls in immense quantities. Viot was
+never weary of expressing his astonishment at the enormous size of the
+drops of rain which for many a year he had seen fall at St. Paul. The cold
+is often pretty severe; while the almost entire want of firing on the
+island (for the dung of animals is not obtainable in sufficient quantities
+to make its storing worth the requisite labour), deprives the poor
+residents of the comfort of a fireside. "If the last storm had not blown
+down our hut, we should for long have had to do without fuel," was the
+naïve remark on one occasion of the old Frenchman, as he lay stretched out
+on a dirty bed, carefully rolled up in his rough woollen blanket. Winter
+begins in May and ends in September. During this period the Northerly
+winds are often very strong. On 27th June, 1857, there blew for six or
+eight hours here so terrific a tempest that the inhabitants of St. Paul
+did not venture outside of their huts for fear of being rapt away by the
+wind. These storms of winter occasionally rage to such a degree that they
+drive before them into the basin of the crater huge masses of water, which
+they whirl in wild confusion to an enormous height, showing that the tract
+in the Southern Ocean traversed by the hurricanes which occasionally do
+such damage about Mauritius and Rodriguez, occasionally embraces the
+islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam. In November, at the commencement of the
+fine season, the winds are rather variable, and so continue to the end of
+March, when the N. and N.W. winds begin once more to blow regularly; these
+bring heavy rains and foul weather, after which, except that it is cold
+when the wind changes to West with a Southerly tendency, a warmer and
+drier climate is experienced. During our stay we frequently had an
+opportunity of verifying by observation the steady return of certain winds
+in regular succession. For instance, after the N.E. wind had prevailed for
+some days, it veered to N.N.W. whence it invariably went to W. by S.,
+where it usually stayed some little time, after which it once more went to
+N.E.--a phenomenon which went through its phases every six days with
+surprising regularity.
+
+There are heavy mists during autumn, but thunder on the other hand is far
+from frequent, nor is it particularly violent when it occurs. During a
+residence of eighteen days we never saw the centigrade thermometer stand
+higher than 66°·2 Fahr., or lower than 53°·6 Fahr. Lord Macartney gave 62°
+Fahr. as the average of the thermometer during his visit in February,
+1793.
+
+As for earthquakes, a phenomenon whose occurrence at St. Paul would
+possess an uncommon interest, Viot averred that during sixteen years that
+he had visited the island, off and on, he neither himself had perceived
+any indications of one, nor had he at any time heard of any such having
+been observed.
+
+On the contrary, Ferdinand (who, nevertheless, had lived but eight months
+on the island) affirmed that his predecessor, Rosemond, had told him of
+shocks, comparatively slight it is true, which he (Rosemond) had felt
+during his several years' abode here. Considering the small circumference
+of the island, and the violent surf on its shores, slight oscillations may
+not improbably be felt, which are caused by other than volcanic agencies.
+Moreover, on the outer margin of the crater-basin, the island presents at
+those numerous points, from which at ebb-tide roll volumes of smoke and
+steam, so many natural vents for the escape of the confined subterraneous
+gases, that in their ordinary state, and so long as they continue open, in
+future, there is no especial reason to suppose there will be any
+upheavings of the earth's crust in consequence of volcanic agencies. The
+earthquake of 14th August, 1857, which was pretty severely felt in Cape
+Town and the vicinity, does not seem to have included St. Paul within the
+circle of its influence. The present inhabitants of St. Paul, at all
+events, unanimously assert that they cannot recall having perceived,
+either on the 14th August, or at any time about that period, any shocks of
+earthquake whatever, or to have observed any unusual appearances either in
+the surface of the earth or in the atmosphere.
+
+We purposely say "at any time about that period," because the inhabitants
+of the island do not avail themselves of that assistance so universal
+now-a-days of a printed calendar, but trust to memory for keeping a
+reckoning of the flight of time. That mistakes should frequently occur
+with such a method of computing time is rendered the more probable that
+not one of the three denizens of the island can write. For instance, we
+once remarked to our worthy Viot that by his own reckoning he had marked
+one day more than he had actually lived. "We always get into a mess with
+these confounded months of thirty-one days!" was the good-humoured reply
+of the ancient wanderer from Nantes.
+
+Although the volcanic soil of St. Paul is everywhere especially adapted
+for scientific study, it nevertheless presents few objects with which to
+enrich collections of natural history. An island, on which not a single
+tree or bush is to be found, and on whose tufa soil, though well adapted
+for fruit, only a few grasses, ferns, and mosses thrive, must, so far as
+regards the value of his researches, prove as little interesting to the
+botanist as the zoologist, who, as we shall see more circumstantially
+further on, came across but few representatives here of the animated
+kingdom.
+
+At several places, the practical gardener who accompanied the frigate was
+ordered to plant a number of European vegetables and anti-scorbutic
+plants, such as cabbage, horse-radish, turnips, of various assorted
+species, celery, garden-cress, and spoonwort,[64] it is to be hoped with
+favourable results. At all events, we had the satisfaction during our
+stay, of seeing the tender shoots of some of the vegetables already
+sprouting through the surface of the earth. At that time there were not
+above a dozen or so cultivated spots on the Island; if, however, these are
+carefully cultivated, they can always furnish enough excellent nourishing
+provision for from 80 to 100 men. A quantity of potatoes, from 6 to 8
+sacks, planted in June, yield, in January or February, a crop of from 60
+to 80 casks of 100 lbs. each, or between 3 and 4 tons.
+
+[Footnote 64: The vegetables planted were as follows:--_Brassica rapa_
+(rape); _Brassica oleracea capitata_ (sea kail); _Brassica rapa alba_
+(white turnip); _Brassica rapa flava_ (yellow turnip); _Raphanus sativus_
+(radish); _Lepidium sativum_ (dittandu); _Cochleæia officinalis_ (scurvy
+grass).]
+
+Wheat, maize, and barley, also thrive at St. Paul, and their cultivation
+has only been discontinued, in consequence of their conversion into bread
+requiring a much larger amount of fuel than is at the command of the
+residents. On the other hand, all attempts to cultivate beans and peas
+have utterly failed hitherto. All kinds of nutritive plants give but one
+crop in the year. So also several kinds of trees, which promised to grow
+well, considering the resemblance between the climate here and that to
+which they were indigenous--such as _Pinus maritima_, various kinds of
+_Protea_, &c., and the successful rearing of which would ultimately prove
+an extraordinary benefit to all who frequent the island, in consequence of
+the great scarcity of firewood--were planted as seedlings by the gardener
+attached to the Expedition, in the vicinity of the two huts used for the
+observations. Assuredly it will not be one of the least important benefits
+of the _Novara_ Expedition, which it will have conferred on St. Paul, if
+the growth of the seedlings, planted in its soil with such a noble purpose
+in view, should result in the gradual and at all events partial clothing
+of the island in the forest.
+
+As to the Fauna of St. Paul, there appears to be one kind of sea-swallow
+(_storna_) not hitherto described, the bill and feet of which are of a
+coral-red colour, and delicate silver-grey plumage, undoubtedly the most
+beautiful of the feathered inhabitants, as the penguin is the most
+extraordinary and peculiar creature on the island. Besides these there is
+also a pretty grey diver (_Prion Vittatus_), which builds its nest among
+the rocks; also a brown gull (_Stercorarius antarcticus_), as also three
+kinds of albatrosses (_Diomedea exulans_, _D. fuliginosa_, _D.
+chlororhinchos_).
+
+The Crater-basin was somewhat less unproductive than the dry land. The
+depth is from 100 to 175 feet. Close to the edge, the sounding line gave a
+depth of 10 fathoms (60 feet). Experiments with the dredging-net, although
+frequently made, gave by no means satisfactory results. On the other hand,
+the rod and line brought up many an interesting addition to our
+collection, and frequent strolls at ebb-tide along the barely uncovered
+masses of rock that skirted the basin of the crater were rewarded with
+numerous discoveries of specimens of conchology. In the centre of the
+basin we came upon slimy ground at a depth of 204 feet; near the hot
+springs (about 100 feet distant), 19 fathoms (114 feet); and at a third
+point, on the south side, 23 fathoms (138 feet). Viot said, that after
+repeated soundings at different points, he had found the depth of the
+basin varied from 10 to 35 fathoms (60 to 210 feet). The seals
+(_Arctocephalus Falclandicus_) of which, according to Macartney, at the
+end of last century, thousands daily came to the coast of the island to
+bask in the sun, have almost entirely disappeared, so that these animals
+are very rarely seen or captured by the inhabitants. Even of the skeletons
+of these marine mammals, which, when the naturalists of the _Lion_ were
+roaming through the island, used to lie about in such numbers that one
+could almost walk upon bones all round the crater, not a vestige is left,
+and one can hardly realize that formerly hundreds of thousands of these
+animals were slaughtered at this island.
+
+Almost all the quadrupeds of the island are domestic animals that have
+been brought hither from Europe and the French colonies--such as swine,
+goats, cats, rabbits--which at present live here in a wild state. The
+goats, which were first introduced in 1844, are most numerous on the N.W.
+of the island; the swine, on the contrary, are not so frequently met with.
+During our residence, a boar and a wild cat were killed; a few days after,
+the five young of the cat were found, having been compelled to emerge from
+their lair in search of food. A female hare, which we had brought from
+Cape Town, was also set free on the island, and it was fortunate for the
+propagation of these useful animals that there was already a male hare on
+the island. A pair of geese was also presented to the colonists, which
+perhaps have continued to breed there.
+
+As we thought the island was uninhabited, it was originally our intention
+to leave several kinds of domestic animals of different sexes with a view
+to propagation; and with that object, when at Cape Town had made various
+purchases of useful animals; but, under the circumstances, we relinquished
+this intention, as there seemed but little chance of their being left
+undisturbed sufficiently long to secure the desired object. Occasionally
+cows would be landed from the whalers for the sake of the fresh fodder,
+and taken away again after the lapse of a month or two.
+
+The projected scientific operations of the Expedition might easily have
+been carried out within eight days, had we not been so obstinately
+persecuted with unfavourable weather. Violent north winds, which rendered
+it impossible to make any use of the surveying-board in the open air,
+alternated in an extraordinary manner with rainbows. Our astronomical
+observations were as yet nothing to speak of. Observations with the
+barometer, thermometer, current-measurer, and tide-guage, could alone be
+prosecuted, the last of which especially gave the following interesting
+result, that the hour of high water, both at full moon and new moon, is
+not 11 A.M., as given by Horsburgh (7th edition, Vol. I. p. 102), but at
+1.10 P.M.[65]
+
+[Footnote 65: According to Lord Macartney, the tide rises at full and new
+moon, between 8 and 9 feet perpendicular. A northerly wind always causes
+the highest tide, the current of which is from S.E. by S. to N.W. by N.,
+and has a velocity of about 3 miles an hour.]
+
+The proper carrying out of the objects of the geognostic enquiries was
+hampered by unforeseen obstacles and difficulties. One day the rain would
+be so heavy, that the slight covering of our apartments would be
+insufficient to protect us any longer from the beating of the rain which
+fell in bucketsfull, and began to leak through innumerable seams and
+cracks on to the beds, tables, and floor. Did any one think to shelter
+himself in the hut of a neighbour?--ere long there commenced a regular
+emigration, which very speedily came to a conclusion, by each and all
+having the melancholy satisfaction of perceiving that Fortune had set to
+work with rigorous impartiality, and had resolved to let each one of us
+feel the weight of her displeasure. And so we passed the long dreary hours
+in our comfortless huts, that gave free entrance to wind and rain, with
+umbrellas outspread or wrapped in our India-rubber cloaks, gazing moodily
+at the numerous cases full of valuable instruments, which, instead of
+being serviceable to science, were, by the loss of so many splendid
+opportunities, doomed to inactivity.
+
+[Illustration: RAINY DAY AT ST. PAUL.]
+
+Fortunately, all showed themselves animated by the utmost zeal for the
+undertaking and its successful issue; and, in a word, each fresh
+avalanche of difficulties, which sought to thwart our exertions and impair
+our forces, served only to reawaken the energies and reanimate the
+confidence of each and all amid all our calamities.
+
+So soon as the hovel we inhabited, which had enabled us to make
+observations upon the direction and strength of the wind rather than
+secured us any accommodation for sleep, had been in some degree restored
+to its original condition, we availed ourselves of the slight improvement
+in the weather, to examine a tolerably numerous collection of very
+beautifully bound books, which were found stowed away in one of the
+recesses for books running into the four partitions, and had in all
+probability much to dread from the rain-water trickling through the
+covering of the roof. These had been brought hither by a former proprietor
+of the island, and when it was sold were transferred with the rest of the
+stock of tools, &c., to M. Ottovan, who occasionally resided at St. Paul
+for a month or two, but seemed, so far as the condition of the books went,
+rarely to meddle with them. It was curious enough, however, to encounter
+in a lone desert island, so many evidences of the most refined
+civilization, so we shall cite in a note some of the most interesting of
+this library of about 150 different works, which deserved a better fate
+than to moulder away undisturbed till they fell into dust.[66]
+
+[Footnote 66: Among these were the works on Natural History, by Charles
+Bonnel (Neufchâtel, 1783); J. S. Laharpe's "Abrégé de l'Histoire Générale
+des Voyages, Paris, 1816;" Dacier's "Translation of Horace into French,
+with Notes and Critical Remarks. Paris, 1816;" "De la Félicité Publique;
+ou, Considérations sur le sort des Hommes dans les Différentes époques de
+l'Histoire: A. Bouillon: from the Printing Establishment of the
+Typographical Society, Paris, 1776;" "Essay on the Life of the Great
+Condé, by Louis Joseph, Prince de Condé, at present in England, London,
+1st May, 1807;" "Précis des Journées 15, 16, 17, and 18 Juin, 1815, ou Fin
+de la Vie Politique de Napoleon Buonaparte, par M. Giraud, auteur de la
+"Campagne de Paris en 1814;" Paris, 1815, 1st vol. 8; "Histoire des
+Guerres des Gaulois et des Français en Italie, avec le tableau des
+évènemens civils et mílitaires qui les accompagnèrent et leur influence
+sur la civilisation et les progrès de l'esprit humain." "Depuis Bellevise
+jusqu'à la mort de Louis XII., par lex Adjutant-Général Auguste Jubé,
+tribun." "Depuis Louis XII., jusqu'àu Traité d'Amiens, par Joseph Servan,
+Général de Division. Dediées à S. M. l'Empereur. Paris, an. XIII. (1805)."
+"Manuel des habitans de St. Dominique, contenant un précis de l'histoire
+de cette isle depuis sa découverte, etc., par S. J. Duc[oe]urjoly, ancien
+habitant de St. Dominique; Paris, 1800, an. X, 2 vols.]
+
+Less fortunate were we in our researches for any document which could in
+any way throw any light, direct or indirect, upon the former history of
+St. Paul. The only piece of writing which we found that had reference to
+the island, was a licence drawn up during the reign of Louis Philippe,
+dated 20th February, 1846, to M. Adam, of St. Denis (in the Island of
+Bourbon), to proceed to carry out a certain undertaking in the schooner
+"_La Mouche_," 30 tons' burthen, under the protection of the French flag.
+"_La Mouche_," is the same boat in which Viot had made so many voyages to
+and fro between St. Denis and St. Paul. This document, which the poor old
+Frenchman drew out one evening from a drawer thickly strewn with dust,
+insensibly led the conversation to the quondam owners of St. Paul, and
+thence naturally to an enquiry, on our part, as to the number of graves
+which dotted this romantic offshoot of Père la Chaise. "The climate is far
+too healthy, and the island far too little frequented, to admit of there
+being many graves in St. Paul," replied Viot. Of the blacks, whom M. Adam
+had once worked so unmercifully on the island, very many perished here
+owing to the severity of their treatment, but no one knows where their
+bodies lie;--very possibly their bones lie scattered about the island,
+like the remains of the much persecuted petrel (_prion turton_), which the
+predatory gull throws carelessly from him after he has stripped off the
+flesh, and gorged himself on the most delicate morsels. Only two graves
+are known to the present residents,--one is the resting-place of an
+Englishwoman, who died on board a merchant-ship which happened to be near
+the island, and whose grave was dug in the earth on the north side of the
+crater-basin; the second covers the body of a ship captain, who was
+accidentally drowned in the basin by the upsetting of a small boat, as he
+was approaching the bar in heavy weather. His grave is at a short distance
+behind the huts of the colonists, and bears traces to this day of the
+solemn feelings with which it was erected; an enclosure of large stones
+neatly arranged, make the site and its object at once recognisable.
+
+Shipwrecks are unheard of at St. Paul; at least, none such have been known
+to occur since it has been occupied by man. On the other hand, they are of
+more frequent occurrence at the sister island, as has very lately been
+evidenced by the catastrophe of the _Meridian_. However, the elements are
+not always to blame for such lamentable occurrences. Ships are sometimes
+dashed to pieces on the shores of Amsterdam in the finest weather, so that
+one is almost induced to believe that these misfortunes are occasionally
+resorted to intentionally, so as to realize some high insurance on a
+vessel which has probably already become half unseaworthy--a not very
+conscientious method of doing business, of which, however, some of the
+natives of Greece and the borders thereof are not unfrequently guilty. In
+February, 1855, a North American whaler struck upon the north-east side of
+Amsterdam in a calm, and with a clear sky overhead, so that the entire
+crew, 30 in number, were able to secure the provisions and their kits. The
+captain, with one of the ship's small boats, made for the Island of St.
+Paul, 42 miles distant, in the hope, probably, of getting assistance
+thence. A lucky destiny so willed it, that (the accident having occurred
+in the finest season of the year), a vessel of M. Ottovan's, which by a
+strange coincidence was named _L'Ange Gardien_ (the Guardian Angel), lay
+at anchor inside the crater-basin, loading with fish. The shipwrecked crew
+were indebted to his circumstance that, within 14 days more, they found
+themselves at Mauritius. A report circulated among the residents of St.
+Paul that the captain of the stranded ship had landed with some of his
+companions in a boat on the N.E. of Amsterdam, with the intention of
+searching for a sum of several thousand dollars which a previous visitant
+to this island was said to have buried there for some mysterious reasons.
+While the captain was on shore, vainly searching for a considerable time
+after the buried treasure, the shipmaster left in charge in his absence
+came too near the island, whereupon the vessel had been lost upon one of
+the numerous reefs which lie off the shore. A part, it was added, of the
+buried money had, in fact, been recovered. According to Viot, the captain
+had dug up 1000 dollars (above £200), and one of his companions 300
+dollars.
+
+At last, on the morning of 3rd December--the fifteenth of our stay at the
+island--the sky shone so brightly that one could, with more probability
+than hitherto, cherish the hope that the various operations we had been
+compelled to lay aside might finally be brought uninterrupted to a
+successful conclusion. However, the very wet day was again exceedingly
+unfavourable for open-air observations, especially astronomical, inasmuch
+as a pretty strong North-east wind incessantly drove over the island
+clouds of rain, the very heaviest of which, attracted by the mass of the
+island, broke right over our heads. Fortunately this spell of bad weather
+did not last as long as the first; and when, on 6th December, the _Novara_
+once more made her appearance at the island, and enquired by signals as to
+the progress made in our appointed work, we were so fortunate as to be
+able to reply by the same means, that the most important portion had been
+completed, and that the officers and naturalists were ready to re-embark.
+
+About 9 A.M., the frigate anchored in 25 fathoms, close to the spot where
+the English ship _Fly_, Captain Blackwood, lay in 1842. It was the third
+time that the _Novara_ anchored off St. Paul. Twice before had she
+experienced unusually tempestuous weather, which compelled her to sheer
+off from such a perilous coast, and expose herself to be lashed for days
+together by the raging giant waves of the infuriated element.
+
+One of the boats sent by the frigate to take us off to the ship, brought
+at the same time some presents, in memory of the Expedition, for the
+residents of the island, who had been so hospitable and obliging during
+our stay. The presents consisted of ship biscuit, salted meat, and various
+other edibles, wine, a musket, woollen blankets, clothes, shoes, tools,
+medicines, vinegar, oil, &c. The simple, modest fellows were immensely
+pleased with these unexpected presents, and Viot especially seemed
+overjoyed on seeing a number of tools, for want of which many of the
+repairs necessary in the interior of their anything but air-tight wooden
+habitations, were daily becoming more apparent.
+
+We left a book on the Island of St. Paul, in which the principal memoranda
+of what we had achieved were set forth in three languages (German,
+English, and French), with the view of supplying to future scientific
+visitors, data for further researches and observations, and at same time
+incite them to prosecute these we had ourselves made.
+
+We insert here this document, which will yet give witness, probably, of
+the scientific activity of the Austrian Expedition at the Island of St.
+Paul in the Indian Ocean, at a period when those engaged in it will long
+since have voyaged to
+
+    "That undiscovered country from whose bourne
+    No traveller returns."
+
+"The Imperial Austrian Frigate, _Novara_, 44, under the command of
+Commodore the Chevalier von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, engaged in a voyage round
+the globe for scientific purposes, anchored at nine in the morning of
+19th November, 1857, on the Eastern side of St. Paul, with the purpose of
+prosecuting astronomical, magnetic, meteorological, and geodesical
+observations and measurements, and at same time examine thoroughly the
+natural history of the island. Extremely unfavourable weather in great
+measure delayed the expedition; and, after having successfully carried out
+a series of observations and researches, the results of which will in due
+time be published, the officers and naturalists in charge of the various
+departments, on the 6th December of the same year, quitted St. Paul, each
+bearing with him the most pleasing reminiscences of that interesting
+island, and of its three poor, but eminently kind inhabitants.
+
+"For the guidance of future observers the following memoranda may prove
+useful:--
+
+"I. That the spot at which observations were taken was on a small
+eminence, north of the huts of the colonists, and which may be recognized
+by a small pyramid of stones, on which the Austrian Expedition marked the
+observed latitude 38° 42' 55'' S., and the longitude 77° 31' 18'' E. of
+Greenwich.[67] Further that:--
+
+[Footnote 67: The time, which we took from the Cape Observatory by four
+excellent chronometers, gave, on our voyage between the Cape and St. Paul,
+a period of forty-six days, a difference of 3 h. 56 min. 11 sec., which
+the island was E. of the Cape, so that adding the Longitude of the latter
+East of Greenwich (by nautical almanack), 1 h. 13 min. 55 s., we have the
+Longitude of St. Paul 5 h. 10 min. 6 s. East of Greenwich (77° 31' 30''
+E.) Between Madras and St. Paul, during a long passage of sixty-seven
+days, and with six chronometers somewhat less accurately set than the
+preceding, St. Paul was found by observation to be 0 h. 10 min. 51.8 sec.
+West of Madras (2° 42' 55'' W.) By the longitude of the Observatory of
+Madras, 5 h. 20 min. 57 sec. East of Greenwich (80° 14' 15'' E.), as
+furnished by the Director of the Observatory, Major Jacobs (whereas the
+nautical almanack gave 5 h. 21 m. 3.77 sec. = 80° 16' 0-1/2''). The
+longitude of St. Paul would be 5 h. 10 m. 5.2 s. East of Greenwich (77°
+31' 23'' E.) The average of the two measurements gives as the average 5 h.
+10 m. 5.6 sec., or 77° 31' 26'' E. to be assumed as the final longitude of
+St. Paul, while the latitude was taken from the various means of the
+height of the sun at the meridian on an average of days. An additional
+computation in which allowances were made for the various corrections,
+gave, as the latitude, 38° 42' 47'' S.]
+
+"II. That the direction of the true meridian line drawn from this point to
+the nearest opposite shore of the South side of the crater-basin was
+marked by an oblique (St. Andrew's) cross.
+
+"III. That the tidal-gauge was situated on a rock near the landing-place,
+and that the rise of the tide above the mean level of the water (3 feet 5
+inches), was marked on a slab of rock smoothed for the purpose.
+
+"IV. Lastly. The magnetic observations were taken in a hut erected for
+that express purpose on the little plateau behind the settlers' huts,
+where at the same time various sorts of useful trees were planted by the
+Expedition.
+
+"The names of the officers and naturalists who, under the superintendence
+of the commander of the Imperial Expedition, took part in the various
+scientific operations were:--for Astronomy and Terrestrial Magnetism,
+Lieutenant Robert Müllar; Botany, Dr. Edward Schwarz and M. Jellinck;
+Geodesy and Meteorology, Lieutenant Eugen Kronowetter; for the
+Trigonometrical Measurement of the Crater-basin, Lieutenant Gustavus
+Battlogg; for Geology, Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter; Ethnology and Physical
+Geography, Dr. Karl Scherzer; Zoology, G. Frauenfeld and J. Zelebor;
+Draughtsman and Artist, Joseph Sellemy."
+
+[Illustration: PLATE V.--TRACK FROM ST. PAUL TO POINT DE GALLE. (CEYLON).]
+
+Towards 5 P.M. the last boat came off with the measuring and levelling
+instruments, and various articles of baggage.[68] The embarkation was
+finally completed. Half-an-hour later the _Novara_ weighed anchor, and we
+steered, favoured with most splendid weather and full of pleasing
+anticipations, for the adjacent island of New Amsterdam. Not without
+sundry twitches of sadness did we remark the sharp crater of St. Paul
+gradually fade away like a vision in the gloom of approaching night; and
+many undying memories must attach to our residence on that lonely,
+world-forsaken island.
+
+[Footnote 68: Remembering how many bottles and glass tubes were shattered,
+we have not thought it beyond our province to recommend future scientific
+travellers to bring with them a good supply of duplicates of all
+instruments liable to breakage, as it is very difficult to get such
+insignificant articles replaced out of Europe, and we frequently found on
+this occasion the want of some such little instrument interposed an
+obstacle to the further usefulness of the instruments.]
+
+And now, at the moment of our departure from the island, be it permitted
+us to cast a retrospective glance at the various results obtained by the
+Expedition of the _Novara_ during her stay at St. Paul.
+
+Never hitherto on this island, so important by its geographical position
+for ships trading with China, the East Indies, Australia, and New Zealand,
+have astronomical and magnetic observations and geodesical measurements
+been so thoroughly ascertained as by the _Novara_ expedition. Upon a
+carefully measured base-line, various points of the upper and lower
+margin of the crater were accurately laid down by means of the Theodolite,
+and the whole island submitted to a geometric network of angles. At the
+same time the geologist, with the aid of the compass and the patent
+levels, prepared a chart originally intended for geological purposes only,
+while the draughtsman of the expedition added to its value, by skilfully
+sketching in from these given points the configuration of the coast-line
+of the island. By their united efforts there has been published a chart of
+St. Paul, which gives even to the minutest details an entirely correct and
+accurate representation of the form and surface of the island. This minute
+chart, or plan, was prepared on a scale of 132 Vienna fathoms to one
+Vienna inch, or 1/9504 of the natural size. Moreover, it is intended
+preparing, from this map and from the various outlines and views taken on
+the spot, a plastic model of the island after Nature, which, moulded in
+gypsum, will give scientific inquirers the most accurate conception of its
+singular structure. Not less interesting for navigators in the Indian
+Ocean will be the publication of the various observations which, during
+our stay of 18 days, were made with the barometer, thermometer,
+tide-gauge, and gauge of the velocity of currents, taken at certain fixed
+hours, day and night, as also the soundings in the crater-basin, and on
+both sides of the bar. Although the complete publication of these _data_
+must await the appearance of the nautical portion of the present work, we
+shall give here the most important of these results. The extreme length of
+the island from N.W. to S.E., is three nautical miles; the superficial
+area is 1,600,000 Vienna square klafter--1 Vienna klafter = 1 fathom = 6
+English feet--100 English square feet = 92-986/1000 Vienna square feet.
+The highest point of the crater-basin is 846 feet; the greatest diameter
+of the upper rim of the crater is 5490 feet; the least 4590 feet; the
+greatest diameter of the basin at the level of the sea is 3984 feet, and
+the least 3444 Vienna feet.
+
+The observations on the state of the weather, taken with much difficulty,
+are not intended to include the regular observations on the exterior of
+the island, and in like manner some of those taken in the harbour, or
+basin of the crater, must be accepted with a certain limitation. For
+similar reasons, we were unable to fix the rate of the current setting
+from the sea into the basin, although we secured most extraordinary
+results considering the circumstances. The amount of specimens of natural
+history which was procured, was very limited, but on that account was the
+more valuable. To the geologist, it must be of the very highest interest
+to find that St. Paul has been classified, with scientific precision, and
+by dint of personal examination and research, in one of the four main
+divisions in which, according to the scheme of Alexander Von Humboldt, the
+volcanic formations of the earth may be divided. Measured by the latest
+distribution of the volcanic strata by the description of stone found, as
+laid down by the greatest of German naturalists, St. Paul belongs to the
+same class as Chimborazo, Popocatepetl, Teneriffe, &c., in a word, to
+what is known as the Chimborazo formation. A section of the east-side,
+taken in profile, lays bare its entire geological history, and forms one
+of the most instructive means of coming to direct conclusions as to its
+geological structure.
+
+The birth of this island from the bosom of the deep, combined with
+eruptions of lava and scoriæ, was the last effort of the subterranean
+forces. Since that period it has been subject wholly and solely to the
+various terrestrial influences, although the lapse of centuries has not
+been able to extirpate the last traces of the volcanic fire which once
+poured forth its currents of molten lava. A large proportion of the level
+ground is hot, and at the lower edge of the rim of the crater appear
+several hot springs, the temperature of which, as already remarked, is so
+high that fish, eggs, potatoes, &c., can be cooked on them in a few
+minutes. The highest point of St. Paul rises 870 feet above the basin of
+the crater. Its walls rise abruptly at an angle of about 85°, while the
+upper surface of the island (with the single exception of a small plateau
+of about 400 feet on the north side) stretches, at first level from the
+periphery of the upper margin of the crater, gradually falling away
+towards the sea-coast, at an angle of about 13°. On its North-west coast,
+where it is from 100 to 200 feet in perpendicular height, the island
+presents several small pyramids of pumice, like parasitic warts on the
+principal mass.
+
+Like the geologist, the botanist also found in this wild spot an unusual
+opportunity of acquiring accurate information as to the occurrence and
+propagation of certain kinds of plants in a primitive soil. Six grasses
+and one reed (_cyperaceæ_) form the vegetation of the island, one rush and
+three or four of the grasses forming the majority. The botanist having
+ascended to the plateau found there two grasses, both of which grew to a
+certain height only, and at certain places; the one (in the immediate
+vicinity of the settler's huts,) the oat, or _avena_; the second a
+_digitaria_, in the neighbourhood of the terraced fields, directly
+opposite the entrance to the crater, in warm positions, which, so soon as
+the earth is a little disturbed, emit jets of steam. It is still uncertain
+whether the other kinds of grass, _Poa_ and _Setaria Holcus_, belong
+exclusively to St. Paul, or are to be included in the more general group
+of geographical plants known as that of the islands of Edward's Island,
+Kerguelen's Island, and St. Paul.
+
+Among the grasses there spring up here and there, but on the whole very
+sparsely, some wild vegetables which have been planted by previous chance
+visitors.[69] In the crater there are also _Sonchus arvensis_ and one
+_Plantago_ (Plantain). On the south margin of the crater are _Cerastium_
+(maize-ear chickweed), and _Stellaria media_ (chickweed); both grow on a
+small piece of ground, and are far from thriving. Of _Cryptogamia_ the
+botanist found four sorts. Two _Parmelias_, one _Evernia_, and one
+_Cladonia_, the first-named overrunning the blocks on the edge of the
+crater with great luxuriance.
+
+[Footnote 69: Such as _Rumex acetosella_, _Cynara Scolcymus_ (artichoke);
+_Solanum tuberosum_ (species of nightshade); _Daucus carotta_ (carrot);
+_Petroselinum sativum_ (parsley); _Brassica oleracea_ (sea-kail);
+_Raphanus sativus_ (horse-radish).]
+
+Of _Algæ_ there were found 33 species. The stones rolled backwards and
+forwards by the action of the waves, as also those surfaces which remained
+covered at lowest tide, were entirely covered with _Dicurella flabellata_.
+Most numerous was _Gigartina radula_, just in a state of fructification.
+Every movement of the water calls up slender, delicate _confervæ_, and
+pale and coloured _luminariæ_. The breakers have crowned the stones with
+festoons of the _Macrocystis pyrifera_. Of Liverworts there were found
+_Marchantia_ and _Jungermania_; of foliaceous mosses, _Sphagnum_
+(bog-moss), and two kinds of _Bruym_. Two ferns, just beginning to bear
+fruit, were found on the plateau, and one _Lycopodium_ (club-moss), which
+thrives pretty well, and frequently grows on the _Sphagnum_. On the whole,
+the botanist of the expedition found on the island, 11 _Phanerogamia_, 4
+_Lichens_, 33 _Algæ_, 2 ferns, 2 Liverworts, 3 foliaceous mosses, 1
+_Lycopodium_. In this enumeration are included the European vegetables
+cultivated by the residents, as also some untended plants, which
+apparently have been introduced with the vegetables, or have been brought
+hither by previous visitors. The stony substratum of this island is barely
+covered with a plastic vegetable substance, which fills the cracks. The
+walls of the crater, as also the entire plateau, present to view a plain,
+unrelieved expanse of grass; not, however, like fields clothed with sward,
+but single tufts pressing one upon the other, which seem like the
+grave-mounds of a hundred bygone generations of plants. Frequently, at the
+foot of a block of pumice, all overrun with grasses of all sorts, one
+comes upon a moss or a stem of fern on one of the pieces of lava that has
+been washed up, or perceives with amazement in some out-of-the-way place,
+and utterly neglected, good old acquaintances from Europe, such as
+carrots, parsley, potatoes, &c., which apparently have been begun to be
+cultivated on some of the terraces, whence they have propagated themselves
+in a wild state all over the island. But not a tree, or bush, is to be met
+with throughout the island.
+
+In like manner, although the zoologist seemed to have but a poor prospect
+at St. Paul, it presented materials for most satisfactory speculation to
+the attentive naturalist. Only one of the grasses is infested by an
+insect, which appears in great numbers, a very tiny _cicada_ (cricket),
+the _Delphis hemiptera_, of which, according to the zoologist of the
+expedition, it is hard to say whether it became indigenous to St. Paul
+before, or contemporaneous with the arrival of man. Among other insects
+that have certainly been introduced here, the zoologist found the common
+bluebottle-fly, a gnat, the universally found cockroach, the book-tick
+(_acarus eruditus_), one kind of earwig, and the flea; besides the
+_Isopodis_, our common barrel-worm,[70] in almost fabulous quantities.
+These animals invariably follow man wherever he plants his foot, living
+upon garbage or decaying organic matter. With the exception of the
+clothes-moth, which has probably been introduced among the wool-stuffs,
+there are in the island no butterflies, none of the been tribe, no
+_Neuroptera_. Mites also need scarcely be reckoned, since the only
+representative, the common cheese-mite, is more apt to become extinct than
+to thrive; on the other hand, there are two kinds of spiders, for which
+the enormous number of flies furnish sufficient food.
+
+[Footnote 70: These loathsome animals cover the island in such quantities
+that one of the naturalists reckoned them at 6,000,000,000, counting 100
+as the minimum to each square foot of the island.]
+
+The species belonging to the sea are somewhat more plentifully
+represented, although, with few exceptions, very small and insignificant.
+The largest shell fish, a _Tritonium_, only attains a length of 3 inches;
+_Patella_, which is very plentiful all round the island, is only 1 inch
+long; several sorts of snails (such as _Buccinum_, _Defrancia_,
+_Mangelia_, _Paludinella_, _Adeorbis_, _Janthina_, _Fissurella_,
+_Scutellina_, _Lepidopleurus_, _Bulla_, _Asteronotus_, _Doto_), are barely
+a few lines in length, or even less.
+
+The _Brachiopoda_ are represented by a very inferior member, the
+_Terebratulina_, only two lines long, which, however, is a giant compared
+with one of the two only kinds of mussel, _Kellia_ and _Lima_, which are
+occasionally met with here, and are only half-a-line in length.
+
+Among the _Vertebratæ_, the fishery of which is the principal object of
+the visits annually paid to the island, one, the _Cheilodactylus_, a
+spinous-finned fish, which is extraordinarily abundant all round the
+island, supports an important fishery, while _Thyrsites Atun_ were
+frequently caught with rod and line from the frigate.
+
+Of _Amphibiæ_, there is not a vestige to be found on the island; the birds
+belong for the most part to the powerful-winged web-footed birds that
+frequent the open ocean, as, for example, the _Diomedea exulans_ (great
+albatross or man-of-war bird), _D. chlororhynchus_ (yellow-billed
+albatross), _D. fuliginosa_ (a new one not determined), _Lestris
+catarractes_, _Storna sp: Prion Vittatus_, of which the four last-named,
+at the time of our visit, had both eggs and young. Of birds with
+fin-shaped wings, there was the golden-crested penguin (_Apterodytes
+chrysocoma S._), living in two distinct colonies among the precipitous
+overhanging cliffs, with innumerable young, already of a pretty good
+size.[71] We also remarked several other winged denizens of the deep, which
+had alighted on our ship during the last few days immediately preceding
+our arrival at St. Paul. According to the fishery-people, the other birds
+of the island quit it altogether so soon as their young have grown
+sufficiently, and only return when the next breeding season comes round.
+
+[Footnote 71: One of the zoologists, Mr. Zelebor, endeavoured to kill two
+penguins that had been caught alive in the island, the one with arsenic,
+the other with chloroform. Of the latter, a quantity was administered
+enough to have killed a man, but which scarcely affected the penguin, who,
+in a quarter of an hour after, seemed quite restored to himself. The
+second, which had swallowed two tea-spoonsful of arsenic, died eight hours
+later.]
+
+In contradistinction to the sea-birds, M. Frauenfeld remarked but one
+single land-bird, a swallow, whose movements seemed to indicate that he
+was watching a breeding female. A stray bird on this lonely spot of earth,
+nearly 3000 miles away from the main land! Hundreds of questions
+suggested themselves on thus unexpectedly coming upon so well-known a
+wanderer. What could have condemned him to this self-imposed exile? Was he
+a straggler? Was it the first time he had selected this island for a home?
+Had it been his own cradle? And would he at some future period find
+companions to visit with him, and ultimately share these solitary desolate
+abodes?
+
+There were no seals visible,--they have retreated before the attacks and
+stratagems of their insatiate pursuer the seal-hunter, and for a long
+period have ceased to frequent the island. Indeed, St. Paul furnishes not
+a single specimen of mammal peculiar to itself; for all the members of
+this great natural division at present on it,--such as goats, swine, cats,
+&c.,--having become wild, must necessarily be classed, however unusual,
+with rats, mice, and the like. In other respects, all these have not
+varied in the slightest from the type of the domesticated animal (although
+they have probably lived wild for a hundred years past), except that they
+are very shy and avoid the presence of man.
+
+While upon these various points, the stay of the Imperial Expedition at
+St. Paul gave many splendid results by means of observations and
+scientific collections, it was also productive of a number of important
+practical benefits for seafaring people. The geodesical results, for
+instance, obtained by the Expedition, demonstrate that there is formed by
+the basin of the crater at St. Paul's, despite the small extent of its
+coast-line, a secure natural haven which would afford substantial
+facilities for ships, to which, on their voyage to China, Australia, or
+anywhere in the East Indies, any accident has happened, necessitating
+complete and speedy repair, or which might require fresh provisions for
+their crews, stricken with scurvy after a long voyage. For, although the
+depth of the basin of the crater in the centre is very considerable, and
+although the squalls of wind from the N.W. are often very violent, the
+ship can always make fast to the land, and so ensure the requisite
+security. How far the assistance so cheerfully rendered by science may
+have been called for, or how far the route at present traversed by sailing
+vessels makes that assistance desirable, must be left to the judgment of
+those nations, such as the English, French, and Dutch, which, as having
+possessions washed by the Indian Ocean, have a direct interest in the
+future condition of such a harbour of refuge, situate equidistant from
+Asia, Africa, and Australia.
+
+The morning after our departure from St. Paul, that is to say, on 7th
+Dec., we found ourselves not more than ten miles distant from Amsterdam.
+The first view of the island greatly resembles that of St. Paul, and the
+hypothesis gained constantly in probability that the geological formation
+of Amsterdam is nearly identical with that of St. Paul.
+
+A whaler was cruising in the neighbourhood of the island, while one of his
+slim whaleboats was pursuing a school of sperm whales, which sported about
+in great numbers.
+
+Towards 7 A.M., a boat approached from the whaler _Esmeralda_, Captain
+Pierce, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, to ask for surgical assistance for
+a sailor who, while engaged a few days previously in hauling a captured
+fish alongside, had had his left hand so severely injured by one of the
+lines, that amputation had seemed the sole remedy. The Captain had, in
+genuine Yankee fashion, assumed the duties of surgeon, and performed the
+operation himself. Now that it was over, and when neither praise nor
+censure could benefit the patient, he was anxious to know whether he had
+done right or wrong. While one of the ship's surgeons was getting ready,
+as requested by the captain, to proceed to the bedside of his patient, the
+whaler informed us he had already been absent from his family in the
+States five months, and would proceed hence to the Sandwich Islands and
+the Northern grounds, and finally return home round Cape Horn. If the take
+of fish proved good, he hoped to complete the voyage within two years.
+Whale-fishing, in truth, is not only a very dangerous and laborious, but
+also a most precarious pursuit. Occasionally a ship gets loaded within a
+brief space with oil and whalebone, by which, of course, the owner or
+charterer makes a splendid profit, and the entire crew obtain a handsome
+share. But frequently does it happen that, after a voyage of fifteen
+months and more, there is not a single fish taken, in which case the hardy
+sailors, who are entirely dependent for their pay upon a share of the
+spoil, have had all their labour and undergone all their privations in
+vain, while the freighter is poorer by a good round sum. The bare chance,
+however, of a rich haul is sufficient to raise to 8000, the number
+(probably on the increase) of the ships of varying tonnage and
+nationality, which at present encounter the anxieties, dangers, and
+hardships attaching to the whale-fishery. It is calculated that, were it
+possible to anchor them within signalling distance of each other, they
+would form a complete girdle round the earth at the Equator. In other
+respects, the incessant activity of the whaler is not without its
+advantages for science, since the observations and communications of many
+of the captains connected with the whaling business have essentially
+contributed to extend our acquaintance with atmospheric phenomena,
+especially in high latitudes, on both sides of the Equator.
+
+The loquacious captain, an uncommon quality in a Yankee, could not conceal
+his astonishment at encountering an Austrian man-of-war in such a latitude
+in mid-ocean, and adverted to this unexpected phenomenon. Captain Pierce
+further complained bitterly of the weather, and said that, as long as he
+had sailed the Indian Ocean, he had never at this season experienced such
+tempestuous weather as during the last week; which was further confirmed
+by several other whalers, regular visitors to these waters. Respecting
+Amsterdam, Captain Pierce, unfortunately, could give us but very little
+information. He had never set foot on the island, nor did he know whether
+it was accessible at all. But he spoke highly of the availability of the
+coasts for valuable fish. Nowhere in the Indian Ocean, the Captain
+remarked, was there such an abundance of fish of all descriptions as at
+the Southernmost point of this little-known island. Consequently most
+whalers, on their course Southwards, approach this island, and send out
+boats to bring in supplies of fish suitable for the table. Usually the
+boat is filled in a few hours with delicious food caught with the rod and
+line, when the fish are forthwith salted, in sufficient quantities to
+supply the crew for several weeks.
+
+Is Amsterdam really a sister-island of St. Paul? Is it, too, of volcanic
+origin, upheaved by the same subterranean energy, and does it still show
+similar traces of long-continued activity? These questions pressed on us
+for solution all the more vividly as we neared this inaccessible island,
+when we recalled to mind the mysterious phenomena which D'Entrecasteaux
+had observed here in March, 1792, and which have remained unexplained to
+this day.[72] The French Expedition saw, it is true, clouds of smoke
+emerging alternately from a subterranean opening close to the shore, but
+without being able to satisfy themselves whether the vegetation had been
+set on fire by the hand of man or by volcanic action, the wind which blew
+direct from the island making it impossible to land, unless one was
+prepared to run the risk of being suffocated by the rolling masses of
+smoke. There was, therefore, to be solved, at Amsterdam, the mystery as to
+whether the pillars of smoke, which were observed by the naturalists of
+the French Expedition of 1792, issuing from the soil adjoining the sea,
+were produced by an actual eruption, or were caused by subterranean fires
+in activity.[73]
+
+[Footnote 72: La Billardière, Rélation du voyage à la recherche de la
+Peyrouse, fait par ordre de l'Assemblée Constituante pendant les années
+1791-94, Paris, 1800. (Vol. I., pp. 112, 113.)]
+
+[Footnote 73: Vide Alexander v. Humboldt's "Kosmos," Vol. IV., pp. 412 and
+585; also Physical and Geognostic Remarks, by the same author, prefixed to
+this volume.]
+
+About 11 A.M., the two jolly-boats of the _Novara_ were lowered to look
+for a landing-place on Amsterdam, while the frigate stood off and on,
+under easy sail, at an offing of five or six miles. Our whaling informant
+had told us the most abundant fishing-station was at the south point of
+the island, while the best place for disembarking was on the N.W. shore.
+As, however, upon consideration, it was deemed advisable, looking to the
+probability of a N.E. gale springing up, to get to windward of the ship,
+so as to be able to fetch her more speedily on our return, the S.E. side
+was selected, and our course laid for it accordingly. Along the
+acclivities of the coast pyramids of loose stones were visible, resembling
+those on St. Paul, but more numerous and of larger dimensions, the entire
+island seeming altogether on a much larger scale, and more lofty. On the
+West side we observed rocky precipices of from 1000 to 2000 feet in
+height, fissured with deep clefts and rents, whereas on the South and
+S.E., these presented a more gradual slope.
+
+For above an hour we steered along the shore, which rose sheer out of the
+water, without being able to detect a single point at which it was at all
+practicable to disembark, so as to scramble up to the high ground. The
+entire Eastern side is hemmed around with steep abrupt precipices of 150
+to 200 feet high, not unlike skilfully-erected bastions, and clothed with
+long thick grass.
+
+As we drew near, we could plainly discern in the water-courses that
+descend upon the upper slope--radiating, as it were, from all sides of the
+highest peak, which was enveloped in clouds--numerous streams of water,
+each pouring through a rift like a thread of silver, after which,
+precipitating itself over the steep precipices on the shore, it washed
+like a small torrent over terraces and banks of lava, till it was lost in
+the sea. If these streams are swollen by the heavy rain in winter, they
+may form waterfalls, as mentioned by early navigators, which must impart a
+far less pleasing character to the landscape. Two small patches of
+dazzling white, like fresh fallen snow, which were visible high above the
+slope, we could not make out with the utmost power of our glasses. The
+green colour which enveloped the entire island seemed to indicate the
+existence of grass vegetation resembling that of St. Paul.
+
+At last, when we had got within two cables' length of the shore, we
+encountered enormous green flakes of floating sea-weed, which, becoming
+entangled with the rudder, made further progress possible only by dint of
+most strenuous exertions. This proved to be the same gigantic sea-tangle
+of the Southern hemispheres (_Macrocystis Pyrifera_), which likewise
+constitutes a barrier of _fucus_ on the East side of St. Paul. The
+sea-calves mentioned by older describers were nowhere to be seen; but on
+the other hand we had an opportunity of satisfying ourselves as to the
+immense abundance of fish which frequent the coast of the island in a
+truly astonishing degree, although the American whaler had prepared us by
+his remarks. From bow and stern of the boat hooks and lines were hung out,
+and several of the crew were at once kept busy hauling in the lines, at
+the end of each of which there usually struggled a fish of some two or
+three feet long. These were chiefly umber fish, which are also very
+plentiful about St. Paul, where, from their delicacy, they formed a
+favourite dish at our otherwise very frugal repasts.
+
+We had now got so near, that we could distinctly perceive grass and the
+stems of ferns growing among the clefts of the rocks. However, although
+there was a dead calm, and the sea outside was as smooth as glass, the
+long ground-swell of the ocean, with its broad flat billows, caused such a
+heavy surf on the rock-bound stony beach, that the attempt to pass it was
+not to be thought of. The further we advanced along the coast in a
+northernly direction, the more distant we got from the ship, and unluckily
+in an equal degree our hopes were disappointed of finding a spot at which
+we could land, and scramble from the strand up the steep bank to the level
+ground above. The south-easternmost point, which at a distance presented
+the appearance of a low headland jutting out into the sea, behind which we
+had hoped to find a good landing-place, now that we had got close to it,
+proved to be a small detached rock; while the shore, as far as the eye
+could reach, rose like a wall to a height of from 150 to 200 feet. There
+now hove in sight five whalers, who seemed hunting that most valuable of
+all the inhabitants of the deep, of the spots frequented by which Maury's
+renowned Whale Charts have lately supplied so interesting and useful a
+code of instruction. These charts, which are based on a vast number of
+observations, of the tracts of ocean and seasons of the year at which
+whales are most frequently seen, will at the same time greatly tend to a
+solution of the question as to the migration of these enormous mammals;
+for it has never yet been settled, whether these animals flee from the
+pursuit of man to remote seas, thus continually constraining their
+pursuers to seek their prey in new waters, or whether, (as is the most
+prevalent opinion), they are always entirely extirpated from one locality,
+and accordingly are only to be met with in any numbers in some different
+area, in which man has as yet only rarely, if ever, disturbed them.[74]
+
+[Footnote 74: Some very valuable and detailed particulars of the Whale
+fishery are to be found in Maury's incomparable work, "The Physical
+Geography of the Ocean," and in Dr. Hartwigs' "Popular Treatise on
+Animated Nature in the Ocean. (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1855.)"]
+
+After an hour-and-a-half of continuous rowing, and when, in our very
+unsuitable boat, we had got about 7 nautical miles distant from the
+frigate, we at last found a smooth spot between two reefs, which projected
+above the level of the sea like a breakwater, and at once let go the
+boat's anchor. A regular landing-place, however, was not to be hoped for
+at this point. It was necessary first to make a spring to a block of rock,
+and thence, picking one's way among stones rendered slippery by being
+covered at flood-tide, endeavour to reach the beach. This we all
+succeeded in accomplishing over the rough rocks, without any mischance,
+and at last we stood on the firm soil of the Island of Amsterdam, at a
+spot which assuredly had never before been trodden by human feet, unless
+by some castaway. For only in consequence of the sea being perfectly calm,
+which at this season was quite unusual, were we able to reach the shore at
+this point.
+
+What a scene of wildest desolation, and inaccessible solitude now met our
+gaze! Around us nothing but huge blocks of basalt, some rolled about by
+the breakers, and so slippery with half-dry _algæ_, that one was in danger
+of falling at every stride; others with their angles and indentations as
+sharp, as when first violently torn from their original bed; and behind
+these gigantic blocks, a perpendicular wall of rock rising 200 feet sheer,
+composed of a schistus of basaltic lava lying regularly and horizontally
+one over the other, intermixed with red or brown slag, and yellow tufa.
+Immense holes and cavities in the rocky wall, as also the empty spaces
+between the broken blocks that had fallen down, and the vast air-holes
+scooped out in the lava beds, furnished an undisturbed nestling-place for
+flocks of a beautiful sea-swallow, with glossy black head, silver-grey
+body, and bill and feet of carmine red--the most elegant and attractive
+contrast of colours that can well be imagined upon any bird. These pretty
+creatures afforded great amusement to the sportsmen of our little party,
+while the geologist acquired a better idea and more information as to the
+mineralogy and geognosis of the island beneath the steep wall of rock,
+than he could have obtained above, where all seemed to be covered with
+thick green grass. But the botanist and zoologist found but little to
+repay their search on the beach. The same _Algæ_, the same grasses, the
+same _patellæ_ (limpets), as at St. Paul, even to the same caterpillars
+swarming upon every tuft of grass in numberless quantities. At several
+points, fresh, perfectly good, sweet spring-water trickled down from the
+heights, and we could thus confirm the relations of former explorers, that
+the island contains fresh water; but whether it can be got at, still
+remains a very uncertain question. As we were convinced, after several
+examinations and much exertion, that to ascend the precipice from this
+spot was impossible, it was resolved, after the men had rested, and a few
+observations had been made with the sextant, to re-embark and endeavour to
+find a more suitable spot for disembarking.
+
+We quitted this first spot about 2 P.M., and continued to steer along the
+coast in a N.E. direction. The character of the scenery remained almost
+unaltered. The steep shore wall indeed dipped somewhat occasionally, but
+it was never less than 100 feet above the level of the sea. At various
+points there appeared, as at St. Paul, between the tufa strata, black
+veins of basalt, and fragments of scoriæ, lying upon reddish-brown slag.
+Our curiosity, however, was especially excited by the appearance of small
+trees and low bushes. At first, while we were yet at some distance, we
+could barely distinguish a few dark, clear, green spots amid the universal
+dull olive appearance of the vegetation that covered the island; now that
+we were keeping closer in, we plainly saw small trees, which seemed most
+to resemble forests of pine, as also what appeared to be thick close
+brushwood of a light green colour, with which large patches of the middle
+and lower slopes of the island were covered. In vain did we watch for some
+spot in this singular island at which we might land and climb; at length,
+after steering several miles further along the coast, and passing several
+promontories advancing from the island, and numerous isolated rocks, we
+came, towards 3.30 P.M., upon a number of lava-blocks that had fallen from
+above, and, forming a sort of dam or bulwark between the sea and the
+shore, seemed to render disembarkation possible. The boat's anchor was
+again dropped, and we proceeded to make for the shore by dint of jumping,
+as before, from rock to rock; a method of reaching land more agreeable and
+better suited to penguins than decorous philosophers!
+
+Among the rocks on the strand lie fragments of shipwrecked vessels--pieces
+of masts and yards--dumb witnesses of human disaster, and suffering, and
+death! At this point the shore was not very steep. The masses of rock
+piled here on each other in wild confusion, made our ascent more
+practicable than at our former landing-place, though perhaps they
+necessitated greater circumspection. Dr. Hochstetter and M. Zelebor, as
+also Lieutenant Kronowetter, and a sailor, started for the height. A
+ridge, grown over with grass and rushes, and forming a line of
+communication between the upper and lower portions of the island, seemed
+the most accessible point. at which to mount to the high ground above. At
+first the path led over the colossal rampart of broken rocks and through
+the surf, after which came clumps of rushes and clods, in which the former
+grew, and thence upwards over masses of slag. It was a regular Sisyphean
+task. On the loose rolling _débris_ beneath the feet, for every five feet
+forwards, one slipped four backward, so that to climb this height of
+little over 100 feet, took nearly a whole hour. At last the adventurous
+scramblers stood on the top of the island, on a small bare cone of scoriæ,
+whence they were able to overlook a portion of the ground. Dense rush-like
+grass, as high as a man, thickly covered the entire surface--
+half-withered, half of a lively green; here broken short off by wind and
+rain, there still standing erect. Further progress was not to be thought
+of, not even as far as the green clump of bushes which had already been
+observed from the boat, although it was scarcely a hundred paces distant,
+on the surface of the declivity, and although a closer examination
+promised to afford many interesting details as to the vegetation on the
+island. It would have been necessary to make one's way either through
+heaps of withered rushes, requiring to be broken down at every moment, or
+across thick, matted, fresh, slippery grass, in order to get anywhere near
+the copse that resembled the pinewood. Moreover, owing to the short
+allowance of daylight that remained, both were for the present
+inaccessible.[75] Evening was coming on, and it was necessary to think of
+our return, as we were at a distance of at least eight miles from the
+frigate. With the help of pocket-handkerchiefs, which they had tied to the
+reeds, the explorers readily found again the place at which they had
+ascended, and now speedily returned to the improvised landing-place,
+where, meanwhile, the naturalists that had remained behind had occupied
+themselves with collecting specimens on the beach, and amid the
+surrounding rocks. A singular spectacle now presented itself to the
+astonished view. A couple of lucifer matches that had been thrown aside
+without further thought, had burst into flames amid the parched rush beds,
+and dense volumes of black smoke forthwith rose upon the surface of the
+island. The fire speedily spreading among the thick dry grass, soon
+assumed a formidable breadth, and ere long a considerable portion of the
+east coast of the island was in a light flame. There was now presented to
+the members of the _Novara_ expedition, the same spectacle as that
+witnessed by the naturalists of the _Recherche_, when D'Entrecasteaux
+passed here some sixty years before. It may safely be assumed that the
+fire, and the thick wreaths of smoke then visible were like those of
+to-day, the result of man's hands, and not of subterranean forces--in
+fact, kindled in all probability by fishermen, who were clearing this
+uninhabitable island of the close impervious brushwood that so greatly
+impedes locomotion, and were rendering it capable of being traversed, as
+well as susceptible of cultivation. During the night of 7th and 8th
+December, 1857, the sky was clear and cloudless, and the flames crackled
+and leaped high above the beach, in an elliptical area, which must have
+measured a couple of miles in its major axis. A dense, copper-coloured,
+luminous cloud of smoke rose straight into the air, where it spread out
+horizontally, till at last a long trail of smoke stretched in a S.E.
+direction to the farthest horizon, entirely covering the upper part of
+the island. About 2 A.M., according to the report of the officer of the
+watch, the spectacle was still more grand and imposing. The conflagration
+at that time extended over an immense surface, so that the imagination
+might naturally enough be disposed to regard this as the bursting forth of
+the pent-up flames of a volcano, with the usual accompaniments of red-hot
+streams of lava, clouds of floating ashes, and pillars of flame mounting
+to heaven.
+
+[Footnote 75: One of the shipwrecked crew of the _Meridian_, in an article
+in the _Nautical Magazine_, for 1854, p. 75, describes at some length the
+difficulties of access to this island. We quote it here as a supplement to
+our own experiences:--"After we had clambered up to the top by means of
+ropes, and after much exertion and considerable danger, we found the
+island for a space of two or three miles thickly covered with reeds, from
+5 to 8 feet high; behind rose a lofty hill, also clothed with reeds.
+Fortunately, during our stay on the island, there was a sufficiency of
+fresh water, although in summer, in all probability, there is a great
+scarcity. So long as we remained, constant rain fell upon the summit of
+the mountain, and kept the numerous little brooks full of water. In order
+to signal our situation to any ship that might be passing, we set the
+reeds on fire; but the flames spread more furiously than we had
+anticipated, so that our lives were endangered. A considerable quantity of
+young birds were picked up, which had fallen victims to the flames. On the
+29th August, to our great joy, a ship, the _Monmouth_, hove in sight, and
+observed our signal; but the surf was at this time so violent that no boat
+could reach us. At last, on 31st August, a boat came near enough to the
+shore to make us a signal to proceed eastward over the rocks. We set off
+at once, but found the path very rugged, and owing to the immense masses
+of rock lying around, excessively difficult. Besides reeds and brushwood,
+there were no other plants but parsley and endive (_cichorium intybus_).
+During the first half of the following day we found no water, but we found
+the hail very grateful, which day and night fell incessantly, alternating
+with rain. At the first watering-place we came upon an English sailor,
+whom the captain of the _Monmouth_ had despatched to assist us. He
+informed us we must make for the north side of the island, as no boat
+could reach the shore at the spot where we had gone ashore. The
+south-coast is the worst part of the island; there the surf breaks
+continually against the iron-bound coast; there is nothing resembling a
+beach--only here and there enormous blocks of a hard species of stone,
+that have fallen from time to time from the cliffs above. On 2nd
+September, we had neither provisions nor water. The following day,
+however, we found water, and a few cabbage-stalks, which several years
+before had been sown by some whalers, and fortunately had thrived. On 5th
+September, we reached what is called the Cabbage Garden, and the same
+evening arrived at the place where the boat was awaiting us."]
+
+Fortunately, this gigantic conflagration must have done far more good than
+harm to this desolate island, covered as it was for the most part with
+reeds, since, without destroying any of the vegetation that could be of
+service to man, it will greatly facilitate examination by future voyagers,
+and adapt it for settlement by fishers and others, who at present seem to
+leave it utterly abandoned.
+
+Towards 6 P.M., as it was already getting dark, our two boats set out on
+their return to the frigate, from which in the course of the day they had
+been distant about fifteen miles. However a fresh Northerly breeze having
+sprung up we were able to make sail, and at 7.30 P.M. once more reached
+the frigate, when we were received with a storm of questions, principally
+turning upon the mysterious far-visible conflagration,--which had been
+kindled by a couple of humble Vienna lucifers! During our visit to the
+island a variety of observations were also made on board the frigate, to
+obtain the position of Amsterdam, as also to determine the elevation of
+the most prominent peaks of the island, and the outline of the shore. The
+results of these gave the following: latitude 37° 58' 30'' S.; longitude,
+77° 34,' 44'' E. of Greenwich; elevation of the highest summit (nearly
+corresponding with previous observations), 2891 English feet; of the
+second highest, 2651 feet; the length of the South coast, as measured from
+the frigate, 32,359 feet; of the Western shore, 5507 feet.
+
+There was still some faint hope that we might visit the island next day.
+However, during the night the wind sprung up, the weather became variable,
+and we saw ourselves compelled to renounce our cherished desire to
+investigate the island thoroughly, the rather that, owing to the
+unpropitious weather during the last few weeks, the stay of the _Novara_
+in these latitudes had been prolonged so considerably beyond the period
+fixed, that no more time could be spared, if it were desirous to avoid
+sacrificing the objects of the Expedition with reference to other and more
+important departments of scientific enquiry, by engaging in them at a
+season in all probability highly unfavourable for the purpose.
+
+Consequently our observations in Amsterdam remained most imperfect;
+although the geologist of the expedition was enabled to clear up the
+uncertainty hitherto prevailing as to the geological structure of the
+island, and to determine upon scientific data, that Amsterdam is an
+extinct volcanic cone, of precisely the same character, and belonging to
+the same order of volcanic formation as the sister island of St. Paul;
+that it probably contains on itself all the usual indications of its
+volcanic origin, and that its upheaval probably took place at the same
+period. On the other hand, the naturalist regretted to see slip the
+opportunity so rarely vouchsafed, of instituting a comparison between the
+respective vegetations of these islands, and of making evident how,
+simultaneously with the advance of a more luxuriant, and more multiform
+vegetable organization, there also appears an entirely new race of
+animals, and how closely allied in the economy of nature is the existence
+of individual specimens with certain fixed pre-existent types. In any case
+St. Paul, which we enjoyed an opportunity of examining in the utmost
+detail, is, of the two islands, the most important to the commerce of the
+world, not merely as a finger-post on the most frequented deep-sea route
+in the Indian Ocean, but also as a haven of refuge for ships and crews.
+Already the crater-basin of St. Paul has served in case of need as a
+desirable asylum for ships that are half unseaworthy. Not many years since
+an English man-of-war steamer came to St. Paul, after a severe storm in
+the Indian Ocean, during which her engine broke down, and her rudder was
+knocked away, after which she, for twelve days, was steered by a temporary
+rudder. The vessel, after discharging the heaviest part of her equipment,
+was easily brought into the interior of the crater-basin, and was there
+hove down for several months on the Northern barrier, undergoing repairs.
+
+On the 8th December, about 4 A.M., only a dark cloud of smoke in the
+distant cloudless horizon indicated the position of Amsterdam. The island
+itself, properly speaking, was actually out of sight, for a fresh N.W.
+breeze had driven us merrily along during the night. The last hope was now
+dissipated of being able to obtain a view of the North side of Amsterdam.
+We were now rapidly approaching the region of the S.E. Trades. The breeze
+freshened and crept gradually to the West, thence to the South, and
+finally to the Eastward. This veering of the wind proved to be a
+fore-runner of the Trades, which we got into on 14th December, in S.
+latitude 28° 1', E. longitude 85°.
+
+On that day a merchantman hove in sight, which, with favouring breezes and
+all sail set, soon bore down on us. She came down without any flag, and
+stood right across our bows at so short a distance that we could plainly
+read her name--the _Bunker's Hill_, of Boston--on her stern. Thereupon we
+ran up our flag; and, as it is as gross a breach of the code of maritime
+politeness for a ship to pass across the bows of another in the open ocean
+without saluting, as for a man on land to brush quickly across another's
+path without apologizing, a blank shot was fired at this unmannerly
+American. To this manifestation etiquette lays it down that, as the
+hoisting of her flag by a man-of-war is a direct challenge for any
+merchantman that may be in sight to hoist its flag, any neglect of these
+universally recognized rules must involuntarily give rise to suspicions.
+After we had fired the blank shot, the American, by a telegraph of
+flag-signals, enquired the latitude and longitude, which in merchant ships
+in the open sea is pretty frequently resorted to, in order to know where
+precisely they are, as they are not able to make such frequent
+observations as ships of war. Before anything else, however, it was
+necessary to settle the question of saluting; and this the obstinate
+Yankee, in spite of the warning signal, seemed resolved not to notice,
+although he well knew the seriousness of his position, as was abundantly
+evident in the celerity with which several ladies and gentlemen, whom we
+could discern on deck, flew to seek shelter below! A second report,
+accompanied by a ball over his stern, at last brought this pertinacious
+captain to his senses, and the whistling of the shot had the desired
+effect. The "Stars and Stripes" were run up, upon which we signalled the
+required latitude and longitude. Probably it was but a petulant explosion
+of a silly national vanity, as also the consciousness of commanding a
+handsome crack "clipper," that could speedily run out of gun-shot, which
+led to this premeditated and persistent violation of one of the most
+ordinary rules of politeness. Indeed, even the vessels of the North
+American navy itself are frequently compelled in the open sea to treat
+their fellow-countrymen in a similar manner; and the captain of the
+war-steamer _Minnesota_, looking after the North American interests in
+China, was obliged, as we learned afterwards at Shanghai, to enforce a
+compliance with established sea usages on one of his seafaring
+compatriots, by dint of cannon-shot, in accordance with the undoubted
+practice of all maritime nations.
+
+The south-east Trade, which we had hoped would drive us on our destined
+course, was not so strong or so steady as we had expected, chiefly
+perhaps in consequence of the influence exercised by the Australian
+continent, the temperature of which during this, the summer season of the
+Southern Hemisphere, is raised to an extraordinary degree by its sandy
+surface, that when the air has become thus warmed, it ascends and becomes
+more rarefied in its lower strata, in consequence of which its elasticity
+becomes so great as to drive back the surrounding colder atmosphere, and
+only admit it to contact with the heated air at its most remote limits.
+This occurs the more readily, that the heated air, after it has risen to
+the more rarefied tracts, expands on all sides, and at a certain distance
+from the lower level, begins to add to the pressure of the atmosphere. In
+this self-acting zone of increased atmospheric pressure, the winds,
+however, are naturally more faint, and, to observers who happen to be on
+the exterior of this zone, always appear to take their rise from the
+further side. For this reason, probably, we fell in with easterly breezes,
+so long as we had the Northern portion of Australia to the eastward of us.
+
+At any rate, the equilibrium of the air seemed to be disturbed, as we
+could plainly perceive from the weather and the confused sea. At last on
+18th December, the heavens seemed somewhat more propitious, though the
+wind still continued easterly; indeed occasionally blew from the north,
+and frequent squalls of rain poured pitilessly down upon us. The more,
+however, we increased our distance from the Australian continent, that is,
+from all land to the eastward, the more steadily blew the south east
+Trade. And so we kept standing steadily forwards, till at last, on the
+24th December, in 6° 4' S. Lat., and 82° 34' E. Long., we reached the
+eastern boundaries of the Trades and got into that of calms.
+
+The heat, which thus far had spared us, began now to be most oppressive,
+and was felt all the more owing to the air being extraordinarily damp and
+dense. Frequently in the afternoon a passing shower of rain, which would
+sometimes completely flood the deck, would cool the air for a few fleeting
+moments. Occasionally indeed we had westerly and more rarely
+north-westerly breezes, but these were never of long duration, and were
+incessantly broken by rains and squalls.
+
+And at this same season, at which in our distant Fatherland, palace and
+hut are decked out with unwonted attention, when golden fruits and elegant
+presents glitter from the green fir-branches of the Christmas Tree, all
+lit up with the neat little wax-tapers, when man's heart seems to overflow
+with cheerfulness and love of his fellow-creatures,--at this season we
+were languishing far from our dear ones, tormented with the intense heat,
+scarcely able to realize to ourselves, that at home it must now be snow
+and frost, while keen Boreas is whirling the snowflakes aloft, and howling
+a grim accompaniment the while! However, we promised ourselves the
+satisfaction of enjoying these pleasures at our own firesides, whereupon
+our recollections of home and dear friends imparted to our minds a
+wholesome stimulus, arising from the soul-inspiring conviction, that we
+too were present in their minds and hearts at this hallowed season. Nay,
+several of the officers of the _Novara_ Expedition were surprised when
+far at sea, in the very midst of the Indian Ocean, with Christmas gifts,
+which thoughtful friends had many months before entrusted to the care of
+discreet fellow-voyagers.
+
+After constantly struggling against calms and contrary winds, exactly at
+the first stroke of the New Year, at midnight of 31st December-1st
+January, we reached the Equator, which we were now crossing for the second
+time, and began the year 1858 in the Northern Hemisphere.
+
+On this New Year's Day we had nearly had a great disaster. A lad who was
+coming down the shrouds fell overboard. The sea was perfectly calm and
+smooth, but already on the morning of this very day we had seen many
+sharks, those dreaded foes of man in the domain of ocean, so that the life
+of the unfortunate youth seemed seriously imperilled. The same instant in
+which the youth fell, saw a life-buoy thrown over, a boat prepared for
+lowering, and all usual appliances for a rescue made available. But
+although an excellent swimmer, he seemed to lose all presence of mind,
+probably through fear, and must undoubtedly have been drowned, had not the
+boatswain's mate, and two other sailors, leaped into the water and made
+all haste to his assistance. Meanwhile the boat had been got into the
+water, by which rescued and rescuers were got safe on board again.
+
+A few months later, the boatswain's mate, for his gallant conduct on this
+occasion, received, by the express orders of His Majesty, the silver cross
+of merit, while the sailors were advanced one grade.
+
+The current, which runs northward along the coast of Australia, but turns
+off to the westward about the tenth degree of South latitude, so as to
+pass southward of Ceylon, directly along the Equator to the Coast of
+Africa, carried us far to the westward, in consequence of which we had
+overcast, uncertain weather, with, for the most part, calms or light
+breezes. As we found ourselves approaching the fourth degree of Northern
+latitude, a rather fresh N.E. wind sprung up, probably the trade wind of
+the Northern Hemisphere, which, however, as we neared Ceylon, again died
+away to a calm.
+
+At the same time, in lat. 5° 32' N., 79° 5' E., we fell in with a current
+running more than two miles an hour. We had, as it turned out, got to the
+westward of the roadstead of Point de Galle, in Ceylon, and found some
+little difficulty in making headway against the current. On 7th January,
+toward 3.30 P.M., land was made to the eastward, and an hour later, a
+Cingalese canoe was perceived making for the frigate under sail. It was
+the pilot boat, whose crew, having been informed by a Hamburg brig that a
+large ship was in sight, had put to sea to meet us.
+
+At the first sight of this little canoe, it was hardly possible to refrain
+from amazement at the courage and hardihood with which the half-naked
+Cingalese boatmen could put off some 30 or 40 miles to sea in such a tiny,
+narrow boat, that barely gives them room to sit lengthwise. Two
+cross-bars, or outriggers, projecting on one side, where they are
+fastened externally to a rather massive beam, which swims parallel with
+the boat, gave this canoe, apparently so fragile, such stability and
+seaworthiness, that it is at all times not less safe than a boat of
+European construction.[76]
+
+[Footnote 76: These canoes resemble very closely the "proas," of the
+Polynesian Islands, carrying a beam on one side, which is quite straight,
+and always kept on the lee of the wind and sea, the change of course being
+effected by simply shifting the sail, and steering with the paddle from
+the opposite end.]
+
+The natives steer with short paddles, and continue an incredibly long time
+at this most exhausting work, as we must conceive it to be. And yet they
+are to appearance a feeble race, except that the muscular system of the
+upper part of the body is remarkably developed.
+
+The dress of these people is remarkably simple, and usually consists only
+of a piece of coloured linen cloth or calico, which, worn short like a
+woman's petticoat, is thrown single-fold round the loins.
+
+The pilot, though he could only make himself intelligible in broken
+English, speedily came to a good understanding, and offered to sell us
+bananas, pine-apples, and cocoa-nuts, as also Ceylon jewels, the latter of
+which he carried on his person, secured in a parti-coloured cotton belt.
+This reminded us that we were nearing the shores of the country in which
+costly stones are found, but precisely on that account, as was natural,
+our speculative pilot found but a poor market for his wares.
+
+Off the coast we caught a shark 7 feet long, and 135 lbs. weight--a rather
+juvenile specimen--whose teeth, which we examined, were already strong
+and sharp enough to seize a man, and strip the flesh off him. Also a
+number of large dolphins and other fish, sported in the dead water under
+the frigate's stern, and provided plentiful employment for the harpoon and
+the rod. Presently we found ourselves within six miles of the land, when a
+large number of pirogues forthwith came swarming about us, all of a
+construction similar to the pilot boat, and each manned by four half-naked
+bronze natives. These offered fruits for sale, especially magnificent,
+gigantic clusters of banana. On one such cluster we counted, arranged in
+five rows, one over the other, not less than 175 bananas.
+
+On the 8th January, we anchored in the unpicturesque haven of Point de
+Galle, surrounded by groves of cocoa-nut palms, directly opposite the
+lighthouse tower, and in a fine quartz sand bottom of 16-1/2 fathoms (103
+feet English). All large ships, that only intend remaining a short time,
+anchor in the open roadstead, the entrance into the inner harbour being
+rather difficult, owing to numerous coral reefs. In the roads also lay the
+English frigate _Shannon_, from which, in the absence of her captain, the
+first lieutenant immediately came on board the _Novara_, and in the
+handsomest manner put his services at our disposal.
+
+As the only Austrian Consul on the island was resident in Colombo, M.
+Sonnenkalb, the Consul for Hamburg, had the courtesy to receive us with
+the most hospitable of welcomes, and proceeded to do us the honours of the
+place.
+
+On the 10th we hauled the frigate into the small inner harbour, in order
+to facilitate the shipping of stores. The entrance is rather winding,
+owing to the numerous shoals, and it is with some little difficulty that
+one can find a comfortable, commodious berth among such a crowd of
+shipping. We only saluted the flag of the dominant nationality--a
+customary courtesy--and were replied to by the batteries on shore. An
+officer of the frigate was then dispatched to announce our arrival to the
+governor of the station--a major in the English army. This gentleman
+seemed not to think it incumbent on him to put himself in the least out of
+his way for us. Indeed, we even experienced some little difficulty in
+procuring a sufficient supply of drinking water for shipment as stores;
+but we must at the same time add, in justice to the representatives of
+England in distant countries, that during our entire voyage this was the
+one solitary instance in which English military official men did not
+display that universal readiness to oblige, which, to their credit, is so
+conspicuously and so kindly displayed by them in their intercourse with
+foreign nations.
+
+[Illustration: CINGALESE CANOE.]
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF ADAM'S PEAK FROM COLOMBO.]
+
+
+
+
+                               VIII.
+
+                               Ceylon.
+
+                   STAY FROM 8TH TO 16TH JAN., 1858.
+
+   Neglect of the Island hitherto by the English Government.--
+     Better Prospects for the Future.--The Cingalese, their
+     Language and Customs.--Buddhism and its Ordinances.--Visit to
+     a Buddhist Temple in the Vicinity of Galle.--The sacred
+     Bo-tree.--Other Aborigines of Ceylon.--The Weddàhs.--
+     Traditions as to their Origin.--Galle as a City and Harbour.--
+     Snake-charmers.--Departure for Colombo.--Cultivation of the
+     Cocoa-nut Palm, a benevolent, Buddha-pleasing work.--
+     Polyandria; or, Community of Husbands.--Supposed Origin.--
+     Annual Exportation of Cocoa-nuts.--Rest-houses for
+     Travellers.--Curry, the National Dish.--A Misfortune and its
+     Consequences.--The Catholic Mission of St. Sebastian de Makun,
+     and Father Miliani.--Annoying Delays with restive Horses.--
+     Colombo.--A Stroll through the "_Pettah_" or Black Town.--Ice
+     Trade of the Americans with Tropical Countries.--Cinnamon
+     Gardens and Cinnamon Cultivation.--Consequences of the
+     Monopoly of Cinnamon.--Rise and Expansion of the Coffee
+     Culture in Ceylon.--Pearl-fishery.--Latest Examination of the
+     Ceylon Banks of Pearl Oysters, by Dr. Kelaart, and its
+     Results.--Aripo at the Season of Pearl-fishing.--The Divers.--
+     Pearl-lime, a Chewing Substance of wealthy Malays;--Annual
+     Profit of the Pearl-fishery.--Origin of the Pearl.--Poetry
+     and Natural Science.--Artificial Production of the Pearl.--The
+     Chank-shell--The Wealth of Ceylon in Precious Stones.--Visit
+     to a Cocoa-nut Oil Manufactory.--The Cowry-shell, a Promoter
+     of the Slave Trade.--Discovery of valuable Cingalese MSS. on
+     Palm-leaves.--The heroic Poem of "Mahawwanso," and Turner's
+     English Translation of it.--Hospitality of English Officials
+     in Colombo.--A second Visit to Father Miliani.--Agreeable
+     Reception.--The Antidote-oil against Bites of Poisonous
+     Snakes.--Adventures on the Journey back to Galle.--Ascent of
+     Adam's Peak by two Members of the Expedition.--The sacred
+     Footprint.--Descent.--The "Bullock-bandy," or Native Waggon.--
+     Departure from Galle for Madras.--The Bassos (shallows).--A
+     Berlin Rope-dancer among the Passengers.--Nyctalopia; or,
+     Night Blindness.--Fire on board.--Arrival in Madras Roads.
+
+
+The inquirer who becomes acquainted by personal examination with the
+important geographical position of the Island of Ceylon (called also
+Seilan or Singhala), her commodious harbours, her productiveness, and her
+marvellous climate, involuntarily wonders at the stepmother's part that
+England has hitherto played with respect to this renowned island of palms
+and spices, the Malta of the Indian Ocean, which of all the British
+possessions in distant parts of the earth, has, till recently, received
+the least care or attention.
+
+It must be borne in mind, however, that Ceylon is an appanage of the
+British Crown, and it is not an independent, self-supporting colony. Those
+shortcomings of administration, for which the mother country is
+exclusively responsible, have been hitherto a complete drag upon her
+development. But the English people have this advantage over all other
+nations, that once anything has been recognized to be useful and
+imperatively required, they proceed to apply it with such energy, that
+they are enabled to make up for any neglect with giant strides. During
+late years many fetters have been knocked off which formerly impeded the
+more active development of agriculture and commerce. The harbour of Point
+de Galle (also called only Galle for shortness) has become a central
+station for the steam-boat trade with the East Indies, the Burmese
+Archipelago, China, and Australia. A telegraphic wire will ere long
+stretch from Ceylon to England, such as even now unites the island with
+the Coromandel Coast and India; a railway is in course of construction
+between the most important commercial centres of the island, and so
+obvious are the fundamental benefits it must confer, that ere long the
+classical and incomparably beautiful island of Ceylon is destined to shine
+a star of the first magnitude in the azure of the Indian Ocean, one of the
+most prosperous, wealthy, and blest of islands!
+
+The scientific researches of all kinds, which have in modern days been
+instituted in Ceylon, have been attended with the most important results,
+bearing upon its history and its various tribes, as well as on its natural
+wealth; and the masterly and marvellous work Sir Emerson Tennent lately
+published on the isle of Ceylon, seems intended to compensate for many
+instances of neglect which Ceylon and its inhabitants have experienced
+from the English since they seized on it.
+
+Embracing all the three kingdoms of nature, and following up with learned
+accuracy the history of the inhabitants, from the obscure traditions
+attending their earliest settlement down to the present day, Sir Emerson
+Tennent's work is a perfect pattern of a monography, although upon this
+subject the German inquirer will involuntarily, and not without an
+emotion of pride, recall to mind Carl Ritter's admirable, well-digested
+publication upon Ceylon, in his classical work on Eastern Asia, doubly
+meritorious by the very fact that the German scholar never set foot in the
+country itself. There are, however, indeed few spots on earth which
+present such inexhaustible subjects for the study of the historian as well
+as the inquirer into physical science, of the poet and the political
+economist, as this romantically-beautiful island, which we have been
+taught to regard as the Garden of the World, as indeed the special site of
+the Garden of Eden, the first abode of the progenitors of the human race.
+
+We have not to do here, as in most of the islands of southern seas, with a
+savage people, that have only, since the first appearance of Europeans,
+emerged from a state of barbarism, and been raised one step towards
+civilization, but rather find, as in the East Indies and China, a peculiar
+type of civilization, which, although widely differing from that of
+Europe, yet seems not less valuable and extraordinary. The whites (scarce
+7000 in number, of whom 2482 are females), who live scattered over an area
+of 24,700 English square miles, have hitherto been too few in number to
+exercise any marked influence on the customs or mode of life of a native
+coloured population of 1,726,640 souls, and hence it is that Ceylon
+exhibits a more romantic and characteristic air than any other British
+settlement in distant parts of the globe.
+
+A people like the Cingalese, of such ardent imaginativeness, with a
+splendid history, and a religion professed in the various realms of the
+East by more than 300 millions of people, gains in interest the more we
+become acquainted with them, and the more we make their traditions, their
+mode of life, and their customs, the object of special inquiry.
+
+The Cingalese, or indigenous natives (so named to distinguish them from
+the other inhabitants of the island, belonging to other stocks and
+amalgamated races, who at various periods had settled here, and who call
+themselves Ceylonese), were entirely the offspring of Hindoo emigrants,
+who, about five centuries before the birth of Christ, came from Hindostan
+to Ceylon, and imported their own mode of government, and system of caste,
+as also their arts, language, and religion, from the continent into the
+island.
+
+They constitute the germ of the present population, and early divided
+themselves into four leading castes:--1st, that of the royal family;--2nd,
+the Brahmins;--3rd, the merchants, peasants, and shepherds;--and 4th, the
+sixty inferior common castes. At present there exist in Ceylon only the
+two latter. The most numerous is that of the peasants, who, however,
+meddle but little with the cultivation of the soil, but have arrogated to
+themselves the exclusive and hereditary possession of all employments, lay
+or ecclesiastical. The dress of the Cingalese usually consists of a cloth
+wound turban-fashion round their head, and long white drapery. On festive
+occasions they wear richly-adorned tight-fitting jackets of velvet or
+wool, and on such occasions rank and power assert themselves by the number
+of garments, to such an extent that frequently a wealthy man makes his
+appearance in several of these habiliments, worn one above the other. The
+Cingalese are shorter in stature than the Europeans, their average stature
+being 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 5 inches, English. Their _physique_,
+though graceful and delicate, is powerful and muscular, with a brawny
+breast, broad shoulders, the muscles of the thigh strongly developed, but
+with disproportionately small hands and feet. Their colour is commonly a
+light-brown, their hair black and quite straight. The women are
+beautifully formed, but even when they can, like Asokamalla of historic
+fame, boast all the forty and six marks of the Cingalese ideal,[77] they
+must fall far short of the European standard of female beauty, with their
+bodies anointed with oil, and their mouths stained with the betel-nut. As
+the Cingalese girls usually marry so early as 12 years of age, they
+speedily lose the bloom of youth, and frequently have the appearance of
+crones at 20. Another especially loathsome habit of the Cingalese is the
+chewing the betel-nut, a custom so universally prevalent among all Indian
+races, that not merely the men and women, but the very children exhibit an
+extraordinary predilection for it. The ingredients of this masticatory
+consist of the green tender leaves of the Betel-pepper-shrub (_Piper
+betle_), the nut of the areca-palm (_Areca catechu_, or cabbage-tree),
+some lime made of calcined shells, and tobacco, which, according to the
+rank of the individual, they keep ready prepared by their side, in silver
+or brass boxes, resembling snuff-boxes. These corrosive substances at the
+same time stain the saliva so deep a red, that, after long use, the lips
+and teeth seem as though smeared with blood.
+
+[Footnote 77: Of these forty-six perfections of womanly beauty we extract
+the following by way of example, from a Cingalese author:--hair, glossy as
+the tail of a peacock, and hanging in ringlets to the knee, eye-brows like
+the rainbow, eyes like sapphire, and the leaves of the manilla flower, a
+hawk nose, lips lustrous and red as coral, teeth small and regular, like
+the buds of the jasmine, neck thick and round, haunches broad, breast
+firm, and conical like the cocoa-nut, the figure slight, capable of being
+spanned by the hand, the limbs spindle-shaped, the sole of the foot
+without any hollow, the skin free from any prominence of the bones,
+sweeping in rounded curves, soft and tender.]
+
+The language is an offshoot of the Sanscrit, copious, harmonious, and full
+of expression, with threefold grammar, and as many vocabularies, viz. for
+the royal tongue, the official or court tongue, and that of society at
+large. To these there must be added the Pali, the learned, but obsolete
+written language of the priestly caste, which the Cingalese have in common
+with the kingdoms of Siam and Ava, in the further Indies. In this
+language, itself but a dialect of the Sanscrit, all their sacred books,
+traditions, and poetry are written. In many parts of the island the
+knowledge of language and written lore are held in such high honour, that
+grammar and literature form the entire study of the inhabitants. Reading
+and writing are as common among the Cingalese as in England, except that
+in Ceylon the women take no part therein. They do not write as we do, with
+quill or steel pen upon paper, but engrave the characters with a
+fine-pointed iron graver, or _stylus_, upon the leaves of the Talipot
+palm-tree (_Corypha umbraculifera_), from which they slice a broad strip
+for the purpose about 2 feet long, and several inches broad. These require
+no further preparation than that they must be well smoothed beforehand,
+and all inequalities removed. In order to render the writing more clear
+and legible, the Cingalese rub it with a mixture of cocoa-nut oil and fine
+pulverized wood-ashes, which imparts to it durability and prevents
+obliteration. Great numbers, however, use the leaves of another species of
+palm for writing upon, viz. the Palmyra palm (_Borassus flabelliformis_),
+but those of the Talipot are preferred to all others for their closeness
+of texture, and are alone used in important records and other documents.
+
+The religion of the Cingalese is Buddhism, which in Ceylon still
+flourishes in these times in all its pristine vigour. Buddha is not the
+name of the founder of this belief, who is called Gautama, or Sakja-Muni,
+but is only one of the numerous titles of honour invented by that
+personage, who in the Sanscrit figures so conspicuously as a sage. Gautama
+was born in the province of Maghada (now known as Reha), in Northern
+Hindostan, B.C. 624. His parents were Suddhodana, King of Magadha, and his
+consort Maja. Contemplating the degeneracy and misery of man, sunk in
+deepest woe, Gautama attacked the doctrine of Brahma, rejected the Vedas,
+or holy books, and founded the new faith, which consists of the following
+fundamental propositions:--The Creator and Ruler of the world is a
+supreme, invisible, purely spiritual (and for that reason obviously
+impossible to be figured) Being, almighty, wise, just, beneficent, and
+merciful. Man most fitly recognizes and honours the Deity by silent
+contemplation: by the practice of chastity, temperance, and virtue he
+attains to happiness. The complete fulfilment of all his duties confers on
+him here on earth the dignity of a Buddha, or sage, and after death
+consigns him to the beatific repose of _non-existence_[78] (_Nirwana_).
+Condemned souls are born again in the forms of wild animals. According to
+Gautama's teaching a fresh Buddha always appears at certain epochs, whose
+existence is manifested by his extraordinary spiritual powers, by his
+deeds, and by his prophecies, selected by destiny for the purpose of
+enlightening the world as to the decrees of the Supreme Being, and to
+restore religion to her pristine purity. The death of a Buddha is also the
+commencement of a new reckoning of time. Gautama, who died about B.C. 542,
+or some 2400 years since, was the forty-fifth and last Buddha that
+appeared to the Cingalese; his doctrine must continue to operate for 5000
+years, when, according to the Cingalese traditions, the next Buddha, or
+Purifier, will appear. Gautama's belief, bequeathed by him to his
+disciple, the Brahmin Mahakaja, was immediately translated into Sanscrit,
+and speedily spread. Several hundred temples and monuments dedicated to
+him are scattered in various parts of the island, and remain to this day
+an evidence of the extent and influence of Buddhism.
+
+[Footnote 78: The ten precepts of the moral code of Buddhism are as
+follows:--Kill no living creature--do not steal--follow no unclean
+occupation--tell no lies or untruths--drink no fermented liquors--live
+exclusively on vegetables--anoint neither the head nor the body--go to no
+singing parties or spectacles--do not sleep on a raised nor on a wide bed--
+eat but once a day, and before noon.]
+
+[Illustration: BUDDHA TEMPLE NEAR GALLE.]
+
+On the day of our arrival we at once set off to visit one of these
+Buddhist temples, in the vicinity of Galle. The edifice is small and
+insignificant, only the carved woodwork of the door presenting any object
+of interest as a work of art. In the interior is a gigantic figure of
+Buddha, carved in wood, and in a reclining position; it is 20 feet long,
+and painted yellow and red, with long flaps to the ears, and a lotus
+flower on the head; while on the walls around, richly decorated with
+scrollwork, dragons and lions, part painted, part sculptured, various
+interesting episodes are represented in the history of Buddhism. Right in
+front of the figure are placed a number of offerings of the most
+miscellaneous description, beneath which are flowers and fruits; a small
+tin box is also particularly conspicuous, into which every stranger is
+expected to drop a piece of silver by way of present. Adjoining such a
+temple are always to be found the _wiharas_, or residences of the priests
+(_hamaduruhs_), and the spot where preaching and teaching are carried on.
+The priests wear long wide vestures, yellow or white according to their
+rank, or else only a single yellow outer garment, which falls in the form
+of graceful drapery over the naked shoulders; their heads are shaved, and
+they walk about quite barefoot, with a parasol of Talipot palm in their
+hand, and observe with strangers a reserved, distrustful demeanour.
+
+We were conducted all round by a young priest, of about 20 years of age,
+who spoke a little English, which is not a very common accomplishment,
+since the Buddhists have a great dislike for all that is foreign. Only at
+the conclusion of our visit did the old, grey, half-blind superior priest
+make his appearance, saluted us, but immediately left us to snatch from a
+boy a shaddock (_Citrus decumana_), which is especially prized by the
+Cingalese on account of the refreshing qualities of its juice.
+
+The priestly office, however, does not deter a native from indulging the
+disgusting habit of chewing the betel-nut, and this aged _hamaduruh_
+became much more sociable on receiving some.
+
+Adjoining the temple, which stands in a charming cocoa-nut grove, we first
+got an idea of the extraordinary luxuriance of the vegetation of this
+island. In a single enclosure, not much larger than an ordinary
+house-garden, we saw coffee-trees, cinnamon-bushes, clove-trees,
+nutmeg-trees, (_Areca catechu_), oranges, lemons, pine-apples, and
+bread-fruit trees (_Arctocarpus incisa_), flourishing in wildest
+profusion.
+
+A second temple, which we also visited, was the Dadále Panzela, the
+largest in the province, and the seat of the high-priest of the Buddhists.
+This worthy personage, a septuagenary, is named Nanalangara Seresumana
+Mahdamaradjigurù Ganatchari-Naikunangi, and is surrounded by a staff of
+priests of the temple who are reputed holy, and who apparently venerate
+him as a superior being. This temple did not differ much in construction
+and arrangement from the first; but the place set apart for instruction,
+where, at the time of our visit, some youths were busily engaged in
+copying the sacred books upon palm leaves, as also the residences of the
+priests, made a much more imposing impression, and spoke of a certain
+degree of opulence. In the midst of a piece of ground laid out like a
+garden was planted the sacred Bo-tree, which is looked upon as holy by the
+Buddhists, because, according to an ancient tradition, Buddha was in the
+habit of reposing under the shadow of its branches, as often as he visited
+the earth. Towering above everything wherever a Buddhist temple is raised,
+there a Bo-tree is planted; but the particular sacred tree, the original
+plant from which the legend took its rise, grows at Anaradnapura, in the
+northern part of the former kingdom of Kandi, whither it had been suddenly
+translated from a far-distant land, and spontaneously took root in the
+spot where it at present stands, in order to serve as a protection and
+shelter for Buddha.[79] Ninety Cingalese monarchs are interred around it,
+all of whom, by the temples and statues they erected to Buddha, are deemed
+worthy of this pre-eminent mark of distinction.
+
+[Footnote 79: The sacred Bo-tree (_Ficus religiosa_) of the Buddhists is
+frequently confounded with the Banyan Tree (_Ficus Indica_), held in such
+honour by the Brahmins, from which latter it differs in this, that it does
+not throw out from its branches numberless twigs which take root again in
+the earth. The incessant waving and rustling of the leaves and branches,
+which is common to both species of _Ficus_, is regarded by the faithful
+Buddhists as the effect of a fear-instilling scene of which the sage was
+once witness under the Bo-tree; just as the Syrian Christians deduce, from
+the fact that the Holy Cross was manufactured out of aspen-wood, that this
+tree is trembling, even in our days, with anguish and terror. Singular,
+what an important part the fig-tree seems to play in all religions,
+including the Christian and the Mahometan!]
+
+The grey-headed high-priest permitted the library of the temple to be
+shown to us, which consists of a large number of Pali manuscripts,
+inscribed on Talipot leaves, each of which was enclosed between two
+elegant boards made of calamander wood (_Diopyrus hirsuta_), fastened with
+strings, and enveloped in numerous folds of cloth, the whole guarded with
+singular reverence, in lofty, broad, wooden cupboards, richly carved. When
+we returned, the chief priest requested us to give him our names, and that
+of the country we came from, upon which a young priest carefully wrote
+down with a goose quill on a sheet of paper, in Cingalese language,
+apparently with the view of showing us civility, some superficial remarks
+respecting the _Novara_ Expedition.
+
+Besides the pure Cingalese, the island is also inhabited by Hindoos from
+the Malabar coast, Moors (the descendants of wandering Arabs and
+Mahometans from northern India, who at present carry on the greater part
+of the trade of the island), Malays, Javanese; then Portuguese, Dutch,
+British of the various nationalities comprised under that title; and,
+lastly, Negroes from Mozambique and Madagascar, who have formed alliances
+with the Cingalese, and are rearing a numerous mixed race.[80]
+
+[Footnote 80: What is related by various writers of the practice of
+"running a muck" (a custom that seems to recall the frightful blood-feuds
+of the Corsicans), long supposed to be peculiar to Ceylon, in which a
+Malay thirsting for revenge, and armed with a naked "_kreese_," or dagger,
+rushes through the streets like a madman, yelling "_Amock, Amock_" (kill,
+kill), and runs the fearful weapon through the body of the very first
+person he meets,--seems to be founded on a mistake. No one could give us
+any particulars on the subject from personal observation. Sir Emerson
+Tennant too, in his work on Ceylon, passes over this custom of "running a
+muck," without a syllable of mention. Evidently the custom is not
+naturalized in this island. It now prevails among the Malays of the Sunda
+archipelago, while in Ceylon no instance has occurred within the memory of
+man. That this tendency to murder is caused by the use of opium likewise
+appears improbable. Crawford, in his most excellent descriptive dictionary
+of the Indian islands, speaking of "running a muck," pretends it results
+frequently from a monomania taking this particular form, and originating
+in disorders of the digestive organs.]
+
+Deep in the interior of the island, in the province of Bintang, N.E. from
+Kandi, and towards Trincomalee and Batacalva, in holes in the earth, or
+under the palm-leaves, reside the tribe of the Weddàhs or Veddàhs, the
+most savage race in the island, traditionally said to be the aborigines
+proper, who go about naked, with the exception of a girdle round the
+loins, and use only bows and javelins, which however they manufacture and
+handle with great dexterity.
+
+According to one of the various Cingalese traditions, these Weddàhs are
+the descendants of a very bloodthirsty, cannibal monarch, who, deposed by
+his people, was only permitted the alternative of death, or of
+withdrawing with the ministers of his cruelty to roam for ever amid the
+solitudes of the forest. The dethroned king chose the latter alternative,
+and thus became the little-to-be-envied progenitor of this rude savage
+race. At any rate it seems worthy of note, that these Weddàhs, destitute
+though they are of the remotest traces of civilization, are still regarded
+as belonging to the privileged caste.
+
+Owing to the shortness of our stay, we unfortunately had no opportunity of
+visiting the interior of the island, or of seeing these Weddàhs. With
+difficulty did we tear ourselves from the zone of the cocoa-nut growth,
+and therefore only got acquainted with two places on the island, Galle and
+Colombo, the latter the seat of government.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A HOUSE AT GALLE.]
+
+Galle is, from its position, as also from its configuration, indisputably
+the best and most important harbour in the south and west of the island,
+as Colombo can only be regarded as an open, insecure roadstead. Founded in
+the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, conquered at a later period by
+the Dutch, and finally, at the peace of Amiens, transferred to the
+English, Galle displays singularly few traces of its different masters.
+The streets are narrow, but cleanly; the houses are for the most part
+constructed of earth, with verandahs, or airy colonnades towards the
+street, and rooms within, plastered to imitate stone, of spacious
+dimensions, as is desirable, considering the heat of the climate. As one
+enters from the roadway at once into the sitting apartment, and as the
+door stands wide open all day to admit a free current of air, a sort of
+open screen-work is usually put up before the entrance, to prevent a too
+minute inspection of the interior, by the prying eyes of inquisitive
+passers-by. At Galle we, for the first time, saw the "Punkah," a sort of
+fan peculiar to India, which stretches from one end of the roof of the
+room to the other, and being swung to and fro by a servant produces a
+refreshing coolness. Here, too, we first became acquainted with the
+"Gecko" (_Hemidactylus maculatus_), an elegant little house-lizard, which,
+with graceful agility, runs to and fro upon the walls, windows, and roofs,
+and speedily becomes as familiar with man as a pet-dog or kitten. They
+usually make their appearance towards evening, when, without the slightest
+symptoms of timidity, they begin their surprising evolutions, during which
+they catch gnats with astonishing dexterity, and although they are
+disagreeable objects to all new comers, one speedily becomes accustomed to
+these harmless, innocuous, playful little animals, of which the Ceylonese
+are in the habit of relating many interesting and amusing anecdotes.
+
+Of late years, during which Galle has risen into considerable importance,
+as the converging point of the lines of steamers to Eastern India, China,
+and Australia, the number of substantial houses has greatly increased, and
+several large hotels are found here replete with every comfort. Like most
+European settlements in India, the Cape, and China, Galle possesses a fort
+in which, at an earlier period, the European colonists dwelt with their
+wives and families apart from the natives, and has also a "Pettah," or
+Black Town, a sort of Cingalese Ghetto, exclusively inhabited by the black
+population. At present this separation is not so strenuously enforced as
+in earlier times, but whoever would seek to form a more accurate idea of
+the various races of this population, its mode of life and its demeanour,
+must leave the so-called "Fort," and wander through the native or
+Cingalese quarter. Here are the fruit and vegetable markets; here all was
+devoted to buying and selling, which seemed to excite the otherwise
+listless little covetous disposition of the Cingalese; here jugglers and
+snake-charmers exhibit, who excite interest rather by the horrible nature
+and the foolhardiness of the performances, than by their executing any
+surprising feats. A belief is prevalent among the people that this
+singular class of men, greatly resembling our own gipsies, possess the art
+of depriving a poisonous serpent of its venom, and rendering it
+innocuous. And, in fact, one does see them produce from a white cloth the
+dreaded Cobra di Capello, 4 or 5 feet long, and exquisitely marked,
+irritate it violently, and go through all manner of unpleasant
+performances with it on their naked bodies. Frequently the serpent, weary
+of being constantly brought out for exhibition, endeavours to escape from
+its tormentor, whereupon a general scramble for escape takes place among
+the spectators. Every one hurries off to a safe distance, and the
+unfortunate charmer is left alone on the scene with his eminently
+intractable pupil, and has, into the bargain, given his exhibition in
+vain. As, however, it not unfrequently happens that the bite of the Cobra
+di Capello is followed by fatal consequences to the snake-charmer himself,
+it is highly probable that the whole mystery resolves itself into courage,
+and the shrewdness with which, availing themselves of the uncommon dread
+and aversion with which this animal is regarded, they are able at once to
+prevent him from making use of his deadly poison fang, and to put forth
+their own sleight of hand. This explanation seems also to account for the
+very remarkable fact that men have ventured to domesticate this dangerous
+reptile in more places than Ceylon. Indeed, within the experience of Major
+Skinner, a thoroughly trustworthy personage, who has resided for many
+years on the island, and to whom the naturalists of the Expedition are
+indebted for many acts of kindness, an instance actually occurred in the
+neighbourhood of Negombo, in which a wealthy man, who keeps large sums of
+specie in his house, bethought him of the singular precaution of having
+several deadly cobras to watch the treasure in lieu of dogs. Day and night
+they glide about, a terror to thieves, while they are quite harmless to
+the inmates who feed them and attend to them!
+
+In former times snake worship (_Nagas_) was universal throughout Ceylon,
+and, as in India, the cobra received divine honours from the natives,
+because it was supposed to be a metamorphosed king. This serpent, however,
+is so singularly and wonderfully endowed by nature, its appearance and
+motions are so peculiar, that an imaginative people like the Cingalese may
+well be excused for associating the idea of metempsychosis with its aspect
+of mystery.
+
+From Galle, an excellent road, following the coast-line the entire
+distance, leads to Colombo, the seat of government, 75 English miles
+distant. Every morning there starts from Galle for that destination, the
+"Royal Mail" coach, an uncomfortable, somewhat dangerous, mode of
+conveyance, in which this distance is traversed in from 8 to 10 hours. In
+order to travel more at our ease, we engaged an extra waggon. In Ceylon
+people usually employ, on long excursions, but one horse, which is changed
+at distances varying from 6 to 10 miles. We had some difficulty in
+reconciling this custom with our predilection for travelling at our
+leisure. The first few hours of our journey passed away very pleasantly;
+the road was excellent, and the country magnificent and charming. We
+seemed as though driving through a park inhabited by thousands of men, and
+planted with cocoa-nut palms--amidst which occasionally the white dome of
+a Buddhist temple, or the minarets of a Mahometan mosque, shooting up
+above the summits of the palms, imparted an aspect of life to the
+landscape--while in the gay bazaars that fringed the road, the few
+necessaries of life required by the exceedingly frugal natives were
+exposed for sale, temptingly arranged on palm or plantain leaves. The
+whole south-western coast district is so populous that the huts of the
+natives were continually in sight, right and left, under the forest shade,
+and the scenery in consequence seemed as full of life and careless
+enjoyment as though the people had nothing else to do but walk about under
+palm-trees. This impression was the more strengthened, that we rarely
+perceived a man with anything else in his hand than a Talipot leaf, or a
+Chinese parasol, to protect himself against the burning rays of the sun,
+which shone almost directly overhead. Of the women, on whom for the most
+part fall all the troubles and hardships of life among the Cingalese, we
+only saw a few carrying to the city heavy baskets balanced on their heads.
+
+The luxuriant, widely-extending cocoa-nut forests, which on the south and
+west sides of the island stretch down to the sea-shore (whereas on the
+eastern coast they are altogether absent), seem independently of the
+necessity of paying all due care to the maintenance of one of the
+necessaries of life, to be specially indebted for their existence to the
+circumstance that additional planting of this tree, as also its careful
+cultivation, is one of the religious observances and duties of the
+servants of Buddha. Whoever plants a cocoa-nut, palm, or bread-fruit tree,
+performs a work agreeable to Buddha. At the birth of a son, or on any
+similar festive occasion, it is customary to plant a few cocoa-nut shoots
+in the earth. Cocoa-nut palms form a very important part of the property
+of a family. The father divides them as heritable property into equal
+portions for bequest to his children. Not one single palm but has an
+owner, though instances occasionally occur in which several families are
+supported by the produce of a single palm!
+
+This peculiar phenomenon has been followed by most remarkable results
+bearing upon the social condition of the native population. Increasing
+poverty, and the ever present grinding necessity of preventing any further
+subdivision of the joint property, have impelled the natives to resort to
+the unnatural remedy of the brothers of a family having but one wife among
+them! The fact that there are in Ceylon fully one-tenth more men than
+women, was the cause of the rapid spread of this custom, and upheld
+Polyandria, or plurality of husbands, as a desirable invention for
+remedying the deficient supply of females. Many a female has three, four,
+or even seven husbands, and all children that are born of such a wedlock
+have equal rights, and are (differing in this respect from the law of
+Hindostan, by which only the children of the eldest brothers are
+registered, as the entire property belongs to him, while all the younger
+brothers serve him as vassals, and can be driven by him out of the house),
+the _lawful_, recognized heirs of the different fathers. In order to guard
+against the rise of law-suits respecting birth and heritage among the
+Cingalese, in consequence of their local customs, the British courts of
+justice, singular to say, find themselves constrained to recognize this
+disgraceful custom, and to interpret the law with reference to it.
+Although in the maritime provinces plurality of husbands has been signally
+on the decrease, owing to foreign influences, it still prevails to a great
+extent in the interior of the island. The submissiveness of the Cingalese
+to their superiors and their monarchs is assigned as the origin of this in
+other respects very ancient custom, which seems to have been universally
+in use among the various races of the mainland of India from time
+immemorial. Constrained to apply their own manual labour in cultivating
+the land of their tyrants, and frequently to accompany them on distant
+journeys, they thought they could, during their absence, most surely
+protect their own fields and crops against utter ruin, by apportioning
+wife and chattels among brothers and nearest relatives, and thence the
+family tie was gradually converted into a socialist community.
+
+The almost endless cocoa forests, which we were traversing by splendid,
+broad, level roads, not alone provide the native with, to him, the most
+important necessary for supporting existence, but the fruit itself forms
+at the same time so important and valuable an article of produce, that the
+cultivation of the cocoa-nut has been regularly and systematically carried
+on by European enterprise since 1841--at present covering an area of
+23,000 English acres--while the proportion of native land on which this,
+the most useful growth of the tropics, is cultivated, amounts to about
+100,000 acres. Formerly, the nuts were shipped to foreign parts for the
+extraction of their oil; but for this purpose there are now on the island
+itself, especially in Colombo and Galle, a considerable number of
+manufactories, at which the oil already expressed from the nuts is usually
+at once put into casks for exportation. The quantity of oil thus exported
+annually is estimated at from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 gallons, worth from
+£100,000 to £150,000. Besides this, the elastic fibre of the outer husk of
+the cocoa-nut is used in the manufacture of ropes, door-mats, &c., and,
+under the name of Coir, forms an important article of export, the annual
+consumption averaging between 30,000 and 40,000 quintals (centner weight),
+worth from £20,000 to £25,000.
+
+The first station on leaving Galle for Colombo is Bentotte, where, as is
+the custom all through the country, there is a "resting-house" open to all
+travellers, similar to the "Choultries" in India, the "Caravanserais," or
+lodgings for pilgrims, in Eastern countries, or the "Pasangrahans," of
+Java. These resting-houses, which all through the interior of the island
+are found on the highways and forest roads, are among the oldest
+institutions of the country, and were formerly maintained at the expense
+of private individuals. The resting-houses, which have been erected under
+the English rule on the main roads of the island, are in all respects of a
+far higher class, and strongly resemble the waiting-rooms of our own
+(German) railroads. One is not merely provided in these with shelter, but
+also with food and drink, at a fixed tariff. A special committee (the
+Provincial Road Committee) is appointed to superintend the management of
+these resting-houses.
+
+Here we partook of a luxurious "tiffin," as the customary meal between
+breakfast and dinner is called in Ceylon, as well as throughout India; and
+in so doing, made acquaintance for the first time with the renowned Indian
+dish "Curry," which consists of flesh or fish prepared with a powder
+compounded of spices. It tastes so hot that the European palate only gets
+accustomed to it by degrees; but in these countries it is looked on as the
+favourite dish, which must never be absent from any meal, because the
+cayenne pepper plentifully sprinkled over it, stimulates the stomach and
+promotes digestion. Hence the curry-powder is in immense request, and is
+largely exported. The assertion that this dish was first invented by the
+Portuguese is quite erroneous, as the chronicles of the country establish
+that it was in request in Ceylon in the second century before Christ.[81]
+
+[Footnote 81: According to Professor Wilson, "Curry" is but a corruption of
+the Carnatic term _Májkki-Kari_, a dish composed of rice, sour milk,
+spices, and red pepper.]
+
+As we mounted into our vehicle again, after a short halt at Bentotte, in
+order to resume our journey to Colombo with a fresh horse, we perceived
+that our driver, a negro, had been too free of his visits to the
+brandy-bottle, and occasionally took to rolling on the box. In the hope
+that he might become sober by the way, we ventured to proceed, but ere
+long he lost his balance, and fell to the ground, compelling us, to avoid
+further mishap, to retrace our steps on foot to the nearest village--thus
+reversing the order of matters, and, so to speak, escorting our horse,
+coach, and driver. This occurrence, unimportant and hardly worth
+mentioning in itself, was the occasion of an interesting adventure. As it
+was only with much difficulty that we could make ourselves intelligible to
+the natives, we resolved to apply to the authorities in the very first
+place we came to. It turned out that we were in the vicinity of the
+Catholic mission of St. Sebastian de Makùn, whose superior was a
+Benedictine from Rome. The church is situated amid the rich vegetation of
+the primeval forests, the gigantic trunks of whose trees, supporting a
+huge diadem of luxuriant foliage, are arched into a natural dome of the
+most graceful proportions. With curiosity whetted to the uttermost, we
+advanced along a beautiful path, beneath cocoa-palms, cabbage trees,
+bread-fruit trees, screw pines, tree-like ferns, and broad-leaved bananas,
+till we reached the dwelling-house of the Mission, and introduced
+ourselves to the missionary. Forthwith the latter, a tall, stately figure,
+with handsome features and cultivated manners, and dressed in a woollen
+robe, ushered us into a darkened chamber opposite, and received us most
+cordially. This worthy priest, by the name of Miliani, was not less
+surprised at being visited at this solitary mission by Austrian
+travellers, and with the most lively satisfaction and the utmost readiness
+to oblige, offered us all the assistance in his power. In spite of our
+hurry, we had to take a cup of coffee _à la Romagna_, with our hospitable
+missionary, and to promise to visit him on our return journey. Father
+Miliani has already lived many years in this country, and ministers to a
+Christian community of more than 1000 souls. Altogether there are in
+Ceylon about 50 Catholic missionaries under a Bishop whose residence is in
+Colombo. Our priestly host was greatly respected by the Cingalese, but he
+evidently was overjoyed at being able once more to express his thoughts
+and feelings in his native Italian.
+
+It was evening ere, with many a hearty shake of the hand, we tore
+ourselves away from the cordial hospitality of St. Sebastian de Makùn.
+Horse and driver this time gave hope of faster progress. But we were
+doomed once more to experience a severe disappointment, and although we
+were only about 10 or 12 miles distant from Colombo, which was our
+destination, it took us five long hours to get over the ground. The night
+was very dark, but the road was continually illuminated with torches of
+palm, carried by the homeward plodding natives, which emitted a gloomy
+light alternating with showers of sparks.
+
+When at last we got to Colombo about midnight, pretty well knocked-up, we
+comforted ourselves with the reflection that the inconveniences attending
+personal transport between Galle and the seat of government, can by no
+means be classed among events of rare occurrence; since, in consequence of
+the inveterate obstinacy of the native horse, one must have recourse to
+the most incredible expedients to get the carriage under weigh. For
+instance, at every station the ears of the post-horse were twisted
+together and then suddenly relaxed in order to set the vehicle in motion;
+and, when this torture failed, a pole, or thick stick, was inserted under
+the tail of the recalcitrant, and rubbed up and down till the poor animal,
+smarting under this painful operation, took to the collar. Once the
+carriage is started in this extraordinary fashion, the coachman swings to
+and fro at the peril of his life, and endeavours by continually "pitching
+into" the horse, to keep him at the gallop. Thus between whooping and
+whipping the next station is reached, where the same trial of patience
+awaits the traveller, and a similar martyrdom for the next horse.
+
+Our first business the following morning was to take a walk through
+Colombo, which, like Galle, consists of "The Fort," or White City, and the
+"Pettah," or Black Quarter, in the latter of which are situated the houses
+and shops of the natives, and where the chief traffic and the greatest
+activity are combined. Here one rarely encounters a white man, for even
+the soldiers and police belong to the brown and black races. The natives,
+however, manifest, outwardly at least, a great respect for the whites, and
+everywhere draw aside reverentially when one makes his appearance.
+
+In the middle of the main street are some Buddhist temples. We were not,
+however, permitted to enter, unless we consented to take off our shoes. At
+several of the natives' houses the entrance porch and windows were gaily
+adorned with plantain leaves. On inquiring of our Cingalese attendant what
+was the occasion of this manifestation, he replied in broken English that
+the inmates were celebrating "Christmas," wishing probably to express that
+the natives celebrated a feast analogous to our Christmas.
+
+The filth and unsavoury odours which prevail in the Black Quarter, and the
+noise and yelling of the natives, speedily drive visitors back to the
+European portion of the city, which altogether, with its gloomy, decayed
+aspect, makes anything but a favourable impression. The public buildings,
+the houses of the mercantile community, the warehouses, and
+fortifications, all bear the impress of the Portuguese settlement of
+bygone centuries; and as its commerce is attracted more and more every
+year to Galle,[82] there remains but faint hope that this quaint type will
+not ere long be effaced by a new style of building, albeit the inhabitants
+of the capital promise themselves a restored reign of activity and energy,
+as the result of railway communication with Galle.
+
+[Footnote 82: The value of the produce exported annually from the island
+(chiefly cocoa-nuts, coir, cinnamon, and coffee), is above £2,000,000, and
+the imports of European manufactures are about the same amount.]
+
+During our random promenade through the streets of what is called the
+Fort, we perceived at a sugar-baker's in Chatham Street--the most select
+quarter of Colombo, and containing the most important warehouses, which,
+however, are far from elegant in their appearance--some rough ice offered
+for sale, which had a curious effect in a town so near the Equator, and
+presenting such few evidences of luxury in other respects. This ice is
+brought round the Cape of Good Hope from the United States, and is chiefly
+shipped from Boston. The daily consumption of iced-water, ices, and so
+forth, is estimated at about 1000 lbs., costing about one shilling the 8
+lbs. It is impossible to repress a feeling of astonishment at these
+speculative Yankees who, despite all obstacles interposed by temperature,
+transport in all directions and over thousands of miles an article so
+perishable, so easily destructible as ice, and are able to drive a
+profitable business in it in the hottest and most diverse regions of the
+globe--in the West Indies and South America, in Asia, and in Africa.
+
+The traveller who visits Colombo will hardly fail to make an excursion to
+the Cinnamon Garden, in order to inhale the fragrant and peculiar aroma,
+and enjoy tasting the tender rind of this remarkable shrub, which plays so
+conspicuous a part in the history of Ceylon. During the palmy days of
+cinnamon culture, the five principal cinnamon plantations of the southern
+half of the island extended some 15 or 20 miles. For this one lucrative
+product of the soil all others on the island were abandoned, with most
+deplorable consequences. The cinnamon culture, a monopoly of the various
+governments which one after another conquered Ceylon, and domineered over
+its inhabitants, was carried on, especially by the Dutch East India
+Company, with terrible severity. The slightest embezzlement of cinnamon,
+or wilful damage to the plant, was visited with death. The unintentional
+breaking off of a twig of the cinnamon bush was punished with amputation
+of the offending member. Every cinnamon bush, even to those growing in the
+gardens of private individuals, was the property of the Government, and
+the cinnamon collector, or even cinnamon-peeler alone, had the right to
+strip off the rind when ripe. To destroy such a plant, or even to dispose
+of it to any one, was regarded as a crime affecting life. The labourers,
+who were employed in the cutting off, peeling, and preparation of the
+rind, belonged to the caste of Chalias, and constituted the lowest grade
+of that class. In like manner, under the English rule, the monopoly of
+cinnamon was at first continued, with such disastrous consequences to the
+trade that it was finally abandoned in 1832, and the merchants of Colombo
+and Galle were left to divide among themselves the exportation of this
+important article, under an exporting duty of 3_s._ per lb. These duties,
+however, were found much too high, as the highest price obtainable in
+Europe was from 6_s._ to 7_s._; and this advance in the price to the trade
+of the genuine article, was the cause of foreign merchants turning their
+attention to the supply of various species of cinnamon-bearing laurels and
+cassias, growing in Cochin-China and Java.
+
+When Government, recovering at last from its delusion of treating
+cinnamons, which at first had seemed indigenous to the island of Ceylon
+alone on the earth,[83] as a national monopoly, reduced the export duty to
+one shilling, and ultimately repealed it altogether, the various
+substitutes had already found their level in Europe, as affording a larger
+supply at a much more moderate rate, and the cultivation of the finer
+kinds became less and less each year. Prices fell, and the consumption was
+diminished. Only the coarser sorts repaid exportation. Nay, it even led to
+the interesting and curious result, that just as, previous to the high
+price under monopoly, the low-priced cassia displaced the finer sort of
+genuine cinnamon, at the present day the coarser sorts of cinnamon are
+beginning to oust the cassia from the English market, whence all the world
+are supplied. At present there are from 14,000 to 15,000 acres planted
+with cinnamon, chiefly in private hands, and producing annually from
+800,000 to 900,000 lbs. of cinnamon, worth from £40,000 to £50,000
+sterling.
+
+[Footnote 83: Sir Emerson Tennent, in his work (vol. i. p. 599), challenges
+the assertion that Ceylon is the native country of the cinnamon-tree. In
+no European or Asiatic chronicles is any mention made of cinnamon as a
+product or article of commerce in Ceylon up to the end of the thirteenth
+century. Although it was from the earliest times imported into Europe from
+Africa through Arabia, the natives trading with Ceylon first knew of the
+existence on the island of this important shrub about the twelfth or
+thirteenth century. Hence Sir Emerson looks upon Africa as the native
+country of the cinnamon-tree.]
+
+The chalias, moreover, are no longer, as formerly under the Portuguese and
+Dutch, _adscripti glebæ_ for life, or slaves that could be purchased with
+the soil, but free labourers, who are entitled to demand proportionate pay
+for the lightest services rendered.
+
+The Cinnamon Gardens in the neighbourhood of Colombo, although for the
+most part gone to decay, nevertheless impart to the whole scene a
+singularly cheerful, agreeable aspect. The bushes, from 4 to 6 feet in
+height, with their smooth, beautiful, light green leaves, resembling those
+of the bay-tree, and their pale, yellow flower-stamens shoot up doubly
+fresh and succulent, from the snow-white quartz soil in which they best
+thrive. The flowering season of the cinnamon is in January, and the fruit
+ripens in April, when the sap is richest in the shrub. In May the boughs
+are begun to be "barked," which process continues till October. The
+pruning and gathering of the yearling shoots, which are about the
+thickness of a man's thumb, is very laborious, and employs many hands.
+Each labourer cuts off as many as he can conveniently carry in a bundle,
+then, with the point of a crooked knife, made for the express purpose,
+strips the entire rind from the wood, carefully scrapes off the exterior
+corticle and innermost layer, and lays the stripped-off cinnamon rind, now
+reduced to the thickness of parchment, in the sun, where it dries and
+curls together. All round the hut, in which the peeling of the rind is
+carried on, is diffused a most exquisite aroma, caused by the breaking of
+the leaves or twigs. What is related, however, by various travellers of
+the fragrance of the cinnamon forests, which they have scented at a great
+distance seaward, would seem to indicate that this delicious odour
+emanates from various other aromatic plants in which Ceylon is so rich,
+rather than the cinnamon groves, the aroma of which, indeed, is not
+perceptible beyond the immediate vicinity. The best description of
+cinnamon is not so thick as stout paper, and is fine-grained, flexible,
+light brown, or golden yellow, sweet and pungent; the coarser qualities
+are thick-skinned, dark brown, acrid, stinging, and leaves a bitter
+after-taste. In the warehouses, the cinnamon rinds and canes sorted for
+shipping are piled upon each other, packed in bales of about 90 lbs.
+weight each, and carefully sewed. In all cavities and spaces between each
+layer an immense quantity of pepper is strewn, to preserve the cinnamon
+during its sea-voyage, by which both spices are benefited, the black
+pepper absorbing all the superfluous moisture, and gaining by the
+fragrance of the cinnamon.
+
+Consequent on the diminution of cinnamon cultivation, which undoubtedly
+has resulted in great measure from the altered taste of mankind and the
+consequent extraordinary falling off in the demand for this once
+highly-prized spice, the cultivation of coffee in Ceylon has, during the
+last 20 years, increased tenfold; and it is solely owing to the dearth of
+available labour that this branch of produce, considering the splendid
+profits it returns, is not even more extensively carried on. In 27
+districts there are 404 coffee plantations, covering a surface of 80,950
+acres, of which, however, only 63,771 acres are really productive. These
+produced last year, 347,100 cwt., or 5-1/2 centners per acre. To this must
+be added the quantity under cultivation by the natives, who possess about
+36,000 acres of coffee plantations, and in the year 1859 alone, exported
+180,000 cwt. We may safely assume, therefore, that the cultivation of
+coffee is on the eve of transforming this island of Ceylon, from a mere
+military station of England, into one of the most flourishing colonies of
+the British Empire. Twenty years ago there were exported barely 60,000
+centners, worth £180,000. In September, 1858, the export exceeded 600,000
+cwt., which represented on the spot a value of £1,500,000 sterling. "When
+capital and labour shall have become more plentiful," remarked to us a by
+no means over-sanguine resident, "Ceylon will have in its mountain
+districts 240,000 acres planted with coffee trees, yielding at the lowest
+estimate, 1,680,000 cwt. of coffee annually." Here, as among the high
+table-lands of Guatemala and Costa Rica, we have the reassuring evidence
+how one of the most important plants for the civilized man can be
+profitably cultivated, without having recourse to the blighting influences
+of slave-labour, at the same time making the lands in which it is produced
+both rich and prosperous.[84]
+
+[Footnote 84: The coffee-tree frequently suffers, especially in Ceylon,
+from an insect called the coffee-bug (_Lecanium Coffeæ_); as, however,
+this troublesome insect has only infested the coffee plantations since
+1848, and this branch of cultivation has nevertheless increased so
+surprisingly since then, there seems no reason to dread that the coffee
+plant will suffer by these bugs, in the same manner or to the same extent
+as the vine by the ravages of the _fungus_.]
+
+While the cultivation of the coffee-plant has been followed by such
+splendid results, the repeated attempts to introduce the sugar-cane have
+been on the contrary as uniformly failures--so that of the numerous
+plantations established by Europeans, there are at present no more than
+five remaining. In all those localities where the temperature seemed
+adapted to the growth of the sugar-cane, the nature of the soil, and the
+too great humidity have prevented its thriving.
+
+On the other hand, the island possesses two natural products in which but
+few spots on the globe are qualified to enter the lists with her, and
+which may be expected to increase in value and importance in proportion as
+science assumes her share in their exploration. These products are PEARLS
+and PRECIOUS STONES.
+
+The most productive pearl banks lie on the west coast of Ceylon, between
+the 8th and 9th degrees of North latitude, near the level, dreary beach of
+Condatchy, Aripo, and Manaar. The pearl fisheries are a monopoly, and,
+therefore, under the inspection of the Government. Former governors had
+counted too much on the abundance of this natural treasure, and in their
+blind haste to fill the coffers of the State, had so exhausted the banks,
+that suddenly, from a source of revenue they became an item of
+considerable deficiency, and, from 1838 to 1854, could no longer be
+dredged. From a net annual return of £120,000 sterling, the yearly return
+had sunk to £10,000, of which nearly one-half was consumed in the
+attendant expenses. Now-a-days the work is gone about more circumspectly,
+a scientific examination having been made by a native naturalist, Dr.
+Kelaart, of all the oyster banks on the west coast. We had the pleasure,
+while at Colombo, of becoming personally acquainted with this very able,
+unassuming gentleman, who presented us with several memoirs of his own,
+touching upon the latest facts that had been ascertained with reference to
+the pearl oyster. One special result of his various researches has been
+the demonstration of two facts of the utmost importance to the pearl
+fishery, and which hitherto had not been fully ascertained--that this
+mollusc possesses locomotive powers; that its occasional disappearance is
+perfectly natural; and that, moreover, the pearl oyster may, without any
+injury, be transplanted from one locality to another--nay, even from salt
+to brackish water. The first-named observation explains the occasional
+disappearance of the pearl oyster from certain beds,[85] even when they
+have not been inordinately thinned by too keen a quest after gain; the
+latter opens up the pleasing anticipation of the pearl oyster being
+susceptible of very extensive propagation, by a process similar to that of
+pisciculture, or artificial breeding of fish (such as the colonies of
+edible oysters which are met with in the South of France), by
+transplanting them to such places as seem best suited to the conditions
+necessary to their highest development. What a splendid conception it were
+to plant the sea-coasts of Ceylon with pearls, and thus throw the wealth
+of the island in precious stones into the shade, by the treasures she
+would possess in the depths of the sea!
+
+[Footnote 85: This singular property of the oyster, in virtue of which it
+can be fed to as confirmed obesity as a prize-ox, and admits of nearly as
+much dexterity in "crossing," if we are to trust the palates of
+"gourmets," as the Southdown and Leicester breeds of sheep, has received
+its most extraordinary development in the vicinity of New York, where the
+amount of capital sunk in the oyster trade considerably exceeds
+£1,000,000! The finest of these are transferred as spawn from the beds in
+the East River, or Long Island Sound, to the "nurseries," which are
+situated in the brackish water near the head of the tide-way, just below
+the "Highlands of the Hudson." Here they are carefully tended for some
+months, till, their education being completed, they are re-transferred to
+their native beds, and fed there with oatmeal daily; while, by some
+mystery of the craft, the spawning season is postponed, except in the case
+of those that are selected for propagating the race.]
+
+Exactly at the period of our arrival at Colombo, the preparations were
+being resumed at Aripo for the take of the oysters, which commences at the
+beginning of February each year, and lasts about three weeks. It is, in
+fact, a sort of jubilee time for the people, at which the Governor and
+numbers of the wealthier classes mingle with the populace. Ordinarily this
+spot becomes at that season a rendezvous for the poor and the wretched,
+and a rallying point for all manner of abominable odours, filth,
+troublesome flies, and intolerable heat, despite which drawbacks the
+fishery is visited by thousands of boats, and hundreds of thousands of
+men, who flock hither with the alluring prospect of speedy and abundant
+wealth, or have been attracted from all parts of the Indian Continent by
+the singularity of the spectacle. Suddenly, as though evoked by the wand
+of a magician, a regular town starts into existence, of tents, or even
+neat huts, with bamboo and cabbage-tree palings, roofed over with
+palm-leaves, rice-straw, or coarse thick woollen cloth; booths for the
+sale of merchandise "rise like an exhalation" during the night to supply
+necessaries of all sorts to the converging multitudes from the interior,
+as well as the fleets of visitors from seaward; and last, not least, the
+divers themselves. Swindlers and mountebanks throng hither, adroit thieves
+creep stealthily about, all Indian customs and fashions are represented,
+all castes jostle each other. Priests, and the subordinate hangers-on of
+the various sects, hurry about, and jugglers and Nautch girls vie with
+each other in amusing the noisy multitudes.
+
+The result of numerous experiments has proved that no diving apparatus can
+replace the human machine, the cost of which, moreover, is a fixed
+definite quantity, viz., the fourth part of the pearls brought up, which
+is the diver's share. In each boat, or "Dhonie," are ten divers, each
+having an assistant. Before the divers proceed to descend, a number of
+quaint ceremonies are gone through, and incantations murmured, as well in
+the boats as on shore, by the so-called "shark-charmers;" indeed, the
+superstition of the divers, who for the most part come from the Coromandel
+coast, is so great, that not one of their number, Christian or idolator,
+would continue in this employment without the countenance of the sorcerer;
+and the Government finds itself compelled to pay the impostors.[86] They
+levy a tribute of ten oysters upon each boat.
+
+[Footnote 86: In 1857, the chief shark-charmer was a Roman Catholic!]
+
+Accidents with sharks are of rare occurrence: the noise of 1000 divers on
+the water at once seeming to scare the animals. Moreover, the dark colour
+of the skin of their bodies, acts as a considerable protection to the
+divers, so that there are numbers who blacken their legs, in order still
+more to alarm the monster.[87]
+
+[Footnote 87: An encounter in the water between a shark and an expert
+swimmer, armed only with a knife, is not so unequal an affair as might at
+first be supposed. The pearl fishers of the Gulfs of Panama and Nicoya
+only use a short stick, with which, if the sharks get _above_ them, they
+stir up the mud, under cover of which they swim along the bottom for a
+little distance, and then shoot up to the surface. Of the equality in
+which a good swimmer armed with a knife feels himself in encountering a
+shark, there are numerous instances. Many years ago, when shipping was
+more plentiful in Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, than at the present day,
+vessels had occasionally to put up with somewhat awkward berths, when they
+used regularly to "foul their anchors," whereupon it became necessary, of
+course, to send some one down to free the cable. For this purpose, negro
+divers were employed, and one man attained a wide reputation from having
+himself, unscathed, slain in fair combat at different times, no less than
+five sharks! Ultimately the sharks steered clear of any black man who had
+a knife suspended round his neck.]
+
+After these preliminaries, the divers go down into the water, each
+carrying a basket-shaped net, in which to bring up the oysters, when
+selected--a stone of from 15lbs. to 25lbs. weight being fastened round the
+body, so as more readily to enable him to sink to the bottom. When at a
+depth of some 5 or 6 fathoms, the diver unfastens the stone, which is
+forthwith hauled up. He now throws himself forward on his face, and keeps
+himself as close as he can to the ground, while he rapidly rakes up and
+collects together all that is within his reach, so as to fill his landing
+net. He crawls along in this manner during the minute of his submersion,
+over a space of from 40 to 50 feet; and so soon as he pulls the cord
+attached to his plaited basket-edge, it is immediately hauled up, and he
+himself speedily follows it to the surface.[88]
+
+[Footnote 88: The divers are mostly old men, vigorous and healthy in
+appearance, thus dispelling the general notion that deep-sea diving
+weakens the body and shortens life. We were told of one diver, employed
+during the year 1856, in the pearl fishery, who was so stout and fat, that
+in addition to the ordinary diver's stone, he had to make fast a
+considerable weight to his body, in order to sink himself in the water.]
+
+The utmost depth at which the diver can safely remain seems to be about 40
+feet, beyond which blood is apt to issue from the nose and ears. They
+seldom remain above 50 or 60 seconds under water, although cases
+occasionally occur in which the stay under water is protracted to 80
+seconds. The diving is carried on for 5 or 6 hours without intermission,
+so that each of the ten divers can, in the course of a day, bring up from
+1000 to 4000 oysters. By dint of good fortune, and close packing, about
+150 oysters are brought up in each basket-net, while occasionally an
+unprolific bed does not give more than five or ten oysters. So soon as the
+oysters have been dragged to land, they are sorted in shares, of which one
+goes to the oyster fisher as his remuneration, and the remainder are sold
+in lots of 1000 each to the highest bidder. Now begins speculation. Chance
+presides here, quite as capriciously as at a lottery or another game of
+hazard. It often happens that a single oyster contains thirty or forty
+pearls, of which some may be worth a sovereign on the spot; but it more
+frequently occurs that several hundred oysters do not yield a single
+pearl. The small, valueless pearls, called also "seed pearls," are burnt
+down, and sold as pearl-lime to the wealthy Malays, by whom it is used as
+a luxurious addition to the betel and cabbage nuts, as masticatories. The
+Ceylonese mix the lustreless pearls with other grains, with which they
+feed the poultry, in whose croops the pearls regain their former
+brilliancy after a few minutes' grinding. The croop is then slit up, and
+the glittering stones extracted, white as the most beautiful
+pearl-muscular tissue.[89]
+
+[Footnote 89: This method of procedure, which is adopted by the rest of the
+Indian races, and in which the lustreless pearls are swallowed by hens,
+pigeons, and ducks, so as to be polished up, after being subjected to the
+preliminary digestion of these birds, has been proved to be anything but
+beneficial to the pearls as regards loss by attrition. Careful observation
+has established, for example, that four pearls, weighing twelve grains,
+have lost four grains by undergoing this process during twelve hours,
+while eight others, weighing thirty grains, were reduced to twenty grains
+after a sojourn of two days in the gizzard of a duck.]
+
+The pearl oysters caught on the coast of Ceylon are all of the same
+species (_Meleagrina Margaritifera_), uniformly oval in shape, and about
+9-1/2 inches in circumference. The number taken in Ceylon annually must be
+numbered by millions. In the year of our arrival to Ceylon (1858), the
+pearl fishery yielded £24,120. According to the last returns, before us as
+we write, there were in the year 1859, 1352 boats engaged during eighteen
+days in the pearl fishery, the gross take of which amounted to 9,534,951
+oysters, sold for £48,216. The divers' shares amounted together to
+2,126,749 oysters.
+
+The wide-spread popular delusion, that the pearl in the oyster is but a
+produce of disease in the animal, has long been refuted by scientific
+research, and although the great German poet, Henry Heine, in his
+"Romanzero," sings,
+
+   "Those world-famed pearls,
+    They are but the wan mucus
+    Of a sad oyster,
+    Dimly sickening in the depth of the sea!"
+
+it is rather a poetic fancy than a scientific fact. We have latterly been
+especially indebted to the German naturalist, Theodore von Hessling, for a
+very circumstantial and thoroughly exhaustive memoir on the natural
+history of the pearl oysters and their pearls,[90] in which the learned
+author seeks to establish that the enveloping matter of the germ of the
+pearl is identical with the covering of the animal, and that in the
+process of growth two influences are at work, an external and an internal.
+The first is called into play by the property peculiar to the hinge system
+that unites the double shell, of gaping wide open, in consequence of which
+extraneous substances rush in with the current of water, such as minute
+fragments of quartz, molecules of plants, &c., which, being detained
+either circling in the cavity, or eddying round the hinges, are seized on
+in the course of their revolutions, and entangled in the parenchyma of the
+various organs, which is specially secreted from the mantle, till it
+becomes enveloped by layers of solid shell. On the other hand, the
+internal development is closely allied to the conditions of deposition
+and subsequent growth of the shell-matter. Molecules, either a single
+grain or congeries of grains, varying from 9.01 to 0.05 of a line (3/4 of
+an inch down to the 1/240th of an inch), enclosed in the _epidermis_ of
+the shell, constitute usually the _nuclei_ of the pearls, which, to a
+certain extent, may be considered as nothing but a portion of the
+_epidermis_ not applied to the formation of shell. The pearls also are
+simply independent concretions growing in the creature, and consisting of
+the substance of the shell, which are with difficulty discriminated from
+the various descriptions of growths which constitute the inner surface of
+the shell.
+
+[Footnote 90: Die Perlen-Muschel, und ihre Perlen, Naturwissenschaftlich
+und Geschichtlich mit Berücksichtigung der Perlen-gewässer Bayerns,
+beschrieben von Theodor von Hessling, Leipzig, 1859.]
+
+The great importance of the pearl as an article of luxury and commerce,
+has naturally led to numerous attempts to manufacture them by artificial
+means, in the course of which extraneous bodies have been introduced
+between the mouth and shell of the animal, sometimes with, sometimes
+without injury to it. The Chinese especially are adepts at placing certain
+small bodies, specially prepared, in the shells of the pearl oyster,
+which, after a short time, becomes coated with mother-of-pearl, or nacre.
+This manufacture of artificial pearls is carried on on a large scale in
+the neighbourhood of Hong-Chow-Foo. During our stay at Hong-Kong and
+Shanghai respectively, we ourselves saw several mussel-shells, in which a
+mother-of-pearl covering had formed over small neatly carved figures,
+mostly sitting figures of Buddha,[91] the singular appearance of which
+would, at the first glance tend to make the observer suspect that the
+pearl had been fastened to the mussel by some adhesive substance. But we
+had so frequently an opportunity of satisfying ourselves by actually
+witnessing the entire process, that we could no longer doubt that the
+carved figures are with the utmost care introduced into the animal, and,
+after remaining a few days in the water, become attached to the mussel by
+a distinct membrane. This, their membrane, afterwards becomes
+interpermeated by the calcareous matter, till, finally, layers of
+mother-of-pearl are deposited all around the nucleus, the whole formation
+corresponding with the chalk-like concretions occurring in other
+creatures.
+
+[Footnote 91: The antiquity of this experiment is proved by the fact that
+the _Topographia_ of Ischikiang speaks of a pearl, which had been sent to
+the Imperial Palace at Pekin, 490 B.C., which resembled Buddha, and
+apparently must have been produced by this same method; although likewise
+the priests of Buddha, at that early epoch, might not have objected, in
+the interests of their religion, to make capital out of such a specimen of
+artistic skill.]
+
+Besides the pearl-shells, the northern shores of Ceylon, especially
+between the Island of Manaar and Karativoe, are especially rich in beds of
+a volute mussel (_Turbinella rapa_, or _soluta gravis_), which are
+exported in great numbers to India, where the Hindoo women saw them into
+rings of all sizes, to be worn as ornaments on the arms, legs, fingers and
+toes. The chank-shell is likewise a chief instrument of the Buddhists,
+who, amongst other devout customs, blow three times a day on this sacred
+shell, to summon believers to worship.[92] It is also used as a festive
+ornament of the Indian temples, as well as a donation to the dead, which,
+inspired by a religious feeling, the survivors place in the grave
+alongside of the corpse of their illustrious departed.
+
+[Footnote 92: According to the most ancient annals of the Cingalese, the
+chank-shell is sounded in one of the superior heavens of the demigods
+(similar to the conk-blowing Tritons of Grecian mythology), in honour of
+Buddha, as often as the latter wanders abroad on the earth.]
+
+The gems found on the island are distinguished, less for their intrinsic
+value than for the great variety of precious stones which are present.
+They are, with few exceptions, found to have been disengaged from the
+primitive rocks, and washed into the alluvial soil, especially in the
+outskirts of the mountainous districts, where they are rolled along the
+beds of the streams together with other pebbles, or are washed out of the
+alluvial deposits. Hitherto, they have only been searched for for purposes
+of trade, and then only in the most desultory and thriftless way, no one
+having as yet examined the rocks themselves, by the disintegration of
+which the valuable stones are disengaged. There was, indeed, no detailed
+information as to the wealth in precious stones of the island, until the
+researches of the English mineralogist, Dr. Gygax, who has very lately
+published on this subject many interesting observations and remarks. The
+locality in which precious stones are most abundant is, so far as present
+experience goes, the district of Saffragam, the capital of which in
+consequence takes the name of Ratnapoora, or Anarhadnaporra, "the city of
+rubies." They are also found at various other parts of the island; in the
+plains on the West coast, between Adams' Peak and the sea, at Nuwera
+Ellia, Kandy, Matelle, and Ruanwelli, near Colombo, as also in Matura, and
+the river courses on the eastern side, towards the ancient Mahagam. The
+geologist of the Expedition visited some mines of precious stones near
+Ratnapoora. These are situated on the Kaluga-Sella, a small tributary of
+the Kalu-Gunga, and lie, some in the very bed of the river, some on the
+steep bank. They are about thirty feet deep, but having been some time
+disused, they are full of water. The uppermost stratum of these pits or
+mines is a rich fertile yellow loam, exactly resembling our diluvial
+loams. This is succeeded, according to the report of the proprietor of the
+mines, by a slimy black clay, and clayey sand, beneath which again is a
+bituminous clay, holding numerous organic remains, such as leaves, trunks
+of trees converted into a substance resembling lignite, and not
+infrequently elephants' tusks and bones of animals; thereafter sand, and
+lastly a bank of rolled gravel, forming a species of conglomerate with
+red, yellow, and occasionally blue clay--being, in fact, what is known as
+stone-gravel. This bank of pebbles is the layer in which the precious
+stones occur, and these are most commonly found between the larger masses
+of agglutinated matter, that are always found especially to abound in
+gems, whenever they are superposed upon what is called malave, which
+appears to be a sort of greenish-coloured talc-like half-decomposed mica.
+The most valuable stones that are obtained from these mines are rubies and
+sapphires. In the Kalu-Gunga, also, precious stones are occasionally
+washed down, and as the geologist of the _Novara_ Expedition was
+descending the river in a boat, from Ratnapoora to Caltura, he perceived
+at several places, more particularly at the various rapids, men standing
+in the water, provided with flat pan-shaped baskets, in which they sifted
+the sand and pebbles.
+
+The gems found on the island are rubies, sapphires topazes, amethysts,
+garnets, cinnamon-stone, and tourmaline. On the other hand, all the
+diamonds, emeralds, carnelians, agates, opals, and turquoises, which the
+natives offer for sale, are imported from India. One precious stone, on
+which the Cingalese set an exceedingly high value, because they
+erroneously believe that it is peculiar to the island of Ceylon, whereas
+it is also found on the southern shores of Hindostan, is the "Cat's-eye,"
+a greenish transparent quartz, which, when polished in its natural shape,
+or "_en cabochon_," exhibits in its interior a varying reflected light,
+undoubtedly arising from the presence of fibres of asbestos, and which, in
+fact, bears some resemblance to the eye of a cat. The natives, as a rule,
+estimate the value and symmetry of this stone by the brilliancy and
+tenuity of the beam which it emits, and the clear olive-coloured ground
+upon which it shines in relief.
+
+A vast number of men give themselves up to the exciting but most uncertain
+occupation of searching for precious stones, and barter what they have
+found, chiefly to Mahometan merchants, for clothes and salt. As, however,
+the natives themselves set a high value on jewels, in consequence of
+their small bulk admitting of their being readily concealed and easily
+carried about, the finer descriptions are readily disposed of at a good
+price, and, singular to say, it has frequently happened, as we ourselves
+found by personal experience, that precious stones are dearer in Colombo
+and Galle than in the European markets! The explanation of this paradox is
+probably that the steady copious influx into the London and Paris markets
+of precious stones from all parts of the earth where jewels are found,
+admits of by no means such excessive fluctuations in value as at Ceylon,
+where the supply actually on hand is so varying, and where the value of
+the article almost always depends upon the rank and wealth of the Indian
+purchaser. The foreign traveller very often cannot restrain a feeling of
+surprise at seeing the fingers of the stately Mahometan jewellers adorned
+with rings of costly gems, which are only offered for sale to himself at
+an exorbitant sum.
+
+The value of the precious stones of all sorts found in Ceylon in the
+course of a year is estimated by Sir Emerson Tennent at about £10,000,
+one-fourth, at least, of the entire quantity finding a market on the
+island, a full half being sent to the jewel-polishers of India, so that
+only the remaining fourth is exported to Europe.
+
+The scant time allotted to us at Colombo was zealously occupied in seeing
+the utmost that we could of the many interesting objects that invited
+attention. Among others, we visited one of the largest industrial
+enterprises in Ceylon, known as Hultsdorf Mill, a cocoa-nut-oil factory,
+the proprietorship consisting in shares, of which the largest holder is
+David Wilson, Esq., the Austrian Consular Agent. Here are carried on all
+the various processes connected with the manufacture, the preparation of
+the oil-cake from the cocoa-nut, the expressure of the oil, &c., which are
+carried on by apparatus, partly sent out from England, partly put up in
+this country, all set in motion by steam-engines. The task assigned in
+these factories to the natives, of whom above a thousand are employed in
+the various departments, is, nevertheless, not the less important and
+significant, that, while machinery is used in those processes where it is
+necessary to use an agency far transcending the powers of mere human
+labour, all collateral products, such as soap, candles, perfumery, as also
+the implements and tools required for the works, and even the barrels and
+chests required for the transport of the manufactures, are prepared and
+used by handicraft labour.
+
+To the thoughtful visitor it is a scene of no ordinary interest to behold
+several hundreds of Cingalese, Hindoos, and Mozambique negroes, all
+thoroughly conversant with the management of the most magnificent
+invention of the nineteenth century. Here are a number of artisans
+employed at the hydraulic presses and iron turning-lathes; in another
+apartment the various parts of the different machines are being
+constructed or put together, which regulate the pressure of the steam
+supplied to the apparatus when in activity; in a third, persons are busy
+examining and testing the resulting products with scrupulous precision.
+With all its development, European industry has, in this quarter,
+exercised but an obscure influence; and, thus far, has been productive of
+but small results as a civilizing element among this population, which has
+hitherto shown itself so little disposed to accept the Christian form of
+civilization.
+
+In the large warehouse belonging to Mr. Wilson, we also saw huge heaps of
+"Kauris," or Cowries, (_cypræa moneta_), the renowned, or rather
+ill-reputed, species of mussel, which comes from the Maldive Islands, and
+plays so important a part in the commerce with the coast of Malabar and
+the interior of Africa; while here, it constitutes the sole medium of
+exchange, which is used by way of barter for almost all sorts of
+agricultural produce, chiefly among the blacks.[93] These mussels are sent
+from Ceylon to London, and thence back to the Eastern Coast of Africa, and
+thus indirectly uphold the slave-trade, as, the native merchants of that
+region barter these shells, so greatly sought after by all African tribes,
+as ornament, for negroes and negresses, who are in turn sold to the
+"speculators in human flesh." A ton of these shells, of which the smaller
+description are most in request, and therefore the most valuable, costs
+in Ceylon about £70 to £75.
+
+[Footnote 93: The Malay name for this mussel is "beya," implying duty,
+toll, tax, thus leaving it open to conjecture that that nation, in their
+commerce with the Asiatic and African continents, have for untold ages
+employed the same principles of currency and expressions of value as
+ourselves.]
+
+To the kindness and active interest in our objects of Mr. Wilson, in whose
+agreeable villa at Mootwall--the plan and method of construction of which
+reminded us of the beautiful planters' houses on the sugar estates of
+Louisiana--we spent the last night of our stay at Colombo, we are also
+indebted for a copy, with which he presented us, of the most ancient
+annals of Ceylon, inscribed with an iron graver upon Talipot palm-leaves
+in the highly-esteemed Pali language, and preserved between richly-carved
+boards of the costly wood of the Kalamander tree (_Diospyrus Hirsuta_).
+This carefully-preserved MS. includes, among others, the celebrated epic
+poem "Mahawanso," (an abbreviation "Mahantaman Wanso," "Genealogy of
+mighty men,") which recites under 100 heads, and in 9175 verses, the most
+important events connected with the interior constitution and history of
+the island, as also of all the battles fought by the inhabitants in
+foreign countries from B.C. 543 to the year 1758, A.D. Of these, the most
+renowned historic relics of the Cingalese, 38 chapters, of 262 pages 4to,
+were translated into English by George Tumour, Esq., an eminent Pali
+scholar, and printed at Ceylon, in the year 1837. Unfortunately, his
+earnest desire to publish the rest of this highly-interesting work was
+destined not to be gratified. The grave closed over him ere he could
+realize his wish. At present, however, there is a prospect of the
+translation of the "Mahawanso" being completed by Mr. James de Alwis, a
+worthy follower in the footsteps of Mr. Turnour, chiefly through the
+munificence of Government and of the Scientific Institutes, which were
+invoked to supply the requisite assistance for the prosecution of an
+undertaking likely to prove so unremunerative.
+
+In addition to the copy of the "Mahawanso," we also procured a number of
+other important Cingalese MSS. on Talipot palms, which were made use of by
+Tumour, partly in his translation of the "Mahawanso," partly in his other
+works upon Ceylon, and which embrace numerous valuable historical details
+not comprised in the "Mahawanso." This complete collection of the most
+antique annals of the Island of Ceylon, in the purchase of which we were
+kindly favoured with the advice and assistance of Mr. Wilson at Colombo,
+together with a variety of other Cingalese MSS. on palm leaves, collected
+at a subsequent date, now form part of the collection of valuable books in
+the Imperial Royal Library at Vienna.
+
+Besides Mr. Wilson, our very best thanks are due to the Colonial
+Secretary, Sir C. J. McCarthy, who had the kindness to provide several of
+the members of the _Novara_ Expedition with the requisite letters of
+introduction to the authorities in the interior of the Island: also to Mr.
+John Selby, the very obliging proprietor of the _Examiner_; to Dr.
+Kelaart, physician and naturalist; to Charles P. Layard, Esq., the
+Government Agent for the Western Provinces; and to Captain Gosset,
+Surveyor-General, for their numerous attentions. The last-mentioned
+gentleman very kindly provided us with a pair of level-tubes which we
+urgently needed for one of our levelling instruments, and which, in this
+quarter of the globe, were more rare and difficult to be met with than
+pearls or precious stones.
+
+Our return from Colombo to Galle, was not less marked by misadventures
+than our journey thither. As far as Caltura, where our amiable Father
+Miliani was in waiting for us with his neat single-horse equipage, to
+convey us to the beautiful parsonage of St. Sebastian Makùn, all went
+tolerably smoothly with us. We arrived, as had been concerted, to
+breakfast with this hospitable shepherd of souls. On our way to the
+parsonage, we noticed that great respect was paid to the worthy Father, by
+such of the Cingalese as met us. Their usual salutation was to bend
+themselves to the earth, veiling their eyes at the same time, and bending
+forward the outstretched head as though to implore a blessing. Father
+Miliani, who held the reins in his left hand, while his right hand
+flourished a long heavy whip, slightly inclined his body upon the
+cabriolet, and so dismissed in peace the poor folk that besought his
+benediction. When we had now got pretty near the parsonage, we were
+suddenly brought to a halt by a couple of natives, of whom one implored
+the spiritual ministration of the Father for his wife, then lying almost
+_in articulo mortis_, while the other had brought with him, from the
+sacristy of Makùn, the Communion-plate required for the purpose. The
+priest, to whom this interruption seemed to come as a matter of course,
+stopped, apologized for the unexpected delay, threw the reins to one of
+the party, sprang from the waggon, and disappeared in the gloom of the
+forest. It was not for long, as it proved; for the stately, handsome
+figure of the priest of Makùn presently appeared between the cocoa-palms.
+He had found the woman much less dangerously ill than he had been led to
+expect by the report of the husband, the native converts to Christianity
+being very much given to requesting the administration of the rites of the
+Church, upon being attacked by the slightest indisposition, because they
+anticipate much more benefit from spiritual treatment than from the
+medicines of their body-curers. And now we proceeded on our way to the
+parsonage at a smart gallop, which, however, did not prevent a zealous,
+much-believing Cingalese from keeping up with the mettled horse, stride
+for stride, for the entire distance, keeping close to the waggon as he ran
+alongside. We were not then aware, indeed, whether this violent bodily
+exercise was undertaken as a matter of choice or as a penance, but it
+seemed to us, in any case, an act far less meritorious than prejudicial to
+health.
+
+In St. Sebastian de Makùn, the entire community were awaiting our arrival,
+and escorted us by a romantic hill, and through a delicious palm-forest,
+to the priest's abode. Here we found the porch of the house gaily adorned,
+and metamorphosed with tropical fruits and flowers into a smiling fragrant
+bower, with the feathery leaf of the cocoa-palm cut into thin strips. The
+inventive ingenuity of the Cingalese had endeavoured to represent the
+various birds found in tropical forests, which were suspended in
+ornamental baskets of green leaves among the festoons. Over the entrance
+to this bower, improvised out of materials supplied by the primeval
+forest, was placed a picture painted by the good Father himself,
+representing a large anchor, with the superscription in Italian "La
+speranza non confunde!" (Hope never disappoints!) This was evidently a
+delicate allusion of our kind-souled entertainer to the hope which he had
+expressed during our previous visit, that he should see us on our return
+from Colombo, "which had not been disappointed."
+
+In the interior of the arbour appeared an elegantly appointed table, that
+seemed ready to give way under the weight of good things spread upon it,
+around which were placed a number of arm-chairs, worked in tapestry, while
+the plastered floor was strewed with the glistening green leaves of the
+_Ficus religiosa_. As soon as we had taken our seats, the members of the
+community, consisting of more than a hundred tawny, half-naked Cingalese
+(principally men and children), arranged themselves in a circle, and some
+half-dozen dancers began to execute a very ordinary-looking dance to the
+sound of a drum. The entire figure consisted in their simply approaching
+each other from opposite sides, during which they struck the
+hollow-sounding instrument pretty sharply, holding it in their hand the
+while, after which they drew away from each other, and wound up by
+dancing round in a circle in couples. A boy of eight, in glittering
+costume, next performed a dance, in which he was accompanied by a grown-up
+Cingalese who sung, occasionally accompanied by drum and fife. Frequently
+we enquired what was the meaning of the vocal accompaniment to the dance,
+but could get no information upon the subject. But we have always had
+occasion to remark among the various primitive races, that they are rarely
+able to give any connected account of the history of their dances or even
+their songs, but simply go through a set of mechanical figures which they
+have learned, or rehearse a set of words by rote, without being able to
+assign any signification to either. Over and over again have we put the
+question, only to receive the same stereotyped answer from Hindoos,
+Negroes, Chinese, Malays, and Polynesians, that they could tell us nothing
+more than that these songs and dances took their origin in the "olden
+times." Breakfast was served in the arbour by Cingalese boys. As often as
+the hospitable Father turned to apologize for his scanty means, which
+prevented him from ministering to our entertainment as he could wish, some
+new dish would be forthcoming, or some fresh kind of wine would be
+produced, till one knew not which most to admire, the variety of the
+entertainment, or its cost in preparation.
+
+On inquiring of Father Miliani, in the course of conversation, whether he
+had any acquaintance with the plants to which the natives ascribe healing
+properties, he sent for a phial containing an oily substance, which;
+according to the Cingalese herbalists, is composed of 57 different roots
+and as many flowers, and has already been wonderfully efficacious in cases
+of persons bitten by poisonous serpents. It is called by the natives,
+_Visanili-Katail_ (oil against poison); and the priest of Makùn remarked
+to us, he had himself had an opportunity of satisfying himself as to the
+marvellous curative qualities of this vegetable substance, in the case of
+persons who had been bitten by the most venomous snake in the whole
+island, the _Cobra di Capello_, who had entirely recovered by the copious
+use of this antidote. The application is very simple. The mouth is rinsed
+out with it, and the patient further takes from 15 to 20 drops of the oil
+internally. Unfortunately, we were not able to inquire more particularly
+as to the ingredients from which the Visanili-Katail is compounded, of
+which we eventually got a small quantity to carry away with us, after much
+entreaty; but by way of compensation, Father Miliani was able to give us
+much valuable information as to the manners, customs, and traditions of
+his flock. He regretted, however, that they were all of a highly
+impassioned strain, and that they constantly passed from one extreme to
+the other. The following trait, which was pointed out to us by the Father
+in the course of conversation, may serve to indicate the modes of thought
+and observation of the natives. When the Cingalese perceived how eagerly
+and with what warmth of friendship the Father received us, they inquired
+of him whether he had been previously an acquaintance of ours, as they
+were unable to conceive the existence of such hearty good-will between
+persons who were utter strangers to each other. The priest, readily
+appreciating the results which must flow from the reply he should give, in
+confirming the devout souls of his children, replied that the reputation
+of his name had long since penetrated to us, and we were unwilling to ride
+by without turning aside to salute him, to which he had readily expressed
+his assent, and had also long since been apprized of the important mission
+of the Austrian ship of war, whose commander was termed by the natives,
+with the bombast of their native tongue, "King of the Sea." At our
+departure, the kind Father presented us with several interesting articles,
+as _souvenirs_ of Makùn, while we, on our part, left with him a donation
+in money to defray the expenses of erecting his church.
+
+Father Miliani, the band of musicians, consisting of ten or twelve
+wild-looking fellows, with all manner of barbarous musical instruments, of
+which they made not less barbarous use, together with a laughing, yelling,
+gesticulating crowd of half-naked Cingalese, with long raven locks
+floating over their shoulders, accompanied us to our travelling chariot.
+Here we took leave of the hospitable Father, the vehicle set out on its
+route, and the whole brown retinue at once dispersed.
+
+Hardly had we left the Mission of St. Sebastian Makùn behind us, ere our
+troubles began afresh. At almost the very first station we came to, we
+had to hire a horse from a resident at an exorbitant rate--the animal
+belonging to the station, and which had been engaged for us, being utterly
+useless. This gave occasion for fresh delays. The party letting the horses
+was what is called a native doctor, who assumed the title of "native
+vaccinator," and bitterly complained, that for his attendance four days in
+every week, as required by the law, for the purpose of inoculation, he
+only received from Government a monthly salary of £2 5_s._ sterling.
+Whatever deficiency existed in his salary, he seemed determined to make up
+for in the hire of his horse, which he charged for at the rate of ten
+shillings for six miles! On the cash being forthcoming, our "native
+vaccinator" did not disdain himself to take the reins, and, with his own
+hands, apply the whip to his mare between the shafts of our vehicle. But
+this mark of distinction was destined, ere long, to cost us dear. Hardly
+had we proceeded a couple of miles under his care, when the hind-wheels of
+the vehicle sunk into a rut, whence our Æsculapian steed lacked the
+strength to extricate us. To complete the sum of our misfortunes, at the
+very moment we were using our utmost endeavours to replace the waggon on
+the regular track, it came on to rain heavily, and we were, in a
+twinkling, wet to the skin. Some thirty young Cingalese, in the full dress
+of Adam before the Fall, who were standing open-mouthed round the waggon,
+could only be roused by threats from their passive attitude; and when,
+finally, they lent a hand to assist, they, in their ill-timed zeal, came
+near oversetting the waggon into the ditch on the opposite side. Next, we
+exchanged this stubborn brute for one that was blind. For a brief space we
+hoped the latter might probably be the more easily driven in consequence
+of his not seeing what was going on around him; but these anticipations
+were speedily dispelled, and in a rather unpleasant manner. The short
+distance that now separated us from our destination seemed as though it
+would never have an end; and, in a word, it was already verging on
+midnight ere we reached Galle, where we had been expected to dinner five
+hours before, by our hospitable friend, the Consul for Hamburg. Some of
+the invited guests had already left this agreeable house, while others
+were still seated at the whist-table, as, wearied and exhausted, we
+entered the drawing-room. The circumstances that had so seriously delayed
+our arrival were explained by way of apology, and proved the subject of
+some goodnatured quizzing on our misfortunes by the guests present; and in
+such agreeable society, and over a sumptuous supper, we speedily forgot
+the trifling annoyances of our latest experiences.
+
+In the course of a desultory agreeable conversation about the natural
+beauties of the island, many were the plans of more distant excursions
+which we projected this evening--which, however, upon more mature
+consideration, all proved impracticable, owing to the scanty time at our
+disposal. Thus we found ourselves, much against our wishes, compelled to
+forego a visit to Kandy, and its beautiful environs, in which is situated
+the renowned temple that enshrines the tooth of Buddha, the occupation of
+which by the English was, in the eyes of the Cingalese, the most manifest
+indication of their being the legitimate conquerors of the kingdom.[94]
+Neither were we able to take part in an elephant hunt, although these
+animals are found in the island in such quantities, that it is related,
+with every appearance of accuracy, of a single elephant hunter, the late
+Major Rodgers, who was struck dead by a flash of lightning a few years
+since in the midst of the forest, that he had, in the course of his life
+of active exercise, laid low fifteen hundred elephants with his own hand!
+But permission was granted by the commander of the Expedition to the
+geologist and one of the zoologists to remain in Ceylon, and rejoin the
+frigate at Madras by the steamer which runs fortnightly, so as to enable
+them to ascend the world-famous Adam's Peak, 7000 feet high, one of the
+loftiest peaks in Ceylon, where, according to tradition, the founder of
+the Buddhist doctrine, when last he visited the earth, in answer to the
+supplications of a priest, left behind the print of his footstep
+(_Sri-pada_), as a visible sign of his presence.
+
+[Footnote 94: The legend relating to these relics, about which so many wars
+were waged, goes back as far as the third century of the Christian era,
+when Mahasana, a true believer, having become King of Ceylon, purchased
+these teeth for numerous valuable presents, of one of his kindred, a
+Calinga king in Bengal, who sent them over by his princes. The tooth
+Dahata Wahansa immediately achieved a miracle--it illumined the entire
+island, and supplanted all heretical teaching. It was forthwith enveloped
+in a hundred cloths, and a temple erected to enshrine it, since which it
+has been regarded as the Palladium of Ceylon. When, in 1560, this tooth
+was transferred to the temple at Manaar by the Portuguese under Constantin
+de Braganza, the king offered the Portuguese bigots 600,000 pieces of gold
+by way of ransom. Braganza judged it more advisable to destroy the tooth.
+But he little knew the adroitness and subtlety of the Buddhist priesthood.
+The very next morning the tooth, that had been supposed to be destroyed
+was marvellously found in a Lotos leaf in the temple, where it had been
+deposited by Buddha himself!]
+
+We cite, in the following extract, the most prominent features of this
+venture, as supplied by the two members of the Expedition who undertook
+it, so as to complete the description of the _Novara's_ visit to Ceylon:--
+
+"On 13th January, 1858, we proceeded from Colombo to Ratnapoora, _en
+route_, to visit Adam's Peak, a tolerably long and tedious journey. On the
+margin of a river we encountered an elephant, who was engaged in assisting
+the labourers on the public roads in that vicinity. While our car and the
+baggage were being embarked here, and again put in order, this animal went
+through a number of tricks, such as swaying to and fro, lying down,
+raising his trunk, and trumpeting, the latter of which, at a sign from his
+driver, he did with a vengeance, and for so doing was rewarded with a few
+plantains. These exercises seem to constitute the first steps in taming,
+as they were gone through in a similar manner by all the elephants we
+afterwards saw, whether employed like this one in task-work, or maintained
+for show, or made use of in the Temple service.
+
+At mid-day we reached Ratnapoora, and as we were anxious to shorten as
+much as possible our next day's journey, we decided on pushing forward in
+the course of the afternoon, as far as the little village of Gilli-Mali,
+seven miles further on. We had been provided by C. W. Layard, Esq., the
+Government Agent in Colombo, with letters of introduction to his deputy,
+Mr. Mooyart, at Ratnapoora, who, however, we unfortunately found was
+absent from home. Next day, however, we had unmistakable evidence that our
+letters had, very shortly after our departure, reached the hands they were
+intended for, by a variety of precautions which the hospitable gentleman
+must have at once arranged with a view to our greater comfort. While yet
+on the second-half of our road to Gilli-Mali, night overtook us, and we
+prosecuted our march by torch-light through the dense jungle. Our guides
+and porters had shown some reluctance to enter this jungle, partly on
+account of the swarms of land-leeches (_litchies_, as they are termed
+here, doubtless by a corruption of the English name), which are especially
+active during the night, partly from other causes of anxiety. Accordingly,
+they kept reciting Cingalese ditties, alternated with shrill yells, or
+shouted, so as to be heard at a distance; whether to drive away evil
+spirits, or to frighten the _chetah_ or leopard, we could not ascertain.
+No long time elapsed ere we ourselves began to perceive traces of having
+been victimized by that most uncomfortable of guests, the land-leech. The
+naked Hindoos were incessantly occupied with pulling off these painful
+blood-suckers, and we had to call a halt from time to time, in order to
+loosen and carefully fling them away, as they had succeeded in reaching
+the skin, through the trousers immediately above the boot. They are found
+up to an elevation of 4000 feet above the sea on the mountains, chiefly in
+damp or wet localities, and are most active during the evening and night
+in the selection of a victim.
+
+At Gilli-Mali, we fell in with Mr. Braybrooke, an English engineer, who
+most hospitably invited us to his bungalow, and with whom we conversed
+upon topics relating to Ceylon, till far into the night.
+
+Next day we had to ascend the Peak itself; which is in so far a difficult
+undertaking on the side from which we approached it, that one has gained
+no vantage-ground at Gilli-Malli, our last night's resting-place, towards
+reaching the summit, so that one sees it in its entire colossal height of
+above 7000 feet directly in front; whereas, in ascending from Kandy, one
+has already, at Neuwera Ellia, attained an elevation of 4000 feet, which
+can be performed in a carriage. We set out at 7 A.M., and after an
+hour-and-a-half's march, gained the last village, Balahab-a-Dullu, in the
+Buddhist temple of which is kept a flat metal dish, adorned with silver
+_rosettes_, with which the imprint of the holy footstep is covered over at
+the season of the annual pilgrimage. On the table, before a colossal
+figure of Buddha, were strewn, as usual, a quantity of flowers presented
+by the faithful; these were the flower-shrubs of the _Areca palm_,
+_Hibiscus_, _Alamanda_, _Tagetes_; also, close to the wooden statue, are
+placed several small figures of silver or wood, 3 or 4 inches long. The
+priest also showed us a magnificent manuscript of at least 1000 palm
+leaves, closely and beautifully engraved on both sides with Cingalese
+characters, which belonged to the temple, and was guarded with great care.
+
+At a solitary house on the road, we left our guides and porters to discuss
+their modest repast, which, in consequence of the strict ordinances of the
+Buddhist faith, consists of vegetable substances only. Reclining on a mat
+spread on the ground, each took a piece of green plantain leaf, scattered
+upon it a little rice which they had just brought with them, and some
+chili (red Spanish pepper), and thence conveyed their simple food to their
+mouth with the hand. This frugal meal was speedily concluded, and we once
+more pushed forward. From this point we had the dense covert of the high
+forest trees, the lofty foliage of which afforded a most agreeable shade,
+and kept us comparatively cool. The path, which consists simply of
+ravines, formed by the rush of torrents during the rainy season, is so
+steep that it seems like one uninterrupted flight of stairs, the steps of
+which seem partly constructed by Nature, partly by the hand of man.
+Frequently they are artistically chiselled in the solid rock; at one
+stupendous precipice a Cingalese monarch has had four flights, of 250
+steps in all, hewn out of the living rock. Here and there, also, ladders
+have been contrived, the rounds of which are composed of pieces of bamboo
+bound together, by which one clambers up. The whole route bears marks of
+being much used, and is considerably worn, the stones being rubbed quite
+smooth. Under the damp shade of the forest are found a vast quantity of
+the most beautiful ferns and _Lycopodium_ (Club-moss; or Wolf's-claw, as
+it is called in Sweden, whence the Linnæan name); from the delicate beauty
+of the _Jungermania_ (Star-tip), to the tree-like fern, _Filius
+Phyllophisidos_, which vies with the giants of the forest. The more deeply
+shaded spots are adorned here with beautiful balsams, a genus of plants
+which, besides being unusually luxuriant and beautiful in this district,
+exhibits certain peculiarities of form not usually met with.
+
+At one place, called Nihilabellagalla, there was pointed out to us, at a
+few paces to the side of the road, near a rugged projecting rock with a
+steep declivity in front, a narrow valley which seemed to be closed in by
+perpendicular walls of rock on the opposite side. This _cul de sac_, we
+were informed, was a favourite resort of numerous wild elephants. A shot
+fired at this point, with the gun directed towards the rocks opposite,
+returned a thundering echo.
+
+By 4 P.M. the last halt, or resting-place, was reached, above which the
+singular-looking cone towers sheer overhead, some 500 or 600 feet high.
+The vapours which, during the entire day, had been playing about the
+summit, from time to time lifted like a veil, as though to indulge us with
+an opportunity of beholding this sublime mountain-peak under the magical
+effect of twilight. Our native retinue, which had gathered fresh
+accessions of strength at every place we passed, and now consisted of from
+24 to 30 persons, showed no inclination to proceed farther, but appeared
+desirous of passing the night at the last halting-place, which was nothing
+but a sort of hovel. It was only by a resolute expression of our
+determination to reach the summit the same evening that they gave in.
+Their reluctance arose from an idea that no one could with impunity pass
+the night on the highest point of the mountain--which, indeed, is natural
+enough, since the sharp night-air at such an elevation may well be
+prejudicial to the health of those who are not sufficiently protected
+against its attacks.
+
+The last portion of the ascent is so steep, and so difficult, that all
+superfluous baggage was left behind, and we took with us only what was
+absolutely indispensable. Thus far we had seen occasional traces of
+elephants, sometimes so fresh, that they could not have been more than an
+hour old. According to a report of Major Skinner, the unmistakable marks
+of one of these animals was remarked in the year 1840 quite close to the
+rock which bears the sacred footprint! At the steepest points, iron
+ladders have been made fast, by which the visitor has to scramble up.
+There were, also, innumerable chains fastened to the rock, of every
+description and variety of link, which swung to and fro by dozens on
+either hand, some eaten away with age and rust, some forged quite lately,
+it being considered a meritorious work to provide such as a protection
+against the occurrence of accidents. By 6 P.M., we at last reached the
+summit, and were rewarded with a panoramic view of indescribable
+magnificence. The mists were almost entirely dispersed, and in the clear,
+calm, evening light, the eye wandered at pleasure over the vast, almost
+limitless, panorama at our feet, as far as the sea, barely visible in the
+grey distance. Bounding our view from north-west to east, the mountain
+ranges rose by three distinct terraces of hills, each behind the other,
+and in regular gradations, till they culminated in the highest peak on the
+island, the Pedro-talla-galla, which overtops Adam's peak by nearly 1000
+feet,[95] but presents no pre-eminent peak, similar to that on which we now
+stood. The remainder of the horizon was filled with low mountains, which
+gradually became more and more flat as they approached the coast. The
+followers of three religions,--Buddhists, Brahmins, and Mahometans, stand
+face to face with each other on this space of barely a few steps, in order
+to bow before these visible emblems, in sincere devotion to the invisible
+Deity. The highest surface, which is nearly level, is of an irregular oval
+form, and is about 60 or 70 feet in length, by from 36 to 40 feet in
+breadth, and is inclosed within a wall 5 feet in height, with two
+entrances on the west and south, while the north-east corner is shut out
+by an artificially rounded rock, easily surmounted, however, by any one
+who ascends it. In the middle of this enclosure stands a block of rock
+some 10 or 11 feet high, which, on the extreme top, has a depression, the
+divine _Sri-pada_, or Holy Footstep. The adoration consists chiefly of
+offerings of flowers which are brought up hither, and presented with
+innumerable genuflections, invocations, and exclamations of "_Sadoo_,"
+which corresponds to the Christian Amen. The impressed foot-print is
+ascribed by the Buddhists to the last incarnation of Buddha, the gentle
+hermit Gautama; while it is regarded by the Brahmins as the footstep of
+Siva, and by the Mahometans as that of Adam, as being the spot on which
+the progenitor of the human race stood so long, doing penance after his
+expulsion from Paradise, until the Almighty pardoned him.
+
+[Footnote 95: The precise relative elevations of the two mountains are,
+Pedro-talla-galla 8280 feet, Adam's Peak 7420 feet. Two other peaks of the
+main range are also higher than Adam's Peak, viz. Totapella 7720 feet, and
+Kirrigal-potta 7810 feet, while the plains, or table-lands, of Welinani
+and Neuwera Ellia are, respectively, no less than 6990 feet and 6210 feet
+above the level of the sea.]
+
+This depression, in which only the most unbridled imagination can see any
+resemblance to the human foot, is about 5 feet in length by 2-1/2 in
+breadth, and is set, as it were, in a level stratum of mortar, several
+inches in height, by six in breadth, shaped to resemble the outline of the
+human foot. At its anterior extremity, it presents a straight line, on
+which the five toes are artificially formed by several tolerably thick,
+narrow crevices, filled with mortar, and about 8 or 9 inches in length,
+which jut inwards, the great toe being on the right or east side, and thus
+indicating that it is a representation of the left foot. At the heel end
+the setting of mortar is somewhat narrowed and rounded off. Over the whole
+affair a wooden temple with balustrades open on all sides, has been
+erected, which is fastened by iron chains to the rock, and to beams of
+rhododendron fastened on the N.W. side, outside the wall, to prevent its
+being swept away by the storms which, on this lofty, exposed peak,
+occasionally rage with great vehemence. These cables, as also several of
+the poles by which the temple was supported, were thickly hung with carved
+figures of Buddha enveloped in linen cloth, which, originally the votive
+offerings of pilgrims, and bleached by long exposure, fluttered in the
+breeze. On the front of the temple is erected a penthouse roof, shading a
+bench beneath, on which several of our porters, who regarded our impious
+presence, and still more impious admeasurements of the holy footprint,
+with a horror which they flattered themselves was unobserved, deposited
+their offerings of flowers, and humbly bent the knee. On the west side,
+under two small distinct roofs, were two bells, and quite apart, on the
+rock itself, and somewhat in the background, a smaller temple. Between the
+block of rock and the inner half of the enclosure, a small house has been
+erected, 12 feet long by 6 feet broad, which is used as a shelter at night
+by the priests who are on duty during the pilgrimage season,[96] in which
+we too took up our quarters. Suddenly, from the depths below there arose,
+through the unbroken silence of the night, a confused murmur, in which the
+sounds of human voices were plainly recognizable. The singularity of such
+a phenomenon produced a certain degree of excitement among our
+superstitious spectre-dreading followers, inasmuch as it had never
+happened that strangers undertook the ascent of the peak at night, seeing
+it gives trouble enough to reach the summit by daylight. By degrees we
+perceived a number of torches borne by natives, who, with loud and
+long-continued cheers, set about slowly ascending the ladders. To the
+inquiries of our followers they made no reply; and we had, in a word, to
+wait a considerable interval, until, indeed, the leading torch-bearer had
+reached the summit, ere we were enlightened as to the object of this
+mysterious nocturnal visit. How great, and let us add, agreeable was our
+surprise at finding ourselves suddenly surrounded by a choice array of
+wines, with food of various sorts, which the overflowing hospitality of
+Mr. Mooyart had dispatched after us to the summit of Adam's Peak, together
+with his card, the whole being conveyed in huge baskets by the supposed
+spectres! A cheerful fire speedily blazed up, at which our tea and
+provisions were cooked, and, as may well be supposed, while, enjoying our
+delicate fare, we thankfully toasted the kind and thoughtful donor.
+
+[Footnote 96: The dry season, occurring in the south-west side of the
+island from January to April, is likewise the chief season of pilgrimage,
+at the end of which the entire amount of the offerings, annually averaging
+from £250 to £300 sterling, is handed over to the High-Priest of Buddha.]
+
+Deep silence once more fell on all around, no cry of any wild beast
+reached us at this elevation, no hum of insect broke upon the awful
+stillness. Our coolies lay cowering together around the drooping blaze,
+seeking some shelter against the night air. One division stowed themselves
+away in a second sleeping-house for priests, which had been run up some
+twenty paces distant, in which we also were in the end fain to seek
+shelter from the ever-increasing keenness of the air, the temperature of
+which fell to 54°.5 Fahr., where, with our wrappers drawn close around us,
+and stretched at full length on the bare rock, we awaited the approach of
+morning.
+
+The first faint glimmer of dawn invited us once more to the open air, in
+order to contemplate the wonderful aspect of Nature at this elevation. We
+had, after leaving Ratnapoora, taken barometrical and thermometrical
+observations, with the view of determining the elevation at nine different
+stations, which had been, wherever practicable, selected in such manner,
+that by means of them the various limits of certain classes of vegetation
+were indicated, which in many instances are marked out with extraordinary
+distinctness upon the perpendicular side of the peak. These series of
+observations, which were at the same time supplemented by investigations
+as to the temperature of the soil and of various springs, will be compared
+with the results of previous scientific visitors to the summit of Adam's
+Peak, and published in another form. The geology of the isolated pinnacle
+of Adam's Peak, so far as the dense covering of primeval forests permitted
+us to observe, is uncommonly simple and uniform. The chief directions of
+the lofty chain of mountains in Southern Ceylon, separated from each other
+by level plateau-like depressions, is from S.S.E. to N.N.W., corresponding
+likewise with the chief directions of the strata of gneiss, of which these
+mountains are composed. The gneiss is uniformly of a species not often met
+with, studded with garnets, and between its strata are inserted single
+beds of hornblende-gneiss and splinters of pure hornblende, as also
+granulite-gneiss and pure granulite. The steep, final cone of the rock
+consists of a granulitic gneiss of varying texture from coarse to fine,
+and abounding in garnets. Everywhere, even up to the highest summit, the
+gneiss is decomposed on the surface into laterit-like products. The huge
+blocks of brown ironstone, however, which are found near the summit, in
+the hollow path by which it is customary to ascend, owe their origin to
+the decomposition of the hornblende.
+
+After these interesting observations, admeasurements, and investigations,
+made at the summit of the most remarkable peak in the world, had been
+brought to a conclusion, we set out on our return to Gilli-Mali, which we
+reached late at night. Here we found, at the abode of our hospitable
+entertainer, Mr. Braybrooke, a fresh guest, who likewise intended to
+ascend Adam's Peak the following day. This was the well-known Count Medem,
+a Russian gentleman, who has frequently traversed both the old and new
+worlds, and was now about making a second visit to China.[97] The next day
+saw us at Ratnapoora, from which point we continued our return journey on
+the waters of the Kalu-Gunga, or Black River, as far as Caltura.
+
+[Footnote 97: Count Medem died the same year at Shanghai.]
+
+Our boat consisted of two trunks of trees hollowed out and fastened
+together, upon which was erected a semicircular tilt, covered with the
+leaves of the Fan Palm (_Borassus Flabelliformis_), under which one might
+sit or lie at pleasure, sheltered from the sun. As the mail-car that runs
+daily from Colombo to Caltura was already full, we were compelled, in
+order to pursue our journey to Galle, to make use of the native waggon, or
+bullock-bandy. This is a two-wheeled cart drawn by oxen, and covered with
+a semicircular tilt of palm-leaves, beneath which there was room for two
+persons to lie at full-length packed closely together. The oxen, of a
+breed that have humps and erect horns, are small, and walk with a quick,
+short tramp, while their entire bodies are tattooed with Cingalese
+characters and ornaments. The horns are usually adorned with metal tips,
+and frequently are dyed, the one red, the other green. The cross-piece of
+the pole is fastened to the neck instead of the customary yoke, and the
+cord for guiding the animal passes through the nose. The driver either
+strides along between the two oxen, or sits with his back to them on the
+pole. The rate of progression by this national conveyance is so slow, that
+the mail-car which left Colombo the day after overtook us long ere we
+reached our destination, and it was with some difficulty we reached Galle
+in time for the overland steamer which was to bring us to Madras."
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VI.--TRACK FROM POINT DE GALLE TO MADRAS.]
+
+At 6 A.M. of the 16th January, the _Novara_ set sail from the roads of
+Point de Galle with light breezes off the land, and steered southerly in
+order to avoid the Basses or Baxos, a much-dreaded rocky shoal,
+traditionally alleged to be the remains of the island of Giri, swallowed
+up by the sea, and which, owing to the very strong current, require the
+utmost care to be observed, in order to avoid drifting right upon them.[98]
+
+[Footnote 98: A late survey, instituted with the intention of erecting a
+lighthouse on the "Basses," proved a failure, in consequence of the ground
+having sunk in while an examination was being made by the diver, and left
+nothing but holes filled with water, in which, according to the report of
+the fishermen, besides fish and molluscs, sea-snakes are occasionally
+seen, of a light-gray colour, and about 4 or 5 feet in length.]
+
+The evening before our departure, the Consul for Hamburg had requested
+from the Commander of the Expedition the favour of a free passage to
+Madras, on board our frigate, for a native of Berlin, named Neupert. This
+man had come to Ceylon a long time previously with a company of
+rope-dancers, and had at first made a good deal of money as an acrobat and
+juggler, despite the dangerous competition of the Indian practitioners,
+but had afterwards lost his all, and had been for some weeks in a pitiable
+plight. The request was at once acceded to, and Neupert came on board
+during the night. His luggage did not encumber him much. However, although
+the greatest part of his effects had disappeared in Galle, he fortunately
+had kept his various apparatus; and, by way of showing his gratitude for
+the free passage that had been accorded to him, professed his willingness,
+in the course of the voyage, to give us some specimens of his skill on
+deck. Accordingly, one fine afternoon, he gave us an entertainment out on
+the open ocean, which not alone hugely pleased the sturdy tars grouped
+together on the forecastle, but ultimately, in consequence of a collection
+set on foot for the unfortunate Berlin acrobat, procured him enough ready
+money to enable him to pass the first week after his arrival at Madras
+free from anxiety, besides supplying him with a fresh outfit.
+
+Within a few days after our departure from Galle, several severe cases
+occurred of hemeralopia, chiefly among members of the ship's band. Every
+evening, as darkness set in, these men lost all power of distinguishing
+objects, and had to be led about like blind men. In Vienna, we had been
+advised by various physicians there, with a view to the confirmation or
+refutation of the popular belief, to try the use of boiled ox-liver;[99]
+and, as one of the oxen shipped at Ceylon had been slaughtered, we were in
+a position to make the desired experiment, which, it must be confessed,
+proved eminently successful. This time, moreover, several of those thus
+afflicted were treated with cooked pig's-liver, which was given them to
+eat, while the steam rising from the dish was applied to their eyes. But
+we had, on our return voyage, the most convincing proof of the efficacy of
+the liver of animals of the ox tribe in cases of night-blindness, when
+above twenty of those afflicted, after frequent relapses during the voyage
+from Valparaiso to Gibraltar, were treated in the last-named port with
+ox-liver, and dismissed permanently cured.[100]
+
+[Footnote 99: This cure is likewise very much resorted to, even of late
+years, among the Highlands of Scotland!]
+
+[Footnote 100: During the entire voyage round the globe, there occurred 75
+cases of _Hemeralopia_; the largest number of which, 60, occurred between
+Cape Horn and Gibraltar. The remainder were isolated cases, occurring at
+Rio, Ceylon, the Nicobar Islands, and on the voyage from China to Sydney.]
+
+The voyage from Ceylon to Madras was, on the whole, monotonous and void of
+interest, with the exception of one single event, which no one on board is
+likely to forget for the remainder of his life. About 3.30 P.M. of the 2nd
+January, 1858, there suddenly resounded from the hold, the astounding cry
+of "Fire! fire!" Everyone rushed, in the utmost excitement, on deck. It
+turned out that a by no means insignificant quantity of pure alcohol,
+which was stowed away in the hold for the preservation of specimens of
+natural history, had, from some unknown cause, caught fire. Forthwith the
+pumps were manned, the sails clewed up, all the portholes closed, so as to
+cut off the slightest draught, and all the hammocks of the crew trundled,
+_pêle-mêle_ on deck anyhow, out of the quarter-nettings, in which they are
+stowed away during the day, there to be dipped in sea-water, and in that
+wringing-wet condition applied, partly in extinguishing the flames, partly
+in preventing the fire from spreading. In less than a quarter of an hour
+the worst danger was over, and our wonted quiet restored, despite the
+first terrible excitement. On a more searching investigation, several of
+the tin carboys in the hold, filled with spirits of wine, and kept between
+layers of sand in iron chests, were found to have been corroded till the
+liquor had oozed through, while the air, having free access to the sand,
+had become strongly impregnated with gas. This atmosphere, impregnated as
+it was with alcoholic fumes, took fire on one of the sailors carelessly
+entering the hold with a badly-fastened lantern, and in a moment the light
+flames which speedily enveloped the man in such a confined space, at once
+gave the alarm. The full carboys remained uninjured by the fire. Had such
+a catastrophe happened, and the whole quantity of spirit (about 40
+gallons) taken fire, considering the immense quantities of combustible
+matter we had on board, among the rest a ton-and-a-half of gunpowder, the
+upshot must have been of a far less agreeable nature. The extraordinary
+lightning-like activity displayed by the entire ship's company on this
+occasion was something wonderful. Each man seemed to have got wings. There
+was the most laudable emulation displayed by all hands in seeking to save
+the lives of themselves and others from such a terrible doom.
+
+On the 30th January, at 7.30 P.M., we anchored in Madras Roads, so dreaded
+for their insecurity, about three nautical miles from the shore, and in 9
+fathoms (56 feet English). Even in the calmest weather there is a
+tremendous surf on this coast, and from October to December, in which
+strong gales blow from the N.E., it is all but unapproachable. For this
+reason, so soon as the wind increases so as to endanger the ships in the
+roads, a flag is hoisted on a staff at the Master Attendant's office, that
+they may put to sea at once. On the second signal, all ships must quit the
+Roads for fear of being dashed through the surf upon the beach.
+
+From the city we heard a running fire of musketry and some salutes with
+cannon, which, considering the prevalence of warlike rumours and movements
+in the then circumstances of India, made us conjecture that the natives of
+the Coromandel coast were also in insurrection against the English.
+However, we learned afterwards that the musketry and salvoes proceeded
+from the troops stationed near the drilling-ground, who were receiving
+their general on his return from parade with a salute. The following day
+(Sunday, the 31st January, 1858) the European community of Madras fell
+into a precisely similar error in consequence of our salute, which they,
+being at that hour assembled at worship, mistook for a much less peaceful
+and agreeable intimation, so that the majority, dreading an outbreak,
+hurried to their houses in deep anxiety.
+
+[Illustration: MASULI BOAT AT MADRAS.]
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF MADRAS (AND PROPOSED PIER).]
+
+
+
+
+                                 IX.
+
+                               Madras.
+
+      DURATION OF STAY FROM 30TH JANUARY TO 10TH FEBRUARY, 1858.
+
+   "Catamarans" and "Massuli" boats.--Difficulty of disembarkation,
+     and plans for remedying it.--History.--Brahminism.--Festival
+     in honour of Vishnu.--Employment of Heathens under a Christian
+     Government.--Politics and Religion.--Laws of Brahminic faith.--
+     The Observatory.--Museum of Natural History and Zoological
+     Garden.--Academy of Fine Arts.--Medical School.--Infirmary.--
+     Orphan Asylum.--Dr. Bell.--Lancastrian Method of Teaching
+     Children first applied in Madras.--Colonel Mackenzie's
+     Collection of Indian Inscriptions and Manuscripts.--The Palace
+     of the former Nabob of the Coromandel Coast.--Journey by rail
+     to Vellore.--_Fête_ given by the Governor in Guindy Park.--
+     Visit to the Monolithic Monuments of Mahamalaipuram.--
+     Excursion to Pulicat Lake.--Madras Club.--_Fête_ in honour of
+     the members of the _Novara_ Expedition.--"Tiffin" and dance on
+     board.--Departure from Madras.--Zodiacal light.--Shrove
+     Tuesday in the tropics.--Arrival at the Island of Kar-Nicobar.
+
+
+The morning after our arrival in Madras Roads, a native boat came
+alongside, of the sort known as "Catamarans," having on board two
+natives, who brought off from the authorities of the port the customary
+papers to be filled up. This extraordinary and very primitive boat
+consists of merely two or three trunks of trees bound together
+raft-fashion, on which these daring boatmen kneel. As a great part of
+their body is necessarily under water, they carry the papers and letters
+entrusted to them for transmission to the ships in the Roads, in
+turban-like wrappings which envelope their heads. Ordinarily, these men
+are excellent swimmers, a most requisite accomplishment to enable them to
+regain their boats, in the event of being swept off by the waves, or to
+save themselves and others from the innumerable sharks, which frequent the
+entire Coromandel coast, and render it eminently dangerous. About noon, a
+larger boat approached us, manned by from 15 to 20 natives, who offered
+their services as caterers, washers, agents, servants, in short as
+"Dubashes" a sort of Hindoo _factotum_; while each individual, shrieking
+and vociferating at the top of his voice, held high in the air, with
+outstretched arm, a number of written testimonials of ship-captains that
+had already employed him. These boats, called "Massuli," or "Musli" boats
+(from _Muchly_--fish), about 36 feet long by 5 or 6 in width, and in which
+alone it is possible to bring passengers and goods to land, are light, as
+flexible as if made of leather, and are fastened together with the elastic
+fibres of the cocoa-nut, being in every particular specially adapted to
+yield to the tremendous blows of the heavy surf, which a boat of ordinary
+construction could not possibly live through. They are for the most part
+pretty deep, and are usually manned with from 12 to 15 naked natives, who
+make use of an exceedingly smooth pallette-shaped paddle. In one of these
+boats, the officers of the frigate on leave, and the naturalists of the
+Expedition, were conveyed to land in the midst of a fresh breeze from the
+N.E. The more we approached the shore, the more formidable was the
+appearance of the tumultuous tempest-driven waves. Amid frightful yells
+and hurrahs, we passed in safety the first and second lines of surf. But
+we had yet to encounter the third, and by far the most furious. The
+boatmen spread a couple of cloths over our heads, to prevent our getting a
+soaking; the boat made several violent plunges forward, and was for an
+instant apparently covered by the tremendous foaming billows, but seemed
+to glide in a most extraordinary manner over these, and finally was neatly
+laid alongside the beach on the crest of the last breaker. This is the
+critical moment, and the most disagreeable, because the boat is, by this
+manipulation, thrown on its side, and one feels disposed to rush out, ere
+the returning wave throws the boat high and dry on the sand. The noisy
+shrieks of the boat's crew and Coolies, or Lascars (Indian porters), with
+which the disembarkation is accompanied, combine to render it still more
+annoying and unpleasant. One feels a sensation of satisfaction at having
+gone through this remarkable, and to some extent wholly peculiar,
+experience; but no one was ever known to encounter it voluntarily a second
+time. The glowing picture, which numbers of travellers have drawn of the
+landing at Madras, might impress many readers with the idea that their
+representations were most probably tinged somewhat with a colouring of
+romance; but, in view of our own experience at what is confessedly the
+pleasantest season of the year, there can be at certain times no
+description, however vividly sketched, but what must lag behind the
+reality.
+
+There could hardly have been selected a more unsuitable site for a city,
+than that of Madras, and it is only the circumstance that the entire
+Coromandel coast presents no more eligible haven, as also the importance
+of the place as the chief city of the Carnatic, which alone has a
+population of 5,000,000, that has enabled Madras to boast a population of
+700,000 inhabitants, and a commerce of such magnitude that 6000 vessels,
+British and foreign, are annually[101] cleared inwards and outwards, laden
+with upwards of 650,000 tons of produce and goods of a total value of more
+than £8,000,000 sterling.
+
+[Footnote 101: In the year 1857, the number of trading vessels was 6241,
+carrying 652,146 tons merchandise, of which 1438 were square-sailed ships;
+and 4803 native boats and Chinese junks. The imports of goods and metals
+amounted to Rs. 40,563,826 (about £4,050,000 in round numbers); the
+exports to Rs. 40,060,656 (about £4,000,000 in round numbers). We are
+indebted to the kindness of Dr. Balfour for a variety of interesting
+statistical _data_, the information contained in which must be transferred
+to the statistical portion of the _Novara_ publications.]
+
+The spot at which vessels anchor can by no stretch of terms be called a
+roadstead, being in fact nothing but an open strip of coast running nearly
+due north and south, so that during the N.E. monsoons, the sea that sets
+in is something extraordinary, and produces a tremendous surf. At no
+season of the year is it practicable to reach the shore by ordinary
+ship-boats, because the beach, being utterly unprovided with any
+artificial appliances, is left in its natural state--that is to say,
+covered with fine sand, which lies so level that the depth is only nine
+fathoms two miles out at sea! Singular to say, no steps have to this day
+been taken to carry out the proposition, made many long years ago, of
+remedying this difficulty in reaching land, by the construction of a mole
+or pier, although three or four plans have already been presented by
+distinguished engineers. The last and most feasible scheme, and the most
+likely to be put in execution, consists in constructing a mole 1000 feet
+in length and 60 feet in breadth, to be erected upon iron piles driven
+into the sand, and with a cross-piece at the seaward extremity--the mole
+construction resembling the letter =T=. On either side of the mole,
+tramways will be laid down to facilitate the transport of goods that have
+been discharged. The entire cost of this undertaking would be about
+£100,000--an entirely disproportionate, and, indeed, insignificant amount,
+when one takes into consideration the important consequences which must
+result to trade and passenger traffic on the completion of this erection.
+
+The earliest British settlement was at Armegon, about 36 miles north of
+Pulicat (or about 78 miles N. by W. of Madras). The cession of a piece of
+land by the native Rajah of Besnayor induced the president of the old
+factory at Armegon, Mr. Francis Day, to abandon the latter, and in the
+year 1639, the Fort of St. George was erected at the newly-selected
+station, where formerly stood the little Hindoo village of Ischinapatam.
+This fort formed the nucleus, at a later period, of the city of Madras,
+which is built on the flat alluvial soil along the coast, and at present
+comprises an area of about 30 (English) square miles. Its extent along the
+beach from north to south is about 9 miles by an extreme width of 3-3/4
+miles. Madras, like all the rest, consists of a White town, exclusively
+inhabited by Europeans, and a Black town, or _Pettah_, in which the
+natives and all coloured residents carry on business.
+
+The White town, which, however, presents none of the carefully laid-out
+streets and compact blocks of houses involuntarily suggested by the word
+"town," but rather resembles a gigantic park, in which are situated a vast
+number of comfortable ornamental villas, rises at its highest point 20
+feet above the sea; whereas the Black town, at several points--for
+instance, Popham's Broadway--is hardly 8 feet above the level of spring
+floods.
+
+While in Ceylon we had had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
+influence exercised by Buddhism over the political and social condition of
+the island; here we, for the first time, found ourselves confronted with
+the followers of Brahmah. At the moment of our arrival, the principal
+festival of the year was being celebrated in honour of Vishnù, one of the
+three godheads of the Brahminical faith. It lasted fourteen days, and was
+celebrated with much pomp. Temples were improvised, and some dancing
+platforms erected for the female servants of the temple and "_bayadères_."
+In one of these dancing saloons, adorned in the most marvellous manner, a
+sort of altar rose in the background, richly hung with gold filagree work
+and stained cut-glass, and fringed with singular representations of the
+god. In the doorway stood, on the left hand side, a copy of the statue of
+the Venus de' Medici; on the right, of the Apollo Belvedere; on a small
+table were visible butterflies, fire-flies, and conchs, in ornamental
+glass cases. On the walls, of plain deal boards, were suspended on one
+side, adjoining the portrait of Anthony da Padua, a number of
+representations of voluptuous Oriental "_odalisques_;" on the other, near
+an engraving in copper of Carlo Barromeo, all sorts of obscene engravings,
+such as are offered for sale only in the most abandoned quarters of Paris
+and London, and then under the cover of night. For that matter, we believe
+that the Hindoo priests, who superintended the erection of this hall
+consecrated to the worship of Vishnù, gave themselves less anxiety
+respecting the subjects treated of in the pictures suspended round, than
+that the walls should appear richly decorated with engravings and
+pictures. Adjoining this half-open dancing booth for the women in
+attendance on the temple, rises the chief Hindoo temple in Madras, a
+stately edifice of blocks of syenite, and surrounded by a lofty wall
+painted with the usual white and red streaks; and on which a fleecy-coated
+long-tailed baboon was performing his antics. Two gloomy pyramidal towers
+shoot up from the wall of the temple, and a beautiful colonnade leads to
+the entrance porch. A huge tank, almost resembling a pond, in which the
+Hindoos thrice daily performed their ceremonies, and went through their
+ablutions, lies in front of the temple, surrounded on its remaining sides
+by buildings for various purposes, while a stately elephant, specially
+consecrated to the service, is kept on the side next the temple, which
+carries up a pitcher of water every forenoon from the pool in front of the
+pagoda, one of the servants attached to the temple sitting on his back
+holding it, while a second, seated behind him, keeps waving a fan in
+either hand. The elephant is first conducted round the temple and then
+inside, in order to present the water to the god. This elephant (which
+animal it seems is itself an incarnation of Vishnù) had the distinguishing
+mark of the sect, as also several other indications of a similar nature
+richly tatooed upon his huge broad forehead. Every evening during the
+continuance of the fourteen days' festival, the various temples and
+dancing booths were brilliantly illuminated with wax tapers and oil lamps,
+but admission was refused to the profane, and in the eyes of Brahmah,
+unbelieving Europeans, a rule which was everywhere enforced with much
+politeness but unvarying firmness. Moreover, everything that the hand of a
+European has touched is unclean to the Hindoo. Only the _Pariah_, or
+"outcaste," the very lowest class of the people, eats any food that has
+been prepared in the kitchen of a Christian.
+
+The most substantial part of the festival, however, was fortunately not
+confined to the interior of the temple, but took place in the streets,
+through which, during the period the festival lasted, immense processions
+of Hindoos, praying, singing, and dancing, used to pass every evening
+about 11 P.M. on their way from one temple to another, so that we were in
+no want of picturesque objects. First, a band of musicians would lead the
+way, with the peculiar little drum or tom-tom, whining pipes, and blaring
+clarinets. It was more like the noise of a lot of children's instruments
+than music. Next came a Hindoo riding on a gaily-bedizened ox, after whom
+appeared a number of girls and "_Bayadères_," dressed in white clothes,
+their hair richly dressed, and with rings through their nostrils, while
+the flaps of their ears were adorned with richly-gemmed ear-rings hanging
+down to the neck, and moving both hands and feet as they danced before the
+sacred figure, which was drawn along by 24 sturdy believers in Vishnù. The
+image was placed on a daïs thickly overspread with flowers, filagree work,
+and small mirrors, approached by steps, and with a parasol outspread
+overhead; in a vehicle in front was a sort of figure dressed up in
+flowers. On either side a multitude of torch-bearers strode along, with
+sulphurous lights and other means of illumination, or iron frames, on
+which were disposed in pyramidal form or like a bow, from 7 to 13
+fireballs, which, let off at intervals alternately with Bengal lights and
+rockets, formed a veritable ocean of light. A tub filled with cocoa-nut
+oil was dragged behind, from which the cotton wicks were kept constantly
+replenished, so that the flames continued unintermittently. Wherever the
+procession passed the by-standers stood with hands reverentially folded.
+Many had the thresholds of their houses gaily adorned with flags and
+illuminated with paper lamps, others let off sky-rockets. From time to
+time, the procession halted for a moment, the female dancers formed two
+rows, and some of their number went through a sort of dance, in which they
+performed a set of stereotyped motions with their hands, and chanted the
+praises of the god in a most monotonous chorus. Thousands upon thousands
+of Hindoos joined the procession, so that we could hardly make way through
+the crowds. The yelling, heat, odour of oil, and stink of sulphur were
+absolutely intolerable. As often as the procession paused, the noise was
+redoubled, the confusion became tenfold. Itinerant confectioners, who
+offered for sale all sorts of sweetmeats, prepared either from the kernel
+or milk of the cocoa-nut, drew back reluctantly when the eye of a stranger
+was directed towards their piled-up delicacies, through dread lest a mere
+glance from him should blight their stock in trade. On the other hand, we
+remarked some of these vendors pressing forward with eagerness to satisfy
+the curiosity of strangers by offering small samples of their eatables, so
+as the more easily to propitiate and get rid of these dangerous guests,
+and leave the poor Hindoo in peace and unharmed! As Christianity makes but
+slow progress among the Hindoos, and as the tendencies of the English
+residents in India do not point, as of yore among the Spaniards in
+America, towards the violent conversion of the heathen natives with the
+alternative of annihilation, but rather towards political and commercial
+influences, we find the British Government regarding with placid
+indifference the abominations of Hindoo worship, which, even to this hour,
+take the form of laceration of the flesh and self-immolation, rather than,
+by ruling with the strong hand, fan the religious fanaticism of the
+multitude, without the possibility of Christianity becoming a gainer.
+Among the thousands upon thousands who were celebrating the festival of
+Vishnù in such a heathenish fashion, there undoubtedly were many who are
+in the employ of Government, which has no scruples about appointing
+Hindoos of all sorts to the various posts in the public service. The
+English State Church which held that such appointments tended, not very
+indirectly, to support heathenism,[102] earnestly remonstrated against the
+practice, but the Government becoming daily more convinced that the
+doctrines and homilies of the Christian faith continued to be entirely a
+dead letter among the Hindoos, seems to hold fast to a policy of seeking
+gradually to introduce Christianity and European civilization among the
+Indian races, by means of equality of rights and assimilation of laws, by
+a system of well-organized national, trade, and industrial education, and,
+above all, by the influence of personal example. This, to be sure, is a
+very slow and arduous method of conversion, inasmuch as a life of
+religious observances is more deeply intertwined with the very foundations
+of the social system in India than in any other country of the globe, and
+fairly blocks the way against the expansiveness of European civilization.
+For as simple as the Hindoo religion appears in its primitive principles,
+the proper observance of its various rites is proportionately difficult,
+and full of subtle distinctions for the sincere Hindoo believer.
+
+[Footnote 102: The East India Company even undertook the maintenance of the
+Hindoo temples, and defrayed the receipts of the annual festival in honour
+of Vishnù out of the revenues. There exist in the Presidency of Madras
+alone 8292 Hindoo temples, with an annual revenue of about £100,000, all
+under the protection and control of the Company. (See "India, Ancient and
+Modern," by David O. Allen, Boston, 1856.)]
+
+The worship of Brahma, according to the doctrines enunciated by Brahma's
+own lips in the Vedas, or holy books, took its rise in the adoration paid
+to the powers of nature, regarded as so many divinities, especially in the
+exalted transcendentalism of their ideas respecting the sun, the moon, the
+stars, and the firmament. Thence was readily developed the belief in a
+sole, eternal, Almighty Creator and Ruler of the world, Brahma,
+represented as having four faces looking to the four quarters of the
+globe, and reposing on a swan. This simple monotheistic belief was
+gradually developed into the divine manifestation of Brahma as a Triune
+divinity, namely, as the Creating power (Brahma), the preserving power
+(Vishnù), and the destroying, and at the same time renewing, energy of
+nature (Siva).
+
+Although the revelation of Brahma has long since been completed, while
+Vishnù and Siva are still active agencies in the world as Supporter and
+Augmenter respectively, Brahma is assigned a very inferior rank in the
+worship of the masses, although, according to the lawgiver Menù, the Moses
+of India, he created the Brahmins out of the substance of his head, to
+guide and instruct man; from his arms the Chetriyas, to protect and defend
+him; from his trunk the Veisigas, to nourish and support him; and, lastly,
+from his feet the Sadras, to serve and be the property of all the other
+castes.
+
+To Brahma, the fulness of whose existence no earthly notions can embrace,
+there are no temples dedicated, these being rather erected in honour of
+Vishnù, the Intercessor and Supporter, who manifests himself in the
+atmosphere and in water, and Siva the destroyer and regenerator of the
+various races, as also to the other divinities whom the Hindoo religion
+numbers by millions, although the majority of these have several names,
+and the lower classes are simply Avatars, that is incarnations or
+manifestations, of the superior deities. This peculiarity of the Hindoo
+religion makes it impossible correctly to classify or define Indian
+mythology. The god Rama, for example, is frequently named for Krishna, and
+the latter again for Vishnù. Vishnù, on his part, sometimes figures as
+Rama, when he is to destroy Ravana, the tyrant of Ceylon, or as Buddha, in
+order to found Buddhism. Like the Proteus of Grecian fable, the Hindoo
+mythology assumes a thousand different shapes,--it is, in short, Pantheism
+in its most perfect development.
+
+A zealous Hindoo requires about four hours of each day to get through his
+religious ceremonies, these being performed at different periods, as he
+must bathe in the morning, at noon, and again at night, in a tank or pool
+before the temple, and recite certain prayers. For purposes of
+recognition, the two chief castes wear special marks, the worshippers of
+Vishnù having a trident painted on the forehead in either white or yellow,
+while those of Siva, on the other hand, sport three horizontal stripes, or
+one round spot marked with the ash of burnt sandal-wood. Many Hindoos
+write on their foreheads the distinguishing insignia of both Vishnù and
+Siva, and look thus the more strange and peculiar.
+
+After every ablution these marks are painted afresh, and with much care
+upon the forehead, so that paint and rouge-boxes play an important part in
+a native household. No Hindoo can partake of his exclusively vegetable
+nutriment, if cooked in a European kitchen, such being entirely contrary
+to the principles of his faith. Every servant, therefore, leaves his
+master regularly at noon, in order to partake of his simple meal of rice
+and vegetables, either with his family or in one of the numerous Hindoo
+cook-shops. The frequent holidays of the Hindoos, of which there are
+twenty-one within two months, seriously interfere with trade among the
+natives, and still more with the instruction of the young.
+
+Hindooism, however, appears to have lost much of its originality by
+constant contact with Europeans, and by the various political revolutions,
+and although many of these ceremonies are still kept up, and the bodies of
+their dead are still burned on pyres, yet the modern Hindoo has so far
+relaxed from his ascetic austerity, as to admit of his being employed in
+the various pursuits of active life. And it is not a little surprising to
+see these handsome, tall, brown figures, with their insignia of Vishnù or
+Siva marked on their foreheads, and dressed in their sweeping plaited
+togas of pure white, employed on the telegraph, the railway, the arsenal,
+and even the observatory, all which employments demand the utmost
+exactness and punctuality, and thus afford the most gratifying evidence of
+the adaptability of the Hindoo race to be impressed and to benefit by
+European civilization. With the exception of Major Jacob, the director of
+the astronomical and magnetic observatory, the whole of the _employés_ are
+natives, who are not indeed employed in making the actual observations,
+but are found perfectly competent to compute the various calculations, and
+make the requisite reductions. The institution itself is at present of but
+little importance as a place of scientific observation, in consequence of
+the small support it receives, but it is to be provided with a meridian
+circle, similar to that in the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope,
+when it must become an important station. Strange to say, here, as at the
+Cape, there are no observations made on the Sundays, which in the course
+of a year gives rise to lamentable deficiencies, especially when some
+natural phenomenon of rare occurrence happens to fall upon a Sunday.
+
+We were greatly surprised at the flourishing condition of the Central
+Museum, with which is united a Zoological Garden, both set on foot in
+1851. In the spacious rooms of this stately edifice are ranged costly
+Indian antiquities and sculptures, inscriptions in Sanscrit, in stone, or
+marble slabs, antique fragments of Indian monuments,[103] as also an
+instructive collection of technical and ethnographical subjects, models of
+fortresses, ships, agricultural implements, instruments, tools, machines,
+and native forts. The geological department of the Museum is the weakest
+and poorest department; and as spirits of wine and glass jars are
+expensive articles in India, the greatest number of the animals, even the
+fish and snakes, are simply stuffed. In the garden which surrounds the
+museum buildings are a considerable number of cages inclosing living
+animals, such as monkeys, panthers, bears, giraffes, stags, gazelles,
+cobras, Indian hens, pigeons, marsh-birds, and singing-birds. In addition
+there were _Aquaria_ with fishes arranged in groups at various spots all
+round the garden. Of objects of special interest there was a powerful
+baboon (_Pithecus Satyrus_), above 5 feet high, fastened to a chain in a
+large monkey-house, around whom were gambolling a number of smaller
+species, as also a number of cobras in a large box with glass sides, so
+that one could examine them at leisure on every side. Here we witnessed
+the uncomfortable spectacle of a native engaged in cleaning the panes
+inside the cage and directly beneath these formidable animals, which
+thronged around him in such numbers that he was continually compelled with
+one hand to resist their importunate caresses. Anyone not aware of the
+fact that these animals have been rendered harmless by the extraction of
+their poison-fangs, must experience a feeling of terror and astonishment
+at the sight of this brood of malign, stealthy-moving, hissing serpents,
+with a naked Hindoo in their midst!
+
+[Footnote 103: These important inscriptions are explained and described in
+the Selections from the Records of the Madras Government, Report on the
+Elliot Marbles (p. 191) by R. W. Taylor, Madras, 1857.]
+
+Most astonishing and gratifying is the immense number of casual visitors
+that frequent this institution for advancing education. The book for
+inscribing names lying in the Museum, showed for a single month no less
+than 36,522 visitors, mostly natives, and this it seems has been about the
+average number since the foundation of the Museum. There is also a small,
+valuable library, which, by means of purchases, gifts, and exchanges, is
+being visibly added to with each year, and is accessible to visitors of
+all classes, the custodian and inspectors being all natives.
+
+The Madras Literary Society, an offshoot of the Royal Asiatic Society in
+London, and now reckoning but a small number of associates, publishes from
+time to time the most valuable information as to the latest achievements
+of science in India, and serves in a measure as a medium by which to
+compare the intellectual progress of Asia and Europe. To the members of
+this society the naturalists of the _Novara_ Expedition are specially
+beholden for their great attention during their stay in Madras, as also
+for their hearty participation in the objects of the Imperial Expedition
+as evidenced by their sending copies of their own various and useful
+publications.
+
+There are in Madras numerous institutes devoted to the diffusion of useful
+knowledge among the masses, part founded and maintained by Government,
+part by private enterprise, and this liberality is the more praiseworthy
+that the European community of Madras does not comprise much more than
+1600 persons, of whom only a very few settle any length of time. The
+Europeans resident here are chiefly military men and merchants, who leave
+the country after remaining five or ten years, as almost every one regards
+his stay in this hot, sandy capital of the desert Coromandel coast, as
+purely provisional, and views it as a stepping-stone towards attaining
+some better post, or becoming suddenly wealthy by some favourable
+conjuncture of circumstances. That the majority of these institutions have
+more practical objects in view admits of ready proof, and is but one
+instance the more of the moulding power of surrounding circumstances. In
+the school of arts for instance, under Dr. Hunter's superintendence, there
+are 20 pupils, mostly Hindoos, who are receiving instruction in drawing,
+sculpture, lithography, woodcutting, etching, and photography. But in
+order to reduce, as far as possible, the expenses of this institution,
+there is also included a manufacture of earthenware, the proceeds arising
+from the sale of which are applied to the support of the school.
+
+Another eminently useful institution, the Medical College, which, as well
+as most of the other professional foundations, we visited in the company
+with our hospitable and influential friend, Dr. Kelly, possesses one
+division, in which such of the natives as purpose to set up as
+apothecaries, are at the same time so far educated as to be able, in case
+of necessity, to perform a few of the minor surgical operations. Of the
+hundred of an auditory who at the period of our visit were attending a
+lecture on chemistry, the majority were half-blooded Indians, dressed in
+the European fashion, with a sprinkling of barely 9 or 10 Hindoos in their
+white robes, and with the Vishnù or Siva marks on their forehead. We
+frequently heard the professors, among whom are several gentlemen of high
+scientific attainments, such, for instance, as Messrs. Evans, Lorimer,
+Mudge, Montgomery, Mayr, &c., express their regret at the severe check
+which the development of science sustained by the outbreak of the late
+revolt. Plans for a new university, a hospital, and a medical school to
+correspond are all ready, and but for that ruinous catastrophe would have
+been by this time in working order.
+
+In other respects the present Infirmary is an ugly and unsuitable
+building, making up about 100 beds for patients. Several of these were
+occupied by soldiers, who had been severely wounded under Havelock at the
+storming of Delhi. The introduction of punkahs, or wind-fans, into the
+wards has proved so salutary, that there is an intention to have them
+worked without intermission day and night, by means of water power,
+instead of by manual labour as hitherto. In order to be able to estimate
+the boon conferred by such an improvement upon the condition of the poor
+invalids, we must call to mind that the average annual temperature of
+Madras is about 94° Fahr., which is slightly in excess of the average
+temperature at the equator, although Madras is 10 degrees north of the
+line. Under such climatic conditions, it is no wonder that the
+invigorating wholesome breeze is known at Madras as "The Doctor."
+
+Among the benevolent institutions visited by us, we found the twin asylums
+for male and female orphans of soldiers well worthy of notice in many
+particulars. These are for the most part the offspring of European
+soldiers married to native women, and are known as "half-castes," or
+"Mestizoes." In the Military Female Asylum, there were at this time 216
+girls, who were brought up to all manner of female work, as well as taught
+reading, writing, and arithmetic, and remained in the institution until
+suitably provided for in marriage. The marriage outfit, as also a small
+wedding present of Rs. 50 (£5), for each girl is provided by Government,
+and the entire working expenses, which amount to about Rs. 30,000 (£3000)
+annually, are defrayed by a Government grant of Rs. 1000 (£100) a month,
+together with the interest of the funded capital, upon which Government
+pays 8 per cent. interest.
+
+The Military Male Orphan Asylum was founded in 1788 by means of voluntary
+contributions, supplemented by a Government Subvention, and possesses a
+special historical interest from the circumstance that it was here that
+Dr. Bell, who held the post of Head-Master in the establishment, first
+projected and put into execution the method of imparting elementary
+instruction, afterwards so widely renowned as the Lancastrian method of
+teaching, which since that period has traversed the globe, and has been
+introduced into every capital in Europe. The course of instruction of the
+institution includes writing, reading, arithmetic, grammar, geography,
+history, English, Tamil, and music. The capital of the institution is
+vested by Government in the 4 per cent. stocks, paying 8 per cent.
+interest, which, with the large amount realized within the establishment
+itself, is sufficient to defray all expenses without any further
+assistance. The number of boys is about 242. The head teacher, who
+obligingly conducted us over the whole establishment, which is very
+handsome, called a dozen boys forward just as we were leaving, who played
+a few simple pieces on wind instruments, on which they performed a variety
+of national airs with great precision. The music master was a German.
+
+Among its casual attractions, Madras has occasionally flower shows, and
+exhibitions of industry, and it is exceedingly gratifying to observe how
+European science is even here called in to elicit the treasures of nature,
+and administer to the necessities of mankind. The catalogue of the
+industrial exhibition of 1857 shows, _inter alia_, 17 sorts of spices, 20
+varieties of resin, 64 plants suitable for the distillation of oil, and 41
+different drugs, and Dr. Kirkpatrick, a physician in Mysore, has taken the
+trouble to enumerate, by their botanical and Indian names, 240 native
+drugs, which had been sent to the Madras exhibition, as also their market
+value, and at the same time has subjoined the modes in which the natives
+use them.
+
+Among the most remarkable private museums which have been formed at
+Madras for the illustration of the history and monuments of the southern
+provinces of the Deccan, must undoubtedly be included the collection of
+native inscriptions and manuscripts of the well-known Colonel Mackenzie,
+which first attracted the attention of all friends of Oriental science, as
+also the British Government, through a memoir[104] of Alexander Johnston,
+Esq. It is a magnificent testimony to the conservative spirit of the
+British resident among heathen nations, as compared with the barbarous
+spirit of destruction that characterized the Spanish colonists. From an
+erroneous idea that they were in so doing promoting the interests of
+Christianity, these Romanist conquerors destroyed all sculptures and
+monuments of the pagan Indian races, and, by this fanatical Vandalism, at
+the same time prevented the hand of science from unfolding, as it might
+have done from these important vestiges, the history of these very
+remarkable races from the most remote ages.
+
+[Footnote 104: On Colonel Mackenzie's Collection, in the Journal of the
+Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain. London, 1835, p. 4, vol. ii.]
+
+In the immense old palace, surrounded by adjacent edifices and gardens,
+once occupied by the King of the Coromandel coast, the renowned nabob of
+the Carnatic, the offices of the English Government _employés_ are at
+present located. The last of these sovereigns died a few years since, and
+his former minister receives from the British Government a pension of Rs.
+1300 (£130) a month. Great men who have fallen do not ordinarily like to
+be sought out or gazed at. There is, however, on the contrary, no
+difficulty in obtaining access to the last minister of the last monarch of
+the Coromandel coast, who seems to feel flattered by a visit from
+strangers. On our entering, the venerable old gentleman rose from a rich
+thick carpet, on which he was sitting cross-legged, held out his hand in
+the most affable manner, and did us the honour of accompanying us through
+the palace. He had a long white beard, and wore a white turban on his
+head, while his person was enveloped in white linen. A splendid staircase
+conducted to a council-room, adorned with a portrait of the late nabob,
+life-size, executed in London. A second room has a likeness of George
+Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, dedicated to his friend,
+Omadal-Omrah, nabob of the Carnatic, 1st January, 1797, and of Lord
+Cornwallis, arm in arm with a nabob, the former represented as walking
+among pines, the latter among palms. In the harness-room and coach-house
+adjoining, our obliging attendant revealed to us an endless array of
+golden howdah trappings, gilt with cunning hand, which seemed to have
+formerly borne the mighty nabob, when riding on his elephant. As we
+emerged from this lumber room, filled with dust and mud, we perceived in
+the square before us an immense dust-cloud, which approached nearer and
+nearer in its gyrations, and gradually assumed the shape of an elephant.
+It was a gigantic and magnificent specimen, and proved to be the favourite
+elephant of the last nabob, which, like the minister himself, was reduced
+to eat the bread of charity. His enormous tusks were sawn half off, for
+which his attendant assigned the singular reason that the tusks of an
+elephant must be cut, just as we pair our nails! This pensioner-elephant,
+however, seemed to find himself in very good quarters, and was a
+carefully-tended gentle creature, who carried about his chain with his
+proboscis, and knelt down at the word of command.
+
+Among the other spacious apartments of this deserted palace was the
+banquetting hall, as it is called, which was represented by various
+writers as one of the largest rooms in the world, which, however, is a
+transparent fallacy. It is hard to believe that above a thousand persons
+could find room in it. At the period of our visit this apartment was used
+as a barrack for the English troops, in consequence of which the splendid
+full-length pictures already mentioned were carefully covered. One of the
+soldiers, anxious to show them to us, tore away the covering of one before
+we could interfere, when we found it to be a splendid likeness, painted in
+London, of Sir Thomas Monroe, a former governor of Madras.
+
+In the first few days of our stay in Madras, we made an excursion to the
+fort of Vellore, distant about 80 miles (English) from Madras, formerly a
+renowned native fort, which is now reached in a few hours by rail. This
+line passes through a flat uninteresting country, which is barely relieved
+here and there by a couple of solitary palms or a Hindoo temple, and
+altogether presents a strongly African character in its scenery. Only at
+those points, at which there are tanks, or artificial basins, either
+excavated or formed by damming the water, does there occur a luxuriant
+green vegetation covering the parched, brown, dusty soil. These tanks are
+filled in the rainy season, and during the dry season, which continues for
+months, supply the rice-fields with water for irrigation, the culture of
+that plant requiring an unusually large supply of water.
+
+If English railroads are proverbially comfortable in the mother-country,
+they certainly fall off lamentably in that particular in the cars used in
+India. This deficiency is the more provoking and remarkable, considering
+the various other appliances for comfort which are to be found in this
+country. The conductor, as well as the other servants of the Company, was
+a Hindoo. On the entire line we saw but five or six white men employed.
+The fares are pretty moderate, that for the entire distance, 80 miles,
+being Rupees 7-1/2 (15_s._), for first-class, and Rupees 3 (6_s._), second
+(about 2-1/4_d._ and 1_d._ per mile, respectively). The line is to be
+extended from Bejapoor, so as to unite the eastern and western coasts of
+the peninsula. There are also lines projected from Madras to Bombay by
+Poonah and Bellary, and from Madras to Calcutta. The Governor, who (the
+evening previous to our departure, as we were being entertained at his
+summer residence, Guindy Park,) had been apprized of our intention to
+visit Vellore, was so attentive as to order the commandant to be informed
+by telegraph of our projected excursion at a late hour of the evening,
+and when we reached Vellore at 11 A.M., Captain Stevens was awaiting us at
+the station, to greet the voyagers by the _Novara_ in the name of the
+commandant of the fort, and convey them to the fort, three miles off, in a
+waggon drawn by oxen, as is the custom of the country. The waggon was
+about as large as an ordinary sized sitting-room, and contained several
+arm-chairs and cane stools, the position of which could be altered at
+pleasure.
+
+Vellore was once one of the strongest fortresses in India, the wells of
+which were formerly rendered inaccessible by numerous colonies of
+alligators. These Hindoo fortifications have, however, lost their military
+importance for Europeans, as they are on all sides "overcrowed," as
+Rittmeister Dugald Dalgetty would say, by eminences, from which they could
+easily be cannonaded. Within the fort itself are several extraordinary
+buildings, once pagodas and houses of entertainment for priests and
+pilgrims (_choultries_). The former sanctuary, now used as an arsenal, is
+a _chef-d'[oe]uvre_ of architectural skill, with splendid _relievos_ and
+figures sculptured in granite blocks. Most of the divinities have four
+arms, symbolical of the universality of their power. The various edifices
+seem to have been once an abode of Brahmins, a sort of Hindoo monastery in
+which, in addition to the pagoda, there were ranged all round, a temple,
+colonnades, and halls for the residence of the priests. In some of the
+smaller apartments there still are openings for windows, with a finely
+carved grating hewn out of the solid granite, the workmanship of which
+even the stone-cutters of our own days might feel proud of. Captain
+Mitchell, an English officer stationed at Madras, had hit upon the idea of
+photographing the most interesting of these monuments.
+
+The fortress of Vellore has been fortified for about 1000 years! Captured
+by the English at the close of the last century, the then Nabob, a
+Mussulman, was taken prisoner, and his descendants have ever since
+inhabited the fort as State prisoners, without ever being permitted to
+leave it. We inquired of the officer who accompanied us, whether the Nabob
+was permitted at least to make use of the space within the fortress for
+exercise in the open air. "The Mussulmen," replied the cautious
+Englishman, "do not care to show themselves in public; they prefer taking
+their exercise in the court in front of their residence, or in the
+garden." Accordingly, the aged prince is rarely known even to take an
+airing in a palanquin. The town of Vellore itself is, in a great measure,
+another place altogether, whose inhabitants are Mahometans, about 80,000
+in number, chiefly engaged in rice culture.
+
+We originally intended to return the same day to Madras, the length of the
+journey, as well as the distance of the fort from the railway station,
+having been represented to us as much shorter than was actually the case.
+Accordingly, we telegraphed to the Austrian Consul, M. Campbell, Esq., an
+exceedingly courteous gentleman, that we should not return till the
+following morning. How great was our astonishment to find that the
+telegraph _employés_ at Vellore, both in the transcribing department, and
+in the management of the apparatus, which was on Morse's system, were
+Hindoos, with their curious marks upon their foreheads, and their
+old-fashioned costume! They went, however, through the duties connected
+with this modern invention with great adroitness. The telegraph is already
+in operation to Bombay, and in this direction has two separate lines.
+There are, moreover, other lines in course of construction,--along the
+coast to Calcutta,--along the coast to Pondicherry by Adam's Bridge,[105]
+from Madras to Point de Galle, and from Madras to Hyderabad, Bangalore,
+and Bellary.
+
+[Footnote 105: Adam's Bridge--called by the Hindoos Rama's Bridge,--is a
+bank extending between Ceylon and the mainland of Hindostan, by the
+islands of Manaar and Ramisseram. It is about 30 miles in length, running
+in a N.W. by W. direction, about a quarter of a mile in breadth, and
+principally composed of shelving sand, through which are three main
+openings or channels, that admit the passage of boats of very light
+draught.]
+
+In proceeding from the fort to the town of Vellore, which is charmingly
+situated and regularly laid out, and is inhabited by numerous pensioners
+of the East India Company, we must cross the river Palaar (or Peliar),
+which, during the rainy season, is a headlong dangerous torrent, while in
+the dry season its bed, 1000 feet wide, is but a bare expanse of sand. It
+is only by dint of strenuous exertions that the traveller is able to pass
+this sand waste in a waggon, as it sinks at some points above the hubs of
+the wheels. We had four buffalo oxen yoked, and even then had to be
+propelled at certain points by the assistance of some 30 coolies or Indian
+porters besides. This serious inconvenience was shortly after our visit to
+be remedied by the erection of a splendid bridge of solid masonry, which
+was to span the river by 42 arches, and will reduce the time of transit
+from the station from 1-1/4 hour to 20 minutes. Hereabouts oxen are
+usually employed for draught, which are of the same humped species as
+those we had previously seen in Ceylon. These animals trot with uncommon
+swiftness, so that the rapidity of transport may stand comparison with
+that where horses are employed.
+
+A few miles distant from Vellore, and visible from the hills around, lies
+Arcot (Arucati), the residence of the nominal nabob of the Carnatic, who
+has long been a pensioner of the British. The population of Arcot are
+mostly Mahometans, who speak a dialect of Hindustani, and drive a very
+active trade.
+
+At Vellore we resided in the house of the hospitable Lieut.-Colonel
+McCally, who, in the absence of the Commandant, did the honours of the
+Fort to the members of the _Novara_ Expedition. Here we experienced a most
+cordial reception, and passed a few most delightful hours in the domestic
+circle of his amiable family. In the evening we made out an excursion to
+an adjoining eminence, 1400 feet above sea-level, 300 above Vellore, from
+which there is a commanding view over the town and neighbourhood. Seen
+from this point, the Fort looked charming, presenting itself to us,
+surrounded as it is by moats and watercourses, like an island in the
+foreground. On the top of this hill is the bungalow or country-seat of the
+collector of revenue, W. A. Sulivan, Esq., where we revelled in the
+enjoyment of the exquisite natural scenery, and partook of refreshment.
+
+In the evening a number of officers, with their wives, met us at dinner at
+Lieut.-Colonel McCally's house. The gaieties were prolonged till far in
+the evening, music and songs alternating with round games and dancing, so
+that we had hardly composed ourselves to sleep ere we were awakened by the
+servants, in order to avoid missing the train, which leaves Vellore for
+Madras at 6.30 A.M. By 11 A.M., we were once more in the chief city of the
+Carnatic.
+
+The same afternoon the officers of the _Novara_, and the naturalists of
+the Expedition, were invited to an Indian fête, which Lord Harris gave
+every year at this season in his palace at Guindy Park, and to which it
+was customary to invite the majority of the European residents at Madras,
+together with their families,--military, civil service, and mercantile
+community, all being honoured with cards. This festival originated in a
+children's entertainment, which the governor had been in the habit of
+giving on the birthday of his son; the latter had long since gone to an
+English University, but the custom had survived, and the day was equally
+carefully observed this year also, having been looked forward to for
+months before by the "white" young folks of Madras. The entertainment
+still retains the character of a children's party, inasmuch as on the
+present occasion there were assembled above 250 children of both sexes,
+varying from 5 to 12 years of age. The total number of guests who, in
+addition to these, shared in the festivities was probably more than a
+thousand. The fête began with the performances of some 30 Indian jugglers
+and acrobats, on a large lawn in the park. These, as may be conceived, had
+been selected from among the most athletic and skilful. They presented a
+singularly-picturesque appearance, from the diversities of age, agile
+boys, athletic young men, slender voluptuous-looking _Bayadères_, old
+grey-headed men, and marvellous-looking old hags, with streaming white
+hair, and dark, piercing, gleaming eyes, recalling in their manners and
+appearance our own gipsies. All played at once, and performed with the
+most astonishing precision a succession of breakneck feats, that set the
+spectator's hair on end. It was a spectacle entirely _sui generis_,
+thoroughly Indian in short, to behold these wild-looking brown figures,
+unawed by the presence they were in, going through their various
+performances and feats of agility. In front of us knelt an old man who
+played with a dozen knives, which he kept circling around him with wild
+yells, apparently without looking at them, till he finally turned them in
+such a manner that it seemed as though the sharp points of the knives had
+transfixed his hand. Next youthful acrobats sprang through paper balloons
+set on fire,--girls in boys' dresses climbed up bamboo poles 100 feet
+high, in the midst of continual yells,--boys executed on the damp meadow
+ground the most extraordinary feats of agility and contortions of the
+limbs, while one old fellow, to the intense astonishment of the assembled
+children, swallowed swords, as also tow and other combustible matter,
+whereupon flames presently seemed to issue from his month. These, indeed,
+are feats of conjuring which have been performed in Europe, _usque ad
+nauseam_, but here all was done with such precision and dexterity (each
+man especially playing entirely _con amore_, evidently not to impress the
+spectators, but because he felt a pleasure in it himself), that the whole
+exhibition left quite a different impression from anything of the sort
+elsewhere.
+
+After this introductory amusement, the children invited were regaled with
+a refection under an enormous tent. This was for the grown-up guests
+another source of great amusement. More than 300 children took their seats
+at a long well-covered table, while their fathers, mothers, governesses,
+&c., stood behind the benches, and took special care to supply the little
+watering mouths with a sufficient supply of the many delicacies before
+them.
+
+A distribution of souvenirs to the various children present succeeded the
+repast, the various articles being fastened to a gigantic tree under a
+tent. The tree was profusely hung with elegant paper lamps, and although
+there were no pine-branches, only palm leaves, the "_tout ensemble_," bore
+a strong resemblance to a genuine Christmas tree. Fathers and mothers
+expressed to us their own feelings of pleasure at beholding the glee of
+their children, and, indeed, seemed to think this the most entertaining
+part of the fête. The distribution lasted a considerable time, and many of
+the children affected to coquette disparagingly with the presents of
+their neighbours, which these latter held fast with both hands, till at
+length the whole joyous train were dismissed homewards, thoroughly pleased
+with the day's proceedings.
+
+After this interlude there were fireworks on the lawn for the grown-up
+children, which seemed intended to serve merely as a stop-gap to while
+away the time between the distribution of the presents to the children and
+the supper, which was laid out in the brilliantly-illuminated dining-room
+of the palace. The fine band, which a few days previously had so pleased
+us by its performances during dinner at Guindy Park, drew up on the large
+lawn fronting the ball-room, and during this interval played a few select
+pieces with admirable precision. At last, supper was announced by a
+flourish of trumpets. Despite the spacious proportions of the apartment,
+the company was too numerous to admit of all sitting down at once. We
+calculated the number of guests still remaining at at least 500. The
+ladies supped first, and afterwards the gentlemen--the Governor, Lord
+Harris, doing the honours in person, in the most courteous and kindly
+manner. After supper the party proceeded in couples to a splendid
+ball-room, where dancing speedily began, while over their heads an
+omnipresent punkah, of rich tapestry-paper, and elegantly adorned with
+beautiful arabesques, swung to and fro, and kept the half-breathless
+dancers continually fanned by its currents of air.[106] In spite, however,
+of this artificial ventilating machine overhead, one must have had an
+extraordinary love for the dance to find pleasure in a polka or galop at a
+temperature of 86° of Fahrenheit.
+
+[Footnote 106: In many English families in India there prevails a sort of
+punkah mania, so that there is a regular hurricane incessantly blowing
+over their heads. Undoubtedly these artificial gales are particularly
+agreeable in apartments where, a large number of persons being assembled,
+the atmosphere becomes intolerable--as, for instance, courts of justice,
+churches, hotels, and hospitals. Under such circumstances, they are,
+indeed, a most valuable contrivance. But their application is entirely
+overdone; and there are persons who, even while they are sleeping, have a
+Hindoo servant continually working the punkah, which, under such
+circumstances, is usually worked from an adjoining room by means of silken
+cords, so that the motive power is not visible from the apartment, but
+only the effect felt. Strangers at first find these artificial currents
+very apt to superinduce headache, until continued residence makes him
+regard the punkah as a most necessary article of furniture.]
+
+Lord Harris had taken measures for ensuring our proceeding direct from his
+residence in Guindy Park upon the favourite excursion from Madras--that,
+namely, to the Seven Pagodas. We had accordingly provided ourselves with
+only what was indispensable in the way of luggage; and towards 1 A.M., we
+left the ball-room, and proceeded on our way to the renowned Hindoo
+Temples to the south of Madras. A waggon conveyed us to the Adyar bridge,
+where a Government boat was in waiting for us, together with some Hindoo
+servants of the Governor, who were to be our guides to the Seven Pagodas.
+One of these _peons_, as they are called in India, named Iritschapa,
+presented us with a document, in which he was commissioned to place
+himself at our disposal during the whole period we were absent, and
+anticipate all our requirements without further authorization, to the best
+of his ability, so as to ensure our comfort and assist the objects we had
+in view. The Government boat was supplied with everything that could
+minister to our comfort, a second boat following us exclusively for the
+conveyance of our heavy baggage, personal effects, tents, and provisions.
+Towards 2 A.M., we embarked on the Eastern Coast Canal, which goes as far
+as Sadras, and by which we reached the Seven Pagodas, called also
+Mahamalaipuram, the city of the Great or Holy Mountain, at 9 A.M.
+
+[Illustration: THE HOLY MOUNTAIN.]
+
+These singular and majestic specimens of architecture are about 3 miles
+from Sadras, being situated on the coast northwards, and about 500 paces
+from the canal. They consist of temples, grottoes, bas-reliefs, cisterns,
+stone-benches, and thousands of sculptures in long ranges of bas-reliefs,
+which afford an abundant store of antiquarian research. They go by the
+name of the Seven Pagodas (from _Baghavati_--Holy House, whence the
+European corruption, Pagoda), from the circumstance, that there are, upon
+the very brink of the ocean, seven temples hewn out of one piece of rock.
+The Brahminical legends speak of an entire city having existed here, of
+which only the fragments are now washed by the sea. But, according to
+Babington's and Heber's minute researches in this neighbourhood,[107] there
+seems no doubt that there never existed any large city here, but that the
+whole was a mere myth of the Brahmins, who procured a royal gift, an
+Agrabaram in this neighbourhood, and with subtle forethought left here a
+caste of stone-cutters, who from time to time, under the guidance of their
+priests, executed these sculptures for the adornment of their sanctuary,
+which are justly the objects of wonder to their descendants. To this day,
+even, there dwell here certain families of stone-cutters, who work these
+singular rocks as granite quarries, and make money by the trade. The Seven
+Pagodas, specially so-called, are monolith temples, hewn on the spot out
+of massive blocks of rock. The mountain itself, a huge block of granite,
+to which the entire locality owes its reputation as a site of works of
+art, is covered, behind as well as in the front slope, with innumerable
+figures.
+
+[Footnote 107: Benjamin Guy Babington. An Account of the Sculptures and
+Inscriptions of Mahamalaipuram, illustrated by Plates I.-XVIII., in the
+Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, London, 1819,
+p. 258. Bishop Heber's Narrative, London, 1828, Vol. III., p. 216.]
+
+After our arrival, we made a hasty circuit through the place, so as first
+of all to be able to identify them, and be in a position to recognize the
+various sculptures and bas-reliefs cut out in the solid granite rock. The
+greater number of the sculptures represent either the one or the other
+descriptions of the Avatars (the incarnations or transfigurations) of
+Vishnù, to whom the larger proportion of the temples is dedicated. In one
+of these temples, we perceived the god Vishnù in the fifth, or Dwarf
+Incarnation, in the course of which he had, under the guise of a
+Brahminical dwarf, begged of King Balitscha-Kravathi--who, by his piety,
+had acquired so much power over the gods, that they had to transfer to him
+the dominion of sea and land, and had in consequence waxed arrogant--as
+much soil as he could traverse in three steps! The wealthy Rajah made no
+objection to complying with the apparently moderate request of the pigmy
+being before him. On the opposite wall of the temple we now see, in a
+large admirably executed bas-relief, how Vishnù, represented on this
+occasion with eight arms, at once embraced heaven and earth with his left
+foot, and as there was thus no more room left for the next step, Vishnù
+released the haughty Rajah from his promise, on condition that he should
+descend to the infernal regions. From this feat, Vishnù bears the name of
+Triwikrama and Tripadas (thrice-stepper).
+
+In the next rock grotto we came to, we beheld the Life of Krishna, the
+shepherd-god, represented, first as tending his sheep, surrounded by cows,
+goats frisking about, &c. Walter Elliot names this representation
+"Krischna's Choultry," or the abode of the priests. The temple has a
+frontage of 50 feet, is from 30 to 40 feet in depth, and has about twenty
+figures.
+
+From this spot, our guide, a Brahmin, brought us to what is called the
+Ganeza Temple, a monolith Pagoda. When we expressed a wish to touch the
+face of Ganeza (a son of Siva), cut in stone and plentifully besmeared
+with oil and lard, one of the Hindoo attendants hurried forwards to
+prevent us from being guilty of insult to this much-beloved divinity. The
+inscription to the right, in front of the niche in which Ganeza, hewn out
+of a single block of granite, is represented in a sitting posture,
+consists of verses and prayers to Siva, written in Sanscrit.
+
+[Illustration: THE GOD GANEZA.]
+
+We also remarked, on our way to the village, an ellipsoidal block of rock,
+68 feet in circumference, by 25 in height, which, from its very peculiar
+position, seems to shift every moment, and presents a very extraordinary
+appearance.
+
+As we were proceeding to the beach, we came upon the Pagoda of
+Kovulgobrom, which is at present in use (first constructed in the days of
+Rajah Apatsch, 400 or 500 years since), situated on a large oblong plot of
+ground, which is surrounded by a wall from 6 to 8 feet high. We were not
+permitted to cross the threshold of the pagoda, the door of which always
+stands wide open, and the minor apartments of which, so far as we could
+discern at a little distance away, were quite empty. We could just descry
+a few sculptures on the walls.
+
+The whole village contains at present about 400 inhabitants,[108] who
+reside in eighty small dwellings. Of these, three, built of bricks and
+with tiled roofs, belong to the caste of Brahmins, thirty to the Pariahs,
+five to families occupied in fishing, and two mere hovels of palm-wood to
+the Willis, the lowest and most wretched caste of all. The families of
+stone-cutters reside outside the village. One remarks here that the walls
+of the houses are hidden by heaps of cow and horse-dung, which the
+inhabitants, as in Egypt, use for fuel, and which they pile up to dry
+against those of the walls which are most exposed to the sun. The _peon_
+of the settlement, by name Randghajaneik, a sort of overseer, gave us a
+drawing of the various groups of houses, their inhabitants, and also the
+names of the various castes in Tamil, engraved as usual with an iron tool
+upon palm-leaves, and very elegantly rolled up in a small envelope. Among
+the customs and fashions of the inhabitants which attracted our notice, we
+were informed that they always burn their dead from four to five hours
+after life has departed--usually four hours and forty minutes--alleging
+that the released soul takes that length of time to reach heaven! The
+bones are collected and thrown into the sea. Widows are no longer
+required, on the death of their husbands, to ascend the pyre with them.
+Accordingly, the mortality upon this score is small enough in
+Mahamalaipuram. All seem hale and hearty, although for the most part they
+live upon rice and fruits, tasting flesh but seldom, as it is never used
+by the Brahmin caste. The Brahmins will not even eat eggs, because they
+are the produce of hens; nor drink milk because it is procured from cows!
+The girls generally marry at thirteen. They are, however, usually
+betrothed from the time they are two or three years of age, the
+bridegroom-elect taking the bride-elect to reside with himself.
+
+[Footnote 108: Of these inhabitants 50 belong to the Brahmin caste, 250 to
+the Malabar, Sentù, and Siva castes, and 100 are Pariahs.]
+
+All the natives whom we fell in with could read and write, but the
+Sanscrit inscriptions on the rock-temples were quite unintelligible to
+them, as they only spoke Tamil, Telùgu, and Malabar. The greater number
+had their foreheads painted according to the caste they belonged to. Those
+worshipping Siva wore, suspended by a cord round the neck, small silver
+amulets, called Lingams, which have images of Siva enclosed. The adherents
+of Brahma, as already mentioned, wear no distinguishing mark upon the
+forehead, except that those that are married wear a five-ply cord
+(_panul_), tied obliquely across the upper part of the body. One must not,
+however, attach too much faith to these varieties of external markings,
+since many tattoo their foreheads with red, or yellow, or ashen-gray
+punctures, which usually have no special signification, but simply imply
+that on account of the pressure of business requiring frequent absence,
+they have neither time nor opportunity to have the distinguishing insignia
+of their caste properly designed. According to the natives, the yellow
+colour is procured from the crushed, yellow-tinted root of the _Curcuma
+longa_, (a species of spice), the red from the Cardomum (_Amomum repens_),
+citron-juice, and red rice; while the white is prepared from common chalk.
+
+[Illustration: BIVOUAC AT MAHAMALAIPURAN.]
+
+Lord Harris had, with true Indian hospitality, made the most admirable
+arrangements for our accommodation while at the Seven Pagodas. When, after
+our first survey of the locality, we came down to the beach, we found two
+large and two small tents ready pitched, and a number of men collected
+round a fire preparing our breakfast. But how great was our astonishment,
+on entering the first tent, to find it spread with carpets, with an
+elegant sleeping-apartment with two large commodious bedsteads, and fitted
+up with all the usual necessaries for the toilette; while, in the passage
+which ran between the inner and outer walls of the tent, stood two immense
+baths ready filled with soft water to reinvigorate our exhausted frames!
+Ere we had recovered from our surprise, we were advised of the voice of
+the Government Peon, apprising us that breakfast was served in the second
+tent. This was used exclusively as a dining and reception room, and was
+also furnished with every conceivable appliance to promote our comfort.
+His lordship was even so attentive as to send his own travelling canteen
+for our use on the excursion. This tent, likewise, had double walls, with
+a passage between; the exterior wall being lined with blue, by means of
+which the glare of the sun and of the blinding white sand was rendered
+less painful and more tolerable to the eye. A number of coolies were
+employed in sprinkling water from time to time upon the fine-grained sand,
+which produced a most refreshing coolness all around. The Government Peon,
+as also the chief of police of the district, wore their best uniforms of
+white, with bran new bandoliers over their shoulders, of broad deep-red
+scarves, with gold-lace edgings, and, in the centre, a gilt plate, with
+the words, "Government Peon" engraved on it. A number of men and children
+ran hither and thither,--in a word, the whole village seemed in an uproar
+to see the strange gentlemen, and supply them with flowers, in the hope of
+receiving some trifling present. At 12.30 P.M., the thermometer suspended
+within the tent marked 84° Fahr., although a gentle breeze was blowing
+from seaward through the fragrant luxuriant grass (_Kus-kus_, or
+_Vetiveyr_), which hung like a curtain over both entrances. It is an
+exceedingly happy idea to use this fragrant _Kus-kus_, (_Andropogon
+muricatum_) in the manufacture of mats, which are intended to be suspended
+in the entrance-halls of houses, and to be sprinkled with water, whereupon
+the penetrating, hot, parching wind is passed through the fine damp
+texture, which thus at once tempers the heat, and fills the air with
+perfume.
+
+Towards 5 P.M., the heat having somewhat abated, we strolled to the Five
+Pagodas, distant about one English mile from our encampment. The prevalent
+tree in this locality is the _Palmyra_ palm, which, though it does not
+boast the majestic proportions of the _Oreodoxia Regia_, or the cocoa-nut
+palm, presents, nevertheless, a very imposing appearance. Generally
+speaking, however, the district is quite bare and destitute of trees; and,
+in short, like all the rest of this coast, has very much the appearance of
+the flat coasts of Africa.
+
+Of the five monolith temples, four were dedicated to the brothers of
+Vishnù, Dharma Rajah, Bimen, Nagulan, and Sawadewen, the fifth being
+excavated in honour of Dubrotis, the consort of Dharma Rajah. The legend
+relates that the four brothers lived in a state of Polyandry, or plurality
+of husbands, and had but one wife in common, who was a species of Amazon.
+All these temples are tolerably sculptured, which, indeed, constitutes
+their chief claim to attention; but they are far from showing the artistic
+finish of the bas-reliefs and sculptures, at what is known as the Holy
+Mount.
+
+Rhanganatha Swami, for instance, is the finest, though not the most
+important of these artificial grottoes. The sculptures here are
+incontestably the most highly-finished. The upper portion, to which access
+is obtained by some steps cut in the rock, rises above the huge granite
+block, known as Jamapuram; the lower portion is a temple hewn out of one
+piece of rock, and with the most marvellously-executed allegories.
+
+Among the reliefs on the north wall is perceived Donga, Siva's wife,
+riding on a lion (according to the natives, on a tiger), and bending her
+bow in conflict with Mahishasura, a giant with the head of a buffalo, who
+brandishes a club. According to Elliot's interesting interpretation, this
+represents the contest between the matronly Amazon and heroine, Donga, the
+representative of active virtue, and the bull-headed Mahishasura, the
+personification of brute strength and animal passion. Over the head of
+either figure, a parasol, such as is used by the natives, is outspread,
+giving a most grotesque appearance to the group.
+
+[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF ON ONE OF THE MONOLITH TEMPLES.]
+
+The relief on the southern wall represents a sleeping Vishnù
+(Rhanganatha), 9-1/2 feet high, apparently representing the idea of the
+Creation, as the serpent, Sescha, with its five heads, encircles his head.
+At his feet one perceives two rajahs or princes, and one female figure, in
+a praying attitude, with uplifted hands, only the bust being represented.
+In one of the niches at Swami are two busts, life-size, of Siva, and his
+wife Paravathi, the latter holding an infant at the breast, his offspring
+Supramanión. Above this representation, and, like them, only showing from
+the shoulder upwards, are represented on the right Brahma, on the left
+Vishnù, each with four arms, symbolical of their power and dominion.
+
+The superstructure of these rock sculptures is a sort of platform of loose
+stones accurately fitted to each other without mortar, so as to make an
+ornamental whole. The interior is adorned with much more highly-finished
+specimens of art, to view which, a large number of Hindoos, doing penance,
+annually climb, with great difficulty, into this part of the building, and
+make their way into the unfinished interior apartments. While we were
+giving free scope to our surprise at all we saw, we were greatly annoyed
+in our contemplations by the natives, who offered us bouquets of flowers,
+wreaths, and fruit. Also, a couple of flute-players (_Pulanpolen_) who
+were passing, made their appearance to give us a specimen of their musical
+skill. One old man, of whom we procured a curious figure of Vishnù, neatly
+carved in wood, as also several manuscripts, remarked that there was in
+the neighbourhood, written upon Palmyra leaves, a manuscript, known as the
+_Istálam-purànam_ which gave the history of the Seven Pagodas, written in
+Tamil.
+
+The late president of the Madras Society, the learned Walter Elliot, who
+formed an extensive collection of the various valuable Hindoo manuscripts
+and inscriptions of Mahamalaipuram, and has partly published a
+translation of them,[109] told us afterwards, that this renowned Tamil
+Manuscript consisted of nothing but fables, and did not give one single
+reliable particular as to the history of the Seven Pagodas.
+
+[Footnote 109: Journal of the Madras Literary Society, 1846, Nos. 30 and
+31.]
+
+In Varaha Swami, one of the pagodas at present in use, and surrounded by a
+modern walled cemetery, there is visible, on the exterior of the Temple,
+an inscription in Tamil, which is, however, utterly unintelligible to the
+natives. This inscription, deciphered latterly by Babington, refers to a
+donation to the pagoda by a sincere Hindoo believer, and gives the most
+complete detail, together with signature of the donor. The name
+Mahamalaipur,[110] the "City of the Sacred Hill," occurs frequently in it.
+
+[Footnote 110: Dr. Elliot writes Mamallaipuram; the natives call the place
+Mahawalipuram, obviously a mere corruption of the customary mode of
+spelling.]
+
+In the course of conversation with some of our Hindoo followers, we
+remarked that they made no difference between a "kovül" or praying-house,
+in which the divinities are never produced, but are guarded under lock and
+key, and a pagoda, which is a residence of the gods, from which they can
+be carried forth and afterwards brought back. Hence it is that a pagoda is
+more readily accessible than a kovül, the sanctity of which it is
+forbidden him to violate.
+
+In 1845, Mr. Elliot, by a private arrangement with the Brahmins, was
+permitted, on payment of Rs. 30 (£3), to break away the partition which
+divided the inscriptions into two portions, in order to prepare three
+copies, and have them translated by three Tamil scholars. One of these
+translators was the learned Tandavaraya Mudaliar, of Chingleput. The
+inscription contains the history of two donations, on the enlargement and
+laying the foundation-stone of the temple, accomplished by the "Kanattan"
+of the village, and, lastly, a gift of 90 goats by the Siva Brahmin
+Paramesvara-Mahavara, on the stipulation that a lamp should be kept
+constantly burning in the temple: the whole dating from the year 1073. It
+results from this interpretation that the inscription was put up towards
+the end of the 11th century, thus supplying some clue to the age of this
+rock temple, which, according to Mr. Elliot's researches, does not exceed
+a thousand years.
+
+[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO ONE OF THE TEMPLES.]
+
+To this Vahara Swami, which seems to contain their whole history, the
+natives wander regularly every morning, and sometimes two or three times
+during the day, to offer flowers, cocoa-nuts, and other fruits. A flight
+of steps cut in the rock leads to the highest platform, whence there is an
+excellent view over these monumental edifices.
+
+That fancy has been called in to invest these unique unfinished sculptures
+with the character of pleasure-grottoes, baths, &c., &c., of historical
+personages, is readily intelligible. Thus, for example, the guide does not
+fail to point out to the stranger a sort of stone cistern hewn out of the
+solid rock, traditionally reported to have been once the plunge-bath of
+Dubrotis. This colossal basin has about 2-1/2 feet water during the rainy
+season, which gradually evaporates, or is drawn off for use. The water,
+tinged with the yellow colour of the soil, leaves a mark behind on the
+stone sides, which naturally becomes very visible during the dry season.
+This the natives maintain marks the height of the water as often as
+Dubrotis, (Dharma Rajah's consort), bathed herself in it. Another similar
+block of gneiss was transformed into a stone couch, and is called Dharma
+Rajah's bed, at the upper end of which, near the head, a tiger is crouched
+to guard it. This gigantic ellipsoidal block of rock, which seems as
+though balanced on a sharp point, could neither be displaced nor made to
+oscillate by continued leaping. Some masses of rock piled up above the
+grottoes were once Siva's kitchen, and so forth. All these spots, however,
+have in reality not the slightest historic significance; it is only the
+present generation that have tacked on to them legends, traditions, and
+interpretations, which assuredly never were in the intention of the
+constructors.
+
+On a slope on one side of the mountain are a number of sculptures of
+remarkable beauty, representing the history of Tapasa, or the deep
+penitence of Ardschuna. On the right hand, close to the figure of the
+penitent Ardschuna, one perceives a multitude of people, two elephants as
+large as life and wonderfully finished, a tiger, and a figure, half woman
+half serpent. This relief, one of the finest we have seen, is a huge
+sculpture on the rock, 20 feet long by 30 in height, comprising hundreds
+of figures, with an idol in the centre, to which from all sides
+worshipping deities, men, and beasts, bow the knee in supplicatory
+attitudes; along the edge are elephants, life size, with their young. The
+colour of the rock, somewhat resembling that of the animal, tends still
+more to deceive the eye, and make the beholder doubt whether he is looking
+upon sculptures or upon living elephants. Elliot and others who have
+described these rock temples, assign to them, as already mentioned, a
+comparatively small antiquity. They are representations borrowed from the
+poem of Mahabharata, in the Hindoo mythology. The five roundish temples to
+the south of the village are beyond all question the oldest of these
+monuments. They are pagodas that have never been completed; solid, and
+here and there showing marks of work, but only adorned externally, the
+interiors being masses of unhewn granite; each of these temples is 30 feet
+in length by 20 in breadth and height. Thus far, the inscriptions have
+been ascertained to be in threefold characters, of which two are as yet
+undecipherable. Babington was the first to attempt to decipher them, or at
+all events to find the key by which to decipher them. The most important
+has been copied and interpreted. But neither the inscriptions nor the
+various representations give the slightest historical clue as to the
+object of these monuments. Taylor's researches seem to establish the fact,
+that in the 17th century this district was inhabited by the Corumbas, a
+half-civilized race of the Dschaina religion. About this period, or a
+little later, in the reign of Abondai, one of the princes, whose capitals
+were Conjeveran and Tripetty, the Brahmins were introduced to this
+neighbourhood. The extent of these works, however, their nature, and the
+immense expense incurred, all point to a long-continued influence of the
+Brahmins. Most of these temples seem to have been first erected in the
+17th century, under Prince Sinhamanayadu, and Elliot assigns to several
+even a much later date.
+
+As for the report of a smaller pagoda, of which only an old pyramidal
+pagoda-stone is visible on the very edge of the sea, peering up from amid
+the furious foaming surf, it seems to be altogether a myth, so that such
+enquirers as Ellis, Mackenzie, and Heber, making allowance for what Hindoo
+traditions are known to be, will no longer take the trouble of searching
+for any traces of the sunk pagoda, or of seeking to recover the ruins of
+the submerged city. Several writers, indeed, are of opinion, that the sea
+on the Cormandel coast is retiring; but this appears to be a mistake, for
+here the sea seems encroaching rapidly, as is the case at Fort St. George,
+which 80 years ago was at some distance from the sea-shore, whereas its
+walls are at present washed by the tremendous surf.
+
+But the inroads of the sea could hardly have been so sudden and extensive
+as to have swallowed up an entire city, without leaving any traces. Not
+one of the natives to whom we spoke in the place could say for certain,
+that the sea had materially gained upon the land within the memory of man.
+Nowhere are there any traces visible of the ruins of a city. One can
+safely assert that there never existed such a city at Mahamalaipuram, but
+that it has always been a mere abode of priests, with temples,
+sanctuaries, &c., without any more extensive settlement, similar to Copan,
+Quirigua, or Peten, in Central America, but altogether larger and more
+artistic, and evidencing a far higher culture on the part of the artist.
+The supposed antiquity of the sculptures at Mahamalaipuram is too low, to
+admit of our supposing that since their erection the greater part had been
+swallowed up in the sea. None of the sculptures that we saw belonged to
+any period (before the flood extended so far), whereas they are all
+susceptible of explanation out of the modern Hindoo mythology, with the
+aid of the Epic poems of Mahabharata, all referring to Vishnù and his
+world of deities.
+
+While some of the _Novara_ expedition were visiting Mahamalaipuram, others
+made out a trip to the Pulicat Lake, near the shore, northwards from
+Madras. About 40 or 50 miles on the road thither, the Neilgherries (or
+Blue Hills), with their jagged outline, came into view on the gray horizon
+to the N.W., the height of which may be about 1,500 to 2000 feet. A narrow
+bulwark or quay of unequal breadth, varying from 20 feet to 5 miles,
+separates this salt lake from the ocean, the fierce surf of which, at some
+narrow places, actually breaks over, and mingles its waters. The lake
+varies in breadth, from 5 to 10 miles, and is about 60 to 70 miles long.
+The level of its bed is so remarkably regular, never exceeding from 3 to 5
+feet, that when the wind fails, the boats that navigate the lake can be
+pushed along with poles, and one everywhere sees the naked inhabitants of
+the coast standing in the very middle of the water, with their landing or
+drag-nets, or busily occupied with rod and line! Being but a few hours
+distant from Madras, the lake is connected with the city by an artificial
+canal, along both sides of which are a number of outlets, carefully faced
+with masonry, so as to convert the adjoining land into lagoons, in which
+during the rainy seasons the strongly brackish water enters, and is used
+to make sea-salt.
+
+In the canal there is considerable trade, as well by fishing-boats, as by
+those laden with wood and fruit, which they convey to the city for
+disposal. Most especially remarkable is the enormous number of fen-birds,
+which frequent its shores and all around it. At several places where the
+shores, for a width of about a mile, are mere swamps with barely a foot of
+water, they are literally covered with myriads of curlews, which fly
+about in flights of incredible numbers, and stretch out like clouds. Long
+rows of flamingoes stand, their bodies half bent to the earth, seeking
+their food in the mud; far as the eye can reach, one saw whole ranks of
+these birds blending with storks, perched upon scattered stumps; while in
+the water itself, vast flocks of sea-mews swam about, and the
+sea-swallows, in pursuit of their prey, flew to and fro in the air. As
+evening came on, the naturalists of the _Novara_ were sailing as though in
+a sea of fire. Hundreds of fish, as they sprang out of the water, left a
+fiery wake behind them, like a rocket, while a flame-coloured
+ever-widening circle marked the spot at which they struck the water again.
+Hundreds of various notes of birds, above, near, and round the boat,
+united with the singular melancholy cry of the jackal, which resounded
+from the shore, while overhead flights of birds flew restlessly about in
+the air, whirring in the ear like the rustling of disembodied spirits.
+
+From the lake, a short excursion was made to one of the artificial canals,
+which unite this basin of water at various points and in different
+directions with the surrounding country, so as to get to the Strihoricotta
+Forest, which supplies Madras with fuel. This consists of a sort of
+underwood or brush, which grows again within the extraordinary short space
+of ten to twelve years. _Sisyphus vulgaris_ (_Rhamnea_), _Gardenia Ficus_,
+tamarinds, and several species of Mimosa, form the principal part of the
+forest, which is thickly grown with immense quantities of climbers. The
+wood is cut by the natives, who have constructed huts in the jungle, into
+pieces of about 2 feet in length, which are transported in ox-carts to the
+shore, whence they are forwarded by boat to Madras.
+
+When the members of the _Novara_ Expedition had returned, greatly pleased,
+from their various excursions, the Madras Club gave a grand banquet in
+honour of the captain and staff, to which the _élite_ of Madras society
+were invited. Immediately on our arrival the managing committee of the
+club had the courtesy to place the officers and scientific members of the
+Expedition upon the free list of the club during the ship's stay. The
+Madras Club-house, though not so luxurious or magnificent as the Clubs of
+London, fairly surpasses them in extent and commodiousness. It is, in
+fact, a small portion of the city in itself, in which one finds assembled
+all that can conduce to a comfortable, agreeable mode of existence;
+parlours, with wide arm-chairs and American rocking-chairs; reading-rooms,
+in which are all the best journals and an excellent assortment of the best
+and newest literature; dining apartments, in which one can dine in either
+the English or French style; billiard-rooms, shower and plunge-baths, and
+a large swimming-bath. Members from the country, or strangers, can be
+accommodated with lodging as well.
+
+At the splendid banquet in honour of the Expedition, at which above 200
+persons sat down, the chair was taken by the Chief Justice Sir Christopher
+Rawlinson--next to the Governor, the most influential person in the
+community. The extremely friendly disposition manifested on that occasion
+found its expression in toasts on all sides, which in few, but appropriate
+words, welcomed the foreign guests; while, on the other side, they gave
+unmistakable evidence of the admiration and sympathy which the voyagers by
+the _Novara_ carried away with them from the hospitable shores of
+Madras.[111]
+
+[Footnote 111: After the customary official toasts had been proposed by the
+chairman, and thanks returned by the Commander-in-chief of the Expedition,
+the health was also proposed of the scientific staff, on which occasion
+one of the naturalists present expressed his thanks for this honour, in
+his name and that of his colleagues, in the following speech, which may be
+permitted to find a place here, as best showing with what impression the
+members of the Expedition left Madras.
+
+"Gentlemen,--It is not without some feeling of anxiety that I am rising,
+for I have so many things to say, and yet it is but the thousandth part of
+what I, of what my fellow travellers all feel! Surely, it is always
+flattering to a man to be distinguished by his fellow-men; but such a
+distinction becomes the more honouring if those who concur to distinguish
+him are--as this is the case with you--a most estimable part of the
+_British_ nation! Of a nation, which has done more than any other on the
+globe for the propagation of Christianity, the diffusion of knowledge, the
+advancement of science, for the progress of civilization, industry, and
+commerce. I do not intend, gentlemen, to return with the shiny currency of
+flattery the many proofs of attention and kindness which all the members
+of the Expedition have witnessed during our short, but most pleasant,
+ever-remembered stay in this city, the birth-place of hospitality! What I
+say is but truth! Every page in modern history certifies my words! Which
+nation has done more for the propagation of Christianity among savage
+tribes all over the world? Some years ago, when I was rambling in British
+America, and along the north shores of Lake Superior, I often found
+villages of 300 or 400 Indians, and but one single white man amongst them.
+And who was that white man, who voluntarily shared their misery, their
+wants, and their privations? He was an _English missionary_!
+
+"And again! Which nation has made greater and more serious efforts to
+suppress the slave trade, and to abolish slavery in all countries where it
+still exists, a shame to the nineteenth century?--Slavery! that hideous
+leprosy on the limb of the gigantic body, called the United States! Who is
+even now anxiously engaged to open, with the heartblood of its noblest
+sons, a vast empire--the Chinese kingdom--to civilization, to
+Christianity, to the traffic of all seafaring nations of the globe!
+
+"And is not this very city, Madras, where we have been so heartily
+welcomed, the best proof of the energy and perseverance of the political
+and commercial greatness of the British nation? Nothing but English
+steadiness and English perseverance could succeed to build on this barren,
+inhospitable, and even most perilous coast, a vast, flourishing city,
+rivalling in size and the number of inhabitants the largest capitals in
+Europe! And what is still more pleasing and satisfactory, is the
+intellectual and physical condition in which one finds the Indians,
+especially if compared with the condition of the natives in North and
+Central America, &c. There he meets a population, rapidly dying away, in
+proportion as the axe of civilization is resounding from the backwoods.
+One may almost determinate the day when the last of the red men will have
+disappeared from the North American Continent, the land of his ancestors!
+Here in India, on the contrary, the traveller meets with a thriving,
+industrious population. Who can see Hindoos, Malabar, Sentus, &c., occupy
+most important employments at the observatory, at the telegraph offices,
+at the railroad, in any branch almost of the public service, and still
+believe the Hindoo race like the Indians of North America to be a _doomed_
+people--to be a people that has no future? No, it HAS a future, and, under
+the wise and humane government of the British Crown, I am sure the
+coloured race of India will even have a most _glorious_ future!
+
+"These are the impressions and feelings, gentlemen, with which we part
+from Madras, with which I and my scientific colleagues bid you all a most
+sincere and heartfelt farewell."]
+
+As a number of our new-found friends expressed a wish, notwithstanding the
+difficulties of getting out to, and back from the roads, to visit our
+ship, the commodore invited some forty guests, shortly before our
+departure, to a "tiffin" on board. Although the frigate rolled pretty
+heavily, yet we, nevertheless, had the pleasure of the company of some
+twenty gentlemen and ten ladies. After "tiffin," which was served on the
+poop, under a tent improvised with flags for the occasion, all felt
+sufficiently comfortable to try a dance on the quarter-deck, our band of
+music being called into requisition for quadrilles, polkas, and waltzes;
+and, indeed, our guests paid so little attention to the approach of
+night, that their return was postponed till it was absolutely dark, of
+which opportunity we gladly availed ourselves to light our pleasant guests
+homewards with Bengal lights.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VII.--TRACK FROM MADRAS TO THE NICOBAR ISLANDS.]
+
+At length, on 10th February, shortly after noon, we set sail. As the
+frigate was perceived, from Fort George to weigh anchor, a thundering
+salute was fired of 21 guns--an extraordinary honour and mark of
+attention, to which we responded by a similar salute. In consequence of
+calms and light winds, we were 48 hours ere losing sight of land; and it
+was not till the 12th February we could proceed on our voyage. For several
+evenings after, that magnificent, and as yet unexplained, phenomenon, the
+Zodiacal light, which is conjectured by the greatest physicist of our age,
+to be the beams radiated from a vapour-like, flattened ring, revolving in
+the space between the orbits of Mercury and Venus, was visible with much
+regularity. What was afterwards observed, however, of this remarkable zone
+of light, during the course of our voyage, will be found detailed in the
+meteorological portion of the scientific volumes. Unbroken fine weather
+accompanied us during our entire voyage to the Nicobar Islands, our next
+station. But although, as was rendered necessary by the climate so near
+the Equator, we were clothed entirely in summer apparel, and there was
+nothing to remind us of its being winter and carnival at home, our sailors
+did not let Shrove Tuesday pass over without celebrating that day, to be
+marked with a white stone, by masking and dancing according to ancient
+custom. Jack has an especially good memory for the return of such
+junketings, and is by no means prone to letting the sensible vicinity of
+the Equator put him out of his reckoning; so he danced near the line also,
+not because he had any pleasure therein, but because it has always been
+his custom to do so at carnival-time!
+
+The state of health of the ship's company was excellent, there being but
+eight on the sick list, of whom only two were seriously ill.
+
+On the 22nd February towards 10 A.M. the Island of Kar-Nicobar hove in
+sight, and towards afternoon we found ourselves but a few miles distant.
+The land seemed for the most part level, only a low eminence thickly
+covered with frost rising towards the centre. The coast was overgrown with
+cocoa-nut-palm. In the N.W. and S.E. we could see three Malay boats at
+anchor. On the beach were some huts of beehive-like shape, in and out of
+which naked brown figures were seen moving; while, as night fell, numerous
+lights glimmered from the shore.
+
+The following morning, Tuesday 23rd February, 1858, we anchored off the
+N.W. side of the island, in 14-1/2 fathoms coral sand, about 2 miles
+distant from the shore, and just between the two villages of Mosse and
+Sàui, each consisting of a few huts. One can approach within 3 or 4
+cable-lengths of the shore, where there are still 10 fathoms, with clay
+bottom. Several natives, some naked, some with their bodies covered in the
+most ludicrous fashion with cast-off European clothes, approached the
+frigate while she was being secured, in small but elegant canoes, and
+called out anxiously when within hailing distance, in an inquisitive tone
+and a broken English, "No fear? good friend?" which we interpreted into an
+inquiry as to whether they had anything to fear, and whether we were
+disposed to be friendly. When, however, we did not immediately throw them
+a rope to make fast their little canoes, and they got sight of our
+numerous guns, they speedily turned tail and hurried away.
+
+[Illustration: ARRIVAL AT KAR-NICOBAR.]
+
+                            END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+                            APPENDIX A.
+
+
+           LIST OF THE OFFICERS OF THE "NOVARA" EXPEDITION.
+
+          Commodore--B. v. Wüllerstorf-Urbair, Commander-in-Chief.
+          Captain--Frederick Baron Pöck.
+          First Lieutenant--Bela Saal de Gyula.
+          Lieutenants--Maurice Monfroni de Montfort.
+              "     "   Alexander Count Kielmansegge.
+              "     "   William Lund.
+              "     "   Robert Müller.
+              "     "   Ernest Jacoby.
+              "     "   Eugen Kronowetter.
+              "     "   Gustavus Battlogg.
+          Purser--Antonio Basso.
+          Principal Surgeon--Dr. Francis Seligmann.
+          Assistant Surgeons--Dr. Avé Robert Lallemant.
+                 "       "      Dr. Edward Schwarz.
+                 "       "      Charles Ruziczka.
+          Chaplain--Edward de Marocchini.
+          Midshipmen--Henry Fayenz.
+            "    "    Joseph Natty.
+            "    "    Gustavus v. Semsey.
+            "    "    Richard Baron Walterskirchen.
+            "    "    Louis Meder.
+            "    "    Alexander Kalmar.
+            "    "    Augustus Baron Skribanek.
+            "    "    Andreas Count Borelli.
+            "    "    Francis Baron Cordon.
+            "    "    Frederick Baron Haan.
+            "    "    Edward Latzina.
+            "    "    Michal de Mariassi.
+            "    "    Eugen Prince Wrede.
+            "    "    Joseph Berthold.
+          Engineer--Wenceslas Lehmann.
+
+
+                           _Naturalists._
+
+               Geology--Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter.
+               Botany--Dr. Edward Schwarz.
+                  "    Mr. Anthony Tellinek, horticulturist.
+               Zoology--Mr. George Frauenfeld.
+                  "     Mr. John Zelebor.
+               Ethnography--Dr. Charles Scherzer.
+               Artist--Mr. Joseph Selleny.
+
+The entire crew, including sailors, marines, gunners, servants, and the
+ship's band, amounted to 352 men.
+
+
+
+
+                             APPENDIX B.
+
+ _List of the various Provisions and Stores furnished to the Frigate
+           "Novara" before her departure from Trieste._
+
+
+ Coals--23 tons (at 260 pounds daily consumption)           for 198 days
+ Water--86 tons (the daily consumption was
+   furnished by the distilling apparatus)
+ Biscuit--50,965 pounds (Vienna weight)                      "  145  "
+ Wine--(light red Istrian wine), 8777 mass (= 3510 gallons)  "   50  "
+ Rum--7913 mass (= 3165 gallons)                             "  226  "
+ Salt Beef--17,800 pounds            for 105 days \ Meat
+ Preserved Meat (in tins)                122   "  | (boned)  "  264  "
+ Pork--5760 pounds weight                87    "  /
+ Rice--6850 pounds                       77    "  \ (for
+ Essence--3184 pounds                    58    "  /  Soup)   "  135  "
+ Mélanges d'Equipage, 40,000 rations    114  days \
+ Sour-crout, 16,000 rations              46    "  | Vege-
+ Cabbage, 16,000 rations                 46    "  | tables   "  298  "
+ Potatoes, 32,000 rations                92    "  /
+ Cocoa--10,290 pounds (Vienna weight)                        "  610  "
+ Sugar--3494     "                                           "  156  "
+ Salt--1000      "                                           "  100  "
+ Vinegar--831 mass (= 332-1/5 gallons)                       "   95  "
+
+
+
+
+                             APPENDIX C.
+
+                        SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURE
+
+        DURING THE VOYAGE OF THE AUSTRIAN IMPERIAL FRIGATE "NOVARA."
+
+
+ KEY:
+ A - Pay of Commodore, in Austrian currency.
+ B - Pay of Staff.
+ C - Pay of Naturalists, and incidental Expenses of this department.
+ D - Pay of Crew, including extras.
+ E - Victuals for Crew and Hospital (Sick).
+ F - For Sundries, Repairs, and Ship's Material.
+ G - Purchase of Books, Instruments, and Medicines.
+ H - Pilots and Tug Steamers.
+ I - Pay of Servants, including extras.
+ J - Boat-hire, Postages, Travelling Expenses of the Staff, &c.
+ K - Totals.
+
+ ----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---
+       Period of       |         |          |         |          |
+      Expenditure.     |    A    |    B     |    C    |    D     |
+ ----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---
+                       | Florins.| Florins. | Florins.| Florins. |
+                       |  Kr.    |   Kr.    |   Kr.   |   Kr.    |
+ April to June, 1857   | 2,112 ..|  5,413 51| 1,744 53|  7,522 52|
+ III. Quarter    "     | 2,327 10|  8,214 10| 3,302 40| 10,562 37|
+ IV.   ditto     "     | 3,261 20|  9,604 50| 4,816 57| 10,560 50|
+ I.    ditto    1858   | 3,118 ..|  9,377 ..| 4,073 ..| 10,557 49|
+ II.   ditto     "     | 3,212 ..| 10,542 30| 4,358  5| 10,755 39|
+ III.  ditto     "     | 5,102 30|  9,638 30| 5,421 17| 10,245 24|
+ IV.   ditto     "     | 2,217 10|  6,931 50| 5,272 56| 10,020  6|
+ I.    ditto    1859   | 4,914 20| 16,958 20| 9,578 23| 10,840 43|
+ II.   ditto     "     | 3,227 16| 11,008 ..| 4,090 20| 11,151 56|
+ III.  ditto     "     | 3,117  7| 10,911 41| 3,857 14| 11,009 29|
+ IV.   ditto (not full)|   984 18|  2,564  5| 1,990  5|  3,314 16|
+ ----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---
+     Grand Total       |33,593 11|101,164 47|48,505 50|106,541 41|
+ ----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---
+
+ ----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---
+       Period of       |          |         |        |        |
+      Expenditure.     |    E     |    F    |   G    |   H    |
+ ----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---
+                       | Florins. | Florins.|Florins.|Florins.|
+                       |   Kr.    |   Kr.   |  Kr.   |  Kr.   |
+ April to June, 1857   |    133 55|   146  7|   37 10|  ... ..|
+ III. Quarter    "     |  2,316 40|   362 47|   16 28|   28 ..|
+ IV.   ditto     "     | 27,344 29| 2,839  3|  644 49|  356 26|
+ I.    ditto    1858   |  2,099 39|   646 10|   36 34|   85 53|
+ II.   ditto     "     | 21,514 37| 2,170 53|  349 54|  ... ..|
+ III.  ditto     "     | 17,443 32| 5,925 48|  338 14|  645 50|
+ IV.   ditto     "     |  5,762 30|   ... ..|  212 34|2,197 55|
+ I.    ditto    1859   | 30,715 17|18,185 34|2,286 40|  647 54|
+ II.   ditto     "     |  3,179 24|   767  4|   23  2|   94 23|
+ III.  ditto     "     | 11,444 ..| 7,551 15|  306 24|  ... ..|
+ IV.   ditto (not full)|  2,163 40|   ... ..|   33 30|  ... ..|
+ ----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---
+     Grand Total       |124,009 43|38,594 41|4,285 19|4,056 21|
+ ----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---
+
+ ----------------------+--------+---------+----------+
+       Period of       |        |         |          |
+      Expenditure.     |   I    |    J    |    K     |
+ ----------------------+--------+---------+----------+
+                       |Florins.| Florins.| Florins. |
+                       |  Kr.   |   Kr.   |   Kr.    |
+ April to June, 1857   |  811 34| 5,277 59| 23,200 21|
+ III. Quarter    "     |  363 53|   186 18| 27,680 43|
+ IV.   ditto     "     |  435  9| 2,027 31| 61,891 24|
+ I.    ditto    1858   |  397 28|    96 22| 30,487 55|
+ II.   ditto     "     |1,144 43|   814 25| 54,764 46|
+ III.  ditto     "     |  566  8| 1,351 46| 56,678 59|
+ IV.   ditto     "     |   29 24|   651 59| 33,296 24|
+ I.    ditto    1859   |1,592 30| 1,258 51| 96,978 32|
+ II.   ditto     "     |  200  5| 1,258 32| 35,000 2 |
+ III.  ditto     "     |1,910 ..|   793 ..| 50,900 10|
+ IV.   ditto (not full)|  269 46|     5 ..| 11,324 40|
+ ----------------------+--------+---------+----------+
+     Grand Total       |7,720 40|13,721 43|482,193 56|
+ ----------------------+--------+---------+----------+
+
+Thus the Expenditure, during the voyage, amounting to 483,193 florins 56
+kreuzer, Austrian currency, which, calculated at the rate of 10 florins to
+a pound sterling at par, is equal to about £48,219 sterling. To this sum
+must be added the outfit and armament of the frigate for the purposes of
+the voyage, amounting to about £6000 sterling, and the expenses for four
+months' provisions, taken in at Trieste before our departure, and
+estimated at about £4500 sterling, so that the entire Expenditure of the
+Expedition, from the time of starting till its return, amounted to about
+£58,000 sterling.
+
+
+
+
+                              LONDON:
+
+                    PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER,
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+
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+                                66, Brook Street, Hanover Square, W.
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+                   MESSRS. SAUNDERS, OTLEY, & CO.'S
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+                MESSRS. SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO.'S
+
+                     EAST INDIA ARMY AND COLONIAL
+                               AGENCY.
+
+                  66, BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE,
+                             LONDON, W.
+
+    (_In the immediate vicinity of the New East India House and
+                        the Oriental Club._)
+
+
+Messrs. SAUNDERS, OTLEY, and Co. beg to invite the attention of Regimental
+Messes, Officers, Members of the Civil Service, and other Residents in
+India, Australia, and the Colonies to their East India Army and Colonial
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+
+
+                         BANKING DEPARTMENT.
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+                         SUPPLY DEPARTMENT.
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+economy, efficiency, and promptitude.
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+All orders should be accompanied by full and detailed directions.
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+                    PERSONAL AGENCY DEPARTMENT.
+
+The Constituents of Messrs. Saunders, Otley, and Co. may depend upon
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+possible inconvenience.
+
+Charge, when required, will be taken of children coming from India and the
+Colonies, and arrangements will be made for their education in England.
+
+To those going out to India, Australia, and the Colonies, Messrs.
+Saunders, Otley, and Co. offer their services to secure passages Overland,
+or by Ship, and to afford them all necessary information connected
+therewith.
+
+All Letters, Parcels, &c., will be received by Messrs. Saunders, Otley,
+and Co., for their Constituents (whether in England, India, or the
+Colonies), to whom they will be forwarded regularly.
+
+
+                               TERMS.
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+NO COMMISSION CHARGED on the execution of Orders, whether from Regimental
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+small Discount at all times allowed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+             LITERARY AND POLITICAL NEWSPAPER FOR INDIA
+                        AND THE COLONIES.
+
+                       THE ORIENTAL BUDGET,
+
+                  PRICE ONE SHILLING (POST FREE).
+
+   Published on the First of every Month by Saunders, Otley, and Co.,
+                66, Brook Street, Hanover Square, London.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Transcriber's Note: Changes to the original document: Footnotes and
+illustrations may have been moved. Minor punctuation inconsistencies or
+errors have been corrected. To the table of illustrations have been added
+entries for the preceding illustrations. The publisher's corrections
+listed at the end of Volume III have been applied. The following
+additional changes were made:
+
+ analagous[analogous] to the mountain chains
+ to be reaped from European emigation[emigration]
+ Namely: 9159 Portuguese[Two footnotes were improperly swapped]
+ we were still able vividly to recal[recall]
+ If any one desires [to] see a veritable
+ towards the end of the rainy reason[season],
+ their bite produces on the the[del 2nd the] hand
+ that such soundings are only succesful[successful] when
+ they cannot recal[recall] having perceived,
+ Terrestrial Magnetism, Liuteenant[Lieutenant] Robert Müllar;
+ of New Bedford, Massachussets[Massachusetts],
+ pendant les annés[années] 1791-94
+ there there[del 2nd there] is nothing resembling a beach
+ custom that seems to recal[recall] the frightful
+ This time, morever,[moreover]
+ and chaunted[chanted] the praises
+ all to be able to indentify[identify] them,
+ thirty to the Parias[Pariahs],
+ Ry[By] T. LEWIS FARLEY, Esq.,
+ effected. Every other descripion[description]
+
+Also, the publisher on one occasion confused the degrees Réaumur and
+Fahrenheit used in measuring temperature with degrees and minutes used to
+determine lattitude and longitude:
+
+Between the Gulfs of Guayaquil and Panama, north-east of the cold current,
+the temperature of the sea during the month of April rose as high as 24°
+5', (87° 12' Fahr.). Within the range of the current, Mr. Dirckinck had
+carried on his observations in compliance with my instructions, by means
+of thermometers that had been compared by Arago. Everywhere in the
+current, in December 1824, he found from 16° to 18° (68° to 72°·5 Fahr.);
+between Quilca and Callao, in January, 1825, from 18° to 19° (72° 5' to
+74° 75' Fahr.); between Chorillos, near Lima (Lat. 12° 39' S.) and
+Valparaiso, in August, 1825, from 13° 8' to 10° 5' (63°·05 to 5° 62'
+Fahr.); between Chorillos and San Carlos de Chiloe, in June, 1825, from
+18° 8' to 9° 2' (74° 3' to 52° 7').
+
+The corrected paragraph is as follows:
+
+Between the Gulfs of Guayaquil and Panama, north-east of the cold current,
+the temperature of the sea during the month of April rose as high as
+24°·5, (87°·12 Fahr.). Within the range of the current, Mr. Dirckinck had
+carried on his observations in compliance with my instructions, by means
+of thermometers that had been compared by Arago. Everywhere in the
+current, in December 1824, he found from 16° to 18° (68° to 72°·5 Fahr.);
+between Quilca and Callao, in January, 1825, from 18° to 19° (72°·5 to
+74°·75 Fahr.); between Chorillos, near Lima (Lat. 12° 39' S.) and
+Valparaiso, in August, 1825, from 13°·8 to 10°·5 (63°·05 to 55°·62 Fahr.);
+between Chorillos and San Carlos de Chiloe, in June, 1825, from 18°·8 to
+9°·2 (74°·3 to 52°·7).]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of
+the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume I, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRIAN FRIGATE NOVARA, VOL I ***
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diff --git a/old/38456.txt b/old/38456.txt
new file mode 100644
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+++ b/old/38456.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,14412 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the
+Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume I, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume I
+       (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order
+       of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859,
+       Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the
+       Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the
+       Austrian Navy.
+
+Author: Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+Commentator: Alexander von Humboldt
+
+Release Date: December 31, 2011 [EBook #38456]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRIAN FRIGATE NOVARA, VOL I ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Thorsten Kontowski, Henry Gardiner and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+(This file made from scans of public domain material at
+Austrian Literature Online.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: The original publication has been faithfully
+replicated except as listed near the end of this document under another
+Transcriber's Note. Italicized words are indicated _like this_. Bold words
+are indicated =like this=. Fractions are indicated like this:
+3-14159/100000. The oe ligature is indicated like this: man[oe]uvre.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Illustration: CHART OF THE TRACK OF THE AUSTRIAN IMPERIAL FRIGATE NOVARA
+ON HER VOYAGE ROUND THE GLOBE _In The Years 1857, 1858 & 1859._]
+
+
+
+
+                               NARRATIVE
+
+                                OF THE
+
+                     Circumnavigation of the Globe
+
+                        BY THE AUSTRIAN FRIGATE
+
+                                NOVARA,
+
+                 (COMMODORE B. VON WULLERSTORF-URBAIR,)
+
+             _Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government_,
+
+                     IN THE YEARS 1857, 1858, & 1859,
+
+           UNDER THE IMMEDIATE AUSPICES OF HIS I. AND R. HIGHNESS
+
+                   THE ARCHDUKE FERDINAND MAXIMILIAN,
+
+               COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE AUSTRIAN NAVY.
+
+                          DR. KARL SCHERZER,
+
+                 MEMBER OF THE EXPEDITION, AUTHOR OF
+                 "TRAVELS IN CENTRAL AMERICA," ETC.
+
+                               VOL. I.
+
+                            [Illustration]
+
+                               LONDON:
+
+                      _SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO._
+
+                   66, BROOK STREET, HANOVER SQUARE.
+
+                                1861.
+
+                 [THE RIGHT OF TRANSLATION IS RESERVED.]
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                    PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER,
+                      ANGEL COURT, SKINNER STREET.
+
+
+                                  TO
+
+                     SIR RODERICK IMPEY MURCHISON,
+
+      G.C.S.ST., M.A., D.C.L., V.P.R.S., G.S., L.S., F.R.G.S.,
+
+ DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND,
+
+                     TRUST. BRIT. MUS., ETC., ETC.,
+
+              THE GREAT PROMOTER OF GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE,
+
+                 These Pages are respectfully Inscribed,
+
+              IN RECOGNITION OF HIS VALUABLE EXERTIONS IN
+                   ADVANCING THE SCIENTIFIC OBJECTS
+                      OF THE AUSTRIAN EXPEDITION,
+
+                              AS WELL AS
+
+  IN GRATITUDE FOR THE HOSPITABLE RECEPTION SECURED TO THE NAVIGATORS
+
+                 THROUGHOUT THE BRITISH DEPENDENCIES,
+
+           WHEREVER IT WAS THEIR GOOD FORTUNE TO CAST ANCHOR,
+
+                                  BY
+
+                 THE AUTHOR OF THE FOLLOWING NARRATIVE.
+
+
+[Illustration: LETTER.]
+
+[Illustration: LETTER CONTINUED.]
+
+
+
+
+                     PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
+
+
+A member of the scientific corps attached to the Expedition, which, under
+the auspices of that enlightened friend of science and liberty, the
+Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, was despatched on a voyage round the globe,
+the high honour has been conferred upon me of having entrusted to my care
+the publication of the Narrative of our Cruise.
+
+In this not more difficult than enviable task, I have been most liberally
+assisted by my eminent fellow-labourers--the whole literary material
+collected during the voyage having been kindly placed at my disposal. The
+comprehensive journals and reports of the venerable Commander-in-Chief of
+the Expedition, Commodore Wullerstorff-Urbair, as well as the various
+memoranda of the other members of the Scientific Commission, contributed
+materially to the elucidation of my own general notes, as well as my
+observations upon special subjects, which latter chiefly referred to the
+Geography, Ethnography, and general Statistics of the various countries
+visited.
+
+While preparing the details of our voyage for publication in my own
+language, the idea perpetually presented itself that a translation of this
+narrative into English might prove not unacceptable to the British public.
+And although fully aware that a voyage round the globe, in the course of
+which little more than the coasts were visited of the various countries we
+touched at, could not pretend to offer much new information to the
+greatest of maritime nations, it seemed, nevertheless, that it might
+interest a people so eager in the pursuit of knowledge as the English, to
+know the impression which has been made upon travellers of education by
+the Colonies and Settlements of Britain throughout the world.
+
+The English language, moreover, being spoken more or less over the greater
+part of the earth's surface, geographically speaking, the author who
+addresses his readers in that tongue is sustained by the flattering
+conviction that he will be understood by the majority of the nations of
+the globe! For it is not alone the educated classes of all countries that
+seek to master a language which possesses such a grand--all but unrivalled
+literature! The political and commercial development which Great Britain
+enjoys under the benign influence of liberal institutions, has made
+English the medium of intercourse among almost all sea-faring nations;
+nay, even barbarous tribes find it their obvious interest to get a slight
+inkling at least of the language of a people whose civilizing and
+elevating energies they may not, it is true, understand, far less
+appreciate, but whose imposing power inspires them with awe, while they
+are more closely attached by the tie of material advantage.
+
+The following narrative describes the most important occurrences and most
+lasting impressions of a voyage during which we traversed 51,686 miles,
+visited twenty-five different places, and spent 551 days at sea, and 298
+at anchor or on shore.
+
+As the purely scientific results of the Expedition will be published
+separately under the supervision of Commodore Wullerstorf and the other
+members of the scientific corps, I shall, in this place, only attempt to
+place before the reader a general outline of the countries and races
+visited during our cruise in different regions of the world.
+
+In relating simply and concisely what was seen and experienced, I have
+endeavoured to avoid incurring the reproach, so frequently launched by
+English critics against German works of travel, of dryness and minute
+detail, such as render them distasteful to the English reader, and make it
+almost impossible to enlist his attention or evoke his sympathy.
+
+If, as is specially the case with respect to natural science, many a
+doubtful point still remains undecided--if the ingenious "Suggestions" of
+the immortal Alexander von Humboldt (for the translation of which I feel
+particularly indebted to that profound scholar, my learned and esteemed
+friend Mr. Haidinger, whose name will be familiar to the scientific world
+in Great Britain), could not be acted upon to the extent and in the
+effectual manner each of us could have wished, the reason for such
+deficiencies will be found in the peculiar mission of the Expedition, and
+in the arrangement of our route, which was specially laid out with
+reference to the numerous and widely different objects, which it was
+specially intended to keep in view throughout the voyage.
+
+Among the more prominent of these, may be specified the opportunity thus
+afforded for the practical instruction of our young and rapidly-increasing
+navy; the unfurling of the Imperial flag of Austria in those distant
+climes, where it had never before floated; the promulgation of commercial
+treaties; the aid afforded to science in exploration and investigation, as
+well as by the collection of those objects of Natural History, the
+acquisition of which is all but impossible to the solitary naturalist,
+owing to the expense and difficulty of transport,[1] and the establishment
+everywhere of friendly correspondence between our own scientific
+institutions and those in remote regions, I have considered it necessary
+to invite the attention of the British reading public to these
+circumstances, in order to make them more intimately cognisant of our
+various and manifold tasks, and thus make them the more readily disposed
+to overlook the deficiencies and discrepancies of this book, which I now
+respectfully commit to their perusal.
+
+[Footnote 1: Notwithstanding the short period at our disposal at each
+port, which concomitant necessity militates so much against the practical
+utility of a circumnavigation of the globe as compared with an expedition
+solely directed to one single centre of scientific observation, the
+collection of objects of Natural History made during the cruise are very
+extensive, and unusually rich in new or rare species. The zoological
+department alone embraces above 23,700 individuals of different kinds of
+animals: viz. 440 mammalia, 300 reptiles, 1500 birds, 1400 _Amphibiae_,
+1330 fish, 9000 insects, 8900 Molluscs and _Crustaceae_, 300 birds' eggs
+and nests, besides numerous skeletons. The botanical collection consists
+of _Herbaria_, seeds of useful plants, special regard being had to those
+best adapted for the various climates of the respective Austrian
+provinces, drugs, specimens of dye-woods, and timber, fruits preserved in
+alcohol, &c. The Geological and Palaeontological Museums of our country
+have likewise been enriched with various rare and valuable specimens,
+particularly in consequence of Dr. Hochstetter, the geologist of the
+Expedition, having prolonged his stay in New Zealand, where, at the
+special request of the Colonial Government, he explored the province of
+Auckland. The Ethnographical and Anthropological collection consists of
+above 550 objects, among which are 100 skulls, representing the craniology
+of almost all the races of the globe.]
+
+Before concluding, I beg leave to express my hearty thanks to all those
+who have contributed in such various ways to aid my humble efforts--to
+specify some were invidious, as in so doing I must wrong others. To each
+and all I return the most heartfelt gratitude.
+
+May the indulgent reader peruse the following pages with an approving
+eye--may they afford him as much satisfaction and as much interest as I
+experienced in committing to paper the descriptions and impressions
+therein set forth, since in so doing, I, so to speak, made the delightful
+voyage for the second time, and in thought visited once more the different
+localities, from every one of which I, and my fellow-travellers, brought
+away none but the most friendly and agreeable recollections.
+
+It inspires a _German_ traveller with a peculiar and lofty feeling of
+pride and delight that he can look upon himself as belonging to a race, to
+whom seems to have been reserved the diffusion of a New Life over the
+earth--whose special mission it appears to be to make even the most
+primitive tribes in the remotest corner of the world acquainted with the
+blessings of Christian civilization, of political liberty, of intellectual
+culture, and, standing triumphant on the ruins of slavery and despotism,
+to proclaim to the great family of universal mankind, the advent of a new,
+a vernal era of Faith, Freedom, and Happiness!
+
+                                           DR. KARL SCHERZER.
+
+TRIESTE, _18th March, 1861_.
+
+
+
+
+                              CONTENTS.
+
+
+                              CHAPTER I.
+
+                      PREPARATIONS FOR THE VOYAGE.
+
+                                                                      PAGE
+
+   Approval of the Plan to fit out an Austrian Man-of-War for a
+     Voyage round the World.--Object of the Expedition.--
+     Appointment of a Scientific Commission.--Preparations.--
+     Fitting out the Frigate _Novara_ at Pola.--Departure for
+     Trieste.--Visit of the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian on board.      1
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+                      FROM TRIESTE TO GIBRALTAR.
+
+   Departure.--Fair Voyage down the Adriatic.--A Man lost and found
+     again.--Passage through the Straits of Messina.--The Steamer
+     _Sta. Lucia_ returns to Trieste.--Regulations and Instructions
+     for further Proceedings.--A Day on Board the _Novara_.--
+     Sunrise.--Cleaning the Ship.--Mental and Physical Occupation.--
+     Moonlight at Sea.                                                  11
+
+
+                             CHAPTER III.
+
+                              GIBRALTAR.
+
+   Political Significance of the Rock.--Courtesy of the British
+     Authorities.--Fortifications.--Signal Stations.--The only
+     Place in Europe frequented by Monkeys.--Calcareous Caves.--
+     Chief Entrances into the Town.--Shutting the Town Gates.--
+     Public Establishments.--Inhabitants.--Elliott's Gardens.--The
+     Isthmus, or Neutral Ground.--Algeziras.--Ceuta.--Commerce and
+     Navigation.--Excellent Regulation in the English Navy relative
+     to Officers' Outfit.--Small-pox appears on board the
+     _Caroline_.--Departure from Gibraltar.--A Fata Morgana.--The
+     _Novara_ passes the Straits.--Takes leave of Europe.--Voyage
+     to Madeira.--Floating Bottles to ascertain the Currents.--
+     Arrival in the Roads of Funchal.                                   29
+
+
+                             CHAPTER IV.
+
+                               MADEIRA.
+
+   First Impressions.--Difficulty in Landing.--Description of the
+     Island.--History.--Unfavourable Political Circumstances
+     connected with the Cultivation of the Ground.--Aqueducts.--
+     First Planting of the Sugar-cane.--Culture of the Vine.--Its
+     Disease and Decay.--Cochineal as a Compensation for its Loss.--
+     Prospects of Success.--Climate.--A favourable Winter Residence
+     for the Consumptive.--Strangers.--First Appearance of the
+     Cholera.--Observations with the Ozonometer.--Great Distress
+     among the Lower Classes.--Liberal Assistance from England.--
+     Decline of Commerce.--Inhabitants and their Mode of Life.--
+     Decrease of the Population, and its Causes.--Benevolent
+     Institutions.--Public Libraries.--The Cathedral.--Barracks.--
+     Prison.--Environs of Funchal.--Excursion to St. Anna.--Ascent
+     of the Pico Ruivo.--Singular Sledge Party.--Return to
+     Funchal.--Departure.                                               58
+
+
+                              CHAPTER V.
+
+                           RIO DE JANEIRO.
+
+   Brazil the Land of Contrasts.--Appearance of the City of Rio and
+     its Environs.--Excursion to the Peak of Corcovado, and the
+     Tejuca Waterfalls.--Germans in Rio.--Brazilian Literary Men.--
+     Assacu (_Hura Brasiliensis_.)--Snake-bite as an Antidote
+     against Leprosy.--Public Institutions.--Negroes of the
+     Mozambique Coast.--The House of Misericordia.--Lunatic
+     Asylum.--Botanical Garden.--Public Instruction.--
+     Historico-Geographical Institution.--_Palaestra Scientifica._--
+     Military Academy.--Library.--Conservatory of Music.--Sanitary
+     Police.--Yellow Fever and Cholera.--Water Party on the Bay.--
+     Chamber of Deputies.--Petropolis.--Condition of the Slave
+     Population.--Prospects of German Emigration.--Suitability of
+     Brazil as a Market for German Commerce.--Natural Products, and
+     Exchange of Manufactures.--Audience of the Emperor and
+     Empress.--Extravagant Waste of Powder for Salvoes.--Songs of
+     the Sailors.--Departure from Rio.--Retrospect.--South-east
+     Trades.--Cape Pigeons.--Albatrosses--Cape Tormentoso.--A Storm
+     at the Cape.--Various Methods of Measuring the Height of
+     Waves.--Arrival in Simon's Bay.                                   121
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                          CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
+
+   Contrasts of Scenery and Seasons at Cape Colony.--Ramble through
+     Simon's Town.--Malay Population.--The Toad-fish, or
+     Sea-devil.--Rondebosch and its delightful Scenery.--Cape
+     Town.--Influence of the English Element.--Scientific and other
+     Institutions.--Botanical Gardens.--Useful Plants.--Foreign
+     Emigration.--A Caffre Prophet and the Consequences of his
+     Prophecies.--Caffre Prisoners in the Armstrong Battery.--Five
+     young Caffres take Service as Sailors on Board the _Novara_.--
+     Trip into the Interior.--Stellenbosch.--Paarl.--Worcester.--
+     Brand Vley.--The Mission of Moravian Brethren at Genaadendal.--
+     Masticatories and intoxicating Substances used by the
+     Hottentots.--Caledon.--Somerset West.--Zandvliet.--Tomb of a
+     Malay Prophet.--Horse Sickness.--Tsetse-fly.--Vineyards of
+     Constantia.--_Fete Champetre_ in Honour of the _Novara_.--
+     Excursion to the actual Cape of Good Hope.--Departure.--A Life
+     saved.--Experiments with Brook's Deep-sea Sounding Apparatus.--
+     Arrival at the Island of St. Paul in the South Indian Ocean.      196
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VII.
+
+    THE ISLANDS OF ST. PAUL AND AMSTERDAM, IN THE SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN.
+
+   Former History.--Importance of the Situation of St. Paul.--
+     Present Inhabitants.--Preliminary Observations.--To whom do
+     the Islands belong?--Fisheries.--Hot springs.--Singular
+     Experiment.--Penguins.--Disembarkation.--Inclement Weather.--
+     Remarks on the Climate of the Island.--Cultivation of European
+     Vegetables.--Animal Life.--Library in a Fisherman's Hut.--
+     Narrative of old Viot.--Re-embarkation.--An official Document
+     left behind.--Some Results obtained during the Stay of the
+     Expedition.--Visit to the Island of Amsterdam.--Whalers.--
+     Search for a Landing-place.--Remarks on the Natural History of
+     the Islands.--A Conflagration.--Comparison of the Two
+     Islands.--A _Rencontre_ at Sea.--Trade-wind.--Christmas at
+     Sea.--"A man overboard!"--Cingalese Canoe.--Arrival at Point
+     de Galle, in Ceylon.                                              267
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                                CEYLON.
+
+   Neglect of the Island hitherto by the English Government.--
+     Better Prospects for the Future.--The Cingalese, their
+     Language and Customs.--Buddhism and its Ordinances.--Visit to
+     a Buddhist Temple in the Vicinity of Galle.--The sacred
+     Bo-tree.--Other Aborigines of Ceylon.--The Weddahs.--
+     Traditions as to their Origin.--Galle as a City and Harbour.--
+     Snake-charmers.--Departure for Colombo.--Cultivation of the
+     Cocoa-nut Palm a benevolent, Buddha-pleasing work.--
+     Polyandria; or, Community of Husbands--Supposed Origin.--
+     Annual Exportation of Cocoa-nuts.--Rest-houses for
+     Travellers.--Curry the national Dish.--A Misfortune and its
+     Consequences.--The Catholic Mission of St. Sebastian de Makun,
+     and Father Miliani.--Annoying Delays with restive Horses.--
+     Colombo.--A Stroll through the "_Pettah_," or Black Town.--Ice
+     Trade of the Americans with Tropical Countries.--Cinnamon
+     Gardens and Cinnamon Cultivation.--Consequences of the
+     Monopoly of Cinnamon.--Rise and Expansion of the Coffee
+     Culture in Ceylon.--Pearl-fishery.--Latest Examination of the
+     Ceylon Banks of Pearl Oysters, by Dr. Kelaart, and its
+     Results.--Aripo at the Season of Pearl-fishing.--The Divers.--
+     Pearl-lime, a chewing Substance of wealthy Malays.--Annual
+     Profit of the Pearl-fishery.--Origin of the Pearl.--Poetry and
+     Natural Science.--Artificial Production of the Pearl.--The
+     Chank-shell.--The Wealth of Ceylon in Precious Stones.--Visit
+     to a Cocoa-nut Oil Manufactory.--The Cowry-shell, a Promoter
+     of the Slave Trade.--Discovery of valuable Cingalese MSS. on
+     Palm-leaves.--The heroic Poem of "Mahawanso," and Turnour's
+     English Translation of it.--Hospitality of English Officials
+     in Colombo.--A second Visit to Father Miliani.--Agreeable
+     Reception.--The Antidote-oil against Bites of Poisonous
+     Snakes.--Adventures on the Journey back to Galle.--Ascent of
+     Adam's Peak by two Members of the Expedition.--The Sacred
+     Footprint.--Descent.--The "Bullock-bandy," or Native Waggon.--
+     Departure from Galle for Madras.--The Bassos (Shallows).--A
+     Berlin Rope-dancer among the Passengers.--Nyctalopia; or,
+     Night Blindness.--Fire on Board.--Arrival in Madras Roads.        345
+
+
+                                CHAPTER IX.
+
+                                  MADRAS.
+
+   "Catamarans" and "Masuli" Boats.--Difficulty of Disembarkation,
+     and Plans for remedying it.--History.--Brahminism.--Festival
+     in Honour of Vishnu.--Employment of Heathens under a Christian
+     Government.--Politics and Religion.--Laws of Brahminic Faith.--
+     The Observatory.--Museum of Natural History and Zoological
+     Garden.--Academy of Fine Arts.--Medical School.--Infirmary.--
+     Orphan Asylum.--Dr. Bell.--Lancastrian Method of Teaching
+     Children first Applied in Madras.--Colonel Mackenzie's
+     Collection of Indian Inscriptions and MSS.--The Palace of the
+     former Nabob of the Coromandel Coast.--Journey by Rail to
+     Vellore.--_Fete_ given by the Governor in Guindy Park.--Visit
+     to the Monolithic Monuments of Mahamalaipuram.--Excursion to
+     Pulicat Lake.--Madras Club.--_Fete_ in Honour of the Members
+     of the _Novara_ Expedition.--"Tiffin" and Dance on Board.--
+     Departure from Madras.--Zodiacal Light.--Shrove Tuesday in the
+     Tropics.--Arrival at the Island of Kar-Nicobar.                   424
+
+
+
+
+                       LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                               VOL. I.
+
+
+                                                        PAGE
+
+         The Track Of The Austrian Imperial Frigate
+           Novara.                            _frontispiece_
+
+         Letter.                                         iii
+
+         Letter Continued.                                iv
+
+         Notes.                                          xvi
+
+         Departure.                                        1
+
+         Gun-room of the _Novara_.                         4
+
+         Plate: Vertical Section of the Frigate
+           "Novara".                                       7
+
+         Geodetical and Astronomical Instruments.         10
+
+         Look-out Man.                                    11
+
+         Track from Triest To Madeira.                    11
+
+         "Palinurus".                                     16
+
+         Seamen off duty.                                 21
+
+         View of Gibraltar from Seaward.                  28
+
+         Rock of Gibraltar.                               29
+
+         Rock Cavern in Gibraltar.                        34
+
+         South Gate, Gibraltar.                           38
+
+         Inhabitant of Frangola.                          47
+
+         Cape Trafalgar.                                  52
+
+         Loo Rock (Madeira).                              57
+
+         Scene in Madeira.                                58
+
+         Bridge over the Ribeiro Seco.                    70
+
+         Carapuca, or Cap worn by the Natives of
+           Madeira.                                       91
+
+         Cathedral of Madeira.                            95
+
+         Sleigh party in Madeira.                         97
+
+         Village of Fayal.                                99
+
+         "El Homem em pie".                              101
+
+         Erica Trees.                                    103
+
+         Track From Madeira to Rio Di Janeiro.           107
+
+         Cape Frio.                                      120
+
+         The Quay at Rio.                                121
+
+         Island of Paquita, Bay of Rio.                  156
+
+         Track from Rio Di Janeiro to the Cape
+           Of Good Hope.                                 182
+
+         Cabo Tormentoso.                                195
+
+         Cape Town.                                      196
+
+         Rifle Volunteer _Fete_ at Stellenbosch.         217
+
+         Paine's Kloef as it was.                        220
+
+         Paine's Kloef as it is.                         220
+
+         Crossing the Breede River.                      226
+
+         Hot Springs of Brand Vley.                      227
+
+         Hottentot Huts at Genaadendal.                  233
+
+         Church and Mission Houses of the Moravian
+           Settlement at Genaadendal.                    237
+
+         Tomb of a Malay Prophet at Zandvliet.           245
+
+         Interior of the Mausoleum.                      246
+
+         Tsetse Fly.                                     252
+
+         Track from the Cape Of Good Hope to St. Paul's
+           Island.                                       259
+
+         Arrival at St. Paul.                            266
+
+         View of St. Paul.                               267
+
+         Distant view of Crater-Basin of St. Paul.       275
+
+         Rainy day at St. Paul.                          300
+
+         Track from St. Paul to Point De Galle (Ceylon). 309
+
+         Cingalese Canoe.                                344
+
+         View of Adam's Peak from Colombo.               345
+
+         Buddha Temple near Galle.                       353
+
+         Interior of a House at Galle.                   359
+
+         Track from Point De Galle To Madras.            418
+
+         Masuli Boat at Madras.                          423
+
+         View of Madras (and Proposed Pier).             424
+
+         The Holy Mountain.                              458
+
+         The god Ganeza.                                 461
+
+         Bivouac at Mahamalaipuran.                      464
+
+         Bas-relief on one of the Monolith Temples.      467
+
+         Entrance to One of the Temples.                 470
+
+         Track from Madras to the Nicobar Islands.       480
+
+         Arrival at Kar-Nicobar.                         482
+
+
+[Illustration: LETTER.]
+
+Transcriber's Note: The text of the letter above, along with supplemental
+address information, are in the first volume of the German edition:
+
+  Sr. Hochwohlgeboren
+  dem Herrn Oberst von Wuellerstorf,
+  kais. koen. Linienschiffs-Capitaen,
+  Befehlshaber S. Maj. Fregatte Novara,
+  Ritter hoher Orden &c. &c. &c.
+  in
+  Triest.
+
+
+               Hochwohlgeborener Herr,
+
+             Hochzuverehrender Herr Oberst, k. k. Linien-Schiffs-Capitaen.
+
+Ew. Hochwohlgeb. wollen, als Befehlshaber Sr. Maj. Fregatte Novara, die zu
+einem grossen, edeln, das deutsche Vaterland und die Wissenschaft ehrenden
+Unternehmen durch kaiserliche Huld bestimmt ist, den Ausdruck meiner
+Verehrung nachsichtsvoll empfangen, indem ich, von der Zeit naher Abfahrt
+in halber Genesung bedraengt, es wage, Ihnen einige _physikalische_ und
+_geognostische Erinnerungen_ ganz gehorsamst vorzulegen, von denen Einiges
+vielleicht den ausgezeichneten Gelehrten, die die Expedition zu begleiten
+das Glueck haben, von Nuzen sein kann. Ich wuerde dies Wenige nicht
+angeboten haben, wenn eine so genaedige und liebenswuerdige Aufforderung Sr.
+kaiserl. Hoheit des Herrn Erzherzogs Ferdinand Maximilian mich nicht dazu
+bestimmt haette. Was ich Nautisches ueber Richtung und Temperatur der
+Meeresstroehmungen, ueber die magnetischen Curven eingeflochten habe, muss
+ich besonders _Ihrer_ Nachsicht empfehlen. Wenn man erinnert, scheint man
+belehren zu wollen, und von dieser Anmassung bin ich weit entfernt. Da kein
+Entwurf, keine Abschrift meiner, wenigstens fleissigen, mit Zahlen
+ueberladenen Arbeit existirt, so waere es vielleicht vorsichtig, sie von
+Jemand, der der behandelten Gegenstaende kundig ist, abschreiben zu lassen.
+Meine gelehrten und mir lieben Freunde Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter, Dr. Karl
+Scherzer und Dr. Robert Lallemant, der mich bei seiner letzten Durchreise
+durch Berlin, um mir sein wichtiges Werk ueber das Gelbe Fieber in der
+Tropenzone zu geben, verfehlt hat, wage ich dringend Ihrem besonderen
+Schuze und Wohlwollen zu empfehlen.
+
+Mit der innigsten Verehrung und den heissesten Wuenschen fuer den Erfolg
+eines so schoen vorbereiteten Unternehmens
+
+                              Ew. Hochwohlgeboren
+
+                                               gehorsamster
+                                               Al. Humboldt.
+
+Berlin, den 7. April 1857 Nachts.
+
+
+
+
+                 PHYSICAL AND GEOGNOSTIC SUGGESTIONS,
+
+                                 BY
+
+                       ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.
+
+
+In compliance with the gracious invitation which H.I.H. the Archduke
+Ferdinand Maximilian was pleased to address to me from Trieste (December
+12th, 1856), and as yet barely recovered from an indisposition, I jot down
+these hasty notes, without presuming to give definite instructions, such
+as those I drew up, conjointly with M. Arago, for the guidance of the
+French expeditions, or for Lord Minto, then First Lord of the Admiralty,
+on the occasion of the Antarctic Voyage of Discovery of Sir James Ross
+(1840-43). The following pages consist simply of hints which may possibly
+prove serviceable to the distinguished and highly informed gentlemen, who
+have the good fortune to sail on board the Imperial Frigate, _Novara_,
+under the command of Commodore von Wuellerstorf. With two of these savans,
+Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter and Dr. Karl Scherzer, I have had the pleasure,
+here in Berlin, to agree verbally on various subjects.
+
+As I do not exactly know what course it is intended the _Novara_ shall
+follow in navigating the Atlantic, nor in what meridian it is proposed to
+cross the Equator, (in conformity with the sound and useful directions of
+my friend Lieut. Maury, of Washington), on her voyage to Rio de Janeiro,
+nor how near she shall keep to Cape San Roque and Fernando de Noronha, I
+must content myself with inviting the attention of the voyagers in a
+general way to the temperature of the sea, as also to the variations and
+aberrations of the magnetic curves, and their currents.
+
+A lower degree of temperature is usually observed W. of the Canaries, and
+Cape Verde Islands, commencing with the Salvages, the thermometer
+indicating as low as 72 deg.7 Fahr. This has been already ascertained by Mr.
+Charles Deville, in his chart of temperature on the voyage "aux Antilles,
+a Teneriffe et a Fogo." I consider this diminution of temperature results
+from the North Guinea current, bringing with it cold water from the north
+southwards as far as the Bight of Biafra and the River Gaboon, at which
+point it is encountered by an opposite current flowing northwards along
+the south-western coast of Africa from Loando and Congo.
+
+In 1825, Captain Duperrey had accurately laid down the point of
+intersection of the magnetic, with the terrestrial equator. In 1837, we
+learned from Sabine's investigations of magnetic inclination near the
+Island of St. Thomas (on the Equator, adjoining the above portion of the
+coast of Africa), that this point of intersection had already shifted
+four degrees to the westward. A period of twenty years having elapsed
+since Sabine's expedition for determining observations with the pendulum,
+it would be most desirable that fresh investigations should be made in
+that neighbourhood, for the purpose of verifying the secular changes of
+all magnetic curves, especially with regard to their variation. In 1840,
+the line of no declination in America began 9 deg. 30' E. of South Georgia,
+whence it ran to the S.E. coast of Brazil, near Cape Frio, thus traversing
+the mainland of South America only between the latter point and the
+parallel of 0 deg. 36' S., when it leaves the continent a little to the east
+of Gran Para, near Cape Tigioca, cutting the terrestrial equator again,
+but in 50 deg. 6' W. According to Bache's Map of Equal Magnetic Declination,
+it reaches the coast of North America near Cape Fear, to the south-west of
+Cape Lookout. This line, along which the magnetic declination is _nil_,
+extends to a point in Lake Erie, 2 deg. 40' W. of Toronto, where the
+declination is already 1 deg. 27' W.[2]
+
+[Footnote 2: Wherever, in this paper, it is not precisely expressed to the
+contrary, the scale of the Centigrade Thermometer, the longitude from the
+Meridian of Paris, the French foot (_pied du roi_=12.79 inches English),
+and the geographical mile, 15 to a degree of the Equator, measuring 3807
+"toises," are meant.]
+
+It is evident from the observations of Captains Beechey and Findley, and
+still more particularly from those of the French Captain Kerhallet, that
+the remarkable subdivision of the main equinoctial current, flowing from
+east to west into two branches, one directed to the N.W., the other to the
+S.S.W., commences at a considerable distance from the Capes of St. Roque
+and St. Augustin. This bifurcation has always, and with good reason, been
+ascribed to the protruding convexity of the South American continent at
+these two promontories. It would be an important step gained in verifying
+the theory of currents, could the precise distance be ascertained by
+chronometer. It is apparently like an "_actio in distans_," probably a
+phenomenon of what is known as "packing." As the frigate, on leaving Rio
+de Janeiro is to make for the Cape of Good Hope, the opportunity will
+present, should she steer sufficiently southerly, for many interesting
+observations with respect to the _connecting current_ W.N.W. and E.S.E.
+which encounters that from Madagascar and Mozambique, close to the Cape,
+more especially with regard to the temperature of the sea.
+
+If the frigate is intended to approach the small cluster of islands of
+Fernando de Noronha, E. of Pernambuco (Lat. 3 deg. 50' S.), I would recommend
+to that excellent geognostic, Dr. Hochstetter, the hornblendic phonolithe
+rock found there, far from a volcanic crater, but with trachytic dykes and
+basaltic amygdaloid. The flat little island of St. Paul (Penedo de San
+Pedro), 1 deg. N. Lat., singular to say, is not volcanic at all, containing,
+like the Malouin or Falkland Islands, slaty green-stone passing into
+serpentine.
+
+Should the frigate alter her course and cross the Equator more to the
+eastward, without touching at Rio de Janeiro, she might possibly fall in
+with the Marine Volcanic region, (Lat. 0 deg. 20' S., Long. 22 deg. W.), which
+has quite lately become famous again by the U. S. Expedition of the Brig
+_Dolphin_ (1854), commanded by Lieutenant Lee. On 19th May, 1806, columns
+of black smoke were seen issuing from the sea by Krusenstern, and volcanic
+ashes were gathered, after a singular bubbling of the sea from 1748 to
+1836, according to careful investigations by Daussy.
+
+As the frigate is commissioned to visit Ceylon and the Nicobar Islands,
+she cannot sail direct from the Cape to Australia; and the hope must
+therefore be abandoned of her visiting the small basaltic islands, known
+as Prince Edward's (47 deg. 2' S., 38 deg. E.), and Possession (46 deg. 28' S., 47 deg.
+30' E.), belonging to the Crozet's Group, or the two islands, long
+confounded with each other, of Amsterdam (Lat. 37 deg. 48' S.) and St. Paul
+(Lat. 38 deg. 38' S.) The latter island, the more southerly of the two, (a
+very characteristic drawing of which was given by Willem de Vlaming so far
+back as 1696), is supposed to be volcanic, not only by its form, which
+will at once remind the geologist of Santorin, Barren Island, and
+Deception Island, (one of the New Shetland group), but also in consequence
+of the eruption of steam, and the flames occasionally observed there.
+
+As for Amsterdam, which consists of a single densely-wooded mountain, the
+puzzle remains for solution as to how, during the expedition of
+D'Entrecasteaux in 1792, the whole island seemed, during two entire days,
+enveloped in smoke; whereas, on landing there, the naturalists of that
+expedition were satisfied that the mountain was not an active volcano,
+and that the columns of steam issued out of the ground near the shore! As
+yet, the phenomenon remains entirely unexplained.
+
+If we examine any map of the Indian Ocean, we may trace the continuation
+of the Sunda group from Sumatra, N.W., through the Nicobar, and Great and
+Little Andaman Islands, and thence through the volcanoes of Barren Island,
+Narcondam and Cheduba, nearly parallel with the coasts of Malacca and
+Tenasserim, all on the eastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The minor
+volcanoes just enumerated will present valuable opportunities of
+geological enquiry.
+
+Along the coasts of Orissa and Coromandel, the western portion of the Bay
+of Bengal is quite free of islands, Ceylon, like Madagascar presenting
+rather the type of a continent.
+
+Off the W. coast of the peninsula of India, (that is opposite the
+Neilgherrie hills, and the coast of Canara and Malabar), there is a series
+of three archipelagoes, extending from 14 deg. N. to 8 deg. S., viz., the
+Laccadives, the Maldives, and the Chagos, which appears, as it were,
+continued through the banks of Sahia di Malha, and Cargados Carajos, to
+the volcanic group of the Mascarenhas and Madagascar. As the first-named
+archipelagoes, so far as is yet known, consist solely of coral, and are,
+consequently, true "atolls," or reef-lagoons, the bottom of the ocean
+should be examined over a large extent, adopting the ingenious hypothesis
+of Darwin, that it is to be considered _as an area of subsidence_, rather
+than an elevated region.
+
+It would also be a matter of great importance to get observations
+respecting terrestrial magnetism, particularly so as to define the
+position of a given segment of the magnetic equator. Capt. Elliott, as the
+result of his comprehensive studies, (1846-49), ascertained that the
+magnetic equator passes through the north end of Borneo, and thence nearly
+due W. to the northern extremity of Ceylon. In this region the curve of
+minimum intensity is nearly parallel to the magnetic equator, which
+intersects the Continent of Africa near Cape Guardafui--according to
+Rochet d'Hericourt, in lat. 10 deg. 7' N., long. 38 deg. 5'. E. Between this point
+and the Bight of Biafra nothing is known.
+
+The South Asiatic islands comprise Formosa, the Philippines, the Sunda
+group, and the Moluccas. The great and little Sunda Islands and the
+Moluccas embrace 109 volcanoes, with fiery eruptions, and 10 what are
+called mud-volcanoes. This is not a mere estimate, but is the result of an
+enumeration by Junghuhn, who, within the last year (1856), has returned to
+Java, and thoroughly equipped by M. Pahud, Governor-General of the Indian
+Netherlands, will be of great assistance to the Imperial Expedition.
+
+An exact mineralogical determination of the volcanic rocks (trachytes) is
+unfortunately wanting everywhere.
+
+The most active volcano of Sumatra is the Gunung Merapi (8980 feet), which
+must not be confounded with a volcano in Java, of the same name. That of
+Sumatra was ascended by Dr. L. Horner, and Dr. Korthals in 1834. We may
+pronounce Indrapura (11,500 feet, but this measurement is very uncertain),
+and Gunung Pasoman (9010 feet), the Ophir of our maps, to be utterly
+unknown geologically. The highest of the Java volcanoes is Gunung Semeru
+(11,480 feet), ascended by Junghuhn in 1844, 1220 feet higher than the
+Etna. The largest craters of the 45 which are disposed in a line along the
+shores of Java, are Gunung Tengger, and Gunung Raou. Dr. Junghuhn has
+recently given the outlines of each separate volcano in his splendid
+topographical and geological map of Java, in four sheets, published in
+1856, which does great credit to the Dutch Government.
+
+The following subjects are worthy of special attention while the frigate
+is at Java.
+
+1. The curious phenomenon of the ribbed surface. (_Vide_ Junghuhn, Java,
+Part II., p. 608.)
+
+2. The disposition, as yet unaccounted for, of a series of
+regularly-shaped hills, formed by the mud-streams ejected in the year 1822
+by the volcano of Gunung Galungung. (_Vide ut supra_, pp. 127-731.)
+
+3. The ejection of water by the Gunung Idjen, on 21st January, 1817, (pp.
+707, and 717-121).
+
+4. The erroneousness of the assertion that the volcanoes of the Island of
+Java do not emit streams of real lava.
+
+It must be admitted that the mighty Javanese volcano, Gunung Merapi,
+already alluded to, has not, within the historic period, presented any
+coherent compact streams of lava, but mere fragments and boulders;
+although in 1837, lines of fire were seen running uninterruptedly from
+the top down the sides of the cones in eruption. But each of the three
+volcanoes, Tengger, Idjen, and Slamat, present examples of black lava
+currents, descending as far as the tertiary strata.
+
+Streams of stone-boulders, red-hot, similar to those of the Cotopaxi, but
+scarcely touching each other, flowed from Gunung Lamorgan on 6th July,
+1838.
+
+No active volcano is known in the island of Borneo. The highest mountain
+of the whole island, perhaps of the whole insular world of Southern Asia,
+is the Hina Bailu (12,850 feet?) on the northern point of Borneo. It is as
+yet unexplored. According to Dr. Lewis Horner, son of the astronomer of
+the Krusenstern expedition, there occur among the syenite and serpentine
+mountain range of Rathus, on the S.E. of the island, deposits yielding
+gold (which has even been worked by diggings), diamonds, platinum,
+iridium, and osmium,--presenting, in fact, a similar association to those
+of the Ural mountains. No mention is made of palladium. Rajah (now Sir
+James) Brooke describes in the province of Sarawak in Borneo, a low hill,
+Gunung Api ("hill of fire" in Malay), the slags of which attest former
+volcanic activity. A visit to Borneo would be of very great service.
+
+There are eleven volcanoes in Celebes, and six in Flores, all active.
+
+It is still uncertain whether the conical mountain Wawari, or Atiti,
+which is more generally known as the volcano of the island of Amboyna,
+ever poured out anything except hot mud (1674), or whether it should be
+merely classed as a _solfatara_. The main group of the South Asiatic
+Islands is connected through the Moluccas and the Philippines with the
+Papua and Pellew islands, and the Caroline Archipelago of the South Sea.
+
+The most important geological fact to be remarked with reference to the
+island of Formosa, abounding in mineral coals, is the break in the line of
+direction of the open vents, when, instead of N.E. to S.W., the central
+line follows the meridian line, which it pursues nearly as far as 6 deg. S.,
+passing through Formosa and the Philippine Islands (Luzon and Mindanao),
+respecting which deviation nothing certain is known, and in which region
+every mountain of conical shape, or outline is invariably set down as a
+volcano, even though there should be no indications of a crater. The
+Sooloo Archipelago forms the connecting link between the islands of Borneo
+and Mindanao, the long, narrow island of Palawan, constituting that
+between Borneo and Mindoro.
+
+The Island of Yesso, separated from that of Niphon by the Straits of
+Sangar, or Tsugar, and from the islands of Krafto (Saghalien) and Tschoka,
+or Tarakai, by the Straits of La Perouse, connects, through its North
+Eastern Cape, with the archipelago of the Kuriles. From Broughton's
+Southern Vulcan Bay up to its northernmost point, Yesso is traversed by an
+uninterrupted range of volcanoes--a fact the more worthy of being
+recorded, as in the expedition of La Perouse there were found red porous
+lavas, as well as wide areas, covered with slags, in the Baie des
+Castries, in the narrow island of Krafto (Saghalien), which is, as it
+were, merely a continuation of Yesso. In our own day these regions command
+a higher interest, from a political point of view, more especially since
+Russia, dissatisfied with the situation of Okhotsk, at the sanded mouth of
+the Amoor, was anxious, after the destruction of Petropaulowski, on the
+coast of Kamtschatka, to obtain, on the S.E. coast, a harbour suitable
+for a military station.
+
+Among the three islands which form the main portion of the Japanese
+Empire, six volcanoes are known to have had eruptions in the historic
+period. The volcano, Fusi Jama, in Niphon, province of Suruga (Lat. 35 deg.
+18' N., Long. 136 deg. 15' E., altitude 11,675 feet), is said to have risen
+out of the plain 286 years before the Christian era. Its last eruption was
+in 1707. The volcano, Asama Jama, in the district of Saku, between the
+meridians of the two capitals, Miaco and Jeddo, was last in eruption in
+1783. On the island of Kiusiu, adjoining the peninsula of Corea, four
+volcanoes are situated, from one of which, called Wanzen, there was a most
+destructive eruption in 1793.
+
+The beautiful work of Commodore Perry, U.S.N., detailing his mission to
+Japan, on the part of the United States Government, in 1852, containing
+excellent photographs of races, as also drawings by the Berlin artist,
+Wilhelm Heine, does not, as yet, comprise the scientific results of that
+expedition.
+
+Proceeding northwards, the volcanoes are more densely crowded, and are
+found arranged in series. Of the fifty-four which I enumerated as still in
+activity among the islands of Eastern Asia, there are thirty-four on the
+Aleutian, and ten on the Kurile Islands. The Peninsula of Kamtschatka
+contains nine volcanoes, which have been in activity within the historic
+period. Lying under the 54th and 60th degrees of northern latitude, we see
+a long strip of sea-bottom between two continents undergoing a perpetual
+process of destruction and re-arrangement.
+
+The South Sea, the superficial extent of which is one-sixth greater than
+that of the entire solid crust of our planet, actually presents a smaller
+number of active volcanoes, less vents for communication between the
+centre of the earth and its atmospheric envelope, than the single Island
+of Java! Out of 40 volcanic cones, including those which are extinct, only
+26 have been seen in eruption during the historic period. They are not
+scattered at random, but, on the contrary, as was pointed out by Mr. James
+Dana, the ingenious geologist of the great United States Exploring
+Expedition, under the command of Capt. Wilkes (1838-42), they have been
+thrown up, at widely extending clefts, communicating by submarine mountain
+systems. They are arranged in groups and distinct regions, analogous to
+the mountain chains of Central Asia and Armenia (in the district of the
+Caucasus), and belong to two quite distinct systems, one running S.E. to
+N.W., the other S.S.W. to N.N.E.
+
+In the Hawaiian Archipelago (or Sandwich Island group), we find Mauna Loa,
+according to Wilkes, 12,900 feet in height, which does not present any
+cone of volcanic scoriae (resembling, in this particular, the volcanoes of
+the Eifel), but has emitted streams of lava. The lava basin of Killauea,
+13,000 feet in its greatest, by 4800 in its smallest diameter, is not a
+_solfatara_, but a true lateral vent on the flank of the powerful Mauna
+Loa itself, exactly resembling the less elevated sheet of lava of Arak.
+Mauna Kea is 180 feet higher than Mauna Loa, but is extinct. Tafoa and
+Amangura, in the Tonga group, are still in eruption, the last discharge of
+lava having occurred in July, 1847. The volcano of Tanna was in full
+eruption during Capt. Cook's Voyage of Discovery in 1774, as was also the
+volcano of Ambrym, west of Malicollo in the archipelago of the New
+Hebrides. At the south point of New Caledonia, lies Matthew's Rock, a
+small smoking rocky island. The volcano of Santa Cruz, N.N.W. of Tina
+Kora, with periodical eruptions occasionally occurring at intervals of 10
+minutes, had been already noticed as a volcano by Mendana, so far back as
+1595. In the Salomon Archipelago, there is found the volcano of Sesarga,
+while others are said to be in full activity in the Marianas or Ladrones,
+just like those of Guguan, Pagon, and El Volcan Grande de Asuncion, which
+appear to have broken forth along a line that follows the meridian. In New
+Britannia, three conical mountains were observed vomiting streams of lava,
+by Tasman, Carteret, and Labillardiere. There are two volcanoes in full
+activity on the north-east coast of New Guinea, opposite Admiralty
+Islands, which themselves are so rich in obsidian. In New Zealand,
+numerous regions abound in basaltic and trachytic rocks. Of active
+volcanoes there are Puhia-i-Wakati (the volcano of White Island), and the
+lofty cone of Tongariro (5816 feet). To the absence of centres of volcanic
+agency in New Caledonia, where sedimentary formations and seams of coal
+have recently been discovered, is ascribed the vast development of coral
+reefs. Dana was the first to ascend the Peak of Tafua, in the Island of
+Upolu, one of the Samoa group, not to be confounded with the still active
+volcano of Tafoa, south of Amangura, in the Tonga Archipelago. Dana found
+in it a crater overgrown with thick forest. So, too, on the isolated Vaihu
+or Easter Island group, there is found a range of conical mountains with
+craters, but inactive.
+
+Of the volcanic groups of the South Sea, the most violent is the farthest
+east, adjoining the shores of the New World, viz., the archipelago of the
+Gallipagos, which consists of five considerable islands, very admirably
+described by Darwin. There are streams of lava down to the very shore of
+the sea, but no pumice. Some of the trachytic lavas are said to abound
+with crystals of albite. It is important to examine whether or not this
+is oligoclase, as on Teneriffe, Popocatepetl, and Chimborazo; or
+labradorite, as on Etna and Stromboli. Palagonite, exactly similar to that
+of Iceland or in Italy, was discovered by Bunsen in the specimens of tufa
+from Chatham Island, one of the Gallipagos.
+
+New Holland does not show any signs of recent volcanic activity, except at
+its most southern point (Australia Felix), at the foot of the Grampian
+Mountains. N.W. from Port Philip, as also towards the Murray River, there
+are numbers of volcanic cones and sheets or flows of lava.
+
+It would be of great interest and utility to observe the relative
+inclinations of the Magnetic and the Geographical Equators, by means of
+the dip of the magnetic needle, though this will be rendered more
+difficult, from the fact of the ship's course being easterly, that is,
+contrary, to the Equinoctial current. As regards the low temperature of
+the current, which I discovered in 1802, running up from 40 deg. S. to the
+Gallipagos along the coast of South America, and then turning westward, it
+would be highly important to investigate whether in the eastern part of
+the South Sea in 7 deg. N. and between 117 deg. and 140 deg. W., there really exists
+in every season a _counter current_ from west to east. But I need not
+enlarge upon this topic to such attentive navigators.
+
+The line of no inclination was crossed six times by Duperrey between 1822
+and 1825. When I first discovered, near Truxillo, the low temperature of
+the cold Peruvian current, it was 12 deg.8 Reaumur (60 deg.8 Fahr.). The
+temperature observed in the course of twenty years by Mr. Dirckinck von
+Holmfeld, in the neighbourhood of Callao, expressed in degrees of Reaumur,
+were as follows:--
+
+ September  1802     12 deg.8  (Fahr. 60 deg.8)  }  Thermometer in the air.
+ November    "       12 deg.4  (  "   59 deg.9)  }  13 deg.3 Reaumur.
+ December,  end of   16 deg.8  (  "   69 deg.8)  }  (61 deg.92 Fahr.)
+ January    1825     12 deg.7  (  "   60 deg.57)
+ February    "       15 deg.3  (  "   66 deg.42)
+ March       "       15 deg.7  (  "   67 deg.32)
+ April       "       14 deg.5  (  "   64 deg.62)
+
+The temperature of the sea I found to be 22 deg. Reaumur (81 deg.5 Fah.) north of
+Cape Blanco, when on my way from Callao de Lima, at which point the cold
+current diverged towards the Gallipagos.
+
+Between the Gulfs of Guayaquil and Panama, north-east of the cold current,
+the temperature of the sea during the month of April rose as high as
+24 deg.5, (87 deg.12 Fahr.). Within the range of the current, Mr. Dirckinck had
+carried on his observations in compliance with my instructions, by means
+of thermometers that had been compared by Arago. Everywhere in the
+current, in December 1824, he found from 16 deg. to 18 deg. (68 deg. to 72 deg.5 Fahr.);
+between Quilca and Callao, in January, 1825, from 18 deg. to 19 deg. (72 deg.5 to
+74 deg.75 Fahr.); between Chorillos, near Lima (Lat. 12 deg. 39' S.) and
+Valparaiso, in August, 1825, from 13 deg.8 to 10 deg.5 (63 deg.05 to 55 deg.62 Fahr.);
+between Chorillos and San Carlos de Chiloe, in June, 1825, from 18 deg.8 to
+9 deg.2 (74 deg.3 to 52 deg.7).
+
+In sailing from the Sandwich Islands to the west coast of America, the
+Imperial Expedition will have to choose between the Ports of San Francisco
+or Acapulco. The first choice would be of great mineralogical advantage
+for those regions of the United States, lying North of the river Gila.[3]
+Parallel with the chain of the Rocky Mountains, which, according to
+Marcou, contains up to the present day several volcanoes in full activity
+in its northern part (Lat. 46 deg. 12' N.), run single, and at certain points
+double ranges of coast chains from San Diego to Monterey, from 32 deg. 15' N.
+to 46 deg. 45' N. They begin with the coast range specially so-called, which
+is a continuation of the high ridge of the Peninsula of Lower or Old
+California; after which, farther to the North, there follow in succession,
+first the Sierra Nevada di Alta California, between 36 deg. and 38 deg. N. the
+lofty Shasty mountains, and the Cascade Range, nearly twenty six miles
+distant from the littoral, including many high and active volcanoes, and
+extending far beyond Fuca Straits. The following are still in
+eruption:--Mount St. Elias (46 deg. 2' N.); Mount Regnier, or Rainier, (46 deg.
+46'); and Mount Baker, (48 deg. 48'.) These three active cones would be most
+conveniently visited by the geologist of the expedition from San
+Francisco, as would likewise the whole Cascade Range. We have as yet no
+certain intelligence as to the geology of the entire longitudinal
+auriferous valley of the Sacramento River, (where a trachytic crater, in
+a state of disintegration, is known as the Butt of Sacramento). Does the
+auriferous quartz occur in veins, and are these still _in situ_, or are
+they broken up? What description of rock is traversed by these veins? Does
+the wash-gold here contain occasionally, as in the Ural Mountains,
+fragments of vein-stones with isolated cavities, in which are found
+impressions of leaves and membranes, clearly proving that they have not
+been rolled, or transported by water, any great distance to the spot they
+now occupy? Have these been found, alongside of gold, diamonds, platinum,
+osmium, iridium, or mercury?
+
+[Footnote 3: The Gila falls into the Colorado about forty miles above the
+embouchure of the latter into the head of the Gulf of California.]
+
+Should the frigate steer for Acapulco, it may be assumed that there exists
+an intention to cross the Continent to Mexico and Vera Cruz, from the
+volcano of Colima (1877 toises) as it were, along the parallel of the
+range of volcanoes, and greatest heights rising in detached groups between
+the two seas, about the parallel of 19 deg. N. New astronomical observations
+are greatly needed for determining the position of the volcanoes of Colima
+and Jorullo (667 toises). The volcano of Colima, with its twin peaks _de
+fuego_ and _de nieve_, should be carefully examined, as also the volcano
+of Jorullo, with the fragments of granite enclosed in its lava; the Nevado
+de Toluca (2372 toises), Popocatepetl (2772 toises), Itztaccihuatl (2456
+toises), Cofre de Perote (2098 toises), and the volcano of Tuxtla (18 deg. 28'
+N.), on the eastern slope of the Sierra St. Martin, from which a column of
+flame shot up with great violence on 2nd March, 1793, a fair specimen of
+what the Spaniards term _Malpays_, the Sicilians _Sciarra viva_. The face
+of the country is covered over with boulders of lava, at San Nicolas de
+los Ranchos, at the foot of Popocatepetl, adjoining the city of Puebla de
+los Angeles, after which, on the road from Puebla to Vera Cruz, will be
+observed two narrow strips of boulders of cooled basaltic lava, rich in
+olivine. Similar examples will be found at Parage de Carros, near
+Tochtilacuaja and Loma de Tablas, between Cancas and the Casas de la Hoja.
+The mere ascension of volcanic cones is geologically of far less
+importance, than the bringing away numerous specimens, carefully selected,
+of various trachytic rocks, which, by their oryctognostical composition,
+are characteristic of each volcano. I would nevertheless recommend that
+the Pico del Fraile of the Toluca volcano (2372 toises) should be
+ascended, proper caution being used. From this very sharp peak, I brought
+away thin plates of trachyte perforated by lightning, and within the holes
+of a melted glassy surface, resembling those brought from Little Ararat.
+Both for the miner and geologist, an interesting and useful visit might be
+paid to the rich mines of Guanaxuato and the Mines de la Biscaina and
+Regla, on the road from Mexico to Real del Monte, so as to observe the
+close connection subsisting between the richer silver ores, occurring in
+trachytic porphyry without quartz, but with felspar, (glassy felspar?),
+and the thoroughly volcanic Cerro del Jakal, abounding in obsidian, and
+the Cerro de las Navajas (Razor Range), which remind one of the environs
+of Schemnitz, with the sole exception, that the trachytes "_porphyres
+meulieres_" of Beudant, are wanting here.
+
+As it is highly desirable that considerable time should be devoted to the
+volcanoes of Quito, Peru, and Chili, it appears uncertain whether the
+course of the frigate, on leaving Acalpulco, will be shaped direct for
+Guayaquil, thus reversing the route taken by myself, or whether she will
+not touch at some of the central American ports--Realejo or Sonsonate. The
+crowded series of volcanoes in Central America, of which no less than
+eighteen, conical or dome-shaped, may be considered as still in active
+eruption, would yield a rich harvest of facts of all kinds in elucidation
+of the theory of volcanic action, such as have never hitherto been
+sufficiently taken advantage of. We are still in need of the mineralogical
+determination of the rocks, while the form and situation of the mountain
+masses have been well described by Squier, Oersted, and other modern
+travellers. The greater number, indeed, of the eruptions of scoriae and
+slag were unaccompanied by streams of lava, as, for example, those of
+Mount Isalco, abounding in ammonia. But recently eye-witnesses have
+furnished us with quite different accounts regarding these eruptions, in
+the case of several volcanoes--as the Nindiri (a twin volcano with that
+called Massaya), on which Dr. Scherzer has lately shed much light; the
+Volcano el Nuevo, erroneously called Volcano de las Pilas, that of
+Coseguina, situated on the Great Bay of Fonseca, and that of San Miguel de
+Bosotlan, from which there flowed an extensive stream of lava in July
+1844. It would be most tempting to pass by land from Mexico southwards to
+Oaxaca, and thence to the Isthmus of Guasacualco or Tehuantepec, and
+Chiapas, so as to rejoin the frigate at Realejo or Sonsonate. Facts might
+be obtained, in such a journey, of great value in determining the
+dependence of geological phenomena on each other; but it is to be feared
+it would be attended with too much fatigue and loss of time. For similar
+reasons, it cannot be proposed that the scientific gentlemen attached to
+the Expedition, should leave the frigate for three or four months, when
+they reach Central America, in order to cross by rail the Isthmus of
+Panama, with the object of examining the Volcancitos of Turbaco and Gabra
+Zamba, both active, and thence ascend the Rio Magdalena from Carthagena de
+las Indias, as far as Honda, whence they could proceed by Bogota and
+Popayan to Quito.
+
+It will be also unavoidable to forego the examination of the sedimentary
+rocks, rich in fossils, between Honda, Bogota and Ibagues, the Mastodon
+fields (_Campos del Gigante_), and the Salto de Tegumidama on the plateau
+of Bogota, the wax palm (_Ceroxylon Andicola_), and the Azufrales of the
+Passo de Quindiu, the volcanoes of Tolima, measured by myself and ascended
+by Boussingault, and of Paramo de Ruiz (4 deg. 15' N.), as also the two
+volcanoes of Popayan, the Purace and the much more interesting but now
+extinct Sotara. As a middle course, I may suggest a disembarkation, not
+exactly at Guayaquil, but on the gold and platinum coast of the Choco,
+near San Buenaventura, so as to proceed thence to Popayan, and afterwards
+return to the volcanoes of the province of Pasto, which are highly
+important, and so on to Quito, by way of Guachucal, Tulcan, and Villa de
+Ibarra, rejoining the frigate only at Guayaquil.
+
+I believe, however, it would be more advisable to select Quito as the
+starting-point, whence to examine the important elevated volcanic region
+De los Pastos (between 2 deg. 20' and 0 deg. 56' N.), containing the volcano of
+the town of Pasto, the volcanoes of Tuguerres, Chiles and Cumbal, and the
+Azufral de Pasto, and not to land at any port of the Choco coast, not even
+from the Bahia de Cupica, which for half a century I have recommended in
+vain on account of its vicinity to the Rio Naipi, one of the tributaries
+of the Atrato. In drawing up a list of names of the volcanoes of the
+renowned lofty plateau of Quito, I may include, Imbaburu, Cotocachi, Rucu,
+Pichincha, Antisana, the much-disputed question of the stony walls like
+streams of lava, on the east slope of Tana Volcan, and Reventazon de
+Ansango; Cotopaxi, with its strange inexplicable quarries of pumice, of
+Guapecho and Zumbalica, in the neighbourhood of Llactacunga and San
+Felipe, the pumice containing oligoclase, not glassy felspar, deposited in
+strata, like any rock _in situ_ for a considerable distance on all sides
+of Cotopaxi; Tunguragua (mica slate), studded with garnets, and beds of
+granite, which dip under the former, and have themselves been pierced by
+the trachytes of Tungurahua at Rio Puela and the Hacienda de Ganace; the
+hills of Moya, near the village of Pelilco, cast up in the celebrated
+earthquake of 7th February, 1797, and still in a state of activity; the
+Chimborazo, which M. Jules Remy, accompanied by an Englishman named
+Princkley, was in the belief they had ascended, on the 3rd of November,
+1856, to the very summit, "_mais sans s'en douter_." Poggendorff, (Vol. X.
+p. 480), has clearly demonstrated that the boiling point given by Remy for
+the summit, would not give 6544 metres (little different from my own
+trigonometrical admeasurement of 6530 metres), but fully 7328 metres. As I
+distrust my own half-barometical measurements, I have vainly implored
+travellers, these fifty years past, to have a new series of
+trigonometrical observations made of the summit of Chimborazo. The merit,
+then, of settling this moot point, it also remains for the members of the
+_Novara_ Expedition to obtain.
+
+It would be important to examine the Sangay (16,068 feet)--which, like
+Stromboli, is in constant activity, yet without any traces of
+lava-streams--on account of the grains of quartz discovered by Wisse in
+the trachytic boulders ejected by the volcano, which is of such rare
+occurrence in the trachytes out of Hungary; and also on account of the
+close vicinity of beds of granite and gneiss, which are broken through by
+the Sangay trachyte, forming an island, as it were, of not hardly two
+miles in breadth. Still more deserving of attention is the extinct volcano
+El Altar de los Collanes (Capac Urcu) a sketch of which I presented in
+the atlas published in my "Kleine Schriften" (Plate V. p. 461), formerly
+higher than Chimborazo, and still (?) 16,380 feet. Not a single specimen
+of its trachyte has ever been deposited in a European museum. The Altar
+itself is readily accessible from Riobamba Nuevo. In its vicinity may also
+be seen mica slate and gneiss, cropping out at the Paramo del Hatillo near
+Guamote, and Teocaxas, which are so seldom fallen in with in the highlands
+of Quito. Tradition relates that gold-mines were worked here during the
+days of the Incas, in the neighbourhood of volcanic trachytes. From the
+Altar the geologist might proceed, by way of San Luis, (Query, whether the
+primitive clay-slate found here be of the Silurian formation?) and
+Guamote, to Paramo del Assuay (2428 toises), and Cuenca, as far as Atausca
+(2 deg. 13' S.), where an immense mass of sulphur, lying in a quartz seam is
+worked, forming a bed in the mica slate. Of what rock does the easily
+accessible Cayambe Urcu (18,170 feet) consist, crossing the Equator, S.E.
+of Otavalo? _En route_ from Quito to Cayambe, the rich deposits of
+obsidian near Quinche should also be inspected, which furnished the large
+mirrors to the Incas, and farther to the north of which are the volcanoes
+of Los Pastos, which form a separate system by themselves.
+
+For examining the rocks and exploring the volcanoes of Southern Peru and
+Bolivia--respecting which see the last edition of Pentland's Maps, not
+those published between 1830 and 1848, in which the height of Sorata was
+indicated at 3949 toises (25,257 feet), and Illimani at 3753 toises
+(24,004), and accordingly both as much more lofty than Chimborazo, which
+is 3350 toises (21,426 feet)--the best starting-point would be the port of
+Arica, which may be reached, sailing the whole distance against the cold
+current, from Guayaquil, after a short stay at Callao de Lima. Of the
+volcanoes of Peru and Bolivia only three are now active.
+
+(_a._) The volcano of Arequipa, three miles N.E. of the town of the same
+name, which, according to Pentland and Rivero, is situated about 7366 feet
+above the level of the sea. The measurements of M. Dolley, of the French
+navy, which were published under my superintendence, give the summit of
+the volcano as 10,348 feet above the town of Arequipa, so that its total
+elevation above the sea would be 17,714 feet. In the table of heights for
+Mrs. Somerville's "Physical Geography," Mr. Pentland speaks of the summit
+as being 20,320 English feet in height, or 19,065 Paris feet, closely
+approximating to the old trigonometrical measurement (19,080 feet) given
+by Thaddeus Haenke, a Bohemian, who accompanied the expedition of
+Malaspina, in 1769. What a deplorable state for the science of hypsometry
+to be in! which the _Novara_ ought to put an end to. Samuel Anzon, a North
+American, in 1811, and Dr. Weddell, in 1847, have ascended the volcano of
+Arequipa.
+
+(_b._) Sahama (18 deg. 7' S.), according to Pentland's new map of 1848, is 871
+feet higher than Chimborazo (which he gives as 20,970 feet), and is still
+active. The true heights of Illimani and Sorata, ascertained since 1848,
+are, instead of 3949 and 3753 respectively, only 3329 toises (21,266
+English feet), and 3307 toises (21,145 English feet).
+
+(_c._) Volcano Gualatieri, in the Bolivian province of Carangas (18 deg. 25'
+S.), height 20,604 feet.
+
+The southern group of South American volcanoes, that, of Chili, presents
+the largest number of active fire-mountains--only second, indeed, to that
+of Central America, there being from eleven to thirteen. In order to
+increase the geological exploration of this region which has been so well
+prepared by the memorable expedition under Captain Fitzroy, in the ships
+_Adventure_ and _Beagle_, the excellent generalizing theories of Mr.
+Darwin, and the naval astronomical expedition of Mr. Gilliss, for 1849-51,
+the _Novara_ will probably land at Valparaiso. A great desideratum between
+Coquimbo and Valparaiso is an exact measurement of--
+
+_A_. The volcano of Aconcagua (32 deg. 39' S.). Its height has been stated, in
+1835, by Captain Fitzroy, as 21,767 feet, Pentland's correction assigning
+22,431 feet; while Captain Kellet, of the frigate _Herald_, gives it as
+21,584 feet. Miers and Darwin are both of opinion that the Aconcagua is
+still in activity, which is denied by Pentland and Gilliss. The most
+recent measurement of Aconcagua--that by Pissis in 1854 (see Gilliss, Vol.
+I. p. 63)--makes the height 20,924 feet. M. Pissis has published, in the
+"Anales de la Universidad de Chili," for 1852, the geodetical elements of
+his survey, which is based upon eight triangles. Aconcagua being probably
+the highest mountain in the New World, a new measurement is eminently
+desirable. Neither Dhawalagiri, with his 4930 toises, nor Kintsinjunga,
+measured by Colonel Waugh, with his 4406 toises, are any longer considered
+the highest mountains in the Himalaya range, but the Deodunga (Mount
+Everest), which is 29,003 English feet, equal to 27,212 Paris feet, or
+4535 toises.
+
+_B._ The volcano Maipu (34 deg. 17' S., height 16,572 feet), ascended by
+Meyen. The trachytic rock on the summit has broken through the Jurassic
+strata, in which Leopold von Buch has ascertained, from heights of 9000
+feet, the existence of _Exogyra couloni_, _Trigonia costata_, and
+_Ammonites biplex_. This volcano has no streams of lava, but only
+eruptions of volcanic slags. It would be most desirable that Dr.
+Hochstetter should examine this remarkable protrusion of dislocated
+strata.
+
+_C._ The volcano Antuco (37 deg. 7' S.), the geology of which was described by
+Poeppig, is a lofty basaltic crater, having a trachytic cone rising up in
+its centre to an elevation of 8672 feet. It was observed in full activity
+by Domeyko in 1845. Gilliss gives an account of an eruption in 1853.
+According to Domeyko, a fresh-burning cone was thrown up on the 25th of
+November, 1847, which remained in activity for a whole year. Molina
+considers the Nevada Descabezado (35 deg. 1' S.), ascended by Domeyko, to be
+the highest mountain in Chili; but its height is estimated by Gilliss at
+only 12,300 feet. The most southerly volcanoes are the still active
+Corcovado (43 deg. 12' S.), 7046 feet; Yanteles (43 deg. 29' S.), 7534 feet; and
+the Volcan de San Clemente, opposite the granite formation on the
+peninsula of Tres Montes. Still further south, in 51 deg. 41' S., another, the
+Volcan de los Gigantes, is laid down on the old maps of South America, by
+La Cruz Olmedella, as opposite the archipelago of La Madre de Dios.
+
+Should the _Novara_ return to Europe through the Straits of Maghellanes,
+it would be very desirable the members of the Expedition should visit the
+locality from which Prince Paul of Wuertemberg, after long zoological
+travels through North America, has, within the last year, brought back to
+Germany a very large collection of specimens.
+
+Altogether, I calculate the number of active volcanoes on the surface of
+the earth to be upwards of 225--one-third of which, or 75, are upon the
+various continents, and the remainder upon the insular world. The Western
+Continent has 53 active volcanoes--of which, North-Western America, north
+of the river Gila, has 5; Mexico, 4; Central America, 18; South America
+about 26. Viewing the globe as a whole, there presents itself an extensive
+oblique region in which volcanoes most abound, stretching from S.E. to
+N.W. in the more westerly part of the Pacific, between 75 deg. W. and 125 deg. E.
+of Paris, and between 47 deg. S. and 66 deg. N. In this region, the fused elements
+of the interior of our earth may be said to be most permanently in
+communication with the atmosphere.
+
+The greatest attention should be paid, with the view of improving them,
+to the sections and maps of Chili, contained in the work, "Buenos Ayres
+and the Provinces of Rio de la Plata," published in 1852 by Sir Woodbine
+Parish, and still more so, to that entitled "Map of the Republic of Chili,
+compiled from the Surveys of Gilliss, Pissis, Allen, Campbell, and Claude
+Gay, between 23 deg. and 44 deg. S., as contained in Gilliss' 'United States
+Astronomical Expedition, 1847-52 Washington, 1855.'"
+
+The chief object to be aimed at by the _Novara_, with respect to
+scientific enquiry, seems to me to be the formation of a collection in the
+Geological Institute of Vienna, in comparison to which all the collections
+which at present aspire to be considered rich in volcanic specimens, (such
+as those of Berlin, Paris and London), should appear to be insignificant.
+In all periods of history, travellers are only the representatives of the
+state of knowledge of their own time, and consequently, collections always
+present the readiest means of promulgating new discoveries by
+oryctognostical examination or chemical analysis. In order to set on foot
+a grand Volcanic Museum, it would be necessary to bring home from every
+one of the volcanoes visited, not less than 10 or 12, but still better 15
+or 18, specimens of the porphyritic trachytes, all carefully selected,
+well-shaped, containing crystals not disintegrated, and of sufficient size
+to admit of a fresh fracture being made. For such quantities, however,
+there cannot be provided on board ship, even with the kindest patronage of
+the commanding officer, sufficient space for the accumulations of two
+years' arduous efforts in forming a collection. The greatest part,
+therefore, should be sent by other conveyance to Trieste, the most secure
+channel being through the consuls of the Austrian Empire, or those of
+allied powers, or through the medium of British, Dutch or American
+mercantile establishments, or by the regular packets.
+
+Duplicates, say four or five specimens, from each volcano, should be taken
+on board the _Novara_ in boxes of about 3 feet long. It would be too
+disheartening to have any misgivings of the success of this glorious
+scheme for getting together a Museum of Volcanic Rocks in Vienna, of all
+the regions of the globe, arranged upon a regular geographical system,
+each labelled with its own name, so as to promote a general acquaintance
+with these branches of knowledge:
+
+   1. Europe.
+
+   2. Atlantic Islands.
+
+   3. Continent of Asia, South Coast of Arabia (Aden), Kamtschatka.
+
+   4. Islands of Eastern Asia and India.
+
+   5. The Indian Ocean.
+
+   6. The Pacific.
+
+   7. Continent of South America: Chili, Peru, Bolivia, Quito and
+      New Grenada.
+
+   8. Central America.
+
+   9. Mexico, south of the river Gila.
+
+   10. North-Western America, north of the river Gila.
+
+   11. West Indies.
+
+Much of this work might be done on board the _Novara_. As to Nos. 3 and 4,
+Kamtschatka, the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, the Red Sea, and the West
+Indies, it will not be difficult to procure specimens at some future
+period.
+
+Our piping times of peace are favourable to the execution of this project,
+which should be zealously kept in view throughout the Expedition.
+Travelling as I was, during the great wars, I did not dare shrink from the
+difficulty of having to carry along with me 44 large boxes, as I did on
+the road through Mexico from Acapulco to Vera Cruz, whence they were sent
+to Cuba, Philadelphia, and so to Bordeaux. The mechanical labour of having
+the collections carefully packed, keeping duplicates distinct, and sending
+away geological, botanical, zoological and ethnographical collections, is
+itself quite as important as the purely scientific work.
+
+The exhibition of comprehensive volcanic collections brings to light the
+strong analogy subsisting between the trachytes belonging to volcanoes,
+far distant from one another, while it indicates the existence of great
+differences in the mineralogical composition of volcanoes situated very
+near each other. My most excellent friend and fellow-traveller in Siberia,
+Professor Gustavus Rose, recently subjected the trachytes of the Berlin
+Museum, the greater number of which were collected by myself, to careful
+crystallographical and chemical investigation. He found oligoclase and
+pyroxene on the trachytes of Chimborazo, Popocatepetl, Colima,
+Tunguragua, Purace, Paramo de Ruiz, and the Peak of Teneriffe, which has
+recently been accurately examined by Mr. Charles Deville. The trachytes of
+Toluca, Orizaba, Gunung Barang, and Burung Agung, on the Island of Java,
+Argaeus, in Asia Minor, Cuneguilla, south of Sta. Fe de Nuevo-Mexico, the
+Sierra de San Francisco, west of the Rocky Mountains and Pueblo Zuni,
+consist of hornblende, oligoclase, and brown mica. The trachytes of
+Stromboli and Etna, those of the Siebengebirge (Drachenfels), and of Kara
+Hissar in Phrygia, consist of large crystals of glassy felspar, with
+numerous smaller crystals of oligoclase, some hornblende and mica.
+Oligoclase, having been mistaken for albite, led to the fantastic idea of
+a peculiar rock, the _Andesite_, prevailing in the Andes, and even led our
+great master, Leopold von Buch, to make some curious distinctions,
+(Description des Iles Canaries, 1836, pp. 186-87.)
+
+To ascertain the average height above the level of the sea, I propose that
+furrows should be cut in the rocks of the different regions along with
+inscriptions, which might carry information to unborn ages, as has been
+done, on my suggestion, now some 25 years ago, by the Academy of Science
+at St. Petersburg, on the Caspian Sea, while Sir James Ross, in his
+"Voyage of Discovery in the Southern and Antarctic Regions," 1839-43, Vol.
+II. p. 23, regrets not having done so, or, at least, of having only once
+adopted this plan.
+
+I would also, with all deference, suggest observations regarding the daily
+atmospheric variations or tides, so as to obtain tables of _maxima_ and
+_minima_. In order to obtain these, whenever the frigate is at anchor near
+any coast, but particularly within the tropics, hourly observations with
+the barometer and thermometer (the latter affixed to the barometer, and
+also freely suspended in the open air), should be made through several
+consecutive days and nights. During the occurrence of an Aurora Borealis
+(or Australis), attention should be paid to the perturbations of the
+magnetic variation, and the magnetic intensity of the horizontal needle.
+Boreal Auroras have been seen in the southern latitudes of the Peruvian
+Pacific, as low down as 12 deg. 13' S.; but the occurrence of such phenomena
+there is of much less frequent occurrence than that of Austral Auroras in
+Scotland. It is important to keep an exact register of the intensity of
+blackness in the "coalbags," when the smallest stars surrounding them are
+still visible to the naked eye. The daily meteorological observations, as
+also those on the temperature of the sea, will probably be made on board
+ship, in conformity with the views of Lieutenant Maury, and the method
+agreed upon at the last nautical congress.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As I shall have long ceased to be numbered with the living, when the
+_Novara_ returns to Trieste, richly freighted with scientific treasures of
+all kinds, with fresh information relating to organic and inorganic
+nature, to the races of man, their habits and languages, I now pray to
+Almighty God that His blessing may rest upon this great and noble
+enterprise, to the honour of our common German Fatherland! And
+concluding, in this night, these oblique, illegible lines, I remember, not
+without emotion, and with very mingled feelings, that joyous period of my
+life when, fifty-eight years ago, in the beautiful gardens of Schoenbrunn,
+preparing myself for a long journey, I was enjoying with grateful mind the
+friendly kindness of the venerable Jacquin and Peter Frank.
+
+                                                     A. v. HUMBOLDT.
+
+ Berlin, in the night of 7th April, 1857.
+
+[Illustration: DEPARTURE.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  I.
+
+                     Preparations for the Voyage.
+
+   Approbation of the Plan to fit out an Austrian Man-of-War for a
+     Voyage round the World.--Object of the Expedition.--
+     Appointment of a Scientific Commission.--Preparations.--
+     Fitting out the Frigate _Novara_ at Pola.--Departure for
+     Trieste.--Visit of the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian on board.
+
+
+In the autumn of 1856, His Majesty the Emperor was graciously pleased to
+approve of the proposal for a voyage round the world, as projected by his
+Imperial Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, the head of the
+Austrian navy, and to commission the sailing frigate _Novara_ for that
+purpose, a vessel qualified to meet every requisite condition.
+
+The chief object of the Expedition--a circumstance which must not be lost
+sight of--was to afford the officers and cadets of the ship an opportunity
+of acquiring that practical acquaintance with naval affairs which, added
+to the theoretical knowledge previously attained, would render them
+thoroughly familiar with nautical routine, and thus materially contribute
+to the further development of the Austrian navy.
+
+This branch of the public service, placed since 1848 on an entirely new
+basis, has with difficulty worked its way through all those embarrassing
+circumstances inseparable from the organization of a new system; but the
+honest zeal and energy of the board appointed, supported by favour from
+the highest quarters, have succeeded in introducing many improvements, and
+in increasing by degrees the numerical strength of the men, thereby laying
+a secure foundation for the rising naval force, the importance of which,
+at this moment, every reflecting patriot will acknowledge.
+
+The intended Expedition offered, besides the advantages for the service,
+another not less important for the State, namely, the recognition of the
+Austrian flag in remote quarters of the globe, to which it had never
+hitherto penetrated; and by thus opening new channels for the outlet of
+our natural products and manufactured goods, to promote the industrial,
+commercial, and maritime interests of the empire.
+
+In order to satisfy the scientific requirements of the age, the
+illustrious head of the navy issued orders, that the officers on board
+should in every way assist in the researches to be made, connected with
+navigation and geography; and was, moreover, pleased to invite the
+Imperial Academy of Sciences to nominate two members, he himself naming a
+third, to accompany the Expedition for the purpose of observing and
+investigating phenomena pertaining to the different branches of physical
+science, as well as collecting rare specimens and interesting objects of
+natural history. To this commission were ultimately attached a botanist, a
+practical zoologist, an artist, and a flower-gardener.
+
+The Academy had, for the guidance of these gentlemen, drawn up
+instructions which, with a multitude of other papers containing useful
+hints and interesting queries, received from the Imp. Geographical,
+Geological, and Medical Societies, as well as from numerous foreign and
+native scientific men, formed a most valuable collection of materials for
+the purposes of the Expedition.[4]
+
+[Footnote 4: Of these instructions, "The physical and geognostical
+remarks," with which the Nestor of natural science honoured the voyagers
+of the _Novara_, being of a more general interest, are published at the
+end of this volume, together with the facsimile of an autograph letter of
+Baron von Humboldt to the commander of the Expedition.]
+
+Foremost amongst these _savans_ stood Alexander von Humboldt, that
+illustrious man, who up to the last moment of his existence was alive with
+youthful enthusiasm for every scientific enterprise. In England great
+interest in the success of the Expedition was evinced by Sir Roderic
+Murchison, Sir W. Hooker, Sir Charles Lyell, General Sabine, Admiral
+Smyth, Admiral Fitzroy, Professor Robert Owen, Professor Philips,
+Professor Bell, Professor W. A. Ramsay, Professor Goodsir, of Edinburgh,
+W. J. Hamilton, Esq., Charles Darwin, Esq., L. Horner, Esq., James Yates,
+Esq., B. Davis, Esq., &c., &c. From the United States of North America, we
+received most valuable communications from Commander M. F. Maury, National
+Observatory, Washington, D. C.--Captain Rodgers, and others.
+
+Letters of introduction were received from Germany, and particularly from
+England, to influential parties and societies in a variety of places
+abroad, amongst which were many warm and friendly recommendations from the
+English Government and Admiralty, as well as the Directors of the then
+East India Company, to various administrative authorities in the British
+Colonies.
+
+[Illustration: GUN-ROOM OF THE _NOVARA_.]
+
+The frigate _Novara_ was laid up in the arsenal of Pola, where all
+requisite steps were taken to complete her outfit, and prepare her
+thoroughly for the voyage. The ventilation of the lower deck was improved,
+and the number of cabins increased in proportion to the number of
+individuals for whom accommodation was to be provided.
+
+The gun-room was, by command of the Archduke, converted into a
+reading-room, and provided with a well-selected library as well as with
+all the charts and maps necessary for the information of the officers, who
+here made their calculations and executed their drawings.
+
+The store-rooms for the sails and tackle were enlarged, so as to hold a
+double quantity.
+
+A distilling apparatus, the same as patented by M. Rocher, of Nantes, was
+fixed on the gun-deck, and being placed in connection with the ship's
+coppers, it was found that, during the few hours each day that the latter
+were used for cooking, enough sea-water was distilled to supply the entire
+ship's company with excellent water to drink. This distilled water, after
+having been kept in iron tanks for a month, was found pleasant to the
+taste, and agreed very well with the health. The excellent health enjoyed
+by all the crew throughout the voyage must, in a great measure, be
+ascribed to the circumstance, that scarcely any other but this distilled
+sea-water was used, so that the men were enabled entirely to forego
+drinking river or spring-water, which in the tropics are frequently found
+injurious.
+
+The use of such an apparatus permits a great diminution in the store of
+water usually carried by a vessel. The space gained by this diminished
+bulk of water, enabled us to take on board a larger cargo of coal and
+provisions, such as preserved beef and compressed vegetables. The sailors
+were not, however, particularly fond of the preserved beef, because in
+cooking it loses a great part of its flavour (though the broth is strong
+and good); nor does it seem as an article of diet to have had a
+particularly beneficial influence on the health, for the sanitary
+condition of the crew was equally satisfactory, and the number of
+scorbutic patients not materially increased when, towards the end of the
+voyage, the fresh stores were exhausted, and only salt and pickled rations
+were issued.
+
+Compressed dried vegetables were of great benefit to the health of our
+men, and cannot be sufficiently recommended. The so-called _melange
+d'equipage_ of Chollet, as well as _sauer kraut_, potatoes, and other
+vegetables, have an excellent taste, improve the soups when mixed with
+them, and are easily preserved, provided they be protected from the effect
+of damp. Hence it might be advisable to keep them enclosed in
+well-soldered tin boxes. The price of these vegetables is so moderate,
+that it is surprising they are not more generally employed.
+
+The long-continued satisfactory state of health of the crew must also
+partly be sought for in the constant use of shower-baths. For this
+purpose, apertures, three-quarters of an inch in diameter, were bored in
+the planks of both the deck and forecastle, under which a perforated disc
+could be screwed, and above which a pail of water was placed. By these
+simple means every one was enabled to enjoy the luxury of a bath; when,
+however, the desire for that refreshment became general, so that the
+arrangement above-mentioned was insufficient, a hand fire-engine was made
+use of, so as to accommodate as many at once as might present
+themselves--a process which found great favour with the jolly tars, as
+affording abundant opportunities for fun and merriment.
+
+[Illustration: VERTICAL SECTION OF THE FRIGATE "NOVARA."]
+
+The frigate _Novara_ had been placed on the stocks in the arsenal of
+Venice in the month of February, 1845, and was launched in April, 1850.
+She was pierced for 42 guns, but during the voyage carried only thirty
+30-pounders,[5] and four of smaller calibre.
+
+[Footnote 5: The 30-pounder marine guns answer very nearly to the English
+32-pounders.]
+
+The principal dimensions of the frigate (Vienna measurement) are:--
+
+ Length between perpendiculars      165 feet  5-1/2 inches.[6]
+ Length of water line               156 "     5       "
+ Greatest breadth                    44 "     11-1/2  "
+ Greatest breadth on water line      43 "     2       "
+ Depth of hold                       19 "     3/4     "
+ Draught of water aft                18 "     9       "
+ Draught of water fore               17 "     5-2/3   "
+
+[Footnote 6: 96-423/1000 Austrian feet = 100 English.]
+
+The superficial area of the ship, or the load-water line, amounted to
+5685.35 square feet; quantity of water displaced 2107 Austrian, or 2630
+English tons. The superficial area of the principal sails amounted to
+18,291 square feet.
+
+The frigate proved herself to be an excellent sailer, as, of the various
+vessels which, throughout the voyage, sailed in company with us, only
+three clippers outstripped her.
+
+The question may here be asked, why, in the present state of navigation, a
+sailing-vessel was preferred to a steamer for this voyage? The principal
+consideration which decided this selection was the greater disposable area
+which a sailing-vessel offers in comparison with a steamer of the same
+dimensions, in which coal and machinery occupy so large a space. On the
+present occasion, it will be perceived that what was specially wanted was
+room for as great a number of officers, cadets, and men as possible, who
+were, as has been stated, to make this voyage for improvement in nautical
+affairs. Plenty of space was also required for the numerous instruments
+and bulky collections of objects of natural history; while in most parts
+of the ocean which we were to traverse, the winds blow so regularly, that,
+with very rare exceptions, sails form the best motive power. The expense
+of fuel requisite for a steamer, and the trouble of replacing it during
+the voyage, are thus saved; whilst, finally, the space occupied by the men
+employed in the management of the machinery, and that required for the
+stowage of special stores, would be withdrawn from more important objects.
+
+After the frigate had been properly fitted up in the arsenal of Pola, she
+sailed on the 15th March, 1857, for Trieste, where she cast anchor on the
+17th in the Bay of Muggia. H.I.M.'s corvette _Caroline_, likewise fitted
+out at Pola for a voyage to the coast of South America and Western
+Africa, followed in her wake, and it was now seen that the frigate was a
+better sailer than the corvette, a circumstance so much the more
+satisfactory, that the latter had hitherto been considered the swiftest
+ship in our navy.
+
+The unfavourable state of the weather interfered so much with the works
+which were to be finished at Trieste, that the embarkation of provisions,
+swinging the compasses, &c., &c., could only be proceeded with very
+slowly.
+
+At last, the members of the Commission arrived, and the vessel only waited
+for sailing orders.
+
+Before leaving on so interesting an enterprise, with which the most
+pleasing recollections of our lives will ever be associated, we had the
+gratification of being honoured by a visit on board from the Archduke
+Ferdinand Maximilian. The commander of the Expedition introduced the
+officers and scientific gentlemen to his Imperial Highness, who addressed
+them in affecting terms, and concluded his remarks by expressing a hope
+that the frigate _Novara_ would, with God's help, return happily from her
+mission to her own honour and that of the country.
+
+The narrative of the voyage is now presented, and, probably, the results
+of the various scientific investigations will very shortly be offered to a
+discerning public, leaving it to them to judge how far we have succeeded
+in realizing the hopes of the illustrious Prince. But if we have not
+satisfied all the expectations entertained, it certainly was not from
+insufficiency of means; for everything was complete in that respect, and
+we owe it chiefly to the circumspection and kind care of the
+Commander-in-chief of our navy, that this enterprise had been so wisely
+planned, and its details brought in so short a time to such a degree of
+perfection that, during the whole voyage, it was not found necessary to
+make the slightest alteration in the original arrangements and
+regulations.
+
+[Illustration: GEODETICAL AND ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS.]
+
+[Illustration: LOOK-OUT MAN.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  II.
+
+                       From Trieste to Gibraltar.
+
+   Departure.--Fair Voyage down the Adriatic.--A Man lost and found
+     again.--Passage through the Straits of Messina.--The Steamer
+     _Sta. Lucia_ returns to Trieste.--Regulations and Instructions
+     for further Proceedings.--A Day on Board the _Novara_.--
+     Sunrise.--Cleaning the Ship.--Mental and physical occupation.--
+     Moonlight at sea.
+
+
+The departure of the frigate was fixed for the 30th April, 1857, and
+H.I.M.'s corvette _Caroline_, Captain Kohen, was ordered to accompany her
+as far as the coast of South America. H.I.M's steamer, _Sta. Lucia_,
+Captain von Littrow, received orders to tow both ships as far as the
+extremity of the Straits of Messina to avoid loss of time, such as
+frequently arises in the Adriatic during the spring, from calms and
+unfavourable winds.
+
+With the dawn of the day fixed for the departure of the ships, all was
+bustle on board; craft of all kinds hovered around, and relatives and
+friends had assembled in great numbers to take leave. The verdant and
+thickly-wooded slopes of the promenade to St. Andrea, near the shore, were
+thronged with spectators, and the fair and lovely picture of our native
+coast developed itself once more before our eyes, clad in all its charms
+of spring, as if to wish us a hearty farewell, an auspicious voyage, and a
+happy return!
+
+At 8 o'clock A.M. we weighed anchor, and the steamer _Sta. Lucia_
+approached the _Novara_ for the purpose of towing her from the Bay of
+Muggia into the roads of Trieste. She had all her colours displayed, and
+saluted the city of Trieste, Austria's chief and most important emporium,
+with 21 guns. The salute was answered from the castle, whilst the band on
+board struck up Haydn's beautiful hymn: "God preserve the Emperor!" The
+frigate moved out of the road-stead, accompanied by a great number of
+boats, and followed by the best wishes of the numerous crowds assembled on
+shore, and of all true patriots, who looked upon this Expedition as a
+cheering evidence that a new and energetic spirit of enterprise had arisen
+in their native country.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE I.--TRACK FROM TRIESTE TO MADEIRA.]
+
+The corvette _Caroline_, which was waiting outside the roads, was attached
+to the frigate, and soon Trieste appeared like a dim cloud on the distant
+horizon. The outlines of the Carinthian Alps became fainter, and the
+excitement of the parting scene was calmed by that busy activity required
+from every one embarking on a long voyage, if he desires to attain any
+degree of comfort, however little, in the cramped and limited space of a
+crowded ship.
+
+A perfect calm, a smooth sea, and a but-slightly-clouded sky,
+prognosticated fair weather, and promised leisure to complete those
+arrangements which had been left undone. The steamer _Sta. Lucia_
+performed her task of towing the two vessels most satisfactorily, and,
+favoured by the prevailing currents of wind and water, we made five miles
+an hour, and came, on the day of departure, in sight of the promontory of
+Pola.
+
+The passage down the Adriatic was on the whole most pleasant, with the
+exception of some showers of rain near the heights of Isola Grossa; which,
+however, on this occasion saluted us only with a slight puff of wind. The
+ship moved so gently and quietly on her way, that those occupying the
+lower cabins could scarcely have fancied themselves at sea, had they not
+been made aware of it by other impressions.
+
+On the 1st of May, the crew became highly excited by a man being missed,
+when the morning watch was called. Some thought he had, from fear of a
+slight punishment hanging over him, jumped overboard, but as nothing of
+the kind had been observed by the watch on deck, every corner was
+searched, but without success, upon which the man was given over as lost.
+When, however, the dinner hour arrived, and the tables and benches were
+being removed from the lower deck, how great was the surprise, when the
+culprit was discovered crouching among them! A peal of laughter roused the
+poor fellow, who this time was let off with the fright and the punishment
+of being made an object of ridicule by his comrades.
+
+On the 3rd of May, being clear of the Adriatic, the steamer _Sta. Lucia_
+was at midnight despatched to Corfu to complete her store of coal, whilst
+we sailed for Cape Spartivento, on the Calabrian coast, which had been
+assigned as our _rendezvous_. On the 5th, we sighted this the most
+southerly promontory of Italy, when, in consequence of a fresh breeze, the
+sea began to make itself rather disagreeably felt. The novices on board
+became somewhat alarmed. A feeble voice was even heard, which endeavoured
+to prove from this phenomenon that man is a creature made for _terra
+firma_, and not for the watery element; but this excellent idea came
+rather late; mankind are obliged to submit to existing circumstances, and
+this thought alone held out some hope, that a longer stay on board would
+prove the best cure for the evil. Such indeed was the case; though pale
+faces, want of appetite, and even worse effects, were produced, whenever
+the ship made a heavier roll than usual. But these slight inconveniences
+of sea life became rarer and rarer, till at last they appeared only in
+really stiff gales. On the 7th the steamer _Sta. Lucia_ returned and took
+us again in tow.
+
+The weather during our passage through the charming straits of Messina
+was delightful. The colossal Etna exhibited in all its glory its
+snow-capped summit, gilded by the rays of the rising sun, and Messina
+shone with all the attractions of its splendid situation. The coast of
+this part of Italy is mostly bare and rugged, the broken outlines of the
+mountains imparting to the landscape that characteristic peculiarity which
+makes so deep an impression on the mind. We passed the famous Charybdis,
+in which a multitude of dolphins were disporting themselves. The
+neighbouring coast formed a brilliant panorama, and we kept so close in
+shore as to be able to distinguish the movements of the people. The
+appearance of our three goodly ships seemed to have attracted the
+attention of the inhabitants, for they stood in groups in the streets and
+squares of Reggio and Villa San Giovanni, saluting us by waving their
+handkerchiefs. When towards the evening we had passed the straits, we
+could descry the Neapolitan coast as far as Monte Bulgario, in the Bay of
+Policastro, and distinguish the imposing Stromboli, with its volume of
+smoke, far on the Western horizon.
+
+The following morning found us in sight of the small island of Alicudi,
+situated on the north of Sicily. The estimable captain of the _Lucia_ came
+on board to take leave, on his return to Trieste. The steamer, being
+relieved of her burden, made her way briskly towards her destination; and,
+before an hour had elapsed, we could perceive nothing but a small streak
+of smoke in the haze of the horizon.
+
+With light breezes, we came, on the following day, in sight of the island
+of Ustica. Sea-gulls (_Thalassidroma pelagica_) enlivened the scene, as
+they, from time to time, flew after the garbage thrown from the ship, or
+sought for sea-nettles and other small inhabitants of the sea's surface.
+These birds much resemble our land swallows, and their movements are so
+graceful, that one cannot but admire them, especially when they lightly
+touch the agitated water with their little webbed feet, and directly, as
+if repelled, withdraw. The muscular power of these feathered creatures is
+truly wonderful; they follow the ship for entire days continually on the
+wing, ever on the watch to snatch at the little food which the sea seems
+but scantily to supply to them.
+
+[Illustration: "PALINURUS".]
+
+Whilst we were passing down the Mediterranean, a great deal of time was
+employed in drawing up regulations, and in digesting all those
+instructions which had reached the Commander of the Expedition from all
+sides, and by which we were to be guided in our future proceedings.
+
+The scientific gentlemen were the first who received certain rules for
+their guidance; for, life on board a ship, and especially of a man-of-war,
+is so entirely different from that on shore,--the etiquette and usages
+practised appear, to those unused to the sea, so vexatious and annoying,
+that it was absolutely necessary to inform them of the regulations which
+are essential in order to keep so singular an organization as that of a
+ship at sea in working order. Erelong every one perceived, that the
+matutinal annoyance of holystoning the decks, the daily cleaning of
+everything on board, &c., are measures of importance, which contribute
+materially to the preservation of the health of the crew, and that a
+strict observance of discipline is absolutely necessary to exercise their
+powers, and thus to fit them for all eventualities.
+
+For the better accommodation of the naturalists, a place on the lower
+gun-deck was fitted up for those operations which, on account of the
+limited space and noxious exhalations, could not well be performed in the
+cabins.
+
+We had a large quantity of alcohol on board, destined for the preservation
+of interesting objects of natural history. In order to prevent any
+calamity by fire arising therefrom, the whole quantity was put in a large
+iron tank placed in the hold, and covered over with sand. It will,
+however, be seen in the sequel, that even this precaution proved
+insufficient to protect the ship from the ignition of this
+highly-combustible substance.
+
+The meteorological observations, and those connected with the physical
+geography of the sea, were entrusted to four officers, who, like those
+attached to the watches, had alternately to be at their posts, and had, at
+prescribed hours, to observe the barometer, thermometer, and psychrometer,
+as well as the temperature of the surface of the sea, the state of the sky
+and the ocean, and to note down the obtained results. One of the junior
+officers was intrusted with the nautical observations on shipboard, as
+well as the astronomical and magnetical on shore.
+
+The midshipmen were at the same time trained by study and practice, so as
+to enable them to assist the officers in their duties. Besides the men on
+the look-out, one of the midshipmen was employed on the same service. In
+stormy nights, when the wind is howling, and rain or snow falling, this
+post is certainly not very pleasant, but is, as may readily be imagined,
+most important.
+
+Life in the limited space of a ship, completely cut off from the external
+world, is so peculiar and interesting to those unacquainted with the sea,
+that we will endeavour to describe a day passed on board the _Novara_,
+from the instant when at daybreak the bustle and activity begin, till the
+late hour when night reminds one of repose, those sweet moments which
+carry the voyager to his distant home on the wings of a dream.
+
+As the sonorous bell strikes the fifth hour of the morning, the crew are
+called on deck by the boatswain's whistle, the hammocks are slung up and
+stowed away, and the work begins.
+
+This is the busiest time of the day, and for the mere spectator the most
+uncomfortable. On all sides scouring, rubbing, sweeping are going on,
+floods of water are streaming along the decks, and he who is not as yet
+familiar with these cleaning processes, runs some risk of a ducking as
+soon as he makes his appearance outside his cabin. These morning ablutions
+are, however, indispensable evils on board ship, for cleanliness is a
+condition essential to the preservation of health, and even the quantity
+of humidity which penetrates the timber, and renders the air damp, appears
+to be less injurious than the omission of these daily scourings.
+
+When the cleaning of the various parts of the ship is finished, the
+idlers, and such of the officers as are off duty, appear on deck, whither
+people come to enjoy the fresh air, and to greet the opening day. It may,
+however, be permitted to observe, that a sunrise at sea, notwithstanding
+its various charms, is by far less imposing than the same scene on a lofty
+mountain, where the veil of night seems to vanish as if by magic, and
+luxuriant nature lies at our feet like a smiling infant awaking from a
+lovely dream. That wild majesty of scenery, that overpowering grandeur of
+gigantic mountain forms, such as one sees in the Swiss or Tyrolese Alps,
+is wanting at sea, where the rising sun pours his beams only over a
+boundless world of water.
+
+The sailors breakfast at 7, the officers at 8, and the Commander at 9. At
+the latter hour the bugle sounds the order to "clear the ship," when the
+cleaning of arms, guns, and all other articles of metal connected with the
+ship's armoury, begins. During this process the band plays cheerful airs,
+so that the work is done whilst keeping time with the music, which serves
+to lighten the labour. This duty requires to be completed within
+forty-five minutes, and terminates with an inspection of the men and their
+arms.
+
+This being over, officers and midshipmen off duty assemble together with
+the naturalists in the reading-room. Most of the books in the library
+referred to those countries likely to be visited by the Expedition, so
+that every one might previously obtain useful information relative to
+their physical, historical, and social conditions.
+
+The naturalists employ the greater part of the day in their cabins, noting
+down their observations, and preparing for those to be made in the course
+of the voyage. The crew are kept in activity by being drilled and
+otherwise occupied.
+
+The men dine at 12; the dinner of the officers is served up at 3, and that
+of the Commodore at half-past 3 o'clock P.M. The remainder of the
+afternoon is spent in prosecuting the labours begun in the morning. Thus
+steals on the evening, when a general assemblage takes place on deck, for
+air and exercise.
+
+[Illustration: SEAMEN OFF DUTY.]
+
+The occurrences of the day, the sunset, the curious formation of the
+clouds, or the bewitching beauty of a brilliant tropical sky at night,
+form interesting topics for lively discussion. It is, however, rather
+daring to institute a comparison between the splendour of the sky in the
+tropics and that of our higher latitudes. For, most men become more or
+less unjust towards the beauties of a new and foreign natural scenery, in
+consequence of their not being able to divest themselves of former
+impressions produced in them by phenomena of a similar nature. What
+impressions are, for instance, deeper in young and old, and excite more
+delightful recollections than the starry sky of home? And can it be
+disputed that the association of ideas has a most powerful effect upon
+the impressions made by those phenomena of nature which are so peculiarly
+attractive and so deeply fixed in the human mind?
+
+The conversation generally becomes more lively on those evenings when the
+moon, placid friend of the sailor, appears on the distant horizon,
+shedding her silvery beams over the unbroken expanse of water. The
+influence which she exercises on the state of the weather, even the
+prejudices and superstitions connected with our satellite, offer subjects
+of interesting debate; involuntarily the mariner looks with grateful
+feelings towards that heavenly luminary, the mild soothing light of which
+diminishes the number of his anxious nights, protects him in present,
+warns him of remote dangers, and influences so powerfully that vast
+element on which he passes the greater part of his life. Indeed he who has
+ever spent a dark and stormy night on the ocean, when the ship, lashed by
+the fury of the waves, and borne resistlessly along, stands in constant
+peril of coming in violent collision with a vessel similarly
+circumstanced, or of being dashed to pieces on some iron-bound coast of
+rugged rock, easily comprehends and will excuse the sailor who ascribes to
+the moonlight somewhat of a supernatural and mysterious power.
+
+In this manner, and notwithstanding the continued sameness, days and
+months glide away like hours, until we again cast anchor, and only the
+work accomplished gives an idea of the length of time which has been
+passed at sea.
+
+Sunday alone breaks the monotony of life on board, when, after the diurnal
+cleaning of the ship, and the inspection of the crew, the officers, and
+all the men who are not on duty, assemble for divine service on the lower
+gun-deck, where the chaplain says mass on a temporary altar, whilst the
+ship's band performs sacred music. In the afternoon the men off duty amuse
+themselves for a couple of hours with the "_tombola_," a game much liked
+by our sailors. Between 6 and 7 P.M. the band plays on deck, whilst the
+sailors are cutting grotesque figures to the music. The singular capers by
+which all evince their happiness; the good-humoured awkwardness with which
+each clings to the brawny arm of his companion; the mock graceful air
+those who enact the gentler sex assume in the dance, and, finally, the
+affected attitude with which the cavaliers bow to their partners as if
+they really were of the gentler sex--all this is most ludicrous and
+amusing. The playing the national dance "Monferina" always elicits a
+particularly hearty reception. There is a peculiar charm in national
+melodies, even though they awaken no political reminiscences like the
+Marseillaise, or the Rakoczy; they electrify alike the educated and the
+men of the people; a thousand pleasing recollections suddenly crowd into
+the memory, and when the well-known tunes strike the ear, the heart seems
+to live again in bygone times! As if touched by magic, the sailor from the
+Adriatic, as soon as the Monferina is struck up, seizes his neighbour by
+the arm with a noisy shout and hurls him about in wild hilarity; his
+thoughts seem as if flying towards his distant home, where, in the country
+inn, with a buxom lass on his shoulder, he has waltzed away many a happy
+hour. The whole village, with all its familiar faces, seems to revive in
+his memory during the playing of the melody,--now he fills his glass; now
+he clinks it merrily with that of his companion; now he presses his
+sweetheart more closely to his side: Lo! suddenly a shrill whistle pierces
+the air, the music ceases, the call is heard "to fall in," and the yet
+dance-stricken sailor, suddenly, as if awakening from a sweet reverie, is
+once more standing on the deck of the _Novara_!
+
+The frigate, in the Mediterranean also, maintained her superiority as a
+sailer. The corvette _Caroline_ was able to keep the prescribed distance
+from the _Novara_ only by the latter reefing some of her sails. As some
+magnetic observations were to be made at Gibraltar, and, as we had to
+ascertain the results of the various chronometers on board, on the 12th of
+May we signalled the corvette to take her own time and rejoin us at
+Gibraltar, as we were anxious to avoid unnecessary detention.
+
+The acquisitions of the naturalists had, as yet, been very scanty: to
+their great annoyance they could not even obtain any of the tortoises,
+which, from time to time, approached the ship, though they were repeatedly
+fired at, and on one occasion a boat was launched, in the hope of catching
+some of them. The specimens which we saw were from fifteen to twenty
+inches in diameter; they mostly floated quietly on the surface, and seemed
+sleeping or basking themselves in the sun.
+
+The night of the 16th May was exceedingly boisterous, and almost tangible
+darkness prevailed; thunder, lightning, and occasionally strong easterly
+squalls, raged furiously, and only subsided towards the morning, when it
+cleared up with fresh southerly breezes. Not being far from Cape de Gatt,
+on the Spanish coast, prudence required us to change course, and, during
+the continuance of stormy weather, to keep at a respectful distance from
+the shore. Here a merchantman, apparently an American, bore down so close
+upon us, that, in the darkness, an unpleasant collision seemed
+unavoidable. However, we tacked about, and thus, fortunately avoiding our
+dangerous neighbour, safely proceeded on our course.
+
+It is truly astonishing how often merchantmen, entirely forgetful of their
+own safety, from want of caution, or presumption, or it would occasionally
+seem, sheerly from acting upon peculiar and abnormal principles of
+navigation, wantonly expose ship, men, and cargo to many dangers, which
+might easily be avoided, particularly in cases where no tacking is
+required, and only a slight touch of the rudder would suffice to prevent a
+collision, which is always attended with danger to the smaller ship. In
+this respect the North Americans are very unpleasant neighbours on account
+of their national vanity, and the Dutch for their phlegmatic temperament
+and the indifference they evince on such occasions.
+
+On the 18th of May, the small rocky island of Alboran, in the narrow part
+of the sea between Africa and Spain, was observed; being flat and without
+vegetation, it is scarcely perceptible, and the land-fall during the night
+should be carefully avoided. The erection of a lighthouse on this island
+would certainly be regarded as a great boon by all who navigate the
+Mediterranean.
+
+On the 19th of May, the sea suddenly assumed a peculiar orange colour; a
+dust-like covering was observed on the surface of the water, and at some
+depth white points might be seen, mingling with each other in the wake of
+the ship. Clouds of this orange-like matter appeared spread upon the sea,
+which thereby lost its usual transparency. On closer examination this
+phenomenon appeared to arise from a mass consisting of myriads of minute
+animalculae, which had a yellow opaque kernel, the gelatinous covering of
+which was transparent and colourless. A quantity of sea-water impregnated
+with this matter, having been brought into a dark room, gave out a light,
+and when agitated, such brightness proceeded from it, as justified the
+anticipation that, during the night, the whole sea would be illuminated.
+Accordingly the wake of the ship was illuminated by a wonderful stream of
+light, in the depths of which larger masses of luminous matter could be
+discerned, whilst on the surface there was a sparkling and glittering, as
+if all the stars of the firmament were reflected in the water.
+
+This phosphorescence of the sea, for the explanation of which we are
+chiefly indebted to Professor Ehrenberg, proceeds for the most part from
+the emanations of light from molluscae of the genus _Medusa_, and other
+living phosphoric animalculae; sometimes, however, as for instance in
+Venice, it arises from the putrescent fibres of decayed molluscae, and
+other organisms in a state of decomposition.
+
+On the evening of the 20th the splendid Ceuta Light was seen, which, even
+at a distance of twenty miles, looks as if it were quite near. This
+lighthouse is of the utmost importance to ships emerging into the Atlantic
+from the Mediterranean, as the current is exceedingly powerful, and during
+the night is apt imperceptibly to carry a vessel out of her course. On the
+morning of the 21st, the ship lay in a calm before the rock of Gibraltar.
+Barren, gray, and gloomy rose now before our sight this rocky,
+gun-studded, colossal sentinel of that vigilantly-prudent, energetic, and
+jealous Power, which is so constantly seeking to extend her rule wherever
+her own interests are concerned, or where she thinks it advisable to make
+herself respected by other nations.
+
+A light breeze sprang up, and at half-past 3 P.M. the anchorage, eleven
+and a half fathoms in depth, was reached. The frigate now lay in front of
+the Alameda or public gardens of Gibraltar, situated near the town gate,
+called the Ragged Staff. This anchorage is tolerably safe at this season,
+but in autumn and winter, as well as generally in strong easterly winds,
+it is not to be recommended, it being preferable to haul further in
+towards the place where the merchant-vessels usually lie. We saluted the
+English flag on the fortress with twenty-one guns, which were immediately
+answered from the ramparts. There were no English men-of-war in the Roads,
+except the sloop _Curlew_, Capt. Horton. The following morning our
+consort, the _Caroline_, anchored in our vicinity.
+
+The first day of the arrival of a man-of-war in harbour is attended with
+much inconvenience, particularly if she carries the flag of the
+Commodore, or it happens that the mail packets are arriving or departing,
+or that there are many ships of war in the Roads. The latter was not now
+the case, but so many visitors, letters, and newspapers arrived at once,
+that neither the one nor the other could be thoroughly enjoyed.
+
+The local authorities, the governor, Sir James Fergusson, at their head,
+were extremely obliging and attentive; Mr. Falkland, an officer of the
+Engineers, was placed at our disposal; a specially-reserved site was
+assigned us for astronomical and magnetical observations; huts were
+erected by the workmen of the arsenal for the protection of the
+instruments, and in short everything, calculated to promote scientific
+labours, was provided. The Chancellor of the Austrian Consulate, Mr. John
+Frembly, himself a geologist, proved likewise to be of great service to
+our scientific men: and it was considered a fortunate omen to have found,
+at this our first anchorage, so much sympathy with the objects of the
+Expedition.
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF GIBRALTAR FROM SEAWARD.]
+
+[Illustration: ROCK OF GIBRALTAR.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 III.
+
+                              Gibraltar.
+
+             STAY FROM THE 20TH TO THE 30TH MAY, 1857.
+
+   Political Significance of the Rock.--Courtesy of the British
+     Authorities.--Fortifications.--Signal Stations.--The only
+     place in Europe frequented by Monkeys.--Calcareous Caves.--
+     Chief Entrances into the Town.--Shutting the Town Gates.--
+     Public Establishments.--Inhabitants.--Elliott's Gardens.--The
+     Isthmus, or Neutral Ground.--Algeziras.--Ceuta.--Commerce and
+     Navigation.--Excellent regulation in the English Navy relative
+     to Officers' Outfit.--Small-pox appears on Board the
+     _Caroline_.--Departure from Gibraltar.--A Fata Morgana.--The
+     _Novara_ passes the Straits.--Take leave of Europe.--Voyage to
+     Madeira.--Floating Bottles to ascertain the Currents.--Arrival
+     in the Roads of Funchal.
+
+
+This remarkable promontory, which in our days has obtained so much
+political importance, the Calpe of the ancients, constituted of old, with
+the opposite Abyla,[7] the so-called pillars of Hercules, celebrated, at
+the same time, as the boundary of the then-known world. It derives its
+name from the corrupted Arabic _Gebel_ (mountain) and _Tarik_, the name of
+a Moorish conqueror, who had pitched his camp here (A.D. 711). Like a
+colossal giant, guarding the portal of Europe, and converted, by the
+energy and ingenuity of the British, into an almost impregnable outpost,
+this precipitous rock has, as regards the Mediterranean, the same high
+strategic importance for that great maritime people, as Heligoland for the
+German Ocean, Aden for the Red Sea, Ceylon and Singapore for the Indian
+Archipelago, Hongkong for the Chinese waters, or the Cape and St. Helena
+for the Atlantic Ocean.
+
+[Footnote 7: The present Apes Hill.]
+
+Gibraltar was already strongly fortified, when it belonged to the
+Andalusian kingdom, but its grandest fortifications date from the treaty
+of Utrecht (1713), when it became an appanage of the British crown.
+Stupendous and incomparable are the works which since that period have
+been executed on it, though the calcareous formation of the locality and
+its numerous caves may have considerably facilitated their construction.
+
+The English authorities, who so kindly assisted in the scientific
+researches, obligingly furnished each individual of the frigate's staff
+with a written permission to inspect the fortifications as often as they
+pleased, and thereby afforded them the particular gratification of being
+able to view and admire these vast structures in all their details.
+
+Excellent and well-kept roads lead to the principal fortifications, which
+only begin at an elevation of several hundred feet above the town. The
+galleries, hewn in the solid rock, forming a kind of casemates, are of
+such breadth and height that they may be conveniently traversed by a man
+on horseback with his hat on. They have been constructed at an immense
+expense of labour and money, and are designated by various names, as
+"Upper gallery," "Lower gallery," "Queen's gallery," "St. George's Hall,"
+and so on. Their extent is estimated at an English mile, but is probably
+much greater. Besides these galleries, passages run for miles in the
+interior of the rock, affording the garrison a thoroughly-protected
+connection with all points that may chance to be threatened.
+
+The grandest and most imposing of these marvellous excavations are the
+"Queen's gallery" and "St. George's Hall." According to carved
+inscriptions, most of them were begun and completed between the years 1783
+and 1789. At the period of our visit, there were mounted on the different
+fortifications 707 guns, about one hundred of which peeped out of the
+smaller embrasures. Since that date, however, the number is said to have
+been increased so as to amount now to about 1500.
+
+During the stay of the _Novara_, it fortunately happened that the birthday
+of Queen Victoria was celebrated, and thus an opportunity was offered of
+seeing the fiery mountain in full activity. Though the occasion was
+peaceable, yet the imposing spectacle gave a tolerable idea of the
+elements of destruction which Gibraltar could put in action if really
+attacked. The governor of the fortress, surrounded by a brilliant staff,
+in which the Spanish governor of Algeziras and his officers played but a
+sorry part, reviewed the garrison, consisting of infantry, cavalry, and
+artillery, to the number of from 5000 to 6000 men; and whilst the troops
+defiled in slow and quick step, lightnings and thunders issued from all
+the crevices and embrasures of the artificially-perforated rock; huge
+volumes of dense smoke followed, and a rolling subterraneous rumbling gave
+the mountain exactly the character of a volcano suddenly burst into
+action. The echo of these salvoes of rejoicing must have been heard, not
+only in the adjacent parts of Spain, but also on the more remote coast of
+Africa; and he who was ignorant of the real cause, might have supposed it
+a grand rehearsal of that fearful tragedy which the English seem
+determined to perform in the event of an attack. The supposition, however,
+that the guns of Gibraltar are able entirely to command the Straits is
+erroneous, for these, at their narrowest part, are 12-1/2 miles wide, and
+not even the Armstrong guns, with which the fortress has lately been
+furnished, have so extensive a range. The English are, however, able to
+command the Straits by a fleet, which would find in the Bay of Gibraltar a
+sufficiently safe and roomy anchorage.
+
+From the fortifications, a narrow and rather steep path leads to the
+telegraph station, at an elevation of 1300 feet above the level of the
+sea. Steamers and men-of-war, as soon as visible, are signalled from this
+point by means of immense balls and flags. It would be very difficult to
+signal merchantmen in the same way, as, during a prevailing westerly wind,
+multitudes of ships often appear to the eastward of the rock, anxiously
+waiting for a favourable easterly breeze to carry them through the
+Straits; in the same way the westerly horizon is sometimes crowded with
+ships, prevented by contrary winds from entering the Mediterranean.
+
+We found at the station an Aneroid-barometer, and a thermometer. The
+advantages for navigation and physical science of extensive meteorological
+observations, regularly made, are so evident, that it is astonishing to
+see how often opportunities are neglected for making them, such as are
+offered here.
+
+There was no opportunity for seeing any of those families of monkeys, the
+occasional appearance of which on the Rock of Gibraltar has given rise to
+tales found in books of travel of the existence of a submarine
+communication, through which this single representative of the genus in
+Europe has found its way to this rock from Africa. Sometimes, however,
+during easterly winds, single individuals are observed on the highest
+peaks on the eastern side of the rock, where it is completely
+inaccessible; probably the remnants of that species (_Inuus ecaudatus_),
+which at some former time, either by chance, or human agency, have found
+their way hither from the Moorish coast.
+
+The calcareous caves are very remarkable. That on the western side, called
+St. Michael's, situated at a height of 800 feet, is the most important. It
+contains beautiful stalactite formations, and seems to be of considerable
+extent; it has, however, not been closely examined hitherto, as only a
+small part is conveniently accessible. St. Martin's Cave, on the
+south-east, likewise about 800 feet above the level of the sea, is
+smaller, but its stalactites are of a purer whiteness. A third was
+discovered a few years since on the eastern side of the rock at a height
+of only 80 feet, the lower portion of which consists of accumulations of
+sand and recent shells. There have also been found bones and teeth of
+large herbivorous animals.
+
+[Illustration: ROCK CAVERN IN GIBRALTAR.]
+
+The characteristic vegetation of the mountain is Spanish broom (_Spartium
+junceum_), the yellow blossom of which strikes the eye pleasingly at a
+great distance. There is also one species of cactus, and one of the dwarf
+palm (_Opuntia vulgaris_, and _Chamaerops humilis_), which grows in great
+abundance, and forms, on the south face of the rock, almost the only
+vegetation, whilst, on account of difference of temperature, it is
+altogether absent on the remaining sides.
+
+Gibraltar has little to attract strangers to settle; barracks, military
+store-houses, and fortifications, render the appearance of the place
+peculiarly monotonous, the more so that there are no elegant buildings, or
+fine shops, on the rock. There was nothing observed, however, to confirm
+the statement, in a celebrated geographical work, copied by all later
+compilers, that "most of the houses are painted black, to soften the glare
+of the sun, and prevent an attacking enemy having a distinct view of the
+place." The town, which is built in terraces on the side of the rock, is
+accessible only from three points. The greatest portion of the traffic
+passes through the so-called Old Mole at the north end, whilst the
+entrances on the south are generally used by men-of-war sailors only. All
+are opened at 5 in the morning, and, according to the season, shut between
+7 and 8 in the evening, precisely twenty-five minutes after the first
+signal-gun. This closing of the gate is attended with ceremonies verging
+on the comic. A broad-shouldered corporal, carrying in his hand a heavy
+bunch of immense keys, marches, visibly impressed with the importance of
+his mission, in measured steps, accompanied by a number of red jackets
+with fixed bayonets, towards the massive town-gate; the bridge is then,
+with much ado, drawn up, and the horribly-creaking gate, with great
+exertion, closed, bolted, and finally locked. After "gun fire" no one can
+leave the town by the Old Mole; at 10 P.M., however, and at midnight, a
+little postern is opened, through which those jolly stragglers, who have
+forgotten in merry company the measure of time, may slip out to return to
+their floating abodes. From this hour till morning all communication with
+the harbour is arrested, and the utter impossibility (except in
+extraordinary cases) of leaving the town _after_ this hour, has given rise
+amongst the people to the saying, "There is only _one_ thing more
+difficult than to get _out_ of the town after midnight, and that is to get
+_in_."
+
+There are in the city two Anglican churches, one Wesleyan, one
+Presbyterian, two Catholic chapels, and two synagogues. The garrison
+library, where likewise a great number of journals and magazines are kept,
+possesses 22,000 volumes, amongst them several very rare and costly works,
+especially of ancient Spanish literature. It was founded in 1793 by
+Captain Drinkwater, and has been hitherto kept up by private subscriptions
+and the profits arising from a printing-establishment attached to it.
+
+Gibraltar owes to the energy and public spirit of the governor, Sir James
+Fergusson, the foundation of several important establishments and
+undertakings. Since the beginning of his administration in 1856, the
+number of public schools has been considerably increased, the town
+supplied with gas, and well-arranged public baths established.
+
+The city does not possess a single well or spring; the water used is
+obtained from tanks, in which the rain is collected. The quantity of rain
+that fell during the twelve months of 1855 amounted to 78 inches; in 1856,
+it is said to have been only 24 inches. Nevertheless, there is at no time
+any scarcity of water. The Government have lately caused the erection of
+a distilling apparatus for making sea-water fit for domestic purposes,
+which, however, hitherto has not been used.
+
+The population of Gibraltar, including the garrison of 6000 men, amounts
+to about 20,000 souls, consisting of Spaniards, English, Italians (mostly
+Genoese), Portuguese, Moors, Turks, Greeks, and Jews; indeed, a mixture of
+races, customs, and manners such as scarcely can be found at any other
+place in Europe. The native residents call Gibraltar briefly _the rock_,
+and themselves, with a kind of pseudo-patriotism, _rock people_, though by
+the officers of the garrison and navy generally complimented with the name
+of "rock-scorpions."
+
+The permanent settling of foreigners, in consequence of its being a
+fortress, requires a number of formalities, which have the effect of
+limiting the population; and even the English portion must be considered
+migratory, as it consists chiefly of military and government officers,
+who, after the lapse of certain intervals, exchange in regular order.
+
+The only really beautiful walk in the place is Elliott's Gardens, situated
+at the south end of the town, laid out in a grand style, but disfigured by
+a tasteless bronze statue of General Elliott (afterwards Lord Heathfield),
+the heroic defender of Gibraltar in 1782. In the evenings, when one of the
+military bands is performing, the grounds are thronged by visitors on
+foot, horseback, and in carriages, whilst loving couples, of all races and
+grades, ramble in happy union through the shady avenues.
+
+Near the gardens, towards the south, is a second quarter of the city,
+which mostly consists of government buildings. On the lowest terrace,
+which juts furthest into the sea, stands the lighthouse, on the celebrated
+"Europa Point."
+
+[Illustration: SOUTH GATE, GIBRALTAR.]
+
+Gibraltar is connected with the Spanish continent by a sandy neck of land,
+called by the Spaniards _El Istmo_, and by the English "the neutral
+ground." It runs between the Mediterranean and the bay, one mile and a
+half in length and 2700 feet in breadth. This plain, which is not more
+than 10 feet above the water, owes its origin to the formation of a dune
+in the rocky bed of the ocean. Strong easterly gales seem by degrees to
+have accumulated the sand on this shallow run of the sea, which formerly
+separated Gibraltar from Spain.
+
+A similar sand formation, near Catalan Bay, has attained the enormous
+height of 1000 feet. The Government have caused a portion of the sand, at
+the point where the isthmus joins the rock, to be excavated, and the water
+of the bay to be let in, so that there only remains a narrow low dyke of
+firm ground, which probably in time of war may be completely submerged.
+The stagnant water of this cut must, however, during the hot season,
+considerably increase the amount of fever.
+
+From May till October the troops are encamped under tents on this isthmus,
+along which the neighbouring Spaniards come to market daily in crowds,
+with provisions of all kinds, displaying their rancour against the foreign
+intruders by endeavouring to make them pay the highest possible price for
+their produce.
+
+The adjacent Spanish settlements, Campamiento and St. Roque, are much
+resorted to by excursionists from Gibraltar, and, during the summer, are
+selected by numerous families for even a longer stay; for however little
+pleasure or interest a ride over this arid and sandy plain affords, once
+arrived at Campamiento, the rider enjoys a most charming prospect, while
+there is probably no other point from which the isolated rock appears more
+grand or picturesque than from this neat little village.
+
+In following the road that runs from Campamiento along the bay, the
+charming little town of Algeziras is reached. It lies on the western
+shore, exactly opposite Gibraltar, with which it is in regular
+correspondence by daily steamers.
+
+Algeziras, formerly a poor fishing-village, has greatly increased in
+extent and prosperity, through the smuggling trade. This clean and
+pretty-looking place has a population of 10,000 souls, and makes by
+contrast an extremely pleasant impression on coming from the dismal and
+gloomy fortress. Men and things here have quite an Andalusian appearance.
+The small but neat one-storied houses are mostly painted a bright white,
+and ornamented with green verandahs; at almost every window beautiful
+flowers are exhibited; and the public promenade, shaded by fine trees, is
+delightful. The principal square is likewise planted with trees, and the
+lower stories of its houses are occupied by apothecaries' shops,
+coffee-rooms, confectioners, and one by a bookseller even. The churches
+appear in every respect insignificant; the hospital of San Juan de Dios,
+however, is an ancient and noble structure, the management of which is
+admirable. One of the arrangements here was eminently characteristic of
+Spain: in the ward for male patients stands at the upper end, by the side
+of the beds for common patients, a large, broad, elegantly-polished
+bedstead, which, the porter told us, was intended for "_caballeros_."
+
+At a short distance from the town is the Amphitheatre Constantia, a large
+wooden booth, said to hold nearly 9000 spectators. It is chiefly used for
+bull-fights, which always attract a large audience. The aqueduct here,
+taken with the fine scenery around, forms an exceedingly picturesque
+object.
+
+The inhabitants of Gibraltar sometimes make excursions to the peninsula of
+Ceuta (the Sebta of the Moors), situated on the opposite coast of Africa.
+The lighthouse of this little promontory has been lately furnished with a
+Fresnel apparatus, throwing out a most intense light, which is visible at
+a greater distance than any other observed during our voyage. This place,
+which is used by the Spaniards as a penal settlement, numbers 6500
+inhabitants, and has a very indifferent harbour. The "rock people" also
+occasionally make excursions to Tangier, the most westerly town of the
+strait, and the most important as regards the commerce of Morocco.
+
+A great number of steamers on their various routes touch at Gibraltar, for
+discharging and embarking freight and passengers, and to coal. The
+quantity of the latter thus shipped is estimated at 30,000 tons annually,
+all imported from England. There is also a regular correspondence by
+sailing vessels with all the leading Italian ports, and those of the
+Levant, as well as with Constantinople, Corfu, and Trieste.
+
+Gibraltar being a free port, there are no customs' dues, except those on
+wines and spirits. All flags enjoy equal privileges, and in all disputes
+the English law decides. It is impossible to obtain a satisfactory
+statement of the amount of imports and exports, as no Custom-house exists,
+and the official reports merely give the number and nationality of the
+flags of the ships that arrive and depart. Smuggling is carried on to a
+great extent, and, being a lucrative trade, will continue to be so, as
+long as Spain retains her prohibitory duties on English goods.
+
+The principal items of commerce in Gibraltar are English cotton goods,
+which are exported to Barbary in considerable quantities. To compete
+successfully with the English in this branch of trade would be very
+difficult for any other nation; but there are a great number of other
+articles which might find a ready sale on the African coast, and which are
+produced cheaper in several States of the European continent than in
+England; a consideration of so much the more importance in trading with
+the Moors, that these people regard lowness of price rather than the
+quality of the goods.
+
+For this very reason, small but industrious Belgium has become a powerful
+competitor of mighty England. Thus, for instance, that country exports to
+Morocco, by way of Gibraltar, sugar, both in loaves and crushed,[8]
+hardware and cutlery, nails and screws, zinc, as well as all sorts of
+earthenware and glass. A portion of these articles goes into the
+neighbouring Spanish provinces.
+
+[Footnote 8: The superior quality and cheapness of Belgian sugars have of
+late in a great measure driven all others out of the market. It is also
+worthy of remark, that though Gibraltar is a British colony, all the
+accounts are kept in Spanish currency, and that there are more Spanish and
+French coins in circulation than English, which, when changed, even
+sustain a small loss. The Spanish measures and weights also are more in
+use than the English.]
+
+It is rather singular that the Belgian glass goods are in Gibraltar
+represented as of _German_ manufacture, and thereby obtain a readier sale.
+This seems to be a proof that German (_i. e._ Bohemian) glass articles
+have been patronized before the Belgian, and lost the market only through
+the importation of the latter.
+
+The intercourse between Gibraltar and Spain is carried on by coasting
+vessels, and by French as well as Spanish steamers, while the postal
+communication with Great Britain is conducted by the Peninsular and
+Oriental Steam Packet Company.
+
+Correspondence with Spain and other parts of the Continent is carried on
+overland, but is little to be relied upon, as, owing to the horrible
+condition of the Spanish roads, a delay of from six to eight days
+sometimes occurs in bad weather. Between Gibraltar and Cadiz, a distance
+of only sixty English miles, the letter-bag is said to have often been six
+days on its way.
+
+The narrative of our stay at Gibraltar would be defective if we omitted
+mention of the numerous proofs of hospitality we experienced on all sides.
+Invitations were repeatedly received from the Convent (Government House),
+as well as from private families, and everywhere we experienced the most
+cordial reception.
+
+We must in particular mention a visit paid to Captain Warden, the
+superintendent of the station and arsenal, as it afforded an opportunity
+of becoming acquainted with a feature in the English naval service, as
+practical as it is worthy of imitation. The superintendent of the arsenal
+inhabits a beautiful roomy house, belonging to the Government, situated in
+a large garden, well planted with splendid plane-trees, laurel, and
+orange-trees, and ornamented with most beautiful and odoriferous flowers.
+As a superintendent's income would not admit the outlay necessary properly
+to furnish so large an edifice, this is done by contractors, who let out
+the furniture at the rate of five per cent. annually on the value. This
+sum is deducted monthly from the pay. The same system is also adopted on
+board English men-of-war. The cabins of the officers are there furnished
+and provided with all the requisite comforts by contractors under the
+superintendence of the Admiralty. The value of each article is marked in a
+printed list deposited with the authorities. The captain pays a yearly
+rate of five per cent. on the valuation, and binds himself besides, in the
+event of the ship's being paid off, or of being appointed to another
+vessel, to return in good condition all the articles specified, and pay
+the value noted in the list for everything missing. This agreement is
+registered at the Admiralty, and the contractor receives the amount
+monthly. The advantage of such an arrangement to the commander of a ship
+will be more fully appreciated by those who, from personal experience, are
+aware of the expense attending an outfit, and the great loss which an
+officer transferred from one ship to another suffers through a sudden and
+forced sale of his property. The commander of a ship is moreover often not
+in a condition to spend for his personal outfit a sum of perhaps a
+thousand pounds sterling, but he can conveniently pay annually from L40 to
+L50 for the hire in monthly instalments; and it thus becomes easier for
+him to maintain the appearance due to his position.
+
+The commander and officers of the _Caroline_, which, after an absence
+since the 12th of May, had rejoined us on the 23rd, were, like ourselves,
+received in the kindest manner by all the authorities of Gibraltar.
+
+It had been arranged that we should make the voyage to Madeira in company
+with the _Caroline_, but an unexpected incident prevented it. The
+small-pox[9] made its appearance on board, and although in a mild form and
+in but a few cases, yet it was sufficiently alarming to interrupt, as a
+matter of precaution, all communication, and to postpone indefinitely her
+departure, as a great part of the crew might be overtaken with the disease
+whilst at sea, exposed to sudden changes of temperature, thereby causing
+the most serious consequences. Such is not the case with diseases which
+are in some degree localized, as cholera, yellow fever, dysentery, &c.,
+when it is even prudent to set sail, notwithstanding the presence of the
+malady, as a change of place and climate is frequently accompanied with
+beneficial results.
+
+[Footnote 9: As there has lately been some difference amongst the medical
+men of Europe as to the utility of vaccination, the following observations
+from the report of Dr. Wawra, the principal physician on board the
+_Caroline_, regarding the appearance and the course of this epidemic, may
+not be out of place:--"A day before our departure from Trieste a man
+complained of a slight fever and headache, and his skin was covered with
+spots which were judged at once to be indications of an approaching
+eruption of small-pox. The man was immediately sent on shore as a matter
+of precaution; but, nevertheless, eight days after our departure we had a
+second, and ten days after that a third case: the epidemic was on board,
+and though in a mild form, yet serious consequences were apprehended. The
+_re-vaccination_ of the men was therefore decided upon, and carried out,
+as far as the virus on board would admit. Only five individuals of the
+whole had not been vaccinated at all; some had undergone the operation in
+their childhood, a great part of them, however, had been vaccinated on
+board other vessels, from two to five years before. Only fourteen cases
+occurred. Most remarkable, and evidently in favour of those who advocate
+re-vaccination, is the fact, that amongst most of those who had been
+vaccinated in their childhood, the disorder was more severe than among
+those who had been re-vaccinated on board the ship. Among those who had
+_never_ undergone the operation before, the vaccination on board was most
+successful; not one of them caught the disorder. Among the _re-vaccinated_
+only four cases occurred, with slighter symptoms than among those who had
+been once only operated upon. We met with several instances of the kind at
+other places where we touched. At Buenos Ayres, where the vaccination laws
+are stricter than anywhere else, the small-pox is extremely rare. Among
+the Brazilians, who entertain an absolute prejudice against vaccination,
+the _variola_ is one of the most common and most frightful diseases. It
+prevails still worse amongst the negro slaves, among whom, from the
+ignorance and prejudice of their masters, vaccination is neglected. The
+white marks of the disease are particularly visible in the black skin, and
+are evident proofs how virulently it has raged amongst them."]
+
+After we had got through our duties at Gibraltar, an attempt was made,
+with the first favourable wind, to set sail and reach the Atlantic; the
+_Caroline_ remaining behind for the benefit of the sick on board. She was
+to follow only when the health of the crew no longer excited any
+apprehension.
+
+On the 30th May the wind changed to south, and as the current in the
+harbour was also favourable, we weighed anchor in the hope that in the
+Straits we might meet with an easterly wind. The _Novara_ passed the
+_Caroline_, which saluted with a round of cheers, when we tacked to clear
+the roads, after which all sail was hoisted to beat out against the
+western current in the Straits. The sea was covered with a mucous
+substance, which generally indicates that there is scarcely a chance of a
+fresh breeze; however, even the little we had, would have sufficed to
+carry us through the Straits, but towards 6 P.M. a perfect calm overtook
+us, and notwithstanding the press of sail, we were carried back towards
+the East, and about midnight found ourselves again in the Mediterranean,
+which did not seem disposed to part with us. There was no improvement next
+day, and at sunset we were exactly twenty-five miles east from the point
+we had occupied the preceding day. The clouds passed from West to East
+across the moon, and in the night from the 31st of May to the 1st of June
+the westerly wind became so fresh that we had even to reef the sails.
+
+Current, wind, sea, everything was against us; even tacking was of no
+service, as we lost ground visibly with each tack. When at last all hope
+of making the West had disappeared, we anchored, like many others of our
+companions in sorrow, on the 1st June, at 6 P.M., in the Bay of
+Frangerola, fifteen miles north of Malaga.
+
+Here were anchored nearly sixty merchantmen, all wind-bound. Behind the
+Punta Molinos, near Malaga, there must have been quite as many more. Fresh
+additions were constantly being made to the already considerable fleet,
+which had involuntarily collected together, whilst those merchantmen which
+with fruitless obstinacy kept on tacking about us, were getting more and
+more out of their course, as with every successive hour their position was
+changed for the worse.
+
+[Illustration: INHABITANT OF FRANGOLA.]
+
+In the hope of a favourable wind we were all a-taunto on the 2nd June,
+perfectly prepared for a start. Under these circumstances no one could go
+on shore, but an officer was despatched in a boat to make inquiries as to
+whether there were any sanitary board in the neighbouring village. A
+relative of the President of the Junta de la Sanidad came on board, and
+stated that, though as a rule only vessels clearing from Spanish harbours
+were permitted to have intercourse with the shore, an exception should be
+made in favour of ourselves. This Andalusian was very communicative, and
+amongst other things told us that the inhabitants were supported almost
+entirely by fishing. Many ships had now been waiting several weeks for a
+favourable wind to pass the Straits. Some had thrice attempted to sail
+towards the West, but in every case were driven back by wind and current.
+In 1847, a year of scarcity, Louis Philippe had caused several French
+steamers to be stationed in the Straits in order to take in tow ships
+coming from the Black Sea laden with grain, and thereby to facilitate
+their passage between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. In the afternoon
+we had a visit from about thirty inhabitants of Frangerola, who came on
+board in fishing-boats to view the ship. None of these people had ever
+seen so large a man-of-war, and they all therefore regarded the ship with
+great curiosity. The ship's band greatly delighted them, but the
+signal-gun at sunset seemed to terrify them and to hasten their departure.
+
+In the evening we felt from time to time some warm blasts of wind from the
+east, and enjoyed for nearly an hour the delightful spectacle of a "Fata
+Morgana." This phenomenon, as is well known, arises from two currents of
+air of a different density, separated by a distinctly-formed plane,
+generally produced when the temperature of the two currents happens to
+vary. When, for instance, as is frequently the case at sea, a considerably
+warmer current of air comes suddenly in contact with a colder current
+having a lower position, the plane of separation of the former becomes
+condensed, and forms a mirror for all those objects which are in the lower
+current, so that their image is inversely reflected. As this surface of
+separation is not level throughout, various contractions and distortions
+result, which impart to the whole a singular appearance. On land, as for
+instance in the deserts of Africa, where the warmer current of air is on
+the surface of the ground, the aerial mirror is formed beneath the eye of
+the observer, by which the same phenomenon is produced that results from
+the reflection of objects on the surface of the water.
+
+In the present case the temperature of the atmosphere was about ten
+degrees higher than that of the sea's surface at the point of
+observation. The surface of the current of warm air appeared like a light
+fog, inclining in the East towards the Spanish coast, and in the
+South-east to South towards the surface of the sea. Where it was highest
+it reached nearly five degrees above the horizon. The images of the ships
+at anchor near Malaga, and those at sea under sail, appeared reversed, and
+assumed curiously fantastic forms, particularly in those places where the
+reflecting surface became irregular, and inclined towards the horizon. The
+appearance of these distorted ships in the air, joining in the most
+singular way the real ones actually floating on the sea,--the warm vapour
+which is from time to time wafted on the face of the observer, as well as
+the perfect and almost death-like stillness which, under such
+circumstances, prevails both on the sea and in the atmosphere, may easily
+produce the belief in a mysterious power, among a people who are generally
+prone to ascribe to supernatural agencies every phenomenon they cannot
+understand or explain.
+
+This "Fata Morgana"[10] was not merely interesting in itself, but also gave
+reason to indulge in the hope of a favourable wind. A light easterly
+breeze accordingly sprang up towards midnight, the current became
+reversed, the anchor was weighed, and all sail made with this favourable
+wind towards Gibraltar, the rock of which was distinctly recognizable
+through the misty air, at a distance of nearly sixty miles.
+
+[Footnote 10: The name Morgana is of Breton origin, and signifies "sea
+woman," from _mor_, sea, and _gan_, a fine woman;--the fairy mermaid of
+English legendary tales.]
+
+A calm still prevailed near Europa Point, but as the day wore on, the
+easterly breeze blew strong through the Straits, and, in company with
+innumerable other ships, the Pillars of Hercules were at length passed.
+The wind freshened, and the frigate cracked merrily on down mid-channel;
+for, though the set of the current was dead against us, yet the wind
+proved more than a match for it, which in our case was the more apparent,
+that those merchantmen which sailed along the coast, not having the
+advantage of this wind, seemed as though left motionless in the rear.
+
+When towards noon the _Novara_ was off the place where the _Caroline_ had
+been anchored, that ship was no longer visible. She had probably set sail
+in the morning. We supposed her to be among the crowd of ships which were
+sailing in the fog, but did not discover her, even after we had overtaken
+and examined all of them. We now endeavoured to reach the Atlantic as
+speedily as possible, making from nine to ten knots an hour, and, with
+joyful sensations, sailed through those beautiful straits, on whose shores
+the ancient world unrolled its grand panorama, thanking Providence here,
+at the entrance of that vast ocean, which now shone so brilliantly, that
+we were permitted to carry the Austrian flag into distant regions.
+
+At 4 P.M., aided by the fresh evening breeze, we passed the most southerly
+point of Europe. We were just going to dinner when the last glimpse of the
+old world passed before the cabin windows, and we gazed once more with
+sorrowing eyes at the rapidly-disappearing coast, which, illuminated by
+the rays of the setting sun, seemed to wave us a last farewell in letters
+of fire. However beautiful, however inspiring the prospect of our task;
+however inviting the magnificent ocean that lay extended under our eyes,
+magically lit up by the silvery beams of the bright moon shining from a
+starry sky, yet the painful sensations of parting with that old world,
+with which so many pleasing associations--so many cherished recollections
+were bound up, had a powerful influence, and gave rise to melancholy
+impressions, of which we were only relieved by the comforting hope that we
+should one day return to all so dear to us.
+
+[Illustration: CAPE TRAFALGAR.]
+
+The night was delightful. Not a single cloud obscured the sky, and the
+ship, with all sails swelled by a fair wind, ploughed the dark waves,
+leaving a glittering track behind. We were now on the ocean! Below, blue,
+foam-crested billows; above, the sky studded with stars;--below, the wide
+desert of the sea; above, the infallible guides to lead us safely through
+it.
+
+We awoke to new activity on that great element, which conceals so many
+charms and so many hardships, where the continued alternations of hope and
+fear, of enjoyment and privation--where weariness and disappointment, and
+yet again the new strength imparted by returning success--so excitingly
+animate, and so gloriously manifest the innate power of the human mind.
+
+Life on board, the various excitements at sea, the different countries and
+people seen during a voyage, all tend to arouse feelings and sensations
+which are reserved for the mariner alone, and which render his life, if he
+knows how to use it properly, happy and most enviable. At sea the mental
+and physical eye gains strength, man there seeks to unravel Nature in all
+her phases, and to know and to admire more thoroughly her works. The
+seaman owes his energy, his straightforwardness, and his piety, to a life
+spent in the midst of nature, to his direct intercourse with creation.
+Between him and the Sovereign of the Universe there is, as it were, no
+mediator--he lives and labours uninterruptedly on the steps of the throne
+of his Creator and Preserver. In this great temple he directs to Him alone
+his complaints, his thanks, and his prayers. At sea he learns law and
+order from Nature herself in her constantly-recurring functions; here he
+admires the omnipotence and goodness of God in the sunrise after a stormy
+night, and in the brightness of the moon that lights up his path; here he
+learns by his actual experience the truth of that maxim of life, that "God
+only helps him who helps himself."
+
+The wind, hitherto easterly, chopped round to the North-east, which,
+according to Maury's excellent directions and charts, may be considered as
+a trade wind, and in this season might be called so. In fact, the trade
+winds are produced by a current of air, which is directed towards the
+Equator, and only in consequence of the earth's motion round its axis
+acquires a north-easterly direction to the north of the equator, and a
+south-easterly to the south of it. But the trade winds become perceptible
+at a certain distance from the equator, or rather from the hottest zone of
+the earth's surface; and it is clear, that when the zone assumes a greater
+breadth, the boundary of the trade winds is extended further towards the
+poles, as the position of this zone and its heat obtained from the sun are
+the causes of these phenomena.
+
+This is exactly the case in these waters; Africa, with its sandy deserts,
+presents a broader zone of the greatest heat than is possible on the sea,
+and the trade winds, accordingly, reach further towards the north. Its
+direction, however, cannot always be north-easterly, and depends
+necessarily on the direction of the northern boundaries of this zone of
+greatest heat. Accordingly, we at first had a more northerly wind, which
+in our progress towards Madeira became much more easterly. The weather
+continued on the whole beautiful, the sea was calm, and only the increased
+length of the waves showed the greater expanse of water we were now
+navigating.
+
+We overtook some other ships, which were sailing towards the west. As we
+saw nothing of the _Caroline_, we concluded that she was considerably
+ahead. The current, which near Gibraltar has a westerly direction, tending
+towards the Mediterranean, loses its power at a distance from the land,
+and half-way to Madeira it changes its direction in such a way that the
+ship is carried imperceptibly southwards, though only a few miles a-day.
+This current is a lateral branch of the great Gulf Stream, which from the
+Gulf of Mexico is directed towards England, but about the latitude of New
+York sends off a branch in a south-easterly direction, which passes round
+Madeira, and, near the Canaries, takes a parallel direction with the coast
+of Africa and forms the commencement of the Guinea current. The
+temperature of the sea water, which in the midst of this current is
+generally rather higher than that of the air, indicates to the mariner
+that he is in the Stream, and he must take care that his ship is not
+carried more to the south out of its course than he wishes. This shows
+clearly of what importance ocean-currents are to navigation; and it
+becomes evident that it is the duty of the scientific navigator not only
+to find out their direction and strength, but to use all means at his
+command, in order to ascertain their general movement in given districts
+of ocean.
+
+For this latter purpose, it is customary (as often as circumstances seem
+to render it advisable) to throw overboard, and commit to the mercy of
+these currents, a well-corked empty bottle, in which has been deposited a
+card with the name and position of the ship. The bottle thus prepared, and
+made conspicuous by a covering of white linen cloth, or some such
+material, wanders hither and thither with the current, until it is picked
+up by some other ship, or is stranded anywhere on _terra firma_. The fact
+of such a bottle having been picked up is usually published, together with
+the particulars enclosed, by means of which it is obvious that an estimate
+can be formed of the average strength and direction of the current.
+
+At 1 P.M. each afternoon, it was our custom to despatch one of these
+ocean-posts, under given conditions; but only rarely did we afterwards
+receive any information with respect to them. In each bottle was placed a
+card with the following particulars, written in German, English, French,
+Italian, and Spanish:--
+
+"H.I.M. frigate, _Novara_, such and such a day of the week and month, hour
+at which thrown overboard, Longitude from Greenwich, Latitude. Whoever
+finds this bottle, which is about being thrown overboard well-corked and
+in good order, is requested to forward for publication, to the nearest
+spot at which there is a newspaper, the day, hour, latitude and longitude,
+in which the bottle has been found, together with the particulars of a
+similar nature already enclosed."
+
+On the 7th June, towards evening, we were not more than 55 nautical miles
+distant from the E. point of Madeira, and as the wind was favourable and
+pretty fresh, it became necessary to shorten sail, so as to reach the
+anchorage by daybreak.
+
+About 2.30 A.M., a vessel was perceived, which, by its lights, was made
+out to be a man-of-war. We now burned a port fire which was not merely
+replied to, but accompanied by signalling the number of the _Caroline_.
+She was steering exactly our own course, and after having had to struggle
+with calms on nearing the coast, we cast anchor together, in the roads of
+Funchal, in 32 fathoms, sandy bottom, immediately South of the Loo Rock, a
+singular-looking, lofty, conical rock, which marks the best anchorage for
+large ships. The U. S. corvette, _Dale_, lay in our vicinity, and sent a
+boat on board with an officer to extend to us the usual greetings, after
+which she saluted the Commodore's standard with a salute of thirteen
+guns,[11] which, as is the etiquette, we returned, gun for gun. We now had
+the pleasure of hearing that the small-pox had entirely disappeared on
+board the corvette _Caroline_, those attacked being now in a fair way of
+convalescence, while on board the _Novara_, the health of the ship's
+company was eminently satisfactory.
+
+[Footnote 11: Commodores of other nations receive only eleven guns by way
+of salute.]
+
+[Illustration: LOO ROCK (MADEIRA).]
+
+[Illustration: SCENE IN MADEIRA.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  IV.
+
+                               Madeira.
+
+               FROM THE 8TH TO THE 17TH OF JUNE, 1857.
+
+   First Impressions.--Difficulty in Landing.--Description of the
+     Island.--History.--Unfavourable political circumstances
+     connected with the cultivation of the ground.--Aqueducts.--
+     First Planting of the Sugar-cane.--Culture of the Vine.--Its
+     Disease and Decay.--Cochineal as a compensation for its loss.--
+     Prospects of Success.--Climate.--A favourable Winter Residence
+     for the Consumptive.--Strangers.--First Appearance of the
+     Cholera.--Observations with the Ozonometer.--Great Distress
+     among the Lower Classes.--Liberal Assistance from England.--
+     Decline of Commerce.--Inhabitants and their Mode of Life.--
+     Decrease of the Population, and its Causes.--Benevolent
+     Institutions.--Public Libraries.--The Cathedral.--Barracks.--
+     Prison.--Environs of Funchal.--Excursion to St. Anna.--Ascent
+     of the Pico Ruivo.--Singular Sledge Party.--Return to
+     Funchal.--Departure.
+
+
+Delightful and striking is the first impression of Funchal, its luxuriant
+gardens smiling with gorgeous flowers, and its mountain sides cultivated
+almost to their summits; and although the grander and more gigantic forms
+of true tropical vegetation are wanting, and the landscape displays rather
+the character of an island off the shores of Italy than of the torrid
+zone--still Nature exhibits herself here with such varied charms that
+imagination can scarcely conceive a sweeter or lovelier scene. The most
+beautiful plants of the temperate and sub-tropical zones meet here in
+their highest development, whilst some representatives of the tropics
+intermixed enhance the richness of the wonderful picture. Odoriferous
+magnolias, large flowering tulip trees, plane trees, laurels, myrtles,
+acacias, passion and trumpet flowers, tree-like fuchsias with immense
+blossoms, gaudy hortensias, sweet-smelling roses, blooming oleanders,
+aloes, 40 feet high, in full flower, imposing camellias with shining green
+foliage, covered with beautiful rose-like flowers, chestnut trees,
+Brazilian pines, cypresses--all delight the eye, together with
+pomegranates, tamarinds, bananas, sugar-canes, coffee-shrubs, gigantic
+dragon trees, pine-apples, mangroves, papayas, and aquacates. Certainly,
+at a later date, we met in the primitive forests of the Nicobar islands,
+or in Java, Luzon, and the Caroline islands, with grander and more
+imposing scenery; but none that surpassed in fragrance, luxuriance, and
+loveliness the floral beauty of Madeira.
+
+The anchorage of Funchal[12] is merely an open, exceedingly unsafe
+roadstead, which affords so little protection to ships that often in
+southerly winds they are obliged to get under sail. This is especially the
+case in the winter, when the sea often rushes into the small unprotected
+bay with fearful violence. In October, 1842, five vessels were cast on
+shore within the space of a few hours, and another sank whilst at anchor;
+a similar violent gale from the south raged in December, 1848, when a like
+number of ships met with the same fate, and were dashed to pieces. The
+British sloop of war _Daphne_ only escaped by making the open sea in time.
+In order to run less risk of being surprised by such gales, sailing
+vessels generally cast anchor to the south of the Loo Rock, where there is
+tolerably safe anchorage at a depth of twenty-five to thirty fathoms. In
+that position they are clear of the rocky headlands, and can therefore
+more easily set sail before the sea rushes in with all its irresistible
+violence. Steamers, which are better able to resist the force of the waves
+than sailing vessels, generally cast anchor nearer the shore, so that
+passengers may be more easily landed, and coals shipped with greater
+facility.
+
+[Footnote 12: The Portuguese for fennel-field, because the first
+discoverers of the island found this plant in great abundance.]
+
+The Portuguese Government has done nothing to compensate for the
+shortcomings of nature with regard to safe landing-places in this island,
+otherwise so highly favoured. Though the rocky condition of the Funchal
+roads, (the only anchorage for larger ships which the island possesses,)
+offers sufficient means for the construction of a harbour for boats and
+small vessels, yet the Government has hitherto done so little, that the
+landing of passengers can only be effected by small, peculiarly-built
+boats, which, whilst tossed by the waves, have to be drawn on shore by the
+natives wading knee-deep in the water. If, therefore, the ship remains any
+length of time at Funchal, the communication with the land is attended
+with considerable expense. We laid out, in payments to the boatmen, during
+a stay of nine days, the sum of forty-five Spanish piastres[13] (L9 15s.
+sterling), although they had not over-charged us.
+
+[Footnote 13: Spanish piastre = 4s. 4d. at par.]
+
+The formalities at the custom-house, which strangers--even those belonging
+to a ship-of-war of a friendly Power--have to go through, are extremely
+annoying, and entail a great loss of time. Before landing, passengers'
+boats are boarded in the open roads by officers, who are stationed a few
+cable lengths from the shore. On landing, the stranger is obliged to
+repair to the custom-house, where even small and open packages are
+subjected to a second rigid examination. The time lost during this
+process, unnecessarily minute, is exceedingly unpleasant. The reason
+assigned for these vexatious regulations is the extent to which, of late,
+smuggling has been carried on in the island, and which, in the opinion of
+the Governor, required these measures of precaution. It seems, however,
+that this system rather promotes contraband trading, by making it very
+lucrative. The Austrian consul, Charles Bianchi, Esq., did all in his
+power to diminish the frequency of the continual examinations, and
+likewise, in all other respects, endeavoured to promote the objects of the
+Expedition.
+
+The greatest length of the island of Madeira, from Ponta Furado in the
+east, to Ponta do Pargo, in the west, amounts to 30 miles; its greatest
+breadth, from Ponta do Cruz in the south, to Ponta do Sao Jorge in the
+north, is 12-1/2 miles, and its area is about 240 square miles. This
+volcanic and mountainous island is intersected by innumerable deep ravines
+and defiles, and its whole surface is so much broken and irregular, that
+the representation Columbus once gave to Queen Isabella, of the Island of
+Jamaica, when she asked him for a description of its configuration, might
+perfectly be applied to the aspect of Madeira also. The great navigator,
+after having crushed a sheet of paper in his hand, and partly opened it
+again, placed it on the table, saying, he could convey to Her Majesty no
+clearer idea of that island than that crumpled piece of paper afforded.
+
+A large portion of the island is not susceptible of cultivation; for the
+heathy region which constitutes nearly one-third of its surface, and rises
+to a height of about 2500 feet above the level of the sea, is extremely
+steep, and too much exposed to winds and rains in summer, to admit of any
+kind of cultivation, even that of grain; whilst another not less
+considerable tract is too rocky and precipitous for that purpose. In the
+south of the island, the highest limit of cultivation is estimated to be
+at a height of 2500 feet, though in several places rye and barley grow at
+2800 feet. In the north of the island, where a better system of irrigation
+prevails, the extreme boundary of cultivation reaches a higher altitude,
+and on the declivities of the Ribeiro Frio, it is met with at an elevation
+of above 3000 feet.
+
+The earlier history of the island has had such a great influence upon its
+present industrial and social condition, that a few remarks on the most
+important features of its history may find a place here.
+
+Madeira was discovered in 1419, by two Portuguese, Joao Gonsalvo da
+Camara[14] and Tristao Teixeira, and, about 1421, a colony of Europeans
+settled on the island. Camara obtained, as a gift for his discovery, the
+south-eastern, and Teixeira the north-eastern part of the island, together
+with the most extensive powers and privileges. Funchal was then the
+principal place of Camara's territory, and Machico that of Teixeira's.
+These two recipients (_donatarios_) enjoyed the exclusive privileges of
+erecting flour and saw mills; they alone were allowed to build ovens for
+public baking (private baking being permitted to all); they, moreover, had
+the monopoly of trading in salt, had claims upon the tithes of the royal
+revenues, and were empowered to grant portions of the land to settlers.
+Every settler was required to erect within five years a house, a cottage,
+or barn, on his ground, and to cultivate the land. If these conditions, at
+the expiration of the fixed period, had not been complied with, the donor
+had the right of granting the land to some one else. These grants were
+hereditary, and lapsed to the crown, or the donors, if alive, in the event
+of there being no direct successors. Such extraordinary privileges and
+immunities were deemed necessary in order to reconcile the holders with
+the dubious character of the early settlers in the island; for, though in
+those times the highest families in Portugal took part in all adventurous
+expeditions, yet most of the settlers were taken from prison and convict
+hulks; and the first settlement of Madeira had much more the character of
+a place of banishment for criminals than that of a colony of free
+emigrants.
+
+[Footnote 14: Vulgarly called Zargo, or the Squinter.]
+
+With a view to obtain more ground for cultivation, the first settlers are
+said to have set on fire so large a portion of the primeval forests, that
+they were soon unable to check the conflagration. According to old
+writers, the fire, particularly in the south of the island, lasted several
+years; and the heat is said to have been so intense, that many persons in
+order to escape from it, sought refuge on board the ships in the roads of
+Funchal.[15]
+
+[Footnote 15: The name _Madeira_, signifying in Portuguese "timber or
+wood," justifies the statement that the island was at one time richly
+wooded.]
+
+This act of vandalism against nature, which is confirmed by ancient and
+modern authors, is being avenged even at present, though centuries have
+passed since the deed. The cedar, once a denizen of the island, is no
+longer to be found; and only the ceilings of the cathedral and of old
+houses, which are constructed of this costly material, show the magnitude
+which this noble tree formerly attained in the island. Of the dragon tree
+(_Dracaena Draco_), which was once the ornament of the forests of Madeira,
+there are at present, in the whole island, only six or seven specimens in
+existence, which are shown as curiosities to strangers. The Til-tree
+(_Oreodaphne f[oe]tens_), the Vinhatico (_Persea indica_), and the Folhado
+(_Clethra arborea_), formerly the most numerous representatives of the
+native flora, are likewise at present very rarely to be met with, and
+their places are occupied by plants and trees of the temperate zone,
+particularly the Spanish chestnut, the fruit of which furnishes the
+inhabitants with food, whilst the tree itself has served hitherto in the
+north of the island as a support to the vine. The destruction of the
+forests has, at the same time, considerably contributed to the
+modification of the climate in general, and to the diminution of humidity
+in particular. At the date of the discovery of the island, and a long time
+after, the Rio Socorridos, the largest river in the island, is said to
+have been so deep, as to float timber from the interior to the sea; at
+present this river is quite insignificant, and almost dried up.
+
+The island remained for two centuries in the possession of the direct
+heirs of the original owners, and when at last, from want of legal
+successors, these privileges lapsed, the crown granted them to other
+favourites; but with some restrictions. The exclusive right to corn and
+saw mills was then entirely abolished, and the salt monopoly with other
+privileges was retained by the crown. The descendants of the first
+settlers had in the mean time acquired considerable property in land,
+whilst the cultivation of the sugar-cane, now very generally adopted, the
+introduction of negro slaves from Africa, and the foundation of large
+estates, contributed materially to the prosperity of the inhabitants. The
+ruins of many large buildings in various parts of the island are even now
+mute witnesses of the opulence of their former occupants.
+
+This prosperous state of the island was, however, at the beginning of the
+last century, materially affected by the introduction of the so-called
+_vinculos_ or entails, which, introduced under the protection and in
+favour of the church, were a great burden upon the land. Frequently, rich
+proprietors left to the church portions of their incomes in order to have
+masses said for the repose of their souls, and encumbered their lands with
+so many burdens, that only a small remainder fell to their heirs. So long
+as these claims were in existence the proprietors could not grant leases
+for a longer period than four years, nor impose fresh burdens on their
+lands. The union of several such vinculos was called a _morgado_ (entailed
+property). Under the severe but wise administration of the Marquis of
+Pombal, a law was passed which forbade the future creation of morgados
+(unless the property yielded an income of 1200 piastres annually, and even
+then the special licence of the crown had to be obtained), declaring the
+whole system of entails "as contrary to the rights of property and the
+well-founded claims of the other members of the family." The law of Dom
+Pedro, dated the 4th February, 1802, was still more severe, as it allowed
+at the same time the abolition of single entails, the value of which was
+below 200 Spanish piastres annually, as well as that of every morgado,
+the annual value of which did not exceed the sum of 600 piastres. As,
+however, a great number of these entails exceed 200 piastres, these
+oppressive restrictions still weigh upon four-fifths of the land,
+notwithstanding the above-mentioned laws. Among the creditors who still
+have claims, there are three nunneries (which alone, of all other similar
+institutions, outlived the revolution of 1821), the hospital of Funchal,
+and the Portuguese Government. The institution of these vinculos and
+morgados produced a kind of feudal dependency between the cultivator of
+the estates (_caseiro_) and the landlord or holder of the morgado. On the
+occasion of his marriage, or the birth of an heir to the latter, the
+caseiro brought presents of such fruits as his land produced; when the
+landlord removed from the town into the country, the caseiro carried his
+litter and luggage; in conversation the caseiro addressed the landlord as
+_meu amo_ (my lord). The revolution of 1821 did away with many of these
+usages, and in various ways altered the relation between the caseiro and
+the landlord.
+
+Another impediment to the improvement of agriculture, is the system of
+parcelling ground into small allotments, which has been continued up to
+the present time. The farms are in general extremely small. In the richer
+and more fertile parts of the island they rarely exceed an acre in extent,
+very often they are not half so large, and sometimes not even the tenth
+part of an acre. The late Conde de Carvalho, the proprietor of nearly
+one-third of the whole island, had upwards of eight thousand tenants.
+Supposing that this mode of farming existed in the remaining two-thirds,
+there would be in Madeira 24,000 farmers, caseiros or tenants; or, taking
+the population at 100,000 souls, nearly every fourth inhabitant would be a
+tenant farmer. This state of things is not to be wondered at, considering
+that almost every day-labourer farms a small patch of ground, the extent
+of which is not greater than the ordinary size of a large garden bed, on
+which he grows vegetables, potatoes, figs, peaches, sugar-cane, and
+sometimes even grain.
+
+In the north and west of the island, where agriculture has made more
+progress than in the south, rent is paid in money; generally, however, the
+system of paying in kind is still in existence, in which the harvest,
+(after deducting the _tithe_, which, at Madeira, belongs to the State and
+not to the church,) is divided between the landlord and the tenants.
+According to this principle the landlord receives half of the produce of
+the ground, be it grain, sugar-cane, wine, fruit or vegetables, which are
+brought for sale, and not consumed on the farm itself. It sometimes
+happens, however, that the harvest is sold in a lump, while yet on the
+ground. Oxen are the only animals employed in agriculture. They are
+diminutive and singularly unsightly, but of a very powerful breed, and
+furnish very good meat for the table. They are generally fed in stalls,
+but in the mountainous districts they graze in open pastures. There are
+only a few badly-fed sheep on the island, so that the mutton is almost
+unfit for consumption. Pigs and fowls are in abundance, and the rearing of
+poultry is generally the principal means of living possessed by the
+peasantry. What is asserted by some authors regarding wild rabbits and
+boars to be met with on the island, wants confirmation. The few rabbits we
+saw were perfectly identical with the European species (_Lepus
+cuniculus_), and lead to the supposition that rabbits as well as pigs, now
+found in a wild state here and there on the island, are only the progeny
+of those which have formerly been introduced from Europe.
+
+The numerous open and walled water conduits (_levadas_), which are of
+considerable height, and lead to all parts of the cultivated land, are of
+particular importance. Each levada is placed under the superintendence of
+a committee, selected mostly from the landowners, who have a direct
+interest in them. Sometimes one person only, generally the most
+considerable landowner of the district, under the title of _juiz da
+levada_, is entrusted with the control of the water, and receives for his
+services the use of the water during twenty-four hours. The right of using
+these levadas is very strictly guarded, and often leads to law
+proceedings. Every piece of ground within a district through which such a
+conduit runs, is entitled to the use of the water by turns, during a
+certain number of hours (generally not more than twenty-four). These turns
+are different, according to the extent of the district, from fifteen to
+forty days. The distribution of the water is entrusted to a so-called
+_levadeiro_, who places himself at the upper end of the land through which
+the water is to flow, and with an hour-glass in his hand measures--a
+modern Saturn--the time during which the owner is entitled to the use of
+the beneficent element. After the expiration of the fixed period, the
+water is made to pass on to the ground of another proprietor. These
+conduits, so extremely important to the farmer, were constructed partly at
+the expense of the Government, and partly by the contributions of the
+landed proprietors. Those who have no other title may obtain the right to
+this privilege either by purchase or by government grant. For every
+twenty-four hours' use of the levadas 400 reis[16] are paid, which tax is
+employed to keep them in good order.
+
+[Footnote 16: 1000 reis or milreis=to one Spanish piastre, or about 4s.
+4d.]
+
+The high roads of Madeira are, with but few exceptions, in a deplorable
+condition. They are generally laid with small pointed stones, and at
+numerous places they have an inclination of from 23 to 27 degrees. Every
+adult male native is obliged to pay annually one Spanish piastre, or to
+give five days' labour for their repair. On account of the bad condition
+of the roads in the interior of the island, most of the natural produce is
+conveyed from one place to another in boats, or, as is the case with wine,
+is carried to the harbour in skins and casks, on the backs of the
+inhabitants.
+
+[Illustration: BRIDGE OVER THE RIBEIRO SECO.]
+
+The first attempt at cultivation in Madeira was the planting of
+sugar-canes, introduced soon after the discovery of the island, through
+the instrumentality of Prince Henry of Portugal (son of John I.), which
+grew so abundantly, that for a considerable period the produce of the
+island sufficed for the supply of the whole kingdom of Portugal. In
+commemoration of this flourishing epoch, as regards the cultivation of the
+sugar-cane, two sugar-loaves were introduced into the arms of the island.
+In the year 1452 was erected the first sugar factory, near Machica, and at
+the end of the fifteenth century there existed as many as 120, in which
+slaves chiefly were employed. The Jesuit, Antonio Cordeyro, who wrote his
+_Historia Insulana Lusitana_ at the beginning of last century, makes
+mention of a considerable number of sugar factories, which had been
+erected in almost every part of the south coast. On the estate of the
+Genoese, Juan Esmeralda, half a league from Ribeiro do Taboa, there were
+annually manufactured 20,000 arrobas[17] of sugar. By degrees, however, the
+culture of the cane fell, into decay, whether through disease of the plant
+or its cheaper production in the Brazils and West Indies is not known, so
+that in the year 1840, only two sugar factories were at work in the whole
+island; and even these only produce molasses and rum, of which the latter,
+in the year 1856, amounted to 1500 pipes. The cultivation of the
+sugar-cane, however, has increased since the vine disease has fallen so
+heavily on the landowner. In the summer of 1857, there were eighteen
+factories again in activity on the island, though so late as 1855, the
+importation of sugar, for the consumption of the island, amounted to but
+31,176 arrobas.[18]
+
+[Footnote 17: One arroba = 32 arrateles or pounds. One pipe = 108 gallons.]
+
+[Footnote 18: From 64 lbs. of sugar-cane are obtained 4 galls. of juice,
+and from 4 galls. of juice are made 8 galls. of rum. The average price was
+2200 reis per gal. of sugar-juice. The rum of commerce (from 22 to 23
+degrees) is sold at one Spanish piastre the gallon.]
+
+The greatest elevation at which, in the south of the island, the
+sugar-cane can be grown, is, like that of the banana tree, about 1000 feet
+above the level of the sea. In the north, the cultivation of the cane
+would be remunerative only at those points where, as, for instance, at
+Fayal and San Jorge, ground and temperature are most favourable for it. To
+judge by the soil and climate, the cultivation of the cane in Madeira
+might, with care, even at the present time, prove advantageous. In the
+south-west part of Lousiana, where, in 1796, this plant was introduced
+exclusively for the manufacture of _Taffia_,[19] there exist at present as
+many as 1500 sugar factories, producing annually, on an average, 200,000
+hogsheads of sugar. The planter of Madeira is not, as in Lousiana, obliged
+by the frost to cut the cane before it is ripe; there it ripens
+thoroughly, blooms in January, and is harvested in March.
+
+[Footnote 19: A beverage resembling brandy in taste, much liked in the West
+Indies.]
+
+The motive power of the sugar-mills is mostly water and steam. There are
+also a dozen large distilleries at work, possessing the most modern
+English improvements. An acre of land, planted with sugar-cane, is said to
+yield from 100 to 120 Spanish piastres, a result for the landowner more
+profitable than that arising from the cultivation of the vine, even in its
+best days.
+
+As regards the culture of cotton, for which the climate and soil are
+peculiarly suitable, no attempt has as yet been made. The same remark
+applies to olive trees; though the Government ordered the latter to be
+planted so long ago as 1768. The cultivation of tobacco, however, is
+prevented from extending, being a government monopoly. As for wheat, it
+is not produced in sufficient quantity to meet one quarter of the
+consumption of the inhabitants. In the year 1854, wheat, to the amount of
+216,918 bushels, was imported from the north of Africa alone, a quantity
+nearly twice as great as that which the island produces. Wheat and maize,
+or Indian corn, are also imported from the Azores, and some ports of the
+Mediterranean; an importation which is likely rather to increase than
+decrease.
+
+The potato belongs to that small class of vegetables which grow at
+considerable elevations, and, by proper irrigation and dressing of the
+ground, three harvests may be obtained in the course of the year.
+
+The Inhame [not the Yam (_Dioscorea alata_) of the West Indies and South
+America, but a kind of grume (_Colocasia esculenta_)] grows in large
+quantities near to rivers and water conduits, where the ground is humid.
+It is much sought for by the people, on account of its cheapness, though
+rather a coarse kind of food, which, as Cordeyro naively says, "picao
+algum tanto na garganta" (scratches the throat).
+
+Sweet potatoes (_Convolvulus edulis_, Lin.), water-melons, gourds, as well
+as all kinds of European garden vegetables, are found throughout the year
+in the market, though not of a particularly good quality. Oranges, lemons,
+bananas, guavas, pine-apples, figs, apricots, and peaches, are abundant
+during the summer season, and on higher ground even apple and pear-trees
+are to be met with.
+
+On the "Desertas," three uninhabited little islands south-east of
+Madeira, and belonging to it, there grows on the rocks the orchilla
+(_Rocella tinctoria_), a species of lichen, celebrated for yielding a fine
+purple colour, much used in dyeing. Considering the great importance for
+industrial purposes of this lichen, it might, with some care, be
+advantageously grown in Madeira. Formerly there was a small quantity
+brought to market, and sold for 14,000 reis the quintal. At the present
+time the yield has entirely ceased, though it is found in large quantities
+in the neighbouring islands. It is considered not to be of such good
+quality as that of the Azores, where, as is the case with all lichens,
+that grow in more southern and warmer climates, it is of a better quality,
+and more highly esteemed.
+
+The product, however, which hitherto has yielded the largest profit to the
+natives, and made the name of Madeira famous and familiar, even to those
+who do not profess a particular interest in the beauties of nature in this
+romantic island, is its _wine_. Though this article of exportation has,
+through the vine disease, entirely lost its former importance, yet it may
+be of some interest to take a glance at its history and culture, in order
+the better to comprehend the magnitude of the calamities that have
+overwhelmed the people of Madeira, in consequence of the bad vintages of
+the last seven years.
+
+The vine was introduced from Cyprus, almost at the same time with the
+sugar-cane, under the auspices of Prince Henry of Portugal, in 1425, but
+its culture did not attain much importance till the beginning of the
+sixteenth century. Some authors even suppose that the wine of Madeira owes
+its reputation chiefly to those plants which were, at a much later date,
+imported by the Jesuits from Candia. This much is certain, that the
+produce grown on the estates of the Jesuits greatly surpassed in quality
+all others in the island, and maintained a higher price in the market even
+when those estates had changed hands. The grape ripens in the north at an
+elevation of 2700 feet, but such as are fitted for the manufacture of
+wine, grow only as high as the Curral das Freiras (2080 feet).
+
+Hitherto four sorts of vines have been cultivated in the island, namely,
+the _Bual_ and _Tinta_, both of which were brought from Burgundy, the
+_Sercial_ from the Rhine, and the _Malvasia_ or _Malmsey_ from Candia.
+There are four species of the last-mentioned, (_candila_, _roxa_,
+_babosa_, and _propea_); the delicious flavour of which by many people is
+considered to have a great similarity with the Hungarian _Tokayer_. The
+most esteemed sorts were grown west of Funchal, near Cama de Lobos, and
+Estreita. Excellent qualities were grown also at Santa Cruz, on the north
+side of the island, and the valleys near Ponta da Cruz; in general,
+however, the grape of the northern district proved to be of inferior
+quality, and was therefore only used in the manufacture of rum. In the
+north the vines were trained on chestnut trees, but in the south, as in
+Lombardy and the Tyrol, in festoons, supported by a kind of cane (_Arundo
+sagittata_), and tied up by a species of willow (_Salex rubra_),
+specially cultivated for that purpose.
+
+Though nearly a fifth of the cultivated portion of the island was thus
+planted, yet the individual vineyards were but small in extent, the
+largest of them not exceeding three or four acres. In the wine-growing
+countries of Europe fresh plants are set at least every twenty years; but
+in Madeira they are allowed to remain in the ground so long as they yield
+any fruit. The native growers do not relish improvements; of all the
+agricultural implements which some English landowners, settled near
+Funchal, wished to introduce, the garden-rake alone was adopted by these
+enemies of innovation. The vineyards of Madeira were usually let out to
+farmers (_caseiros_), and rarely cultivated by the proprietors themselves.
+The yield of an acre was estimated at from one to three pipes. In 1848 the
+cost of producing a pipe of Madeira amounted to from 12 to 40 Spanish
+piastres. In the same year the total production of the island amounted to
+30,000 pipes, of which only 10,000 were exported, as the inferior sorts,
+not keeping well, are not suited for the foreign markets. Of the wines
+exported, half went to Russia and the Baltic provinces, the other,
+comprising the best kinds, were sent to England, the West Indies, and the
+United States. Up to the year 1851, when the last good vintage occurred,
+the price of a pipe varied from 12 to 14 Spanish piastres. So late as
+1845, when the Danish corvette _Galatea_, on her voyage round the world
+for scientific purposes, put in at this island, the inferior sorts were
+so cheap that Captain Steen Bille considered it more profitable to supply
+the crew with wine mixed with water than beer. Since that time prices have
+become ten times higher, and the best quality now sells for from L110 to
+L150 a pipe, and will doubtless rise in proportion as the older stores are
+exhausted.
+
+Though the yield of the vine had been decreasing, year after year, for a
+considerable time, yet the actual vine disease only made its appearance in
+1852, when the leaves and fruit were covered with a kind of fungus
+(_Oidium Tuckeri_),[20] like a white dust. The Portuguese Government sent a
+commission for the purpose of investigating the causes of the calamity.
+The report[21] is not decisive on the point, whether the fungus is the real
+cause or only a symptom of the disease, nor does it offer any advice as to
+how it may be checked. Dr. Hermann Schacht,[22] who resided during a period
+of 18 months in the island, and has published a valuable treatise, states
+that the vine-disease appears there in the same form as in Germany, even
+as regards the season, which is soon after the blossom disappears. At
+first the young leaf is covered with a whitish matter, chiefly on its
+lower side; it then assumes a crumpled appearance, becomes spotted, and
+at last decays. The young diseased grape likewise becomes covered with a
+white dust, at first partially, and then entirely, the green skin by
+degrees assuming a brown colour, the grape increasing at same time in
+size, until it as large as a currant, or a small cherry, when it becomes
+black, and perishes together with its diseased stock. In this decayed
+condition the grapes remain on the vine till late in the autumn. Dr.
+Schacht was successful in arresting the progress of the disease in its
+earlier stages, by washing all parts of the plant with a solution
+consisting of one part of glue to sixteen parts of water; an operation
+which had been likewise performed with good effect in the Royal hothouses
+of Sans-souci in Prussia. He rubbed the leaves and grapes infected by the
+fungus with this solution, and, where possible, dipped the grapes in it.
+The solution very soon dried, and gave the grapes and leaves a glossy
+appearance. All that had once been operated upon in this way remained in a
+healthy condition, and even those affected by the fungus recovered beneath
+the crust, the operation thus seeming to afford a protection against the
+fungus. The practice of strewing the plant over with powdered sulphur,
+which was so much lauded, seems to be of little use. At Teneriffe, Dr.
+Schacht found the fungus widely spread, notwithstanding the application of
+sulphur. Keeping the grape close upon the ground is also recommended as a
+protection against the disease, having proved very successful in the
+south.
+
+[Footnote 20: Vide Botanical Gazette of 1852, page 9; of 1853, page 583;
+and of 1854, page 137;--Fulasne, "Sur le Champignon, qui cause la Maladie
+de la Vigne."--_Comptes Rendus_, vol. xxvii. 1853;--Dr. Schacht on
+Madeira, pages 52 to 58.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Memoria primero sobre a mangra e doenza das vinhas nas ilhas
+da Madeira e Porto Santo, por Joao de Andrade Corvo. Lisbon. 1854.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Madeira und Teneriffa mit ihrer Vegetation, &c. Von Dr. H.
+Schacht. Berlin. 1859.]
+
+The pecuniary loss sustained since the first appearance of the malady
+amounted in the autumn of 1852 to 1,137,990 Spanish piastres, L190,000,[23]
+and after having waited in vain a period of five years, for a better state
+of things, the impoverished landowners entirely gave up cultivating the
+vine. A traveller who chances now to visit Madeira can scarcely believe
+that but a few years ago the greater portion of the island was covered
+with the plant. The cause of its disappearance must, however, not be
+ascribed entirely to the disease, but partly also to the utter neglect of
+its culture in favour of that of other products, so much so that of late
+it was scarcely possible to procure a sufficient quantity of grapes for
+invalids to whom they were medicinally prescribed. Moreover, the sugar
+plantations, which annually increase in extent, have contributed to the
+destruction of the vines, as the former require irrigation, which causes
+the roots of the latter to rot in the humid ground.[24]
+
+[Footnote 23: The quantity of wine produced amounted, in the year 1851, to
+10,374 pipes; in the following year (1852), only to 1413-1/2 pipes.]
+
+[Footnote 24: The vine disease seems, however, to have been already
+prevalent in Madeira at a former period. In an old lease, referring to
+land or property in the west of the island, there is a clause to the
+effect that "In the event of the young grape being covered with mildew
+(_mangra_), the contract would be null and void." In Portugal also, the
+disease is said to have existed more than fifty years ago, though not to a
+great extent.]
+
+The present situation of the people of Madeira claims alike the sympathies
+of the philanthropist and the attention of the political economist. We
+here behold a population of upwards of a hundred thousand souls, deprived
+at once of a product, which has been for more than three centuries the
+principal means of obtaining their living, and by which many an
+industrious grower made a considerable fortune.
+
+The farmer of Madeira, accustomed for generations to this branch of
+industry, is now forced to apply his energies to another, on the fortunate
+selection of which will depend his welfare for the future, or at least for
+years to come.
+
+Some of the wealthier growers have not entirely abandoned the culture of
+the vine, and have been assisted in their endeavours by the Consul of the
+United States in Funchal, the liberal-minded Mr. Marsh; experiments were
+made by engrafting and setting fresh and healthy plants, brought from the
+banks of the Ohio. They proceeded on the principle, that it is most
+advisable, and likely to be productive of the best success, to obtain
+young plants only from countries where the disease has never appeared. The
+choice fell upon the Isabella and Catawba grapes, which are indigenous to
+the United States; and, whatever may be the final success, the merit of
+transplanting, at a considerable expense, these two North-American grapes
+to Madeira, is due to Mr. Marsh. It is, however, a question, whether they
+will be able to replace those hitherto cultivated, the conditions of
+climate and soil being so different. As is well known, none of the
+European vines succeed in North America; and the two indigenous sorts,
+which are grown in great quantities on the banks of the Ohio and the
+Missouri, cannot stand a comparison with any of our finer kinds. The juice
+of the American grapes is best suited for the manufacture of what is
+called sparkling hock, which is very like the Austrian Schaumwein.
+
+Some of the wealthier landowners formed an association for the purpose of
+introducing the culture of cochineal, to supply the place of that of the
+vine. Several plantations of nopal, or cactus, were laid out, and the
+first harvest was gathered in 1858. The nopal (_Opuntia cochinillifera_)
+is the only kind of cactus on which the cochineal insect breeds, and the
+south of the island, up to an elevation of 500 feet, the only part adapted
+for its cultivation. An attempt was made to introduce the culture of
+cochineal in the island by Senor Miguel de Carvalho, as far back as 1836.
+But the indifference of the people, and their prejudices against
+innovation, as well as the limited spirit of enterprise possessed by the
+native merchants, rendered the attempt, in that instance, abortive. In
+consequence, however, of the vine disease, the idea of cultivating
+cochineal was resumed, without considering, as it would appear, the
+probable results in a mercantile point of view. At the time of our visit
+there were about thirty acres of land planted with cactus, and the "seed"
+of the cochineal insect was expected from the Canary Islands. One cannot
+but think the notion of substituting the cultivation of cochineal for that
+of the vine was not a lucky one, the large capital required, and the
+limited market for the article, holding out small chance of success. The
+entire consumption of cochineal in the whole world amounts to no more than
+about 30,000 quintals, and towards this quantity, Guatemala furnishes
+15,000, the Canary Islands 6000, Mexico 8000, Java and the Philippine
+Islands together 1000 quintals. There is little prospect, therefore, that
+the cochineal culture of Madeira will ever become an important source of
+gain, or advantageously compensate for the loss of the vine. Few
+landowners in the island seem to possess sufficient means to withstand the
+chances and fluctuations to which its culture is subject. To illustrate
+this, it may be mentioned, that during our visit to the highlands of
+Guatemala, in 1854, when the cochineal harvest was bad, the tercio (150
+lbs.) of cochineal cost 140 Spanish piastres. In the following year, when
+it was unusually productive, the price declined to 80 piastres. A tercio
+of dried cochineal costs the grower, or nopalero, about 50 piastres; a
+nopal plantation must lie fallow every third year, being consequently only
+productive during two years. Have the landowners of Madeira considered all
+these disadvantages, and will they be able to bear all the drawbacks
+peculiar to the culture of cochineal? The climate and soil seem to hold
+out far greater advantages for the cultivation of the sugar-cane, coffee,
+cotton, and tobacco.
+
+There are few spots on the earth's surface which possess a climate so
+delightful, and so little subject to extremes as Madeira, the mean annual
+temperature being 64 degrees Fahrenheit, or only 5 degrees higher than in
+the most southern parts of Europe. The lowest temperature during five
+years' observation was 50 degrees, the highest, 74. An invalid residing at
+Funchal, within his own doors, may always have a temperature not lower
+than 64, nor higher than 74 degrees. Violent siroccos occur in the course
+of the summer, which drive the thermometer up to 90 degrees in the shade;
+these storms, however, occur only twice or thrice a year, and rarely last
+longer than a couple of days. Dr. Renton, who lived in Madeira from 1825
+to 1831, only once during all that time saw the thermometer marking 90
+degrees, two hours after sunset. The rainy season, marked by west and
+south-west winds, begins at the end of September or the beginning of
+October. In November the weather clears up, and generally keeps fine till
+the end of December. At this period snow falls on the mountains, and rain
+at Funchal, accompanied by north-westerly winds, lasting till about the
+end of February, during which time the weather is wet. The remainder of
+the year is comparatively dry, the annual fall of rain at Madeira
+amounting, according to Sir James Clark,[25] to 36 inches, there being in
+all about 73 wet days,[26] whilst at Rome, for instance, it rains, on an
+average, during 117 days, though the amount of rain-fall is only 29
+inches.
+
+[Footnote 25: On the Sanative Influence of the Climate of Madeira. By Sir
+James Clark. London. 1841.]
+
+[Footnote 26: The fall of rain, according to Dr. Hoberdon's observations,
+is, on a seven years' average, 30.62 inches per annum. Dr. Mittermayr,
+from Heidelberg, states, on a three years' average, the rainy days to be
+95 per year. Johnston, in his Physical Atlas of Natural Phenomena, states
+the fall of rain on an average to be 29.82 inches, and the number of rainy
+days 100 per annum, viz. 48 in the winter, 17 in the spring, 4 in the
+summer, and 31 in the autumn.]
+
+In some respects the winter is warmer at Madeira than the summer, owing to
+the north-westerly winds and the regular sea-breezes of that season,
+which keep the atmosphere continually at an even temperature; and hence
+the island is the favourite resort of consumptive patients during the
+winter season. England, which seems to possess the very unenviable
+privilege of furnishing to the annual mortality in Europe the most
+numerous contingent of phthisical patients, provides this island likewise
+with the greatest number of this, the most to be pitied of all classes of
+patients. The climate of Madeira will, however, be of little benefit in
+advanced and decided cases; although it seems to have a curative effect on
+young people in the first stage of the malady, as well as in cases where,
+being hereditary, its presence is merely apprehended.
+
+The number of strangers who annually, during the winter, resort to Madeira
+for the benefit of their health, amounts to from 400 to 500, and the money
+thereby circulated in the island reaches the sum of about L30,000. The
+number of English alone in the year 1855 was 285. But in the winter of
+1856-57, the English invalids who came to Madeira scarcely reached 100.
+The reason of this was another calamity, the cholera, which suddenly made
+its appearance in Funchal on the 4th of July, 1856. Until this epoch, the
+island had been spared this devastating scourge of our time. The epidemic
+is said to have been introduced by a detachment of Portuguese troops,
+which shortly before had arrived from Lisbon, where cholera was then
+raging. The circumstances under which this epidemic appeared in Madeira
+leave little doubt of the correctness of this supposition, and seem to
+confirm the view of Professor Pettenkofer,[27] relative to the importation
+of the disease by ships, and its propagation by human excrements, a theory
+advanced by this learned German physician in his famous work, with as much
+soundness as sagacity.
+
+The first individuals attacked were four soldiers of the 1st battalion of
+infantry, and the first who fell a victim to the epidemic was a boatman,
+who had landed some of the soldiers from the steamer. He was attacked on
+the 7th of July, at 1 P.M., and nine hours afterwards was a corpse. A few
+weeks later the scourge had spread over the whole island, raging with
+fatal severity, in consequence of the poverty, distress, and helplessness
+of the inhabitants. We cannot forbear mentioning a phenomenon observed at
+the time of the first appearance of the pestilence by Major Dom Pedro de
+Azevedo, one of the most distinguished men in Funchal. According to the
+observations regularly made by him, during two years, with reference to
+the quantity of ozone[28] contained in the atmosphere, he found that, as
+long as the pestilence was raging, it scarcely amounted to 2, whilst,
+under normal circumstances, the quantity, according to the ozonometer of
+Schoenbein, is said to reach 6 to 7.
+
+[Footnote 27: Dr. Pettenkofer's Investigations and Observations on the
+Spread of Cholera. Munich. 1855.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Ozone, or oxygen in an allotropic condition, is found in more
+perceptible quantity in pure localities than in those where great
+quantities of putrescent substances are accumulated, as the ozone
+disappears by oxidation. Observations on the quantity of ozone contained
+in the air during an epidemic are, therefore, of great interest, because
+they may throw a light on the influences of the atmosphere in the
+propagation of certain diseases.]
+
+In the beginning of October the malady gradually began to decrease, the
+last case which happened on the island occurring at Funchal, on the 16th
+December, 1856. It appears, from official reports, that out of a
+population of 102,837 souls, 7041 fell victims to the epidemic; other
+statements, that seem not less reliable, even raise the number of fatal
+cases to a much larger figure. A variety of local circumstances tended to
+heighten the fearful violence of the epidemic: the great distress among
+the people, arising from the deficiency of the vintages during several
+years; the potato disease, which occurred in the summer of 1856, and
+deprived the population, whilst suffering from other calamities, of one of
+their most important means of sustenance; and finally, to bring
+misfortunes to a climax, even that source of gain was dried up which the
+people derived from the temporary residence of numerous wealthy families.
+Terrified by the reports which were in circulation as to the ravages
+caused by the cholera at Madeira, hundreds altered their original plan of
+passing the winter there, and even resident strangers, horror-stricken,
+left the island, which had been so suddenly converted from a paradise into
+a burial-ground. The loss arising from the latter cause is estimated at
+L20,000, an immense sum at a time when pestilence and famine were raging
+so fiercely. The British Government, as well as English philanthropists in
+general, deserve the highest praise for the liberality with which they
+promptly and generously hastened to the assistance of the sufferers. Soon
+as intelligence of the great distress arrived in London, two steamers of
+war, the _Salamander_ and _Hesper_, with provisions, medicine, clothing,
+bedding, and money, were despatched to Funchal, where the former arrived
+on the 18th and the latter on the 31st of October, 1856. This assistance
+essentially contributed to the rapid extinction of the epidemic, as it
+sufficed to relieve the more pressing wants.[29] Considerable contributions
+arrived also from the United States; and, according to public statements,
+the relief that came from foreign countries amounted to L8895.
+
+[Footnote 29: Old chronicles report that Madeira has been visited by a
+pestilential disease, that raged within the years 1521 to 1535. But the
+cholera was never in the island before the year 1856. The yellow fever is
+altogether unknown.]
+
+The commerce of the island was, as a matter of course, seriously affected
+by such a train of calamities. The principal exports had hitherto
+consisted of wine, cattle, fruit, and wicker-work; the first and most
+important of these articles--wine--had, as already stated, all but
+entirely disappeared from the list for several years, the small quantities
+still exported being merely the remnants of old stocks.
+
+According to custom-house registers, the entire value of the produce
+exported in 1851 amounted to L164,960, of which L96,950 were shipped in
+English, L26,500 in American, and L16,650 in Portuguese vessels. The
+exports of 1855 were only L95,470, and in 1855, when the wine export had
+entirely ceased, the value did not exceed L2400!
+
+The imports were of a more numerous and varied description; calico, cotton
+and woollen goods, hardware, spices and provisions from England; timber,
+salt meat, and other articles from the United States; grain from the
+Mediterranean and the Black Sea; and sugar, coffee, oil, rice, and other
+colonial produce from Lisbon and the Portuguese settlements. The commerce
+is almost entirely in the hands of the English,[30] whose liberality during
+the cholera epidemic has much raised them in the estimation of the
+inhabitants.
+
+[Footnote 30: Three-fifths of the 50,000 tons annually imported are
+_English_ manufactures.]
+
+The absence of a regular banking establishment is much felt by the trading
+community, particularly in times of temporary distress. Singularly enough
+there are few Portuguese coins to be met with, and even these are not
+liked by the inhabitants. The moneys chiefly in circulation are English
+and American gold and silver coins, French five-franc pieces, and Spanish
+dollars. The sailing vessels in the roads of Funchal are mostly under
+English and American flags. The steamers which keep up the intercourse
+between Europe and the Brazils call regularly at Funchal for mails and
+passengers,[31] and a steam-packet arrives regularly every fortnight on its
+way from Europe to South America.
+
+[Footnote 31: An English coal depot has been established in Funchal since
+1848.]
+
+The trade carried on under ordinary circumstances is, as we have seen, by
+no means inconsiderable, and by proper management might enable the people
+to extricate themselves from their present depressed position; but though
+not exactly lazy, they are entirely deficient in the energy requisite for
+effectively improving their condition. Whenever they have enough of yams
+and potatoes, they no longer think of exerting themselves or of acquiring
+a more comfortable or independent mode of existence. Neither in Ireland,
+nor in the Silesian mountains, nor even amongst the Indians in North or
+South America, have we witnessed such a degree of poverty and wretchedness
+as we beheld among the labouring classes in the mountainous districts of
+this island. On entering a village, shoals of haggard-looking beggars
+covered with rags were seen, whose features indicated their unhealthy way
+of living, and an utter lack of the most common necessaries of life. The
+calamities of the last five years have certainly contributed to this
+excess of misery, and a traveller who visited Madeira twenty years ago,
+may have carried away with him quite a different impression of its
+inhabitants.
+
+The race inhabiting the island, notwithstanding some favourable
+exceptions, is rather unprepossessing and decrepit, owing to the elements
+of which it is composed. The first settlers, as already stated, belonged
+by no means to the better classes of Portugal, but consisted of a motley
+assemblage of ruffians, who came to the newly-discovered island merely in
+search of adventure. The admixture which afterwards took place with the
+black race imported from Africa, materially contributed to deteriorate the
+people both physically and morally. Though there is not one single pure
+negro in the whole island, yet the features of a considerable proportion
+of the inhabitants denote their African descent. In the population of
+Punta da Sol, a village on the west side of the island, the negro type is
+said to be exhibited in its strongest character.
+
+The dress of the native is extremely simple; a pair of white trowsers, a
+shirt, and linen jacket, constitute the entire toilette; with a few rare
+exceptions we never saw shoes: but even the poorest of the poor wears a
+curiously-shaped small cloth cap (_carapuca_) of a blue colour, with red
+lining, terminating in an erect pointed tail, six inches long. This seems
+to be a remnant of a turbaned head-dress, worn formerly by the inhabitants
+of the African coast, with whom the first settlers, allured by the
+slave-trade, once carried on an active intercourse.
+
+[Illustration: CARAPUCA, OR CAP WORN BY THE NATIVES OF MADEIRA.]
+
+Many of the inhabitants of Funchal obtain their livelihood by acting as
+guides to strangers. The roads being very steep, and formed of pointed
+stones, horses of an excellent breed are used in going even short
+distances; however fast the visitors may gallop, the guide follows the
+horses on foot, to which the natives are habituated from their earliest
+years. This practice is undoubtedly one of the principal causes of
+consumptive complaints, which are more frequently met with here than might
+have been expected considering the climate, though bad nourishment and
+unhealthy dwellings may have their part in causing the prevalence of the
+malady. The common people are mostly lodged in small low cabins of wood or
+timber, thatched with straw, the only opening being the door, through
+which air and light are admitted. Their sleeping-places are wooden
+benches, covered with straw, raised only one or two feet from a ground
+which, during nine months of the year, is damp.
+
+It is scarcely necessary to state that the wealthier classes offer a more
+pleasing aspect. They are extremely obliging, kind, and attentive towards
+strangers, and evidently endeavour to impress the visitor with favourable
+ideas of themselves and the island. To the hospitality of the Austrian
+Consul, as well as to Major P. A. de Azevedo and Don Juan Muniz, so
+deservedly celebrated for his knowledge of the flora of Madeira, the
+members of the _Novara_ expedition are indebted for many a happy and
+delightful hour.
+
+The population is perceptibly on the decrease. The causes are emigration
+to the British West Indies, and devastation by the cholera. The number of
+inhabitants in the two islands, in 1836, amounted to 115,446; in 1854, to
+103,296; and in 1855, to only 102,183. The emigrants during the last
+twenty-five years (1835 to 1860) are said to have amounted to 40,000, many
+of whom depart secretly, in order to avoid the heavy emigration tax.
+
+Numerous benevolent institutions indicate the charitable disposition of
+the inhabitants. The hospital, or Santa Casa de Misericordia, standing in
+a beautiful square, planted with planes and magnolias, can receive 104
+patients, and is exceedingly well managed. It appears, however, rather
+singular that the surgical are separated from the medical cases, whilst no
+separation exists amongst the patients who may happen to be labouring
+under contagious diseases. The most frequently recurring diseases are
+cutaneous, a circumstance which need excite no surprise in a country where
+the natives pay so little attention to the cleanliness of their bodies,
+and where Government itself favours as it were this carelessness by
+levying a considerable tax upon the importation of soap! Dysentery
+prevails throughout the year; intermittent fever and inflammatory diseases
+occur more rarely; but apoplectic cases are at times very numerous. The
+nominal amount of the funds of the hospital is estimated at L40,000; the
+annual income being about L1800 sterling.
+
+The hospital for lepers is fitted up for the reception of about forty
+patients, most of whom come from places in which the black has least mixed
+with the white race.
+
+The workhouse, for 230 paupers, was founded in 1847 by public
+subscription, and has an annual income of from 3000 to 4000 piastres.
+
+The nunnery of St. Isabel, for the reception of female orphans, was
+erected as early as 1726. Great care is taken of the education of the
+inmates, who are not permitted to leave the establishment, except in case
+of getting married or respectably employed.
+
+Foundlings, of whom, in one single year, 839 were maintained by the
+commune of Funchal, are given out to nurse; and there has been a most
+singular expedient adopted, in order to prevent abuse as regards obtaining
+the board money, which amounts to about one piastre a month, for each. A
+piece of tape is put round the infant's neck, the two ends of which are
+fastened with a lead seal, and stamped, so that, in the event of death, it
+cannot be taken off and put on another child's neck. The witnessing of the
+process of fastening and stamping this necklace is most unpleasant,
+although no real pain is inflicted on the child.
+
+In the year 1855 there existed in the entire island twelve elementary
+schools, attended by about 200 scholars, and likewise forty-nine Sunday
+schools, having about 2400 pupils. Funchal also possesses a college, with
+six professors and 120 students, an ecclesiastical seminary for
+twenty-four pupils, and a medical school, with four professors, which,
+however, during the year of our visit, had only seven students. Though the
+Government is very rigid in exacting the attendance of the children at
+school, yet only about a seventh part of the whole number living in the
+island really avail themselves of the benefit.
+
+A hospital for the consumptive is now in course of erection, at the
+expense of the Empress dowager of the Brazils, as a memorial of her
+daughter, who, in 1853, died of this disease on the island.
+
+There exist several public libraries and book societies at Funchal; and in
+several of the clubs a great many of the leading English, French, Spanish,
+Portuguese, and German journals, are to be found. Four weekly papers, in
+the Portuguese language, are published at Funchal. The first newspaper
+ever published there was the _Patriota Funchalense_, the first number of
+which appeared on the 2nd of June, 1821.
+
+[Illustration: CATHEDRAL OF MADEIRA.]
+
+The public buildings offer little to attract notice; the churches are
+insignificant, and even the cathedral, a building in the Basilica style,
+is in no way remarkable otherwise than by the innumerable garlands and
+nosegays, offerings of pious devotees, which as it were transform its
+interior into a fragrant temple of flowers.
+
+That which was once a Jesuit monastery, has been now converted into a
+barrack, in which the whole garrison of the island, amounting to 400 men,
+are lodged. The daily pay of these soldiers amounts to 20 reis, or about
+one penny!
+
+An ordinary dwelling-house has lately been converted into a town gaol, in
+which the prisoners are very humanely treated. Passers-by may have an
+undisturbed talk with them through the lattice-work; and once we even
+observed a man who had thrust his foot through the iron bars, in order to
+have his measure taken by one of the inmates for a pair of shoes!
+
+The charms of beautiful walks, and a most enchanting neighbourhood,
+enhance the pleasantness of the climate of Funchal so much resorted to by
+invalids. In the interior of the town, not far from the sea-shore,
+splendid avenues of magnificent planes, large-flowered magnolias, and
+massive oaks, form delightful promenades, and afford repose and shade on
+numerous seats under the dense foliage of their wide-spreading branches.
+
+Seated on a gently-ambling steed, one may reach most pleasantly the
+summits of those lofty mountains, which rise close to Funchal, where a
+balmy fragrance perfumes the air, and the eye roams with delight in all
+directions over scenery of the most striking description.
+
+One of the favourite points from which such a view may be obtained in all
+its beauty, is the terrace in front of the church of Nossa Senhora de
+Monte, situated 1965 feet above the level of the sea, on a ridge of the
+Arrebantao mountain, reached in less than an hour by one or other of the
+existing conveyances; these are either horses, or hammocks and
+sedan-chairs, or sledges, covered with tasteful canopies, and drawn by a
+couple of small oxen.
+
+[Illustration: SLEIGH PARTY IN MADEIRA.]
+
+Though a vehicle, reminding one so strongly of a northern winter, appears
+rather odd in a climate such as that of Madeira, yet its practicability
+and convenience is very soon perceived, when comfortably sliding away over
+the smooth stones of Funchal. Wheel carriages, such as used in Europe, are
+unknown here.
+
+But he who has bodily strength and health enough to be able to wander
+through the interior of the island, will find spots which command
+landscapes by far more grand and sublime than that seen from Nossa Senhora
+de Monte. Cape San Lorenzo, with its petrified fauna;--the awe-inspiring
+Entroza pass, that wonderful sculpture of nature which bears so powerful a
+witness to the corroding action of water;--the lovely and solitary cascade
+of Rabacal;--the Pic Arrieiro, with its craggy rocks, offering to the
+geologist such a remarkable peep into the geognostical history of the
+island;--the numerous gigantic rocky skeletons of volcanic cones, on which
+the geologist is able to make the most interesting studies and
+investigations, just in the same manner as the anatomist on a corpse;--all
+these wonders of nature are calculated to awaken the reflection and excite
+the admiration of the beholder.
+
+The most delightful event during our stay in the island was an excursion
+of several days, made to the romantic localities of the northern coast. A
+stately cavalcade of twenty-two horsemen set out, early on a fine June
+morning, from Funchal to Nossa Senhora, and from thence over the Pic
+Poizo, through the glens of Metade to St. Anna. After a ride of two hours,
+the Casa de Abrigo was reached, a small house, situated about 4500 feet
+above the level of the sea, erected by the Government some years ago for
+the shelter of travellers. From this point the path runs through a hilly
+country covered with heath, from which the majestic Pico Ruivo, with the
+fantastic forms of its rugged volcanic walls bathed in gold by the rays of
+the rising sun, presents a most imposing sight. On the whole route only
+one small miserable village, called Fayal, was passed, consisting of a few
+straw thatched huts, exhibiting a picture of poverty and wretchedness,
+which can scarcely be paralleled in any part of the habitable globe.
+
+[Illustration: VILLAGE OF FAYAL.]
+
+At last, after a ride of eight hours, we reached St. Anna, an extensive
+village, with a large church and some brick buildings prettily situated in
+flower-gardens, the most stately of which was--the inn. The good cheer and
+repose found here for a few hours of the night, compensated in some degree
+for the fatigues of the past day, and prepared us for those to be
+encountered on the morrow.
+
+The frequent fogs prevalent in Madeira during the month of June, render it
+indispensable to start early in the morning, if the traveller wishes to
+enjoy the beauties of the scenery. At 2 A.M., therefore, our cavalcade
+set out, followed by a host of boys and porters carrying provisions and
+instruments for observations. Nature was still buried in sleep, the air
+quiet and motionless; the full moon, shedding her pallid light over sea
+and mountain, feebly shadowed forth the outlines of the hedges and bushes
+of roses, fuchsias, and hortensias, that lined the narrow path, and
+brought out dimly in faint relief the ghost-like white figures which,
+standing at the doors of their poor cabins, looked inquisitively at the
+riders, that were already so early on their way. The path led up to the
+mountains in steep and numerous windings, sometimes on soft ground through
+ravines, sometimes on solid basalt, or over the uneven surface of
+indurated lava. And when at last, emerging from deep glens, steep
+precipices, and rocky walls, all yet buried in the shades of night, the
+blue star-spangled sky burst upon us in all its beauty and grandeur, the
+effect was almost overpowering. A faint glimmer of light appeared on the
+distant horizon, masses of vapour moved over the ocean, and rising mists
+gathering into clouds, undulated like the surface of an agitated sea. It
+was only along the ridges of mountains and through the ravines, that one
+might glance between mist and land down to the calm boundless expanse of
+water at our feet.
+
+At 4 o'clock a halt was made near a solitary hut, called Choupana, at a
+height of 4400 feet, when the horsemen dismounted, and left their horses
+behind, preferring to reach on foot the termination of their journey.
+
+[Illustration: EL HOMEM EM PE.]
+
+We had just climbed up some steep basalt rock and reached an open spot,
+when the first rays of the sun tinged the eastern sky. Beaming in all his
+majesty on the sharply-defined clouds that hovered beneath, they sparkled
+like so many ice-capped peaks of Alpine glaciers; and when the great
+luminary ascended higher, distributing mingled light and shade in such
+gradations of tint as only Nature's cunning hand can mingle, the chaotic
+masses of vapour assumed the appearance of gigantic islands and lofty
+towering mountains, whilst a chorus of feathered songsters rung cheerfully
+out from the depths of the wooded valleys. The path wound along a
+precipitous declivity, grown over with tangled Til-trees, past a group of
+basaltic columns, which rose isolated to a height of 40 feet above the
+beautiful grassy carpet that clothes the ground, and in the crevices of
+which an old laurel, the last of its genus at this height, had taken root.
+The natives call this singularly-shaped group _Homem em pe_, or the man
+standing erect.
+
+Arrived at an open space of meadow ground, the Barreiro, or Encumiada
+Caixa, a gigantic rocky ridge, suddenly rises to a prodigious height, from
+a frightful abyss of almost fathomless depth. We now hastened across a
+plain covered with lava, to the rough basaltic summit of the Encumiada
+Alta. Safe on an eminence[32] above yawning gulfs, beneath a deep blue sky,
+in the brilliancy of a lovely morning sun, we abandoned ourselves to the
+thrilling impressions of the magnificent picture which nature here brought
+forth of earth, rock, and manifold vegetation. Towards the south an
+immense mountain ridge, with serried peaks (called Torres and Torinhas),
+rises to a height of 6000 feet, declining almost imperceptibly on the left
+hand, whilst on the right it descends abruptly in terraces, with
+perpendicular walls of rocks 1000 feet in height, connected by an
+inaccessible ridge with the imposing, stupendous, cupola-shaped summit of
+the Pico Ruivo. All this is disclosed to the eye within a radius of little
+more than two miles. Deep clefts and ravines run from the rocky crevices,
+and unite in a gloomy and profound abyss of 3000 feet, which forms the
+mouth of the ravine of Ribeiro Secco. Similiar chasms open to the right
+and to the left, and when they are too distant to be distinguished by the
+eye, dark shadows rising on the rocky walls indicate the deep crater-like
+basin of the Curral, and the gulfs of the Metade river, and the Ribeiro
+Frio. It would seem as if the whole island has, in a series of fearful
+convulsions, burst from a single central point in all directions; as if
+entire mountains had sunk into the deep, or had, by the action of torrents
+permeating their crevices, been converted into rubble, and carried as sand
+and fragments into the ocean.
+
+[Footnote 32: 5883 feet, according to the geologist's barometrical
+measurements.]
+
+The summits of the Torres and Torrinhas are nothing but barren naked
+rocks,--not a blade of grass, not a shrub, not a trace of vegetation is to
+be seen. At the highest points, strata nearly horizontal extend in
+remarkably regular layers, chiefly distinguished by the most manifold
+variety of colours and tints.[33] A dark grey schistus of volcanic ashes
+alternates with strongly-marked red, yellow, and violet layers of tufa,
+dross, and scoriae, together with brown and grey conglomerates. Just as red
+predominates on the upper part of these _Torres_, green prevails on the
+lower. From the spot where the springs first issue out of the crevices of
+the basalt, everything seems covered with a dense green carpet. These are
+the celebrated "clefts" of Madeira, in which, even on rocks of 1000 feet
+high, not an inch is to be discovered bare; they afford a rich harvest to
+the botanist, whilst they fill the spectator with delight and admiration.
+
+[Footnote 33: The celebrated American geologist, Mr. Dana, mentions that
+these wild contorted masses of mountain reminded him of the crater-walls
+of the Kilauea at the Sandwich Islands.]
+
+[Illustration: ERICA TREES.]
+
+Generally speaking, the scenery of Madeira does not owe its character to
+the grandeur or magnitude of its trees; the peculiar charm of the
+landscape arises more from grasses, ferns, shrubs, and different kinds of
+moss, all of which grow so rank and luxuriant, that the rocks, chasms, and
+abysses overgrown with them, appear like so many swelling cushions, or as
+if laid with soft velvet carpets in all directions. The different shades
+of green indicate the characteristics of successive zones of vegetation.
+Through the lower parts of the valleys run the beds of those mountain
+waters which, though nearly dried up in the summer, swell in the winter
+into torrents. Along these are scattered the straw-thatched huts of the
+natives, surrounded by vineyards and fields planted with rye, barley,
+potatoes, yams, and in the lower parts with single bananas. These
+cultivated lands rise to a height of 2000 feet, and in many places even to
+3000. Wherever on the steep declivities there is the smallest shelf to be
+found, even if only a square yard in size, it is turned to account. Next
+to this region, in ascending, is that of the brush and laurel woods.
+_Vaccinias_ (blackberries), and different kinds of heath, often attaining
+a growth of five or six feet, occupy the whole of the ground, and in the
+month of June, when the broom is in full flower, a bright golden-coloured
+belt girts Madeira, at a height of from 3000 to 4000 feet. We beheld this
+golden girdle in its richest splendour, set off by the dark masses of
+evergreens in the clefts. Higher up is the true region of the _Erica
+arborea_, which, with its light-green and _paille_ tint, contrasted with
+the deeper colour of the laurel, represents the underwood of our secondary
+mountain ranges. The _Erica arborea_ attains here the height of a large
+tree, and, on some spots, 30 to 40 feet of its gnarled stems stretch along
+the ground. Thus it may be traced, in company with other heaths, to the
+summit of the Pico Ruivo.
+
+After having made some physical observations, and enjoyed a most
+delightful prospect, we re-packed our instruments, filled our boxes and
+pouches with plants and geological specimens, and prepared for our
+departure. The guides, despite their heavy burdens, marched steadily on,
+humming in plaintive cadence their native songs. We soon reached our
+horses, and, penetrating through layers of clouds, rapidly descended the
+steep mountain sides to St. Anna.
+
+A walk on the same evening towards Porto Santo Jorge was not less
+charming than instructive, especially as we gazed on those hardened
+streams of lava, so interesting as regards the geological history of the
+island, out of the numerous crevices of which grew luxuriant magnificent
+rosettes of _Sempervivum_. Fuchsias and heliotropes were gathered from the
+bushes, and each took a share, now with the geological hammer, now with
+the botanical box, or the butterfly-catcher, in the harvest of objects of
+natural history. We passed in this neighbourhood several houses
+delightfully situated, surrounded by hedgerows of luxuriant shrubs and
+splendid native flowers.
+
+In the fine garden of the inn, amidst myrtles, bignonias, euphorbias, and
+fuchsias, was a handsome _Camellia japonica_, which had attained the
+imposing height of 15 feet, with a diameter of 9 inches, the top spreading
+fan-like in numberless branches.
+
+The following morning we returned to Funchal, accompanied by a troop of
+ragged and diseased natives, pertinaciously appealing to our charity.
+Plenteous alms were given them, for where Nature is so prodigal of her
+gifts, the human mind becomes more sensitive and liberal. At noon, we
+again reached the beautiful terrace of Nossa Senhora de Monte, and here
+the excursion was wound up by a diversion of quite a peculiar character;
+for, instead of returning to Funchal on horseback, we slid down a mountain
+1500 feet high, right into the town, on small double-seated wooden
+sledges, thus travelling down what is probably the grandest natural
+_Montagne Russe_ in the world. A train of more than a dozen sledges
+started at the same time. These singular vehicles are guided on either
+side with admirable adroitness by two natives, who avoid slipping by
+moistening their shoes; and, notwithstanding the velocity of these
+conveyances, even slight accidents are unheard of. Sledge parties of this
+kind, being cheap, constitute the most favourite amusement of the people
+of Funchal.
+
+The whole company met together once more at a convivial dinner in the
+hotel, where, agreeably to the custom of the country, not only the room
+and table, but even every single dish served up, was adorned with garlands
+of fragrant flowers.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE II.--TRACK FROM MADEIRA TO RIO DI JANEIRO.]
+
+On the 17th June we again weighed anchor. The intention had originally
+been to steer direct for Rio de Janeiro; but as we learned, two days
+before our departure, that the yellow fever, though on the decrease, had
+not yet entirely ceased, we were in no hurry to arrive at the capital of
+Brazil, and therefore determined to employ the time so gained, in
+investigating the nature of the winds and currents prevalent in these
+latitudes. For though the proper course of ships between England and North
+America has been admirably laid down, for nearly every month of the year,
+by the long-continued ingenious labours of Commander Maury, of the
+Washington Observatory, yet there still exists great difficulty in
+steering sailing vessels from Gibraltar or Madeira to South America, by
+the directions hitherto existing; the more so, as the seafarer in these
+latitudes, close to the limits of the north-east trade-wind, generally
+falls in with variable breezes and frequent calms, caused partly by the
+African coast and partly by the cluster of isles from the Azores to the
+Cape Verde Islands, and which are of still more frequent occurrence in the
+summer of the northern hemisphere.
+
+We kept Madeira, or rather the clouds which, during the summer, gather
+daily round the mountains, a long time in view; and on the 19th, at a
+distance of 120 miles from the island, some persons on board thought they
+could still distinguish them.
+
+We steered at first in a south-westerly direction, with light breezes and
+fine weather. Advancing, however, towards the limits of the trade-winds,
+showers became frequent, and the wind chopped about much oftener; a more
+southerly course was therefore taken, in order to come as soon as possible
+under the influence of the north-easterly trade-winds.
+
+There was now an opportunity of directing attention to the formation of
+the clouds, which, in these latitudes, assume at times very curious
+appearances. The _cirri_ disappeared by degrees, and the _cumuli_ towered
+up on the horizon in colossal masses. These latter are formed under the
+influence of the sun, when most powerful, and are therefore seen chiefly
+during the afternoon. As soon as they rise they vanish by absorption, just
+as fast as they are formed by evaporation from the sea. Rain very rarely
+proceeds from them. The alternation of their shades, tints, and colours,
+is beautiful in the extreme, particularly at sunset, when their outlines,
+as they stand out in bold relief on the clear blue sky, vary in hue from
+the deepest grey to the most brilliant golden yellow.
+
+The nearer the tropics are approached the more does ocean teem with
+animated orgasms. A net cast into it was immediately filled with an
+immense number of little living creatures. Pretty-looking blue cockles,
+sea-nettles, and various other inhabitants of the deep, all of the most
+minute size, lay rolled up in one lump with small sea-weeds of beautiful
+forms and tints, from which those tiny things endeavoured, with great
+exertion, to extricate themselves. The microscope discloses to the
+observer an entirely new world in the economy of nature, as displayed in
+the animal life of the surface of the sea. The entire oceanic creation,
+from the smallest infusoria to the huge whale, are all specially adapted
+to the element in which they exist, and organized to contribute to the
+preservation, as well as the further development, of the whole globe.
+
+This is beautifully illustrated by the operations of the zoophytes; the
+water of rivers dissolves the chalky substances of the land and carries
+them down to the ocean,--immense numbers of these form, for themselves,
+habitations from this matter;--by successive accumulation, produced
+through the action or the dead bodies of these creatures, the ground is
+raised gradually into the reefs, banks, and rocks, so dangerous to
+navigation; or into islands inhabited by man, who, in the development of
+his moral and physical powers, performs his mission in his high position,
+just as definitely as the imperceptible animalcuae do in their narrow
+sphere.
+
+Exceedingly beautiful in the tropic seas are those small _physali_, a
+species of _Acalephae_, known to sailors as "Portuguese men-of-war." They
+sail along by means of their large air-bags, exposed to the wind, whilst
+their numerous long, dark-blue tentacles, like fibres or roots, reach deep
+into the water, extending or contracting in order to secure their food.
+The fringes of these air-bags are of a violet colour, and resemble, when
+in sunshine, a splendid flower, floating about the sea in all directions.
+
+Approaching the zone of the trade-winds, the aspect of the sea is animated
+by flying-fish. It has been long a matter of doubt whether this fish
+really moves through the air by flying, or whether, being pursued by
+enemies, it merely darts from fear out of the water, and sustains itself
+in the air by means of its long pectoral fins, though the long distances
+it moves are out of all proportion to its size and probable muscular
+power. This doubt seems to have originated with those who never have had
+an opportunity of personally observing flying-fish; or who have merely
+seen these creatures in the Mediterranean, where they are so small as to
+render it rather difficult to decide in what the movement really consists.
+
+But in the tropics all doubt vanishes, for the fish here attains a length
+of from 6 to 8 inches, and its pectoral fins are so much developed that
+they may perfectly well be used as wings. By closely observing them, it is
+seen that these fins, or wings, have an oscillating or vibratory motion,
+like that of the grasshopper, by which they assist the oblique spring from
+the water, produced by muscular power; they move at a height of from two
+to three feet above the surface of the sea, to a distance of from 50 to
+100 yards, and at the same time change the direction of their flight in
+exactly the same way as grasshoppers.
+
+It seems, however, to be neither pleasure nor want of food that drives
+these creatures from their own element. They have numerous enemies, of
+which the principal is the bonita (_Scomber Palamy_); whenever flying-fish
+were seen the bonitas likewise made their appearance; we often saw the
+latter darting out of the water and snapping at a flying-fish, when, if
+they did not succeed, they were perceived hastening under water in the
+same direction that their prey was taking. But the flying-fish is quite
+aware of the movement of the enemy, and, therefore, sometimes turns back
+abruptly, evidently with a view of dodging his pursuer. The advantage of
+the wings is, however, more apparent than real, for whilst they escape by
+these means from the bonitas, dorados, and dolphins, they fall a sacrifice
+to the seagulls and man-of-war birds (_Tachypetes aquilus_), which reach
+them like arrows shot from a bow, before they are able to conceal
+themselves again in the ocean. Those which were seen on the north of the
+equator, were invariably of the smaller kind (_Exocaetus volitans_); whilst
+in the south, also, the larger species (_Exocaetus exulans_) made their
+appearance. They often drop during the night on the decks of small vessels
+with low bows, but on the _Novara_, which rose about 20 feet over the
+surface of the water, this was not possible; however, some fell upon the
+chains, which were caught and preserved in alcohol by the zoologists.
+
+On the 27th June, at midday, we had arrived in 27 deg. 2' N. Lat., and 24 deg. 7'
+W. Long., and lay in a perfect calm, the mirror-like aspect of the sea
+allowing us to take a deep-sea sounding with what is called Brooke's
+apparatus. This consists of a tube, which runs through a thirty-pound
+shot, fastened to a thin line. As the shot, however, cannot easily be
+drawn up after the sounding, there is an ingenious mechanism, by means of
+which, on touching the ground, it is detached from the tube, which may
+then be drawn up, the shot remaining in the sea. The tube has a
+funnel-shaped opening at its lower extremity, by which a portion of the
+ground may likewise be brought up for scientific examination.
+
+In the afternoon a boat provided with everything requisite for the
+sounding, was launched, and the operation began. Unfortunately there were
+only 4050 fathoms of line, as we did not find at Gibraltar the quality
+required for the purpose. The whole stock ran entirely out without
+reaching ground; we could therefore do nothing more than make the attempt
+to heave the tube without the shot. In this, however, we succeeded only in
+so far as regarded the first 2000 fathoms; then the line broke, and the
+remainder was lost. One of the causes of this accident was the sudden rise
+of the trade-wind which increased so much as to engross nearly our entire
+attention.
+
+To convey an idea of the time a ball of this kind takes to descend through
+the different strata of water, which increases in density in proportion to
+the depth attained, we annex the length of the different periods required
+in paying out the line during the experiment:--
+
+                                                       Minutes. Seconds.
+
+    The first 1000 fathoms occupied                       19      8
+ From 1000 to 2000  "                                     21      3
+   "  2000 to 3000  "                                     40      6
+   "  3000 to 4000  "                                     76      6
+   "  4000 to 4050  "                                      3      5
+                                                      ______________
+ Total time in running out the entire length     Hours 2  39     28
+
+As the winding up of the tube requires at least the same period, it may
+easily be conceived how great is the expenditure of time necessary for
+such an experiment, and on what chances the success of the whole operation
+depends. Though this trial was partially unsuccessful, yet so much is
+certain, that at this point, 24,300 feet of line were run off without
+reaching the ground. There is always, however, to be taken into
+consideration the under-current, which draws the line out of the
+perpendicular, and renders the result of the operation rather doubtful.
+
+We now sailed with a fresh and steady trade-wind towards the thirtieth
+degree of W. Long., and thence along that meridian to the southward.
+
+In the night, between the 29th to the 30th, we crossed the parallel of the
+sun's declination, upon which the direction of our shadows, already for
+several days scarcely perceptible, was of course changed from north to
+south.
+
+We soon crossed the belt of the north-eastern trade-wind, as we made daily
+from 180 to 200 miles. On the 3rd of July the wind became very unsteady,
+and on the 5th, in 8 deg. 30' N. Lat. and 29 deg. 30' W. Long., it entirely left
+us. The sky often became dark and threatening; indeed, its aspect changed
+at times with surprising rapidity, without any particular disturbance in
+the direction or strength of the wind; nor had we to complain of as much
+rain as might have been expected in these regions.
+
+The calms in the so-called "belt of calms" were fortunately not of long
+duration, for in 6 deg. 43' N., and 28 deg. 49' W., a fresh south-east wind sprang
+up. When we came within the influence of the south-east trade-wind, we
+endeavoured to approach the coast of South America, for the purpose of
+observing the currents in that latitude, this being one of the
+investigations suggested by the letter of instructions drawn up by
+Alexander v. Humboldt. The great oceanic stream, which, on leaving the
+western coast of Africa takes a westerly direction, is divided by the
+projecting American Continent into two branches, of which the stronger
+turns N.W. towards the Caribean Sea, while the weaker moves south-west
+along the coast of Brazil.
+
+We had already felt its influence whilst in the zone of calms, and it
+became still more perceptible the more the equator was approached. The
+continuance of the south-easterly trade forced us to cross the Line at a
+more westerly point than usual. This, however, causes no disadvantage to a
+good sailing ship; nay, Commander Maury has proved indisputably that ships
+make extremely short passages, which reach the Equator so far to the west
+that they run a risk of hugging the coast too closely. Those on the other
+hand, which, from over-anxiety to avoid the current, keep too far to the
+east, lose much time, being compelled to pass weeks in the zone of calms,
+which increases in breadth towards the east, whereas the others come very
+little in contact with it, and avail themselves of the changes of wind
+near the shore, to double the Cape of St. Roque on the American coast, so
+much dreaded by the former. We cannot here forbear expressing our high
+admiration of the great merits of Mr. Maury, whose classical work on the
+physical geography of the sea, as well as his inestimable wind and current
+charts, deserve the especial attention of all who navigate these seas.
+
+The nearer we approached the Line, the more striking became the aspect of
+the southern constellations. The light of the northern polar star grew
+fainter and fainter, its altitude diminished, and it at length entirely
+disappeared. But, on the other hand, the Southern Cross, the Magellan
+clouds, the ship Argo on the "coal-bags," or starless, dark spots of the
+southern hemisphere, became more elevated in proportion as the northern
+sky moved away, and for a moment we felt some difficulty in recognizing
+our old acquaintances of the northern hemisphere in their relation to the
+new stars.
+
+On the 15th, at 3 A.M., we crossed the Line in 33 deg. 50' W.L. This event,
+which with all sailors forms a marked epoch in their seafaring life, had
+in this case the additional feature of being actually the first occasion
+of an Austrian man-of-war entering the southern hemisphere, and our crew,
+who had long before enjoyed, in anticipation, the merriment to which it
+would give occasion, had commenced the ceremony the preceding evening.
+Neptune, accompanied by an appropriate retinue of mermaids, tritons, and
+nereids, appeared at sunset, to announce with the utmost gravity to the
+Commodore, in a set speech, the astounding news that the vessel was
+entering his dominions, demonstrating the fact mathematically by an
+immense sextant, a chart, and pair of compasses a yard long, all
+manufactured by the ship's carpenter, and claiming his right to see the
+act of shaving and baptizing properly performed on all those who for the
+first time came into his kingdom. Amidst streams of water from the masts
+and fire-engines he made his exit down the rope ladder in a blaze of blue
+fire, followed by an ignited tar-barrel, which floated along like a globe
+of fire on the mirror-like surface of the sea.
+
+The real farce, however, took place the next afternoon, when Neptune
+re-appeared, accompanied this time by his good lady and a hopeful youth,
+all decked out in real sea-god-like attire, in a car drawn by six tritons,
+still accompanied by his farcical retinue blowing a flourish on their
+bugles, when, after a second set speech to the Commodore, the great ruler
+of the waves declared that the ceremony was now to begin.
+
+Every sailor was obliged, whether he would or no, to undergo a lathering
+with a nasty mixture of tar and grease, and submit to be scraped by an
+immense tin razor; which operation being performed, the unfortunate
+sufferer was thrown into a sail suspended by its four corners, and there
+deluged from head to foot from pails, pumps, hose, pots, dishes, and
+everything else that would hold water. The officers and other gentlemen
+escaped the ordeal by a contribution in money or wine towards the
+festivities.
+
+When the greater part of the sailors had undergone this process, and the
+scene, amidst formidable gushes of water, rioting, uproar, and excitement,
+had reached its highest point, behold! a voice thundered from the
+quarter-deck the words "two o'clock," and everything resumed its wonted
+aspect.
+
+Though the Line had been crossed at a more westerly point than usual, we
+were able, in the night from the 18th to the 19th of July, to pass
+easterly between the rocks Las Roccas and the island of Fernando da
+Noronha.[34] On the 20th July we were carried again by unfavourable winds
+to a distance of 100 miles from the Brazilian coast, where we parted from
+our faithful companion, the _Caroline_. She sailed for Pernambuco, whilst
+we kept out to sea in order to continue the observations on the westerly
+currents, and be able freely to double Cape St. Augustin. Bad weather,
+showers, and heavy swells prevented complete success in our task; it was,
+however, ascertained that the current close to the land is not so strong
+as at some distance from it, and that the extreme point of divergence is,
+at this particular season of the year, somewhat east of the south point of
+Fernando de Noronha. In the angle formed by the direction of the two
+currents between the point of division and the land, partial currents
+(according to circumstances and the strength of the wind), run towards one
+or the other side, of which the stronger tends towards the north-west.
+
+[Footnote 34: This island, situated 300 miles from Pernambuco, which
+supplies it with provisions, is at present used by the Brazilian
+Government as a penal settlement. It is extremely beautiful and fertile,
+but very little cultivated, and admirably suited for a coal depot, and a
+place for ships obtaining stores, particularly when epidemics are
+prevalent in Rio de Janeiro.]
+
+On the 23rd July the weather cleared up; we approached the coast and came
+in sight of Cape St. Augustin, the first land descried since leaving
+Madeira. On the 1st of August a rock was announced ahead; as nothing of
+the kind was indicated in the charts, we were curious to know what this
+could be. A boat was manned, and we were soon made aware, by our olfactory
+organs, of the real nature of the object, which turned out to be the
+carcase of a dead whale in a state of putrefaction, over which a number of
+birds were hovering, whilst a troop of sharks feasted on the putrid mass,
+boring themselves into the body. This incident shows how many rocks marked
+in charts as doubtful may owe their origin to similar circumstances; for,
+had we not been convinced of the real nature of the object, we should have
+believed this carcase to be a rock, and thus augmented the number of
+"doubtfuls" and interrogations in the charts of the Atlantic.
+
+On the 3rd August we made Cape Frio, and after a rough and stormy night
+reached at last, on the morning of the 5th, the numerous small islands
+situated in front of the harbour of Rio. The _Sugar Loaf_, that remarkable
+black basaltic rock at its entrance, stood grandly forth, as we ran in.
+Unfortunately the gloomy state of the atmosphere prevented the enjoyment
+of the exquisite beauty of this so often described charming bay.
+
+Here we found an English, a French, and an American frigate, as also a
+dirty old Brazilian sloop of war. Besides these ships of war, a Spanish
+frigate and galliot lay in the mercantile dock for repair; they had
+shortly before their arrival lost their masts in a _pampero_,[35] which,
+however, had borne all the characteristic marks of a cyclone.[36] The
+occurrence of tornadoes in the South Atlantic has been so often and so
+decidedly denied, that the mariner does not readily believe the violent
+storms of those latitudes to be hurricanes. This Spanish frigate had
+accordingly sailed heedlessly into the storm, and, with only such
+precautions taken as referred to mast and sail, had without further
+concern proceeded on her course. She thus had got into the very heart of
+the cyclone, and escaped entire destruction only by a fortunate chance.
+Now, had her commander considered this storm to have been a real hurricane
+he would have undoubtedly steered a different course, and probably in that
+case would have reached the harbour in safety. But the notion of the
+non-existence of hurricanes in these waters is so pertinaciously
+maintained that it was no wonder the careful and able Spanish commander
+had also been misled. Our own opinion is, that any storm in the ocean may
+assume a revolving motion, and it is therefore highly advisable always to
+bear in mind the well-founded theory of cyclones, in order to act upon it,
+as circumstances may require. Were this always done, how many valuable
+lives and property might be saved from destruction!
+
+[Footnote 35: A squall of wind of the South American Pampas.]
+
+[Footnote 36: The following succinct statement of the characteristics and
+general laws of cyclones will be found useful by way of reference:--
+
+1. It has been fully ascertained that in both hemispheres the air in the
+cyclone rotates in a direction _contrary_ to that of the sun. Thus, in the
+N. hemisphere, the course of the sun being from E. to S., W., and N., the
+course of the hurricane is from N. by W., S., and E.; and in the S.
+hemisphere, the sun's course being from E. by N., W., and S., the
+hurricane runs from N. by E., S., and W.
+
+2. They originate in the space between the equator and the tropics, near
+the equatorial limit of the trade winds.
+
+3. There is no instance on record of a hurricane having been encountered
+on the equator, nor of any one having crossed the Line, although two have
+been known to be raging at the same time in the same meridian, but on
+opposite sides of the equator, and only 10 deg. to 12 deg. apart!
+
+4. Their movement, which is always oblique from the equator to the poles,
+is usually from E. to W. at first, and towards the end W. to E., which is
+but a development of the gyratory motion that forms their most essential
+characteristic.
+
+5. The "motion of translation" varies from so low as 9 miles an hour to 43
+miles an hour. There is no precise estimate of the velocity of the
+gyratory motion.
+
+6. They are liable to dilate and contract in area, the contraction always
+implying a great accession of violence. (See _post_, p. 183.)]
+
+[Illustration: CAPE FRIO.]
+
+[Illustration: THE QUAY AT RIO.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  V.
+
+                           Rio de Janeiro.
+
+   Brazil the land of contrasts.--Appearance of the city of Rio and
+     its environs.--Excursion to the Peak of Corcovado, and the
+     Tejuca Waterfalls.--Germans in Rio.--Brazilian literary men.--
+     Assacu (_Hura Brasiliensis_).--Snake-bite as an antidote
+     against leprosy.--Public Institutions.--Negroes of the
+     Mozambique coast.--The House of Misericordia.--Lunatic
+     Asylum.--Botanical Garden.--Public instruction.--
+     Historico-Geographical institution.--_Palaestra Scientifica._--
+     Military Academy.--Library.--Conservatory of Music.--Sanitary
+     Police.--Yellow Fever and Cholera.--Water Party on the bay.--
+     Chamber of Deputies.--Petropolis.--Condition of the Slave
+     population.--Prospects of German emigration.--Suitability of
+     Brazil as a market for German commerce.--Natural products, and
+     exchange of manufactures.--Audience of the Emperor and
+     Empress.--Extravagant waste of powder for salvoes.--Songs of
+     the sailors.--Departure from Rio.--Retrospect.--South-east
+     Trades.--Cape Pigeons.--Albatrosses.--Cape Tormentoso.--A
+     Storm at the Cape.--Various Methods of measuring the height of
+     waves.--Arrival in Simon's Bay.
+
+
+Brazil--situated on the ocean-highway to the South Seas and the shores of
+India, endowed by nature, over the greater portion of her territory, with
+a salubrious climate, and a soil of tropical fertility, very nearly as
+large as Europe, and ten times the size of France, and yet containing not
+above 8,000,000 souls--has, far beyond all other States of South America,
+concentrated on herself, during more than half a century, the interest of
+the naturalist, as well as of the political economist--of the merchant as
+well as of the emigrant. Indeed, we may say that there are few countries,
+beyond the limits of Europe, which in certain parts have already been more
+thoroughly explored than the Brazilian Empire, while at the same time it
+can boast the possession of a rich and valuable stock of literature,
+treating of its history, since its discovery by the Portuguese Admiral,
+Pedro Alvarez Cabral, on the 22nd of April, 1500, down to the present
+time.
+
+After so brief a sojourn as ours, we can hardly offer more to the reader
+than a short sketch of our own few experiences, and some remarks regarding
+the alterations which took place in the appearance of the city and in its
+social and political condition, since the period when Martius and Spix,
+Rugendas, Prince Neuwied, Helmreichen, Natterer, Pohl, d'Orbigny, Wilkes,
+Castelnau, Burmeister, and others visited Brazil, and so accurately
+delineated it both by pen and pencil.[37]
+
+[Footnote 37: Before we left Europe, the wish was repeatedly expressed to
+us that, during our stay in Rio, more accurate information should be
+obtained as to the fate of numerous scientific works and collections, by
+several German naturalists who died in Brazil in recent times, such as
+Frederick Sello, Dr. Mueller (a companion of Castelnau), Dr. Engler, and
+others. Unfortunately, we can only give the little consolatory
+intelligence that, with the exception of the scientific memoranda left
+behind by Dr. Engler, chiefly relating to Itu in the province of St. Paul,
+there was nothing further to be hoped for. The collections have all been
+dispersed through want of care, and the manuscripts nearly all destroyed
+through ignorance of their value.]
+
+The magnificent scenery of the Bay of Rio de Janeiro still continues to
+possess the same absorbing interest for the new comer, wherever it has not
+suffered by the expansion of the rapidly-increasing city, or the axe of
+the emigrant settler; it is but little one can add to or alter in the
+picturesque description which travellers, alive to its natural beauties,
+had already given, half a century ago, of the wonderful haven of the
+Brazilian metropolis! Very different, however, is the impression, when the
+stranger, on disembarking, sets foot on the new world, and has to make his
+way through narrow, steep, filthy streets, greeted by yelling crowds of
+blacks and whites, poor negro slaves, and wealthy planters, into the
+interior of this bustling port. An entirely altered state of affairs has
+sprung up since the separation of Brazil from Portugal, and he who has not
+seen Rio within the last ten years would hardly recognize the capital of
+the Brazilian empire. Along with the most conspicuous deficiencies, in
+numerous particulars, one finds such institutions as are not to be met
+with, in a similarly flourishing condition, in any other State of South
+America, or among the republics of the Isthmus. But Brazil is emphatically
+"The Land of Contrasts."
+
+When the traveller, stepping on shore from the anchorage for ships of war,
+(which is a little to the south of that for merchant vessels), has forced
+his way through the swarms of human beings at the landing stage, and in
+front of the hotel Pharoux, he finds himself on the Largo do Paco, or
+Palace Square. Here on his left rises the singular-looking Imperial
+Residence, and on his right, close to the shore, the Market Hall. A dense
+bustling crowd throngs the streets, while numerous vehicles, some drawn by
+horses, others by mules, as also omnibuses of all colours and dimensions,
+and crammed within and without, dash swiftly about, emulating the din and
+confusion of European capitals. Turning now to the right, into the Rua
+Direita, and thence a little further into the Rua do Ouvidor, the two most
+elegant but none the less most-neglected streets of Rio, there dazzles the
+eye, in the splendid, richly-decorated shops and arcades, the same profuse
+luxury as in Regent Street, or on the Boulevards. But how disagreeable the
+contrast with those cities, presented by the pools of stagnant water,
+which occur even in the most-frequented streets!
+
+The city proper presents the figure of a square of about one mile and
+three quarters each way, between the sea beach and the Campo da Santa
+Anna, and is divided with tolerable regularity by narrow streets built at
+right angles to each other. Except the most important public buildings,
+such as the National Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Military
+Academy, the Naval Arsenal, the Custom House, the Market Hall, the
+Imperial Palace, the Chamber of Deputies, and several of the churches,
+only shops and mercantile counting-houses are to be met with.
+
+From the city stretch the suburbs like long tentacles in every direction,
+on one side along the beach as far as St. Christoph, the winter palace of
+the emperor, and, in the opposite direction, as far as the charming Cove
+of Botafogo, while backwards they extend to the valleys leading to the
+Corcovado, to the suburbs of Larangeiras, Catumby Grande, and in the
+direction of the Tejuca mountains, as far as Engenho Velho, and Andarahy.
+Elegant little villas, frequently built in the strangest and most
+_bizarre_ style of architecture, alternate in these suburbs with ordinary
+dwelling-houses, all having most beautifully laid-out gardens. The
+merchant, the manufacturer, in fact every individual in easy
+circumstances, remain in the city only long enough to transact daily
+business. Each has his residence in the suburbs, where his family lives,
+to whose quiet circle he returns every evening. Among these suburbs, those
+of Caminho Novo and Catete, along the road leading to the charming cove of
+Botafogo, are more specially the diplomatic quarter, and the residence of
+the moneyed aristocracy of the capital.
+
+Amid so much that calls for censure in Rio Janeiro, and of which the
+aesthetic perceptions of the visitor will apprize him in the course of a
+stroll in any part of the city, there are two improvements which deserve
+grateful acknowledgment. The first of these consists in the lighting of
+the city by gas (prepared from English coal), which had been introduced
+shortly before our arrival, and is now extended to the extreme outskirts
+of the suburbs; the second is the magnificent aqueduct, which provides
+every quarter of Rio with a lavish supply of excellent drinking-water.
+However ugly Rio may look in the daytime, the gas at night gives
+it a magnificent and splendid appearance, particularly from the
+harbour. When, the evening after our arrival, we gazed out upon the
+brilliantly-illuminated city that lay before us, we could not help
+thinking there must be some festive occasion for such a flood of light,
+ignorant as we then were of what we learned afterwards, that Rio is as
+fairy-looking by night as it appears gloomy by day.
+
+Not less surprising, and forming a strong contrast with the deficiencies
+and requirements in other particulars, are the stately fountains that
+adorn the squares. Close by the corner of each street, gushes out through
+metal cocks, a stream of clear, fresh spring-water, which has been
+conveyed by the great aqueduct a distance of 10 or 12 English miles from
+the slopes of the neighbouring Carioca or Tejuca mountain-chains. The
+water supply has been in existence for 120 years, but the present immense
+reservoir and various improvements in it have been introduced by the
+Brazilian Government. With the exception of the Croton aqueduct, near New
+York, which supplies that city with 40,000,000 gallons daily, we do not
+remember to have seen in any part of the world a similar work of such
+magnitude.
+
+The dreary, uncomfortable feeling left by the city, gives way to most
+enjoyable impressions so soon as one emerges from the suburbs of Rio, and
+seeks compensation for the absence of the appliances of European
+civilization in the eternal grace and majesty of Nature. Walks may be
+taken in every direction, each opening up a fresh point of view, while, if
+the visitor take horse or mule, he may in the course of an hour or two
+transport himself into the very midst of the most extraordinary features
+of tropical vegetation.
+
+Among the most charming of these is a ride to the rocky peak called
+Corcovado, 2300 feet high, the road to which runs through magnificent
+shady forests. On the highest pinnacle of this rocky cone, which rises
+rather abruptly on the side of the valleys of Clementi and Broca, a
+parapet has been erected within these few years, so that the traveller can
+gaze over the delightful panorama below with as much, or even more,
+comfort and security, than from the Righi or the great Winterberg in the
+Saxon Switzerland. In the south and south-east rise the two stern-looking
+mountains, Gavia and Dos Irmaos, both of considerable height, and
+encircled by the mirror-like lagoon, Rodrigo das Freitas, near which
+stands out, clothed in the most luxuriant verdure, a part of the botanical
+garden; thereafter follows the beautiful valley of Clementi and Broca,
+with the splendid Lunatic Asylum and the fort of Praya Vermelha; beyond
+which is the smiling cove of Botafogo, and the singular Sugar Loaf, which
+forms such a characteristic feature of the entrance of Rio harbour; close
+beside the latter is the fort of San Juan; and lastly, facing the entrance
+of the bay, that of Santa Cruz, the strongest in the empire. At our feet
+lay stretched out the city itself, with the beautiful valleys of
+Larangeiras, Engenho Velho, and Catumby Grande. On the other side of the
+bay, just opposite Rio, is Praya Grande, the capital of the province, and
+in the background the lofty, spectre-like mountain-chain of the Organos--
+so called from the rocky peaks projecting like so many organ-pipes. What a
+wondrous prospect! It is scarcely possible to have, from a single point of
+view, a grander or more varied natural picture. We lingered here more
+than an hour, and tore ourselves away with reluctance from all those
+glories which Nature has shed with so profuse a hand over this enchanting
+landscape.
+
+One of our companions was the veteran Brazilian naturalist, the venerable
+Dom Antonio Ildefonso Gomez, who passed several years in Europe when a
+young man, and had, together with Humboldt, once attended the lectures of
+Cuvier at Paris. M. Auguste de St. Hilaire, during his visit to Rio, spent
+several months at Dom Ildefonso's hospitable abode. Although now a
+septuagenarian, the old physician is uncommonly hale in person, full of
+his pristine enthusiasm, indefatigable in the pursuit of knowledge, and
+able to pass an entire day on the back of his mule, so that he can ride to
+the most distant consultations without betraying any symptoms of
+exhaustion. He had brought with him a number of large oranges, some cheese
+and bread, and a bottle of excellent port wine, so that there was no want
+of wherewithal to recruit our strength; and there, on the summit of the
+Corcovado, our hearts swelling with rapture as the eye ranged over the
+marvellous landscape that lay unrolled at our feet, we drank to the
+prosperity of Brazil. Dom Ildefonso, a warm friend to all foreigners,
+remarked that within forty years Brazil will probably be more German than
+Brazilian or Portuguese, and expressed a hope it might be so, as only by
+that means, so far as his observation went, could his beloved native land
+hope for a prosperous future.
+
+We returned through most charming forest scenery by way of Larangeiras
+and Andarahy. Throughout the entire distance we rode amidst the most
+exquisite specimens of tropical vegetation, palms, ebony trees, bignonias,
+plantains, mangoes, papayas, and bread-fruit trees, mingling with which we
+could discern the various trees and shrubs of the Northern Hemisphere, and
+occasionally strange plants from China, Japan, and Australia, which had
+been planted here by the enterprising hand of foreign settlers.
+
+Not less charming is the excursion to the Falls of the Tejuca, to which a
+broad road leads through blooming flower-gardens, and past delicious
+country seats, extending far into the mountains, and surrounded and
+overshadowed by a wall as it were of verdure, consisting of the flowers of
+_Bignonia bella_, intermingling with the shining leaves of the gigantic
+_Bougainvillea_. The coral tree (_Erythrina coralliflora_), the indigenous
+magnolia, the fan-shaped _urania_, numerous species of palms, and lofty,
+carefully-tended screw-pines, plantains with gigantic fruits, bread-fruit
+trees, eugenias, casuarinas, and melon trees--such are the blooming
+odoriferous attractions that here adorn garden and field. Ever threading
+his way among such charming plantations, the traveller finally reaches the
+path which, hemmed in between two mountain ridges of moderate height,
+leads direct to the Tejuca mountains, while to the right branch off
+numerous narrow paths conducting to the various adjoining eminences, from
+which a view can be obtained of the small cascade. The tropical richness
+and profusion of vegetation, has here crowded together upon a few square
+feet of soil hundreds of plants of all kinds. They strike into the soil,
+or struggle upwards to the light, or give out roots from the stems or
+branches, and all twine and tangle with each other to such an extent that
+often in these tufts and thickets one sees the top of a fern, without
+being able to distinguish any part of its stem, or a passion-flower
+without any visible stalk or leaves, all suspended in mid-air, like so
+many elegant festoons.
+
+A short distance from this singular, thoroughly tropical landscape, is the
+second, known as the Great Cascade, which, however, owes its special
+attractions rather to the character of the surrounding vegetation than to
+the volume of water. The trees here grow on a sort of amphitheatre of
+rocks, all of colossal size, and the most widely different forms, no two
+of the same species adjoining each other, their stems and branches adorned
+with the most beautiful parasites and the blood-red leaves of innumerable
+creepers, which in their lavish luxuriance now stretch like garlands from
+tree to tree, now hang perpendicularly down from the very highest branch
+of the tree like a network of green lace, till they sweep along the
+ground.
+
+The water welling out from the granite rock, rushes into the abyss below
+after traversing a rocky declivity, somewhat resembling a sloping terrace
+of about twenty fathoms wide. Its track is indicated by the
+irregularly-shaped blocks piled upon each other, some of which at a little
+distance below, their huge wide ridges enclosed by retaining walls, serve
+as spots in which to dry in the sun the ripe berries of the coffee plant,
+which in many parts hereabout forms an almost impervious forest.
+
+As we prosecute our wanderings further, we finally emerge upon the green
+hills of the vicinity, and obtain a charming glimpse of the ocean; we have
+now arrived in front of the gigantic outline of the Gavia, and directly
+facing us lies the salt-marsh, known as Tejuca-Lake, in the midst of which
+rises an island, thickly overgrown with mango-trees, standing on their
+distorted hundredfold roots; melancholy-looking examples of the inactivity
+and absence of all attention of the Brazilian authorities, who permit such
+a hot-bed of poisonous miasma to remain in the immediate vicinity of the
+city, and leave these plants unchecked to carry on their pestiferous vital
+processes!
+
+Returning from such a delightful excursion to Rio de Janeiro, the stranger
+feels doubly uncomfortable and lonely in the dreary and sombre city. The
+Brazilians are in general neither very social nor hospitable, and only,
+after many years' acquaintance, is a familiar intercourse formed with
+strangers.
+
+In this respect they bear a strong resemblance to the Spanish-Americans,
+whom they also greatly resemble in many of their habits of life.
+Foreigners settled in Rio spend their evenings generally at their country
+seats, some distance from the town, so that the occasional visitor is
+deprived of the social intercourse that might otherwise be so accessible.
+We met with a most hospitable reception at the houses of the Austrian
+Minister, Chevalier de Sonnleithner, and our Consul-General, as well as
+from some German families, and also from the "Germania," a Club founded by
+twelve Germans as far back as 1821. This Society numbers now about 200
+members, and is well supplied with German newspapers and periodicals,
+besides possessing a well-selected library of several thousand volumes,
+and a reading-room, with _restaurant_, smoking, billiard, and
+dancing-rooms attached. Of the various nationalities represented at Rio,
+the Germans are the most respected by the Brazilians. They are about 3000
+in number, and as the majority are Protestants they have their own church,
+founded by three Germans in 1827, which now numbers 600 members, and has
+an annual income of 5000 milreis.[38] The community is under the protection
+of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Council in Berlin, and accordingly, as often
+as public worship is joined in, prayers are offered up for the King of
+Prussia, as head of the church. Despite its existence for more than thirty
+years, the position occupied by the Evangelical church with reference to
+the State, has never been accurately defined, so that differences are
+constantly occurring. In connection with the congregation are a school,
+and a society for aiding distressed Germans, which numbers 200 associates,
+and has an annual income of from 6000 to 7000 milreis (L600 to L700). The
+objects of the association are the advance of money, pensions, payment of
+passage-money for transport, assistance to unemployed or sick German
+workmen, education of orphan children, and so forth. The German choral
+union had given a concert in aid of this humane society, which alone had
+realized 3100 milreis (above L300)!
+
+[Footnote 38: One milreis = 1000 reis = about 2_s._ English. The Brazilian
+milreis is of this small value as compared with that of the Portuguese (3
+to 7), in consequence of its being represented by paper-money of
+fluctuating value, which gradually became so depreciated that Government,
+when regulating the value in 1846, were not in a position to restore it to
+its par value of 3_s._ 4_d._ sterling.]
+
+It is not alone, however, as merchants, engineers, and artisans, that the
+Germans in Rio occupy a conspicuous position; they likewise contribute
+their mite to the advancement of art and science. For example, the most
+important literary enterprise in the empire is in German hands, viz. the
+printing and bookselling business of the brothers Laemmert. Their
+publications embrace two hundred and fifty works, chiefly of Portuguese
+(not Brazilian) authors, original or translated, treating of Brazilian
+legislation, history, medicine, public instruction, poetry, popular
+literature, works on religion, novels, romances, kalendars, and theatrical
+pieces. One publication due to the founder of the firm, Mr. C. Laemmert, a
+Bavarian by birth, has already proved of immense utility, the "_Almanak
+administrativo, mercantil, e industrial_," compiled by himself, first
+published in the year 1843. From a most defective little pamphlet at its
+start, this periodical publication has, in the course of time, become
+developed into an elegant, simply-classified octavo volume, 1400 pages
+thick, which, compiled carefully and kept constantly corrected to the
+latest moment, despite the most disheartening material difficulties, gives
+a very interesting insight into the entire internal organization of the
+empire, and at the same time supplies the most authentic information as
+to the scientific, commercial, and industrial activity of the city and
+province of Rio. Even more important as a medium for the diffusion of
+useful knowledge among the masses is a sort of popular kalendar, which is
+published in duodecimo form, under the title of "_Folinhas_" (Leaves), and
+for 320 reis (about 7-1/2_d._ English), gives upon 360 pages an immense
+amount of useful information. Of this publication 80,000 copies were sold
+throughout the empire in the year 1857. There are very few works of
+importance written by native authors, as they devote their energies
+chiefly to periodical literature. Of daily and monthly publications there
+are abundance, both in Rio and in the provinces, but they have only an
+ephemeral existence. The press enjoys the most unbounded freedom, and
+probably in very few continental cities would such language be tolerated
+as that of the _Courier du Bresil_, edited by a French refugee. If the
+influence of journalism in Brazil is as yet insignificant, it is in
+consequence of the prevailing ignorance, as four-fifths of the population
+are unable to read or write, and the papers published are consequently
+only in the hands of the upper classes.
+
+While we found but few opportunities of intercourse with Brazilian
+families, the public authorities received and treated us in the most
+obliging and distinguished manner. In this respect, we were particularly
+indebted to Dr. de Lagos, Dr. Schuech de Capanema, Dr. F. de Paulo Candido,
+and Dom M. de Portoalegre.
+
+These gentlemen took especial pains to make our stay in Rio as instructive
+as useful, and likewise gave us in reply to various scientific queries the
+most valuable information and practical hints. Thus, for example, we were
+favoured by Dr. de Lagos with the following particulars respecting the
+alleged efficacy of the milky sap of the assacu tree (_Hura
+Brasiliensis_), and of the bite of the rattlesnake as antidotes in cases
+of _Elephantiasis_, as also regarding the "Curare," that celebrated poison
+with which the Indians of Brazil tip their arrows.
+
+The assacu had long been employed as a remedy for the frightful malady
+known as _Elephantiasis Graecorum_, and its use was occasionally followed
+by the happiest results, without any attempt having been made thoroughly
+to investigate the specific action of the juice, although, like that of so
+many other Brazilian plants, it would probably surrender, if
+scientifically analyzed, the therapeutical energies which enable it to
+overcome occasionally the most obstinate cases of disease. The assacu is a
+tree growing in the northern provinces of Para, on making an incision into
+which there exudes a resinous sap, of a brownish or reddish-white colour,
+which coagulates, and gradually hardens. This inspissated substance is of
+a dark brown, rather resembling gum than resin, and readily soluble in
+water. When dissolved, it regains the colour and odour of the sap as it
+first trickles from the tree. A committee of physicians of Para long ago
+presented to the Brazilian Government a memorandum as to the practical
+efficacy and peculiarities of the assacu in cases of the above malady,
+according to which it appears, that the symptoms of the patient improve in
+the most marvellous manner from the very first day on which the remedy is
+used; the illness seems to be suddenly arrested, or, at all events to make
+but very slight progress. The milky sap is exhibited internally, in the
+form of pills, and a decoction of the bark is also administered by way of
+a beverage for the patient,--externally an infusion of the bark is used
+for bathing purposes. Some of those affected, to whom this remedy was
+applied, felt a sensation as of formication, immediately on taking it,
+while others experienced a feeling as though they had been submitted to a
+series of shocks of electricity, only weaker and more equable.
+
+It is a well-established fact that in many parts of South America, a
+popular belief prevails that the bite of the deadly _Cobra de cascavel_,
+or rattlesnake, heals _Elephantiasis_, or pustular leprosy, in which
+disease, as is well known, the legs and feet of those attacked are covered
+with a scurf resembling the cuticle of the elephant. However, instances of
+the practical application of so terrible a remedy, which seems to be
+almost more dreadful than the disease it professes to cure, are in all
+probability of rare occurrence, and are therefore doubly important when,
+as in the case detailed to us, they occurred under the very eyes of a man
+of science, and are related by the observer himself.
+
+A native, named Marianno Jose Machado, from Rio Pardo, in the province of
+southern Rio Grande, fifty years of age, had long been afflicted with
+morphea (_Elephantiasis Graecorum_), and had already passed four years in
+the Lazarus Hospital at Rio, when one day, worn out with his loathsome
+malady, he resolved as a last chance of being delivered from his dread
+disease, to submit to the bite of a rattlesnake. All the warnings and
+representations of the physicians, who entertained well-founded doubts as
+to the remedial efficacy of so dangerous a remedy, were disregarded.
+Marianno betook himself to a house in the Rua da Imperatriz, the occupant
+of which possessed a living rattlesnake, and there in the presence of
+numerous witnesses declared, signing at the same time a document to the
+same effect, that what he was about to do he did of his own free will,
+without any influence on the part of strangers, and that he assumed to
+himself the entire responsibility of his own deed. Marianno was of
+middling stature and athletic build; his entire skin was covered with
+rugosities, but without any appearance of ulceration, while his face was
+frightfully disfigured. The points of his fingers, moreover, had entirely
+lost their form, the skin readily peeling off from them.
+
+The daring sufferer opened the box in which lay the deadly reptile, and
+roughly seized it; but it at first attempted to escape, as though it too
+was disgusted at the horrible object before it. When, however, it felt
+itself once more squeezed, the snake turned round in self-defence, and bit
+the man on the finger. Marianno was sensible neither of the puncture of
+the teeth, nor of the instantaneous activity of the injected poison, but
+it became ere long apparent that he had been bitten, from the blood making
+its appearance, coupled with a slight swelling of the hand. Several
+physicians watched by the bedside of the sufferer; almost every half-hour
+the observed results were circumstantially reported. When, however, the
+symptoms rapidly became worse, antidotes were applied, and every effort
+made to save the patient. Nevertheless, the result of the experiment was
+as anticipated--within twenty-four hours after the bite of the rattlesnake
+Marianno was a corpse.
+
+Several members of the medical society of Vienna laid great stress on our
+procuring a considerable quantity of the celebrated poison, "_curare_,"
+used in South America for tipping arrows, with the view of instituting
+fresh experiments--similar to those already made, so as to elucidate its
+chemical and physiological properties. As the curare is not to be procured
+in Rio, but comes thither from the northern province of Para, where the
+natives procure it from the sap of the _Strychnos toxifera_, Dr. de Lagos
+promised he would take care to procure some, so as to transmit samples
+direct to the Vienna _savans_, and at the same time gave us much
+information as to the latest researches touching this substance, with
+whose remarkable properties Alexander v. Humboldt had made the scientific
+world acquainted, more than half-a-century previously, in his classic
+"Travels through the Equatorial Countries."
+
+One special peculiarity of the curare consists in the fact that, like most
+other organic poisons, it is only active when absorbed into the
+circulating system, and proves entirely innoxious, nay in some cases even
+beneficial, when introduced into the body by other means.
+
+The more the faculty became acquainted with the terrific activity, and
+invariably fatal results of this poison, the more zealously did science
+bestir itself to discover some means of neutralizing the operation of the
+curare. Quite recently the preparations of iodine-natron, when
+administered in certain proportions, have been recognized as antidotes;
+dissolved with the curare they seem entirely to obviate its evil effects.
+Careful observation and a gradual acquaintance with the properties of the
+curare, have further led to the conclusion that it may be regarded as a
+remedy in certain cases, and it has actually been administered with good
+results to animals affected with tetanic convulsions. May it be reserved
+to the physicians of our native country, to elicit from the quantity of
+this subtle and singular poison, which they may expect to receive through
+the kindness of Dr. de Lagos, such results as shall make its remedial
+properties available for man, instead of leaving its baleful energies as
+at present solely directed to the destruction of organic life!
+
+In the company of our Brazilian friends, already mentioned, we also
+visited the most interesting of the public charities and educational
+institutions of Rio.
+
+On the occasion of a visit we paid to the in part newly-erected Casa de
+Correcao, which is managed on what is known as the Auburn system, we were
+shown three Mozambique negroes, who, in 1852, had been smuggled in a
+"slaver" from the east coast of Africa into Brazil, there to be sold as
+slaves, despite the interdicts against the introduction of slaves, then
+actually in force. The vessel was, however, captured by the Brazilian
+cruisers, and the negroes forthwith restored to liberty, when, in their
+own interest, and with the view of preventing their being a second time
+sold into bondage, they were removed to a quarter of the prison away from
+the rest, and specially set apart for what are called "free Africans,"
+where they had been carefully educated and instructed in various
+handicrafts, all at the expense of the State. As a vocabulary of the
+idioms spoken by the Mozambique negroes, was an especial desideratum of
+the class of philosophic history in our Imperial Academy of Sciences, and
+there seemed to be but little prospect of our expedition visiting the
+eastern coast of Africa, we gladly availed ourselves of this unexpected
+opportunity to compile the wished-for vocabulary, in which Professor
+Portoalegre, Director of the Academy of Fine Arts, materially assisted us.
+Two of these negroes, Camillo and Ventura, were born in Quillimani, and
+belonged to the Mananpi race; the third, Jeremias, was born about sixty
+days' journey from the coast, of the Maqua race, and spoke a dialect of
+the Mozambique idiom. Ventura, a youth of, at the outside, seventeen years
+of age, related that he could perfectly remember having been stolen one
+night from his parents in Quillimani, when he was brought to a
+slave-dealer named Jones, after which he was shipped off in a wretched
+leaky vessel to the coast of Brazil. On our asking these three swarthy
+fellow-labourers, hearty of aspect and neatly clothed, who had been so
+carefully tended by the State, and earned, one as a house-servant, the
+other two as stonemasons, thirty milreis (L3 3s.) a month, whether they
+did not feel themselves better off in Rio than in their own home,--they,
+with one accord, answered that they longed to return to Quillimani, where
+it is hardly requisite to work above six months, and the rest of the year
+may be consumed in a genuine "_dolce far niente_" existence, instead of
+being compelled, as in Rio, to work the whole year round!
+
+In spite of long-continued efforts, the vocabulary turned out much less
+complete than we wished, in consequence of the limited capacity of these
+negroes. We did not content ourselves, however, with merely transcribing
+the answers to our questions, but also endeavoured to obtain a more
+accurate idea of the precise meaning attached to each, by repeating each
+of the words of the Mozambique language, and translating into it from the
+questions put in Portuguese. This method seemed to be the most effectual
+for ensuring the correctness of the pronunciation, so as to permit of its
+being afterwards reduced to writing. In the arrangement of the vocabulary,
+we availed ourselves of what is known as Gallatin's method, as it appeared
+to us more complete and comprehensive than that sent to our academy by the
+celebrated naturalist and traveller, Dr. Martius, of Munich, with a
+request that it should have his list of Latin words translated into the
+various languages hitherto unknown, or such idioms as have been as yet but
+little examined and investigated.
+
+The race, to which these three negroes belonged, seems to have been
+already converted to Christianity. At least, they all had Christian names,
+but could give us no information either as to certain heathenish rites in
+their own country, or concerning an idol of carved ivory which we showed
+them, brought from the east coast of Africa, and the method of worshipping
+it.
+
+Two of the most elegant edifices of Rio Janeiro, worthy indeed of being
+placed side by side with the largest charitable establishments in Europe,
+are the immense palace-like Hospital of the Santa Casa da Misericordia, in
+which between 8000 and 9000 patients are received and treated annually,
+and the really splendid Lunatic Asylum (_Asylo dos Alienados_), in the
+cove of Botafogo. The latter institution, founded in 1841, which, whether
+as regards the tastefulness of its architecture or its munificent
+endowment, can hardly be rivalled anywhere, owes its existence to one of
+the most estimable benefactors of his native country, Don Jose Clemente
+Pereira, Minister of the Interior at the time of its erection. This
+genial, benevolent soul, deeply acquainted with the human heart and its
+weaknesses, hit, as we were told, upon the following eminently original
+and ingenious method of raising the sums required. All grades of the
+various Brazilian orders, as well as the titles of Baron, Count, and
+Marquis, were put up for sale at fixed prices, the proceeds resulting
+from which purposes were applied to the erection and endowment of the
+asylum! And thus arose, at the south end of the cove of Botafogo, a
+splendid palatial edifice--a monument less of humanity and love of our
+afflicted neighbours, than of the vanity and frailty of poor human nature,
+the tributes to which erected it. Unfortunately, in this establishment,
+mere succour is all in all, and the cure seems entirely lost sight of, the
+sanative treatment of the patients lagging far behind their careful
+supervision; in short, it being rather a place for the safe confinement
+than the recovery of those deprived of their reason.
+
+One of the most instructive examples of how little the inhabitants of Rio
+make use of the natural capabilities of the site of their capital, is
+incontestably furnished by a piece of ground immediately adjoining the
+Lunatic Asylum, which has been dignified with the name of the Botanic
+Garden. With the exception of a very fine alley of hundreds of graceful
+king-palms (_Oreodoxa regia_), which present a magnificent spectacle,
+growing as they do with such admirable regularity as to appear rather
+artificial columns than planted trees, the eye encounters nothing but
+uncultivated land, abounding with the commonest vegetation, alternating
+with badly-selected nursery plantations, although both in the climate and
+the soil every facility is at hand for enabling this garden to be made a
+means of representing the vegetation of every zone of the globe. Even a
+large tea plantation, for the cultivation of which 10,000 Chinese were
+imported at the cost of Government, and from which, if the experiment had
+proved successful, the most important results might have been anticipated,
+stood there uncared-for and untended, a melancholy witness of how things
+are inaugurated in Brazil, and then suffered to fall through. When we
+enquired how long the garden had been laid out, our guide, a witty
+Portuguese, replied with a sarcastic smile; "Since the beginning of the
+world!" In that part of the garden which adjoins the Lagune, called
+Rodrigo das Freitas, stands a common mud hovel, with broken windows, and
+doors hanging by the hinges. This was pointed out to us by a labourer as
+the spot at which the Emperor alights and reposes when he visits the
+Botanical Garden.
+
+Singular to say, Brazil possesses no regular university! The jealousy with
+which any one city invested with certain privileges and prerogatives is
+regarded by the rest, is the reason that induced the Government to
+separate the medical and juridical classes, so that each of the four chief
+cities of the Empire benefits by the presence of a certain portion of the
+students. Thus the medical schools are in Rio Janeiro and Bahia, while
+those of jurisprudence are held in St. Paul and Pernambuco. The entire
+number of students attending these establishments amounted of late years,
+on an average, to upwards of a thousand. Great prominence has been
+assigned by Government, especially of late, to the extension of public
+instruction. In March, 1857, there were throughout Brazil, 2452 schools,
+(765 private, and 1687 public,) in which instruction was given to 82,243
+children of both sexes.[39] A school of industry, having for its object the
+instruction of able-bodied persons, was opened in 1856, and classes for
+teaching natural philosophy and political administrative science, are in
+process of being introduced. Amongst the scientific establishments of the
+country, the Historico-Geographical Institute occupies the first place,
+the meetings of which are generally attended by the Emperor as honorary
+president. This institution, which occupies in Brazil about the same
+position as the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, directs its special
+attention to the publication of old documents and manuscripts relating to
+the history of Brazil and the aboriginal population; but investigations
+relating to natural history are also included in its domain of enquiry.
+The sittings are held every alternate Friday. The naturalists of the
+_Novara_ attended one of these meetings, which took place in one of the
+wings of the palace. At half-past 6 P.M., the Emperor entered the hall, in
+plain clothes, attended by two chamberlains. All the gentlemen present
+approached one after the other and respectfully kissed the hand of their
+sovereign. On this occasion we remarked that even ladies, when presented
+to the head of the State, were accustomed to kiss his hand. The Imperial
+Honorary President, whose simple apparel was relieved only by the star of
+some order worn on the breast, took his seat at the upper end of a long,
+wide table, covered with green cloth. The associates, with the exception
+of the Vice-President and Secretaries, seemed to have no fixed seats, but
+sat in the order of their arrival. During the sitting there was the most
+marked absence of ceremony, and the business was transacted in the freest
+and easiest manner.
+
+[Footnote 39: Among the higher class of educational institutions, the
+College of Pedro Segundo ranks foremost, and is at present attended by
+about 900 students.]
+
+The proceedings were uninteresting, the greatest portion of the time being
+occupied in reading over the minutes of the last sitting, and replying to
+certain strictures upon the incapacity of land-surveyors in Brazil. Sir
+Robert Schomburgk had, in one of his works published in 1843, upon the
+subject of New Guinea, made some disparaging observations as to the method
+of admeasurement pursued in Brazil, and one member of the society, Dr.
+Schuech de Capanema, seemed to consider it his duty in his double capacity
+as a Brazilian and an engineer, to protest--somewhat tardily it must be
+owned!--against these, according to his opinion, unjust remarks. After the
+discussion was over, a manuscript was next brought forward concerning some
+of the native tribes; His Majesty expressed a wish to have this treatise
+read. The secretary accordingly made the attempt, but the writing was so
+illegible, that he was obliged to abandon the task. At the conclusion of
+the meeting, which lasted upwards of three hours, His Majesty conversed
+very affably with the Austrian gentlemen, and presented each with a copy
+of a national poem, "Conferacao dos Tamoyos," by a native poet, Goncalves
+de Magalhaes, and recently printed at His Majesty's expense, which relates
+the wars of the Tamoyos with the Portuguese residents of San Vincente--
+the last struggle of that heroic Indian race, the founding of Rio, and the
+subjugation of the entire force, under Nictheroy, by the Portuguese.
+
+The _Palaestra Scientifica_ is a branch of this institution, the members
+being chiefly naturalists. The gentlemen of the _Novara_ Expedition were
+invited to one of the meetings, which was inaugurated by the secretary
+reading aloud an ancient manuscript upon the natural resources of various
+provinces in Brazil, according to explorations, which had been undertaken
+in 1798, by the directions and at the cost of the then Portuguese
+Government. There was also read a memoir upon the culture of linseed,
+formerly carried on in the province of St. Catharina, which, however, is
+now entirely discontinued. Dr. Schuech presented to the Society
+vocabularies of the Croado and Puris languages, compiled by M. R. F. de
+Senestes, a retired Belgian ship captain, now resident at Minas, who had
+long traded with these two Indian races. Dr. Schuech also exhibited a
+pigment, or dye-stuff, extracted from the wood of the Ipe-tree, a species
+of bignonia, extensively used in the manufacture of axles. State
+Councillor and Senator Candido Baptista de Oliveira, [formerly Minister
+and Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and at that time publisher and editor of
+the _Rivista Brasileira_ (Brazilian Review)], brought forward some
+meteorological tables, and explained his new method for measuring
+altitudes. The proceedings are usually conducted in the Portuguese
+language; but out of courtesy to the foreigners, French was principally
+spoken, and the President kindly proposed that Dr. Schuech de Capanema, who
+is thoroughly versed in German, should translate into that idiom the
+proceedings as carried on in Portuguese. At the close of the sitting, the
+commander of our Expedition and the various members of the scientific
+commission were named associates of the _Palaestra Scientifica_.
+
+This society had projected an expedition to explore the western provinces
+of the empire, and some of their members were appointed to draw up the
+plan for carrying it out. The arrangements for the enterprise were on the
+grandest scale. The requisite books and scientific apparatus were ordered
+from London, Paris, Vienna, and Berlin. Every branch of science had its
+representative,--an astronomer, botanist, zoologist, ethnologist, &c.,
+were to accompany the Expedition; each section had a number of assistants,
+the astronomical as many even as nine. When we arrived in Rio, the printed
+instructions for the use of the members were just being distributed; and
+it was asserted that nothing but the non-arrival of the instruments from
+Europe prevented the departure of the Expedition. In short, the
+preparations which were made in the year 1857, justified the hope that a
+most brilliant success would be the result of an undertaking got up on so
+expensive a scale. The only pity is, that up till now--more than three
+years later--the Expedition has had but little result, and, according to
+the latest intelligence from Rio, some of the members in the north-east of
+the province of Ceara cannot proceed any further for want of money (_por
+falta de dinhero_), and expect new funds in order to continue their
+explorations and their efforts in search of the wild tribes (_em busca das
+tribus selvaticas!_) in the interior of Maranhao.
+
+There is, generally speaking, in Brazil, as in all other South-American
+States peopled by the Roman race, much of good-will, and still more
+vanity, to follow in the wake of northern European civilization in
+everything pertaining to progress and investigation; but there is wanting
+that energy, that perseverance so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race,
+which are essential conditions in successfully carrying out any
+undertaking, however zealously entered upon. This probably is the reason
+why in Brazil so many things in science and social life are begun and
+never brought to a conclusion; there is nowhere more talk about _what is
+to be done_, than at Rio de Janeiro. Thus, for example, the Museum of
+Natural History at the Campo Santa Anna, is an elegant building, with
+magnificent apartments, and large elegantly fitted cases--which, however,
+contain as yet but few objects of natural history, even those being most
+unsystematically arranged.
+
+Another educational institution--the Military Academy--founded under John
+VI., in 1810, for the instruction of the engineers and officers of the
+various scientific corps, has, since then, undergone nine reforms, and was
+just about to undergo another one! In this establishment the highly
+objectionable practice still exists, of making every pupil acquainted with
+the chapter and verse of the subjects of examination twenty-four hours
+before it takes place.
+
+The Public Library, though little more than begun at the period of our
+visit, already comprised 86,000 volumes, and is annually increased by an
+addition of five or six hundred. This institution was, in 1856, visited by
+3407 readers, who perused 7717 volumes, mostly in Portuguese and French,
+consisting of 238 on theology, 1046 on political economy, 2879 on natural
+science, 153 on the fine arts, 1083 on history, and 2318 on
+belles-lettres, which furnishes a very fair criterion for estimating the
+education of those availing themselves of these advantages.
+
+Another institution, which is an evidence of the efforts now making by the
+Brazilians to gratify their national vanity, is the _Conservatorio da
+Musica_, a newly-established institution for the promotion of the _opera
+lyrica nacional_, the number of pupils attending which averages 100. A
+custom has lately prevailed of sending one or two of the most gifted of
+these annually to Europe to complete their musical studies. During a four
+years' residence there, each pupil has a stipend from the Imperial
+exchequer of 3000 francs per annum; and in the event of obtaining a prize
+abroad, he receives a gratuity of 1000 francs; his compositions, however,
+in that case become the property of the parent institution. By this means
+the Brazilians hope to render themselves entirely independent of foreign
+musical talent. "Why should we annually pay hundreds of thousands of
+francs to foreign singers and concert-givers?" said a Brazilian to us one
+day in all earnestness. "We shall soon have our own artists--Brazilian
+Thalbergs, Grisis, and Lablaches!" Confessedly the inhabitants of the
+United States have been vain enough in all conscience; but when we
+consider the wonderful advances made by that active, energetic people, and
+contemplate their surpassing qualities, such a national foible is readily
+overlooked. In Brazil, on the contrary, the contempt affected for
+everything foreign, the fretful impatience to become emancipated from the
+smallest resemblance to European customs, is exceedingly childish and even
+ludicrous in a country which can hardly yet be said to be able to stand
+alone, since the pressure of circumstances is daily making them more and
+more dependent on other countries, and where it is necessary to import
+from abroad not merely the evidences of high culture, but the very first
+necessaries of life, even to obtaining supplies of foreign labour. This
+overweening self-esteem has rather increased, since it has become the
+fashion of young Brazilians, of the better classes, to visit Europe for
+the completion of their studies, as will, perhaps, be best illustrated by
+the following laughable anecdote:--A young Brazilian, the son of a German
+father and a native lady, who had but recently returned from Europe,
+overheard one of his friends asking another if he could tell of what
+country he thought the fresh arrival to be, at the same time indicating
+the youth, who just came from the academy of Freiberg. "There can be no
+doubt on that point," was the reply; "the blue eyes, light hair, and fair
+complexion, distinctly indicate that the gentleman is a German." "God
+forbid!" (_Deu m'en guarda!_) exclaimed the young gentleman, who seemed as
+it were ashamed of his foreign descent, and to feel even more indignation
+than a full-blood Brazilian at such a mortifying imputation.
+
+Among the various institutions recently established in Rio, the
+introduction of which is intended to be made available in promoting the
+physical well-being of the people, the foremost place must indisputably be
+assigned to the Board of Health (_Junta Central de Hygiena Publica_). It
+owes its origin to the appearance of the yellow fever and the cholera,
+which had never been known before in the country. The former broke out on
+the 29th December, 1850, having been introduced by vessels that had
+cleared from Bahia, at which port it had been raging for some weeks. The
+ravages of this pestilence were fearful in Rio; out of a population of
+250,000 souls, as many as 120,000 were attacked, and upwards of 5000 fell
+a sacrifice to the disease.
+
+The first case of cholera occurred a few years later, on the 15th of July,
+1855; and during the months in which it prevailed, nearly the same number
+(to be more precise, 4826) of the inhabitants of the capital were carried
+off. The fatal cases throughout the empire from this epidemic during the
+eighteen months between May, 1855, and December, 1856, are said to have
+amounted to the enormous number of 107,093! Dr. Francisco de Paulo
+Candido, one of the most eminent physicians of Rio, and the principal
+member of the Board of Health, states, in a report to the Government,
+relative to the statistics of the cholera throughout the empire, that he
+had observed, during the prevalence of the epidemic, three phenomena,
+which seemed to stand in a certain relation to its appearance, increase,
+and decrease, viz., the almost entire disappearance of the ozon in July
+and following months, when the disease was on the _increase_; the gradual
+increase of that atmospheric agent, in proportion to the decrease of the
+disorder; and lastly, the influence exercised by humidity and sudden
+changes in temperature on the intensity of the disease. Dr. Candido has
+added to his highly instructive report some meteorological tables and a
+graphical representation of the presence and absence of ozon in the
+atmosphere, which will be published, in its proper place, in the medical
+section of the present work.
+
+The consequence of the ravages of these two scourges was, that a variety
+of other measures for securing the public health were inaugurated by the
+newly-established Board of Health. Among others, a hospital was set on
+foot in a charming part of the Cove of Jurujuba,[40] at the eastern
+extremity of the Bay of Rio, expressly for the reception of patients
+afflicted with yellow fever or cholera. Every morning since that attack,
+(and during the unhealthy season several times a day), a small Government
+steamer, fitted up for the purpose, plies round the bay, to take up any
+cases that may happen to occur on board the ships arriving, and convey
+them hither free of charge. Two medical men on board the steamer commence
+the treatment, by applying the necessary remedies, during the passage
+from the ship to the hospital. Any vessel at anchor in the bay with an
+epidemic on board, has, according to arrangement, simply to hoist a flag
+on the mainmast, whereupon the Government steamer immediately embarks the
+sick persons. In order more effectually to keep from all contact with the
+population of the town, such shipboard patients as are labouring under
+infectious complaints, another hospital has been established on the Island
+of Marica, situated beyond the bar.
+
+[Footnote 40: Pronounced Shooru-shooba.]
+
+In consequence of these recent epidemic attacks, much greater attention
+than formerly has of late been paid to the cleanliness of the capital of
+the Brazilian empire, though a great deal has yet to be done in this
+respect. Rio used to be, without exception, the dirtiest city in the
+world. As there were neither gutters nor sewers, all impurities
+accumulated during the twenty-four hours used, towards evening, to be
+carried by negroes on their heads, in pails and casks, to the bay, and,
+singularly enough, emptied in the immediate vicinity of the Imperial
+palace, whereby several quarters of the city, particularly in the hot
+season, were rendered entirely uninhabitable. The execution of proper
+drainage and sewerage works in a city such as Rio, which lies on a flat
+and is densely built near the water, must be at all times attended with a
+very large expenditure of money. But who would boggle at any amount for an
+object which concerns the bodily health, not merely of the present, but of
+all succeeding generations? At the period of our visit, the Government had
+entered into a contract with Messrs. Joaquim Pereira de Lima and J. F.
+Russell, by which, in consideration of a lease for ninety years of
+certain taxes specially levied, the two contractors have undertaken to
+introduce into the capital of Brazil a system of harbour and street
+purification, similar to that which has long been in general use
+throughout England. There had also been lately started a _Companhia
+Reformadora_, having for object the widening and beautifying of certain
+streets, and the improvement of the paving. One must have lived in Rio,
+where each street and open square is a hotbed of fever and sickness, to be
+able aright to estimate the importance of the two last-named associations.
+
+A war steamer was, by the command of H.M. the Emperor of Brazil, placed at
+our disposal, to afford us an opportunity of viewing more closely the most
+beautiful points in the magnificent bay of Rio. There were on board with
+us the Captain of the Port, Dom Francisco de Perura Pinto, the captains of
+the Brazilian men-of-war lying in the harbour, as also several members of
+the Historico-Geographical Institute. A military band enlivened the party
+by playing national airs during the day. We first visited the south-east
+part of the bay at the villages of San Domingo and Ponta da Armacao,
+opposite to Ponta da Area, whence steamers, for navigating the bay and
+adjoining coast, are run by an English company, which employs 667 hands,
+(of whom 298 are foreigners, 207 natives, and 162 negro slaves). Except a
+part of the funds advanced by native capitalists, the whole undertaking is
+carried out by foreigners. England furnishes the engineers and machinery,
+whilst the requisite timber is brought from Norway and North America. The
+value of the labour employed during 1856 amounted to nearly L90,000.--We
+proceeded hence past the islands of Salinas and Honorio, and between the
+island of Baretto and the eastern shore of the bay, as far as the
+luxuriant island of Paqueta, on the lovely shores of which we landed. It
+has a circumference of five miles, and is inhabited by 16,000 persons, who
+convert shells into chalk; nearly all the houses on shore are chalk-kilns.
+During the dry season this island is the favourite Sunday resort of the
+_fluminenses_, as the Rio de Janeirians delight to call themselves. From
+this sweet spot the steamer carried us to the north side of the bay. In
+the back-ground, the Organos mountains now appeared in all the majesty of
+their imposing outline, whilst on one of the projecting ridges, the church
+San Francisco de Croara forms an extremely picturesque object.
+
+[Illustration: ISLAND OF PAQUITA, BAY OF RIO.]
+
+The more the northern portion of the bay is approached, the more romantic
+becomes the panorama of the mountains: from this point stand out in their
+full grandeur the Serra da Estrella, the Serra da Tingua (which is
+currently believed to be the highest mountain, not merely on the bay, but
+in Brazil), then the deep valley of Santa Cruz, next to which the
+mountain-chains of Suaratyba, and the Serra de Iguassou, rise
+majestically, melting away into the charming Tejuca chain, the Gavia, and
+the world-renowned Corcovado, whilst the Sugar Loaf, that gigantic
+guardian at the entrance of the harbour, splendidly terminates this
+magnificent amphitheatre.
+
+We passed the largest of the islands in the bay, the Ilha do Governador,
+which has a circumference of upwards of seven miles, and is inhabited by
+about a hundred persons chiefly employed in the chalk-kilns, sail-cloth
+and soap manufactories; and touched at some wild spots that promised a
+harvest for our naturalists. Here and there, from the deep blue waters,
+sprang up islands of the most luxuriant vegetation, like tropical idylls
+of rock and forest, such as the eye marvels to rest upon, but the pen
+refuses to describe. Indelibly impressed on our minds remains in this
+respect the lovely islet of Catalan, with its beautiful flowers and palms.
+
+On approaching the capital, towards the east of the bay, passing the
+island Bom Jesus, with a magnificent Franciscan monastery, and the Ponta
+do Caju, with charming country seats, a forest of masts, strikes the eye
+in bold contrast with the Sugar Loaf in the east, and the Morro de Viracao
+and the fort Pico in the west, which covers the position of Santa Cruz.
+Unfortunately we went down, just at this point, to a splendid banquet,
+etiquette requiring that we should exchange the quarter-deck for the
+state-room; for in Brazil also, upon such occasions, meals and
+speechifying play an important part, and greatly prejudice the special
+object of travel--the enjoyment of nature.
+
+We were not yet done, however, with our excursion. Again we turned towards
+the beautiful Cove of Jurujuba, where on the shore lay pretty little
+cottages embowered in the richest foliage, while, through a deep
+depression, appeared the masts of ships which were still on the bosom of
+the ocean outside, on the point of entering the harbour. As the vessel
+steamed in, the scenery changed character at every moment, like a fairy
+landscape, full of the loveliest, most enchanting glimpses of the
+surrounding country. At Jurujuba, we landed to visit the _Hospital
+Maritimo de S. Isabel_, erected in 1853, for the reception of sailors in
+ill-health of all nations and creeds. It proved of immense utility during
+the prevalence of epidemics. In the five years of its existence at the
+period of our visit, there had been admitted nearly 6000 cases of yellow
+fever.[41] For the excellent management of this fine hospital the utmost
+credit is due to the physicians in charge, Dr. Bento Maria da Costa, and
+Dr. Jose Teixeira da Souza.
+
+[Footnote 41: In the year 1856, 2452 patients were received into the
+hospital at Jurujuba Cove, of whom 175 died, 2195 were dismissed cured,
+and 82 remained under treatment. By comparison with former years, the
+number of sick seemed to have fallen off 13 per cent., while the expenses
+of management had increased 9 per cent.]
+
+The ground immediately surrounding the hospital has been reclaimed by the
+hand of man, and transformed into a garden, in which flourish, in
+solitary majesty, the shady _Aleurites triloba_ and the _Anda Gomesii_,
+growing in avenues or other regular groups, after all wild vegetation had
+been cut down. But at the first step beyond, the foot of the wanderer
+through these solitudes strikes into paths leading through the richest,
+densest forest scenery Casuarinas (_Anacardium occidentale_), with its
+luscious pear-shaped fruits, the Indian mango-tree, the various species of
+Eugenia, so rich in ethereal oil, the Figuera Branca (_ficus doliaria_),
+the canoe-tree, a gigantic species of _Bombax_, protected by sharp spines,
+and other lofty forest-children, reach to the very buildings; while, amid
+the dense underwood that grows unchecked, and a few paces distant only
+from the dwellings of man, lurk dangerously poisonous snakes, who find
+here a secure haunt. Within our own experience, as one of the botanists of
+the Expedition was placing a ladder against a primaeval forest tree, the
+progenitor of numberless scions, he stumbled upon a poisonous Jacaraca,
+ready to defend from intrusion his accustomed resting-place.
+
+At the north-west entrance of Jurujuba Cove, rises a lofty island, with
+the appropriate name of Bom Viajem ("a happy voyage"), with its church of
+the Virgin of the same name, situate on the extreme summit, 400 feet in
+height. As, during our visit to the hospital, the twilight had crept
+stealthily on, we returned without further stoppage to Rio; when the
+company, landing at the usual landing-place of the arsenal, separated,
+full of the most pleasing impressions, arising from the beautiful scenery
+enjoyed during the day, and a deep sense of gratitude for the noble
+hospitality shown us by our amiable hosts.
+
+Another favour was conferred by Drs. de Lagos and Schuech, who formed a
+fishing-party on a grand scale, which was greatly enjoyed by all, though
+the gun proved more profitable to our naturalists than rod, line, or net.
+
+As the number of days at our disposal in Rio Janeiro began to diminish, we
+applied ourselves to seeing the utmost possible with the smallest
+sacrifice of time. The morning after our excursion on board the Santa
+Cruz, we attended a sitting of the Chamber of Deputies. The hall, oval in
+shape, is plainly, but comfortably fitted up. The members sit on benches
+in a semicircle. Opposite the president stand tables for the ministers of
+state; at the upper and lower end of the hall are galleries for the
+public, and one is specially assigned to the diplomatic body. Each member
+speaks from his place. Their language is very free and their behaviour
+still more so,--they sometimes carry this so far as not to allow a speaker
+to proceed; and in screaming, brawling, and violence, they excel even
+certain members of the late French Chamber of Deputies. There are said to
+be some very able speakers amongst the Brazilians. The subject of debate
+was a petition presented to the House for an inquiry into the conduct of a
+late minister of justice, who was accused of having tyrannically dismissed
+a government officer in the province of Maranhao. The subject had created
+great interest in the public mind, and the galleries were crowded to
+suffocation; we did not remain till the conclusion of the debate, but the
+minister is said to have justified the proceeding by proving that the
+officer had allowed himself to be bribed.
+
+On the same day we made an excursion to the Serra da Estrella and
+Petropolis, a place which has of late excited so much attention in the
+public journals, since the question of German emigration to Brazil, with
+its accompaniments of agitations by the Brazilian recruiting agents, began
+to assume its present remarkable proportions. Though the distance from Rio
+to Petropolis may be accomplished in four hours, yet three different
+vehicles are required:--in the first place, a steamer from Rio to the
+railway-station on the opposite side of the bay, then the railway to
+Fragosa, and lastly, a carriage to the final destination over an excellent
+road which runs through the mountains to Petropolis.
+
+This fine work, which was opened in 1848, is unfortunately the only one of
+its kind in the whole empire,[42] as are likewise the five miles of
+railway between Maua and Fragosa; and yet how highly important would
+railway communication prove from the metropolis to the northern provinces,
+by means of which the excessive cost of carriage by mules might be so
+considerably reduced, benefiting alike the landowner and the merchant! As
+an illustration, the fact may be mentioned, that the cost of transit for
+an arroba (32 lbs.) of coffee from the coffee district of Vassouras to
+Rio, a distance of about 50 miles, amounts to from 700 to 800 reis (about
+1_s._ 8_d._). The trouble and expense connected with this miserable mode
+of conveyance, so much enhance the price of some kinds of natural produce,
+that it does not pay to transport them to the harbour of the capital.
+Several companies have latterly been projected, and money subscribed for
+constructing railways in the various provinces of the empire, and a few of
+these are already under weigh, as, for example, that of Dom Pedro Segundo,
+which will put the richest provinces in direct communication with Rio, and
+for which the amount of money required has been entirely subscribed. But
+in this, as in all other Brazilian enterprises, energy is wanting to make
+these good intentions bear fruit; and so long as there is not a greater
+admixture of foreign go-a-head-ativeness in the country, much must remain
+confined to the mere expression of patriotic wishes. And in this
+connection, foreign immigration, of which we shall treat further on, will
+prove of immense importance.
+
+[Footnote 42: This road is to be continued from Petropolis as far as
+Parahyba; and in various other directions also the building of roads for
+commercial traffic is being fostered by Government. The Brazilian
+Government are at the same time turning their attention to improving the
+existing means of transport by importing dromedaries for use. As it
+withstands variation of temperature, and thrives on almost any kind of
+nourishment, the dromedary is certain to do well, especially in the
+northern provinces, and will prove exceedingly serviceable in the
+transport of the products of that section of the country. The great heat
+and drought which prevail in Maranhao, Piauhy, Matto Grosso, and that
+direction generally, is eminently suitable to the dromedary, which does
+not thrive in hot _damp_ weather. It is calculated that a dromedary, which
+can carry an average weight of 700 pounds, (being six times what a horse,
+and four times what a mule will carry on his back), costs, in his own
+country, from L12 to L16; and after paying cost of transport to Brazil,
+will be worth L48. With the introduction of the "ship of the desert," that
+of the date-palm must go hand in hand, as that fruit constitutes the chief
+food of the dromedary, and will probably simultaneously effect a great
+change in the articles of consumption by the lower orders.]
+
+The journey by carriage through the Sierra from Fragosa to Petropolis is
+extremely beautiful. He who is not fortunate enough to enter deeper into
+the interior, at least obtains here an idea of what constitutes a primaeval
+Brazilian forest. The wonders of tropical vegetation, as manifested not
+only by vastness of form but also by gorgeous and rank luxuriance, strike
+the eye at first-sight almost the same way as an overpowering chorus
+affects the ear. It requires time to collect the thoughts, so as to be
+able to appreciate and enjoy thoroughly the extraordinary beauties that
+impress the wondering mind.
+
+If the eye of the astonished traveller has been but in the most cursory
+manner directed to the vegetable phenomena that surround him, it must have
+rested on a climbing plant, which constitutes one of the chief marvels of
+the native woods. This singular creeper is the _Cipo matador_, a climbing
+plant of a very peculiar aspect, at once the most powerful and most
+destructive of all the Cipo tribe. It twines round the stems of lofty
+trees, which its flattened coils gradually constrict with almost life-like
+cruelty! Its aerial roots run out from all parts and embrace the tree like
+artificial clamps, forming in some places complete rings, and in others
+growing into the very bark. The tree, in consequence of this parasitic
+embrace, dies away by degrees, whilst its destroyer continues to grow
+gaily on the corpse of its victim, and spreads its leafy crown until it
+falls and perishes simultaneously with the support that had hitherto
+upheld it. To what profound reflections does the contemplation of this
+spectacle give rise! Involuntarily our thoughts fly from the wild
+Brazilian forest to the plains of civilization,--to the modern society
+where, likewise, many a noble human nature is slowly undermined by a
+treacherous Cipo matador of flesh and blood, till too surely he falls
+prone on the ground!
+
+Petropolis is, on account of its more temperate and healthy climate, a
+favourite residence of the wealthy Rio de Janeirians, and during the hot
+season, when the sultriness of the air, if not something worse, renders
+life almost unendurable, Petropolis is said to have the appearance of a
+European spa. It is at the same time the summer residence of the Emperor,
+and the only place in Brazil where an electric telegraph--uniting it with
+Rio de Janeiro--has been established. The town contains about 7000
+inhabitants; the streets, when completed, will be broad and handsome,--but
+only one has as yet been finished, the others being merely marked out,
+while even among the clean and neat houses already erected, there are
+frequent and wide gaps.
+
+The German colony, planned by a German engineer, Julius Friedr. Koehler, is
+at a little distance from Petropolis. The first colonists who arrived on
+the 30th of July, 1845, came mostly from Baden and the Rhenish provinces.
+The Government granted to each family a cottage, with a slice of forest
+near it, a cow, a dozen of chickens, and about L5 in money. Such at least
+was the information given us at Petropolis. Koehler soon afterwards met
+with a sad end at a newly-formed shooting ground. Many an emigrant family
+perished in misery; others, however, overcame the difficulties that beset
+them at the commencement; more emigrants arrived, and now one may walk,
+within a few hours, through the Rhine and Mosel valleys, Nassau,
+Darmstadt, Ingelheim, Bingen, the Palatinate and Switzerland, as the
+emigrants, in fond commemoration of their native homes, call their small
+settlements, which run some distance through the mountain valleys. The
+German origin of these settlements displays itself distinctly in the
+cleanliness and neatness of their log cabins, the affability of the
+people, the heartiness of their greeting, the fair hair, curly heads, and
+beautiful blue eyes of the children, as well as the language and music
+which is now and then heard.
+
+Petropolis is, however, not an agricultural colony in the real sense of
+the word, the majority of the 2500 Germans settled there obtaining a
+livelihood as artizans and labourers. The Government has done much to
+promote the growth of the colony, by making roads, and establishing
+schools. Still the people never become agriculturists, on account of the
+sterility of the soil; but as the road to the province of Minas Geraes
+runs through the place, the settlement will always retain some importance.
+For the cargoes of coffee which are conveyed by mules from the interior to
+the harbour, Petropolis is the last station, and will remain so for a long
+time yet, for the large outlay required renders it unlikely that the
+projected railway will soon be completed.
+
+Several attempts have been made to establish similar German colonies in
+various provinces of the empire, but, unfortunately, with as yet even less
+success than in the Serra da Estrella. However, the activity of the
+Brazilian emigration agents has much increased in different German ports;
+for the remarkable words of the Emperor, with which he opened the
+Chambers in May, 1854, at Rio,--"The necessity of a settled industrious
+population becomes more and more urgent,"--have become since then even
+more significant; in fact, the result of the endeavours on the part of the
+Government to increase the amount of labour by immigration, is now a
+question of life or death for the empire. Every disinterested person feels
+that, without an increase of labour, productive activity is impossible;
+nay, some even apprehend a considerable decrease in the producing
+capabilities of the country, in consequence of the effect to be
+anticipated in Brazil from the abolition of the slave-trade by the
+interference of England. Up to the year 1851, the importation of negro
+slaves continued undiminished, notwithstanding the treaty with England of
+1826, in which the abolition of the slave-trade forms one of the
+conditions on which the recognition of the Brazilian crown by the
+Government of Her Britannic Majesty was made specially contingent.
+According to a statement of the Foreign Office, there were from 1842 to
+1851 (despite the treaty) 325,615 negroes sold as slaves in Brazil, so
+that the amount of the slave population is now upwards of 2,000,000 souls.
+
+The condition of the black population in this country is materially
+different from that of the United States and the West Indies. The colour
+of the skin, which renders the life of even free and prosperous negroes
+almost intolerable in the northern states of America, where they are
+subject to so many humiliations, makes in Brazil no difference whatever.
+The question here is not whether white or black, but whether free or a
+slave. Free negroes may here occupy the highest places in the State, and
+even exercise a certain influence on the destiny of the white inhabitants.
+Slaves also are treated here with more humanity and less prejudice than in
+any other country visited by me, on which the curse of slavery yet rests;
+yet it must be confessed, without hesitation, that slavery, as beheld in
+Brazil, seems even a greater misfortune to the white population than to
+the black; for neither agriculture nor industry can thrive in a country
+where labour is not considered, as in free States, an honourable
+occupation--but rather as a disgrace--in consequence of its being
+performed by slaves. Not merely the blacks, who have no interest in being
+industrious, but their masters also are lazy, and approaching ruin becomes
+more and more certain. Free labour alone, by obtaining the upper hand in
+the country, can remedy these things. Slave labour cannot long compete
+with it. The intelligence, activity, and perseverance of 100,000 free
+white labourers will promote the prosperity and the happiness of Brazil,
+much more than the compulsory labour of two millions of negroes in
+bondage.
+
+In consequence of repeated and energetic remonstrances on the part of the
+British Government, the slave-trade has now ceased in Brazil, and "one of
+the grandest monuments of our century," as the celebrated declaration by
+the Congress of Vienna termed the entire suppression of the
+slave-trade,[43] may be considered by this circumstance approaching its
+termination.
+
+[Footnote 43: Declaration des puissances sur l'abolition de la traite des
+negres, du 8 Fevrier, 1815. L. Neumann, Recueil des traites et conventions
+conclus par l'Autriche (Leipzig, 1856. Vol. II., p. 502).]
+
+As the Government became convinced that there was not the least hope of
+reaping any advantage from civilizing the aboriginal tribes, it had
+recourse to free immigration, and promoted it in every way.[44] It
+endeavoured, particularly in the warmer northern provinces, to replace the
+deficiency of negroes by Chinese Coolies, who were imported from different
+parts of China; but they could not stand the climate, and were not found
+capable of advantageously replacing the negro in his various and often
+very heavy labour. This partially arose from the indiscriminate selection
+of the immigrants, as the agents, when they could not obtain able-bodied
+men, did not scruple to make up their cargo with whatever came to hand.
+
+[Footnote 44: It may be useful, however, on many accounts to observe, that
+the Brazilian Government take considerable pains to adapt this doomed race
+for a civilized mode of existence. A law of 19th September, 1855, assigned
+an annual sum of L6000 for the proper execution of this humane project. In
+order to remedy the very marked deficiency of suitable missionaries, the
+Government, through its representative in Paris, invited a number of
+Catholic priests from France--men, whose rearing and zeal for their faith
+had effected such marvels among the Indians of Canada. But the aborigines
+of Brazil seem hopelessly degraded, and are destined, after having filled
+their appointed place in the history of nations, to make room for a more
+energetically endowed race.]
+
+The Government pays, therefore, the utmost attention to European
+immigration; it has agents in Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium, and
+especially in Germany; and endeavours to organize associations that have
+for their object the settlement of industrious labourers in the country,
+and to support colonies already in existence, till they are in a position
+to maintain themselves. In Brazil, the conviction is pretty general, that
+only an emigration _en masse_ of white labour can save this splendid
+country from ruin, though there are individuals who entertain a different
+opinion, and think--perhaps not altogether without reason--that the energy
+and industry of European settlers might eventually--considering the
+indolent and careless disposition of their countrymen--prove destructive
+to the national element!
+
+The most striking proof of how thoroughly in earnest the leading members
+of the Brazilian Government are in their efforts to procure an immigration
+of foreign labour, may be found in the report of the Commission upon the
+new tariff, in which the following passage occurs, illustrative of the
+advantages which may be expected to be reaped from European emigration on
+a large scale:--"'These foreign labourers arrive here poor, and depart
+from the country laden with our gold and silver, and, like blood-suckers,
+absorb our natural riches!' is the remark of those who are ignorant of the
+true interests of Brazil. For to whom are we indebted for our capital, for
+the industry and commerce which we have? To whom belong those
+manufactories which the people want to protect, and in whose favour so
+much is said? Why, to foreigners! Foreign hands and foreign capital
+cultivate our soil, expand our trade and commerce, and promote the arts.
+The _results_ of their labour remain, though they may themselves quit the
+country! Foreigners man our ships, build our manufactories, and supply
+them with hands; foreigners buy our produce and carry it to distant
+markets; foreigners render our forests and rivers productive; they work
+our mines, uncover the metallic wealth of our country, and educate our
+children! Capital, practical science, instruments, and machines, with
+which we perform our labours, belong mostly to foreigners; and,
+consequently, these blood-suckers are just the very men who render our
+land productive, preserving, instead of, as some erroneously imagine,
+depriving us of our vitality. The money which they take back to their
+homes is amply replaced by the treasures they leave behind in the product
+of their labour, and in the branches of industry which they have
+introduced or improved."[45]
+
+[Footnote 45: Of the sixty-four manufactories and workshops, twenty-eight
+belong to foreigners; and there is not a single industrial establishment
+in which foreigners are not employed, either as managers, engineers, or
+labourers.]
+
+More explicitly and discerningly it was hardly possible for Government to
+speak, and to enumerate the glorious results which the country may expect
+from the introduction of foreign industry and foreign activity, although
+such an official avowal could not fail to wound the national pride of the
+Brazilians.
+
+Notwithstanding this strong language of the Government, and all the
+enticements and zealous activity of the Brazilian agents in the various
+ports of Europe, the emigration to that country, in 1856, amounted to
+only 13,800 souls.[46] Among this number there were but 628 agriculturists,
+all the others coming merely with the view of obtaining a livelihood in
+the capital as artizans and labourers. There are probably in all the
+Brazilian agricultural colonies, at this moment, not more than 40,000
+emigrants settled, that is to say, about as many as emigrate in the course
+of three months to the United States!
+
+[Footnote 46: Namely: 9159 Portuguese, 1822 Germans, and 2819 of other
+nations.]
+
+The number of Germans emigrating to Brazil is strikingly small, when
+compared with the total annual emigration from that country. Of 61,413
+individuals, who, in 1856, embarked from Hamburg and Bremen, only 1822
+went to Brazil. The cause of this may be that, simultaneously with the
+large promises held out by the agents, warning voices were heard depicting
+in the most gloomy colours the terrible trials that await the unfortunate
+immigrant on his touching Brazilian soil.[47] Of late such excellent works
+have been published concerning Brazil, that we may advise all who take a
+special interest in the condition of that empire to study these works, the
+more so as the views therein expressed exactly coincide with our own
+impressions.[48]
+
+[Footnote 47: Among these, the opposition of the late Consul-General for
+Brazil at Dresden, Mr. John Sturz, deserves special mention, as, despite
+the threats of losing his appointment, that gentleman was incessantly
+occupied in exposing the iniquities of the Parceria system (see _post_),
+and recommending the immigrant, so long as such a slavish system
+continued, to refrain from turning his steps towards Brazil. Mr. Sturz had
+recently the enviable misfortune of being sacrificed to his own strong
+sense of justice, and dismissed from all employment by the Brazilian
+administration, though not without carrying with him the respect and
+admiration of every friend of humanity. An excellent and circumstantial
+description of the present condition of the German colonies in southern
+Brazil will be found in Dr. Ave Lallemant's attractive "Travels through
+Southern Brazil in 1858." (Leipzig, 1859.)]
+
+[Footnote 48: H. Handelmann's "History of Brazil" (Berlin, 1860), a
+remarkably profound and instructive work, devotes a special section (p.
+933) to the subject of German emigration, and gives a very copious and
+complete insight into the various missions and works since 1819 to the
+present day, which treat of German emigration and colonization.]
+
+So long as the unoccupied lands are not surveyed, laid out in lots, and
+sold at a small rate to the settler, as, for instance, in the United
+States; so long as the immigrant is unable to improve for himself his own
+plot of ground, but must remain a mere field-labourer, working for some
+foreign master, according to the iniquitous _Parceria_, or half-profits
+system;[49] so long as the expense of transport of the emigrant is to be
+worked off by future payments out of his labour, so long must every friend
+of humanity strongly dissuade the emigrant from proceeding to the great
+South American Empire.
+
+[Footnote 49: The modern Brazilian system of _Parceria_ may be shortly
+stated as that by which a planter engages in Europe such of the poorer
+classes as are desirous of emigrating, and has them transported at his own
+cost to Brazil, where they are engaged as farmers, with half profits, upon
+the coffee and sugar plantations, and contracting to reimburse him, by
+their personal services and labour, for the outlay he has been at for
+their transport, maintenance, instruction, &c. Until all these have been
+repaid by the improvement in the rent or productive powers of the land,
+they must remain, as working out their emancipation from the lord of the
+soil, veritable "_adscripti glebae_." After that has been attained they are
+free people, and may leave if they please, or may sink into the rank of
+"unattached labourers," which implies their assigning half of the net
+produce of the land to the ground landlord, the remaining half being their
+remuneration for labour. Proprietorship in the soil is never attainable by
+these farmers on half profits, inasmuch as the Parceria system can only
+exist where the soil is already exclusively vested in a planting
+aristocracy. (See Handelmann, etc., p. 568).]
+
+For Brazil, beautiful, fertile, and abounding in undeveloped natural
+wealth, two alternatives are alone open at present--either ruin to the
+producing power of the population through deficiency of industrial power,
+or the throwing open the land to foreign emigration by means of the most
+extensive concessions. The longer this is deferred, the more oppressively
+will the want of manual labour manifest itself; and the more advantages
+will foreign emigration secure.
+
+Once, however, these important stipulations are conceded, the German
+emigrants may forthwith bend their steps to the coasts of Brazil, where
+the glorious dawn of a magnificent future is surely breaking for them.
+While, in the United States, the problem to be solved by the German
+emigrants seems to be, to mingle German industry, German capacity, and
+German knowledge, with the keen spirit of enterprise and restless energy
+of the Anglo-Saxon race, and gradually to assimilate with it,--on the
+other hand, in the South American continent, it appears as though the
+German element were about gradually to gain the upperhand of the Latin
+stock, and permanently to conquer for German industry and German commerce,
+one of the fairest countries on the globe with the weapons of peace--the
+spade and plough.
+
+Brazil is, however, of great interest to Germany not merely on account of
+the prospects she holds out for its overflowing population. A market,
+teeming with the most important colonial products, with an area[50] of
+3,956,800 English square miles, and an annual consumption of nearly
+L10,000,000, must in the highest degree attract the attention and excite
+the most favourable anticipations of a country such as Germany, the
+majority of whose inhabitants are engaged in manufactures.
+
+[Footnote 50: According to the computation of the Historico-Geographical
+Institute of Brazil.]
+
+The chief article of Brazilian trade at present is coffee, the production
+of which, in consequence of the great profit of late years derived from
+it, has increased so much, that it has superseded the cultivation of all
+other produce; thus, notwithstanding the fertility and capability of the
+ground, even the commonest necessaries of life, as, for instance,
+potatoes, must be imported from abroad, the majority of the rural
+population being engaged in labour for the foreign market, and only very
+few for home consumption. This is the principal cause of the enormous
+prices which, even the most indispensable necessaries have reached in Rio
+de Janeiro.
+
+Brazil grows annually, in the provinces of Rio, Bahia, and Santa
+Catharina, 5,190,000 quintals of coffee, consequently more than
+three-fifths of the entire amount produced on the whole earth, and of this
+the province of Rio de Janeiro alone yields two-thirds.
+
+The most important objects of export, besides coffee, are sugar, rice,
+cotton, hides, and dried meat, together with dye and cabinet woods. The
+progressive decrease of late years in these articles may probably be
+ascribed to the want of sufficient labour, as well as to the great extent
+to which the culture of coffee has been carried.
+
+Although the trade carried on between Brazil and Europe, and its great
+importance, will form the object of a special work, we cannot help
+noticing in this place as a very interesting fact, that among the
+importations, that of wheat-flour holds a very conspicuous place, above
+300,000 barrels of 200 lbs. each being annually consumed, of which
+seventeen twentieths are supplied by the United States, two twentieths
+from Trieste and Fiume, and the remaining one twentieth from Lisbon and
+Valparaiso. The flour from Trieste, by reason of its whiteness and
+superior quality, commands a high price, so as to necessitate its being
+mixed in baking with that from Baltimore. We were told it occasionally
+happens, that the best quality of the much-appreciated Trieste or Fontana
+flour reaches the price, altogether unapproachable by the finest American
+flour, of 64 to 66 shillings the barrel.
+
+As in the interior of the country the flour chiefly used is that called
+Mandioca, prepared from the root of _Jatropha Manihot_, it follows that
+the chief consumer of wheaten flour is Rio itself, the monthly consumption
+amounting to upwards of 16,500 barrels. The reason for the small sale of
+the Austrian manufactures in Brazil must be sought for, not so much in the
+deficient supplies of the articles required, as in the circumstance that
+the Austrian manufacturers have not hitherto found it much their interest
+to study the Brazilian market, so as to make the requisite alterations in
+the method of producing their fabrics, and thus render them suitable for
+that purpose. What little of our Austrian manufactures is at present
+exported for Brazilian consumption, seems at present to follow the, to all
+appearance, much less natural route northwards, and instead of proceeding
+from Trieste direct, is exported from Bremen or Hamburg as fabrics of
+Northern Germany.
+
+During our stay at Rio, Commodore Wuellerstorf, accompanied by Captain
+Poeck, and one of the members of the scientific commission, had the honour
+of being presented to the Emperor and Empress of Brazil, at a private
+audience. The reception took place at the winter residence of St.
+Christoph. It is an old unsightly building, and still unfinished, the
+central part especially having been for some years in a ruinous condition.
+The Emperor seems not to be partial to display, and a very characteristic
+anecdote in this respect, which does him great credit, is very generally
+reported. On the occasion of a visit to the splendid lunatic asylum of
+Botafogo, one of the ministers remarked to His Majesty that the inmates of
+the establishment were better and more elegantly lodged than himself. "It
+will always afford me great pleasure," was the reply, "to know that these
+unfortunate people are better provided for than I am."
+
+At the entrance of the palace at St. Christoph, the gentlemen of the
+Expedition were received by an ecclesiastic, who led them into an
+exceedingly plain ante-chamber, the furniture of which seemed to belong to
+bygone centuries. Several of the ministers of state, whose servants
+carried large portfolios, exchanged compliments with the Austrian
+minister, and entered the contiguous apartments. Chamberlains and
+domestics of the court looked stealthily at the strangers, and disappeared
+as rapidly as they had come. It seemed as though these presentations were
+of infrequent occurrence. At last, about half-past 6 P.M. the door opened,
+when His Majesty and the ministers walked through the room into the hall
+of audience, into which the gentlemen of the Expedition were soon
+afterwards conducted by a chamberlain. The Austrian minister presented
+each separately to His Majesty Dom Pedro II., who is the son of an
+Austrian Archduchess, and received the gentlemen in the uniform of an
+admiral, surrounded by all his ministers. He is a fine-looking man, of
+some 30 years of age, of stately appearance, but with a voice somewhat too
+thin for so robust a person. The portrait on the Brazilian coinage is
+remarkably like. The conversation was carried on in French; it is said,
+however, that the Emperor speaks German fluently. He conversed very
+affably and graciously with every one, and had something agreeable to say
+to each, expressing much interest in the _Novara_ Expedition. After
+several questions, the Emperor wished us success on our future voyage, and
+retired, upon which the audience was at an end.
+
+After the members of the Expedition had remained a short space in a corner
+of the audience chamber, they were conducted through a narrow boarded
+passage to the apartments of the Empress. In the ante-chamber we again
+encountered the Emperor, who had exchanged his admiral's uniform for plain
+clothes, and now stood before us in the undress black frock he usually
+wears.
+
+We were now ushered into the small and very plainly furnished
+reception-room of the Empress, in which there was nothing to attract
+attention except a couple of highly-finished portraits. Her Majesty, a
+sister of the late King Ferdinand II. of Naples, and of Queen Maria
+Christina of Spain, was in mourning owing to a death in the family. She
+was only attended by one lady in waiting, and received us with infinite
+grace. She is rather short in stature, and although still young, looks
+aged; in conversation she becomes however very animated, and thereby gains
+in gracefulness; her favourite theme was Italy, on which she dwelt with
+childlike fondness. Speaking of Naples, its charming bay, of the Vesuvius,
+and the lovely walk of Santa Lucia, near the sea, the tone of her voice
+became involuntarily more lively. Notwithstanding the tropical splendour,
+and an Imperial throne, the Princess seems to have a great longing for her
+native land. Alas! even an imperial crown is no protection against the
+yearning for home!
+
+During our stay here, the anniversary came round of the birth of our
+gracious Emperor, which was celebrated in the most festive manner. From
+early dawn the frigate appeared decked out in her gayest flags, which was
+similarly responded to by the English and French ships of war in the
+harbour. At 8 A.M., with the customary salutes of the ensign, a salute of
+twenty-one guns was fired, as also at mid-day and sunset. At 11 A.M., the
+crew were paraded and divine service was performed, to which our resident
+envoy and his family were invited, together with the acting
+Consul-General, the captain of an Austrian vessel, and a few Austrians who
+happened to be at that time in Rio. After service, the foreign guests and
+several officers of the staff were entertained by the commodore at
+breakfast. In the evening there was a banquet at the hotel of the envoy,
+at which were present several notabilities of the empire of Brazil, among
+others, Viscount Maranguape, minister of foreign affairs, and the Senator
+Viscount de Uruguay. In the garden of the club the frigate's band of music
+played chiefly German and Austrian pieces, which awoke in the bosoms of
+many the most tender recollections.
+
+The frequent arrival of men of war in the bay of Rio gives rise to an
+almost continual firing; each vessel entering fires a royal salute, which
+is answered by the fortress and the other ships of war in the harbour.
+During our stay we discharged not less than 432 salvos, while all the men
+of war together fired at least 1500 salvos, thus making, within three
+weeks, about 5250 rounds of gunpowder, used merely in salutes.
+
+The 31st of August had been fixed as the date of our departure. During the
+latter days of our stay, there had been frequent collations on board to
+make some return to those who had shown us attention. Several of the sick,
+one midshipman and two sailors, had to be left behind in hospital, where
+they received the most careful treatment, while Dr. Ave Robert Lallemant,
+who, by the kind recommendation of Humboldt, had been permitted by the
+Archduke to accompany the Expedition with the rank of surgeon of corvette,
+for the purpose of prosecuting his studies of yellow fever, was, at his
+own request, put ashore at Rio, whence he afterwards undertook the journey
+through Southern Brazil already alluded to.
+
+The night previous, three sailors had deserted from a boat sent on shore
+to bring back some officers. The system of kidnapping, as is well known,
+flourishes in Rio, and many a ship is said to have lost, in this way, from
+thirty to forty men. The crimps, who make their living by this traffic in
+man, entice young and robust sailors to desert by means of all imaginable
+allurements and promises, making advances in money, and leading them into
+a dissolute life, in order that, when afterwards they find themselves in a
+desperate state, and without resources, they may be sold by the scoundrels
+to the captains of vessels, as sailors, or, what is worse, as white
+slaves, to the planters in the interior. This abominable trade is said to
+be carried on, on a great scale, by an Italian, in Catumby Grande, and
+though the Brazilian police is perfectly cognizant of the haunts of the
+fellow, yet it seems not to be powerful enough to put a stop to the
+nuisance.
+
+These incidents did not, however, interfere with our departure at the
+specified hour, when we were towed out by the tug steamer _Perseverancia_,
+which we had hired for _L25_. Almost every large ship on leaving Rio is
+towed clear of the bay, so as to avoid having to tack between the islands,
+or perhaps have to anchor, so that the tug, which belongs to a private
+individual, and accompanied us eastward as far as the island of Razza,
+must be a source of considerable profit.
+
+On 31st August, at six A.M., we bade farewell to the splendid harbour of
+Rio. We had fortunately reached Rio after the visit of the yellow fever,
+but the almost continual rainy weather had spoiled many an excursion, and
+deprived us of the opportunity of more closely examining the environs of
+the city. Nor were we more successful in making ourselves at home here,
+notwithstanding the kind reception with which we were favoured by the
+Government and some private individuals. There is, in short, a great want
+of sociability, and we may add, almost utter indifference to scientific
+pursuits, which indeed appeal in vain to the great majority of the
+Brazilian population. Of course there are numerous and agreeable
+exceptions; but slavery, the mixture of races, the egotism and indolence
+of the wealthier classes, are all reasons why a European, just arrived,
+cannot feel himself comfortable. The white Brazilians bear, in some
+respects, a strong resemblance to the Italians, but they are deficient in
+their pleasing, insinuating demeanour, in their cheerful humour, quickness
+of perception, and lively imagination. They occupy a lower scale in social
+culture, without depth of thought or feeling, and seem almost incapable of
+persevering activity. This perceptible deficiency of hearty, energetic
+temperament, in addition to the confused intermingling of other foreign
+nations, which seem to regard the country as booty, to be abandoned so
+soon as success has crowned their labours, imparts to each new arrival a
+feeling of depression, which, so far from being weakened, is yet more
+keenly felt by those who have lived some time in the country, so that not
+merely among foreigners recently arrived, but with those also who have
+spent years at Rio, the desire to leave these shores becomes rather
+increased than diminished by a longer acquaintance.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE III.--FROM RIO DI JANEIRO TO THE CAPE
+OF GOOD HOPE.]
+
+At nine A.M., we cast off from the tug, not far from the little island of
+Razza, with its lighthouse, and spread our sails to the breeze, which
+gradually freshened, but blew from the N.E., which was foul for our
+course. However, we could still derive some advantage from even this as it
+was our intention to steer southerly from Rio, so as to be able to make
+almost exclusively a great circle course to the Cape of Good Hope, after
+we should have got further south than the Antarctic limit of the S.E.
+trades.
+
+The near termination of the winter quarter in this southern hemisphere,
+the approximation of the sun towards the south pole, and the consequent
+tendency of the zones of wind and currents of air to pursue the same
+direction, gave us reason to hope, that when approaching the limits of the
+trades, we should find a change of wind, which should shorten the voyage,
+or at all events keep us clear of storms.
+
+In the open ocean, where there are no hills or extraordinary conformations
+of land to break the uniformity of the earth's surface, and where the
+expanse of water is unbroken by any extensive group of islands, the
+disturbances in the atmospheric belt must necessarily be much less
+strongly marked than where continents are interposed, or in the narrow
+seas. The winds themselves, under such circumstances, display even in
+their shifts a certain amount of regularity, which is usually dependent
+upon the universal laws of nature.
+
+Once any one is so fortunate as to comprehend the latter in all their
+extent, so as to be cognisant of their results, it becomes a mere
+question of the study of local conditions in order to be able to declare
+how these universal laws operate, and to elucidate by the most simple
+explanations many of the phenomena of nature that have till now baffled
+science. Thus, when a wind hitherto steady shifts its direction, there
+must necessarily be, certain active causes for its doing so; if these
+causes perpetually recur in well-marked periodical intervals, the change
+of the wind must follow a definite law. Under certain circumstances the
+direction of the wind is well-defined; as, for instance, at certain
+seasons in the open ocean it remains always the same, or changes with a
+certain regularity, whence it becomes apparent that the causes must remain
+unchanging, and the recurrence of the phenomenon must accordingly admit of
+explanation.
+
+We know, for example, that in the case of hurricanes--those most terrific
+exemplifications of the tendency of the atmosphere to move in circles--the
+wind does not blow in straight lines, but rather in curves described round
+a central point, which again is not immovable, but has a regular
+progression along a definite curve. In that curved plane, however, which
+has been termed a _cyclone_, the wind always blows in one and the same
+direction, and in the Northern Hemisphere runs counter to the motion of a
+watch-hand, while in the Southern Hemisphere it, on the contrary, follows
+that motion.
+
+These facts once granted as accounting for such phenomena, it follows as a
+natural consequence of the general principles laid down, that they hold
+good in minor cases, and must remain of the same efficacy, whether it be a
+hurricane or a dust-whirl which may be under consideration.
+
+So, too, in conformity with those laws, light winds may be found subject
+to a variation in direction of a similar nature, such as may not perhaps
+be fully exemplified in every case, but simply serve to indicate the
+tendency of the wind to follow the same general direction as the
+hurricanes themselves.
+
+The importance of ascertaining such curvilinearity in the direction of the
+winds will be especially manifest at the limits within which the regular
+winds prevail, and when they must necessarily become intermingled with
+other regular currents of the atmosphere.
+
+Accordingly, as we neared the limit of the S.E. Trades, which always
+extend somewhat further south, as the sun's southern declination
+increases, we had to traverse regions where necessarily we encountered
+variable winds, owing to the increased area of the Trades. There are also
+found occasional spots at which a more rarefied atmosphere seems to fill
+the surrounding space, when there is seen a similar process to that in the
+case of hurricanes, first visible perhaps in the higher strata, but
+afterwards extending to those which are lower.
+
+The winds, then, shifted with much regularity, and with them the
+atmospheric pressure, just as in the case of cyclones, except that neither
+the wind nor the sea ever presented the characteristics of a tempest. The
+wind, which began to blow from the North-East, drew gradually to North,
+thence West and South, and returned to S.E., after short intervals of
+calm. We could thus perceive, on referring to the ship's log, that the
+entire cycle was completed in five or six days; so that it became quite
+possible, by examining the central direction of the daily variation, to
+foretell the wind which must be blowing twelve hours later, when, upon
+taking into consideration the path described by such central direction
+from day to day, it appeared that the wind described very nearly a
+parabolic curve.
+
+Even the aspect of the heavens, and the state of the weather, were only
+one degree less regular in their alternations than the hurricanes. With
+the S.E. wind, the sky was bright, but as soon as it began to veer round,
+towards afternoon, a few white belts of cirrhous clouds began to appear in
+the western heavens, constituting a well-marked division of the vault of
+the sky from one side quite to the other. As it drew still further round,
+and neared the line of centres, the weather grew foul, a driving scud
+covered the heavens, and a succession of splendid rainbows were seen, till
+the ship had reached the nearest spot to the storm-centre when there were
+sharp squalls of wind, accompanied by heavy showers of rain. The lower
+strata of clouds, mere vapour, drove before the wind, while those above
+moved in a directly contrary direction, generally that of the forthcoming
+wind. The atmospheric pressure, which at first would be considerable,
+gradually decreased as we approached the central line; as we drew away
+from that centre the barometer rose again, the weather improved, and the
+sky under the influence of southerly winds once more cleared.
+
+Unfortunately it is not practicable with a single ship to ascertain
+whether the veering of the wind follows an exact curve, as we can only say
+what is the direction at the spot where the observation has been made, and
+it is impossible to determine what it may be at other points. But it is at
+all events certain that the shifts of wind are amenable to the same
+general laws as hurricanes. A number of ships sent out for the special
+purpose of this branch of investigation, could render immense services to
+science and navigation, and achieve most interesting results.
+
+We availed ourselves of these general laws to traverse the ocean as
+speedily as possible, in order to reach early our next anchorage, and in
+so doing we experienced altogether three well-marked cycles of wind at
+short intervals. We cannot afford space to prosecute all the interesting
+consequences that result from these phenomena of nature, such
+investigations being more properly reserved for the meteorological section
+of the scientific portion of this work. Here, however, the facilities for
+observation of a sea-faring life have been directed towards an object of
+inquiry, which must prove of immense utility in navigation and commerce.
+And, perhaps, even landsmen may not find it uninteresting, that even that
+proverbially fickle element, air, obeys certain fixed laws, a more
+accurate acquaintance with which must be of the utmost importance to the
+denizen of _terra firma_, as well as those "that go down to the sea in
+ships, that do business in great waters."
+
+On this passage from the American to the African coasts, we were
+continually accompanied by our winged friends, the sea-birds, which,
+notwithstanding the unkind treatment they received at the hands of the
+zoological sportsmen, followed us with the utmost pertinacity, probably
+attracted by the numerous fragments of provisions thrown overboard.
+
+The Cape pigeons (_Procellaria sp._), those prettily-marked sea-birds,
+about the size of doves, the albatrosses, (_Diomedea sp._) the largest of
+the ocean feathered tribe, with their quiet majestic flight, stormy
+petrels of all sorts and sizes, from the smallest swallow to the largest
+of its kind; all these winged inhabitants of the sea's surface followed
+the frigate in motley groups, and seemed never to weary in their active
+search for food.
+
+Sometimes they alighted, rested on the surface of the water, and were left
+far behind; but they collected again with great rapidity as soon as
+anything eatable appeared, and overtook the frigate in a swift flight from
+the remotest point of the horizon. This singular attachment to ships very
+probably arises from their being accustomed to follow whalers, from which
+such a large quantity of garbage is thrown overboard, very much affected
+by these aerial parasites, whence they learn to expect from all vessels
+their favourite food.
+
+They possess a remarkable capacity for remembering the exact time when
+they are likely to receive a large quantity of eatables from on board.
+Every day, about noon, the vicinity of the ship became animated, and
+towards one o'clock, after the crew had finished dinner, these lively
+creatures were close behind, and even fought for the pieces of tow with
+which the coppers had been cleansed. The boldest amongst them was the Cape
+pigeon, which pounced, with the utmost avidity, upon the dainty morsels
+thrown overboard, raising a loud scream, swimming round its prey, diving
+for sinking fragments, or snatching from each other those they had
+secured. Then came the black and brown-spotted and white albatrosses. As
+soon as one of these colossal birds appeared on the scene of strife, the
+uproar of the screaming pigeons at once became still; they kept themselves
+at a respectful distance from the voracious albatross, which quietly
+consumed its lion's share. In a few moments, yet greater numbers of these
+assembled, of which the black ones (_Ph[oe]betria fuliginosa_), like the
+large petrels, are extremely shy, and rarely approach the ship within
+gun-shot. The other large-sized petrels acted similarly, the brown
+spectacled-petrel, so named from two singular-looking black rings round
+the eyes, being the most numerous. Along with these were several small
+Mother Carey's Chickens, and flights of other winged creatures swarming
+over the sea. The darker the sky, the more agitated the sea, the more
+actively do the Cape pigeons tumble and toss behind the ship; it appears
+that in rough stormy weather they see less distinctly and find food with
+difficulty, in consequence of which they are in a famished state. Only
+under these circumstances, and when the ship is moving slowly, can they
+be caught with a line. To angle for birds may appear rather odd to the
+reader, and yet it is common enough in the Southern Ocean, amusing the
+sailor, and providing the zoologist with means of obtaining these birds
+alive. For this purpose, however, circumstances must be comparatively
+favourable; that is to say, the weather must be rough, the sea agitated,
+and the ship making but little headway. When the sky is serene, and the
+sea calm, even the Cape pigeons do not think it worth their while to throw
+a glance at the bait; and if the ship is moving fast, they have not speed
+enough to catch it, because they only swim, and the ship outspeeds them.
+The line, moreover, must be of tolerable length, so as, in the event of
+any bird evincing a desire to snap, to allow as much to be paid out as is
+necessary to leave the bait precisely in the same spot, without towing it
+through the water. It sometimes also occurs, particularly after sunset,
+that these birds, continually following in the wake of the ship, do not
+see the line, strike against it, and entangle themselves so that they may
+be easily drawn on board. The scream of the storm-pigeon when caught,
+makes it betray its fate even before those on board have an idea that it
+has been captured.
+
+For the albatross, it is of course necessary to use a stronger hook, which
+it is best to attach to a copper wire, because this being thinner than
+line, is not so readily perceived. In order that the whole apparatus may
+swim on the surface of the water, a few cork floats are also made fast.
+
+When an albatross has hooked itself, the full strength of a man is
+requisite to draw it on board, for the bird, in its despair, dives and
+keeps its wings spread under water, so that the resistance is very
+considerable, and frequently even the strongest lines are broken. This
+cannot be wondered at when their size is considered, as they measure from
+10 to 14 feet across the extended wings, while their weight amounts to
+from 10 to 18 lbs.
+
+Arrived on deck, none of these sea-birds are able to fly away; they move
+very clumsily on their webbed feet, and can only rise after a slanting
+spring, which, however, they cannot accomplish on firm ground; if in the
+water these birds want to rise into the air whilst swimming, they flutter
+their outspread wings for a little, and use their webbed feet in a kind of
+rowing motion, in order to acquire the requisite impetus. The albatross
+defends itself with its bill, which is often four to five inches long, and
+care must be taken to avoid being wounded in catching them. We also
+remarked that the Cape pigeons, in their rage at being captured, vomited
+up a slimy greasy substance.
+
+The latter bird was of course new to us, and afforded us much amusement.
+Many were knocked over with the fowling-piece, especially when, in their
+inquisitiveness, they came too near the boats, which, as often as our rate
+of progress admitted, were launched with the view of adding to our
+collection of objects of natural history.
+
+In shooting an albatross large shot must be used, as, at a distance of 15
+or 20 feet, small shot do not penetrate the feathers and the down of the
+bird. What is most remarkable as regards these birds is the numerous
+parasites that live upon their bodies. It is most extraordinary how
+certain of these birds (as for instance, the _Puffins_ and _Procellariae_)
+are infested by insects, their plumage sometimes swarming with small
+specimens of _Crustaceae_.
+
+On the 26th of September, the famous Table Mountain of the Cape was
+visible, after we had, the evening previous, at a distance of fourteen
+miles, sighted the lighthouse of Table Bay.
+
+The twenty-six days of our voyage hither had flown quickly past, and we
+were still able vividly to recall the impressions made by Brazil, and the
+scenes we had gone through in mid-ocean, as the southernmost point of
+Africa came in sight with its characteristic hills, and our eyes and our
+thoughts were directed to another quarter of the globe. On the one hand,
+excited with the prospect of new scenery, and on the other, anxious to
+complete our elaborate observations upon Brazil, so as to be able to send
+them home from the Cape, we found ourselves in a frame of mind which kept
+us alternately hard at the desk, or drove us on deck to admire the
+remarkable outline of Cape Colony. We did not, at the present season,
+think it advisable to run right into the bay, so as to anchor near Cape
+Town, but resolved to double the Cape, and proceed to Simon's Bay, the
+usual anchorage for ships-of-war. We were, however, sadly disappointed in
+the hope of soon reaching it, as the south-east wind freshened so much
+that on the 27th it had become a gale, which forced us out to sea again.
+The world-known swell off the Cape began under the ever-increasing wind to
+run high, and we were soon involved in one of those famous Cape storms
+which justified the Portuguese in calling the promontory of South Africa,
+"Cabo Tormentoso," or the Cape of Storm.[51]
+
+[Footnote 51:
+
+    "Through such mad seas the daring Gama fought,
+    Incessant toiling round the stormy Cape."
+                        (_Lord Strangford's Camoens._)
+]
+
+The wind and spray roared and lashed through the rigging: higher and
+higher rose the huge mountains of water, with their white crests, that
+tossed the ship like a plaything from side to side. The waves foamed in
+through the port-holes on the gun-deck, while masts, cordage, timbers,
+every part of the ship groaned and creaked, a perfect medley of sights and
+sounds, including woful destruction of crockery, and the heavy rolling of
+erratic cannon-shot that had broken loose from the rack, and were rushing
+about the deck--above all which was heard the shrill whistle of the pipe
+of the boatswain's mate. The scene fairly baffled all powers of
+description, and must have been eminently impressive for those who for the
+first time experienced what is meant by "a gale at sea," especially at
+night, when the moon, struggling through the flying vapours, lit up the
+appalling scene with a livid supernatural tint.
+
+On the afternoon of the 28th the gale reached its highest point, and raged
+fearfully for some hours. The frigate proved herself, in this turbulence
+of the waters, to be thoroughly seaworthy. At the same time the sun shone
+brilliantly, the sky was clear and beautiful, and only here and there some
+feathery clouds were to be seen. There was a curious sense of dualism in
+this serenity of the sky, in contrast with the fury and agitation of the
+waves. Gradually the wind chopped round towards the east, which gave some
+hope that the gale would abate, but, nevertheless, the ship was tossed
+about worse than ever.
+
+The waves, like gigantic ridges, mounted, according to measurement, to the
+height of from 30 to 35 feet above the mean level of the sea, and
+occasioned that terrible rolling of the ship, and those fearful lurches,
+which, once experienced, are not readily forgotten.
+
+Hitherto the altitude of a wave has been generally measured merely by the
+eye, so that the result depended too much on the accuracy of individual
+observation to admit of its being exactly ascertained; and it is for this
+reason that the statements relative to the maximum height of the ocean
+wave are so various that they cannot be considered reliable, for whilst
+some observers estimate them to be from 60 to 70 feet, others reckon them
+only at from 30 to 40 feet.
+
+On board the _Novara_ the following method of admeasurement was adopted:
+we first determined, by a chronometer, the time that a wave takes to pass
+from one end of the ship to the other, whereby the velocity of the
+progressive motion of the wave could be calculated in relation to the
+ship's course and speed, regard being had to the direction and velocity
+of the ship against it. With this velocity ascertained, we were in a
+position to determine and fix the average distance between two consecutive
+waves. Lastly, the height of the wave was ascertained from the angle at
+which the frigate rose and fell in the line of its keel, by the influence
+of each successive wave and by means of the ascertained distance from the
+trough of the sea to the crest of the wave. Though this method, likewise,
+has many difficulties and deficiencies, yet it appears well suited to make
+correct comparisons between the different waves; and, under certain
+favourable conditions, it yields so accurate a result, that at any rate it
+is to be preferred to mere guess-work, besides that the experiment itself
+is susceptible of many improvements. It seems safe to assume that waves
+scarcely ever attain an elevation of more than 40 or 45 feet.
+
+The gale had driven us a long distance out, and only after great trouble
+did we again near the land. On the 1st of October the Cape came once more
+in sight; we tacked, in order to get into the wide gulf termed False Bay,
+by which in some respects the peninsula of the Cape is formed, being
+separated only by a low sandy plain from the Atlantic. Whittle's rock
+renders tacking in its neighbourhood in so far more difficult, as the
+existing charts of the bay are not sufficiently exact to be implicitly
+relied on. Buoys have often been fixed in that quarter, but every new gale
+carried them away again; so that the position of the rock is not
+indicated. An English pilot now came on board, who brought papers, and
+intelligence that a number of letters were waiting for us. Our impatience
+became stronger when towards evening the light breeze entirely ceased, and
+we thereby were forced to bring up at a distance of a mile and a half from
+the actual anchorage. About the same time an officer arrived from the
+British line-of-battle-ship _Boscawen_, under the flag of Rear-Admiral
+Grey, in order to serve as a guide should no pilot have boarded us.
+
+On the 2nd of October, at 7 A.M., the anchor was let go in Simon's Bay, a
+spacious but gloomy-looking sheet of water. Here ships ride much more
+secure than in Table Bay, from which, in a stiff westerly or
+north-westerly breeze, vessels are often forced to run out to sea to avoid
+being driven on shore. The communication with the land is thus sometimes
+interrupted for days. From Simon's Bay to Table Bay, round the Cape the
+distance is forty miles, whilst by land the journey to the capital of the
+colony is, with good horses, performed in three hours.
+
+[Illustration: CABO TORMENTOSO.]
+
+[Illustration: CAPE TOWN.]
+
+
+
+
+                                  VI.
+
+                          Cape of Good Hope.
+
+                   STAY FROM 2ND TO 26TH OCTOBER, 1857.
+
+   Contrasts of scenery and seasons at Cape Colony. Ramble through
+     Simon's Town.--Malay Population.--The Toad-fish, or
+     Sea-devil.--Rondebosch and its delightful scenery.--Cape
+     Town.--Influence of the English element.--Scientific and other
+     Institutions.--Botanical Gardens.--Useful plants.--Foreign
+     Emigration.--A Caffre prophet and the consequences of his
+     prophecies.--Caffre prisoners in the Armstrong Battery.--Five
+     young Caffres take service as sailors on board the _Novara_.--
+     Trip into the interior.--Stellenbosch.--Paarl.--Worcester.--
+     Brandvalley.--The Mission of Moravian Brethren at
+     Genaadendal.--Masticatories and intoxicating substances used
+     by the Hottentots.--Caledon.--Somerset West.--Zandvliet.--Tomb
+     of a Malay Prophet.--Horse Sickness.--Tsetse-fly.--Vineyards
+     of Constantia.--_Fete champetre_ in honour of the _Novara_.--
+     Excursion to the actual Cape of Good Hope.--Departure.--A life
+     saved.--Experiments with Brook's deep-sea sounding apparatus.--
+     Arrival at the Island of St. Paul in the South Indian Ocean.
+
+
+There can scarcely be a landscape more gloomy and desolate than the
+sterile, rocky mountains, and white sandy plains, which, like
+snow-fields, inclose Simon's Bay. Coming from the charming coast of
+Brazil, with its luxuriant verdure, the contrast becomes doubly
+unpleasing. A narrow green strip of land, running along from a small fort,
+forms a refreshing sight and a resting point for the eye fatigued with
+looking at these grim masses of stone. The traveller who merely touches at
+Simon's Bay without pushing into the interior, or who visits the Cape in
+the winter of the southern hemisphere (from April to September), can
+scarcely form an idea of the voluptuous loveliness which reigns during
+spring and summer in the interior of the colony, and will regard as
+fictitious those brilliant descriptions of its natural beauties, related
+by travellers who have been fortunate enough to visit this point of South
+Africa at those genial seasons.
+
+Had we left the Cape without seeing anything else than the melancholy
+neighbourhood of False Bay and the dull little settlement of Simon's Town,
+on its left bank, we should have carried away very different impressions
+and ideas to those entertained after having during spring passed some
+weeks in the delightful interior, and obtained at the same time an insight
+into the social condition of the colony.
+
+On the very day that we cast anchor in the bay, we took a stroll (our
+first footfall upon the soil of Africa) through Simon's Town, which
+consists of a single street of about forty clean, neat, and tidy-looking
+houses, straggling along the shore. The principal buildings are the
+Arsenal, the residence of the admiral of the station, five churches (one
+of which belongs to Roman Catholics), and two tolerably large hotels.
+
+It is hardly possible to conceive any town occupying a more dreary dismal
+site, with the exception, perhaps, of some of the Peruvian settlements on
+the west coast of South America. While the eye, below this row of houses,
+beholds nothing but granite rocks thickly strewn with shells, the main
+street is overhung by steep sandstone rocks, which, despite the marvellous
+richness of the blooming flowers, that well repay the researches of the
+naturalist, have a naked gloomy aspect, viewed from a distance, and are
+environed right and left by waste patches of white sand.
+
+The favourite walks of this small place seem to be along the shore, or on
+the road to Cape Town, into the soft sand of which the foot of the
+traveller is continually sinking. A number of ladies and gentlemen whom we
+met walking appeared to be somewhat surprised at the unusual appearance of
+an Austrian man-of-war, the flag of which was gaily fluttering in the
+gloomy bay. The residents in Simon's Town, amounting to about 800 souls,
+are mostly Malays, descendants of those numerous compulsory emigrants,
+who, during the period of Dutch ascendency at the Cape, had been
+transported from Java and other islands of the Indian Archipelago, owing
+to the want of labour or for political causes. For the Dutch used to send
+to the Cape Colony, as a place of banishment, many wealthy and influential
+Malay families, by whom the first germs of Mohammedanism were introduced
+into South Africa. It would even seem that the religious opinions of the
+Malay population exercise some influence on the habits of the Christian
+settlers of Simon's Town, as no butcher, for instance, would venture to
+kill and sell pigs for fear of giving offence to his Mohammedan customers.
+
+On a fine spring morning we started in a handsome vehicle from Simon's Bay
+to Cape Town. The road runs close along the seashore, which, seen from a
+distance, apparently consists of nothing but sand and rock, but, on more
+near acquaintance, exhibits at various points delightful nooks decked with
+most beautiful flowers. Everything indicated, by its glorious blooming
+garment, the bursting forth of spring.
+
+One hour's ride led us to a neat little fishing hamlet where an immense
+number of fish were hanging up to dry in the sun. The bones of whales are
+used by the inhabitants for all sorts of purposes; they fence their fields
+and gardens with the ribs, build walls with the vertebrae, make steps and
+stairs of the shoulder bones, and use the large jaw-bones as arches at the
+entrances of their huts. One of the owners of this fishing station was
+kind enough to offer us, as a particular dainty, a piece of flesh cut from
+the jaw of a whale and boiled in fat; but we were not exactly of the same
+opinion after having, from curiosity, tasted a few mouthfuls. The bay is
+very rich in the snook-fish (_Thyrsites Atun_), of which several hundred
+tons are pickled here annually and sent to the Mauritius.
+
+Another fish caught here is said to be extremely injurious to health, and
+even to endanger life--the small toadfish (_Tetraodon Honkenyi_), which
+exists in shoals, and may easily be caught with a line. One of the harbour
+regulations consists of a special paragraph warning seamen against using
+this poisonous "sea-devil." Foreign sailors who have eaten of it have died
+a few minutes after.
+
+On leaving this fishing station the road, leaving the coast, proceeds in a
+straight line over the plain which unites the Cape with the continent. The
+mountains recede, and the eye of the traveller gazes, charmed and
+surprised, on the mountain range of the peninsula, the celebrated Table
+and Devil's Mountains. The plain, which, during the dry season, is nothing
+but an arid desert, was now seen in its fullest beauty, like a flowery
+carpet, on which innumerable blossoms of varied hues and forms were
+interwoven. On the left lie the renowned vineyards of Constantia, and to
+the right stands what is called Halfway-house, the property of a native of
+Wuertemberg who, some twenty years before, came to the Cape a poor
+emigrant, and is now a wealthy and respected man, known far and wide,
+holding several official appointments, and showing himself a warm patron
+of his German countrymen. Being a zealous sportsman, and intimately
+acquainted with the locality, Mr. Rathfelder was of great service to our
+zoologists, who took up their residence at this place.
+
+From the Halfway-house to Cape Town the character of the landscape
+completely changes. The road leads through a park-like country; charming
+wood plantations, pines and oaks, stretch on either hand to the extreme
+limits of an undulating plain, intersected by long shady paths, the
+vistas terminating with elegant villas built in the Dutch or English
+style. Here are Cape waggons, drawn by ten to twenty oxen, side by side
+with elegant two or four-horse carriages and densely-packed omnibuses,
+such as one may see in Cheapside. We have now arrived in the charming
+Rondebosch, a village that might well aspire to the dignity of a town,
+chiefly inhabited as a summer residence by the wealthier inhabitants of
+Cape Town. The impression made by this beautiful road will never be
+obliterated from the memory of any one who has ever ridden over it in the
+spring. We were as much delighted by the sight of this smiling and verdant
+landscape as we had been depressed by the sandy plains of Simon's Bay.
+There, extended in charming variety before the fascinated eye, lay Table
+Bay with its ships, Cape Town, and the gigantic rocky wall of the Table
+Mountain resting on its granite base, and rising nearly perpendicular to
+an altitude of 3500 feet, together with the Lion's Head and the Devil's
+Peak. The distant background on the other side of the plain is bounded by
+the precipitous face of high, rugged, and broken mountain walls, the
+summits of which were covered with snow.
+
+Convenient and comfortable quarters were found in the Freemasons' Hotel,
+situated in the Parade, a large square planted with pines. Here, to our
+surprise, we met an Austrian, attending as waiter, who had been driven by
+the wild waves of the late revolution into the wide world, until he met
+with a peaceful existence at the Cape of Storms!
+
+Favoured by introductions to the most eminent men of science, who received
+us in the most friendly way, we succeeded, in the course of a few weeks,
+in acquiring rich and valuable scientific collections, and forming
+important connections for the future supply of our museums. A most cordial
+reception was accorded us by Mr. Julius Mosenthal, the Austrian Consul,
+and the head of one of the leading mercantile firms of the colony. In his
+hospitable house, German music and German song made us entirely forget
+that we were sojourning thousands of miles from home at the southernmost
+point of Africa.
+
+Cape Town is oblong in plan, with long wide streets, intersecting at right
+angles. It is destitute of imposing buildings; a commercial place, with
+pretty dwelling-houses, built in the English style and comfortably
+furnished, all of a light brown hue, owing to the dust, which, in
+south-east or north-west winds, envelopes the town in whirling clouds, and
+may indeed be considered the only plague of this healthy delightful
+climate. The English element, which, with the stereotyped customs of its
+life and its equitable laws, possesses, wherever it obtains a footing, so
+powerful an influence, has almost entirely superseded the Dutch, which
+continues to exist only in the lonely farmhouses far in the interior.
+There is scarcely anything remaining to indicate that Cape Town was
+founded by the Dutch; and were it not for the yellow Malay faces, with
+their gaudy head-coverings or umbrella-shaped straw hats, and the tawny
+mestizoes, who remind us of the aboriginal inhabitants, and give a
+completely foreign colouring, one might easily fancy one's self to be in
+an old English provincial town. Generally speaking, any one arriving here
+with preconceived notions of finding himself amongst Hottentots and
+Bushmen, or in a state of society differing materially from that of
+Europe, will soon discover that he has been entirely mistaken. The
+aborigines whom Jan van Riebeck found, when, with three Dutch ships, he
+landed in 1652 at Table Bay, and in the name of the Dutch East India
+Company established a settlement, have now almost entirely disappeared
+from the capital. If any one desires to see a veritable Hottentot or
+Bushman, he must undertake a troublesome journey, of weeks' duration, into
+the inhospitable interior. In Cape Town this singular race is only now and
+then to be met with in prisons or hospitals, and even then of a mixed
+breed.
+
+The colony has now a population of 280,000 white and coloured inhabitants,
+of whom about 30,000 live in Cape Town; half of these are whites, and
+probably not more than 1000 form the higher and influential class. There
+can be no doubt that when, in 1815, the English took possession of the
+Cape, a firm foundation had been laid already by the Dutch 150 years
+before; but the real progress of the country, and the development of its
+natural resources, date only from the commencement of British rule, by
+which those shackles were thrown off with which the narrow-minded colonial
+policy of the Dutch had fettered this settlement, like all others that
+owned their sway.
+
+The Cape Colony since 1850 has possessed a Legislative Council of 15
+members, and a House of Assembly of 40 deputies. The executive power rests
+in the hands of the Governor-General, appointed by the British Government.
+All bills passed by this parliament require the royal assent before they
+become law.
+
+It is impossible to speak in too high and eulogistic terms of Sir George
+Grey, whom we had the happiness at the time of our stay to find in the
+important position of Governor-General of the colony. Owing to the wisdom
+with which Sir George governed this important colony, he gained for
+himself the love and admiration of the people to such an extent that,
+after the expiration of the regularly fixed period of his office as
+Governor, they petitioned the Queen of England for his re-appointment. Sir
+George is not only an able statesman, but also a sound scholar, possessing
+a most complete collection of books and manuscripts on the Australian,
+Polynesian and African languages, and he is a most zealous patron of the
+numerous scientific institutions of the colony.
+
+The astronomical observatory, under the superintendence of Mr. Maclear,
+has preserved the celebrity which it attained by the great work on the
+constellations of the southern hemisphere, the materials for which were
+collected by Sir John Herschel during his residence here some twenty years
+since. There is now a transit instrument, which in accuracy excels even
+that of the Observatory at Greenwich, and which is said to have cost
+upwards of _L_2000.
+
+The South African Museum, containing collections of natural history, is
+now under the superintendence of Mr. L. Layard (brother of the celebrated
+investigator of Nineveh). This institution, as well as the South African
+public library, the literary, scientific, and mechanics' institutions,
+besides nearly fifty other establishments and societies for religious,
+benevolent and industrial purposes, owe their foundation and flourishing
+condition to the public spirit and the charitable disposition of the
+inhabitants of the colony. In 69 schools scattered over its surface,
+upwards of 18,000 pupils are educated according to a system introduced in
+1841 by Sir John Herschel.
+
+The Botanical Gardens, likewise founded and kept up by private
+subscription, are not only a most agreeable resort, but also afford much
+instruction, arising from the many interesting and useful plants gathered
+here from all quarters of the world. To those which are adapted for
+cultivation in the sandy plains of the Cape, great attention is devoted.
+Some of them have been found available in forming as it were vegetable
+walls of protection against the inroads of the sand, so destructive to all
+cultivation. As particularly serviceable for this purpose, were mentioned
+to us _Fabricia variegata_, a sea-shore shrub of from 6 to 10 feet high;
+_Protea myrtifera_; the so-called Hottentot fig: _Mesembryanthemum
+edulis_; and the Cape wax-myrtle _Myricacordifolia_;--all these are found
+to thrive in the sand without cultivation, put a stop to its ravages, and
+in some respects may be considered as the pioneers of all other plants,
+which do not thrive before the sandy soil has been prepared for them. Nay,
+singularly enough, some of these (as for instance the Hottentot fig),
+become extinct as soon as others make their appearance, just in the same
+way as the pioneer of civilization, the backwoodsman in the west of the
+United States, leaves his lonely blockhouse and hurries on as soon as
+overtaken by the peaceful settler. The wax-berry shrub is also otherwise
+useful to the inhabitants; from its berries a substance is prepared well
+suited for making candles. According to a treatise on its culture two
+workmen are able to realize with a defecator daily 100 lbs. of white wax
+from the berries gathered by six persons. The expense of labour, &c., does
+not exceed 18_s._ per 100 lbs., or about 2_d._ per pound. A large quantity
+of this vegetable substance has lately been sent to London, where it is
+said to have met with a profitable market. In the Botanical Garden of Cape
+Town we first met the two celebrated grasses known as _Holcus Caffrorum_
+and _Holcus saccharatum_, which, by their usefulness in domestic life,
+have more extensively, and perhaps quickly, than any other plant, spread
+over the world. We are indebted to the Secretary of the Board of Public
+Roads, W. De Smidt, Esq., for some seeds of these and other plants, as
+also to Mr. McGibbon, manager of the Botanical Gardens, for similar
+favours.
+
+Considering the deficiency of labour, and the large sections of fertile
+land as yet uncultivated in the colony, Sir George Grey has directed great
+attention to the immigration of German emigrants of respectable
+characters, of all trades, as well as those attached to agricultural
+pursuits. The plan adopted is an excellent and thoroughly honest one.
+Every emigrant, if single, obtains from the Government thirty acres of
+good land, and, if married, fifty; five for each child above one, and ten
+for every one exceeding ten years of age. The rate of the land is to be
+fixed by Government at a fair and reasonable sum, and, together with the
+passage-money, to be paid four years after the location of the emigrant,
+in five annual instalments. From the moment the colonist steps on African
+ground he is an independent owner of land, although not entitled to sell
+his property until his obligations to the Government are liquidated. The
+local parliament has granted a sum of _L_50,000 to promote emigration. The
+Cape probably offers to an industrious emigrant a more advantageous field
+for active energy than any other country in the world. Some of the German
+colonists, the remnant of the British Legion engaged in the Crimean war,
+who, under General Stuttersheim, have settled in British Caffraria, are
+thriving prosperously. They are the first pioneers of the German element
+in South Africa, and, under the protection of a liberal and free
+government, are increasing in number annually in consequence of the
+favourable reports which they transmit to their native country.
+
+An emigration of a peculiar kind has unexpectedly taken place. An impostor
+amongst the Caffres, who had assumed the character of a prophet,
+pronounced the end of the world as imminent, in consequence of which large
+numbers of them slaughtered their cattle and left their fields
+uncultivated. Being thus, in a short time, reduced to a state of perfect
+destitution, not less than 19,000 of starving Caffres sought help and an
+asylum in the British territory during the year 1857, and before its close
+the number had increased to 30,000. The colonial Government, out of
+consideration to the welfare of the colonists, admitted only those Caffres
+who bound themselves to act as servants, for at least one year, at
+reasonable wages, and in order to prevent any danger arising from being
+congregated in too large numbers, they were located by the Government
+officers in various detached parts of the colony.
+
+A very active society of philanthropists exists here, under the title of
+"The Committee of Emigration from Holland." Its object is to bring over
+orphans and children of the poor from the overpopulated Dutch provinces.
+These useful emigrants are partly located as apprentices to farmers, and
+remain until they are of age under the care of the Committee. During our
+stay a party of seventy boys and girls just arrived from Holland
+assembled, with their conductors, in one of the large avenues of the
+Botanical Garden, to be inspected by the Governor-General. They all looked
+healthy and cheerful, and seemed to have but little suffered from the
+fatigues of a long voyage. When Sir George Grey made his appearance the
+children sang the English National Anthem, translated into Dutch, and
+afterwards the sweet, affectionate song, "When the swallows homewards
+fly." Some young emigrants, who, two years ago, had come under similar
+circumstances from Holland, had already obtained good situations, and
+greeted their little compatriots most heartily. Being asked if they wished
+to return to Holland, they replied, without the slightest hesitation, in
+the negative, declaring that they felt very happy where they were,--an
+announcement of course peculiarly agreeable to the new-comers.
+
+An interesting opportunity was afforded to us of seeing a large number of
+Caffres, of both sexes, who had been brought in as prisoners in
+consequence of having made predatory incursions into the British
+territory. They all arrived in a state of nudity, and in most wretched
+plight, but were immediately provided with European clothes--blue striped
+shirts, sheepskin trousers, shoes, a Scotch cap, and a blanket which
+served during the day as a cloak, and at night as a covering. Their food
+was tolerably good, but their abode during night, in the damp casemates of
+the fort, seemed not to agree with them, and many were visibly in a
+diseased state of health. Nearly all were muscular, and some were really
+specimens of manly beauty. Not one of them knew his age. Their only mode
+of calculating is by certain important events, as by the death of a
+chieftain, or the various wars with the English. The superintendent, Mr.
+Walsh, a very obliging Irishman, had the kindness to cause them to perform
+some of their national dances, wild exercises which served the purpose of
+exciting their warlike spirit. The first dance they performed they called
+"Ukutenga." Six handsomely-built dancers advanced, whilst about thirty men
+closed in a circle around them, and, by their howlings and clapping of
+hands, formed as it were a musical accompaniment to this singular
+performance. The dancers sighed, groaned, hissed, and made the most
+extravagant grimaces and contortions, in order to arouse in themselves an
+artificial excitement. One, a lad twelve years of age, engaged so
+earnestly in the sports, that he perspired from his whole body. There is
+another dance, called "Tklombo," performed in the presence of diseased
+persons whilst the quack doctor practises his deceptive remedies; and a
+third, called "Umduta," which is only practised at weddings and other
+festive occasions. This last seemed to be the most characteristic. The
+semi-nude, slender men hopped, their arms clung together, in ranks of six,
+hissing with scorn, occasionally uttering a cry, then suddenly separating
+and marching one after the other in slow time, in a circle, uttering the
+most singular sounds. Now they bent forward the whole upper part of the
+body, and then back again, each of them making the same violent gestures
+as in the former dance, and pronouncing some words to excite their
+companions, such as, "Be active!" "Be alert!" until they all trembled and
+became fearfully and feverishly excited. The surrounding Caffres, who were
+at first mere spectators, by degrees were seized with this singular
+dancing mania, till at last the entire number, as if stung by a tarantula,
+lashed themselves into a wild and apparently ungovernable frenzy. The
+great difference in the colour of the skin of these Caffres was
+particularly striking, as they evidently belong to one and the same race.
+From the blackness of coal to bronze, all tints and shades were observed,
+and one of them, called "Ngduba" (Sea-shell), appeared to be even of a
+reddish yellow. He belonged to the tribe of the Fingoes, and said that
+both his parents were of the same colour.
+
+The governor permitted five young Caffres to be engaged on board the
+_Novara_, with their own consent, as apprentices, and although they were
+prisoners sentenced for several years, yet the Government took every care
+to secure their welfare. An agreement was signed to provide that their
+return, should they desire it, might be facilitated in every possible way.
+Faithful subjects could not be cared for with more anxiety than were these
+legally-sentenced Caffre prisoners by the colonial Government. Two of them
+went one day on shore, during our stay at Auckland, in New Zealand, and
+never came back; the other three made the whole voyage with the _Novara_,
+and are now sailors on board the imperial yacht _Fancy_. They, of course,
+understood, at their embarkation, only their own singular mother-tongue;
+yet the chaplain of the expedition, the Rev. E. Marochini, after having
+made himself acquainted with their idiom, succeeded in instructing these
+black youths, by means of their own language, in the doctrines of
+Christianity, and, by degrees, imparted some knowledge of the Italian and
+German languages, the happy results of these endeavours being a complete
+vocabulary and a small catechism in the Caffre language, which the
+reverend gentlemen composed during the voyage; and such progress did his
+three pupils make, that, on our return to Trieste, they were so far
+prepared as to be fit for reception, by baptism, into the Christian
+community.
+
+In the house of correction there were a number of female Caffres who had
+been made prisoners at the same time with their brothers and husbands,
+some belonging to the family of chiefs. One, the sister of the chieftain
+Sandilli, was a handsome, tall and slender woman, with mild features and
+piercing small black eyes; another, by the name of Mnovenkeli, the sister
+of the chieftain Mkoseni, was an imposing and earnest-looking figure.
+Several of these women bore a long stripe tattooed on their breasts as an
+ornament. Several were deficient of a little finger of the left hand: this
+mutilation is the effect of superstition, as it often occurs that, in case
+of the severe illness of the child, the distressed mother causes a finger
+of her offspring to be cut off and sacrificed to the evil spirit, in order
+that the rest of the body may be saved and permitted by the evil spirit to
+recover.
+
+One of these young Caffre women had her child wrapped up in a piece of
+linen tied to her back, and endeavoured to lull it to sleep by continually
+moving the left elbow, by which the baby was kept in a swinging motion,
+and an effect was produced like that of a cradle. Various questions were
+put, through an interpreter, to several of these females, who, after their
+timidity was overcome, answered with great readiness. Polygamy is said to
+prevail amongst them. Many women have from ten to twelve children. The
+children are suckled sometimes from two to three years. A numerous progeny
+is the pride of a family. As a proof of the legitimacy of a child, there
+is said to exist a kind of milk trial. Notwithstanding considerable
+trouble in endeavouring to procure information, we were unable to obtain a
+very lucid idea of this singular experiment: it consists in the father
+giving the infant, in the bottom of his hand, directly after its birth,
+some cow's milk to drink, and if the child refuses the draught it is
+considered illegitimate. Caffre women very rarely salute their husbands
+with a kiss, except after a long separation, and even then only on the
+cheek--never on the lips.
+
+In the ethnographical part a detailed description will be presented of
+this most peculiar race, of whom the Bushmen are evidently only a decrepid
+branch. Here it will suffice to observe that a girl, only sixteen years of
+age, was noticed, whose father was a degenerate Hottentot, and whose
+mother was a Bushwoman. The girl measured 4 feet 6 1/2 inches, and weighed
+75lbs. Another Bushwoman, thirty years of age, measured 4 feet 9 inches.
+All the individuals we saw of this race were remarkable for their
+exceedingly small hands and feet.
+
+One week of our stay at the Cape was devoted to an excursion into the
+interior. On the 1st October, early in the morning, we left Cape Town in a
+light two-wheeled vehicle, drawn by four horses--a turn-out which
+certainly seemed better suited for a drive in Hyde Park than a journey,
+however short, in South Africa: for who would suppose that the principal
+roads on the southernmost point of the most unknown quarter of the globe,
+are, in consequence of English civilization and the geognostic nature of
+the ground, in a better condition than most bye-roads in the civilized
+states of Europe? For a country where labour is so deficient and
+expensive, such enormous works could only be executed by means of
+compulsory labour: in this respect the high-roads and mountain passes of
+the Cape afford the most evident proofs of how much more beneficially and
+usefully convicts may be employed in colonial works than in allowing them
+to rot within prison walls, alike a burden to themselves and to society.
+
+Only ten years ago the streets of Cape Town looked at least highly
+dangerous, and the steep rugged old roads, which sometimes run parallel
+with the new ones, evince very clearly the great difference between bygone
+days and the present, as regards the internal communications of the
+colony. The uncultivated state of the country formerly, which indeed, in
+some parts, continues even yet to exist, is the cause of the ancient
+custom having been retained of placing before every vehicle, however
+lightly laden, sixteen to twenty powerful oxen, even on perfectly level
+roads. All longer journeys into the interior are undertaken in heavy
+waggon-like vehicles, exclusively drawn by oxen. As a family is sometimes
+compelled to take up abode in such waggons for weeks together, they are
+completely covered and provided with all possible conveniences; indeed, it
+is a sort of locomotive house. The waggon, which much resembles the
+goods-trucks used on European railways, is at least 18 feet long, and the
+entire length of the set-out, including the oxen, embraces not less than
+from 120 to 180 feet. It may readily be imagined how such a custom impedes
+speedy intercourse, and how much more usefully a great part of the animal
+power might be employed. On the excursion from Cape Town to Stellenbosch,
+a small place only ten miles distant, we met more than 100 waggons, of
+which not one had less than ten, and many double that number of oxen, so
+that at least 1500 heads of cattle were employed in a work which might
+easily have been performed by a third part of the number.
+
+The coachman was a Malay, and wore that singular screen-formed straw hat,
+which so peculiarly distinguishes the male population of his race. These
+men have the reputation of being particularly skilful drivers, and thus
+form a considerable portion of the coachmen of the place. The Malay driver
+had an assistant by his side, who seemed, however, chiefly to serve as
+ballast, in order that our two-wheeled vehicle might not lose its
+equilibrium; for the disconsolate condition of the horses rendered the
+fear of their running away quite superfluous. Our charioteer drove his
+horses, which now and then were rather restive, with so much adroitness,
+that we arrived as early as nine o'clock in that charming settlement
+Stellenbosch, which Wilkes, the American Commodore, even in 1839,
+designated as the loveliest and most beautiful in the whole colony. It has
+completely preserved the aspect of a little Dutch town; the streets are
+straight and wide, adorned with avenues of oaks, many centuries old; the
+houses are extremely tidy and clean, and are built in the genuine Dutch
+style. There is no trace of English influence perceptible. Its 4000
+inhabitants mostly speak Dutch, and cultivate the vine, grain, and fruit.
+No country town seen in the whole course of our long voyage made a deeper
+impression, or left more pleasing recollections, than Stellenbosch. The
+occasion of our visit was certainly of an uncommonly cheerful and festive
+character. On the day of our arrival the Governor was about to review a
+corps of volunteers, raised in Cape Town and its neighbourhood, to supply
+the place of the regular troops about to be dispatched to the Indian
+battle-fields. Extraordinary enthusiasm and interest was manifested
+everywhere in the military movements. Thousands of visitors had assembled
+even from great distances to witness this novel national spectacle. The
+Governor had proclaimed the day as a general holiday; all shops were
+closed; the streets presented an extremely animated appearance, and in
+front of every house was a crowd. The Austrian Consul had been kind enough
+to favour us with a letter of introduction to one of the first families in
+the place; but, taking into consideration the general bustle and continual
+arrival of strangers, we were much afraid of being, at this moment, very
+unwelcome guests, as every nook and corner would already be occupied; for
+in this colony visitors do not come, as with us, for a short time, and
+without encumbrance, but with waggons, horses, servants, household and
+all, regularly to settle down for an indefinite period.
+
+Our own party consisted of five persons provided with four horses, and we
+were now, for want of other lodgings, about to claim the hospitality of
+Mynheer Van Schultze. A pretty, youthful, rosy-cheeked lady, who appeared
+at the door, took--not without some embarrassment--our letter of
+introduction, and disappeared with it into the interior of the stately
+house. We were requested to enter, and were shown into a suite of very
+neat rooms, and were received, not merely with great politeness, but with
+the heartiest welcome.
+
+At ten o'clock we drove out with our hospitable friend, Mynheer Van
+Schultze, to the review, which took place on the common in the
+neighbourhood of the village. The number of spectators was probably twenty
+times greater than that of the volunteers; they had surrounded the ground
+with a wall of carriages, on the tops of which women and children were
+grouped in every picturesque attitude. The rifle volunteers marched, with
+the Governor, Sir George Grey, at their head, and preceded by a band, to
+the ground. There might have been about 300 cavalry and 200 infantry, with
+several pieces of artillery. They all looked very well; their uniform was
+plain and remarkably suitable for the purpose, consisting of tunics and
+trousers of black cloth with metal buttons, and a common cap with a silver
+ornament. They went through the usual man[oe]uvres, whilst a good deal of
+gunpowder was expended. The evolutions of the cavalry were executed with
+wonderful precision, a result due chiefly to the circumstance that, at the
+Cape, every inhabitant is a good equestrian, and is trained from childhood
+to manage a horse.
+
+[Illustration: RIFLE VOLUNTEER _FETE_ AT STELLENBOSCH.]
+
+The review finished, a breakfast was served at the Drosdy, or
+Municipality, on long tables, in a magnificent avenue of oak trees;
+nearly 600 volunteers and many other guests sat down, whilst in the
+back-ground a large number of ladies and gentlemen were present as
+spectators. The presence of some members of the Novara Expedition at the
+festival led the Burgomaster, after the toast of the Queen was given, to
+propose the health of the Emperor of Austria, prefacing it with various
+laudatory remarks on the Expedition. The toast was most heartily received,
+the whole company raising their glasses, whilst the band performed the
+Austrian national anthem. The officer to whose lot it fell to return
+thanks, said:--"That he felt deeply gratified with the honour done to his
+country and nation by the enthusiasm with which the health of his
+sovereign had been received by so distinguished an assembly, and that he
+could not forbear expressing his admiration and delight in observing the
+prosperous condition of this fine country, which, like all others where
+the Anglo-Saxon race was predominant, was blessed with freedom, with the
+spirit of progress, and the blessings of Christianity;" and he concluded
+by proposing "Old England for ever."
+
+On the day after the review the journey was pursued early in the morning
+to the village of Paarl (Pearl), about four hours distant. We had come as
+strangers to the hospitable Stellenbosch, and left as old friends, the
+entire family accompanying us to the carriage, and the worthy old mother
+of our amiable host, a thoroughly genuine Dutch matron, was visibly
+touched on taking leave of those whom, in all probability, she would never
+see more.
+
+On the route to Paarl several immensely large ant-hills were met with,
+some of which measured from two to two-and-a-half feet in diameter, by
+about three feet high. The insects were partly black and partly of a
+greyish-brown colour, and must be very troublesome to the farmers.
+
+Paarl, an extremely neat village, consists of a single long street, and
+contains nearly 4000 inhabitants, chiefly occupied in the growth of the
+vine. They are the descendants of those French Protestants who, at the
+close of the 17th century, left their native country in consequence of
+religious persecution. All the detached farm-yards were extremely neat,
+and bore evidence of the wealth of their owners. Nothing reminds one of
+Africa and the neighbourhood of Hottentots, Bushmen, or Caffres. The
+landscape becomes grander the more the mountains, 4000 to 5000 feet high,
+are approached. Among them lies the little town of Wellington, charmingly
+situated; though but a few years in existence, and numbering only 2000
+inhabitants, it has already a joint-stock bank with a capital of L45,000,
+several schools, and some neat places of worship. While taking an evening
+stroll, we passed a well-lighted Reformed Dutch Church, from the interior
+of which the devotional tones of a pious Christian congregation floating
+through the night air, died away among the mountains.
+
+Singular to say, the small, and, one would think, essentially prosaic and
+practical little town of Wellington boasts a quack doctor, named Brabna,
+whom the common people, far and near, come to consult, more, one would
+imagine, to be relieved of their money than their ailments.
+
+[Illustration: PAINE'S KLOEF AS IT WAS.]
+
+[Illustration: PAINE'S KLOEF AS IT IS.]
+
+The route to Worcester, whither we set out the following morning, leads
+at first through the wide, highly-cultivated Waggonmakers' Valley, adorned
+with numbers of rich farm-steads (so named from a number of artisans of
+this handicraft having settled here in former times), after which it
+passes over the difficult pass called Paine's Kloef, 4000 feet high, which
+frequently recalled the well-known road over the Soemmering Alp, or that at
+Optschina. This mountain-pass, first completed in 1853, by the engineer,
+Mr. Paine, greatly facilitates the traffic between Cape Town and this
+fertile district, which previously was quite inaccessible, and whose
+immense natural resources are only now beginning to be developed.
+
+When we reached the highest point of the pass we found a strong south-east
+wind blowing. The thermometer marked 55 deg. F., and when plunged in a spring
+that issued from the mountain close at hand, 48 deg. South-east winds are
+especially prevalent here, particularly in summer, when they frequently
+cause serious damage; hence all the upper branches of the trees incline to
+the north-west.
+
+We now came to the finest bridge in the country, named Darling Bridge,
+after a late governor, which is thrown across the broad stream called by
+the Dutch, Breede River, and by the English, Broad River, a frequent
+source of error. The English colonists are bent upon driving out the Dutch
+names of rivers and localities, and supplying them with new names of
+English origin. The Dutch, however, hold on obstinately to the names they
+have been accustomed to, and continue to use the ancient nomenclature.
+
+In the neighbourhood of Darling Bridge is a farm where the traveller can
+be comfortably accommodated, and from which, being a post-station, letters
+can be forwarded to all parts of the country. It has regular communication
+with the rest of the colony three times a week. The vehicle, however, in
+which the letters and packets are forwarded, in consequence of the
+wretched roads in the interior, and with the view of expediting the
+transmission of mail matter, is simply a light, open, eminently
+uncomfortable, two-wheel waggon, in which but one passenger can be taken
+each trip. Day and night, up hill and down dale, it continues its journey,
+changing driver and horses every two hours, only the unfortunate
+passenger being condemned to remain glued to the jolting uncomfortable
+car, until he has attained the end of his journey. We were told of an
+English captain, who once travelled on urgent business 400 miles in fifty
+hours in this fashion, and arrived at his destination in such a pitiable
+plight, that he had to be lifted from the car and put to bed forthwith,
+which he kept for several weeks, before he was able to get about again.
+Unfortunately, we were not told whether this unlucky passenger returned to
+Cape Town by a similar conveyance.
+
+In the dining-room of the farm we made acquaintance with several families
+from Graaf Reinet, in the north of the colony, who were _en route_ for
+Cape Town, and had been already three weeks on the road, during which they
+must have passed every night in their unwieldy waggon, or under tents.
+There was also among the assembled travellers a Quaker Missionary, of
+Worcester, who was on his way to the opening of the Spiritual Synod at
+Cape Town, and who was so kind as to furnish us, on the spot, with some
+introductions to his friends in Worcester, a lovely little town, which we
+reached towards the evening. There are places which charm at the first
+glance, just as there are many men who take us by storm as it were.
+Worcester is one of these; so neat, so clean, with a pretty garden in
+front of each little house, every wall of which was entwined with roses,
+and in the back-ground all around, bare, but picturesque groups of lofty
+hills of a blueish-grey tint, which imparted to the entire landscape a
+peculiar and almost magical colouring. Worcester, a creation of
+yesterday, has about 4500 inhabitants, chiefly employed in vine growing
+and sheep pasture. There are some of the peasantry here who own flocks of
+3000 to 4000 sheep! The rich vegetation of the valley has an eminently
+northern character. Alongside of oaks, pines, poplars, willows, will
+appear a tree of Australian origin, of the order of Myrtaceae, the blue
+gum-tree (_Eucalyptus Globulus_), which, on account of its rapid growth,
+is planted before each door for the purpose of shade. One of these trees
+was shown to us of but four years' growth, the stem of which was already
+twenty feet high! The leaves have a highly aromatic odour, and must be
+especially suitable for the extraction of oil, as the rind is full of
+camphor; as yet, however, the tree is not used by the colonists for any
+other purpose than to supply shade to their gardens.
+
+It is surprising what comfort the traveller encounters among these new
+settlements, from which, even already, all traces have been eradicated of
+the difficulties that originally beset the colonist; so that at every turn
+one meets with evidences of the highest European civilization. Whenever,
+indeed, he finds himself at a settlement, he will remark that it is not
+merely provided with the necessaries of life, or the mere products of the
+soil, but that it sparkles with numerous objects of luxury and refined
+taste; such as handsome furniture, pianos, and other musical instruments,
+engravings, English classics, besides telescopes, barometers,
+thermometers, and other similar evidences of high cultivation. At the
+hotel at Worcester, we met with a degree of comfort such as is found only
+in the chief cities of Europe. Several of the inhabitants, among others
+Dr. Esselin, a missionary of the Moravian brotherhood, and Dr. Meynard, of
+the Episcopal Church, laid us under particular obligations by their
+participation in the objects of our inquiry. The latter gentleman sought
+us out at our hotel, and, after a hearty welcome, remarked that he
+possessed, in his collection, several highly interesting petrifactions
+from Beaufort, about 400 miles north-west of Worcester. We satisfied
+ourselves, however, by a visit which we paid to Dr. Meynard at his own
+house, that his collection was far from possessing the interest he claimed
+for it. In all probability, however, judging by what we heard, Beaufort
+must be a classic soil for the palaeontologist, as there are numberless
+fossils in that district, especially of reptiles. In like manner, the
+stalactite grottoes, known as "The Congo Caves," 300 miles from Worcester,
+have never yet been scientifically examined or described.
+
+Dr. Esselin, who is a native of Hesse, was so kind as to accompany the
+naturalists of the Novara Expedition to the hot springs of Brand Vley the
+following morning. The road thither, which lies through a valley partly
+overflowed towards the end of the rainy season, was exceedingly trying to
+the horses, and, but for the kind offices of Dr. Esselin, who was
+acquainted with the difficulties of the route, and undertook the guidance
+of the waggon through the constantly recurring swamps and morasses, we
+should in all probability have had to retrace our steps halfway, or even
+have stuck fast, which would have been a still more serious matter. Only
+after unspeakable exertions did we succeed in threading the valley of
+Worcester as far as the shores of Breede (or Broad) River. Several times
+we were compelled, in order to lighten the waggon, to dismount, and wade
+up to our knees in water. Once the quag was so deep, that to avoid sinking
+in it we had to be carried, one by one, on the back of our Malay driver.
+
+[Illustration: CROSSING THE BREEDE RIVER.]
+
+On the bank is the cottage, (_boeren plaats_), of a peasant who avails
+himself of his proximity to convert the stream into a source of profit, by
+ferrying travellers, who have occasion to pass here during the floods,
+across the river in a small skiff, the waggon and horses being swum across
+afterwards. In summer, on the contrary, the stream is readily forded on
+horseback, and is indeed dry at several points. At the period of our visit
+(in October, 1857), towards the end of the rainy season, this Breede River
+was about 150 feet wide, and about 28 feet deep, and we accordingly found
+ourselves compelled to call in the assistance of the ferryman. Under his
+superintendence the work was gone about quite systematically. First of
+all the four horses were swum across, by a halter round the neck; after
+which the luggage was transported to the opposite bank in a small boat.
+Last of all came the waggon, with the travellers therein. It was thought
+that the upper portion of the waggon might be towed across, swimming on
+the surface of the water, by fastening an empty water-tight cask between
+the wheels; the cask, however, proved unequal to the weight. As the waggon
+left the shore it sank deeper and deeper in the water, till about
+mid-current it fairly capsized, hardly a spoke of the left wheel reaching
+the opposite bank.
+
+Amidst our perplexities, a violent shower of rain came on, making the
+waggon leak in every corner, just as we succeeded, after great trouble, in
+getting it to land, and were busy repairing it. Fortunately, every
+requisite precaution had been taken to remedy any such disaster occurring
+at this dangerous spot; so that the whole affair, though sufficiently
+uncomfortable at the time, left only the recollection of a pleasant
+adventure.
+
+[Illustration: HOT SPRINGS OF BRAND VLEY.]
+
+At last, towards noon, we reached the hot springs of Brand Vley, or Brand
+Valley. This hot spring, which is quite exposed, like a pond or tank, and
+even at the least accessible points is adorned with rich vegetation, is
+about 100 feet in circumference, and is of a triangular shape, rounded off
+at the corners. Among bananas, ferns, and cacti of all sorts, spring up
+numerous specimens of _Calla Ethioptica_, silver poplars, pines, reeds,
+and canes, in wild profusion. Many fruits even, such as pine-apples,
+mangoes, rose apples, &c., which as a rule do not flourish at this
+elevation, grew all round the edges of the basin. Some twigs of a rose
+tree, which, growing luxuriantly in the warmth and moisture, spread across
+the spring, like a green canopy, must have been a second growth of the
+same year. We in fact enjoyed the unusual spectacle of seeing one portion
+of the tree in the flush of its utmost beauty, while the upper and more
+distant branches had not as yet put forth their leaves. The water at the
+hottest point reached 145 deg. F., while the temperature of the air was 75 deg. F.
+It is remarkably clear, has not the slightest taste, and in many
+particulars greatly resembles the springs of Wildbad Gastein. The number
+of patients during the season (October to April) does not exceed from 100
+to 150, the waters being chiefly used in chronic maladies, rheumatic
+affections, scrofula, erysipelas, cutaneous eruptions, and similar
+complaints. Immediately adjoining is a small brook, with a temperature of
+68 deg. F., which rises at the foot of a neighbouring eminence, and has water
+enough during the entire year to keep a mill in constant work.
+
+The only animal inhabiting the spring is the larva of a _Tipularia_, which
+frequents one quarter of the pool where the temperature of the water does
+not exceed 113 deg.
+
+On the 14th of August, 1857, two shocks of an earthquake were felt in
+rapid succession in Brand Valley, of such violence as to arouse the
+inhabitants out of their sleep, when several of the smaller houses were
+found to have rents and fissures in their walls. The proprietor of the
+bath alleged that the shocks in Brand Valley were much more severe than at
+Worcester, although that town is but six miles distant.
+
+At Brand Valley we took leave of our hospitable companion, Dr. Esselin,
+who presented us with several books on leaving, and set out on an
+excursion to the mission of the Moravian Brethren in Genaaden Dal, in the
+district of Caledon. _En route_ we encountered several families, who came
+from far in the interior of Cape Colony, driving before them enormous
+herds of oxen, some of which were yoked to the waggons that formed the
+caravan, these being fitted up something like dwelling-houses on wheels.
+As night fell, a halt would be called at some selected spot, when the
+draught oxen were unharnessed, a fire lit in the open air, and the evening
+repast prepared. Horses are very rarely used on long journeys, although
+these are in consequence seriously lengthened thereby, especially as it is
+the custom all over the country to unyoke every two or three hours, so as
+to allow the beasts to enjoy a roll on the ground, if only for a few
+minutes at a time.
+
+As neither of our drivers was acquainted with the road we were now to
+pursue, we hired a black guide from Brand Valley, who accompanied us on
+horseback as far as the next farm-house, where we were to pass the night.
+Just as one requires a pilot to take a ship into an insecure or unknown
+harbour, so we now had to avail ourselves of the services of this limber
+young negro, who was an excellent rider, in piloting us through the
+endless morasses and pools of water. Renden was the name of the solitary
+farm (the property of Mr. Pretorius, a landed proprietor, to whom we had
+letters of introduction), where we were to pass the night.
+
+As we approached, we were saluted with the loud barking of a hound that
+had been unchained, and who seemed ready to rush upon his unexpected prey,
+so that we hardly dared to advance one step. At last a man made his
+appearance at the door of the house, with a lantern in his hand, speedily
+followed by the whole family, anxious to learn who could be in the
+neighbourhood at so late an hour. We handed him the letter, which we
+begged him to read, and requested to know whether we could be received for
+the night. We were at once admitted, and speedily found a most cordial
+welcome. We were shown into apartments very plainly furnished, but neat,
+and scrupulously clean, after which we were invited to join the household
+at supper. It was a very numerous family. The father and mother, genuine
+Dutch figures, sat at the head of a long table; next to whom sat the
+son-in-law, who had married the eldest daughter, and then commingled with
+each other, the sons and daughters that were as yet unmarried. They all
+seemed hearty and healthy, and their indurated hands were the best
+diploma of their industry. The youngest son said a short prayer; after
+which venison, potatoes, mutton, vegetables, bread, butter, and cheese
+were set down in huge dishes, besides which two bottles of Cape wine, of
+their own manufacture, went the round of the table. Although this place
+had been only settled four years previously, an immense deal had been
+already accomplished by this stirring, cheerful family to make the soil
+thoroughly productive, and render the house habitable. Even a small garden
+had been laid out in front of the dwelling-house.
+
+The chief article of cultivation in the valley is the grape, for wine
+manufacture, which must in this place return a very handsome profit.
+
+From Renden to Genaaden Dal is a four-hours' journey. The road passes by
+Donker's Hoek, a tolerably high mountain, to ascend the summit of which
+cost our horses some strenuous exertion, although we marched a
+considerable distance on foot. A wide belt of sandstone formation
+presented a marvellous display of flowers, and gave us in little an idea
+of the South African Karroos, a series of terraced clay-patches, estimated
+at from 3000 to 4000 feet high, which, hard and steppe-like in the dry
+season, are speedily transformed in the rainy season into smiling,
+flower-bespangled plains, quite sponge-like under foot, and rich in
+alkaline products.[52] We advanced some six hours before reaching another
+farm-house. This was known as Kleene Islea Plaats (Little Island Farm),
+near which flows the Zonderend River (River Without End), the property of
+a kind and hospitable family of French extraction, whose parents emigrated
+hither from France during the revolution in 1793. As it was Sunday, the
+servants had gone to church, so they could only offer us cold mutton,
+syrup, butter, and bread. Before and after our repast, the devout old lady
+of the house put up a short petition.
+
+[Footnote 52: The English appellation "Karroo" seems to be derived from
+_Karusa_, signifying "hard" in the Hottentot language, and to refer to a
+quality appertaining to the clayey substance of which these terraces are
+composed, by virtue of which the red clay, strongly impregnated with iron,
+and mixed with sand, becomes in the dry season as hard as burnt clay.]
+
+Here, too, we remarked that those born in the country of European parents
+are called Africans: only the English form an exception to this rule, and
+remain with persistent patriotic obstinacy, "Englishmen."
+
+The journey from Kleene Islea Plaats to Genaaden Dal is extremely
+picturesque. One first catches sight of this retired Moravian settlement
+only when actually entering the place itself, embowered as it is among
+lofty trees. What a surprise, when, still fancying one's self at a
+considerable distance from the village, on reaching the end of a beautiful
+valley at the entrance to Bavian's Kloef, one sweeps by a circuit into the
+very heart of the settlement. We alighted at what is called "The
+Lodgment," a house set apart for visitors, and conducted by a brother, in
+conformity with the laws of the community.
+
+The dwellings of the Hottentots lie scattered among the rising grounds in
+the neighbourhood, and with their poverty-stricken aspect impart a
+somewhat melancholy impression. These are built of loam, low in the roof,
+as though intended for a stunted race of men, and rarely have windows, so
+that the door is, generally speaking, the largest aperture in the entire
+building. Our Malay driver laughed at them, and called them _oete kripp_
+(oxen stalls).
+
+[Illustration: HOTTENTOT HUTS AT GENAADENDAL.]
+
+There seem to be three distinct kinds of these dwellings, which apparently
+indicate so many grades of social and pecuniary consideration among the
+resident Hottentot families. The first sort, which consists simply of a
+single apartment, serving at once for kitchen, work-shop, and sleeping
+place, and receiving air and light through a narrow, low-pitched door-way,
+is that most usually met with, and may not unaptly be compared to a
+bee-hive. The next class is of a better description, and may at once and
+definitely be distinguished from the first-mentioned, in so far as it
+possesses a second room, which, if dark and windowless, is at any rate
+partitioned off, and serves as a sleeping apartment. Finally, the third
+kind, which can only be said to be the least poor-looking, consists of
+one large, almost empty chamber, for occupation during the day, with wings
+on either side, one of which is used as a kitchen, the other as a
+bed-room. The wretched ventilation, and damp, moist location of these
+habitations, combined with the bad quality of food, may be regarded as the
+main causes of the unfavourable state of health of the coloured portion of
+the inhabitants of Genaaden Dal, among whom, especially as regards the
+female portion, pulmonary complaints are rife.
+
+We were provided with letters of introduction to the Superintendent of the
+Community, Dr. Koebling, as also to the Physician and Pharmaceutist, Dr.
+Roser, a Wuertemberger by birth, and experienced a most cordial reception.
+We availed ourselves of the last hours of declining day to make an
+excursion to the hills, in the country immediately adjacent, so as to
+command at a glance the entire colony. The principal buildings, the
+Church, the school, the workshops, the warehouses, and the dwellings of
+the missionaries, are assembled in a quadrangular open place, to which a
+number of lofty, massive, leafy, venerable oaks impart a sombre, but
+poetical, appearance, eminently characteristic of the community. All the
+buildings are of a uniform dingy-grey tint. Close in the rear of these
+buildings is a large garden, which reaches as far as what is called
+"Bavian's Kloef" (defile), in which, even at present, apes, antelopes, and
+zebras, abound. Near the kitchen-garden is the cemetery of the community,
+which seems to be used by meditative brethren as a favourite resort and
+promenade.
+
+This settlement, situated at the entrance of a mountain defile, at the
+foot of an immense sandstone range, of from 3000 to 4000 feet high, was
+founded in the year 1787, by a brother of the persuasion, named George
+Schmidt, from Moravia, who settled fifty-five miles east of Cape Town,
+near Sargent's River, with a number of Hottentots, whom he began to
+convert to Christianity, and called the station "Bavian's Kloef." From the
+year 1806, the settlement assumed the beautiful name of "Genaaden Dal"
+(Vale of Benevolence), so exquisitely correspondent with the benevolent
+exertions of the brotherhood. It at present numbers 3100 souls, mostly a
+race crossed between Hottentots and Mozambique negroes, of the latter of
+whom a considerable number have settled here since the Slave Emancipation
+Act of 1826. The settlers are partly proprietors of the land, partly
+artisans, cutlers, waggon-makers, tanners, carpenters, millers, &c. In the
+workshops the most exemplary cleanliness and neatness are imperatively
+insisted on. At the Great Exhibition, held in London in 1851, the
+wood-work of the Hottentot carpenters of Genaaden Dal received "Honourable
+Mention," and this elegant testimonial in recognition of their efforts now
+hangs, framed and glazed, in the library hall of the community. It
+somewhat surprised us that the cutlers did not receive, in their section,
+a similar distinction, since, in that department of industry, the
+Hottentots produce articles, which, so far as concerns quality and
+cheapness, are really astounding. The workpeople receive a fixed weekly
+payment, which they may expend as they please. The net proceeds, however,
+of the various articles manufactured belong to the community, and are
+expended in defraying the expenses of, and supporting, the mission. The
+inhabitants of Genaaden Dal are closely connected, by religious ties, with
+the community; and only those who profess the principles of the Moravian
+brotherhood are permitted to settle among them.
+
+The field-labourers, who hire themselves out to labour elsewhere, are
+frequently absent from the settlement for months at a time, and return to
+Genaaden Dal immediately after the completion of seed-time or harvest. It
+is significant that these labourers regard this period of emancipation, as
+a sort of relaxation from the severe discipline and rules to which they
+are subjected in the religious community.
+
+The principal articles of food of the inhabitants consist of maize, beans,
+pumpkins, rice, fruits, tea, coffee, and occasionally mutton. Wine is
+strictly prohibited throughout the settlement, and when a member of the
+_Novara_ Expedition, never imagining that this interdict extended to
+strangers as well, desired the attendant at the house we were occupying to
+fetch a bottle of sherry, that individual regarded him with as
+horror-stricken an air as though he had asked him to participate in some
+crime.
+
+Although the first settlers in Genaaden Dal were pure Hottentots, not more
+than five or six at present speak the idiom of their fathers, the rest
+knowing only the Dutch tongue. The Superintendent had the kindness to
+allow an old blind man, of the name of Sebastian Hendrik, to be presented
+to us, born in the colony in 1775, of Hottentot parents, "_een opregt
+Hottentot_" (an out-and-out Hottentot), as he called himself, and who
+still could speak a number of phrases in his mother tongue, with its
+extraordinary "clicking" sounds; but, on the other hand, no longer had the
+slightest recollection of the customs, usages, or proverbs of that nation
+to which he belonged by birth. In the library of the community, where this
+conversation took place, there were also shown to us numerous sketches by
+Hottentot and Caffre lads, which gave great hope of future excellence. It
+is an especially gratifying indication of intellectual progress, that
+several works of natural history are to be found on the shelves of the
+library.
+
+[Illustration: CHURCH AND MISSION HOUSES OF THE MORAVIAN SETTLEMENT AT
+GENAADENDAL.]
+
+We also found time to listen to the singing in the church, quite a plain
+wooden building, erected in 1800, with white-washed walls, a spacious
+gallery, and an elegant organ, the gift of a benevolent lady of Hamburg,
+who spent some months of the year 1843 at Cape Town in search of health,
+and took an opportunity of visiting the Moravian brethren at Genaaden Dal.
+One of the missionaries sat in the middle of the chapel at a table covered
+with green cloth, and gave out, verse by verse, a hymn in the Dutch
+language, which was afterwards sung, with accompaniment by the organ, by
+the entire community assemble in the edifice. The men and women sat apart
+from each other, on smooth wooden benches, the former on the left, the
+latter on the right of the officiating minister. The chapel was only
+illuminated with a few tallow candles; but the devotional feeling of the
+community seemed to gain by this simple unostentatious ritual, and the
+mysterious solemn obscurity of their place of congregational worship.
+
+Next morning, 12th October, some of the brethren paid us the attention of
+examining in our presence the scholars of the Seminary for Teachers, so
+that we might personally satisfy ourselves of their progress in the
+various branches of education. This academy for the education of suitable
+instructors, was originally established in 1838, through the generous
+assistance of a Saxon nobleman, Count Schoenburg, and year by year since,
+has been so liberally assisted by that benevolent nobleman, that its
+future prosperity seems fairly established. At present there are in the
+seminary 14 pupils (Hottentots, Caffres, and half-breeds). Since the year
+of its establishment, 50 young persons in all have been sent out hence; of
+whom, however, only one half proved to be available for the duties of
+teachers. Up to the year 1856, twenty-two pupils were already at work in
+the service of the community, fourteen had been rejected as unsuitable,
+and fourteen were still in the institute. They entered at from ten to
+fifteen years of age, remained within its walls six years for instruction,
+when they were clothed and maintained, and thereafter, without further
+obligations to the society which had educated them, were dispatched into
+the most remote districts of the colony as teachers and apostles of
+Christianity. The examination of the pupils of the seminary took place at
+the Library Hall, which boasts a portrait of a highly meritorious brother,
+the venerable C. J. Latrobe, who, in the year 1815-16, visited South
+Africa as a missionary, and, two years later published, in London, his
+very remarkable book of travels. The examination commenced with a
+performance on the piano by a Mestizo lad of about sixteen, son of a
+Mulatto father by a Hottentot mother. This youth displayed a decided
+talent for music, coupled with truly admirable execution; and besides the
+piano, played the organ, the violin, and the violoncello. Next, a variety
+of questions in geography and history were put to the pupils present.
+These consisted chiefly of easy intelligible questions, principally
+relating to England. Those examined were surprisingly well acquainted with
+the history of Liverpool, London, Manchester, Dublin, &c., and could
+enumerate many particulars about the Thames and Westminster Abbey. What
+proved most disagreeable, was the singular custom that prevailed, of all
+the pupils answering at once, each hoping, by out-clamouring his fellow,
+to prove his intimate acquaintance with the subject under discussion. The
+examiner, for example, put a question to a scholar, whereupon all the
+pupils yelled out the reply in chorus. But it was, on the whole,
+astonishing, and indeed eminently suggestive, to hear Hottentots, Caffres,
+and negroes, at the extreme southernmost part of Africa, speaking of
+England, and her influence over the destinies of humanity, as a
+commercial, maritime, and industrial power. Already the youth of the
+settlement are thoroughly interpenetrated with esteem and affection for
+the mother country and its mighty people. As a _finale_, the assembled
+pupils sang a Dutch _Bergmann's Gruss_, "The Miner's Welcome," and one of
+Mendelssohn's delightful songs.
+
+Before we quitted Genaaden Dal we breakfasted with the missionaries. They
+are all married, and manage their households in common, and accordingly
+partake of their various meals together, each with his family, all seated
+at one table, one of their wives attending to change dishes and wait at
+the table. Nowhere are any particular qualifications to be remarked, and
+it is difficult to conceive more thorough harmony than exists among the
+unpretending, yet zealously religious missionaries of Genaaden Dal.
+
+As we were preparing for our departure, Dr. Roser unexpectedly packed up a
+number of objects of natural history and scientific interest, which he
+kindly presented to the Imperial expedition as a _souvenir_ of Genaaden
+Dal. Besides these, there were also given to us two valuable little
+books,--one a small work upon the Nicobar Islands, written about the
+beginning of this century by a Moravian brother of the name of Gottfried
+Hensel; the other a treatise composed by the excellent Dr. Roser himself,
+upon the pharmaceutics and natural history of Genaaden Dal. With respect
+to the various substances chewed as stimulants, or intoxicants, by the
+Hottentots, in order to deprive themselves of sensation, or rouse
+themselves to a state of high excitability, we found the following
+particulars in this interesting essay. That most in use is composed of the
+bruised leaves of the "_Leonotis Leonurus_." This plant, which grows in
+great quantity in and beyond the Genaaden Dal, is called by the natives
+"Dagga," as also frequently, "Tacha or Takka," and this variation in
+pronunciation is very probably the reason that we find in Berghaus's
+"_Voelker des Erdballs_" (Races of the Globe), this celebrated smoke-weed,
+marked as "Donha." What the same author says of certain stimulating
+properties of the plant may well be considered as an exaggeration. It is
+curious how the properties of this plant seem to be inextricably mingled
+with the destinies of the Hottentots. In many places it has been
+extirpated, in order more readily to wean the aborigines from the practice
+of chewing: at other places again, "_Leonotis Leonurus_" is expressly
+planted in order to attract the Hottentots, and so supply any deficiency
+in hands for labour, reckless of the moral consequences. Another narcotic,
+and the most widely prevalent, is the wild hemp (_Canabis Sativa_), the
+dried leaves of which are smoked by the natives. Dr. Juritz, one of the
+most respectable apothecaries in Cape Town, assured us he had been
+compelled, during a previous residence at Stellenbosch, where he was
+engaged in his business, to keep always on hand in his store a large
+quantity of wild hemp for sale to the natives.
+
+The poison with which the Bushmen tip their arrows, rendering them such
+dangerous and terrible weapons, is extracted from the "_Cestrum
+venenatum_."[53]
+
+[Footnote 53: The Dyaks of Borneo poison their arrows with the juice of
+_Strychnos Tieute_ and _Antiaris Toxicaria_ (Upas).]
+
+Among the animal products of Genaaden Dal of importance in a scientific
+point of view is Hyrazeuma, a substance obtained from the urine of the
+Cape Marmot (_Hyrax Capensis_). It is of a dark-brown colour, somewhat
+tenacious, and nearly hard, of a very penetrating odour, and is found in
+cavities resembling a molehill. This article is made use of with much
+effect in hysterical complaints by the Hottentots. Dr. Roser is of
+opinion, that this Cape Marmot is in all probability the same animal which
+Martin Luther, in Leviticus, c. xi, v. 5, and Proverbs, c. xxx, v. 26, has
+translated by the word "_kaninchen_" (conies).
+
+On our way from Genaaden Dal to Caledon, to which there is an excellent
+level road, we perceived a large number of silver poplars, with pendent
+nests of finches. On a single tree we counted more than forty such pendent
+nests, constructed in a very singular manner.
+
+Caledon is a cheerful, ambitious little town, important as the centre of
+the wool trade, as also for the thermal springs in the neighbourhood.
+These, situated about two English miles outside the town, on a rising
+ground, in a romantic and highly attractive neighbourhood, are impregnated
+with iron, and of a considerable temperature. Even in the bath-house,
+distant about a mile from the source of the spring, a thermometer held in
+a stone trough, filled to overflowing, marked from 100 deg.4 to 104 deg. Fahr. At
+their respective sources the one spring has a temperature of 116 deg.6 Fahr.
+and the other 114 deg.8 Fahr. The colour of the water is ochre yellow. From
+the terrace of the bath-house a rather extensive landscape opens to the
+view, backed by a splendid range of mountains, including the Tower of
+Babel, as the inhabitants have christened the highest peak in this
+vicinity.
+
+Caledon has 600 inhabitants. About twenty years ago there were not more
+than ten bales of wool grown in the entire district. At present about
+800,000 lbs. are shipped annually. One Merino sheep supplies from 1 lb. to
+1-1/2 lb. of wool, worth from 1_s._ 2_d._ to 1_s._ 4_d._ sterling per
+pound. Besides Caledon, the principal wool districts of Cape Colony are
+Swellendam, Beaufort, and Graaf-Reinet. All these districts united produce
+yearly about 15,000,000 lbs. of wool, worth about _L_1,000,000 sterling.
+Within two years the wool produce of the entire colony has increased 30
+per cent., and during last year a strenuous and very costly experiment has
+been made to introduce the Angora breed, with the intention of increasing
+the wool-producing powers of the less fleecy race by a judicious cross
+with the native species.
+
+The road to Somerset-West leads over the high and picturesque Hauw-Hoek
+Pass and Sir Lowry's Pass; the latter is very steep, and parts of it are
+hardly, if at all, inferior in extent and variety of landscape to those
+presented by the Styrian Alps. At the culminating point of the latter
+pass, which surpasses even Paine's Kloef in height and width, one stands
+as upon the ruins of a lofty tower, from which the eye can range at will
+over the entire country beneath. South-east and eastward towers the
+Hauw-Hoek Pass, while southwards and westwards the charming Lowry's Vale,
+and far in the distance the smiling settlement of Somerset-West come into
+view, while all around, farther than the eye can reach, are luxuriant
+pasturages, that only wait to be settled and cultivated in order to
+produce magnificent returns.
+
+Somerset-West, a prettily-built, and very charmingly situated settlement,
+already supports so considerable a traffic with the capital that a daily
+omnibus has proved a remunerative speculation to the promoters.
+
+We now proceeded to Zandvliet, the property of one of the oldest and most
+highly considered families in the colony, named Cloete, where we spent the
+night. With these genial kindly people we soon felt ourselves as entirely
+at home as if with our own families; we sang, laughed, and frolicked, till
+far into the night.
+
+The following morning we drove to a hill, about a mile and a half distant
+from Zandvliet, known as Macassar Downs, on which is the spot of
+interment, (Krammat or Brammat), of a Malay prophet.
+
+[Illustration: TOMB OF A MALAY PROPHET AT ZANDVLIET.]
+
+This individual, so honoured in death, was, if we are to believe the
+Malays, a direct descendant of Mahomet, named Sheikh Joseph, who, expelled
+from Batavia by the Dutch Government for political reasons, settled in the
+colony about a century and a half ago, and died and was buried in the
+neighbourhood of Zandvliet. An especial deputation came over from Malacca
+to Cape Colony to fetch away the corpse of the defunct prophet, for
+conveyance to the land of his birth; but at the disinterment it happened
+that the little finger of the prophet, in spite of the most persevering
+research, could nowhere be found. This circumstance appeared to those
+simple believers sufficient reason for erecting a monument over the spot
+in which the finger of a Malay prophet lay hid from view. Even to this day
+the Malays from time to time perform a pilgrimage to the Colony and
+celebrate their religious ceremonies at the Mausoleum. Four followers of
+the prophet are buried with him, two of them Mahometan priests, who are
+regarded with much veneration by the Malays. An extensive flight of stone
+steps leads to the tomb, the exterior of which is very insignificant, and,
+but for a small pointed turret, hardly differs from an ordinary
+dwelling-house. On entering, a low-roofed vault is visible, a sort of
+front outhouse, which rather disfigures the facade, and much more
+resembles a cellar than the portal of a Mausoleum. Above the arch of this
+vault an Arabic inscription has been engraved with a stylus; but this is
+so painted over in brick colour that it has already become almost
+illegible. Judging by the few words that have been deciphered, it seems to
+consist of the first propositions of the Koran.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE MAUSOLEUM.]
+
+The inner room, provided on two sides with modern glazed windows at
+irregular intervals, is about the size of an ordinary room of 12 feet
+long, 9 wide, and 7 high. In the middle rises the monument, to which
+access is had by some more brick steps. Immense quantities of unwashed
+white linen cloth are heaped upon it, which seem occasionally sprinkled
+with a brown odoriferous liquid (_dupa_). As at the head of Sheikh Joseph,
+so at his feet several figures, resembling those in enamel used to
+ornament tarts, are drawn upon the linen cloth with the overflowings of
+the unguent. These have undoubtedly been formed accidentally, and it
+appears wrong and unfair to attribute to them any more recondite
+significance. The monument rests upon four wooden pillars, with pyramidal
+pinnacles or ornaments, and is richly decorated with fine white muslin,
+which gives to the whole very much the appearance of an old-fashioned
+English "fourposter," with its costly drapery and curtains. While the
+curtains are spread out all around, several small green and white
+bannerets stand at the upper and lower end of the sarcophagus. The whole
+interior is, as it were, impregnated with the incense which devout Malay
+pilgrims from time to time burn here, especially after the forty days'
+fast (Ramadan), or leave behind upon the steps of the tomb in flasks or in
+paper-boxes. On such occasions, they always bring wax-candles and linen
+cloth as an offering, with the latter of which they deck the tomb afresh,
+so that a perfect mountain of white linen rises above the stone floor.
+During their devotions they unceasingly kiss this white mass of stuff, and
+as they are continually chewing tobacco, this filthy habit produces
+disgustingly loathsome stains.
+
+On the same hill which boasts the tomb of Sheikh Joseph, there are also,
+in ground that is common property, nine other graves of eminent Malays,
+enclosed with carefully-selected stones, and likewise covered over with
+large broad strips of bleached linen cloth, protected by stones from any
+injury by weather or violence. At the head and foot of each individual
+interred, is a single stone of larger size. Formerly the black inhabitants
+of the neighbourhood made use of this store of linen cloth to make shirts
+for themselves, without further thought upon the propriety of the matter.
+Latterly, however, a shrewd Malay priest spread a report that one of these
+ebony linen stealers had lost all the fingers off one hand, since which
+the graves of those departed worthies remain inviolate and unprofaned.
+
+At the foot of the hill are some small half-fallen-in buildings, near a
+large hall, painted white, red, and yellow, consisting of a small
+apartment and a kitchen, the whole in a most dirty, neglected, and
+desolate condition. At this point the Moslems must have accomplished
+certain prayers, before they can climb the hill and proceed to visit the
+tomb. Over the door of this singular house of prayer some words are
+likewise engraved in the Arabic character, which, however, are now
+entirely illegible.
+
+On quitting the Malay Krammat, we next undertook a tolerably difficult
+walk to the Downs or sand-dunes, which at this point extend along the
+entire coast line, on which the wax-berry shrub, as already mentioned,
+grows wild in vast quantities, and visibly prevents the further
+encroachments of the moving sand. The Eerst Rivier (First River) may be
+regarded as the limit of demarcation between the sand-dunes and the soil
+adapted for vegetation.
+
+The same evening the naturalists of the Expedition left hospitable
+Zandvliet, though not till after they had been presented by Herr Cloete
+with a splendid collection of fruits indigenous to Port Natal. Having been
+everywhere received with distinction, and enjoyed every sort of assistance
+in our researches, we set out on our return so richly freighted with
+objects of natural history, that the waggon, as we drove through the wide
+streets of Cape Town, presented such a various and substantial assortment
+of each as spoke volumes for the success of our journey. Every available
+corner was called into requisition to dispose of our prizes--even between
+the open windows hung suspended the bottle-shaped nests of the finch, and
+the slender sticks that supported the tilt were entwined with gigantic
+festoons of flowers. In a word, the whole waggon, with its variegated
+contents, resembled a holiday-van on its return from a country excursion,
+so gaily and cheerfully was it decorated.
+
+During our residence in the Cape colony, severe depression existed among
+the agricultural inhabitants of the Western and Eastern districts, in
+consequence of an epidemic which, within two years, had carried off 64,850
+horses (draught horses, mares, and foals), of the value of L525,000
+sterling.[54] Many landowners in consequence entirely gave up rearing
+horses, and turned their attention almost exclusively to the breeding of
+sheep. The visitations of this malady are by no means of late
+introduction, but hitherto they had made their appearance at such long
+intervals, that but little attention was paid to them and people regarded
+their return without much alarm. This disease of the horse, usually
+endemic in Cape Colony, assumed every twenty years, owing to some
+inexplicable causes, an epidemic character, and on those occasions
+extended over an extensive area, as happened with extraordinary regularity
+in the years 1780, 1801, 1819, 1839, and 1854. Hitherto no further
+precaution was taken, than, so soon as the disease appeared, to drive the
+horses from the grass pastures to their stables or covered sheds, and
+there supply them with fodder, the night dew being considered a main cause
+of the complaint. A resident in Stellenbosch, indeed, maintained that the
+dew which was deposited during the continuance of the disease tasted quite
+bitter, and was of an unusual brownish tinge. Singular to say, not the
+slightest symptoms of illness manifested themselves in the swine, dogs,
+and birds of prey which devoured the carcases of horses that died of the
+disease, while the consumption, whether boiled or roasted, of mutton
+which was ever so slightly tainted with the mere germ of this malady,
+never failed to produce the most mischievous consequences on the human
+species. According to Dr. Livingstone the same malignant ulcerous
+imposthumes were produced, if even sound portions were used of the carcase
+of an animal that had died of this complaint. These observations, founded
+on innumerable examples, run counter to the opinion of the French
+physicians and physiologists, that the malignity of the poison in such
+cases becomes neutralized by the process of cooking. Considering the
+importance of the subject to a land-holding colony, it could hardly fail
+that numerous individuals should devote themselves to elucidating the
+causes of this devastating epidemic; but it must ever remain a striking
+and significant fact, illustrative of the high standard of cultivation in
+Cape Colony, that within a very few years 112 different authors published
+treatises respecting this complaint among the horses. The result of these
+numerous researches was, that the malady is epidemic, but not contagious;
+that horses driven into the stable before sunset, and not permitted to go
+out to pasture till the dew has evaporated off the grass, are as a rule
+exempted from attack; that those horses which are kept at night in open
+pounds, or in places where there are heaps of dung, take the disease in a
+milder form than if suffered to roam at large day and night; lastly, that
+horses for which no covered shelter can be provided, may with great
+advantage be sent to hilly localities and dry runs of land. The practical
+remedy which was most resorted to, consisted in immediate and prolonged
+bleeding, pushed to actual exhaustion of the animal, in the first stage of
+the malady, as also the exhibition of 1 drachm of tartar emetic and 2
+drachms of calomel, or, at a later stage, of 30 grains of tartar emetic
+twice a day.
+
+[Footnote 54: At the same time 92,793 head of cattle (draught oxen, cows,
+and calves) fell a sacrifice to a disease of the lungs, and we were
+assured that the original cause of this terribly fatal malady
+(_Pleuropneumonia_) is attributable to a bull having been imported from
+Holland, in the year 1854, in a diseased state. The English public will
+remember the severe panic under which Continental graziers, and others
+connected with the cattle trade, laboured during the years 1854-55 and the
+commencement of 1856.]
+
+[Illustration: TSETSE FLY.]
+
+Another appalling scourge of the settlers in the south-west district of
+Cape Colony is a minute, almost imperceptible insect, of terrible omen,
+the _tsetse-fly_ (_Glossina morsitans_), a puncture from which produces
+such terrible destruction among horses and cattle, that several runs of
+land are uninhabitable--nay, even the mere passing through districts which
+they frequent, proves fatal to the draught beasts of the caravans. This
+insect is principally encountered in copses and brushwood, very seldom in
+the open country, and is about the size of a common house fly, but with
+wings a little longer. In colour it resembles the honey bee. The tsetse is
+uncommonly active, and usually escapes all attempts to catch it with the
+hand; but in the cool of the morning or evening it is less active and
+quick in its movements. The poison which it carries is so powerful that
+the bite of three or four individuals is sufficient to kill the most
+powerful ox. Many animals, especially such as appear perfectly sound or in
+the best condition, die speedily after being bitten, but the majority are
+ill for an entire week, and usually become blind before death. One
+remarkable circumstance is that the bite of these insects is fatal to
+dogs, even when fed with milk, while calves and other young animals, so
+long as they are sucking, remain perfectly exempt from the malefic powers
+of the tsetse. It is especially noticed that the danger seems to be
+confined to domesticated animals, while such as are wild or only half
+reclaimed, such as buffaloes, zebras, jackals, oxen, horses, and wild
+dogs, have not the slightest occasion to dread this insect; nay more, it
+attacks man himself without the least ill consequences. The sensation
+which their bite produces on the hand, or other portion of the human
+frame, would be confounded by any one travelling in the tsetse district,
+with that of another minute and most troublesome, though by no means
+dangerous insect, the flea. Fortunately the tsetse-fly has an appointed
+circuit to range in, in the south-west of the Cape Colony, which it never
+changes or extends. The landowner may erect his cattle-pound on one side
+of the stream in perfect security, although the opposite bank may resound
+with the hum of swarms of these insects. When the natives, who are
+acquainted with the localities in which the tsetse-fly abides, are
+compelled, as they constantly are, to shift their ground, and, in changing
+their pastures, to transgress upon the district of the tsetse, they
+usually select the moonlight nights of winter, when the insect, during the
+quiet hours of the cold season, is not likely to molest their charge.
+
+Many travellers whose draught oxen and horses have been killed by the
+ravages of this insect, are annually not merely frustrated in their
+journey, but, it appears, have their personal safety seriously imperilled
+by being deprived of all means of locomotion. Anderson, in his admirable
+work upon "Lake Ngami," relates that some twenty aborigines of the Griqua
+race, who had been elephant-hunting in the north-west of that lake, and
+were provided with three large waggons and numerous oxen and horses,
+found, on their return to their encampment, that they had lost the whole
+of their cattle-team by the bite of the tsetse. So, too, Dr. Livingstone,
+during a short journey over a district frequented by the tsetse, lost
+forty-three strong and useful oxen, although by dint of great vigilance
+scarcely twenty flies had been able to settle among the entire herd. We
+have dwelt at length on the description of the ravages caused by this so
+much dreaded insect, with the view of pointing out the numerous and
+amazing difficulties which present themselves to the traveller or settler
+in certain localities, and how often not only wild and rapacious animals,
+but even small, hardly perceptible insects endanger the life of the
+wanderer, and render large tracts of lands valueless for settlement.[55]
+
+[Footnote 55: Most valuable comprehensive details, as to the natural
+history of the tsetse-fly, its ravages, and its migration into the
+districts which it frequents, are to be found in the "Transactions of the
+Royal Society," Volume XX., page 148; "Proceedings of the London
+Geological Society," page 217; Charles John Anderson's "Lake Ngami; or,
+Explorations and Discoveries during Four Years' Wanderings in the Wilds of
+Western Africa," London, 1856; Dr. Livingstone's "Missionary Travels and
+Researches in South Africa," London, 1857. The agent of the London
+Missionary Society at the Cape of Good Hope, the estimable, highly
+respected Dr. Thompson, gave us a small piece of a root called _fly-root_,
+which is considered to grow from a parasite, and a decoction of which is
+reckoned by the aborigines an antidote to the bite of the tsetse-fly.
+Unfortunately the requisite material was not in sufficient quantity to
+admit of determining the plant itself, or of instituting further
+researches with it.]
+
+No stranger can well leave Cape Town without having visited Constantia,
+the chief seat of the wine cultivation of the country. Accordingly we had
+a day of exceedingly pleasant relaxation while visiting High Constantia.
+Mr. James Mosenthal, the very hospitable Austrian Consul, had carefully
+selected the most beautiful spot in the immediate vicinity of Cape Town,
+the charming residence of his friend Mynheer Van Reenen, at which to get
+up a splendid _fete champetre_ on an extensive scale, in honour of the
+visit of this the first man-of-war that had borne the flag of our country
+into these remote seas. The entire staff of our frigate was invited, and
+over a hundred guests, comprising the flower of the fair sex of Cape Town,
+took part in the festivities. Immense four-horse coaches conveyed the
+company in the forenoon to the hill of Constantia. The company wandered at
+leisure under the gigantic oak trees, or in the beautifully laid-out
+garden of this extensive domain, and after a sumptuous _dejeuner_, the
+majority set to dancing. A small orchestra of stringed instruments played
+alternately with the ship's band in the garden, and in the tastefully
+decorated apartment. Those who did not care to dance, or whom a burning
+afternoon sun prevented from walking in the open air, might escape into
+cool and most elegant cellars, where our hospitable entertainer had stored
+large quantities of "spiritual treasures." The costly nectar which the
+Cape, and especially High Constantia, produces, finds its way but seldom
+to European tables, because the quantity produced is very much below the
+demand; for although the first cultivation of the grape for wine dates in
+Cape Colony so far back as 1668, the wine manufacture has only of late
+years expanded in a marked degree,--viz., 45 per cent. from 1855 to 1856,
+and 70 per cent. from 1856 to 1857, so that at present the entire quantity
+produced of red and white Cape wine (Pontac and Frontignac) may be stated
+at 24,000 pipes, worth L380,000 sterling.
+
+At the conclusion of the _fete_ we sat down to a splendid banquet in the
+open air, in a shady avenue, so as to admit of all the guests sitting at
+one long table. At the upper end, under the umbrageous boughs of some
+venerable oaks, that towered like a canopy overhead, fluttered the flags
+of England and Austria. The mayor of Cape Town occupied the chair; the
+toasts customary on such occasions were given and responded to, allusion
+being made to the pleasure felt at the arrival of an Austrian man-of-war,
+as also to the gratitude of the members of the Expedition for the hearty
+welcome prepared for them, and expressing an earnest hope that both
+Governments may ever continue faithfully allied, as both nations are, by
+descent, sympathy, and intellectual pursuits. A few days after this
+splendid entertainment, we returned to Simon's Bay, whence the _Novara_
+was already preparing to sail. The several weeks' stay of the frigate at
+the little settlement of Simon's Bay, together with a certain quantity of
+repairs, had called forth a most unwonted briskness of business. Amid so
+circumscribed a population, the sudden influx of more than three hundred
+additional consumers, with their varying wants, speedily made itself
+perceptible in every class of the community, the more so as most of the
+heavy stores for the voyage were bought here, so that the sum set in
+circulation during these few weeks amounted to some L2,000. At the same
+time the Expedition were readily permitted to contribute a mite towards
+building the Catholic Church in Simon's Town, and to present some priests'
+garments, altar cloths, and church fittings, which had been intended by
+the Austrian Government for distribution among four Catholic Missionaries
+in the various quarters of the globe visited.
+
+Some members of the Expedition also set out on an excursion some thirty
+nautical miles, to where the peninsula of the Cape stretches out to the
+real Cape of Good Hope itself--a longer, more difficult, but also more
+interesting expedition, which gave fresher impressions, and conveyed a
+pretty accurate and more just idea of the physical features of the
+Peninsula of the Cape, its vegetation, zoology, and geological structure,
+than could be obtained by a cursory examination, of the natural features
+of a large portion of South Africa. For whoever has clambered up the torn,
+broken, rocky masses of Table Mountain, worn out and eaten away by the
+atmosphere, and has scrambled among its wild hollows, with its forests of
+the greyish green _Pratea Gargentea_ at his feet, amid its far extending
+rocky plateaux, full of stagnant water-pools; whoever has strayed thence
+among the wine-producing terraced hills of Constantia, with their rich
+vegetation; over the sandy table-lands backed by rocky ridges, over
+streams of copper-coloured water, and the boggy tracts that extend to the
+extreme south-west point, as far as the Sandstone rocks, 800 feet high,
+which, descending sheer into the tempest-tossed, fearsome, boiling ocean,
+constitutes the actual Cape of Good Hope--obtains a tolerably just and
+correct idea of the appearance of Southern Africa for one hundred miles
+into the interior, and along the coast line, 400 English miles in length,
+which stretches from St. Helena Bay as far as the River Samtoos, west of
+Algoa Bay. All is sandstone or clay-slate, with occasional granitic knobs
+cropping out; no trees, but such as are planted in clumps around the
+sparsely scattered farms, conspicuous from an immense distance; while, on
+the other hand, in spring, an indescribable flush of blossoms and flowers,
+and instead of trees, millions of ant-hills, with their regularly shaped
+cones from three to four feet high, impart a peculiar character to the
+landscape of South Africa. But on the so-called Lowlands of Algoa Bay,
+beyond the River Samtoos, Nature assumes an entirely different character
+in her forest vegetation. Unfortunately, the original designs of the
+geologists of the Expedition, of Examining the petrified treasures of this
+renowned district, fell through, which was all the more to be regretted as
+this geological Eldorado promised a great accession to our collection.
+
+During our stay at Simon's Town, we also experimented with our
+astronomical instruments, which, at our next station, St. Paul's Island,
+were to be brought fully into requisition for the first time. On this
+occasion, as on many others, the unfailing courtesy and kindness of the
+renowned astronomer and director of the Observatory of Cape Town, Mr.
+Thomas Maclear, assisted us most materially in the observations for
+comparison with our own physical instruments.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE IV.--FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TO ST. PAUL'S ISLAND.]
+
+On the morning of the 26th October it fell calm, changing to variable
+breezes and light puffs of wind, that made it doubtful whether we could
+sail that day, as we needed a catspaw from the West in order to weigh
+anchor. From the English line of battle-ship _Boscawen_, there floated
+across the bay as we worked out, the Austrian National Anthem, played as a
+farewell--a graceful mark of recognition--which was replied to by our band
+performing the sister hymn, "God Save the Queen."
+
+We steered between Noah's Ark and Roman Rock, coasting along till we made
+Whittle Rock, but the wind shifting, we were, ere long, compelled to tack.
+Had we not seized the favourable moment to get away, it would, a couple of
+hours later, have been impossible to put to sea, as the wind sprang up
+from the S.E. and blew fresh. Towards sundown, the sky cleared up, and we
+once more caught sight of the serrated outline of the southernmost point,
+with its desolate, worn, hollowed-out, rocky masses, which, however, with
+the _souvenirs_ of the hearty reception that had been accorded us in Cape
+Town seemed on this occasion much more home-like and habitable. All of
+us, indeed, carried with us in our breasts the most cordial and agreeable
+reminiscences of the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+In spite of many drawbacks and deficiencies of physical requisites, which
+oppose the rapid development of its natural resources, Cape Colony
+possesses in its healthy climate its valuable indigenous products, and its
+free political institutions, a guarantee for its perhaps gradual, but on
+that account more substantial, progress. It is a favourable specimen of a
+prosperous agricultural colony able to maintain itself, whose inhabitants,
+seeking in the peaceable cultivation of the soil their sole reward, are
+exposed to none of those ruinous reverses of fortune, which make life in
+those lands that are rich only in a metallic currency so stormy and
+uncomfortable, and render their future so problematical.
+
+A colony, which already employs annually, in its commerce all over the
+world, a thousand ships, which has a trade valued at nearly L2,000,000
+sterling, and before long will be in a position to export 30,000,000 lbs.
+of wool a year, besides an unlimited quantity of wines already in great
+demand, whose soil, owing to its prolific nature, returns, under human
+cultivation, crops of one hundred-fold, while in its unexplored districts
+as many additional vegetable and mineral treasures lie unavailable as yet--
+such a colony carries in itself the germs of a splendid development into a
+great and most enviable future. Provided with laws of a most liberal
+scope, and institutions corresponding to the spirit of our times, which
+leave each colonist entirely at liberty to develope his powers and
+capabilities in whatever direction he pleases, Cape Colony must, ere long,
+stand forth as the pattern colony for all others in the different
+countries beyond sea,--a majestic monument of the reward so justly due to
+the English nation for its policy in promoting the moral and material
+progress of mankind in the most remote corners of the earth.
+
+We lay a southerly course in order to strike the regular Westerly winds,
+which we might hope to fall in with in the neighbourhood of 40 deg. S., and
+already we again saw our old friends, the albatross, the cape pigeon, and
+the stormy petrel, in innumerable quantities.
+
+By the evening of the 28th we had attained our limit in the South-west,
+but the West winds had not yet made their appearance, so that we had to
+contend till 1st November with baffling light winds alternating with
+calms. At length in 37 deg. 30' S. and 18 deg. 4' E., we encountered Westerly
+breezes, which, ere long, freshened, veered to the southward, and
+compelled us to shorten sail. We were at this time not quite as yet in the
+zone of West winds, but had to do with variable winds; which, however, as
+the prevailing winds must be west or south, could generally be made
+available to enable us to lay our course for St. Paul. Although in the
+month corresponding to May in the southern hemisphere, we found ourselves
+shivering with cold, the thermometer barely reached 18 deg. Cent. (64 deg.4 Fah.)
+during the day in the open air, and our bodies, accustomed of late to a
+milder temperature, felt as though it were twice more rigorous than it
+actually was, in consequence of the wind coming from the ice-bound
+antarctic regions.
+
+On the afternoon of 4th November, a great excitement arose on board; a
+violent shower filled the lifeboats with water, and a large black object
+was observed swimming in the sea. Fortunately, it was not a man, though it
+proved to be a great favourite that had fallen overboard. Bessy, an ape,
+had got loose from her chain, and while being chased, fell in her
+eagerness into the sea, which fortunately was tolerably smooth. The droll
+little brute had quickly made itself such a favourite with the crew from
+its comical attractive ways, that its sudden fall overboard awoke
+universal sympathy. A boat was lowered, and Bessy rescued, who speedily
+recovered from her fright, and although dripping wet, proceeded to consume
+an orange that was handed her with an expression of entire satisfaction.
+
+On reaching 40 deg. S., 31 deg. E., the West winds became more steady, with a
+perceptible increase of motion, giving an average of 33 feet as the height
+of the waves, while the frigate rolled heavily. Sometimes several
+"Rollers" would follow one after the other, which made the ship heel over
+from 20 deg. to 25 deg. on either side. At each roll, streams of water poured in
+upon the gun-deck. The cannon-shot kept up a deafening dance from one side
+to the other, while stools, tables, chests, and in short everything that
+could move, were unmistakably "lively." The temperature of the air during
+the night fell to 41 deg. Fahrenheit, and was felt yet more keenly in squalls
+accompanied by rain, which made our life on board anything but agreeable,
+although the certainty that we were proceeding favourably with the
+so-called "_Fair_" Westerly winds indemnified us in some degree for the
+discomfort.
+
+On 14th November, in 40 deg. 44' S., 60 deg. 8' E., we availed ourselves of a dead
+calm and smooth sea to try a cast of Brooke's Patent Deep-sea Lead.
+
+While at Rio, we had been supplied, through the kindness of Don Jose de
+Barnabe, Commander of the Royal Spanish Frigate _Bilbao_, with a large
+quantity of lead-line, after an unsuccessful attempt to purchase it there.
+Unfortunately, however, the line had become somewhat decomposed by
+moisture, and gave way at 6,170 fathoms (37,020 English feet) while still
+running out, so that on this occasion also, we could only tell that bottom
+had _not_ been reached with the portion of the line paid out.
+
+The times occupied by the line in running out were as follows:--
+
+         1st 1000  fathoms  15 minutes 36 seconds.
+         2nd   "      "     26    "    59    "
+         3rd   "      "     34    "    20    "
+         4th   "      "     43    "    25    "
+         5th   "      "     61    "     5    "
+         6th   "      "     75    "    55    "
+ And the last 170     "     11    "    40    "
+             ____           ______________________
+      Total 6,170     "     4 hours    29 minutes.
+
+To the apparatus two 30-lbs. shot were attached, and the first 100 fathoms
+of line were doubled. By this observation we satisfied ourselves that such
+soundings are only successful when none but the best materials are
+employed, and, moreover, that the line becomes deteriorated in an
+extraordinary degree by long stowage on boardship, so that it is better in
+long voyages not to take such large supplies of line, but to adopt most
+stringent measures to prevent its being weakened by damp. Very probably a
+light coating of tar over the line would tend to keep it in good
+preservation, and it also seems advisable proportionately to strengthen
+the first 500 or 1000 fathoms.
+
+On the 18th November the look-out man descried from the main topgallant
+mast-head the Island of St. Paul, the goal of our wishes, the object which
+had so long occupied our thoughts, and on which our scientific
+capabilities were to be called into enviable activity. The necessary
+arrangements were completed for facilitating astronomical observations,
+the instruments and other necessaries taken out and got in readiness to be
+conveyed to the island, and the various stations and duties of the
+different members specified, so as to admit of the observations being
+completed in the shortest possible time.
+
+On the 19th November, at daybreak, we found ourselves close in with St.
+Paul's Island, while on our port-side the outline of New Amsterdam was
+visible in the shape of two lofty peaks on the horizon. As the wind blew
+from the N.W., we kept the ship's course past the north promontory of the
+island, and ranged along the eastern side to the selected anchoring
+ground. As we doubled the northernmost point, the conical-shaped Nine-Pin
+Rock came into view, while the high and precipitous margin of the island
+in the N.E. with the entrance into the crater became visible. How great,
+however, was our astonishment, when we observed some neatly laid-out
+terraces, of a fresher green hue than were observed in the upper
+table-lands of the island! These were evidently spots cultivated by former
+or present residents in the island. But no traces of habitation were seen,
+whether of mankind or of the seal. Only flights of albatrosses, bryons,
+ospreys, and sea-swallows, with now and then the protracted screams (like
+human groans) of immense flights of penguins, those singular-looking
+sea-birds, which awaken so deep an interest alike for their striking
+appearance as by their mode of life.
+
+An examination of the rock of the island showed layers of black lava,
+alternating with yellow and red tufa, which seemed stratified regularly
+from the rim of the crater to the extreme circumference of the island.
+"Thirty fathoms, and no bottom," sung the wearied leadsman; and presently,
+"Thirty fathoms,"--and a few minutes before 9 A.M. the anchor rattled out,
+on the 24th day after we left Simon's Bay, after retracing our steps
+Eastward some 3000 miles. Our anchorage, as we afterwards became aware,
+was not the best possible, as we ought to have lain closer in to the
+island. But when one anchors nearer the land in a less depth of water,
+one is by no means more protected from storms sweeping in from seawards,
+to which the entire eastern half of the island lies exposed. Only on the
+west side does the island, with the steep margin of the crater some 700 or
+800 feet high, afford any protection against the west winds, which,
+however, seldom blow here.
+
+[Illustration: ARRIVAL AT ST. PAUL.]
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF ST. PAUL.]
+
+
+
+
+                                 VII.
+
+                 The Islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam,
+
+                      IN THE SOUTH INDIAN OCEAN.
+
+   Former History.--Importance of the situation of St. Paul.--
+     Present inhabitants.--Preliminary observations.--To whom does
+     the Island belong?--Fisheries.--Hot springs.--Singular
+     experiment.--Penguins.--Disembarkation.--Inclement weather.--
+     Remarks on the climate of the Island.--Cultivation of European
+     vegetables.--Animal life.--Library in a Fisherman's hut.--
+     Narrative of old Viot.--Re-embarkation.--An official document
+     left behind.--Some results obtained during the stay of the
+     Expedition.--Visit to the Island of Amsterdam.--Whalers.--
+     Search for a Landing-place.--Remarks on the Natural History of
+     the Island.--A Conflagration.--Comparison of the two islands.--
+     A _rencontre_ at sea.--Trade-wind.--Christmas at sea.--"A man
+     overboard."--Cingalese canoe.--Arrival at Pont de Galle, in
+     Ceylon.
+
+
+The visit of the Austrian frigate _Novara_ to the Islands of Amsterdam and
+St. Paul, so long confounded with one another, was one of the cherished
+objects of interest to the immortal Alexander von Humboldt.
+
+Although St. Paul has been in very recent times visited and surveyed by
+illustrious English navigators,[56] and although the doubt hitherto
+existent as to the precise discoverer, and the correct application of the
+names of the two islands, has been set at rest by the discovery of the
+original log of Antonio Van Diemen, kept on his voyage from the Texel to
+Batavia (16th December, 1632, to 21st July, 1633), by which it is made
+plain, beyond possibility of contradiction, that that renowned navigator
+passed for certain on 17th July, 1633, between both islands, and conferred
+on the northern the name of New Amsterdam, and on the southern that of St.
+Paul;[57] yet the two islands still continue to present points of great
+interest on closer examination and observation. Of the various ships
+which, since the discovery of those islands, have visited them for
+scientific purposes, hardly any have remained long enough to be in a
+position to acquire a thorough acquaintance with the various objects of
+natural history and scientific interest that present themselves. Even the
+visit paid by the naturalist attached to the expedition on board the
+English ship _Lion_ and _Hindostan_ which, on the 2nd of February, 1793,
+touched at St. Paul, _en route_ to China, and to whom we are indebted for
+the first detailed account of this island, erroneously spoken of as
+Amsterdam (following the example of former English navigators), did not
+come within the original design of that Ambassadorial expedition. It was
+the result rather of accident that, as the _Lion_ and _Hindostan_ were
+passing close in with St. Paul, two human beings were descried on the
+shore, waving in the air a piece of canvas fastened on poles, who
+apparently were anxious to convey to the expedition their desire to
+communicate with their ships. It was supposed these were shipwrecked
+mariners, stranded on this dangerous coast, who regarded the arrival of
+the _Lion_ as an unexpected means of rescue. To save these
+fellow-creatures from so desperate a position, the Captain of the _Lion_
+declared to be a pleasing duty assigned by Providence, and rejoiced to
+have been selected as the instrument of their deliverance. When, however,
+the boat of the British man-of-war, which was despatched to take off the
+castaways and bring them on board ship, had landed on the island, the crew
+speedily discovered the singular delusion which all had laboured under.
+The men, whom motives of humanity had intended to rescue from this
+inhospitable place, turned out to be anything but involuntary residents on
+the island, being seal-hunters, who for five months had dwelt here, and
+purposed remaining ten months longer, with the intention of completing a
+cargo of 25,000 seal-skins, for which at that time there was a very
+considerable and lucrative demand in the Chinese markets,[58] and the
+signals which had first attracted their attention, it now appeared were
+for no other object than to enable them to feel themselves once more,
+after such an interval, in the company of their fellowmen.
+
+[Footnote 56: Captain C. P. Blackwood, of H.M.S. _Fly_, 1842, and Captain
+Denham, C.B., of H.M. Surveying Ship _Herald_, 1853. M. Tinot "_capitaine
+du long cours_," who visited St. Paul in the summer of 1844, published
+likewise some interesting memoranda relating to that island, in the
+"_Nouvelle Annales de la Marine et des Colonies_," for November, 1853.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Previous to the resuscitation, after considerable difficulty,
+of this important, indeed decisive document, by Mons. L. C. D. Van Dyk,
+among the archives of the East and West India Company of Amsterdam, of
+which he was Librarian, the utmost uncertainty prevailed as to the
+discovery, name, and geographical position of the two islands. Now,
+William Van Flaming, a Dutch navigator, was supposed to be the
+discoverer,--now, the hardy Van Diemen. Atlases, charts, and books of
+travels, spoke of the name St. Paul belonging, here to the northern
+island, there to the southern. This long-continued confusion of names had
+naturally left ample space for the most contradictory statements as to the
+position, conformation, and geological conditions of both islands. One
+traveller, for instance, describes Amsterdam as an island with good
+anchorage on the North side, and an extinct crater, into which ran a
+fissure, forming a natural link with the ocean; while, on the other hand,
+he described St. Paul as a desert island, with steeply sloping shores,
+which make it matter of difficulty, if not utterly impracticable, to
+effect a landing; while other voyagers, again, give directly contrary
+accounts of both islands. Compare the following:--"An authentic account of
+an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China,
+together with a relation of the voyage undertaken on the occasion by
+H.M.S. _Lion_, and the ship _Hindostan_, E.I.C.N., to the Yellow Sea and
+Gulf of Pekin, as well as of their return to Europe, taken chiefly from
+the papers of H.E. the Earl of Macartney, &c., by Sir George Staunton,
+Bart. (London, 1797), vol. I., pp. 205-27."--"Relation du Voyage a la
+recherche de _La Perous_ fait par l'ordre de l'Assemblee constituante
+pendant les annees 1791-92, et pendant la 1^{re} et la 2^{de} annee de la
+Republique Francaise. Par le citoyen La Billardiere, Correspondent de
+l'Academie des Sciences de Paris. Au VIII. de le Republique Francaise.
+Tome I. pp. 120-123."--"Johnston, A.K., General Gazetteer of the World
+(London, 1855)."--"Hamburgh, James, India Directory; or, Directions for
+Sailing to or from the East Indies, China, Australia, and the adjacent
+parts of Africa and South America (London, 1855). 7th Edition, vol. I., p.
+101."--"Voyage to the South Pole, and Round the World, by Captain Jas.
+Cook, R.N. (London, 1777)." An interesting and tolerably circumstantial
+treatise on these islands is also to be found among the transactions of
+the Imperial-Royal Geographical Society of Vienna for the year 1857,
+second division, pp. 145-56, by Mr. A. C. Zhishman, Professor of Geography
+and History, in the I. R. Nautical Academy at Trieste.]
+
+[Footnote 58: "It seems," says Lord Macartney, "that the Chinese possess
+remarkable skill in the dressing of seal-skins, by which they remove the
+long coarse hair, so as to leave merely the soft tender skin, and
+simultaneously manage to render the hide thin and pliant. Only the
+prospect of some such enormous profit could at any time induce human
+beings to pass fifteen months at a stretch on so ungenial a spot, which,
+moreover, their occupation must render yet more loathsome. They killed the
+seals as they basked in the sun on the rocks along the shore, and around
+the broad natural rock basins. As only the skins were of any value to
+them, they left the flayed carcases exposed to rot on the ground, and
+these lie heaped together here in such masses that it was difficult to
+avoid treading on them, when one reached the shore of the island. At every
+step some disgusting spectacle presented itself, while an unutterably
+nauseous smell of decaying matter poisoned the surrounding atmosphere. In
+the summer months the seals flock hither, all at the same period, in herds
+sometimes numbering 800 to 1000, of which usually only about one hundred
+are killed at a time. This is the utmost number that five men can skin in
+the course of a single day, it being necessary to peg them together on the
+spot, on account of the drying up of the skin. For want of the requisite
+vessels only an inconsiderable quantity of the train-oil, which these
+animals contain, is collected. A portion of the best of the blubber is
+melted, and serves these people in lieu of butter. The seal which
+frequents these islands is the Southern or Falkland seal (_Arctocephalus
+Falclandicus_ of Gray--_Phoca fusilla_ of Schreber). The female weighs
+ordinarily from seventy to one hundred and twenty pounds, and is from
+three to five feet long, the male usually considerably larger. In their
+natural state these animals are not particularly timid; sometimes, indeed,
+they plunge all together into the water when any one approaches them; but
+quite as often they remain sitting quietly on the rocks, or raise
+themselves erect with a menacing growl. A sharp blow on the snout with a
+stick seems sufficient to kill them. Most of those that approach the shore
+are females, the proportion they bear to the males being about thirty to
+one. This apparent disproportion between the sexes, according to
+observation hitherto, is explained as follows:--The Southern seal at
+certain periods often undertakes distant wanderings from one tract to
+another; and certain of these tracts, such as the Cape of Good Hope and
+the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, are only frequented by the females
+when about to bring forth, and by the younger males of the school. In
+winter the huge snouted seal, or Sea Elephant (_Macrorhinus_, "long
+snout," _elephantinus_ of Gray--_Phoca leonina_ of Schreber), which
+sometimes attains a length of twenty-five or even thirty feet, comes in
+great numbers to these islands, where they herd together like sheep in the
+natural coves which the coast is broken into, in which the males announce
+the presence of a herd by a vehement growling, deepening into a loud
+roar."]
+
+Owing to the important situation of St. Paul, midway between the
+southernmost point of Africa and the Australian continent (from each of
+which it is about 3150 miles distant), a complete, accurate survey of the
+island seemed of great importance, not merely to the scientific world, but
+also in the interests of navigation; as most of the ships bound for China,
+Australia, and New Zealand, as well as the East India liners, pass pretty
+close to these islands, especially during the winter season. Many captains
+trading in the Indian ocean see in St. Paul an advantageous haven for
+recruiting the strength of their scurvy-stricken crews, while the ships of
+others, shattered almost to the point of foundering in the storms of a
+tract of ocean where for thousands of miles there is no other land, can
+find here their only prospect of preservation.
+
+For the voyagers on board the _Novara_, an interest of an entirely
+personal sort attached to their visit to the island. Among the
+unfortunates, who on the 24th August, 1853, suffered shipwreck on the
+shores of New Amsterdam, in the British ship _Meridian_, was a native of
+Brienz, in Switzerland, named Pfau. This person, together with the
+captain, Richard Hernamann, and a Frenchman had disappeared, leaving no
+trace, when, on the following morning, the surviving passengers of the
+wrecked ship were rescued by a whaler that happened to be cruising in the
+neighbourhood. It was supposed that the three unfortunate men had
+endeavoured to reach the adjacent island of St. Paul in a small boat, and
+probably were still living there. The father of the Swiss made
+application, through an indirect channel, to the chief of the Expedition,
+earnestly requesting him on his visit to the island to institute some
+enquiries with the view of finding some trace of his ill-starred son,
+still unwilling to renounce all hope that he might yet be found living at
+St. Paul.
+
+We hove to about one mile and a half distant from the great crater-basin,
+in whose eastern buttress a natural communication has been opened with the
+sea through a breach in its side. When the Dutch captain, William Van
+Flaming, cast anchor before the island in 1697, the wearing action of the
+waves had not yet completed this breach, there existing at that period a
+dam of some five feet high between the sea and the cavity of the crater.
+At present small boats can, at any hour of the day, pass into the
+crater-basin, protected from the swell of the ocean by two natural
+barriers, which leave between them a passage of about 300 feet wide. Our
+last admeasurement gave a length of 600 feet for the southern barrier, and
+1002 feet for that in the north; while the intervening water passage
+measured 306 feet in breadth, with a depth of 9.6 feet at high water, and
+from 2 to 3 feet at ebb tide. On the north side of the entrance to the
+straits stands a lofty pyramidal rock, called Nine-Pin Rock, round which
+circle innumerable sea-fowl, which to all appearance brood among the
+chinks and crannies of the rock, while in the water below crowds of sharks
+lash the water into foam. It must be highly dangerous hereabouts to be
+capsized in a boat, as there would be little possibility of any one being
+rescued, no matter how speedily assistance might be rendered.
+
+Scarcely were we anchored, ere we in the ship perceived a boat approaching
+from the island, which rapidly neared the frigate, with three men who had
+taken up their abode in even this desolate wilderness. Our imagination
+deluded us with the pleasing idea that these three forlorn, forsaken
+figures might be the long lost men wrecked in the _Meridian_, whom pitying
+billows might have wafted to this solitary island.
+
+Presently there stepped on deck by the side-ropes a grizzly figure, with
+deeply-furrowed features and long, grey beard, clothed in a blue blouse
+and coarse linen trowsers, that seemed to have weathered many a winter's
+storm. This primitive-looking old man proved to be a Frenchman named Viot,
+who had lived here for a considerable time as overseer of a fishing
+establishment on the island. Our first question had reference to the
+missing men from the _Meridian_. But how sore was our disappointment when
+the old sailor in the blouse told us he knew all the particulars of the
+catastrophe of the ship, but that he had never come across the slightest
+trace of the three unfortunates whom we had enquired about. Viot had
+visited the island regularly every year since 1841, except that in which
+the _Meridian_ had been lost. The fate of these three shipwrecked men must
+therefore remain for ever undetermined, although, considering the
+tempestuous weather which usually prevails in the Indian Ocean in the
+month of August, it is highly improbable that a boat of such small
+dimensions as that to which the captain and his two unhappy
+fellow-travellers committed themselves, could reach St. Paul, which was
+distant 42 miles from the spot at which the ship was wrecked.
+
+About 11.30 A.M. the naturalists, accompanied by the officers appointed
+to assist in the scientific operations, proceeded in two boats to the
+shore, for the purpose of making some preliminary observations. When we
+reached the bar there opened to our view, covered with luxurious grass
+growing in tufts, the walls of a majestic crater, the exquisite regularity
+of the cavity of which left the exact impression of an enormous natural
+amphitheatre.
+
+[Illustration: DISTANT VIEW OF CRATER-BASIN OF ST. PAUL.]
+
+On either side the ground rises nearly perpendicularly to a height of
+about 800 feet, which probably is likewise the average height of the walls
+of the crater. On the north side of the basin, a kind of terrace was seen
+low down, with huts thatched with straw, while on the shingle of the bar
+was planted a not very perpendicular flagstaff, on which, in honour of the
+arrival of a ship of war, old Viot had run up the French ensign. As the
+_Novara's_ boat swept into the crater-basin, he saluted with the
+proverbial courtesy of his nation, which not even the rough occupation of
+a whale-fisher had been able to rub out of him. Viot had last come hither
+in the preceding March, with a mulatto and a negro on board of a fishing
+craft, named the _Alliance_, of 45 tons, in which he had sailed from St.
+Denis, on the Island of Bourbon, anew to take charge of the little fishing
+station here, which is at present the property of M. Ottovan, a French
+gentleman domiciliated in St. Denis.
+
+While at Cape Town we were informed, in reply to our enquiries, by the
+first authority in the country, that the Island of St. Paul belonged to
+England, and was a dependency of the Mauritius; here, to our astonishment,
+we on the other hand learned from the inhabitants that St. Paul at present
+was under the protection of the French Government, and, in fact, was an
+appendage of the Island of Bourbon, the governor of which long previously
+had ordered the French flag to be hoisted, with all the naval formalities,
+by a detachment of French soldiers who had been landed from a French ship
+of war. According to Viot--who is to all appearance a thoroughly
+trustworthy man, but on whom, however, we throw the responsibility of the
+correctness of the following information,--the island seems, in fact, to
+have been, some twenty years since, the property of a French merchant of
+St. Denis, named Camin, who somewhat later entered into partnership with a
+person named Adam, a Pole by birth, to whom he ultimately resigned the
+entire island.[59] Adam, who was described to us as a man of exceedingly
+fierce and determined character, did wonders for the cultivation of the
+island. He left a number of Mozambique negroes, whom he compelled to work
+through the entire year, exposed to the severest privations, and employed
+in hewing stone from the rocks, with which huts were erected, in preparing
+a landing-quay on the north side of the basin, and in sowing a number of
+plots of ground along the lower margin of the crater with European
+vegetables.
+
+[Footnote 59: According to Captain Denham, who visited this island in 1853,
+the present proprietor called this fishing station, Marie Heurtevent, and
+said he had bought it about five years previously for 6000 dollars from a
+Polish merchant of St. Denis, where he himself also resided. (_Nautical
+Magazine_, pp. 68, 75).]
+
+About eight or ten years since, Adam (who afterwards, in the course of a
+voyage from Bourbon to New Zealand, met a disgraceful death, having been
+thrown overboard for his cruelty by the black crew of a small vessel, whom
+he had driven to desperation) sold the islands to their present possessor,
+M. Ottovan, a ship-chandler of St. Denis, who since then has twice each
+year, during the fine season, despatched a small craft of some 30 to 45
+tons, manned by from 15 to 18 fishermen, from St. Denis to St. Paul
+Island, so as to turn to advantage the unusual abundance of this
+fishing-ground. This vessel leaves St. Denis regularly every November on
+its voyage of from 24 to 30 days to St. Paul. The return voyage to St.
+Denis takes place during the prevalence of the South-East Trades, and
+occupies a much shorter time, rarely exceeding 14 to 16 days. The fishing
+sloop, during its stay at the island, anchors inside the basin of the
+crater, so as to discharge her provisions for the fishermen, and to
+facilitate the freighting for the homeward voyage with the fish that have
+been caught, as also to guard her against sudden changes of weather, which
+in these latitudes, as we ourselves experienced, is, even during the best
+season, very stormy and dangerous. The fishermen use the excellent
+whaleboats (or _baleinieres_), so admirably suited to the heavy swell of
+the Indian Ocean, in which they go out in the morning, returning to the
+shore at nightfall. The species of fish which is found in greatest
+numbers, and is caught exclusively by the hook, is usually called by the
+fishermen, "Indian Cod:" it is by no means, however, of the _genus_
+Haddock, and very slightly, if at all, resembles the codfish of northern
+waters, or common stock-fish, but seems to belong to the class of finger
+fish (_cheilo-dactylus-fasciatus_), which is usually classed among the
+crow fish (_sciaenae_). These are salted, dried in the open air, packed in
+casks, and dispatched in large quantities to the markets of St. Denis. It
+is calculated that the number thus sent off in the course of each year
+amounts to about 40,000. which are sold in the market of St. Denis by the
+hundred, for from 40 to 60 francs (L1 12s. to L2 8s.--total L640 to L960).
+The expenses of maintaining the settlement is very small.--Viot has 57
+francs a month (L2 6s.); his two companions 40 francs and 25 francs
+respectively (L1 12s. and L1); the men engaged in the fishery receive 25
+to 30 francs a month, besides provisions. The second voyage of the vessel
+ordinarily takes place in January or February, so as to return in April or
+May, with a similar cargo. It often happens that the owner of the vessel
+finds some more profitable employment for it, when it only returns during
+the second year, and their provisions, as meal, rice, biscuit, tobacco,
+&c., get rather short. The settlers, however, employ what leisure time
+remains after their work is done, in cultivating a number of plots of
+ground with cereals and vegetables, potatoes especially returning from
+time to time an excellent yield. Of these useful tubers, which grow with
+remarkable luxuriance in the turf-soil of the island, they raise from 60
+to 80 cwt. annually. Fresh vegetables being articles in great request are
+more particularly made available by the inhabitants of St. Paul, by way of
+barter, when trafficking with the whalers, from 20 to 30 of which touch
+here in the year, to exchange their salt fish, rice, tobacco, cheese,
+brandy, &c., for the fresh provisions grown on the island. The number of
+vessels that pass within sight of St. Paul in the course of a year may be
+reckoned at from 100 to 150, of which, however, only a very few, except
+the whalers, visit the island.[60] In the year 1857, for example, it
+occurred only twice (one case being an English man-of-war), that passing
+ships sent boats to the island, five months of the year having elapsed in
+the first instance, and two in the second.
+
+[Footnote 60: All the Dutch Indiamen on the home voyage from Batavia,
+during the months of October till May, have been for many years in the
+habit of running south till they sighted St. Paul, so as to catch the S.
+E. Trades. But it has never been the policy of the Dutch to attract
+attention to the eastern seas, and accordingly no information found its
+way to Europe respecting these interesting islands, till the period
+mentioned in the text.]
+
+When the take of fish in the immediate vicinity of the island does not
+seem sufficiently remunerative, the fishermen occasionally launch out to
+greater distances. They then bring out from the basin of the crater the
+barque that brought them from Bourbon to St. Paul, and remain at sea for
+several days, or make for the adjoining island of Amsterdam, the shores
+of which are even more frequented by the fish than those of St. Paul.
+
+As already remarked, our first movements were directed solely towards an
+examination of its physical features. We were accompanied on this tour of
+inspection by Ferdinand, an active, intelligent Mulatto, with thoroughly
+French manners. The French stock has this peculiarity as compared with the
+German, that it remains unmistakably French, even when mixed with
+two-thirds African blood. Ferdinand was for the first time in St. Paul,
+having been conveyed hither in the _Alliance_ in the previous March, to
+work for M. Ottovan. Family troubles had been the cause of his banishment
+to this dismal island. Although only 24 years of age, he was already the
+father of two children, whom, he informed us, he had placed at school in
+St. Denis; and in sheer despair at the worthless conduct of their mother,
+had hired himself hither as a labourer at 40 francs a month, paid by the
+owner of the island. He proposed returning to St. Denis in the next ship
+that left St. Paul, in the hope that peace might be by that time restored
+in his family.
+
+At various spots in the lower rim of the crater-basin, within which
+Ferdinand acted as guide, we perceived heavy volumes of smoke emerging
+from the shallow parts of the water, which obviously implied the existence
+of hot springs. The two most active and largest in circumference were on
+the north side of the crater-basin, and were known, the one as the Bath,
+the other as the Drinking Fountain. Moreover, at several points on the
+north bar, hot water bubbles up from the soil, of such a temperature that
+the same person who, with a hook and line had caught a fish in the cold
+water basin, might, with the same motion of his hand, let them drop into
+the hot adjoining spring, where, in fact, it is boiled within a few
+minutes and fit for eating! We have ourselves made this experiment, which
+is also mentioned by Lord Macartney, and found the fish thus prepared
+exceedingly palatable.
+
+At high water the whole of the hot springs become mingled with the brine
+of the ocean, and thus indicate a temperature which is barely perceptibly
+higher than that of the latter. Adjoining the landing-place, several late
+visitors to the island have endeavoured to perpetuate the record of their
+fleeting presence on some compact granite blocks of rock, which are
+scattered in the path to the hot springs. Thus, on one of those stones,
+fast becoming obliterated by the weather, may be read:--"Savouret, 1841"--
+"J. D. Rogers, 1855, Mars."--On a second huge block:--"Hte. Rogers, 1852
+to 1857;" and lastly, these names, with difficulty decipherable,
+"Pallefournier-Emile, Mazarni-Denoyarez, Grenoble, Canton de Sassenage,
+Departement de l'Isere, 1844." In general we found none of the
+inscriptions on the island that can be recognized.
+
+On reaching the plateau above, which is reached by a narrow, steep, and in
+many places rather fatiguing path, from the settlers' huts on the north
+side of the basin of the crater, we came to a breeding-place of the
+yellow-tufted "Crested or Hopping-Penguin"[61] (_apterodytes chrysocome_)
+in which we found at the lowest estimate from 500 to 600 of these singular
+creatures, which are adorned with grey-yellow tufts of feathers arranged
+in a semicircle above the eyes, and which, as was well remarked by the
+naturalist attached to the _Lion_, with the peculiar plumage and the
+almost scaly covering of their fin-like wings, suggest a remote
+resemblance to the form of a fish. Living part of the year in the water,
+and passing most of the remainder on land, Nature has, in a manner,
+adapted them for these widely differing modes of life. The dirty
+greyish-brown attire of the young contrasts so strongly with the gay
+plumage of the old penguin, that at the first glance they hardly seem to
+belong to the same species. The females lay only one or two eggs, usually
+in October, so that at the time of our visit, the young were only about a
+month-and-a-half or so old. These penguins, so graceful and nimble in the
+water, as if it were their proper element, are very awkward on land, so as
+to be easily caught, or knocked down with a stick. Only in so doing it is
+necessary to be on one's guard against a blow from their long sharp bills,
+with which they can inflict on their pursuer a by no means trifling wound.
+In the course of centuries, during which they have paid undisturbed visits
+to this island, they have trodden a well-marked path from their
+breeding-place to the edge of the sea; and it is a proof of the wonderful
+instinct of this creature, that this place is almost the only point on
+the entire island, at which it would be possible for it to reach the sea.
+A flock of these hopping penguins presents an odd and peculiar appearance,
+as, after leisurely bathing in the sea, and providing a sufficient supply
+of food for their young, their elegant heads emerge from the water, when
+carefully calculating the effect of the breakers, they ride their crest
+and allow themselves to be deposited on the beach; or, after hopping from
+stone to stone, the plumes on their heads nodding to and fro, suddenly
+plunge headforemost into the sea, like so many somersault-throwers! Not
+less diverting are the movements of these animals when, returned from
+their laborious wanderings, which they undertake two or three times a day
+in search of food for their young, they bend their tottering steps back to
+the roosting-place, waddling in their walk like ducks. One always leads
+the way as guide and forager-in-chief, and the rest, usually from ten to
+fifteen in number, follow him in a column; on reaching the roosting-place,
+a piece of level winding ground, they give a shrill cry, and comport
+themselves anything but peaceably towards their neighbours, especially if
+these have possessed themselves of their accustomed seats. Continual
+squabbling and disputing go on, and their croaking and screaming are
+prolonged far into the silence of night. They show much tenderness for
+their young, shelter them with great care, and defend them with
+extraordinary courage and pertinacity against the southern hawk gull[62]
+(_stercorarius antarcticus_), which frequently swoops upon the
+breeding-ground, and even ventures within reach of man, from whom it
+defends itself by violently striking and biting with its beak. Always at
+war under ordinary circumstances, they are nevertheless the most faithful
+of allies in moments of common danger or necessity. The flesh of the old
+penguin has so rank a smell that it is only used by those frequenting the
+island in case of the most extraordinary necessity; that of the young, on
+the other hand, has a far more agreeable flavour.
+
+[Footnote 61: Called also the "_Jumping Jack_" by the English sailors, from
+its custom of jumping quite out of the water, like a porpoise, on its
+encountering the slightest obstacle.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Called by the English sailors "Port Egmont Hens" from their
+frequenting Port Egmont in the Falkland Isles. They seem to be identical
+in species with the "skua," or "bonxie" of the Shetlands.]
+
+The breeding-place of the penguin is about 300 feet above the level of the
+water in the basin of the crater.[63] Four hundred feet more of laborious,
+steep scrambling, brings the adventurer to the plateau at last, from the
+highest peaks of which he readily obtains a view of the greater part of
+the island, which is utterly treeless. At many places we found the ground
+quite warm, and at one slimy tract, about 600 feet wide, which was noticed
+by the naturalists on board the _Lion_, there was positive danger of
+sinking several feet into the hot, yielding soil, if we did not advance
+with great care. On the other hand, the fierce tongues of flame, which
+Lord Macartney alleged were visible at night from the deck of the ship,
+and which greatly resembled the celebrated nocturnal fires of Pietra Mala,
+in the mountains between Florence and Bologna, were nowhere visible, at
+least during the time we were on the island.
+
+[Footnote 63: A second breeding-place, somewhat larger, but much more
+inaccessible than that described, occurs on the north-west side of the
+island. There among rugged fantastically broken masses of rock, these
+extraordinary creatures can sun themselves undisturbed, and have hardly
+anything to dread from the destroying hand of man, who could only get
+thither with much difficulty, and not without peril to life, by clambering
+along the face of a precipitous wall of rock.]
+
+On the north-west side of the islands, facing the sea, two lofty pinnacles
+of scoriae, with truncated summits, rise in cones of such exquisite
+regularity of form as speedily attracted the attention of our geologist,
+and became somewhat later the chief scene of his activity. In the
+immediate vicinity, many traces of lava-streams are visible, which plainly
+show the direction in which their currents had flowed. From the upper edge
+of the great basin of the crater the ground slopes gradually to the sea,
+ending abruptly in a precipice, descending sheer 150 or 200 feet into the
+sea.
+
+In order to avoid retracing our steps by the same path, we directed our
+guide, the ever active Ferdinand, to conduct us back to the shore by some
+other track than that by which we had clambered up to this point;
+whereupon he stopped at a point of the upper rim of the crater, where the
+ground fell suddenly away quite perpendicular, grasped the rich luxuriant
+grass hand over hand, and having proceeded a few steps, invited us to
+follow. At the first glance we involuntarily recoiled at the bare idea of
+descending into the abyss by such a route, but presently we found our
+advance less dangerous and appalling than had at first appeared, when it
+was found we might, without any misgiving, let ourselves down by the long
+tough grass, the strong stalks of which supplied a safe means of descent.
+
+In less than three-quarters of an hour we had descended from the upper
+margin of the crater to the settlement, and at once proceeded on our
+return to the frigate. A pretty fresh N.W. breeze had sprung up in the
+meantime, which rendered our re-embarkation in our small short boats,
+totally unsuited to the tremendous swell of the Indian Ocean, exceedingly
+uncomfortable. Arrived at the ship's side, the sea ran so high, and had so
+increased the difficulty of laying the boats alongside, that we at first
+endeavoured to reach the deck by the Jacob's ladders suspended at the
+poop. When, however, one of the sailors (who confessedly have much greater
+readiness in clambering than ordinary mortals), while holding on to one of
+the ladders, was reached by a tremendous wave, and half his body being in
+the water, ran a risk of being carried off by a shark, the scientific
+gentlemen in the boats preferred making for the starboard side of the
+ship, whence they reached their haven of refuge by the man-ropes.
+
+Although this accident sufficiently manifested the impracticability of our
+original plan of returning every evening on board, and of being able to
+remain beside the ship during the carrying out of the objects of our
+visit, no man supposed as yet that, at this season, the summer of St.
+Paul's, the weather might suddenly become so stormy and generally
+unfavourable, as thus early to necessitate our re-embarkation, and that
+the ship would be compelled, with all speed, to leave her anchorage, and
+put to sea for a week under most uncomfortable circumstances.
+
+On 20th November, about 6 A.M., the officers and naturalists, together
+with a portion of the crew, 32 in all, left the frigate with a large
+quantity of instruments, scientific apparatus, and baggage. This little
+expedition was supplied with provisions and water for six days, there
+being no springs of fresh water on the island, the frequenters of which
+are compelled to depend for their whole supply of drinking-water, partly
+on the rain-fall, partly during long-continued dry seasons on the water of
+one of the hot brackish springs which occur on the north side of the lower
+circuit of the crater. Long accustomed to these fluids and to their
+peculiar taste, the inhabitants feel no evil results from their
+employment, which very probably would not be the case with those persons
+who visit the island for the first time, and whose arduous exertions
+necessitate their drinking daily large quantities of water.
+
+On a small eminence, about 150 feet high, above the fisherman's huts on
+the north side of the crater-basin, a small wooden cottage was erected for
+the protection of the astronomers; and at a distance of about 40 feet, a
+second for the magnetic instruments, both of which, with their contents,
+were entrusted to Lieutenant Robert Mueller. Lieutenants Batlogg and Eugen
+Kronowetter, were respectively entrusted with the observations by
+theodolite, and with the surveying board. To the last-mentioned gentleman
+were also confided the observations with the meteorological instruments,
+the researches with the tide-gauge, the instruments for measuring the
+velocity of currents, as also the soundings in the basin, and on either
+side of the bar,--to assist him in the execution of which Cadet Count
+Borelli and Head Quartermaster Cian were detached. We quartered ourselves
+as well as we could in the wretched filthy huts which, in summer, serve
+the fishermen from St. Denis as a shelter. In one of these hung several
+pictures--one representing Napoleon I. riding the inevitable white horse,
+the majority consisting of female portraits and scenes of Parisian life,
+so that the whole place had quite a Frenchified appearance.
+
+Hardly had the instruments, apparatus, men, and baggage been placed under
+shelter, when once more a strong north wind came on, which, during the
+night between the 20th and 21st, increased to such a height, that it blew
+down the two huts intended for the observations, which had not been quite
+finished, and in which, fortunately, the instruments had not yet been
+placed--exposing the work already begun to very considerable interruption.
+
+Early in the morning, a whaler approached the island, and sent one of her
+boats off for fresh provisions. She proved to be the _Herald_, of New
+Bedford, Massachusetts, U. S., out 27 months, and expecting to require to
+remain out 11 months longer, in order to complete her lading of oil and
+whalebone. She was last from St. Augustin's Bay (Madagascar), which place
+she had left two months previously. When the captain, who chanced to be in
+the boat, saw the activity of the scientific corps, the results of which
+were already beginning to be visible in the hitherto deserted island, he
+said that one of his crew had fallen from the mast a few days previously,
+and severely injured himself, and forthwith asked whether we could render
+him any surgical assistance. Considering the precarious circumstances
+under which we ourselves were on the island, we judged it more advisable
+to receive the unfortunate whaler on board the frigate, where we could
+give him all necessary assistance. As we afterwards learned, the surgeon
+of the frigate, Dr. Ruschitztha, notwithstanding the inclemency of the
+weather, was ordered from the frigate, and had the satisfaction of
+rendering valuable assistance to the invalid.
+
+The foul weather continued all day, and during the night of the 21st, it
+became so tempestuous that the frigate was at last compelled to put to
+sea. About 3.30 A.M. she began to labour heavily with an unusually high
+sea and frequent shifts of wind, accompanied by showers of rain, after a
+heavy blow from the N.W., so that at first it was thought on board that
+one of these furious gusts, which for several hours past had followed each
+other at regular intervals, had sprung the cable, and that the anchor
+would be lost. The jib accordingly was hoisted, and the fore-topsail set
+with four reefs in it, and an attempt made to weigh anchor. This
+operation, at all times laborious, was now especially so, and seemed as
+though it would never have an end. Although the capstan was manned, as
+already said, at 3.30, it was not till past seven, or four hours later
+that the anchor hove in sight. It was the port anchor that had been
+weighed, and it was now perceived that one of the flukes had given way,
+and was entirely broken off. In such stormy weather it seemed very
+uncertain whether the anchor could be brought on board, as it struck with
+much force against the ship-side, in consequence of her severe rolling,
+and it was only secured at great risk to the life of the men employed. The
+cable was unbent, and the anchor slipped, so as to relieve the ship (for
+which the anchor still on board was sufficient in the meantime), from the
+vehement thumping. The frigate now had to encounter a regular
+North-wester, and only after three days of the most furious rolling or
+pitching, was she able, aided by northerly breezes, again to reach her
+former anchorage. The members of the Expedition, left at St. Paul to
+prosecute their scientific labours, occasionally experienced a somewhat
+peculiar feeling when the frigate, owing to the severity of the weather,
+remained invisible during these three long days; and fancy involuntarily
+depicted themselves in the position of men whom the stormy waves of
+destiny had cast away on this lonely island in the Indian Ocean, there
+perhaps to languish for weary months out of reach of assistance or means
+of rescue.
+
+Old Viot, who had come for the sixth time to the island, alleged that such
+rainy tempestuous weather at this season of the year was quite an unusual
+phenomenon,--an opinion which somewhat later was confirmed by the reports
+of several North American whalers. Ordinarily the fine season commences at
+the beginning of November, at which period the South wind is the most
+prevalent, the sky often remaining clear and hot for weeks together. The
+hottest month of the year is January, the coldest June. From May to
+October it is exceedingly difficult to land with boats on the island, and
+cases not unfrequently occur during the continuance of the stormy season
+resembling that which is instanced by the historiographer of Lord
+Macartney's embassy to China, in which, during September, 1792, a ship
+anchored on the east side of the island, was only able twice, during the
+lapse of eight weeks, to send a boat to the island with provisions. On
+this station the fishery is confined to the fine season (from November to
+April), while for the rest of the year the various huts of the fishermen
+are entirely abandoned, being only inhabited by a couple of men, in whose
+charge are left the few but by no means valueless implements and apparatus
+of the island. These men lead a very monotonous life, though not one of
+privation, for the crater-basin supplies the whole year round the most
+delicious fish, and craw-fish of the finest kind.
+
+Our sailors used to hang a basket with bait close to the edge of the
+crater-basin, sunk a few feet in the water, which they would draw out
+every time full of lobsters. In a few hours they frequently caught from
+eighty to one hundred pounds' weight of these large and extremely delicate
+species of shell-fish. An excursion which was got up one morning to the
+South side of the island, in a fisherman's boat, was rewarded in a few
+hours with some fifty different sorts of denizens of the deep, some of
+which weighed twenty to twenty-five pounds each.
+
+According to Viot's account, snow does not fall often in winter, and in
+consequence of the heat inherent in the volcanic soil, never lies long on
+it. On the other hand, hail is a tolerably frequent visitant. Rain is of
+constant occurrence, and sometimes falls in immense quantities. Viot was
+never weary of expressing his astonishment at the enormous size of the
+drops of rain which for many a year he had seen fall at St. Paul. The cold
+is often pretty severe; while the almost entire want of firing on the
+island (for the dung of animals is not obtainable in sufficient quantities
+to make its storing worth the requisite labour), deprives the poor
+residents of the comfort of a fireside. "If the last storm had not blown
+down our hut, we should for long have had to do without fuel," was the
+naive remark on one occasion of the old Frenchman, as he lay stretched out
+on a dirty bed, carefully rolled up in his rough woollen blanket. Winter
+begins in May and ends in September. During this period the Northerly
+winds are often very strong. On 27th June, 1857, there blew for six or
+eight hours here so terrific a tempest that the inhabitants of St. Paul
+did not venture outside of their huts for fear of being rapt away by the
+wind. These storms of winter occasionally rage to such a degree that they
+drive before them into the basin of the crater huge masses of water, which
+they whirl in wild confusion to an enormous height, showing that the tract
+in the Southern Ocean traversed by the hurricanes which occasionally do
+such damage about Mauritius and Rodriguez, occasionally embraces the
+islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam. In November, at the commencement of the
+fine season, the winds are rather variable, and so continue to the end of
+March, when the N. and N.W. winds begin once more to blow regularly; these
+bring heavy rains and foul weather, after which, except that it is cold
+when the wind changes to West with a Southerly tendency, a warmer and
+drier climate is experienced. During our stay we frequently had an
+opportunity of verifying by observation the steady return of certain winds
+in regular succession. For instance, after the N.E. wind had prevailed for
+some days, it veered to N.N.W. whence it invariably went to W. by S.,
+where it usually stayed some little time, after which it once more went to
+N.E.--a phenomenon which went through its phases every six days with
+surprising regularity.
+
+There are heavy mists during autumn, but thunder on the other hand is far
+from frequent, nor is it particularly violent when it occurs. During a
+residence of eighteen days we never saw the centigrade thermometer stand
+higher than 66 deg.2 Fahr., or lower than 53 deg.6 Fahr. Lord Macartney gave 62 deg.
+Fahr. as the average of the thermometer during his visit in February,
+1793.
+
+As for earthquakes, a phenomenon whose occurrence at St. Paul would
+possess an uncommon interest, Viot averred that during sixteen years that
+he had visited the island, off and on, he neither himself had perceived
+any indications of one, nor had he at any time heard of any such having
+been observed.
+
+On the contrary, Ferdinand (who, nevertheless, had lived but eight months
+on the island) affirmed that his predecessor, Rosemond, had told him of
+shocks, comparatively slight it is true, which he (Rosemond) had felt
+during his several years' abode here. Considering the small circumference
+of the island, and the violent surf on its shores, slight oscillations may
+not improbably be felt, which are caused by other than volcanic agencies.
+Moreover, on the outer margin of the crater-basin, the island presents at
+those numerous points, from which at ebb-tide roll volumes of smoke and
+steam, so many natural vents for the escape of the confined subterraneous
+gases, that in their ordinary state, and so long as they continue open, in
+future, there is no especial reason to suppose there will be any
+upheavings of the earth's crust in consequence of volcanic agencies. The
+earthquake of 14th August, 1857, which was pretty severely felt in Cape
+Town and the vicinity, does not seem to have included St. Paul within the
+circle of its influence. The present inhabitants of St. Paul, at all
+events, unanimously assert that they cannot recall having perceived,
+either on the 14th August, or at any time about that period, any shocks of
+earthquake whatever, or to have observed any unusual appearances either in
+the surface of the earth or in the atmosphere.
+
+We purposely say "at any time about that period," because the inhabitants
+of the island do not avail themselves of that assistance so universal
+now-a-days of a printed calendar, but trust to memory for keeping a
+reckoning of the flight of time. That mistakes should frequently occur
+with such a method of computing time is rendered the more probable that
+not one of the three denizens of the island can write. For instance, we
+once remarked to our worthy Viot that by his own reckoning he had marked
+one day more than he had actually lived. "We always get into a mess with
+these confounded months of thirty-one days!" was the good-humoured reply
+of the ancient wanderer from Nantes.
+
+Although the volcanic soil of St. Paul is everywhere especially adapted
+for scientific study, it nevertheless presents few objects with which to
+enrich collections of natural history. An island, on which not a single
+tree or bush is to be found, and on whose tufa soil, though well adapted
+for fruit, only a few grasses, ferns, and mosses thrive, must, so far as
+regards the value of his researches, prove as little interesting to the
+botanist as the zoologist, who, as we shall see more circumstantially
+further on, came across but few representatives here of the animated
+kingdom.
+
+At several places, the practical gardener who accompanied the frigate was
+ordered to plant a number of European vegetables and anti-scorbutic
+plants, such as cabbage, horse-radish, turnips, of various assorted
+species, celery, garden-cress, and spoonwort,[64] it is to be hoped with
+favourable results. At all events, we had the satisfaction during our
+stay, of seeing the tender shoots of some of the vegetables already
+sprouting through the surface of the earth. At that time there were not
+above a dozen or so cultivated spots on the Island; if, however, these are
+carefully cultivated, they can always furnish enough excellent nourishing
+provision for from 80 to 100 men. A quantity of potatoes, from 6 to 8
+sacks, planted in June, yield, in January or February, a crop of from 60
+to 80 casks of 100 lbs. each, or between 3 and 4 tons.
+
+[Footnote 64: The vegetables planted were as follows:--_Brassica rapa_
+(rape); _Brassica oleracea capitata_ (sea kail); _Brassica rapa alba_
+(white turnip); _Brassica rapa flava_ (yellow turnip); _Raphanus sativus_
+(radish); _Lepidium sativum_ (dittandu); _Cochleaeia officinalis_ (scurvy
+grass).]
+
+Wheat, maize, and barley, also thrive at St. Paul, and their cultivation
+has only been discontinued, in consequence of their conversion into bread
+requiring a much larger amount of fuel than is at the command of the
+residents. On the other hand, all attempts to cultivate beans and peas
+have utterly failed hitherto. All kinds of nutritive plants give but one
+crop in the year. So also several kinds of trees, which promised to grow
+well, considering the resemblance between the climate here and that to
+which they were indigenous--such as _Pinus maritima_, various kinds of
+_Protea_, &c., and the successful rearing of which would ultimately prove
+an extraordinary benefit to all who frequent the island, in consequence of
+the great scarcity of firewood--were planted as seedlings by the gardener
+attached to the Expedition, in the vicinity of the two huts used for the
+observations. Assuredly it will not be one of the least important benefits
+of the _Novara_ Expedition, which it will have conferred on St. Paul, if
+the growth of the seedlings, planted in its soil with such a noble purpose
+in view, should result in the gradual and at all events partial clothing
+of the island in the forest.
+
+As to the Fauna of St. Paul, there appears to be one kind of sea-swallow
+(_storna_) not hitherto described, the bill and feet of which are of a
+coral-red colour, and delicate silver-grey plumage, undoubtedly the most
+beautiful of the feathered inhabitants, as the penguin is the most
+extraordinary and peculiar creature on the island. Besides these there is
+also a pretty grey diver (_Prion Vittatus_), which builds its nest among
+the rocks; also a brown gull (_Stercorarius antarcticus_), as also three
+kinds of albatrosses (_Diomedea exulans_, _D. fuliginosa_, _D.
+chlororhinchos_).
+
+The Crater-basin was somewhat less unproductive than the dry land. The
+depth is from 100 to 175 feet. Close to the edge, the sounding line gave a
+depth of 10 fathoms (60 feet). Experiments with the dredging-net, although
+frequently made, gave by no means satisfactory results. On the other hand,
+the rod and line brought up many an interesting addition to our
+collection, and frequent strolls at ebb-tide along the barely uncovered
+masses of rock that skirted the basin of the crater were rewarded with
+numerous discoveries of specimens of conchology. In the centre of the
+basin we came upon slimy ground at a depth of 204 feet; near the hot
+springs (about 100 feet distant), 19 fathoms (114 feet); and at a third
+point, on the south side, 23 fathoms (138 feet). Viot said, that after
+repeated soundings at different points, he had found the depth of the
+basin varied from 10 to 35 fathoms (60 to 210 feet). The seals
+(_Arctocephalus Falclandicus_) of which, according to Macartney, at the
+end of last century, thousands daily came to the coast of the island to
+bask in the sun, have almost entirely disappeared, so that these animals
+are very rarely seen or captured by the inhabitants. Even of the skeletons
+of these marine mammals, which, when the naturalists of the _Lion_ were
+roaming through the island, used to lie about in such numbers that one
+could almost walk upon bones all round the crater, not a vestige is left,
+and one can hardly realize that formerly hundreds of thousands of these
+animals were slaughtered at this island.
+
+Almost all the quadrupeds of the island are domestic animals that have
+been brought hither from Europe and the French colonies--such as swine,
+goats, cats, rabbits--which at present live here in a wild state. The
+goats, which were first introduced in 1844, are most numerous on the N.W.
+of the island; the swine, on the contrary, are not so frequently met with.
+During our residence, a boar and a wild cat were killed; a few days after,
+the five young of the cat were found, having been compelled to emerge from
+their lair in search of food. A female hare, which we had brought from
+Cape Town, was also set free on the island, and it was fortunate for the
+propagation of these useful animals that there was already a male hare on
+the island. A pair of geese was also presented to the colonists, which
+perhaps have continued to breed there.
+
+As we thought the island was uninhabited, it was originally our intention
+to leave several kinds of domestic animals of different sexes with a view
+to propagation; and with that object, when at Cape Town had made various
+purchases of useful animals; but, under the circumstances, we relinquished
+this intention, as there seemed but little chance of their being left
+undisturbed sufficiently long to secure the desired object. Occasionally
+cows would be landed from the whalers for the sake of the fresh fodder,
+and taken away again after the lapse of a month or two.
+
+The projected scientific operations of the Expedition might easily have
+been carried out within eight days, had we not been so obstinately
+persecuted with unfavourable weather. Violent north winds, which rendered
+it impossible to make any use of the surveying-board in the open air,
+alternated in an extraordinary manner with rainbows. Our astronomical
+observations were as yet nothing to speak of. Observations with the
+barometer, thermometer, current-measurer, and tide-guage, could alone be
+prosecuted, the last of which especially gave the following interesting
+result, that the hour of high water, both at full moon and new moon, is
+not 11 A.M., as given by Horsburgh (7th edition, Vol. I. p. 102), but at
+1.10 P.M.[65]
+
+[Footnote 65: According to Lord Macartney, the tide rises at full and new
+moon, between 8 and 9 feet perpendicular. A northerly wind always causes
+the highest tide, the current of which is from S.E. by S. to N.W. by N.,
+and has a velocity of about 3 miles an hour.]
+
+The proper carrying out of the objects of the geognostic enquiries was
+hampered by unforeseen obstacles and difficulties. One day the rain would
+be so heavy, that the slight covering of our apartments would be
+insufficient to protect us any longer from the beating of the rain which
+fell in bucketsfull, and began to leak through innumerable seams and
+cracks on to the beds, tables, and floor. Did any one think to shelter
+himself in the hut of a neighbour?--ere long there commenced a regular
+emigration, which very speedily came to a conclusion, by each and all
+having the melancholy satisfaction of perceiving that Fortune had set to
+work with rigorous impartiality, and had resolved to let each one of us
+feel the weight of her displeasure. And so we passed the long dreary hours
+in our comfortless huts, that gave free entrance to wind and rain, with
+umbrellas outspread or wrapped in our India-rubber cloaks, gazing moodily
+at the numerous cases full of valuable instruments, which, instead of
+being serviceable to science, were, by the loss of so many splendid
+opportunities, doomed to inactivity.
+
+[Illustration: RAINY DAY AT ST. PAUL.]
+
+Fortunately, all showed themselves animated by the utmost zeal for the
+undertaking and its successful issue; and, in a word, each fresh
+avalanche of difficulties, which sought to thwart our exertions and impair
+our forces, served only to reawaken the energies and reanimate the
+confidence of each and all amid all our calamities.
+
+So soon as the hovel we inhabited, which had enabled us to make
+observations upon the direction and strength of the wind rather than
+secured us any accommodation for sleep, had been in some degree restored
+to its original condition, we availed ourselves of the slight improvement
+in the weather, to examine a tolerably numerous collection of very
+beautifully bound books, which were found stowed away in one of the
+recesses for books running into the four partitions, and had in all
+probability much to dread from the rain-water trickling through the
+covering of the roof. These had been brought hither by a former proprietor
+of the island, and when it was sold were transferred with the rest of the
+stock of tools, &c., to M. Ottovan, who occasionally resided at St. Paul
+for a month or two, but seemed, so far as the condition of the books went,
+rarely to meddle with them. It was curious enough, however, to encounter
+in a lone desert island, so many evidences of the most refined
+civilization, so we shall cite in a note some of the most interesting of
+this library of about 150 different works, which deserved a better fate
+than to moulder away undisturbed till they fell into dust.[66]
+
+[Footnote 66: Among these were the works on Natural History, by Charles
+Bonnel (Neufchatel, 1783); J. S. Laharpe's "Abrege de l'Histoire Generale
+des Voyages, Paris, 1816;" Dacier's "Translation of Horace into French,
+with Notes and Critical Remarks. Paris, 1816;" "De la Felicite Publique;
+ou, Considerations sur le sort des Hommes dans les Differentes epoques de
+l'Histoire: A. Bouillon: from the Printing Establishment of the
+Typographical Society, Paris, 1776;" "Essay on the Life of the Great
+Conde, by Louis Joseph, Prince de Conde, at present in England, London,
+1st May, 1807;" "Precis des Journees 15, 16, 17, and 18 Juin, 1815, ou Fin
+de la Vie Politique de Napoleon Buonaparte, par M. Giraud, auteur de la
+"Campagne de Paris en 1814;" Paris, 1815, 1st vol. 8; "Histoire des
+Guerres des Gaulois et des Francais en Italie, avec le tableau des
+evenemens civils et militaires qui les accompagnerent et leur influence
+sur la civilisation et les progres de l'esprit humain." "Depuis Bellevise
+jusqu'a la mort de Louis XII., par lex Adjutant-General Auguste Jube,
+tribun." "Depuis Louis XII., jusqu'au Traite d'Amiens, par Joseph Servan,
+General de Division. Dediees a S. M. l'Empereur. Paris, an. XIII. (1805)."
+"Manuel des habitans de St. Dominique, contenant un precis de l'histoire
+de cette isle depuis sa decouverte, etc., par S. J. Duc[oe]urjoly, ancien
+habitant de St. Dominique; Paris, 1800, an. X, 2 vols.]
+
+Less fortunate were we in our researches for any document which could in
+any way throw any light, direct or indirect, upon the former history of
+St. Paul. The only piece of writing which we found that had reference to
+the island, was a licence drawn up during the reign of Louis Philippe,
+dated 20th February, 1846, to M. Adam, of St. Denis (in the Island of
+Bourbon), to proceed to carry out a certain undertaking in the schooner
+"_La Mouche_," 30 tons' burthen, under the protection of the French flag.
+"_La Mouche_," is the same boat in which Viot had made so many voyages to
+and fro between St. Denis and St. Paul. This document, which the poor old
+Frenchman drew out one evening from a drawer thickly strewn with dust,
+insensibly led the conversation to the quondam owners of St. Paul, and
+thence naturally to an enquiry, on our part, as to the number of graves
+which dotted this romantic offshoot of Pere la Chaise. "The climate is far
+too healthy, and the island far too little frequented, to admit of there
+being many graves in St. Paul," replied Viot. Of the blacks, whom M. Adam
+had once worked so unmercifully on the island, very many perished here
+owing to the severity of their treatment, but no one knows where their
+bodies lie;--very possibly their bones lie scattered about the island,
+like the remains of the much persecuted petrel (_prion turton_), which the
+predatory gull throws carelessly from him after he has stripped off the
+flesh, and gorged himself on the most delicate morsels. Only two graves
+are known to the present residents,--one is the resting-place of an
+Englishwoman, who died on board a merchant-ship which happened to be near
+the island, and whose grave was dug in the earth on the north side of the
+crater-basin; the second covers the body of a ship captain, who was
+accidentally drowned in the basin by the upsetting of a small boat, as he
+was approaching the bar in heavy weather. His grave is at a short distance
+behind the huts of the colonists, and bears traces to this day of the
+solemn feelings with which it was erected; an enclosure of large stones
+neatly arranged, make the site and its object at once recognisable.
+
+Shipwrecks are unheard of at St. Paul; at least, none such have been known
+to occur since it has been occupied by man. On the other hand, they are of
+more frequent occurrence at the sister island, as has very lately been
+evidenced by the catastrophe of the _Meridian_. However, the elements are
+not always to blame for such lamentable occurrences. Ships are sometimes
+dashed to pieces on the shores of Amsterdam in the finest weather, so that
+one is almost induced to believe that these misfortunes are occasionally
+resorted to intentionally, so as to realize some high insurance on a
+vessel which has probably already become half unseaworthy--a not very
+conscientious method of doing business, of which, however, some of the
+natives of Greece and the borders thereof are not unfrequently guilty. In
+February, 1855, a North American whaler struck upon the north-east side of
+Amsterdam in a calm, and with a clear sky overhead, so that the entire
+crew, 30 in number, were able to secure the provisions and their kits. The
+captain, with one of the ship's small boats, made for the Island of St.
+Paul, 42 miles distant, in the hope, probably, of getting assistance
+thence. A lucky destiny so willed it, that (the accident having occurred
+in the finest season of the year), a vessel of M. Ottovan's, which by a
+strange coincidence was named _L'Ange Gardien_ (the Guardian Angel), lay
+at anchor inside the crater-basin, loading with fish. The shipwrecked crew
+were indebted to his circumstance that, within 14 days more, they found
+themselves at Mauritius. A report circulated among the residents of St.
+Paul that the captain of the stranded ship had landed with some of his
+companions in a boat on the N.E. of Amsterdam, with the intention of
+searching for a sum of several thousand dollars which a previous visitant
+to this island was said to have buried there for some mysterious reasons.
+While the captain was on shore, vainly searching for a considerable time
+after the buried treasure, the shipmaster left in charge in his absence
+came too near the island, whereupon the vessel had been lost upon one of
+the numerous reefs which lie off the shore. A part, it was added, of the
+buried money had, in fact, been recovered. According to Viot, the captain
+had dug up 1000 dollars (above L200), and one of his companions 300
+dollars.
+
+At last, on the morning of 3rd December--the fifteenth of our stay at the
+island--the sky shone so brightly that one could, with more probability
+than hitherto, cherish the hope that the various operations we had been
+compelled to lay aside might finally be brought uninterrupted to a
+successful conclusion. However, the very wet day was again exceedingly
+unfavourable for open-air observations, especially astronomical, inasmuch
+as a pretty strong North-east wind incessantly drove over the island
+clouds of rain, the very heaviest of which, attracted by the mass of the
+island, broke right over our heads. Fortunately this spell of bad weather
+did not last as long as the first; and when, on 6th December, the _Novara_
+once more made her appearance at the island, and enquired by signals as to
+the progress made in our appointed work, we were so fortunate as to be
+able to reply by the same means, that the most important portion had been
+completed, and that the officers and naturalists were ready to re-embark.
+
+About 9 A.M., the frigate anchored in 25 fathoms, close to the spot where
+the English ship _Fly_, Captain Blackwood, lay in 1842. It was the third
+time that the _Novara_ anchored off St. Paul. Twice before had she
+experienced unusually tempestuous weather, which compelled her to sheer
+off from such a perilous coast, and expose herself to be lashed for days
+together by the raging giant waves of the infuriated element.
+
+One of the boats sent by the frigate to take us off to the ship, brought
+at the same time some presents, in memory of the Expedition, for the
+residents of the island, who had been so hospitable and obliging during
+our stay. The presents consisted of ship biscuit, salted meat, and various
+other edibles, wine, a musket, woollen blankets, clothes, shoes, tools,
+medicines, vinegar, oil, &c. The simple, modest fellows were immensely
+pleased with these unexpected presents, and Viot especially seemed
+overjoyed on seeing a number of tools, for want of which many of the
+repairs necessary in the interior of their anything but air-tight wooden
+habitations, were daily becoming more apparent.
+
+We left a book on the Island of St. Paul, in which the principal memoranda
+of what we had achieved were set forth in three languages (German,
+English, and French), with the view of supplying to future scientific
+visitors, data for further researches and observations, and at same time
+incite them to prosecute these we had ourselves made.
+
+We insert here this document, which will yet give witness, probably, of
+the scientific activity of the Austrian Expedition at the Island of St.
+Paul in the Indian Ocean, at a period when those engaged in it will long
+since have voyaged to
+
+    "That undiscovered country from whose bourne
+    No traveller returns."
+
+"The Imperial Austrian Frigate, _Novara_, 44, under the command of
+Commodore the Chevalier von Wuellerstorf-Urbair, engaged in a voyage round
+the globe for scientific purposes, anchored at nine in the morning of
+19th November, 1857, on the Eastern side of St. Paul, with the purpose of
+prosecuting astronomical, magnetic, meteorological, and geodesical
+observations and measurements, and at same time examine thoroughly the
+natural history of the island. Extremely unfavourable weather in great
+measure delayed the expedition; and, after having successfully carried out
+a series of observations and researches, the results of which will in due
+time be published, the officers and naturalists in charge of the various
+departments, on the 6th December of the same year, quitted St. Paul, each
+bearing with him the most pleasing reminiscences of that interesting
+island, and of its three poor, but eminently kind inhabitants.
+
+"For the guidance of future observers the following memoranda may prove
+useful:--
+
+"I. That the spot at which observations were taken was on a small
+eminence, north of the huts of the colonists, and which may be recognized
+by a small pyramid of stones, on which the Austrian Expedition marked the
+observed latitude 38 deg. 42' 55'' S., and the longitude 77 deg. 31' 18'' E. of
+Greenwich.[67] Further that:--
+
+[Footnote 67: The time, which we took from the Cape Observatory by four
+excellent chronometers, gave, on our voyage between the Cape and St. Paul,
+a period of forty-six days, a difference of 3 h. 56 min. 11 sec., which
+the island was E. of the Cape, so that adding the Longitude of the latter
+East of Greenwich (by nautical almanack), 1 h. 13 min. 55 s., we have the
+Longitude of St. Paul 5 h. 10 min. 6 s. East of Greenwich (77 deg. 31' 30''
+E.) Between Madras and St. Paul, during a long passage of sixty-seven
+days, and with six chronometers somewhat less accurately set than the
+preceding, St. Paul was found by observation to be 0 h. 10 min. 51.8 sec.
+West of Madras (2 deg. 42' 55'' W.) By the longitude of the Observatory of
+Madras, 5 h. 20 min. 57 sec. East of Greenwich (80 deg. 14' 15'' E.), as
+furnished by the Director of the Observatory, Major Jacobs (whereas the
+nautical almanack gave 5 h. 21 m. 3.77 sec. = 80 deg. 16' 0-1/2''). The
+longitude of St. Paul would be 5 h. 10 m. 5.2 s. East of Greenwich (77 deg.
+31' 23'' E.) The average of the two measurements gives as the average 5 h.
+10 m. 5.6 sec., or 77 deg. 31' 26'' E. to be assumed as the final longitude of
+St. Paul, while the latitude was taken from the various means of the
+height of the sun at the meridian on an average of days. An additional
+computation in which allowances were made for the various corrections,
+gave, as the latitude, 38 deg. 42' 47'' S.]
+
+"II. That the direction of the true meridian line drawn from this point to
+the nearest opposite shore of the South side of the crater-basin was
+marked by an oblique (St. Andrew's) cross.
+
+"III. That the tidal-gauge was situated on a rock near the landing-place,
+and that the rise of the tide above the mean level of the water (3 feet 5
+inches), was marked on a slab of rock smoothed for the purpose.
+
+"IV. Lastly. The magnetic observations were taken in a hut erected for
+that express purpose on the little plateau behind the settlers' huts,
+where at the same time various sorts of useful trees were planted by the
+Expedition.
+
+"The names of the officers and naturalists who, under the superintendence
+of the commander of the Imperial Expedition, took part in the various
+scientific operations were:--for Astronomy and Terrestrial Magnetism,
+Lieutenant Robert Muellar; Botany, Dr. Edward Schwarz and M. Jellinck;
+Geodesy and Meteorology, Lieutenant Eugen Kronowetter; for the
+Trigonometrical Measurement of the Crater-basin, Lieutenant Gustavus
+Battlogg; for Geology, Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter; Ethnology and Physical
+Geography, Dr. Karl Scherzer; Zoology, G. Frauenfeld and J. Zelebor;
+Draughtsman and Artist, Joseph Sellemy."
+
+[Illustration: PLATE V.--TRACK FROM ST. PAUL TO POINT DE GALLE. (CEYLON).]
+
+Towards 5 P.M. the last boat came off with the measuring and levelling
+instruments, and various articles of baggage.[68] The embarkation was
+finally completed. Half-an-hour later the _Novara_ weighed anchor, and we
+steered, favoured with most splendid weather and full of pleasing
+anticipations, for the adjacent island of New Amsterdam. Not without
+sundry twitches of sadness did we remark the sharp crater of St. Paul
+gradually fade away like a vision in the gloom of approaching night; and
+many undying memories must attach to our residence on that lonely,
+world-forsaken island.
+
+[Footnote 68: Remembering how many bottles and glass tubes were shattered,
+we have not thought it beyond our province to recommend future scientific
+travellers to bring with them a good supply of duplicates of all
+instruments liable to breakage, as it is very difficult to get such
+insignificant articles replaced out of Europe, and we frequently found on
+this occasion the want of some such little instrument interposed an
+obstacle to the further usefulness of the instruments.]
+
+And now, at the moment of our departure from the island, be it permitted
+us to cast a retrospective glance at the various results obtained by the
+Expedition of the _Novara_ during her stay at St. Paul.
+
+Never hitherto on this island, so important by its geographical position
+for ships trading with China, the East Indies, Australia, and New Zealand,
+have astronomical and magnetic observations and geodesical measurements
+been so thoroughly ascertained as by the _Novara_ expedition. Upon a
+carefully measured base-line, various points of the upper and lower
+margin of the crater were accurately laid down by means of the Theodolite,
+and the whole island submitted to a geometric network of angles. At the
+same time the geologist, with the aid of the compass and the patent
+levels, prepared a chart originally intended for geological purposes only,
+while the draughtsman of the expedition added to its value, by skilfully
+sketching in from these given points the configuration of the coast-line
+of the island. By their united efforts there has been published a chart of
+St. Paul, which gives even to the minutest details an entirely correct and
+accurate representation of the form and surface of the island. This minute
+chart, or plan, was prepared on a scale of 132 Vienna fathoms to one
+Vienna inch, or 1/9504 of the natural size. Moreover, it is intended
+preparing, from this map and from the various outlines and views taken on
+the spot, a plastic model of the island after Nature, which, moulded in
+gypsum, will give scientific inquirers the most accurate conception of its
+singular structure. Not less interesting for navigators in the Indian
+Ocean will be the publication of the various observations which, during
+our stay of 18 days, were made with the barometer, thermometer,
+tide-gauge, and gauge of the velocity of currents, taken at certain fixed
+hours, day and night, as also the soundings in the crater-basin, and on
+both sides of the bar. Although the complete publication of these _data_
+must await the appearance of the nautical portion of the present work, we
+shall give here the most important of these results. The extreme length of
+the island from N.W. to S.E., is three nautical miles; the superficial
+area is 1,600,000 Vienna square klafter--1 Vienna klafter = 1 fathom = 6
+English feet--100 English square feet = 92-986/1000 Vienna square feet.
+The highest point of the crater-basin is 846 feet; the greatest diameter
+of the upper rim of the crater is 5490 feet; the least 4590 feet; the
+greatest diameter of the basin at the level of the sea is 3984 feet, and
+the least 3444 Vienna feet.
+
+The observations on the state of the weather, taken with much difficulty,
+are not intended to include the regular observations on the exterior of
+the island, and in like manner some of those taken in the harbour, or
+basin of the crater, must be accepted with a certain limitation. For
+similar reasons, we were unable to fix the rate of the current setting
+from the sea into the basin, although we secured most extraordinary
+results considering the circumstances. The amount of specimens of natural
+history which was procured, was very limited, but on that account was the
+more valuable. To the geologist, it must be of the very highest interest
+to find that St. Paul has been classified, with scientific precision, and
+by dint of personal examination and research, in one of the four main
+divisions in which, according to the scheme of Alexander Von Humboldt, the
+volcanic formations of the earth may be divided. Measured by the latest
+distribution of the volcanic strata by the description of stone found, as
+laid down by the greatest of German naturalists, St. Paul belongs to the
+same class as Chimborazo, Popocatepetl, Teneriffe, &c., in a word, to
+what is known as the Chimborazo formation. A section of the east-side,
+taken in profile, lays bare its entire geological history, and forms one
+of the most instructive means of coming to direct conclusions as to its
+geological structure.
+
+The birth of this island from the bosom of the deep, combined with
+eruptions of lava and scoriae, was the last effort of the subterranean
+forces. Since that period it has been subject wholly and solely to the
+various terrestrial influences, although the lapse of centuries has not
+been able to extirpate the last traces of the volcanic fire which once
+poured forth its currents of molten lava. A large proportion of the level
+ground is hot, and at the lower edge of the rim of the crater appear
+several hot springs, the temperature of which, as already remarked, is so
+high that fish, eggs, potatoes, &c., can be cooked on them in a few
+minutes. The highest point of St. Paul rises 870 feet above the basin of
+the crater. Its walls rise abruptly at an angle of about 85 deg., while the
+upper surface of the island (with the single exception of a small plateau
+of about 400 feet on the north side) stretches, at first level from the
+periphery of the upper margin of the crater, gradually falling away
+towards the sea-coast, at an angle of about 13 deg. On its North-west coast,
+where it is from 100 to 200 feet in perpendicular height, the island
+presents several small pyramids of pumice, like parasitic warts on the
+principal mass.
+
+Like the geologist, the botanist also found in this wild spot an unusual
+opportunity of acquiring accurate information as to the occurrence and
+propagation of certain kinds of plants in a primitive soil. Six grasses
+and one reed (_cyperaceae_) form the vegetation of the island, one rush and
+three or four of the grasses forming the majority. The botanist having
+ascended to the plateau found there two grasses, both of which grew to a
+certain height only, and at certain places; the one (in the immediate
+vicinity of the settler's huts,) the oat, or _avena_; the second a
+_digitaria_, in the neighbourhood of the terraced fields, directly
+opposite the entrance to the crater, in warm positions, which, so soon as
+the earth is a little disturbed, emit jets of steam. It is still uncertain
+whether the other kinds of grass, _Poa_ and _Setaria Holcus_, belong
+exclusively to St. Paul, or are to be included in the more general group
+of geographical plants known as that of the islands of Edward's Island,
+Kerguelen's Island, and St. Paul.
+
+Among the grasses there spring up here and there, but on the whole very
+sparsely, some wild vegetables which have been planted by previous chance
+visitors.[69] In the crater there are also _Sonchus arvensis_ and one
+_Plantago_ (Plantain). On the south margin of the crater are _Cerastium_
+(maize-ear chickweed), and _Stellaria media_ (chickweed); both grow on a
+small piece of ground, and are far from thriving. Of _Cryptogamia_ the
+botanist found four sorts. Two _Parmelias_, one _Evernia_, and one
+_Cladonia_, the first-named overrunning the blocks on the edge of the
+crater with great luxuriance.
+
+[Footnote 69: Such as _Rumex acetosella_, _Cynara Scolcymus_ (artichoke);
+_Solanum tuberosum_ (species of nightshade); _Daucus carotta_ (carrot);
+_Petroselinum sativum_ (parsley); _Brassica oleracea_ (sea-kail);
+_Raphanus sativus_ (horse-radish).]
+
+Of _Algae_ there were found 33 species. The stones rolled backwards and
+forwards by the action of the waves, as also those surfaces which remained
+covered at lowest tide, were entirely covered with _Dicurella flabellata_.
+Most numerous was _Gigartina radula_, just in a state of fructification.
+Every movement of the water calls up slender, delicate _confervae_, and
+pale and coloured _luminariae_. The breakers have crowned the stones with
+festoons of the _Macrocystis pyrifera_. Of Liverworts there were found
+_Marchantia_ and _Jungermania_; of foliaceous mosses, _Sphagnum_
+(bog-moss), and two kinds of _Bruym_. Two ferns, just beginning to bear
+fruit, were found on the plateau, and one _Lycopodium_ (club-moss), which
+thrives pretty well, and frequently grows on the _Sphagnum_. On the whole,
+the botanist of the expedition found on the island, 11 _Phanerogamia_, 4
+_Lichens_, 33 _Algae_, 2 ferns, 2 Liverworts, 3 foliaceous mosses, 1
+_Lycopodium_. In this enumeration are included the European vegetables
+cultivated by the residents, as also some untended plants, which
+apparently have been introduced with the vegetables, or have been brought
+hither by previous visitors. The stony substratum of this island is barely
+covered with a plastic vegetable substance, which fills the cracks. The
+walls of the crater, as also the entire plateau, present to view a plain,
+unrelieved expanse of grass; not, however, like fields clothed with sward,
+but single tufts pressing one upon the other, which seem like the
+grave-mounds of a hundred bygone generations of plants. Frequently, at the
+foot of a block of pumice, all overrun with grasses of all sorts, one
+comes upon a moss or a stem of fern on one of the pieces of lava that has
+been washed up, or perceives with amazement in some out-of-the-way place,
+and utterly neglected, good old acquaintances from Europe, such as
+carrots, parsley, potatoes, &c., which apparently have been begun to be
+cultivated on some of the terraces, whence they have propagated themselves
+in a wild state all over the island. But not a tree, or bush, is to be met
+with throughout the island.
+
+In like manner, although the zoologist seemed to have but a poor prospect
+at St. Paul, it presented materials for most satisfactory speculation to
+the attentive naturalist. Only one of the grasses is infested by an
+insect, which appears in great numbers, a very tiny _cicada_ (cricket),
+the _Delphis hemiptera_, of which, according to the zoologist of the
+expedition, it is hard to say whether it became indigenous to St. Paul
+before, or contemporaneous with the arrival of man. Among other insects
+that have certainly been introduced here, the zoologist found the common
+bluebottle-fly, a gnat, the universally found cockroach, the book-tick
+(_acarus eruditus_), one kind of earwig, and the flea; besides the
+_Isopodis_, our common barrel-worm,[70] in almost fabulous quantities.
+These animals invariably follow man wherever he plants his foot, living
+upon garbage or decaying organic matter. With the exception of the
+clothes-moth, which has probably been introduced among the wool-stuffs,
+there are in the island no butterflies, none of the been tribe, no
+_Neuroptera_. Mites also need scarcely be reckoned, since the only
+representative, the common cheese-mite, is more apt to become extinct than
+to thrive; on the other hand, there are two kinds of spiders, for which
+the enormous number of flies furnish sufficient food.
+
+[Footnote 70: These loathsome animals cover the island in such quantities
+that one of the naturalists reckoned them at 6,000,000,000, counting 100
+as the minimum to each square foot of the island.]
+
+The species belonging to the sea are somewhat more plentifully
+represented, although, with few exceptions, very small and insignificant.
+The largest shell fish, a _Tritonium_, only attains a length of 3 inches;
+_Patella_, which is very plentiful all round the island, is only 1 inch
+long; several sorts of snails (such as _Buccinum_, _Defrancia_,
+_Mangelia_, _Paludinella_, _Adeorbis_, _Janthina_, _Fissurella_,
+_Scutellina_, _Lepidopleurus_, _Bulla_, _Asteronotus_, _Doto_), are barely
+a few lines in length, or even less.
+
+The _Brachiopoda_ are represented by a very inferior member, the
+_Terebratulina_, only two lines long, which, however, is a giant compared
+with one of the two only kinds of mussel, _Kellia_ and _Lima_, which are
+occasionally met with here, and are only half-a-line in length.
+
+Among the _Vertebratae_, the fishery of which is the principal object of
+the visits annually paid to the island, one, the _Cheilodactylus_, a
+spinous-finned fish, which is extraordinarily abundant all round the
+island, supports an important fishery, while _Thyrsites Atun_ were
+frequently caught with rod and line from the frigate.
+
+Of _Amphibiae_, there is not a vestige to be found on the island; the birds
+belong for the most part to the powerful-winged web-footed birds that
+frequent the open ocean, as, for example, the _Diomedea exulans_ (great
+albatross or man-of-war bird), _D. chlororhynchus_ (yellow-billed
+albatross), _D. fuliginosa_ (a new one not determined), _Lestris
+catarractes_, _Storna sp: Prion Vittatus_, of which the four last-named,
+at the time of our visit, had both eggs and young. Of birds with
+fin-shaped wings, there was the golden-crested penguin (_Apterodytes
+chrysocoma S._), living in two distinct colonies among the precipitous
+overhanging cliffs, with innumerable young, already of a pretty good
+size.[71] We also remarked several other winged denizens of the deep, which
+had alighted on our ship during the last few days immediately preceding
+our arrival at St. Paul. According to the fishery-people, the other birds
+of the island quit it altogether so soon as their young have grown
+sufficiently, and only return when the next breeding season comes round.
+
+[Footnote 71: One of the zoologists, Mr. Zelebor, endeavoured to kill two
+penguins that had been caught alive in the island, the one with arsenic,
+the other with chloroform. Of the latter, a quantity was administered
+enough to have killed a man, but which scarcely affected the penguin, who,
+in a quarter of an hour after, seemed quite restored to himself. The
+second, which had swallowed two tea-spoonsful of arsenic, died eight hours
+later.]
+
+In contradistinction to the sea-birds, M. Frauenfeld remarked but one
+single land-bird, a swallow, whose movements seemed to indicate that he
+was watching a breeding female. A stray bird on this lonely spot of earth,
+nearly 3000 miles away from the main land! Hundreds of questions
+suggested themselves on thus unexpectedly coming upon so well-known a
+wanderer. What could have condemned him to this self-imposed exile? Was he
+a straggler? Was it the first time he had selected this island for a home?
+Had it been his own cradle? And would he at some future period find
+companions to visit with him, and ultimately share these solitary desolate
+abodes?
+
+There were no seals visible,--they have retreated before the attacks and
+stratagems of their insatiate pursuer the seal-hunter, and for a long
+period have ceased to frequent the island. Indeed, St. Paul furnishes not
+a single specimen of mammal peculiar to itself; for all the members of
+this great natural division at present on it,--such as goats, swine, cats,
+&c.,--having become wild, must necessarily be classed, however unusual,
+with rats, mice, and the like. In other respects, all these have not
+varied in the slightest from the type of the domesticated animal (although
+they have probably lived wild for a hundred years past), except that they
+are very shy and avoid the presence of man.
+
+While upon these various points, the stay of the Imperial Expedition at
+St. Paul gave many splendid results by means of observations and
+scientific collections, it was also productive of a number of important
+practical benefits for seafaring people. The geodesical results, for
+instance, obtained by the Expedition, demonstrate that there is formed by
+the basin of the crater at St. Paul's, despite the small extent of its
+coast-line, a secure natural haven which would afford substantial
+facilities for ships, to which, on their voyage to China, Australia, or
+anywhere in the East Indies, any accident has happened, necessitating
+complete and speedy repair, or which might require fresh provisions for
+their crews, stricken with scurvy after a long voyage. For, although the
+depth of the basin of the crater in the centre is very considerable, and
+although the squalls of wind from the N.W. are often very violent, the
+ship can always make fast to the land, and so ensure the requisite
+security. How far the assistance so cheerfully rendered by science may
+have been called for, or how far the route at present traversed by sailing
+vessels makes that assistance desirable, must be left to the judgment of
+those nations, such as the English, French, and Dutch, which, as having
+possessions washed by the Indian Ocean, have a direct interest in the
+future condition of such a harbour of refuge, situate equidistant from
+Asia, Africa, and Australia.
+
+The morning after our departure from St. Paul, that is to say, on 7th
+Dec., we found ourselves not more than ten miles distant from Amsterdam.
+The first view of the island greatly resembles that of St. Paul, and the
+hypothesis gained constantly in probability that the geological formation
+of Amsterdam is nearly identical with that of St. Paul.
+
+A whaler was cruising in the neighbourhood of the island, while one of his
+slim whaleboats was pursuing a school of sperm whales, which sported about
+in great numbers.
+
+Towards 7 A.M., a boat approached from the whaler _Esmeralda_, Captain
+Pierce, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, to ask for surgical assistance for
+a sailor who, while engaged a few days previously in hauling a captured
+fish alongside, had had his left hand so severely injured by one of the
+lines, that amputation had seemed the sole remedy. The Captain had, in
+genuine Yankee fashion, assumed the duties of surgeon, and performed the
+operation himself. Now that it was over, and when neither praise nor
+censure could benefit the patient, he was anxious to know whether he had
+done right or wrong. While one of the ship's surgeons was getting ready,
+as requested by the captain, to proceed to the bedside of his patient, the
+whaler informed us he had already been absent from his family in the
+States five months, and would proceed hence to the Sandwich Islands and
+the Northern grounds, and finally return home round Cape Horn. If the take
+of fish proved good, he hoped to complete the voyage within two years.
+Whale-fishing, in truth, is not only a very dangerous and laborious, but
+also a most precarious pursuit. Occasionally a ship gets loaded within a
+brief space with oil and whalebone, by which, of course, the owner or
+charterer makes a splendid profit, and the entire crew obtain a handsome
+share. But frequently does it happen that, after a voyage of fifteen
+months and more, there is not a single fish taken, in which case the hardy
+sailors, who are entirely dependent for their pay upon a share of the
+spoil, have had all their labour and undergone all their privations in
+vain, while the freighter is poorer by a good round sum. The bare chance,
+however, of a rich haul is sufficient to raise to 8000, the number
+(probably on the increase) of the ships of varying tonnage and
+nationality, which at present encounter the anxieties, dangers, and
+hardships attaching to the whale-fishery. It is calculated that, were it
+possible to anchor them within signalling distance of each other, they
+would form a complete girdle round the earth at the Equator. In other
+respects, the incessant activity of the whaler is not without its
+advantages for science, since the observations and communications of many
+of the captains connected with the whaling business have essentially
+contributed to extend our acquaintance with atmospheric phenomena,
+especially in high latitudes, on both sides of the Equator.
+
+The loquacious captain, an uncommon quality in a Yankee, could not conceal
+his astonishment at encountering an Austrian man-of-war in such a latitude
+in mid-ocean, and adverted to this unexpected phenomenon. Captain Pierce
+further complained bitterly of the weather, and said that, as long as he
+had sailed the Indian Ocean, he had never at this season experienced such
+tempestuous weather as during the last week; which was further confirmed
+by several other whalers, regular visitors to these waters. Respecting
+Amsterdam, Captain Pierce, unfortunately, could give us but very little
+information. He had never set foot on the island, nor did he know whether
+it was accessible at all. But he spoke highly of the availability of the
+coasts for valuable fish. Nowhere in the Indian Ocean, the Captain
+remarked, was there such an abundance of fish of all descriptions as at
+the Southernmost point of this little-known island. Consequently most
+whalers, on their course Southwards, approach this island, and send out
+boats to bring in supplies of fish suitable for the table. Usually the
+boat is filled in a few hours with delicious food caught with the rod and
+line, when the fish are forthwith salted, in sufficient quantities to
+supply the crew for several weeks.
+
+Is Amsterdam really a sister-island of St. Paul? Is it, too, of volcanic
+origin, upheaved by the same subterranean energy, and does it still show
+similar traces of long-continued activity? These questions pressed on us
+for solution all the more vividly as we neared this inaccessible island,
+when we recalled to mind the mysterious phenomena which D'Entrecasteaux
+had observed here in March, 1792, and which have remained unexplained to
+this day.[72] The French Expedition saw, it is true, clouds of smoke
+emerging alternately from a subterranean opening close to the shore, but
+without being able to satisfy themselves whether the vegetation had been
+set on fire by the hand of man or by volcanic action, the wind which blew
+direct from the island making it impossible to land, unless one was
+prepared to run the risk of being suffocated by the rolling masses of
+smoke. There was, therefore, to be solved, at Amsterdam, the mystery as to
+whether the pillars of smoke, which were observed by the naturalists of
+the French Expedition of 1792, issuing from the soil adjoining the sea,
+were produced by an actual eruption, or were caused by subterranean fires
+in activity.[73]
+
+[Footnote 72: La Billardiere, Relation du voyage a la recherche de la
+Peyrouse, fait par ordre de l'Assemblee Constituante pendant les annees
+1791-94, Paris, 1800. (Vol. I., pp. 112, 113.)]
+
+[Footnote 73: Vide Alexander v. Humboldt's "Kosmos," Vol. IV., pp. 412 and
+585; also Physical and Geognostic Remarks, by the same author, prefixed to
+this volume.]
+
+About 11 A.M., the two jolly-boats of the _Novara_ were lowered to look
+for a landing-place on Amsterdam, while the frigate stood off and on,
+under easy sail, at an offing of five or six miles. Our whaling informant
+had told us the most abundant fishing-station was at the south point of
+the island, while the best place for disembarking was on the N.W. shore.
+As, however, upon consideration, it was deemed advisable, looking to the
+probability of a N.E. gale springing up, to get to windward of the ship,
+so as to be able to fetch her more speedily on our return, the S.E. side
+was selected, and our course laid for it accordingly. Along the
+acclivities of the coast pyramids of loose stones were visible, resembling
+those on St. Paul, but more numerous and of larger dimensions, the entire
+island seeming altogether on a much larger scale, and more lofty. On the
+West side we observed rocky precipices of from 1000 to 2000 feet in
+height, fissured with deep clefts and rents, whereas on the South and
+S.E., these presented a more gradual slope.
+
+For above an hour we steered along the shore, which rose sheer out of the
+water, without being able to detect a single point at which it was at all
+practicable to disembark, so as to scramble up to the high ground. The
+entire Eastern side is hemmed around with steep abrupt precipices of 150
+to 200 feet high, not unlike skilfully-erected bastions, and clothed with
+long thick grass.
+
+As we drew near, we could plainly discern in the water-courses that
+descend upon the upper slope--radiating, as it were, from all sides of the
+highest peak, which was enveloped in clouds--numerous streams of water,
+each pouring through a rift like a thread of silver, after which,
+precipitating itself over the steep precipices on the shore, it washed
+like a small torrent over terraces and banks of lava, till it was lost in
+the sea. If these streams are swollen by the heavy rain in winter, they
+may form waterfalls, as mentioned by early navigators, which must impart a
+far less pleasing character to the landscape. Two small patches of
+dazzling white, like fresh fallen snow, which were visible high above the
+slope, we could not make out with the utmost power of our glasses. The
+green colour which enveloped the entire island seemed to indicate the
+existence of grass vegetation resembling that of St. Paul.
+
+At last, when we had got within two cables' length of the shore, we
+encountered enormous green flakes of floating sea-weed, which, becoming
+entangled with the rudder, made further progress possible only by dint of
+most strenuous exertions. This proved to be the same gigantic sea-tangle
+of the Southern hemispheres (_Macrocystis Pyrifera_), which likewise
+constitutes a barrier of _fucus_ on the East side of St. Paul. The
+sea-calves mentioned by older describers were nowhere to be seen; but on
+the other hand we had an opportunity of satisfying ourselves as to the
+immense abundance of fish which frequent the coast of the island in a
+truly astonishing degree, although the American whaler had prepared us by
+his remarks. From bow and stern of the boat hooks and lines were hung out,
+and several of the crew were at once kept busy hauling in the lines, at
+the end of each of which there usually struggled a fish of some two or
+three feet long. These were chiefly umber fish, which are also very
+plentiful about St. Paul, where, from their delicacy, they formed a
+favourite dish at our otherwise very frugal repasts.
+
+We had now got so near, that we could distinctly perceive grass and the
+stems of ferns growing among the clefts of the rocks. However, although
+there was a dead calm, and the sea outside was as smooth as glass, the
+long ground-swell of the ocean, with its broad flat billows, caused such a
+heavy surf on the rock-bound stony beach, that the attempt to pass it was
+not to be thought of. The further we advanced along the coast in a
+northernly direction, the more distant we got from the ship, and unluckily
+in an equal degree our hopes were disappointed of finding a spot at which
+we could land, and scramble from the strand up the steep bank to the level
+ground above. The south-easternmost point, which at a distance presented
+the appearance of a low headland jutting out into the sea, behind which we
+had hoped to find a good landing-place, now that we had got close to it,
+proved to be a small detached rock; while the shore, as far as the eye
+could reach, rose like a wall to a height of from 150 to 200 feet. There
+now hove in sight five whalers, who seemed hunting that most valuable of
+all the inhabitants of the deep, of the spots frequented by which Maury's
+renowned Whale Charts have lately supplied so interesting and useful a
+code of instruction. These charts, which are based on a vast number of
+observations, of the tracts of ocean and seasons of the year at which
+whales are most frequently seen, will at the same time greatly tend to a
+solution of the question as to the migration of these enormous mammals;
+for it has never yet been settled, whether these animals flee from the
+pursuit of man to remote seas, thus continually constraining their
+pursuers to seek their prey in new waters, or whether, (as is the most
+prevalent opinion), they are always entirely extirpated from one locality,
+and accordingly are only to be met with in any numbers in some different
+area, in which man has as yet only rarely, if ever, disturbed them.[74]
+
+[Footnote 74: Some very valuable and detailed particulars of the Whale
+fishery are to be found in Maury's incomparable work, "The Physical
+Geography of the Ocean," and in Dr. Hartwigs' "Popular Treatise on
+Animated Nature in the Ocean. (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1855.)"]
+
+After an hour-and-a-half of continuous rowing, and when, in our very
+unsuitable boat, we had got about 7 nautical miles distant from the
+frigate, we at last found a smooth spot between two reefs, which projected
+above the level of the sea like a breakwater, and at once let go the
+boat's anchor. A regular landing-place, however, was not to be hoped for
+at this point. It was necessary first to make a spring to a block of rock,
+and thence, picking one's way among stones rendered slippery by being
+covered at flood-tide, endeavour to reach the beach. This we all
+succeeded in accomplishing over the rough rocks, without any mischance,
+and at last we stood on the firm soil of the Island of Amsterdam, at a
+spot which assuredly had never before been trodden by human feet, unless
+by some castaway. For only in consequence of the sea being perfectly calm,
+which at this season was quite unusual, were we able to reach the shore at
+this point.
+
+What a scene of wildest desolation, and inaccessible solitude now met our
+gaze! Around us nothing but huge blocks of basalt, some rolled about by
+the breakers, and so slippery with half-dry _algae_, that one was in danger
+of falling at every stride; others with their angles and indentations as
+sharp, as when first violently torn from their original bed; and behind
+these gigantic blocks, a perpendicular wall of rock rising 200 feet sheer,
+composed of a schistus of basaltic lava lying regularly and horizontally
+one over the other, intermixed with red or brown slag, and yellow tufa.
+Immense holes and cavities in the rocky wall, as also the empty spaces
+between the broken blocks that had fallen down, and the vast air-holes
+scooped out in the lava beds, furnished an undisturbed nestling-place for
+flocks of a beautiful sea-swallow, with glossy black head, silver-grey
+body, and bill and feet of carmine red--the most elegant and attractive
+contrast of colours that can well be imagined upon any bird. These pretty
+creatures afforded great amusement to the sportsmen of our little party,
+while the geologist acquired a better idea and more information as to the
+mineralogy and geognosis of the island beneath the steep wall of rock,
+than he could have obtained above, where all seemed to be covered with
+thick green grass. But the botanist and zoologist found but little to
+repay their search on the beach. The same _Algae_, the same grasses, the
+same _patellae_ (limpets), as at St. Paul, even to the same caterpillars
+swarming upon every tuft of grass in numberless quantities. At several
+points, fresh, perfectly good, sweet spring-water trickled down from the
+heights, and we could thus confirm the relations of former explorers, that
+the island contains fresh water; but whether it can be got at, still
+remains a very uncertain question. As we were convinced, after several
+examinations and much exertion, that to ascend the precipice from this
+spot was impossible, it was resolved, after the men had rested, and a few
+observations had been made with the sextant, to re-embark and endeavour to
+find a more suitable spot for disembarking.
+
+We quitted this first spot about 2 P.M., and continued to steer along the
+coast in a N.E. direction. The character of the scenery remained almost
+unaltered. The steep shore wall indeed dipped somewhat occasionally, but
+it was never less than 100 feet above the level of the sea. At various
+points there appeared, as at St. Paul, between the tufa strata, black
+veins of basalt, and fragments of scoriae, lying upon reddish-brown slag.
+Our curiosity, however, was especially excited by the appearance of small
+trees and low bushes. At first, while we were yet at some distance, we
+could barely distinguish a few dark, clear, green spots amid the universal
+dull olive appearance of the vegetation that covered the island; now that
+we were keeping closer in, we plainly saw small trees, which seemed most
+to resemble forests of pine, as also what appeared to be thick close
+brushwood of a light green colour, with which large patches of the middle
+and lower slopes of the island were covered. In vain did we watch for some
+spot in this singular island at which we might land and climb; at length,
+after steering several miles further along the coast, and passing several
+promontories advancing from the island, and numerous isolated rocks, we
+came, towards 3.30 P.M., upon a number of lava-blocks that had fallen from
+above, and, forming a sort of dam or bulwark between the sea and the
+shore, seemed to render disembarkation possible. The boat's anchor was
+again dropped, and we proceeded to make for the shore by dint of jumping,
+as before, from rock to rock; a method of reaching land more agreeable and
+better suited to penguins than decorous philosophers!
+
+Among the rocks on the strand lie fragments of shipwrecked vessels--pieces
+of masts and yards--dumb witnesses of human disaster, and suffering, and
+death! At this point the shore was not very steep. The masses of rock
+piled here on each other in wild confusion, made our ascent more
+practicable than at our former landing-place, though perhaps they
+necessitated greater circumspection. Dr. Hochstetter and M. Zelebor, as
+also Lieutenant Kronowetter, and a sailor, started for the height. A
+ridge, grown over with grass and rushes, and forming a line of
+communication between the upper and lower portions of the island, seemed
+the most accessible point. at which to mount to the high ground above. At
+first the path led over the colossal rampart of broken rocks and through
+the surf, after which came clumps of rushes and clods, in which the former
+grew, and thence upwards over masses of slag. It was a regular Sisyphean
+task. On the loose rolling _debris_ beneath the feet, for every five feet
+forwards, one slipped four backward, so that to climb this height of
+little over 100 feet, took nearly a whole hour. At last the adventurous
+scramblers stood on the top of the island, on a small bare cone of scoriae,
+whence they were able to overlook a portion of the ground. Dense rush-like
+grass, as high as a man, thickly covered the entire surface--
+half-withered, half of a lively green; here broken short off by wind and
+rain, there still standing erect. Further progress was not to be thought
+of, not even as far as the green clump of bushes which had already been
+observed from the boat, although it was scarcely a hundred paces distant,
+on the surface of the declivity, and although a closer examination
+promised to afford many interesting details as to the vegetation on the
+island. It would have been necessary to make one's way either through
+heaps of withered rushes, requiring to be broken down at every moment, or
+across thick, matted, fresh, slippery grass, in order to get anywhere near
+the copse that resembled the pinewood. Moreover, owing to the short
+allowance of daylight that remained, both were for the present
+inaccessible.[75] Evening was coming on, and it was necessary to think of
+our return, as we were at a distance of at least eight miles from the
+frigate. With the help of pocket-handkerchiefs, which they had tied to the
+reeds, the explorers readily found again the place at which they had
+ascended, and now speedily returned to the improvised landing-place,
+where, meanwhile, the naturalists that had remained behind had occupied
+themselves with collecting specimens on the beach, and amid the
+surrounding rocks. A singular spectacle now presented itself to the
+astonished view. A couple of lucifer matches that had been thrown aside
+without further thought, had burst into flames amid the parched rush beds,
+and dense volumes of black smoke forthwith rose upon the surface of the
+island. The fire speedily spreading among the thick dry grass, soon
+assumed a formidable breadth, and ere long a considerable portion of the
+east coast of the island was in a light flame. There was now presented to
+the members of the _Novara_ expedition, the same spectacle as that
+witnessed by the naturalists of the _Recherche_, when D'Entrecasteaux
+passed here some sixty years before. It may safely be assumed that the
+fire, and the thick wreaths of smoke then visible were like those of
+to-day, the result of man's hands, and not of subterranean forces--in
+fact, kindled in all probability by fishermen, who were clearing this
+uninhabitable island of the close impervious brushwood that so greatly
+impedes locomotion, and were rendering it capable of being traversed, as
+well as susceptible of cultivation. During the night of 7th and 8th
+December, 1857, the sky was clear and cloudless, and the flames crackled
+and leaped high above the beach, in an elliptical area, which must have
+measured a couple of miles in its major axis. A dense, copper-coloured,
+luminous cloud of smoke rose straight into the air, where it spread out
+horizontally, till at last a long trail of smoke stretched in a S.E.
+direction to the farthest horizon, entirely covering the upper part of
+the island. About 2 A.M., according to the report of the officer of the
+watch, the spectacle was still more grand and imposing. The conflagration
+at that time extended over an immense surface, so that the imagination
+might naturally enough be disposed to regard this as the bursting forth of
+the pent-up flames of a volcano, with the usual accompaniments of red-hot
+streams of lava, clouds of floating ashes, and pillars of flame mounting
+to heaven.
+
+[Footnote 75: One of the shipwrecked crew of the _Meridian_, in an article
+in the _Nautical Magazine_, for 1854, p. 75, describes at some length the
+difficulties of access to this island. We quote it here as a supplement to
+our own experiences:--"After we had clambered up to the top by means of
+ropes, and after much exertion and considerable danger, we found the
+island for a space of two or three miles thickly covered with reeds, from
+5 to 8 feet high; behind rose a lofty hill, also clothed with reeds.
+Fortunately, during our stay on the island, there was a sufficiency of
+fresh water, although in summer, in all probability, there is a great
+scarcity. So long as we remained, constant rain fell upon the summit of
+the mountain, and kept the numerous little brooks full of water. In order
+to signal our situation to any ship that might be passing, we set the
+reeds on fire; but the flames spread more furiously than we had
+anticipated, so that our lives were endangered. A considerable quantity of
+young birds were picked up, which had fallen victims to the flames. On the
+29th August, to our great joy, a ship, the _Monmouth_, hove in sight, and
+observed our signal; but the surf was at this time so violent that no boat
+could reach us. At last, on 31st August, a boat came near enough to the
+shore to make us a signal to proceed eastward over the rocks. We set off
+at once, but found the path very rugged, and owing to the immense masses
+of rock lying around, excessively difficult. Besides reeds and brushwood,
+there were no other plants but parsley and endive (_cichorium intybus_).
+During the first half of the following day we found no water, but we found
+the hail very grateful, which day and night fell incessantly, alternating
+with rain. At the first watering-place we came upon an English sailor,
+whom the captain of the _Monmouth_ had despatched to assist us. He
+informed us we must make for the north side of the island, as no boat
+could reach the shore at the spot where we had gone ashore. The
+south-coast is the worst part of the island; there the surf breaks
+continually against the iron-bound coast; there is nothing resembling a
+beach--only here and there enormous blocks of a hard species of stone,
+that have fallen from time to time from the cliffs above. On 2nd
+September, we had neither provisions nor water. The following day,
+however, we found water, and a few cabbage-stalks, which several years
+before had been sown by some whalers, and fortunately had thrived. On 5th
+September, we reached what is called the Cabbage Garden, and the same
+evening arrived at the place where the boat was awaiting us."]
+
+Fortunately, this gigantic conflagration must have done far more good than
+harm to this desolate island, covered as it was for the most part with
+reeds, since, without destroying any of the vegetation that could be of
+service to man, it will greatly facilitate examination by future voyagers,
+and adapt it for settlement by fishers and others, who at present seem to
+leave it utterly abandoned.
+
+Towards 6 P.M., as it was already getting dark, our two boats set out on
+their return to the frigate, from which in the course of the day they had
+been distant about fifteen miles. However a fresh Northerly breeze having
+sprung up we were able to make sail, and at 7.30 P.M. once more reached
+the frigate, when we were received with a storm of questions, principally
+turning upon the mysterious far-visible conflagration,--which had been
+kindled by a couple of humble Vienna lucifers! During our visit to the
+island a variety of observations were also made on board the frigate, to
+obtain the position of Amsterdam, as also to determine the elevation of
+the most prominent peaks of the island, and the outline of the shore. The
+results of these gave the following: latitude 37 deg. 58' 30'' S.; longitude,
+77 deg. 34,' 44'' E. of Greenwich; elevation of the highest summit (nearly
+corresponding with previous observations), 2891 English feet; of the
+second highest, 2651 feet; the length of the South coast, as measured from
+the frigate, 32,359 feet; of the Western shore, 5507 feet.
+
+There was still some faint hope that we might visit the island next day.
+However, during the night the wind sprung up, the weather became variable,
+and we saw ourselves compelled to renounce our cherished desire to
+investigate the island thoroughly, the rather that, owing to the
+unpropitious weather during the last few weeks, the stay of the _Novara_
+in these latitudes had been prolonged so considerably beyond the period
+fixed, that no more time could be spared, if it were desirous to avoid
+sacrificing the objects of the Expedition with reference to other and more
+important departments of scientific enquiry, by engaging in them at a
+season in all probability highly unfavourable for the purpose.
+
+Consequently our observations in Amsterdam remained most imperfect;
+although the geologist of the expedition was enabled to clear up the
+uncertainty hitherto prevailing as to the geological structure of the
+island, and to determine upon scientific data, that Amsterdam is an
+extinct volcanic cone, of precisely the same character, and belonging to
+the same order of volcanic formation as the sister island of St. Paul;
+that it probably contains on itself all the usual indications of its
+volcanic origin, and that its upheaval probably took place at the same
+period. On the other hand, the naturalist regretted to see slip the
+opportunity so rarely vouchsafed, of instituting a comparison between the
+respective vegetations of these islands, and of making evident how,
+simultaneously with the advance of a more luxuriant, and more multiform
+vegetable organization, there also appears an entirely new race of
+animals, and how closely allied in the economy of nature is the existence
+of individual specimens with certain fixed pre-existent types. In any case
+St. Paul, which we enjoyed an opportunity of examining in the utmost
+detail, is, of the two islands, the most important to the commerce of the
+world, not merely as a finger-post on the most frequented deep-sea route
+in the Indian Ocean, but also as a haven of refuge for ships and crews.
+Already the crater-basin of St. Paul has served in case of need as a
+desirable asylum for ships that are half unseaworthy. Not many years since
+an English man-of-war steamer came to St. Paul, after a severe storm in
+the Indian Ocean, during which her engine broke down, and her rudder was
+knocked away, after which she, for twelve days, was steered by a temporary
+rudder. The vessel, after discharging the heaviest part of her equipment,
+was easily brought into the interior of the crater-basin, and was there
+hove down for several months on the Northern barrier, undergoing repairs.
+
+On the 8th December, about 4 A.M., only a dark cloud of smoke in the
+distant cloudless horizon indicated the position of Amsterdam. The island
+itself, properly speaking, was actually out of sight, for a fresh N.W.
+breeze had driven us merrily along during the night. The last hope was now
+dissipated of being able to obtain a view of the North side of Amsterdam.
+We were now rapidly approaching the region of the S.E. Trades. The breeze
+freshened and crept gradually to the West, thence to the South, and
+finally to the Eastward. This veering of the wind proved to be a
+fore-runner of the Trades, which we got into on 14th December, in S.
+latitude 28 deg. 1', E. longitude 85 deg.
+
+On that day a merchantman hove in sight, which, with favouring breezes and
+all sail set, soon bore down on us. She came down without any flag, and
+stood right across our bows at so short a distance that we could plainly
+read her name--the _Bunker's Hill_, of Boston--on her stern. Thereupon we
+ran up our flag; and, as it is as gross a breach of the code of maritime
+politeness for a ship to pass across the bows of another in the open ocean
+without saluting, as for a man on land to brush quickly across another's
+path without apologizing, a blank shot was fired at this unmannerly
+American. To this manifestation etiquette lays it down that, as the
+hoisting of her flag by a man-of-war is a direct challenge for any
+merchantman that may be in sight to hoist its flag, any neglect of these
+universally recognized rules must involuntarily give rise to suspicions.
+After we had fired the blank shot, the American, by a telegraph of
+flag-signals, enquired the latitude and longitude, which in merchant ships
+in the open sea is pretty frequently resorted to, in order to know where
+precisely they are, as they are not able to make such frequent
+observations as ships of war. Before anything else, however, it was
+necessary to settle the question of saluting; and this the obstinate
+Yankee, in spite of the warning signal, seemed resolved not to notice,
+although he well knew the seriousness of his position, as was abundantly
+evident in the celerity with which several ladies and gentlemen, whom we
+could discern on deck, flew to seek shelter below! A second report,
+accompanied by a ball over his stern, at last brought this pertinacious
+captain to his senses, and the whistling of the shot had the desired
+effect. The "Stars and Stripes" were run up, upon which we signalled the
+required latitude and longitude. Probably it was but a petulant explosion
+of a silly national vanity, as also the consciousness of commanding a
+handsome crack "clipper," that could speedily run out of gun-shot, which
+led to this premeditated and persistent violation of one of the most
+ordinary rules of politeness. Indeed, even the vessels of the North
+American navy itself are frequently compelled in the open sea to treat
+their fellow-countrymen in a similar manner; and the captain of the
+war-steamer _Minnesota_, looking after the North American interests in
+China, was obliged, as we learned afterwards at Shanghai, to enforce a
+compliance with established sea usages on one of his seafaring
+compatriots, by dint of cannon-shot, in accordance with the undoubted
+practice of all maritime nations.
+
+The south-east Trade, which we had hoped would drive us on our destined
+course, was not so strong or so steady as we had expected, chiefly
+perhaps in consequence of the influence exercised by the Australian
+continent, the temperature of which during this, the summer season of the
+Southern Hemisphere, is raised to an extraordinary degree by its sandy
+surface, that when the air has become thus warmed, it ascends and becomes
+more rarefied in its lower strata, in consequence of which its elasticity
+becomes so great as to drive back the surrounding colder atmosphere, and
+only admit it to contact with the heated air at its most remote limits.
+This occurs the more readily, that the heated air, after it has risen to
+the more rarefied tracts, expands on all sides, and at a certain distance
+from the lower level, begins to add to the pressure of the atmosphere. In
+this self-acting zone of increased atmospheric pressure, the winds,
+however, are naturally more faint, and, to observers who happen to be on
+the exterior of this zone, always appear to take their rise from the
+further side. For this reason, probably, we fell in with easterly breezes,
+so long as we had the Northern portion of Australia to the eastward of us.
+
+At any rate, the equilibrium of the air seemed to be disturbed, as we
+could plainly perceive from the weather and the confused sea. At last on
+18th December, the heavens seemed somewhat more propitious, though the
+wind still continued easterly; indeed occasionally blew from the north,
+and frequent squalls of rain poured pitilessly down upon us. The more,
+however, we increased our distance from the Australian continent, that is,
+from all land to the eastward, the more steadily blew the south east
+Trade. And so we kept standing steadily forwards, till at last, on the
+24th December, in 6 deg. 4' S. Lat., and 82 deg. 34' E. Long., we reached the
+eastern boundaries of the Trades and got into that of calms.
+
+The heat, which thus far had spared us, began now to be most oppressive,
+and was felt all the more owing to the air being extraordinarily damp and
+dense. Frequently in the afternoon a passing shower of rain, which would
+sometimes completely flood the deck, would cool the air for a few fleeting
+moments. Occasionally indeed we had westerly and more rarely
+north-westerly breezes, but these were never of long duration, and were
+incessantly broken by rains and squalls.
+
+And at this same season, at which in our distant Fatherland, palace and
+hut are decked out with unwonted attention, when golden fruits and elegant
+presents glitter from the green fir-branches of the Christmas Tree, all
+lit up with the neat little wax-tapers, when man's heart seems to overflow
+with cheerfulness and love of his fellow-creatures,--at this season we
+were languishing far from our dear ones, tormented with the intense heat,
+scarcely able to realize to ourselves, that at home it must now be snow
+and frost, while keen Boreas is whirling the snowflakes aloft, and howling
+a grim accompaniment the while! However, we promised ourselves the
+satisfaction of enjoying these pleasures at our own firesides, whereupon
+our recollections of home and dear friends imparted to our minds a
+wholesome stimulus, arising from the soul-inspiring conviction, that we
+too were present in their minds and hearts at this hallowed season. Nay,
+several of the officers of the _Novara_ Expedition were surprised when
+far at sea, in the very midst of the Indian Ocean, with Christmas gifts,
+which thoughtful friends had many months before entrusted to the care of
+discreet fellow-voyagers.
+
+After constantly struggling against calms and contrary winds, exactly at
+the first stroke of the New Year, at midnight of 31st December-1st
+January, we reached the Equator, which we were now crossing for the second
+time, and began the year 1858 in the Northern Hemisphere.
+
+On this New Year's Day we had nearly had a great disaster. A lad who was
+coming down the shrouds fell overboard. The sea was perfectly calm and
+smooth, but already on the morning of this very day we had seen many
+sharks, those dreaded foes of man in the domain of ocean, so that the life
+of the unfortunate youth seemed seriously imperilled. The same instant in
+which the youth fell, saw a life-buoy thrown over, a boat prepared for
+lowering, and all usual appliances for a rescue made available. But
+although an excellent swimmer, he seemed to lose all presence of mind,
+probably through fear, and must undoubtedly have been drowned, had not the
+boatswain's mate, and two other sailors, leaped into the water and made
+all haste to his assistance. Meanwhile the boat had been got into the
+water, by which rescued and rescuers were got safe on board again.
+
+A few months later, the boatswain's mate, for his gallant conduct on this
+occasion, received, by the express orders of His Majesty, the silver cross
+of merit, while the sailors were advanced one grade.
+
+The current, which runs northward along the coast of Australia, but turns
+off to the westward about the tenth degree of South latitude, so as to
+pass southward of Ceylon, directly along the Equator to the Coast of
+Africa, carried us far to the westward, in consequence of which we had
+overcast, uncertain weather, with, for the most part, calms or light
+breezes. As we found ourselves approaching the fourth degree of Northern
+latitude, a rather fresh N.E. wind sprung up, probably the trade wind of
+the Northern Hemisphere, which, however, as we neared Ceylon, again died
+away to a calm.
+
+At the same time, in lat. 5 deg. 32' N., 79 deg. 5' E., we fell in with a current
+running more than two miles an hour. We had, as it turned out, got to the
+westward of the roadstead of Point de Galle, in Ceylon, and found some
+little difficulty in making headway against the current. On 7th January,
+toward 3.30 P.M., land was made to the eastward, and an hour later, a
+Cingalese canoe was perceived making for the frigate under sail. It was
+the pilot boat, whose crew, having been informed by a Hamburg brig that a
+large ship was in sight, had put to sea to meet us.
+
+At the first sight of this little canoe, it was hardly possible to refrain
+from amazement at the courage and hardihood with which the half-naked
+Cingalese boatmen could put off some 30 or 40 miles to sea in such a tiny,
+narrow boat, that barely gives them room to sit lengthwise. Two
+cross-bars, or outriggers, projecting on one side, where they are
+fastened externally to a rather massive beam, which swims parallel with
+the boat, gave this canoe, apparently so fragile, such stability and
+seaworthiness, that it is at all times not less safe than a boat of
+European construction.[76]
+
+[Footnote 76: These canoes resemble very closely the "proas," of the
+Polynesian Islands, carrying a beam on one side, which is quite straight,
+and always kept on the lee of the wind and sea, the change of course being
+effected by simply shifting the sail, and steering with the paddle from
+the opposite end.]
+
+The natives steer with short paddles, and continue an incredibly long time
+at this most exhausting work, as we must conceive it to be. And yet they
+are to appearance a feeble race, except that the muscular system of the
+upper part of the body is remarkably developed.
+
+The dress of these people is remarkably simple, and usually consists only
+of a piece of coloured linen cloth or calico, which, worn short like a
+woman's petticoat, is thrown single-fold round the loins.
+
+The pilot, though he could only make himself intelligible in broken
+English, speedily came to a good understanding, and offered to sell us
+bananas, pine-apples, and cocoa-nuts, as also Ceylon jewels, the latter of
+which he carried on his person, secured in a parti-coloured cotton belt.
+This reminded us that we were nearing the shores of the country in which
+costly stones are found, but precisely on that account, as was natural,
+our speculative pilot found but a poor market for his wares.
+
+Off the coast we caught a shark 7 feet long, and 135 lbs. weight--a rather
+juvenile specimen--whose teeth, which we examined, were already strong
+and sharp enough to seize a man, and strip the flesh off him. Also a
+number of large dolphins and other fish, sported in the dead water under
+the frigate's stern, and provided plentiful employment for the harpoon and
+the rod. Presently we found ourselves within six miles of the land, when a
+large number of pirogues forthwith came swarming about us, all of a
+construction similar to the pilot boat, and each manned by four half-naked
+bronze natives. These offered fruits for sale, especially magnificent,
+gigantic clusters of banana. On one such cluster we counted, arranged in
+five rows, one over the other, not less than 175 bananas.
+
+On the 8th January, we anchored in the unpicturesque haven of Point de
+Galle, surrounded by groves of cocoa-nut palms, directly opposite the
+lighthouse tower, and in a fine quartz sand bottom of 16-1/2 fathoms (103
+feet English). All large ships, that only intend remaining a short time,
+anchor in the open roadstead, the entrance into the inner harbour being
+rather difficult, owing to numerous coral reefs. In the roads also lay the
+English frigate _Shannon_, from which, in the absence of her captain, the
+first lieutenant immediately came on board the _Novara_, and in the
+handsomest manner put his services at our disposal.
+
+As the only Austrian Consul on the island was resident in Colombo, M.
+Sonnenkalb, the Consul for Hamburg, had the courtesy to receive us with
+the most hospitable of welcomes, and proceeded to do us the honours of the
+place.
+
+On the 10th we hauled the frigate into the small inner harbour, in order
+to facilitate the shipping of stores. The entrance is rather winding,
+owing to the numerous shoals, and it is with some little difficulty that
+one can find a comfortable, commodious berth among such a crowd of
+shipping. We only saluted the flag of the dominant nationality--a
+customary courtesy--and were replied to by the batteries on shore. An
+officer of the frigate was then dispatched to announce our arrival to the
+governor of the station--a major in the English army. This gentleman
+seemed not to think it incumbent on him to put himself in the least out of
+his way for us. Indeed, we even experienced some little difficulty in
+procuring a sufficient supply of drinking water for shipment as stores;
+but we must at the same time add, in justice to the representatives of
+England in distant countries, that during our entire voyage this was the
+one solitary instance in which English military official men did not
+display that universal readiness to oblige, which, to their credit, is so
+conspicuously and so kindly displayed by them in their intercourse with
+foreign nations.
+
+[Illustration: CINGALESE CANOE.]
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF ADAM'S PEAK FROM COLOMBO.]
+
+
+
+
+                               VIII.
+
+                               Ceylon.
+
+                   STAY FROM 8TH TO 16TH JAN., 1858.
+
+   Neglect of the Island hitherto by the English Government.--
+     Better Prospects for the Future.--The Cingalese, their
+     Language and Customs.--Buddhism and its Ordinances.--Visit to
+     a Buddhist Temple in the Vicinity of Galle.--The sacred
+     Bo-tree.--Other Aborigines of Ceylon.--The Weddahs.--
+     Traditions as to their Origin.--Galle as a City and Harbour.--
+     Snake-charmers.--Departure for Colombo.--Cultivation of the
+     Cocoa-nut Palm, a benevolent, Buddha-pleasing work.--
+     Polyandria; or, Community of Husbands.--Supposed Origin.--
+     Annual Exportation of Cocoa-nuts.--Rest-houses for
+     Travellers.--Curry, the National Dish.--A Misfortune and its
+     Consequences.--The Catholic Mission of St. Sebastian de Makun,
+     and Father Miliani.--Annoying Delays with restive Horses.--
+     Colombo.--A Stroll through the "_Pettah_" or Black Town.--Ice
+     Trade of the Americans with Tropical Countries.--Cinnamon
+     Gardens and Cinnamon Cultivation.--Consequences of the
+     Monopoly of Cinnamon.--Rise and Expansion of the Coffee
+     Culture in Ceylon.--Pearl-fishery.--Latest Examination of the
+     Ceylon Banks of Pearl Oysters, by Dr. Kelaart, and its
+     Results.--Aripo at the Season of Pearl-fishing.--The Divers.--
+     Pearl-lime, a Chewing Substance of wealthy Malays;--Annual
+     Profit of the Pearl-fishery.--Origin of the Pearl.--Poetry
+     and Natural Science.--Artificial Production of the Pearl.--The
+     Chank-shell--The Wealth of Ceylon in Precious Stones.--Visit
+     to a Cocoa-nut Oil Manufactory.--The Cowry-shell, a Promoter
+     of the Slave Trade.--Discovery of valuable Cingalese MSS. on
+     Palm-leaves.--The heroic Poem of "Mahawwanso," and Turner's
+     English Translation of it.--Hospitality of English Officials
+     in Colombo.--A second Visit to Father Miliani.--Agreeable
+     Reception.--The Antidote-oil against Bites of Poisonous
+     Snakes.--Adventures on the Journey back to Galle.--Ascent of
+     Adam's Peak by two Members of the Expedition.--The sacred
+     Footprint.--Descent.--The "Bullock-bandy," or Native Waggon.--
+     Departure from Galle for Madras.--The Bassos (shallows).--A
+     Berlin Rope-dancer among the Passengers.--Nyctalopia; or,
+     Night Blindness.--Fire on board.--Arrival in Madras Roads.
+
+
+The inquirer who becomes acquainted by personal examination with the
+important geographical position of the Island of Ceylon (called also
+Seilan or Singhala), her commodious harbours, her productiveness, and her
+marvellous climate, involuntarily wonders at the stepmother's part that
+England has hitherto played with respect to this renowned island of palms
+and spices, the Malta of the Indian Ocean, which of all the British
+possessions in distant parts of the earth, has, till recently, received
+the least care or attention.
+
+It must be borne in mind, however, that Ceylon is an appanage of the
+British Crown, and it is not an independent, self-supporting colony. Those
+shortcomings of administration, for which the mother country is
+exclusively responsible, have been hitherto a complete drag upon her
+development. But the English people have this advantage over all other
+nations, that once anything has been recognized to be useful and
+imperatively required, they proceed to apply it with such energy, that
+they are enabled to make up for any neglect with giant strides. During
+late years many fetters have been knocked off which formerly impeded the
+more active development of agriculture and commerce. The harbour of Point
+de Galle (also called only Galle for shortness) has become a central
+station for the steam-boat trade with the East Indies, the Burmese
+Archipelago, China, and Australia. A telegraphic wire will ere long
+stretch from Ceylon to England, such as even now unites the island with
+the Coromandel Coast and India; a railway is in course of construction
+between the most important commercial centres of the island, and so
+obvious are the fundamental benefits it must confer, that ere long the
+classical and incomparably beautiful island of Ceylon is destined to shine
+a star of the first magnitude in the azure of the Indian Ocean, one of the
+most prosperous, wealthy, and blest of islands!
+
+The scientific researches of all kinds, which have in modern days been
+instituted in Ceylon, have been attended with the most important results,
+bearing upon its history and its various tribes, as well as on its natural
+wealth; and the masterly and marvellous work Sir Emerson Tennent lately
+published on the isle of Ceylon, seems intended to compensate for many
+instances of neglect which Ceylon and its inhabitants have experienced
+from the English since they seized on it.
+
+Embracing all the three kingdoms of nature, and following up with learned
+accuracy the history of the inhabitants, from the obscure traditions
+attending their earliest settlement down to the present day, Sir Emerson
+Tennent's work is a perfect pattern of a monography, although upon this
+subject the German inquirer will involuntarily, and not without an
+emotion of pride, recall to mind Carl Ritter's admirable, well-digested
+publication upon Ceylon, in his classical work on Eastern Asia, doubly
+meritorious by the very fact that the German scholar never set foot in the
+country itself. There are, however, indeed few spots on earth which
+present such inexhaustible subjects for the study of the historian as well
+as the inquirer into physical science, of the poet and the political
+economist, as this romantically-beautiful island, which we have been
+taught to regard as the Garden of the World, as indeed the special site of
+the Garden of Eden, the first abode of the progenitors of the human race.
+
+We have not to do here, as in most of the islands of southern seas, with a
+savage people, that have only, since the first appearance of Europeans,
+emerged from a state of barbarism, and been raised one step towards
+civilization, but rather find, as in the East Indies and China, a peculiar
+type of civilization, which, although widely differing from that of
+Europe, yet seems not less valuable and extraordinary. The whites (scarce
+7000 in number, of whom 2482 are females), who live scattered over an area
+of 24,700 English square miles, have hitherto been too few in number to
+exercise any marked influence on the customs or mode of life of a native
+coloured population of 1,726,640 souls, and hence it is that Ceylon
+exhibits a more romantic and characteristic air than any other British
+settlement in distant parts of the globe.
+
+A people like the Cingalese, of such ardent imaginativeness, with a
+splendid history, and a religion professed in the various realms of the
+East by more than 300 millions of people, gains in interest the more we
+become acquainted with them, and the more we make their traditions, their
+mode of life, and their customs, the object of special inquiry.
+
+The Cingalese, or indigenous natives (so named to distinguish them from
+the other inhabitants of the island, belonging to other stocks and
+amalgamated races, who at various periods had settled here, and who call
+themselves Ceylonese), were entirely the offspring of Hindoo emigrants,
+who, about five centuries before the birth of Christ, came from Hindostan
+to Ceylon, and imported their own mode of government, and system of caste,
+as also their arts, language, and religion, from the continent into the
+island.
+
+They constitute the germ of the present population, and early divided
+themselves into four leading castes:--1st, that of the royal family;--2nd,
+the Brahmins;--3rd, the merchants, peasants, and shepherds;--and 4th, the
+sixty inferior common castes. At present there exist in Ceylon only the
+two latter. The most numerous is that of the peasants, who, however,
+meddle but little with the cultivation of the soil, but have arrogated to
+themselves the exclusive and hereditary possession of all employments, lay
+or ecclesiastical. The dress of the Cingalese usually consists of a cloth
+wound turban-fashion round their head, and long white drapery. On festive
+occasions they wear richly-adorned tight-fitting jackets of velvet or
+wool, and on such occasions rank and power assert themselves by the number
+of garments, to such an extent that frequently a wealthy man makes his
+appearance in several of these habiliments, worn one above the other. The
+Cingalese are shorter in stature than the Europeans, their average stature
+being 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 5 inches, English. Their _physique_,
+though graceful and delicate, is powerful and muscular, with a brawny
+breast, broad shoulders, the muscles of the thigh strongly developed, but
+with disproportionately small hands and feet. Their colour is commonly a
+light-brown, their hair black and quite straight. The women are
+beautifully formed, but even when they can, like Asokamalla of historic
+fame, boast all the forty and six marks of the Cingalese ideal,[77] they
+must fall far short of the European standard of female beauty, with their
+bodies anointed with oil, and their mouths stained with the betel-nut. As
+the Cingalese girls usually marry so early as 12 years of age, they
+speedily lose the bloom of youth, and frequently have the appearance of
+crones at 20. Another especially loathsome habit of the Cingalese is the
+chewing the betel-nut, a custom so universally prevalent among all Indian
+races, that not merely the men and women, but the very children exhibit an
+extraordinary predilection for it. The ingredients of this masticatory
+consist of the green tender leaves of the Betel-pepper-shrub (_Piper
+betle_), the nut of the areca-palm (_Areca catechu_, or cabbage-tree),
+some lime made of calcined shells, and tobacco, which, according to the
+rank of the individual, they keep ready prepared by their side, in silver
+or brass boxes, resembling snuff-boxes. These corrosive substances at the
+same time stain the saliva so deep a red, that, after long use, the lips
+and teeth seem as though smeared with blood.
+
+[Footnote 77: Of these forty-six perfections of womanly beauty we extract
+the following by way of example, from a Cingalese author:--hair, glossy as
+the tail of a peacock, and hanging in ringlets to the knee, eye-brows like
+the rainbow, eyes like sapphire, and the leaves of the manilla flower, a
+hawk nose, lips lustrous and red as coral, teeth small and regular, like
+the buds of the jasmine, neck thick and round, haunches broad, breast
+firm, and conical like the cocoa-nut, the figure slight, capable of being
+spanned by the hand, the limbs spindle-shaped, the sole of the foot
+without any hollow, the skin free from any prominence of the bones,
+sweeping in rounded curves, soft and tender.]
+
+The language is an offshoot of the Sanscrit, copious, harmonious, and full
+of expression, with threefold grammar, and as many vocabularies, viz. for
+the royal tongue, the official or court tongue, and that of society at
+large. To these there must be added the Pali, the learned, but obsolete
+written language of the priestly caste, which the Cingalese have in common
+with the kingdoms of Siam and Ava, in the further Indies. In this
+language, itself but a dialect of the Sanscrit, all their sacred books,
+traditions, and poetry are written. In many parts of the island the
+knowledge of language and written lore are held in such high honour, that
+grammar and literature form the entire study of the inhabitants. Reading
+and writing are as common among the Cingalese as in England, except that
+in Ceylon the women take no part therein. They do not write as we do, with
+quill or steel pen upon paper, but engrave the characters with a
+fine-pointed iron graver, or _stylus_, upon the leaves of the Talipot
+palm-tree (_Corypha umbraculifera_), from which they slice a broad strip
+for the purpose about 2 feet long, and several inches broad. These require
+no further preparation than that they must be well smoothed beforehand,
+and all inequalities removed. In order to render the writing more clear
+and legible, the Cingalese rub it with a mixture of cocoa-nut oil and fine
+pulverized wood-ashes, which imparts to it durability and prevents
+obliteration. Great numbers, however, use the leaves of another species of
+palm for writing upon, viz. the Palmyra palm (_Borassus flabelliformis_),
+but those of the Talipot are preferred to all others for their closeness
+of texture, and are alone used in important records and other documents.
+
+The religion of the Cingalese is Buddhism, which in Ceylon still
+flourishes in these times in all its pristine vigour. Buddha is not the
+name of the founder of this belief, who is called Gautama, or Sakja-Muni,
+but is only one of the numerous titles of honour invented by that
+personage, who in the Sanscrit figures so conspicuously as a sage. Gautama
+was born in the province of Maghada (now known as Reha), in Northern
+Hindostan, B.C. 624. His parents were Suddhodana, King of Magadha, and his
+consort Maja. Contemplating the degeneracy and misery of man, sunk in
+deepest woe, Gautama attacked the doctrine of Brahma, rejected the Vedas,
+or holy books, and founded the new faith, which consists of the following
+fundamental propositions:--The Creator and Ruler of the world is a
+supreme, invisible, purely spiritual (and for that reason obviously
+impossible to be figured) Being, almighty, wise, just, beneficent, and
+merciful. Man most fitly recognizes and honours the Deity by silent
+contemplation: by the practice of chastity, temperance, and virtue he
+attains to happiness. The complete fulfilment of all his duties confers on
+him here on earth the dignity of a Buddha, or sage, and after death
+consigns him to the beatific repose of _non-existence_[78] (_Nirwana_).
+Condemned souls are born again in the forms of wild animals. According to
+Gautama's teaching a fresh Buddha always appears at certain epochs, whose
+existence is manifested by his extraordinary spiritual powers, by his
+deeds, and by his prophecies, selected by destiny for the purpose of
+enlightening the world as to the decrees of the Supreme Being, and to
+restore religion to her pristine purity. The death of a Buddha is also the
+commencement of a new reckoning of time. Gautama, who died about B.C. 542,
+or some 2400 years since, was the forty-fifth and last Buddha that
+appeared to the Cingalese; his doctrine must continue to operate for 5000
+years, when, according to the Cingalese traditions, the next Buddha, or
+Purifier, will appear. Gautama's belief, bequeathed by him to his
+disciple, the Brahmin Mahakaja, was immediately translated into Sanscrit,
+and speedily spread. Several hundred temples and monuments dedicated to
+him are scattered in various parts of the island, and remain to this day
+an evidence of the extent and influence of Buddhism.
+
+[Footnote 78: The ten precepts of the moral code of Buddhism are as
+follows:--Kill no living creature--do not steal--follow no unclean
+occupation--tell no lies or untruths--drink no fermented liquors--live
+exclusively on vegetables--anoint neither the head nor the body--go to no
+singing parties or spectacles--do not sleep on a raised nor on a wide bed--
+eat but once a day, and before noon.]
+
+[Illustration: BUDDHA TEMPLE NEAR GALLE.]
+
+On the day of our arrival we at once set off to visit one of these
+Buddhist temples, in the vicinity of Galle. The edifice is small and
+insignificant, only the carved woodwork of the door presenting any object
+of interest as a work of art. In the interior is a gigantic figure of
+Buddha, carved in wood, and in a reclining position; it is 20 feet long,
+and painted yellow and red, with long flaps to the ears, and a lotus
+flower on the head; while on the walls around, richly decorated with
+scrollwork, dragons and lions, part painted, part sculptured, various
+interesting episodes are represented in the history of Buddhism. Right in
+front of the figure are placed a number of offerings of the most
+miscellaneous description, beneath which are flowers and fruits; a small
+tin box is also particularly conspicuous, into which every stranger is
+expected to drop a piece of silver by way of present. Adjoining such a
+temple are always to be found the _wiharas_, or residences of the priests
+(_hamaduruhs_), and the spot where preaching and teaching are carried on.
+The priests wear long wide vestures, yellow or white according to their
+rank, or else only a single yellow outer garment, which falls in the form
+of graceful drapery over the naked shoulders; their heads are shaved, and
+they walk about quite barefoot, with a parasol of Talipot palm in their
+hand, and observe with strangers a reserved, distrustful demeanour.
+
+We were conducted all round by a young priest, of about 20 years of age,
+who spoke a little English, which is not a very common accomplishment,
+since the Buddhists have a great dislike for all that is foreign. Only at
+the conclusion of our visit did the old, grey, half-blind superior priest
+make his appearance, saluted us, but immediately left us to snatch from a
+boy a shaddock (_Citrus decumana_), which is especially prized by the
+Cingalese on account of the refreshing qualities of its juice.
+
+The priestly office, however, does not deter a native from indulging the
+disgusting habit of chewing the betel-nut, and this aged _hamaduruh_
+became much more sociable on receiving some.
+
+Adjoining the temple, which stands in a charming cocoa-nut grove, we first
+got an idea of the extraordinary luxuriance of the vegetation of this
+island. In a single enclosure, not much larger than an ordinary
+house-garden, we saw coffee-trees, cinnamon-bushes, clove-trees,
+nutmeg-trees, (_Areca catechu_), oranges, lemons, pine-apples, and
+bread-fruit trees (_Arctocarpus incisa_), flourishing in wildest
+profusion.
+
+A second temple, which we also visited, was the Dadale Panzela, the
+largest in the province, and the seat of the high-priest of the Buddhists.
+This worthy personage, a septuagenary, is named Nanalangara Seresumana
+Mahdamaradjiguru Ganatchari-Naikunangi, and is surrounded by a staff of
+priests of the temple who are reputed holy, and who apparently venerate
+him as a superior being. This temple did not differ much in construction
+and arrangement from the first; but the place set apart for instruction,
+where, at the time of our visit, some youths were busily engaged in
+copying the sacred books upon palm leaves, as also the residences of the
+priests, made a much more imposing impression, and spoke of a certain
+degree of opulence. In the midst of a piece of ground laid out like a
+garden was planted the sacred Bo-tree, which is looked upon as holy by the
+Buddhists, because, according to an ancient tradition, Buddha was in the
+habit of reposing under the shadow of its branches, as often as he visited
+the earth. Towering above everything wherever a Buddhist temple is raised,
+there a Bo-tree is planted; but the particular sacred tree, the original
+plant from which the legend took its rise, grows at Anaradnapura, in the
+northern part of the former kingdom of Kandi, whither it had been suddenly
+translated from a far-distant land, and spontaneously took root in the
+spot where it at present stands, in order to serve as a protection and
+shelter for Buddha.[79] Ninety Cingalese monarchs are interred around it,
+all of whom, by the temples and statues they erected to Buddha, are deemed
+worthy of this pre-eminent mark of distinction.
+
+[Footnote 79: The sacred Bo-tree (_Ficus religiosa_) of the Buddhists is
+frequently confounded with the Banyan Tree (_Ficus Indica_), held in such
+honour by the Brahmins, from which latter it differs in this, that it does
+not throw out from its branches numberless twigs which take root again in
+the earth. The incessant waving and rustling of the leaves and branches,
+which is common to both species of _Ficus_, is regarded by the faithful
+Buddhists as the effect of a fear-instilling scene of which the sage was
+once witness under the Bo-tree; just as the Syrian Christians deduce, from
+the fact that the Holy Cross was manufactured out of aspen-wood, that this
+tree is trembling, even in our days, with anguish and terror. Singular,
+what an important part the fig-tree seems to play in all religions,
+including the Christian and the Mahometan!]
+
+The grey-headed high-priest permitted the library of the temple to be
+shown to us, which consists of a large number of Pali manuscripts,
+inscribed on Talipot leaves, each of which was enclosed between two
+elegant boards made of calamander wood (_Diopyrus hirsuta_), fastened with
+strings, and enveloped in numerous folds of cloth, the whole guarded with
+singular reverence, in lofty, broad, wooden cupboards, richly carved. When
+we returned, the chief priest requested us to give him our names, and that
+of the country we came from, upon which a young priest carefully wrote
+down with a goose quill on a sheet of paper, in Cingalese language,
+apparently with the view of showing us civility, some superficial remarks
+respecting the _Novara_ Expedition.
+
+Besides the pure Cingalese, the island is also inhabited by Hindoos from
+the Malabar coast, Moors (the descendants of wandering Arabs and
+Mahometans from northern India, who at present carry on the greater part
+of the trade of the island), Malays, Javanese; then Portuguese, Dutch,
+British of the various nationalities comprised under that title; and,
+lastly, Negroes from Mozambique and Madagascar, who have formed alliances
+with the Cingalese, and are rearing a numerous mixed race.[80]
+
+[Footnote 80: What is related by various writers of the practice of
+"running a muck" (a custom that seems to recall the frightful blood-feuds
+of the Corsicans), long supposed to be peculiar to Ceylon, in which a
+Malay thirsting for revenge, and armed with a naked "_kreese_," or dagger,
+rushes through the streets like a madman, yelling "_Amock, Amock_" (kill,
+kill), and runs the fearful weapon through the body of the very first
+person he meets,--seems to be founded on a mistake. No one could give us
+any particulars on the subject from personal observation. Sir Emerson
+Tennant too, in his work on Ceylon, passes over this custom of "running a
+muck," without a syllable of mention. Evidently the custom is not
+naturalized in this island. It now prevails among the Malays of the Sunda
+archipelago, while in Ceylon no instance has occurred within the memory of
+man. That this tendency to murder is caused by the use of opium likewise
+appears improbable. Crawford, in his most excellent descriptive dictionary
+of the Indian islands, speaking of "running a muck," pretends it results
+frequently from a monomania taking this particular form, and originating
+in disorders of the digestive organs.]
+
+Deep in the interior of the island, in the province of Bintang, N.E. from
+Kandi, and towards Trincomalee and Batacalva, in holes in the earth, or
+under the palm-leaves, reside the tribe of the Weddahs or Veddahs, the
+most savage race in the island, traditionally said to be the aborigines
+proper, who go about naked, with the exception of a girdle round the
+loins, and use only bows and javelins, which however they manufacture and
+handle with great dexterity.
+
+According to one of the various Cingalese traditions, these Weddahs are
+the descendants of a very bloodthirsty, cannibal monarch, who, deposed by
+his people, was only permitted the alternative of death, or of
+withdrawing with the ministers of his cruelty to roam for ever amid the
+solitudes of the forest. The dethroned king chose the latter alternative,
+and thus became the little-to-be-envied progenitor of this rude savage
+race. At any rate it seems worthy of note, that these Weddahs, destitute
+though they are of the remotest traces of civilization, are still regarded
+as belonging to the privileged caste.
+
+Owing to the shortness of our stay, we unfortunately had no opportunity of
+visiting the interior of the island, or of seeing these Weddahs. With
+difficulty did we tear ourselves from the zone of the cocoa-nut growth,
+and therefore only got acquainted with two places on the island, Galle and
+Colombo, the latter the seat of government.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A HOUSE AT GALLE.]
+
+Galle is, from its position, as also from its configuration, indisputably
+the best and most important harbour in the south and west of the island,
+as Colombo can only be regarded as an open, insecure roadstead. Founded in
+the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, conquered at a later period by
+the Dutch, and finally, at the peace of Amiens, transferred to the
+English, Galle displays singularly few traces of its different masters.
+The streets are narrow, but cleanly; the houses are for the most part
+constructed of earth, with verandahs, or airy colonnades towards the
+street, and rooms within, plastered to imitate stone, of spacious
+dimensions, as is desirable, considering the heat of the climate. As one
+enters from the roadway at once into the sitting apartment, and as the
+door stands wide open all day to admit a free current of air, a sort of
+open screen-work is usually put up before the entrance, to prevent a too
+minute inspection of the interior, by the prying eyes of inquisitive
+passers-by. At Galle we, for the first time, saw the "Punkah," a sort of
+fan peculiar to India, which stretches from one end of the roof of the
+room to the other, and being swung to and fro by a servant produces a
+refreshing coolness. Here, too, we first became acquainted with the
+"Gecko" (_Hemidactylus maculatus_), an elegant little house-lizard, which,
+with graceful agility, runs to and fro upon the walls, windows, and roofs,
+and speedily becomes as familiar with man as a pet-dog or kitten. They
+usually make their appearance towards evening, when, without the slightest
+symptoms of timidity, they begin their surprising evolutions, during which
+they catch gnats with astonishing dexterity, and although they are
+disagreeable objects to all new comers, one speedily becomes accustomed to
+these harmless, innocuous, playful little animals, of which the Ceylonese
+are in the habit of relating many interesting and amusing anecdotes.
+
+Of late years, during which Galle has risen into considerable importance,
+as the converging point of the lines of steamers to Eastern India, China,
+and Australia, the number of substantial houses has greatly increased, and
+several large hotels are found here replete with every comfort. Like most
+European settlements in India, the Cape, and China, Galle possesses a fort
+in which, at an earlier period, the European colonists dwelt with their
+wives and families apart from the natives, and has also a "Pettah," or
+Black Town, a sort of Cingalese Ghetto, exclusively inhabited by the black
+population. At present this separation is not so strenuously enforced as
+in earlier times, but whoever would seek to form a more accurate idea of
+the various races of this population, its mode of life and its demeanour,
+must leave the so-called "Fort," and wander through the native or
+Cingalese quarter. Here are the fruit and vegetable markets; here all was
+devoted to buying and selling, which seemed to excite the otherwise
+listless little covetous disposition of the Cingalese; here jugglers and
+snake-charmers exhibit, who excite interest rather by the horrible nature
+and the foolhardiness of the performances, than by their executing any
+surprising feats. A belief is prevalent among the people that this
+singular class of men, greatly resembling our own gipsies, possess the art
+of depriving a poisonous serpent of its venom, and rendering it
+innocuous. And, in fact, one does see them produce from a white cloth the
+dreaded Cobra di Capello, 4 or 5 feet long, and exquisitely marked,
+irritate it violently, and go through all manner of unpleasant
+performances with it on their naked bodies. Frequently the serpent, weary
+of being constantly brought out for exhibition, endeavours to escape from
+its tormentor, whereupon a general scramble for escape takes place among
+the spectators. Every one hurries off to a safe distance, and the
+unfortunate charmer is left alone on the scene with his eminently
+intractable pupil, and has, into the bargain, given his exhibition in
+vain. As, however, it not unfrequently happens that the bite of the Cobra
+di Capello is followed by fatal consequences to the snake-charmer himself,
+it is highly probable that the whole mystery resolves itself into courage,
+and the shrewdness with which, availing themselves of the uncommon dread
+and aversion with which this animal is regarded, they are able at once to
+prevent him from making use of his deadly poison fang, and to put forth
+their own sleight of hand. This explanation seems also to account for the
+very remarkable fact that men have ventured to domesticate this dangerous
+reptile in more places than Ceylon. Indeed, within the experience of Major
+Skinner, a thoroughly trustworthy personage, who has resided for many
+years on the island, and to whom the naturalists of the Expedition are
+indebted for many acts of kindness, an instance actually occurred in the
+neighbourhood of Negombo, in which a wealthy man, who keeps large sums of
+specie in his house, bethought him of the singular precaution of having
+several deadly cobras to watch the treasure in lieu of dogs. Day and night
+they glide about, a terror to thieves, while they are quite harmless to
+the inmates who feed them and attend to them!
+
+In former times snake worship (_Nagas_) was universal throughout Ceylon,
+and, as in India, the cobra received divine honours from the natives,
+because it was supposed to be a metamorphosed king. This serpent, however,
+is so singularly and wonderfully endowed by nature, its appearance and
+motions are so peculiar, that an imaginative people like the Cingalese may
+well be excused for associating the idea of metempsychosis with its aspect
+of mystery.
+
+From Galle, an excellent road, following the coast-line the entire
+distance, leads to Colombo, the seat of government, 75 English miles
+distant. Every morning there starts from Galle for that destination, the
+"Royal Mail" coach, an uncomfortable, somewhat dangerous, mode of
+conveyance, in which this distance is traversed in from 8 to 10 hours. In
+order to travel more at our ease, we engaged an extra waggon. In Ceylon
+people usually employ, on long excursions, but one horse, which is changed
+at distances varying from 6 to 10 miles. We had some difficulty in
+reconciling this custom with our predilection for travelling at our
+leisure. The first few hours of our journey passed away very pleasantly;
+the road was excellent, and the country magnificent and charming. We
+seemed as though driving through a park inhabited by thousands of men, and
+planted with cocoa-nut palms--amidst which occasionally the white dome of
+a Buddhist temple, or the minarets of a Mahometan mosque, shooting up
+above the summits of the palms, imparted an aspect of life to the
+landscape--while in the gay bazaars that fringed the road, the few
+necessaries of life required by the exceedingly frugal natives were
+exposed for sale, temptingly arranged on palm or plantain leaves. The
+whole south-western coast district is so populous that the huts of the
+natives were continually in sight, right and left, under the forest shade,
+and the scenery in consequence seemed as full of life and careless
+enjoyment as though the people had nothing else to do but walk about under
+palm-trees. This impression was the more strengthened, that we rarely
+perceived a man with anything else in his hand than a Talipot leaf, or a
+Chinese parasol, to protect himself against the burning rays of the sun,
+which shone almost directly overhead. Of the women, on whom for the most
+part fall all the troubles and hardships of life among the Cingalese, we
+only saw a few carrying to the city heavy baskets balanced on their heads.
+
+The luxuriant, widely-extending cocoa-nut forests, which on the south and
+west sides of the island stretch down to the sea-shore (whereas on the
+eastern coast they are altogether absent), seem independently of the
+necessity of paying all due care to the maintenance of one of the
+necessaries of life, to be specially indebted for their existence to the
+circumstance that additional planting of this tree, as also its careful
+cultivation, is one of the religious observances and duties of the
+servants of Buddha. Whoever plants a cocoa-nut, palm, or bread-fruit tree,
+performs a work agreeable to Buddha. At the birth of a son, or on any
+similar festive occasion, it is customary to plant a few cocoa-nut shoots
+in the earth. Cocoa-nut palms form a very important part of the property
+of a family. The father divides them as heritable property into equal
+portions for bequest to his children. Not one single palm but has an
+owner, though instances occasionally occur in which several families are
+supported by the produce of a single palm!
+
+This peculiar phenomenon has been followed by most remarkable results
+bearing upon the social condition of the native population. Increasing
+poverty, and the ever present grinding necessity of preventing any further
+subdivision of the joint property, have impelled the natives to resort to
+the unnatural remedy of the brothers of a family having but one wife among
+them! The fact that there are in Ceylon fully one-tenth more men than
+women, was the cause of the rapid spread of this custom, and upheld
+Polyandria, or plurality of husbands, as a desirable invention for
+remedying the deficient supply of females. Many a female has three, four,
+or even seven husbands, and all children that are born of such a wedlock
+have equal rights, and are (differing in this respect from the law of
+Hindostan, by which only the children of the eldest brothers are
+registered, as the entire property belongs to him, while all the younger
+brothers serve him as vassals, and can be driven by him out of the house),
+the _lawful_, recognized heirs of the different fathers. In order to guard
+against the rise of law-suits respecting birth and heritage among the
+Cingalese, in consequence of their local customs, the British courts of
+justice, singular to say, find themselves constrained to recognize this
+disgraceful custom, and to interpret the law with reference to it.
+Although in the maritime provinces plurality of husbands has been signally
+on the decrease, owing to foreign influences, it still prevails to a great
+extent in the interior of the island. The submissiveness of the Cingalese
+to their superiors and their monarchs is assigned as the origin of this in
+other respects very ancient custom, which seems to have been universally
+in use among the various races of the mainland of India from time
+immemorial. Constrained to apply their own manual labour in cultivating
+the land of their tyrants, and frequently to accompany them on distant
+journeys, they thought they could, during their absence, most surely
+protect their own fields and crops against utter ruin, by apportioning
+wife and chattels among brothers and nearest relatives, and thence the
+family tie was gradually converted into a socialist community.
+
+The almost endless cocoa forests, which we were traversing by splendid,
+broad, level roads, not alone provide the native with, to him, the most
+important necessary for supporting existence, but the fruit itself forms
+at the same time so important and valuable an article of produce, that the
+cultivation of the cocoa-nut has been regularly and systematically carried
+on by European enterprise since 1841--at present covering an area of
+23,000 English acres--while the proportion of native land on which this,
+the most useful growth of the tropics, is cultivated, amounts to about
+100,000 acres. Formerly, the nuts were shipped to foreign parts for the
+extraction of their oil; but for this purpose there are now on the island
+itself, especially in Colombo and Galle, a considerable number of
+manufactories, at which the oil already expressed from the nuts is usually
+at once put into casks for exportation. The quantity of oil thus exported
+annually is estimated at from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 gallons, worth from
+L100,000 to L150,000. Besides this, the elastic fibre of the outer husk of
+the cocoa-nut is used in the manufacture of ropes, door-mats, &c., and,
+under the name of Coir, forms an important article of export, the annual
+consumption averaging between 30,000 and 40,000 quintals (centner weight),
+worth from L20,000 to L25,000.
+
+The first station on leaving Galle for Colombo is Bentotte, where, as is
+the custom all through the country, there is a "resting-house" open to all
+travellers, similar to the "Choultries" in India, the "Caravanserais," or
+lodgings for pilgrims, in Eastern countries, or the "Pasangrahans," of
+Java. These resting-houses, which all through the interior of the island
+are found on the highways and forest roads, are among the oldest
+institutions of the country, and were formerly maintained at the expense
+of private individuals. The resting-houses, which have been erected under
+the English rule on the main roads of the island, are in all respects of a
+far higher class, and strongly resemble the waiting-rooms of our own
+(German) railroads. One is not merely provided in these with shelter, but
+also with food and drink, at a fixed tariff. A special committee (the
+Provincial Road Committee) is appointed to superintend the management of
+these resting-houses.
+
+Here we partook of a luxurious "tiffin," as the customary meal between
+breakfast and dinner is called in Ceylon, as well as throughout India; and
+in so doing, made acquaintance for the first time with the renowned Indian
+dish "Curry," which consists of flesh or fish prepared with a powder
+compounded of spices. It tastes so hot that the European palate only gets
+accustomed to it by degrees; but in these countries it is looked on as the
+favourite dish, which must never be absent from any meal, because the
+cayenne pepper plentifully sprinkled over it, stimulates the stomach and
+promotes digestion. Hence the curry-powder is in immense request, and is
+largely exported. The assertion that this dish was first invented by the
+Portuguese is quite erroneous, as the chronicles of the country establish
+that it was in request in Ceylon in the second century before Christ.[81]
+
+[Footnote 81: According to Professor Wilson, "Curry" is but a corruption of
+the Carnatic term _Majkki-Kari_, a dish composed of rice, sour milk,
+spices, and red pepper.]
+
+As we mounted into our vehicle again, after a short halt at Bentotte, in
+order to resume our journey to Colombo with a fresh horse, we perceived
+that our driver, a negro, had been too free of his visits to the
+brandy-bottle, and occasionally took to rolling on the box. In the hope
+that he might become sober by the way, we ventured to proceed, but ere
+long he lost his balance, and fell to the ground, compelling us, to avoid
+further mishap, to retrace our steps on foot to the nearest village--thus
+reversing the order of matters, and, so to speak, escorting our horse,
+coach, and driver. This occurrence, unimportant and hardly worth
+mentioning in itself, was the occasion of an interesting adventure. As it
+was only with much difficulty that we could make ourselves intelligible to
+the natives, we resolved to apply to the authorities in the very first
+place we came to. It turned out that we were in the vicinity of the
+Catholic mission of St. Sebastian de Makun, whose superior was a
+Benedictine from Rome. The church is situated amid the rich vegetation of
+the primeval forests, the gigantic trunks of whose trees, supporting a
+huge diadem of luxuriant foliage, are arched into a natural dome of the
+most graceful proportions. With curiosity whetted to the uttermost, we
+advanced along a beautiful path, beneath cocoa-palms, cabbage trees,
+bread-fruit trees, screw pines, tree-like ferns, and broad-leaved bananas,
+till we reached the dwelling-house of the Mission, and introduced
+ourselves to the missionary. Forthwith the latter, a tall, stately figure,
+with handsome features and cultivated manners, and dressed in a woollen
+robe, ushered us into a darkened chamber opposite, and received us most
+cordially. This worthy priest, by the name of Miliani, was not less
+surprised at being visited at this solitary mission by Austrian
+travellers, and with the most lively satisfaction and the utmost readiness
+to oblige, offered us all the assistance in his power. In spite of our
+hurry, we had to take a cup of coffee _a la Romagna_, with our hospitable
+missionary, and to promise to visit him on our return journey. Father
+Miliani has already lived many years in this country, and ministers to a
+Christian community of more than 1000 souls. Altogether there are in
+Ceylon about 50 Catholic missionaries under a Bishop whose residence is in
+Colombo. Our priestly host was greatly respected by the Cingalese, but he
+evidently was overjoyed at being able once more to express his thoughts
+and feelings in his native Italian.
+
+It was evening ere, with many a hearty shake of the hand, we tore
+ourselves away from the cordial hospitality of St. Sebastian de Makun.
+Horse and driver this time gave hope of faster progress. But we were
+doomed once more to experience a severe disappointment, and although we
+were only about 10 or 12 miles distant from Colombo, which was our
+destination, it took us five long hours to get over the ground. The night
+was very dark, but the road was continually illuminated with torches of
+palm, carried by the homeward plodding natives, which emitted a gloomy
+light alternating with showers of sparks.
+
+When at last we got to Colombo about midnight, pretty well knocked-up, we
+comforted ourselves with the reflection that the inconveniences attending
+personal transport between Galle and the seat of government, can by no
+means be classed among events of rare occurrence; since, in consequence of
+the inveterate obstinacy of the native horse, one must have recourse to
+the most incredible expedients to get the carriage under weigh. For
+instance, at every station the ears of the post-horse were twisted
+together and then suddenly relaxed in order to set the vehicle in motion;
+and, when this torture failed, a pole, or thick stick, was inserted under
+the tail of the recalcitrant, and rubbed up and down till the poor animal,
+smarting under this painful operation, took to the collar. Once the
+carriage is started in this extraordinary fashion, the coachman swings to
+and fro at the peril of his life, and endeavours by continually "pitching
+into" the horse, to keep him at the gallop. Thus between whooping and
+whipping the next station is reached, where the same trial of patience
+awaits the traveller, and a similar martyrdom for the next horse.
+
+Our first business the following morning was to take a walk through
+Colombo, which, like Galle, consists of "The Fort," or White City, and the
+"Pettah," or Black Quarter, in the latter of which are situated the houses
+and shops of the natives, and where the chief traffic and the greatest
+activity are combined. Here one rarely encounters a white man, for even
+the soldiers and police belong to the brown and black races. The natives,
+however, manifest, outwardly at least, a great respect for the whites, and
+everywhere draw aside reverentially when one makes his appearance.
+
+In the middle of the main street are some Buddhist temples. We were not,
+however, permitted to enter, unless we consented to take off our shoes. At
+several of the natives' houses the entrance porch and windows were gaily
+adorned with plantain leaves. On inquiring of our Cingalese attendant what
+was the occasion of this manifestation, he replied in broken English that
+the inmates were celebrating "Christmas," wishing probably to express that
+the natives celebrated a feast analogous to our Christmas.
+
+The filth and unsavoury odours which prevail in the Black Quarter, and the
+noise and yelling of the natives, speedily drive visitors back to the
+European portion of the city, which altogether, with its gloomy, decayed
+aspect, makes anything but a favourable impression. The public buildings,
+the houses of the mercantile community, the warehouses, and
+fortifications, all bear the impress of the Portuguese settlement of
+bygone centuries; and as its commerce is attracted more and more every
+year to Galle,[82] there remains but faint hope that this quaint type will
+not ere long be effaced by a new style of building, albeit the inhabitants
+of the capital promise themselves a restored reign of activity and energy,
+as the result of railway communication with Galle.
+
+[Footnote 82: The value of the produce exported annually from the island
+(chiefly cocoa-nuts, coir, cinnamon, and coffee), is above L2,000,000, and
+the imports of European manufactures are about the same amount.]
+
+During our random promenade through the streets of what is called the
+Fort, we perceived at a sugar-baker's in Chatham Street--the most select
+quarter of Colombo, and containing the most important warehouses, which,
+however, are far from elegant in their appearance--some rough ice offered
+for sale, which had a curious effect in a town so near the Equator, and
+presenting such few evidences of luxury in other respects. This ice is
+brought round the Cape of Good Hope from the United States, and is chiefly
+shipped from Boston. The daily consumption of iced-water, ices, and so
+forth, is estimated at about 1000 lbs., costing about one shilling the 8
+lbs. It is impossible to repress a feeling of astonishment at these
+speculative Yankees who, despite all obstacles interposed by temperature,
+transport in all directions and over thousands of miles an article so
+perishable, so easily destructible as ice, and are able to drive a
+profitable business in it in the hottest and most diverse regions of the
+globe--in the West Indies and South America, in Asia, and in Africa.
+
+The traveller who visits Colombo will hardly fail to make an excursion to
+the Cinnamon Garden, in order to inhale the fragrant and peculiar aroma,
+and enjoy tasting the tender rind of this remarkable shrub, which plays so
+conspicuous a part in the history of Ceylon. During the palmy days of
+cinnamon culture, the five principal cinnamon plantations of the southern
+half of the island extended some 15 or 20 miles. For this one lucrative
+product of the soil all others on the island were abandoned, with most
+deplorable consequences. The cinnamon culture, a monopoly of the various
+governments which one after another conquered Ceylon, and domineered over
+its inhabitants, was carried on, especially by the Dutch East India
+Company, with terrible severity. The slightest embezzlement of cinnamon,
+or wilful damage to the plant, was visited with death. The unintentional
+breaking off of a twig of the cinnamon bush was punished with amputation
+of the offending member. Every cinnamon bush, even to those growing in the
+gardens of private individuals, was the property of the Government, and
+the cinnamon collector, or even cinnamon-peeler alone, had the right to
+strip off the rind when ripe. To destroy such a plant, or even to dispose
+of it to any one, was regarded as a crime affecting life. The labourers,
+who were employed in the cutting off, peeling, and preparation of the
+rind, belonged to the caste of Chalias, and constituted the lowest grade
+of that class. In like manner, under the English rule, the monopoly of
+cinnamon was at first continued, with such disastrous consequences to the
+trade that it was finally abandoned in 1832, and the merchants of Colombo
+and Galle were left to divide among themselves the exportation of this
+important article, under an exporting duty of 3_s._ per lb. These duties,
+however, were found much too high, as the highest price obtainable in
+Europe was from 6_s._ to 7_s._; and this advance in the price to the trade
+of the genuine article, was the cause of foreign merchants turning their
+attention to the supply of various species of cinnamon-bearing laurels and
+cassias, growing in Cochin-China and Java.
+
+When Government, recovering at last from its delusion of treating
+cinnamons, which at first had seemed indigenous to the island of Ceylon
+alone on the earth,[83] as a national monopoly, reduced the export duty to
+one shilling, and ultimately repealed it altogether, the various
+substitutes had already found their level in Europe, as affording a larger
+supply at a much more moderate rate, and the cultivation of the finer
+kinds became less and less each year. Prices fell, and the consumption was
+diminished. Only the coarser sorts repaid exportation. Nay, it even led to
+the interesting and curious result, that just as, previous to the high
+price under monopoly, the low-priced cassia displaced the finer sort of
+genuine cinnamon, at the present day the coarser sorts of cinnamon are
+beginning to oust the cassia from the English market, whence all the world
+are supplied. At present there are from 14,000 to 15,000 acres planted
+with cinnamon, chiefly in private hands, and producing annually from
+800,000 to 900,000 lbs. of cinnamon, worth from L40,000 to L50,000
+sterling.
+
+[Footnote 83: Sir Emerson Tennent, in his work (vol. i. p. 599), challenges
+the assertion that Ceylon is the native country of the cinnamon-tree. In
+no European or Asiatic chronicles is any mention made of cinnamon as a
+product or article of commerce in Ceylon up to the end of the thirteenth
+century. Although it was from the earliest times imported into Europe from
+Africa through Arabia, the natives trading with Ceylon first knew of the
+existence on the island of this important shrub about the twelfth or
+thirteenth century. Hence Sir Emerson looks upon Africa as the native
+country of the cinnamon-tree.]
+
+The chalias, moreover, are no longer, as formerly under the Portuguese and
+Dutch, _adscripti glebae_ for life, or slaves that could be purchased with
+the soil, but free labourers, who are entitled to demand proportionate pay
+for the lightest services rendered.
+
+The Cinnamon Gardens in the neighbourhood of Colombo, although for the
+most part gone to decay, nevertheless impart to the whole scene a
+singularly cheerful, agreeable aspect. The bushes, from 4 to 6 feet in
+height, with their smooth, beautiful, light green leaves, resembling those
+of the bay-tree, and their pale, yellow flower-stamens shoot up doubly
+fresh and succulent, from the snow-white quartz soil in which they best
+thrive. The flowering season of the cinnamon is in January, and the fruit
+ripens in April, when the sap is richest in the shrub. In May the boughs
+are begun to be "barked," which process continues till October. The
+pruning and gathering of the yearling shoots, which are about the
+thickness of a man's thumb, is very laborious, and employs many hands.
+Each labourer cuts off as many as he can conveniently carry in a bundle,
+then, with the point of a crooked knife, made for the express purpose,
+strips the entire rind from the wood, carefully scrapes off the exterior
+corticle and innermost layer, and lays the stripped-off cinnamon rind, now
+reduced to the thickness of parchment, in the sun, where it dries and
+curls together. All round the hut, in which the peeling of the rind is
+carried on, is diffused a most exquisite aroma, caused by the breaking of
+the leaves or twigs. What is related, however, by various travellers of
+the fragrance of the cinnamon forests, which they have scented at a great
+distance seaward, would seem to indicate that this delicious odour
+emanates from various other aromatic plants in which Ceylon is so rich,
+rather than the cinnamon groves, the aroma of which, indeed, is not
+perceptible beyond the immediate vicinity. The best description of
+cinnamon is not so thick as stout paper, and is fine-grained, flexible,
+light brown, or golden yellow, sweet and pungent; the coarser qualities
+are thick-skinned, dark brown, acrid, stinging, and leaves a bitter
+after-taste. In the warehouses, the cinnamon rinds and canes sorted for
+shipping are piled upon each other, packed in bales of about 90 lbs.
+weight each, and carefully sewed. In all cavities and spaces between each
+layer an immense quantity of pepper is strewn, to preserve the cinnamon
+during its sea-voyage, by which both spices are benefited, the black
+pepper absorbing all the superfluous moisture, and gaining by the
+fragrance of the cinnamon.
+
+Consequent on the diminution of cinnamon cultivation, which undoubtedly
+has resulted in great measure from the altered taste of mankind and the
+consequent extraordinary falling off in the demand for this once
+highly-prized spice, the cultivation of coffee in Ceylon has, during the
+last 20 years, increased tenfold; and it is solely owing to the dearth of
+available labour that this branch of produce, considering the splendid
+profits it returns, is not even more extensively carried on. In 27
+districts there are 404 coffee plantations, covering a surface of 80,950
+acres, of which, however, only 63,771 acres are really productive. These
+produced last year, 347,100 cwt., or 5-1/2 centners per acre. To this must
+be added the quantity under cultivation by the natives, who possess about
+36,000 acres of coffee plantations, and in the year 1859 alone, exported
+180,000 cwt. We may safely assume, therefore, that the cultivation of
+coffee is on the eve of transforming this island of Ceylon, from a mere
+military station of England, into one of the most flourishing colonies of
+the British Empire. Twenty years ago there were exported barely 60,000
+centners, worth L180,000. In September, 1858, the export exceeded 600,000
+cwt., which represented on the spot a value of L1,500,000 sterling. "When
+capital and labour shall have become more plentiful," remarked to us a by
+no means over-sanguine resident, "Ceylon will have in its mountain
+districts 240,000 acres planted with coffee trees, yielding at the lowest
+estimate, 1,680,000 cwt. of coffee annually." Here, as among the high
+table-lands of Guatemala and Costa Rica, we have the reassuring evidence
+how one of the most important plants for the civilized man can be
+profitably cultivated, without having recourse to the blighting influences
+of slave-labour, at the same time making the lands in which it is produced
+both rich and prosperous.[84]
+
+[Footnote 84: The coffee-tree frequently suffers, especially in Ceylon,
+from an insect called the coffee-bug (_Lecanium Coffeae_); as, however,
+this troublesome insect has only infested the coffee plantations since
+1848, and this branch of cultivation has nevertheless increased so
+surprisingly since then, there seems no reason to dread that the coffee
+plant will suffer by these bugs, in the same manner or to the same extent
+as the vine by the ravages of the _fungus_.]
+
+While the cultivation of the coffee-plant has been followed by such
+splendid results, the repeated attempts to introduce the sugar-cane have
+been on the contrary as uniformly failures--so that of the numerous
+plantations established by Europeans, there are at present no more than
+five remaining. In all those localities where the temperature seemed
+adapted to the growth of the sugar-cane, the nature of the soil, and the
+too great humidity have prevented its thriving.
+
+On the other hand, the island possesses two natural products in which but
+few spots on the globe are qualified to enter the lists with her, and
+which may be expected to increase in value and importance in proportion as
+science assumes her share in their exploration. These products are PEARLS
+and PRECIOUS STONES.
+
+The most productive pearl banks lie on the west coast of Ceylon, between
+the 8th and 9th degrees of North latitude, near the level, dreary beach of
+Condatchy, Aripo, and Manaar. The pearl fisheries are a monopoly, and,
+therefore, under the inspection of the Government. Former governors had
+counted too much on the abundance of this natural treasure, and in their
+blind haste to fill the coffers of the State, had so exhausted the banks,
+that suddenly, from a source of revenue they became an item of
+considerable deficiency, and, from 1838 to 1854, could no longer be
+dredged. From a net annual return of L120,000 sterling, the yearly return
+had sunk to L10,000, of which nearly one-half was consumed in the
+attendant expenses. Now-a-days the work is gone about more circumspectly,
+a scientific examination having been made by a native naturalist, Dr.
+Kelaart, of all the oyster banks on the west coast. We had the pleasure,
+while at Colombo, of becoming personally acquainted with this very able,
+unassuming gentleman, who presented us with several memoirs of his own,
+touching upon the latest facts that had been ascertained with reference to
+the pearl oyster. One special result of his various researches has been
+the demonstration of two facts of the utmost importance to the pearl
+fishery, and which hitherto had not been fully ascertained--that this
+mollusc possesses locomotive powers; that its occasional disappearance is
+perfectly natural; and that, moreover, the pearl oyster may, without any
+injury, be transplanted from one locality to another--nay, even from salt
+to brackish water. The first-named observation explains the occasional
+disappearance of the pearl oyster from certain beds,[85] even when they
+have not been inordinately thinned by too keen a quest after gain; the
+latter opens up the pleasing anticipation of the pearl oyster being
+susceptible of very extensive propagation, by a process similar to that of
+pisciculture, or artificial breeding of fish (such as the colonies of
+edible oysters which are met with in the South of France), by
+transplanting them to such places as seem best suited to the conditions
+necessary to their highest development. What a splendid conception it were
+to plant the sea-coasts of Ceylon with pearls, and thus throw the wealth
+of the island in precious stones into the shade, by the treasures she
+would possess in the depths of the sea!
+
+[Footnote 85: This singular property of the oyster, in virtue of which it
+can be fed to as confirmed obesity as a prize-ox, and admits of nearly as
+much dexterity in "crossing," if we are to trust the palates of
+"gourmets," as the Southdown and Leicester breeds of sheep, has received
+its most extraordinary development in the vicinity of New York, where the
+amount of capital sunk in the oyster trade considerably exceeds
+L1,000,000! The finest of these are transferred as spawn from the beds in
+the East River, or Long Island Sound, to the "nurseries," which are
+situated in the brackish water near the head of the tide-way, just below
+the "Highlands of the Hudson." Here they are carefully tended for some
+months, till, their education being completed, they are re-transferred to
+their native beds, and fed there with oatmeal daily; while, by some
+mystery of the craft, the spawning season is postponed, except in the case
+of those that are selected for propagating the race.]
+
+Exactly at the period of our arrival at Colombo, the preparations were
+being resumed at Aripo for the take of the oysters, which commences at the
+beginning of February each year, and lasts about three weeks. It is, in
+fact, a sort of jubilee time for the people, at which the Governor and
+numbers of the wealthier classes mingle with the populace. Ordinarily this
+spot becomes at that season a rendezvous for the poor and the wretched,
+and a rallying point for all manner of abominable odours, filth,
+troublesome flies, and intolerable heat, despite which drawbacks the
+fishery is visited by thousands of boats, and hundreds of thousands of
+men, who flock hither with the alluring prospect of speedy and abundant
+wealth, or have been attracted from all parts of the Indian Continent by
+the singularity of the spectacle. Suddenly, as though evoked by the wand
+of a magician, a regular town starts into existence, of tents, or even
+neat huts, with bamboo and cabbage-tree palings, roofed over with
+palm-leaves, rice-straw, or coarse thick woollen cloth; booths for the
+sale of merchandise "rise like an exhalation" during the night to supply
+necessaries of all sorts to the converging multitudes from the interior,
+as well as the fleets of visitors from seaward; and last, not least, the
+divers themselves. Swindlers and mountebanks throng hither, adroit thieves
+creep stealthily about, all Indian customs and fashions are represented,
+all castes jostle each other. Priests, and the subordinate hangers-on of
+the various sects, hurry about, and jugglers and Nautch girls vie with
+each other in amusing the noisy multitudes.
+
+The result of numerous experiments has proved that no diving apparatus can
+replace the human machine, the cost of which, moreover, is a fixed
+definite quantity, viz., the fourth part of the pearls brought up, which
+is the diver's share. In each boat, or "Dhonie," are ten divers, each
+having an assistant. Before the divers proceed to descend, a number of
+quaint ceremonies are gone through, and incantations murmured, as well in
+the boats as on shore, by the so-called "shark-charmers;" indeed, the
+superstition of the divers, who for the most part come from the Coromandel
+coast, is so great, that not one of their number, Christian or idolator,
+would continue in this employment without the countenance of the sorcerer;
+and the Government finds itself compelled to pay the impostors.[86] They
+levy a tribute of ten oysters upon each boat.
+
+[Footnote 86: In 1857, the chief shark-charmer was a Roman Catholic!]
+
+Accidents with sharks are of rare occurrence: the noise of 1000 divers on
+the water at once seeming to scare the animals. Moreover, the dark colour
+of the skin of their bodies, acts as a considerable protection to the
+divers, so that there are numbers who blacken their legs, in order still
+more to alarm the monster.[87]
+
+[Footnote 87: An encounter in the water between a shark and an expert
+swimmer, armed only with a knife, is not so unequal an affair as might at
+first be supposed. The pearl fishers of the Gulfs of Panama and Nicoya
+only use a short stick, with which, if the sharks get _above_ them, they
+stir up the mud, under cover of which they swim along the bottom for a
+little distance, and then shoot up to the surface. Of the equality in
+which a good swimmer armed with a knife feels himself in encountering a
+shark, there are numerous instances. Many years ago, when shipping was
+more plentiful in Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, than at the present day,
+vessels had occasionally to put up with somewhat awkward berths, when they
+used regularly to "foul their anchors," whereupon it became necessary, of
+course, to send some one down to free the cable. For this purpose, negro
+divers were employed, and one man attained a wide reputation from having
+himself, unscathed, slain in fair combat at different times, no less than
+five sharks! Ultimately the sharks steered clear of any black man who had
+a knife suspended round his neck.]
+
+After these preliminaries, the divers go down into the water, each
+carrying a basket-shaped net, in which to bring up the oysters, when
+selected--a stone of from 15lbs. to 25lbs. weight being fastened round the
+body, so as more readily to enable him to sink to the bottom. When at a
+depth of some 5 or 6 fathoms, the diver unfastens the stone, which is
+forthwith hauled up. He now throws himself forward on his face, and keeps
+himself as close as he can to the ground, while he rapidly rakes up and
+collects together all that is within his reach, so as to fill his landing
+net. He crawls along in this manner during the minute of his submersion,
+over a space of from 40 to 50 feet; and so soon as he pulls the cord
+attached to his plaited basket-edge, it is immediately hauled up, and he
+himself speedily follows it to the surface.[88]
+
+[Footnote 88: The divers are mostly old men, vigorous and healthy in
+appearance, thus dispelling the general notion that deep-sea diving
+weakens the body and shortens life. We were told of one diver, employed
+during the year 1856, in the pearl fishery, who was so stout and fat, that
+in addition to the ordinary diver's stone, he had to make fast a
+considerable weight to his body, in order to sink himself in the water.]
+
+The utmost depth at which the diver can safely remain seems to be about 40
+feet, beyond which blood is apt to issue from the nose and ears. They
+seldom remain above 50 or 60 seconds under water, although cases
+occasionally occur in which the stay under water is protracted to 80
+seconds. The diving is carried on for 5 or 6 hours without intermission,
+so that each of the ten divers can, in the course of a day, bring up from
+1000 to 4000 oysters. By dint of good fortune, and close packing, about
+150 oysters are brought up in each basket-net, while occasionally an
+unprolific bed does not give more than five or ten oysters. So soon as the
+oysters have been dragged to land, they are sorted in shares, of which one
+goes to the oyster fisher as his remuneration, and the remainder are sold
+in lots of 1000 each to the highest bidder. Now begins speculation. Chance
+presides here, quite as capriciously as at a lottery or another game of
+hazard. It often happens that a single oyster contains thirty or forty
+pearls, of which some may be worth a sovereign on the spot; but it more
+frequently occurs that several hundred oysters do not yield a single
+pearl. The small, valueless pearls, called also "seed pearls," are burnt
+down, and sold as pearl-lime to the wealthy Malays, by whom it is used as
+a luxurious addition to the betel and cabbage nuts, as masticatories. The
+Ceylonese mix the lustreless pearls with other grains, with which they
+feed the poultry, in whose croops the pearls regain their former
+brilliancy after a few minutes' grinding. The croop is then slit up, and
+the glittering stones extracted, white as the most beautiful
+pearl-muscular tissue.[89]
+
+[Footnote 89: This method of procedure, which is adopted by the rest of the
+Indian races, and in which the lustreless pearls are swallowed by hens,
+pigeons, and ducks, so as to be polished up, after being subjected to the
+preliminary digestion of these birds, has been proved to be anything but
+beneficial to the pearls as regards loss by attrition. Careful observation
+has established, for example, that four pearls, weighing twelve grains,
+have lost four grains by undergoing this process during twelve hours,
+while eight others, weighing thirty grains, were reduced to twenty grains
+after a sojourn of two days in the gizzard of a duck.]
+
+The pearl oysters caught on the coast of Ceylon are all of the same
+species (_Meleagrina Margaritifera_), uniformly oval in shape, and about
+9-1/2 inches in circumference. The number taken in Ceylon annually must be
+numbered by millions. In the year of our arrival to Ceylon (1858), the
+pearl fishery yielded L24,120. According to the last returns, before us as
+we write, there were in the year 1859, 1352 boats engaged during eighteen
+days in the pearl fishery, the gross take of which amounted to 9,534,951
+oysters, sold for L48,216. The divers' shares amounted together to
+2,126,749 oysters.
+
+The wide-spread popular delusion, that the pearl in the oyster is but a
+produce of disease in the animal, has long been refuted by scientific
+research, and although the great German poet, Henry Heine, in his
+"Romanzero," sings,
+
+   "Those world-famed pearls,
+    They are but the wan mucus
+    Of a sad oyster,
+    Dimly sickening in the depth of the sea!"
+
+it is rather a poetic fancy than a scientific fact. We have latterly been
+especially indebted to the German naturalist, Theodore von Hessling, for a
+very circumstantial and thoroughly exhaustive memoir on the natural
+history of the pearl oysters and their pearls,[90] in which the learned
+author seeks to establish that the enveloping matter of the germ of the
+pearl is identical with the covering of the animal, and that in the
+process of growth two influences are at work, an external and an internal.
+The first is called into play by the property peculiar to the hinge system
+that unites the double shell, of gaping wide open, in consequence of which
+extraneous substances rush in with the current of water, such as minute
+fragments of quartz, molecules of plants, &c., which, being detained
+either circling in the cavity, or eddying round the hinges, are seized on
+in the course of their revolutions, and entangled in the parenchyma of the
+various organs, which is specially secreted from the mantle, till it
+becomes enveloped by layers of solid shell. On the other hand, the
+internal development is closely allied to the conditions of deposition
+and subsequent growth of the shell-matter. Molecules, either a single
+grain or congeries of grains, varying from 9.01 to 0.05 of a line (3/4 of
+an inch down to the 1/240th of an inch), enclosed in the _epidermis_ of
+the shell, constitute usually the _nuclei_ of the pearls, which, to a
+certain extent, may be considered as nothing but a portion of the
+_epidermis_ not applied to the formation of shell. The pearls also are
+simply independent concretions growing in the creature, and consisting of
+the substance of the shell, which are with difficulty discriminated from
+the various descriptions of growths which constitute the inner surface of
+the shell.
+
+[Footnote 90: Die Perlen-Muschel, und ihre Perlen, Naturwissenschaftlich
+und Geschichtlich mit Beruecksichtigung der Perlen-gewaesser Bayerns,
+beschrieben von Theodor von Hessling, Leipzig, 1859.]
+
+The great importance of the pearl as an article of luxury and commerce,
+has naturally led to numerous attempts to manufacture them by artificial
+means, in the course of which extraneous bodies have been introduced
+between the mouth and shell of the animal, sometimes with, sometimes
+without injury to it. The Chinese especially are adepts at placing certain
+small bodies, specially prepared, in the shells of the pearl oyster,
+which, after a short time, becomes coated with mother-of-pearl, or nacre.
+This manufacture of artificial pearls is carried on on a large scale in
+the neighbourhood of Hong-Chow-Foo. During our stay at Hong-Kong and
+Shanghai respectively, we ourselves saw several mussel-shells, in which a
+mother-of-pearl covering had formed over small neatly carved figures,
+mostly sitting figures of Buddha,[91] the singular appearance of which
+would, at the first glance tend to make the observer suspect that the
+pearl had been fastened to the mussel by some adhesive substance. But we
+had so frequently an opportunity of satisfying ourselves by actually
+witnessing the entire process, that we could no longer doubt that the
+carved figures are with the utmost care introduced into the animal, and,
+after remaining a few days in the water, become attached to the mussel by
+a distinct membrane. This, their membrane, afterwards becomes
+interpermeated by the calcareous matter, till, finally, layers of
+mother-of-pearl are deposited all around the nucleus, the whole formation
+corresponding with the chalk-like concretions occurring in other
+creatures.
+
+[Footnote 91: The antiquity of this experiment is proved by the fact that
+the _Topographia_ of Ischikiang speaks of a pearl, which had been sent to
+the Imperial Palace at Pekin, 490 B.C., which resembled Buddha, and
+apparently must have been produced by this same method; although likewise
+the priests of Buddha, at that early epoch, might not have objected, in
+the interests of their religion, to make capital out of such a specimen of
+artistic skill.]
+
+Besides the pearl-shells, the northern shores of Ceylon, especially
+between the Island of Manaar and Karativoe, are especially rich in beds of
+a volute mussel (_Turbinella rapa_, or _soluta gravis_), which are
+exported in great numbers to India, where the Hindoo women saw them into
+rings of all sizes, to be worn as ornaments on the arms, legs, fingers and
+toes. The chank-shell is likewise a chief instrument of the Buddhists,
+who, amongst other devout customs, blow three times a day on this sacred
+shell, to summon believers to worship.[92] It is also used as a festive
+ornament of the Indian temples, as well as a donation to the dead, which,
+inspired by a religious feeling, the survivors place in the grave
+alongside of the corpse of their illustrious departed.
+
+[Footnote 92: According to the most ancient annals of the Cingalese, the
+chank-shell is sounded in one of the superior heavens of the demigods
+(similar to the conk-blowing Tritons of Grecian mythology), in honour of
+Buddha, as often as the latter wanders abroad on the earth.]
+
+The gems found on the island are distinguished, less for their intrinsic
+value than for the great variety of precious stones which are present.
+They are, with few exceptions, found to have been disengaged from the
+primitive rocks, and washed into the alluvial soil, especially in the
+outskirts of the mountainous districts, where they are rolled along the
+beds of the streams together with other pebbles, or are washed out of the
+alluvial deposits. Hitherto, they have only been searched for for purposes
+of trade, and then only in the most desultory and thriftless way, no one
+having as yet examined the rocks themselves, by the disintegration of
+which the valuable stones are disengaged. There was, indeed, no detailed
+information as to the wealth in precious stones of the island, until the
+researches of the English mineralogist, Dr. Gygax, who has very lately
+published on this subject many interesting observations and remarks. The
+locality in which precious stones are most abundant is, so far as present
+experience goes, the district of Saffragam, the capital of which in
+consequence takes the name of Ratnapoora, or Anarhadnaporra, "the city of
+rubies." They are also found at various other parts of the island; in the
+plains on the West coast, between Adams' Peak and the sea, at Nuwera
+Ellia, Kandy, Matelle, and Ruanwelli, near Colombo, as also in Matura, and
+the river courses on the eastern side, towards the ancient Mahagam. The
+geologist of the Expedition visited some mines of precious stones near
+Ratnapoora. These are situated on the Kaluga-Sella, a small tributary of
+the Kalu-Gunga, and lie, some in the very bed of the river, some on the
+steep bank. They are about thirty feet deep, but having been some time
+disused, they are full of water. The uppermost stratum of these pits or
+mines is a rich fertile yellow loam, exactly resembling our diluvial
+loams. This is succeeded, according to the report of the proprietor of the
+mines, by a slimy black clay, and clayey sand, beneath which again is a
+bituminous clay, holding numerous organic remains, such as leaves, trunks
+of trees converted into a substance resembling lignite, and not
+infrequently elephants' tusks and bones of animals; thereafter sand, and
+lastly a bank of rolled gravel, forming a species of conglomerate with
+red, yellow, and occasionally blue clay--being, in fact, what is known as
+stone-gravel. This bank of pebbles is the layer in which the precious
+stones occur, and these are most commonly found between the larger masses
+of agglutinated matter, that are always found especially to abound in
+gems, whenever they are superposed upon what is called malave, which
+appears to be a sort of greenish-coloured talc-like half-decomposed mica.
+The most valuable stones that are obtained from these mines are rubies and
+sapphires. In the Kalu-Gunga, also, precious stones are occasionally
+washed down, and as the geologist of the _Novara_ Expedition was
+descending the river in a boat, from Ratnapoora to Caltura, he perceived
+at several places, more particularly at the various rapids, men standing
+in the water, provided with flat pan-shaped baskets, in which they sifted
+the sand and pebbles.
+
+The gems found on the island are rubies, sapphires topazes, amethysts,
+garnets, cinnamon-stone, and tourmaline. On the other hand, all the
+diamonds, emeralds, carnelians, agates, opals, and turquoises, which the
+natives offer for sale, are imported from India. One precious stone, on
+which the Cingalese set an exceedingly high value, because they
+erroneously believe that it is peculiar to the island of Ceylon, whereas
+it is also found on the southern shores of Hindostan, is the "Cat's-eye,"
+a greenish transparent quartz, which, when polished in its natural shape,
+or "_en cabochon_," exhibits in its interior a varying reflected light,
+undoubtedly arising from the presence of fibres of asbestos, and which, in
+fact, bears some resemblance to the eye of a cat. The natives, as a rule,
+estimate the value and symmetry of this stone by the brilliancy and
+tenuity of the beam which it emits, and the clear olive-coloured ground
+upon which it shines in relief.
+
+A vast number of men give themselves up to the exciting but most uncertain
+occupation of searching for precious stones, and barter what they have
+found, chiefly to Mahometan merchants, for clothes and salt. As, however,
+the natives themselves set a high value on jewels, in consequence of
+their small bulk admitting of their being readily concealed and easily
+carried about, the finer descriptions are readily disposed of at a good
+price, and, singular to say, it has frequently happened, as we ourselves
+found by personal experience, that precious stones are dearer in Colombo
+and Galle than in the European markets! The explanation of this paradox is
+probably that the steady copious influx into the London and Paris markets
+of precious stones from all parts of the earth where jewels are found,
+admits of by no means such excessive fluctuations in value as at Ceylon,
+where the supply actually on hand is so varying, and where the value of
+the article almost always depends upon the rank and wealth of the Indian
+purchaser. The foreign traveller very often cannot restrain a feeling of
+surprise at seeing the fingers of the stately Mahometan jewellers adorned
+with rings of costly gems, which are only offered for sale to himself at
+an exorbitant sum.
+
+The value of the precious stones of all sorts found in Ceylon in the
+course of a year is estimated by Sir Emerson Tennent at about L10,000,
+one-fourth, at least, of the entire quantity finding a market on the
+island, a full half being sent to the jewel-polishers of India, so that
+only the remaining fourth is exported to Europe.
+
+The scant time allotted to us at Colombo was zealously occupied in seeing
+the utmost that we could of the many interesting objects that invited
+attention. Among others, we visited one of the largest industrial
+enterprises in Ceylon, known as Hultsdorf Mill, a cocoa-nut-oil factory,
+the proprietorship consisting in shares, of which the largest holder is
+David Wilson, Esq., the Austrian Consular Agent. Here are carried on all
+the various processes connected with the manufacture, the preparation of
+the oil-cake from the cocoa-nut, the expressure of the oil, &c., which are
+carried on by apparatus, partly sent out from England, partly put up in
+this country, all set in motion by steam-engines. The task assigned in
+these factories to the natives, of whom above a thousand are employed in
+the various departments, is, nevertheless, not the less important and
+significant, that, while machinery is used in those processes where it is
+necessary to use an agency far transcending the powers of mere human
+labour, all collateral products, such as soap, candles, perfumery, as also
+the implements and tools required for the works, and even the barrels and
+chests required for the transport of the manufactures, are prepared and
+used by handicraft labour.
+
+To the thoughtful visitor it is a scene of no ordinary interest to behold
+several hundreds of Cingalese, Hindoos, and Mozambique negroes, all
+thoroughly conversant with the management of the most magnificent
+invention of the nineteenth century. Here are a number of artisans
+employed at the hydraulic presses and iron turning-lathes; in another
+apartment the various parts of the different machines are being
+constructed or put together, which regulate the pressure of the steam
+supplied to the apparatus when in activity; in a third, persons are busy
+examining and testing the resulting products with scrupulous precision.
+With all its development, European industry has, in this quarter,
+exercised but an obscure influence; and, thus far, has been productive of
+but small results as a civilizing element among this population, which has
+hitherto shown itself so little disposed to accept the Christian form of
+civilization.
+
+In the large warehouse belonging to Mr. Wilson, we also saw huge heaps of
+"Kauris," or Cowries, (_cypraea moneta_), the renowned, or rather
+ill-reputed, species of mussel, which comes from the Maldive Islands, and
+plays so important a part in the commerce with the coast of Malabar and
+the interior of Africa; while here, it constitutes the sole medium of
+exchange, which is used by way of barter for almost all sorts of
+agricultural produce, chiefly among the blacks.[93] These mussels are sent
+from Ceylon to London, and thence back to the Eastern Coast of Africa, and
+thus indirectly uphold the slave-trade, as, the native merchants of that
+region barter these shells, so greatly sought after by all African tribes,
+as ornament, for negroes and negresses, who are in turn sold to the
+"speculators in human flesh." A ton of these shells, of which the smaller
+description are most in request, and therefore the most valuable, costs
+in Ceylon about L70 to L75.
+
+[Footnote 93: The Malay name for this mussel is "beya," implying duty,
+toll, tax, thus leaving it open to conjecture that that nation, in their
+commerce with the Asiatic and African continents, have for untold ages
+employed the same principles of currency and expressions of value as
+ourselves.]
+
+To the kindness and active interest in our objects of Mr. Wilson, in whose
+agreeable villa at Mootwall--the plan and method of construction of which
+reminded us of the beautiful planters' houses on the sugar estates of
+Louisiana--we spent the last night of our stay at Colombo, we are also
+indebted for a copy, with which he presented us, of the most ancient
+annals of Ceylon, inscribed with an iron graver upon Talipot palm-leaves
+in the highly-esteemed Pali language, and preserved between richly-carved
+boards of the costly wood of the Kalamander tree (_Diospyrus Hirsuta_).
+This carefully-preserved MS. includes, among others, the celebrated epic
+poem "Mahawanso," (an abbreviation "Mahantaman Wanso," "Genealogy of
+mighty men,") which recites under 100 heads, and in 9175 verses, the most
+important events connected with the interior constitution and history of
+the island, as also of all the battles fought by the inhabitants in
+foreign countries from B.C. 543 to the year 1758, A.D. Of these, the most
+renowned historic relics of the Cingalese, 38 chapters, of 262 pages 4to,
+were translated into English by George Tumour, Esq., an eminent Pali
+scholar, and printed at Ceylon, in the year 1837. Unfortunately, his
+earnest desire to publish the rest of this highly-interesting work was
+destined not to be gratified. The grave closed over him ere he could
+realize his wish. At present, however, there is a prospect of the
+translation of the "Mahawanso" being completed by Mr. James de Alwis, a
+worthy follower in the footsteps of Mr. Turnour, chiefly through the
+munificence of Government and of the Scientific Institutes, which were
+invoked to supply the requisite assistance for the prosecution of an
+undertaking likely to prove so unremunerative.
+
+In addition to the copy of the "Mahawanso," we also procured a number of
+other important Cingalese MSS. on Talipot palms, which were made use of by
+Tumour, partly in his translation of the "Mahawanso," partly in his other
+works upon Ceylon, and which embrace numerous valuable historical details
+not comprised in the "Mahawanso." This complete collection of the most
+antique annals of the Island of Ceylon, in the purchase of which we were
+kindly favoured with the advice and assistance of Mr. Wilson at Colombo,
+together with a variety of other Cingalese MSS. on palm leaves, collected
+at a subsequent date, now form part of the collection of valuable books in
+the Imperial Royal Library at Vienna.
+
+Besides Mr. Wilson, our very best thanks are due to the Colonial
+Secretary, Sir C. J. McCarthy, who had the kindness to provide several of
+the members of the _Novara_ Expedition with the requisite letters of
+introduction to the authorities in the interior of the Island: also to Mr.
+John Selby, the very obliging proprietor of the _Examiner_; to Dr.
+Kelaart, physician and naturalist; to Charles P. Layard, Esq., the
+Government Agent for the Western Provinces; and to Captain Gosset,
+Surveyor-General, for their numerous attentions. The last-mentioned
+gentleman very kindly provided us with a pair of level-tubes which we
+urgently needed for one of our levelling instruments, and which, in this
+quarter of the globe, were more rare and difficult to be met with than
+pearls or precious stones.
+
+Our return from Colombo to Galle, was not less marked by misadventures
+than our journey thither. As far as Caltura, where our amiable Father
+Miliani was in waiting for us with his neat single-horse equipage, to
+convey us to the beautiful parsonage of St. Sebastian Makun, all went
+tolerably smoothly with us. We arrived, as had been concerted, to
+breakfast with this hospitable shepherd of souls. On our way to the
+parsonage, we noticed that great respect was paid to the worthy Father, by
+such of the Cingalese as met us. Their usual salutation was to bend
+themselves to the earth, veiling their eyes at the same time, and bending
+forward the outstretched head as though to implore a blessing. Father
+Miliani, who held the reins in his left hand, while his right hand
+flourished a long heavy whip, slightly inclined his body upon the
+cabriolet, and so dismissed in peace the poor folk that besought his
+benediction. When we had now got pretty near the parsonage, we were
+suddenly brought to a halt by a couple of natives, of whom one implored
+the spiritual ministration of the Father for his wife, then lying almost
+_in articulo mortis_, while the other had brought with him, from the
+sacristy of Makun, the Communion-plate required for the purpose. The
+priest, to whom this interruption seemed to come as a matter of course,
+stopped, apologized for the unexpected delay, threw the reins to one of
+the party, sprang from the waggon, and disappeared in the gloom of the
+forest. It was not for long, as it proved; for the stately, handsome
+figure of the priest of Makun presently appeared between the cocoa-palms.
+He had found the woman much less dangerously ill than he had been led to
+expect by the report of the husband, the native converts to Christianity
+being very much given to requesting the administration of the rites of the
+Church, upon being attacked by the slightest indisposition, because they
+anticipate much more benefit from spiritual treatment than from the
+medicines of their body-curers. And now we proceeded on our way to the
+parsonage at a smart gallop, which, however, did not prevent a zealous,
+much-believing Cingalese from keeping up with the mettled horse, stride
+for stride, for the entire distance, keeping close to the waggon as he ran
+alongside. We were not then aware, indeed, whether this violent bodily
+exercise was undertaken as a matter of choice or as a penance, but it
+seemed to us, in any case, an act far less meritorious than prejudicial to
+health.
+
+In St. Sebastian de Makun, the entire community were awaiting our arrival,
+and escorted us by a romantic hill, and through a delicious palm-forest,
+to the priest's abode. Here we found the porch of the house gaily adorned,
+and metamorphosed with tropical fruits and flowers into a smiling fragrant
+bower, with the feathery leaf of the cocoa-palm cut into thin strips. The
+inventive ingenuity of the Cingalese had endeavoured to represent the
+various birds found in tropical forests, which were suspended in
+ornamental baskets of green leaves among the festoons. Over the entrance
+to this bower, improvised out of materials supplied by the primeval
+forest, was placed a picture painted by the good Father himself,
+representing a large anchor, with the superscription in Italian "La
+speranza non confunde!" (Hope never disappoints!) This was evidently a
+delicate allusion of our kind-souled entertainer to the hope which he had
+expressed during our previous visit, that he should see us on our return
+from Colombo, "which had not been disappointed."
+
+In the interior of the arbour appeared an elegantly appointed table, that
+seemed ready to give way under the weight of good things spread upon it,
+around which were placed a number of arm-chairs, worked in tapestry, while
+the plastered floor was strewed with the glistening green leaves of the
+_Ficus religiosa_. As soon as we had taken our seats, the members of the
+community, consisting of more than a hundred tawny, half-naked Cingalese
+(principally men and children), arranged themselves in a circle, and some
+half-dozen dancers began to execute a very ordinary-looking dance to the
+sound of a drum. The entire figure consisted in their simply approaching
+each other from opposite sides, during which they struck the
+hollow-sounding instrument pretty sharply, holding it in their hand the
+while, after which they drew away from each other, and wound up by
+dancing round in a circle in couples. A boy of eight, in glittering
+costume, next performed a dance, in which he was accompanied by a grown-up
+Cingalese who sung, occasionally accompanied by drum and fife. Frequently
+we enquired what was the meaning of the vocal accompaniment to the dance,
+but could get no information upon the subject. But we have always had
+occasion to remark among the various primitive races, that they are rarely
+able to give any connected account of the history of their dances or even
+their songs, but simply go through a set of mechanical figures which they
+have learned, or rehearse a set of words by rote, without being able to
+assign any signification to either. Over and over again have we put the
+question, only to receive the same stereotyped answer from Hindoos,
+Negroes, Chinese, Malays, and Polynesians, that they could tell us nothing
+more than that these songs and dances took their origin in the "olden
+times." Breakfast was served in the arbour by Cingalese boys. As often as
+the hospitable Father turned to apologize for his scanty means, which
+prevented him from ministering to our entertainment as he could wish, some
+new dish would be forthcoming, or some fresh kind of wine would be
+produced, till one knew not which most to admire, the variety of the
+entertainment, or its cost in preparation.
+
+On inquiring of Father Miliani, in the course of conversation, whether he
+had any acquaintance with the plants to which the natives ascribe healing
+properties, he sent for a phial containing an oily substance, which;
+according to the Cingalese herbalists, is composed of 57 different roots
+and as many flowers, and has already been wonderfully efficacious in cases
+of persons bitten by poisonous serpents. It is called by the natives,
+_Visanili-Katail_ (oil against poison); and the priest of Makun remarked
+to us, he had himself had an opportunity of satisfying himself as to the
+marvellous curative qualities of this vegetable substance, in the case of
+persons who had been bitten by the most venomous snake in the whole
+island, the _Cobra di Capello_, who had entirely recovered by the copious
+use of this antidote. The application is very simple. The mouth is rinsed
+out with it, and the patient further takes from 15 to 20 drops of the oil
+internally. Unfortunately, we were not able to inquire more particularly
+as to the ingredients from which the Visanili-Katail is compounded, of
+which we eventually got a small quantity to carry away with us, after much
+entreaty; but by way of compensation, Father Miliani was able to give us
+much valuable information as to the manners, customs, and traditions of
+his flock. He regretted, however, that they were all of a highly
+impassioned strain, and that they constantly passed from one extreme to
+the other. The following trait, which was pointed out to us by the Father
+in the course of conversation, may serve to indicate the modes of thought
+and observation of the natives. When the Cingalese perceived how eagerly
+and with what warmth of friendship the Father received us, they inquired
+of him whether he had been previously an acquaintance of ours, as they
+were unable to conceive the existence of such hearty good-will between
+persons who were utter strangers to each other. The priest, readily
+appreciating the results which must flow from the reply he should give, in
+confirming the devout souls of his children, replied that the reputation
+of his name had long since penetrated to us, and we were unwilling to ride
+by without turning aside to salute him, to which he had readily expressed
+his assent, and had also long since been apprized of the important mission
+of the Austrian ship of war, whose commander was termed by the natives,
+with the bombast of their native tongue, "King of the Sea." At our
+departure, the kind Father presented us with several interesting articles,
+as _souvenirs_ of Makun, while we, on our part, left with him a donation
+in money to defray the expenses of erecting his church.
+
+Father Miliani, the band of musicians, consisting of ten or twelve
+wild-looking fellows, with all manner of barbarous musical instruments, of
+which they made not less barbarous use, together with a laughing, yelling,
+gesticulating crowd of half-naked Cingalese, with long raven locks
+floating over their shoulders, accompanied us to our travelling chariot.
+Here we took leave of the hospitable Father, the vehicle set out on its
+route, and the whole brown retinue at once dispersed.
+
+Hardly had we left the Mission of St. Sebastian Makun behind us, ere our
+troubles began afresh. At almost the very first station we came to, we
+had to hire a horse from a resident at an exorbitant rate--the animal
+belonging to the station, and which had been engaged for us, being utterly
+useless. This gave occasion for fresh delays. The party letting the horses
+was what is called a native doctor, who assumed the title of "native
+vaccinator," and bitterly complained, that for his attendance four days in
+every week, as required by the law, for the purpose of inoculation, he
+only received from Government a monthly salary of L2 5_s._ sterling.
+Whatever deficiency existed in his salary, he seemed determined to make up
+for in the hire of his horse, which he charged for at the rate of ten
+shillings for six miles! On the cash being forthcoming, our "native
+vaccinator" did not disdain himself to take the reins, and, with his own
+hands, apply the whip to his mare between the shafts of our vehicle. But
+this mark of distinction was destined, ere long, to cost us dear. Hardly
+had we proceeded a couple of miles under his care, when the hind-wheels of
+the vehicle sunk into a rut, whence our AEsculapian steed lacked the
+strength to extricate us. To complete the sum of our misfortunes, at the
+very moment we were using our utmost endeavours to replace the waggon on
+the regular track, it came on to rain heavily, and we were, in a
+twinkling, wet to the skin. Some thirty young Cingalese, in the full dress
+of Adam before the Fall, who were standing open-mouthed round the waggon,
+could only be roused by threats from their passive attitude; and when,
+finally, they lent a hand to assist, they, in their ill-timed zeal, came
+near oversetting the waggon into the ditch on the opposite side. Next, we
+exchanged this stubborn brute for one that was blind. For a brief space we
+hoped the latter might probably be the more easily driven in consequence
+of his not seeing what was going on around him; but these anticipations
+were speedily dispelled, and in a rather unpleasant manner. The short
+distance that now separated us from our destination seemed as though it
+would never have an end; and, in a word, it was already verging on
+midnight ere we reached Galle, where we had been expected to dinner five
+hours before, by our hospitable friend, the Consul for Hamburg. Some of
+the invited guests had already left this agreeable house, while others
+were still seated at the whist-table, as, wearied and exhausted, we
+entered the drawing-room. The circumstances that had so seriously delayed
+our arrival were explained by way of apology, and proved the subject of
+some goodnatured quizzing on our misfortunes by the guests present; and in
+such agreeable society, and over a sumptuous supper, we speedily forgot
+the trifling annoyances of our latest experiences.
+
+In the course of a desultory agreeable conversation about the natural
+beauties of the island, many were the plans of more distant excursions
+which we projected this evening--which, however, upon more mature
+consideration, all proved impracticable, owing to the scanty time at our
+disposal. Thus we found ourselves, much against our wishes, compelled to
+forego a visit to Kandy, and its beautiful environs, in which is situated
+the renowned temple that enshrines the tooth of Buddha, the occupation of
+which by the English was, in the eyes of the Cingalese, the most manifest
+indication of their being the legitimate conquerors of the kingdom.[94]
+Neither were we able to take part in an elephant hunt, although these
+animals are found in the island in such quantities, that it is related,
+with every appearance of accuracy, of a single elephant hunter, the late
+Major Rodgers, who was struck dead by a flash of lightning a few years
+since in the midst of the forest, that he had, in the course of his life
+of active exercise, laid low fifteen hundred elephants with his own hand!
+But permission was granted by the commander of the Expedition to the
+geologist and one of the zoologists to remain in Ceylon, and rejoin the
+frigate at Madras by the steamer which runs fortnightly, so as to enable
+them to ascend the world-famous Adam's Peak, 7000 feet high, one of the
+loftiest peaks in Ceylon, where, according to tradition, the founder of
+the Buddhist doctrine, when last he visited the earth, in answer to the
+supplications of a priest, left behind the print of his footstep
+(_Sri-pada_), as a visible sign of his presence.
+
+[Footnote 94: The legend relating to these relics, about which so many wars
+were waged, goes back as far as the third century of the Christian era,
+when Mahasana, a true believer, having become King of Ceylon, purchased
+these teeth for numerous valuable presents, of one of his kindred, a
+Calinga king in Bengal, who sent them over by his princes. The tooth
+Dahata Wahansa immediately achieved a miracle--it illumined the entire
+island, and supplanted all heretical teaching. It was forthwith enveloped
+in a hundred cloths, and a temple erected to enshrine it, since which it
+has been regarded as the Palladium of Ceylon. When, in 1560, this tooth
+was transferred to the temple at Manaar by the Portuguese under Constantin
+de Braganza, the king offered the Portuguese bigots 600,000 pieces of gold
+by way of ransom. Braganza judged it more advisable to destroy the tooth.
+But he little knew the adroitness and subtlety of the Buddhist priesthood.
+The very next morning the tooth, that had been supposed to be destroyed
+was marvellously found in a Lotos leaf in the temple, where it had been
+deposited by Buddha himself!]
+
+We cite, in the following extract, the most prominent features of this
+venture, as supplied by the two members of the Expedition who undertook
+it, so as to complete the description of the _Novara's_ visit to Ceylon:--
+
+"On 13th January, 1858, we proceeded from Colombo to Ratnapoora, _en
+route_, to visit Adam's Peak, a tolerably long and tedious journey. On the
+margin of a river we encountered an elephant, who was engaged in assisting
+the labourers on the public roads in that vicinity. While our car and the
+baggage were being embarked here, and again put in order, this animal went
+through a number of tricks, such as swaying to and fro, lying down,
+raising his trunk, and trumpeting, the latter of which, at a sign from his
+driver, he did with a vengeance, and for so doing was rewarded with a few
+plantains. These exercises seem to constitute the first steps in taming,
+as they were gone through in a similar manner by all the elephants we
+afterwards saw, whether employed like this one in task-work, or maintained
+for show, or made use of in the Temple service.
+
+At mid-day we reached Ratnapoora, and as we were anxious to shorten as
+much as possible our next day's journey, we decided on pushing forward in
+the course of the afternoon, as far as the little village of Gilli-Mali,
+seven miles further on. We had been provided by C. W. Layard, Esq., the
+Government Agent in Colombo, with letters of introduction to his deputy,
+Mr. Mooyart, at Ratnapoora, who, however, we unfortunately found was
+absent from home. Next day, however, we had unmistakable evidence that our
+letters had, very shortly after our departure, reached the hands they were
+intended for, by a variety of precautions which the hospitable gentleman
+must have at once arranged with a view to our greater comfort. While yet
+on the second-half of our road to Gilli-Mali, night overtook us, and we
+prosecuted our march by torch-light through the dense jungle. Our guides
+and porters had shown some reluctance to enter this jungle, partly on
+account of the swarms of land-leeches (_litchies_, as they are termed
+here, doubtless by a corruption of the English name), which are especially
+active during the night, partly from other causes of anxiety. Accordingly,
+they kept reciting Cingalese ditties, alternated with shrill yells, or
+shouted, so as to be heard at a distance; whether to drive away evil
+spirits, or to frighten the _chetah_ or leopard, we could not ascertain.
+No long time elapsed ere we ourselves began to perceive traces of having
+been victimized by that most uncomfortable of guests, the land-leech. The
+naked Hindoos were incessantly occupied with pulling off these painful
+blood-suckers, and we had to call a halt from time to time, in order to
+loosen and carefully fling them away, as they had succeeded in reaching
+the skin, through the trousers immediately above the boot. They are found
+up to an elevation of 4000 feet above the sea on the mountains, chiefly in
+damp or wet localities, and are most active during the evening and night
+in the selection of a victim.
+
+At Gilli-Mali, we fell in with Mr. Braybrooke, an English engineer, who
+most hospitably invited us to his bungalow, and with whom we conversed
+upon topics relating to Ceylon, till far into the night.
+
+Next day we had to ascend the Peak itself; which is in so far a difficult
+undertaking on the side from which we approached it, that one has gained
+no vantage-ground at Gilli-Malli, our last night's resting-place, towards
+reaching the summit, so that one sees it in its entire colossal height of
+above 7000 feet directly in front; whereas, in ascending from Kandy, one
+has already, at Neuwera Ellia, attained an elevation of 4000 feet, which
+can be performed in a carriage. We set out at 7 A.M., and after an
+hour-and-a-half's march, gained the last village, Balahab-a-Dullu, in the
+Buddhist temple of which is kept a flat metal dish, adorned with silver
+_rosettes_, with which the imprint of the holy footstep is covered over at
+the season of the annual pilgrimage. On the table, before a colossal
+figure of Buddha, were strewn, as usual, a quantity of flowers presented
+by the faithful; these were the flower-shrubs of the _Areca palm_,
+_Hibiscus_, _Alamanda_, _Tagetes_; also, close to the wooden statue, are
+placed several small figures of silver or wood, 3 or 4 inches long. The
+priest also showed us a magnificent manuscript of at least 1000 palm
+leaves, closely and beautifully engraved on both sides with Cingalese
+characters, which belonged to the temple, and was guarded with great care.
+
+At a solitary house on the road, we left our guides and porters to discuss
+their modest repast, which, in consequence of the strict ordinances of the
+Buddhist faith, consists of vegetable substances only. Reclining on a mat
+spread on the ground, each took a piece of green plantain leaf, scattered
+upon it a little rice which they had just brought with them, and some
+chili (red Spanish pepper), and thence conveyed their simple food to their
+mouth with the hand. This frugal meal was speedily concluded, and we once
+more pushed forward. From this point we had the dense covert of the high
+forest trees, the lofty foliage of which afforded a most agreeable shade,
+and kept us comparatively cool. The path, which consists simply of
+ravines, formed by the rush of torrents during the rainy season, is so
+steep that it seems like one uninterrupted flight of stairs, the steps of
+which seem partly constructed by Nature, partly by the hand of man.
+Frequently they are artistically chiselled in the solid rock; at one
+stupendous precipice a Cingalese monarch has had four flights, of 250
+steps in all, hewn out of the living rock. Here and there, also, ladders
+have been contrived, the rounds of which are composed of pieces of bamboo
+bound together, by which one clambers up. The whole route bears marks of
+being much used, and is considerably worn, the stones being rubbed quite
+smooth. Under the damp shade of the forest are found a vast quantity of
+the most beautiful ferns and _Lycopodium_ (Club-moss; or Wolf's-claw, as
+it is called in Sweden, whence the Linnaean name); from the delicate beauty
+of the _Jungermania_ (Star-tip), to the tree-like fern, _Filius
+Phyllophisidos_, which vies with the giants of the forest. The more deeply
+shaded spots are adorned here with beautiful balsams, a genus of plants
+which, besides being unusually luxuriant and beautiful in this district,
+exhibits certain peculiarities of form not usually met with.
+
+At one place, called Nihilabellagalla, there was pointed out to us, at a
+few paces to the side of the road, near a rugged projecting rock with a
+steep declivity in front, a narrow valley which seemed to be closed in by
+perpendicular walls of rock on the opposite side. This _cul de sac_, we
+were informed, was a favourite resort of numerous wild elephants. A shot
+fired at this point, with the gun directed towards the rocks opposite,
+returned a thundering echo.
+
+By 4 P.M. the last halt, or resting-place, was reached, above which the
+singular-looking cone towers sheer overhead, some 500 or 600 feet high.
+The vapours which, during the entire day, had been playing about the
+summit, from time to time lifted like a veil, as though to indulge us with
+an opportunity of beholding this sublime mountain-peak under the magical
+effect of twilight. Our native retinue, which had gathered fresh
+accessions of strength at every place we passed, and now consisted of from
+24 to 30 persons, showed no inclination to proceed farther, but appeared
+desirous of passing the night at the last halting-place, which was nothing
+but a sort of hovel. It was only by a resolute expression of our
+determination to reach the summit the same evening that they gave in.
+Their reluctance arose from an idea that no one could with impunity pass
+the night on the highest point of the mountain--which, indeed, is natural
+enough, since the sharp night-air at such an elevation may well be
+prejudicial to the health of those who are not sufficiently protected
+against its attacks.
+
+The last portion of the ascent is so steep, and so difficult, that all
+superfluous baggage was left behind, and we took with us only what was
+absolutely indispensable. Thus far we had seen occasional traces of
+elephants, sometimes so fresh, that they could not have been more than an
+hour old. According to a report of Major Skinner, the unmistakable marks
+of one of these animals was remarked in the year 1840 quite close to the
+rock which bears the sacred footprint! At the steepest points, iron
+ladders have been made fast, by which the visitor has to scramble up.
+There were, also, innumerable chains fastened to the rock, of every
+description and variety of link, which swung to and fro by dozens on
+either hand, some eaten away with age and rust, some forged quite lately,
+it being considered a meritorious work to provide such as a protection
+against the occurrence of accidents. By 6 P.M., we at last reached the
+summit, and were rewarded with a panoramic view of indescribable
+magnificence. The mists were almost entirely dispersed, and in the clear,
+calm, evening light, the eye wandered at pleasure over the vast, almost
+limitless, panorama at our feet, as far as the sea, barely visible in the
+grey distance. Bounding our view from north-west to east, the mountain
+ranges rose by three distinct terraces of hills, each behind the other,
+and in regular gradations, till they culminated in the highest peak on the
+island, the Pedro-talla-galla, which overtops Adam's peak by nearly 1000
+feet,[95] but presents no pre-eminent peak, similar to that on which we now
+stood. The remainder of the horizon was filled with low mountains, which
+gradually became more and more flat as they approached the coast. The
+followers of three religions,--Buddhists, Brahmins, and Mahometans, stand
+face to face with each other on this space of barely a few steps, in order
+to bow before these visible emblems, in sincere devotion to the invisible
+Deity. The highest surface, which is nearly level, is of an irregular oval
+form, and is about 60 or 70 feet in length, by from 36 to 40 feet in
+breadth, and is inclosed within a wall 5 feet in height, with two
+entrances on the west and south, while the north-east corner is shut out
+by an artificially rounded rock, easily surmounted, however, by any one
+who ascends it. In the middle of this enclosure stands a block of rock
+some 10 or 11 feet high, which, on the extreme top, has a depression, the
+divine _Sri-pada_, or Holy Footstep. The adoration consists chiefly of
+offerings of flowers which are brought up hither, and presented with
+innumerable genuflections, invocations, and exclamations of "_Sadoo_,"
+which corresponds to the Christian Amen. The impressed foot-print is
+ascribed by the Buddhists to the last incarnation of Buddha, the gentle
+hermit Gautama; while it is regarded by the Brahmins as the footstep of
+Siva, and by the Mahometans as that of Adam, as being the spot on which
+the progenitor of the human race stood so long, doing penance after his
+expulsion from Paradise, until the Almighty pardoned him.
+
+[Footnote 95: The precise relative elevations of the two mountains are,
+Pedro-talla-galla 8280 feet, Adam's Peak 7420 feet. Two other peaks of the
+main range are also higher than Adam's Peak, viz. Totapella 7720 feet, and
+Kirrigal-potta 7810 feet, while the plains, or table-lands, of Welinani
+and Neuwera Ellia are, respectively, no less than 6990 feet and 6210 feet
+above the level of the sea.]
+
+This depression, in which only the most unbridled imagination can see any
+resemblance to the human foot, is about 5 feet in length by 2-1/2 in
+breadth, and is set, as it were, in a level stratum of mortar, several
+inches in height, by six in breadth, shaped to resemble the outline of the
+human foot. At its anterior extremity, it presents a straight line, on
+which the five toes are artificially formed by several tolerably thick,
+narrow crevices, filled with mortar, and about 8 or 9 inches in length,
+which jut inwards, the great toe being on the right or east side, and thus
+indicating that it is a representation of the left foot. At the heel end
+the setting of mortar is somewhat narrowed and rounded off. Over the whole
+affair a wooden temple with balustrades open on all sides, has been
+erected, which is fastened by iron chains to the rock, and to beams of
+rhododendron fastened on the N.W. side, outside the wall, to prevent its
+being swept away by the storms which, on this lofty, exposed peak,
+occasionally rage with great vehemence. These cables, as also several of
+the poles by which the temple was supported, were thickly hung with carved
+figures of Buddha enveloped in linen cloth, which, originally the votive
+offerings of pilgrims, and bleached by long exposure, fluttered in the
+breeze. On the front of the temple is erected a penthouse roof, shading a
+bench beneath, on which several of our porters, who regarded our impious
+presence, and still more impious admeasurements of the holy footprint,
+with a horror which they flattered themselves was unobserved, deposited
+their offerings of flowers, and humbly bent the knee. On the west side,
+under two small distinct roofs, were two bells, and quite apart, on the
+rock itself, and somewhat in the background, a smaller temple. Between the
+block of rock and the inner half of the enclosure, a small house has been
+erected, 12 feet long by 6 feet broad, which is used as a shelter at night
+by the priests who are on duty during the pilgrimage season,[96] in which
+we too took up our quarters. Suddenly, from the depths below there arose,
+through the unbroken silence of the night, a confused murmur, in which the
+sounds of human voices were plainly recognizable. The singularity of such
+a phenomenon produced a certain degree of excitement among our
+superstitious spectre-dreading followers, inasmuch as it had never
+happened that strangers undertook the ascent of the peak at night, seeing
+it gives trouble enough to reach the summit by daylight. By degrees we
+perceived a number of torches borne by natives, who, with loud and
+long-continued cheers, set about slowly ascending the ladders. To the
+inquiries of our followers they made no reply; and we had, in a word, to
+wait a considerable interval, until, indeed, the leading torch-bearer had
+reached the summit, ere we were enlightened as to the object of this
+mysterious nocturnal visit. How great, and let us add, agreeable was our
+surprise at finding ourselves suddenly surrounded by a choice array of
+wines, with food of various sorts, which the overflowing hospitality of
+Mr. Mooyart had dispatched after us to the summit of Adam's Peak, together
+with his card, the whole being conveyed in huge baskets by the supposed
+spectres! A cheerful fire speedily blazed up, at which our tea and
+provisions were cooked, and, as may well be supposed, while, enjoying our
+delicate fare, we thankfully toasted the kind and thoughtful donor.
+
+[Footnote 96: The dry season, occurring in the south-west side of the
+island from January to April, is likewise the chief season of pilgrimage,
+at the end of which the entire amount of the offerings, annually averaging
+from L250 to L300 sterling, is handed over to the High-Priest of Buddha.]
+
+Deep silence once more fell on all around, no cry of any wild beast
+reached us at this elevation, no hum of insect broke upon the awful
+stillness. Our coolies lay cowering together around the drooping blaze,
+seeking some shelter against the night air. One division stowed themselves
+away in a second sleeping-house for priests, which had been run up some
+twenty paces distant, in which we also were in the end fain to seek
+shelter from the ever-increasing keenness of the air, the temperature of
+which fell to 54 deg.5 Fahr., where, with our wrappers drawn close around us,
+and stretched at full length on the bare rock, we awaited the approach of
+morning.
+
+The first faint glimmer of dawn invited us once more to the open air, in
+order to contemplate the wonderful aspect of Nature at this elevation. We
+had, after leaving Ratnapoora, taken barometrical and thermometrical
+observations, with the view of determining the elevation at nine different
+stations, which had been, wherever practicable, selected in such manner,
+that by means of them the various limits of certain classes of vegetation
+were indicated, which in many instances are marked out with extraordinary
+distinctness upon the perpendicular side of the peak. These series of
+observations, which were at the same time supplemented by investigations
+as to the temperature of the soil and of various springs, will be compared
+with the results of previous scientific visitors to the summit of Adam's
+Peak, and published in another form. The geology of the isolated pinnacle
+of Adam's Peak, so far as the dense covering of primeval forests permitted
+us to observe, is uncommonly simple and uniform. The chief directions of
+the lofty chain of mountains in Southern Ceylon, separated from each other
+by level plateau-like depressions, is from S.S.E. to N.N.W., corresponding
+likewise with the chief directions of the strata of gneiss, of which these
+mountains are composed. The gneiss is uniformly of a species not often met
+with, studded with garnets, and between its strata are inserted single
+beds of hornblende-gneiss and splinters of pure hornblende, as also
+granulite-gneiss and pure granulite. The steep, final cone of the rock
+consists of a granulitic gneiss of varying texture from coarse to fine,
+and abounding in garnets. Everywhere, even up to the highest summit, the
+gneiss is decomposed on the surface into laterit-like products. The huge
+blocks of brown ironstone, however, which are found near the summit, in
+the hollow path by which it is customary to ascend, owe their origin to
+the decomposition of the hornblende.
+
+After these interesting observations, admeasurements, and investigations,
+made at the summit of the most remarkable peak in the world, had been
+brought to a conclusion, we set out on our return to Gilli-Mali, which we
+reached late at night. Here we found, at the abode of our hospitable
+entertainer, Mr. Braybrooke, a fresh guest, who likewise intended to
+ascend Adam's Peak the following day. This was the well-known Count Medem,
+a Russian gentleman, who has frequently traversed both the old and new
+worlds, and was now about making a second visit to China.[97] The next day
+saw us at Ratnapoora, from which point we continued our return journey on
+the waters of the Kalu-Gunga, or Black River, as far as Caltura.
+
+[Footnote 97: Count Medem died the same year at Shanghai.]
+
+Our boat consisted of two trunks of trees hollowed out and fastened
+together, upon which was erected a semicircular tilt, covered with the
+leaves of the Fan Palm (_Borassus Flabelliformis_), under which one might
+sit or lie at pleasure, sheltered from the sun. As the mail-car that runs
+daily from Colombo to Caltura was already full, we were compelled, in
+order to pursue our journey to Galle, to make use of the native waggon, or
+bullock-bandy. This is a two-wheeled cart drawn by oxen, and covered with
+a semicircular tilt of palm-leaves, beneath which there was room for two
+persons to lie at full-length packed closely together. The oxen, of a
+breed that have humps and erect horns, are small, and walk with a quick,
+short tramp, while their entire bodies are tattooed with Cingalese
+characters and ornaments. The horns are usually adorned with metal tips,
+and frequently are dyed, the one red, the other green. The cross-piece of
+the pole is fastened to the neck instead of the customary yoke, and the
+cord for guiding the animal passes through the nose. The driver either
+strides along between the two oxen, or sits with his back to them on the
+pole. The rate of progression by this national conveyance is so slow, that
+the mail-car which left Colombo the day after overtook us long ere we
+reached our destination, and it was with some difficulty we reached Galle
+in time for the overland steamer which was to bring us to Madras."
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VI.--TRACK FROM POINT DE GALLE TO MADRAS.]
+
+At 6 A.M. of the 16th January, the _Novara_ set sail from the roads of
+Point de Galle with light breezes off the land, and steered southerly in
+order to avoid the Basses or Baxos, a much-dreaded rocky shoal,
+traditionally alleged to be the remains of the island of Giri, swallowed
+up by the sea, and which, owing to the very strong current, require the
+utmost care to be observed, in order to avoid drifting right upon them.[98]
+
+[Footnote 98: A late survey, instituted with the intention of erecting a
+lighthouse on the "Basses," proved a failure, in consequence of the ground
+having sunk in while an examination was being made by the diver, and left
+nothing but holes filled with water, in which, according to the report of
+the fishermen, besides fish and molluscs, sea-snakes are occasionally
+seen, of a light-gray colour, and about 4 or 5 feet in length.]
+
+The evening before our departure, the Consul for Hamburg had requested
+from the Commander of the Expedition the favour of a free passage to
+Madras, on board our frigate, for a native of Berlin, named Neupert. This
+man had come to Ceylon a long time previously with a company of
+rope-dancers, and had at first made a good deal of money as an acrobat and
+juggler, despite the dangerous competition of the Indian practitioners,
+but had afterwards lost his all, and had been for some weeks in a pitiable
+plight. The request was at once acceded to, and Neupert came on board
+during the night. His luggage did not encumber him much. However, although
+the greatest part of his effects had disappeared in Galle, he fortunately
+had kept his various apparatus; and, by way of showing his gratitude for
+the free passage that had been accorded to him, professed his willingness,
+in the course of the voyage, to give us some specimens of his skill on
+deck. Accordingly, one fine afternoon, he gave us an entertainment out on
+the open ocean, which not alone hugely pleased the sturdy tars grouped
+together on the forecastle, but ultimately, in consequence of a collection
+set on foot for the unfortunate Berlin acrobat, procured him enough ready
+money to enable him to pass the first week after his arrival at Madras
+free from anxiety, besides supplying him with a fresh outfit.
+
+Within a few days after our departure from Galle, several severe cases
+occurred of hemeralopia, chiefly among members of the ship's band. Every
+evening, as darkness set in, these men lost all power of distinguishing
+objects, and had to be led about like blind men. In Vienna, we had been
+advised by various physicians there, with a view to the confirmation or
+refutation of the popular belief, to try the use of boiled ox-liver;[99]
+and, as one of the oxen shipped at Ceylon had been slaughtered, we were in
+a position to make the desired experiment, which, it must be confessed,
+proved eminently successful. This time, moreover, several of those thus
+afflicted were treated with cooked pig's-liver, which was given them to
+eat, while the steam rising from the dish was applied to their eyes. But
+we had, on our return voyage, the most convincing proof of the efficacy of
+the liver of animals of the ox tribe in cases of night-blindness, when
+above twenty of those afflicted, after frequent relapses during the voyage
+from Valparaiso to Gibraltar, were treated in the last-named port with
+ox-liver, and dismissed permanently cured.[100]
+
+[Footnote 99: This cure is likewise very much resorted to, even of late
+years, among the Highlands of Scotland!]
+
+[Footnote 100: During the entire voyage round the globe, there occurred 75
+cases of _Hemeralopia_; the largest number of which, 60, occurred between
+Cape Horn and Gibraltar. The remainder were isolated cases, occurring at
+Rio, Ceylon, the Nicobar Islands, and on the voyage from China to Sydney.]
+
+The voyage from Ceylon to Madras was, on the whole, monotonous and void of
+interest, with the exception of one single event, which no one on board is
+likely to forget for the remainder of his life. About 3.30 P.M. of the 2nd
+January, 1858, there suddenly resounded from the hold, the astounding cry
+of "Fire! fire!" Everyone rushed, in the utmost excitement, on deck. It
+turned out that a by no means insignificant quantity of pure alcohol,
+which was stowed away in the hold for the preservation of specimens of
+natural history, had, from some unknown cause, caught fire. Forthwith the
+pumps were manned, the sails clewed up, all the portholes closed, so as to
+cut off the slightest draught, and all the hammocks of the crew trundled,
+_pele-mele_ on deck anyhow, out of the quarter-nettings, in which they are
+stowed away during the day, there to be dipped in sea-water, and in that
+wringing-wet condition applied, partly in extinguishing the flames, partly
+in preventing the fire from spreading. In less than a quarter of an hour
+the worst danger was over, and our wonted quiet restored, despite the
+first terrible excitement. On a more searching investigation, several of
+the tin carboys in the hold, filled with spirits of wine, and kept between
+layers of sand in iron chests, were found to have been corroded till the
+liquor had oozed through, while the air, having free access to the sand,
+had become strongly impregnated with gas. This atmosphere, impregnated as
+it was with alcoholic fumes, took fire on one of the sailors carelessly
+entering the hold with a badly-fastened lantern, and in a moment the light
+flames which speedily enveloped the man in such a confined space, at once
+gave the alarm. The full carboys remained uninjured by the fire. Had such
+a catastrophe happened, and the whole quantity of spirit (about 40
+gallons) taken fire, considering the immense quantities of combustible
+matter we had on board, among the rest a ton-and-a-half of gunpowder, the
+upshot must have been of a far less agreeable nature. The extraordinary
+lightning-like activity displayed by the entire ship's company on this
+occasion was something wonderful. Each man seemed to have got wings. There
+was the most laudable emulation displayed by all hands in seeking to save
+the lives of themselves and others from such a terrible doom.
+
+On the 30th January, at 7.30 P.M., we anchored in Madras Roads, so dreaded
+for their insecurity, about three nautical miles from the shore, and in 9
+fathoms (56 feet English). Even in the calmest weather there is a
+tremendous surf on this coast, and from October to December, in which
+strong gales blow from the N.E., it is all but unapproachable. For this
+reason, so soon as the wind increases so as to endanger the ships in the
+roads, a flag is hoisted on a staff at the Master Attendant's office, that
+they may put to sea at once. On the second signal, all ships must quit the
+Roads for fear of being dashed through the surf upon the beach.
+
+From the city we heard a running fire of musketry and some salutes with
+cannon, which, considering the prevalence of warlike rumours and movements
+in the then circumstances of India, made us conjecture that the natives of
+the Coromandel coast were also in insurrection against the English.
+However, we learned afterwards that the musketry and salvoes proceeded
+from the troops stationed near the drilling-ground, who were receiving
+their general on his return from parade with a salute. The following day
+(Sunday, the 31st January, 1858) the European community of Madras fell
+into a precisely similar error in consequence of our salute, which they,
+being at that hour assembled at worship, mistook for a much less peaceful
+and agreeable intimation, so that the majority, dreading an outbreak,
+hurried to their houses in deep anxiety.
+
+[Illustration: MASULI BOAT AT MADRAS.]
+
+[Illustration: VIEW OF MADRAS (AND PROPOSED PIER).]
+
+
+
+
+                                 IX.
+
+                               Madras.
+
+      DURATION OF STAY FROM 30TH JANUARY TO 10TH FEBRUARY, 1858.
+
+   "Catamarans" and "Massuli" boats.--Difficulty of disembarkation,
+     and plans for remedying it.--History.--Brahminism.--Festival
+     in honour of Vishnu.--Employment of Heathens under a Christian
+     Government.--Politics and Religion.--Laws of Brahminic faith.--
+     The Observatory.--Museum of Natural History and Zoological
+     Garden.--Academy of Fine Arts.--Medical School.--Infirmary.--
+     Orphan Asylum.--Dr. Bell.--Lancastrian Method of Teaching
+     Children first applied in Madras.--Colonel Mackenzie's
+     Collection of Indian Inscriptions and Manuscripts.--The Palace
+     of the former Nabob of the Coromandel Coast.--Journey by rail
+     to Vellore.--_Fete_ given by the Governor in Guindy Park.--
+     Visit to the Monolithic Monuments of Mahamalaipuram.--
+     Excursion to Pulicat Lake.--Madras Club.--_Fete_ in honour of
+     the members of the _Novara_ Expedition.--"Tiffin" and dance on
+     board.--Departure from Madras.--Zodiacal light.--Shrove
+     Tuesday in the tropics.--Arrival at the Island of Kar-Nicobar.
+
+
+The morning after our arrival in Madras Roads, a native boat came
+alongside, of the sort known as "Catamarans," having on board two
+natives, who brought off from the authorities of the port the customary
+papers to be filled up. This extraordinary and very primitive boat
+consists of merely two or three trunks of trees bound together
+raft-fashion, on which these daring boatmen kneel. As a great part of
+their body is necessarily under water, they carry the papers and letters
+entrusted to them for transmission to the ships in the Roads, in
+turban-like wrappings which envelope their heads. Ordinarily, these men
+are excellent swimmers, a most requisite accomplishment to enable them to
+regain their boats, in the event of being swept off by the waves, or to
+save themselves and others from the innumerable sharks, which frequent the
+entire Coromandel coast, and render it eminently dangerous. About noon, a
+larger boat approached us, manned by from 15 to 20 natives, who offered
+their services as caterers, washers, agents, servants, in short as
+"Dubashes" a sort of Hindoo _factotum_; while each individual, shrieking
+and vociferating at the top of his voice, held high in the air, with
+outstretched arm, a number of written testimonials of ship-captains that
+had already employed him. These boats, called "Massuli," or "Musli" boats
+(from _Muchly_--fish), about 36 feet long by 5 or 6 in width, and in which
+alone it is possible to bring passengers and goods to land, are light, as
+flexible as if made of leather, and are fastened together with the elastic
+fibres of the cocoa-nut, being in every particular specially adapted to
+yield to the tremendous blows of the heavy surf, which a boat of ordinary
+construction could not possibly live through. They are for the most part
+pretty deep, and are usually manned with from 12 to 15 naked natives, who
+make use of an exceedingly smooth pallette-shaped paddle. In one of these
+boats, the officers of the frigate on leave, and the naturalists of the
+Expedition, were conveyed to land in the midst of a fresh breeze from the
+N.E. The more we approached the shore, the more formidable was the
+appearance of the tumultuous tempest-driven waves. Amid frightful yells
+and hurrahs, we passed in safety the first and second lines of surf. But
+we had yet to encounter the third, and by far the most furious. The
+boatmen spread a couple of cloths over our heads, to prevent our getting a
+soaking; the boat made several violent plunges forward, and was for an
+instant apparently covered by the tremendous foaming billows, but seemed
+to glide in a most extraordinary manner over these, and finally was neatly
+laid alongside the beach on the crest of the last breaker. This is the
+critical moment, and the most disagreeable, because the boat is, by this
+manipulation, thrown on its side, and one feels disposed to rush out, ere
+the returning wave throws the boat high and dry on the sand. The noisy
+shrieks of the boat's crew and Coolies, or Lascars (Indian porters), with
+which the disembarkation is accompanied, combine to render it still more
+annoying and unpleasant. One feels a sensation of satisfaction at having
+gone through this remarkable, and to some extent wholly peculiar,
+experience; but no one was ever known to encounter it voluntarily a second
+time. The glowing picture, which numbers of travellers have drawn of the
+landing at Madras, might impress many readers with the idea that their
+representations were most probably tinged somewhat with a colouring of
+romance; but, in view of our own experience at what is confessedly the
+pleasantest season of the year, there can be at certain times no
+description, however vividly sketched, but what must lag behind the
+reality.
+
+There could hardly have been selected a more unsuitable site for a city,
+than that of Madras, and it is only the circumstance that the entire
+Coromandel coast presents no more eligible haven, as also the importance
+of the place as the chief city of the Carnatic, which alone has a
+population of 5,000,000, that has enabled Madras to boast a population of
+700,000 inhabitants, and a commerce of such magnitude that 6000 vessels,
+British and foreign, are annually[101] cleared inwards and outwards, laden
+with upwards of 650,000 tons of produce and goods of a total value of more
+than L8,000,000 sterling.
+
+[Footnote 101: In the year 1857, the number of trading vessels was 6241,
+carrying 652,146 tons merchandise, of which 1438 were square-sailed ships;
+and 4803 native boats and Chinese junks. The imports of goods and metals
+amounted to Rs. 40,563,826 (about L4,050,000 in round numbers); the
+exports to Rs. 40,060,656 (about L4,000,000 in round numbers). We are
+indebted to the kindness of Dr. Balfour for a variety of interesting
+statistical _data_, the information contained in which must be transferred
+to the statistical portion of the _Novara_ publications.]
+
+The spot at which vessels anchor can by no stretch of terms be called a
+roadstead, being in fact nothing but an open strip of coast running nearly
+due north and south, so that during the N.E. monsoons, the sea that sets
+in is something extraordinary, and produces a tremendous surf. At no
+season of the year is it practicable to reach the shore by ordinary
+ship-boats, because the beach, being utterly unprovided with any
+artificial appliances, is left in its natural state--that is to say,
+covered with fine sand, which lies so level that the depth is only nine
+fathoms two miles out at sea! Singular to say, no steps have to this day
+been taken to carry out the proposition, made many long years ago, of
+remedying this difficulty in reaching land, by the construction of a mole
+or pier, although three or four plans have already been presented by
+distinguished engineers. The last and most feasible scheme, and the most
+likely to be put in execution, consists in constructing a mole 1000 feet
+in length and 60 feet in breadth, to be erected upon iron piles driven
+into the sand, and with a cross-piece at the seaward extremity--the mole
+construction resembling the letter =T=. On either side of the mole,
+tramways will be laid down to facilitate the transport of goods that have
+been discharged. The entire cost of this undertaking would be about
+L100,000--an entirely disproportionate, and, indeed, insignificant amount,
+when one takes into consideration the important consequences which must
+result to trade and passenger traffic on the completion of this erection.
+
+The earliest British settlement was at Armegon, about 36 miles north of
+Pulicat (or about 78 miles N. by W. of Madras). The cession of a piece of
+land by the native Rajah of Besnayor induced the president of the old
+factory at Armegon, Mr. Francis Day, to abandon the latter, and in the
+year 1639, the Fort of St. George was erected at the newly-selected
+station, where formerly stood the little Hindoo village of Ischinapatam.
+This fort formed the nucleus, at a later period, of the city of Madras,
+which is built on the flat alluvial soil along the coast, and at present
+comprises an area of about 30 (English) square miles. Its extent along the
+beach from north to south is about 9 miles by an extreme width of 3-3/4
+miles. Madras, like all the rest, consists of a White town, exclusively
+inhabited by Europeans, and a Black town, or _Pettah_, in which the
+natives and all coloured residents carry on business.
+
+The White town, which, however, presents none of the carefully laid-out
+streets and compact blocks of houses involuntarily suggested by the word
+"town," but rather resembles a gigantic park, in which are situated a vast
+number of comfortable ornamental villas, rises at its highest point 20
+feet above the sea; whereas the Black town, at several points--for
+instance, Popham's Broadway--is hardly 8 feet above the level of spring
+floods.
+
+While in Ceylon we had had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
+influence exercised by Buddhism over the political and social condition of
+the island; here we, for the first time, found ourselves confronted with
+the followers of Brahmah. At the moment of our arrival, the principal
+festival of the year was being celebrated in honour of Vishnu, one of the
+three godheads of the Brahminical faith. It lasted fourteen days, and was
+celebrated with much pomp. Temples were improvised, and some dancing
+platforms erected for the female servants of the temple and "_bayaderes_."
+In one of these dancing saloons, adorned in the most marvellous manner, a
+sort of altar rose in the background, richly hung with gold filagree work
+and stained cut-glass, and fringed with singular representations of the
+god. In the doorway stood, on the left hand side, a copy of the statue of
+the Venus de' Medici; on the right, of the Apollo Belvedere; on a small
+table were visible butterflies, fire-flies, and conchs, in ornamental
+glass cases. On the walls, of plain deal boards, were suspended on one
+side, adjoining the portrait of Anthony da Padua, a number of
+representations of voluptuous Oriental "_odalisques_;" on the other, near
+an engraving in copper of Carlo Barromeo, all sorts of obscene engravings,
+such as are offered for sale only in the most abandoned quarters of Paris
+and London, and then under the cover of night. For that matter, we believe
+that the Hindoo priests, who superintended the erection of this hall
+consecrated to the worship of Vishnu, gave themselves less anxiety
+respecting the subjects treated of in the pictures suspended round, than
+that the walls should appear richly decorated with engravings and
+pictures. Adjoining this half-open dancing booth for the women in
+attendance on the temple, rises the chief Hindoo temple in Madras, a
+stately edifice of blocks of syenite, and surrounded by a lofty wall
+painted with the usual white and red streaks; and on which a fleecy-coated
+long-tailed baboon was performing his antics. Two gloomy pyramidal towers
+shoot up from the wall of the temple, and a beautiful colonnade leads to
+the entrance porch. A huge tank, almost resembling a pond, in which the
+Hindoos thrice daily performed their ceremonies, and went through their
+ablutions, lies in front of the temple, surrounded on its remaining sides
+by buildings for various purposes, while a stately elephant, specially
+consecrated to the service, is kept on the side next the temple, which
+carries up a pitcher of water every forenoon from the pool in front of the
+pagoda, one of the servants attached to the temple sitting on his back
+holding it, while a second, seated behind him, keeps waving a fan in
+either hand. The elephant is first conducted round the temple and then
+inside, in order to present the water to the god. This elephant (which
+animal it seems is itself an incarnation of Vishnu) had the distinguishing
+mark of the sect, as also several other indications of a similar nature
+richly tatooed upon his huge broad forehead. Every evening during the
+continuance of the fourteen days' festival, the various temples and
+dancing booths were brilliantly illuminated with wax tapers and oil lamps,
+but admission was refused to the profane, and in the eyes of Brahmah,
+unbelieving Europeans, a rule which was everywhere enforced with much
+politeness but unvarying firmness. Moreover, everything that the hand of a
+European has touched is unclean to the Hindoo. Only the _Pariah_, or
+"outcaste," the very lowest class of the people, eats any food that has
+been prepared in the kitchen of a Christian.
+
+The most substantial part of the festival, however, was fortunately not
+confined to the interior of the temple, but took place in the streets,
+through which, during the period the festival lasted, immense processions
+of Hindoos, praying, singing, and dancing, used to pass every evening
+about 11 P.M. on their way from one temple to another, so that we were in
+no want of picturesque objects. First, a band of musicians would lead the
+way, with the peculiar little drum or tom-tom, whining pipes, and blaring
+clarinets. It was more like the noise of a lot of children's instruments
+than music. Next came a Hindoo riding on a gaily-bedizened ox, after whom
+appeared a number of girls and "_Bayaderes_," dressed in white clothes,
+their hair richly dressed, and with rings through their nostrils, while
+the flaps of their ears were adorned with richly-gemmed ear-rings hanging
+down to the neck, and moving both hands and feet as they danced before the
+sacred figure, which was drawn along by 24 sturdy believers in Vishnu. The
+image was placed on a dais thickly overspread with flowers, filagree work,
+and small mirrors, approached by steps, and with a parasol outspread
+overhead; in a vehicle in front was a sort of figure dressed up in
+flowers. On either side a multitude of torch-bearers strode along, with
+sulphurous lights and other means of illumination, or iron frames, on
+which were disposed in pyramidal form or like a bow, from 7 to 13
+fireballs, which, let off at intervals alternately with Bengal lights and
+rockets, formed a veritable ocean of light. A tub filled with cocoa-nut
+oil was dragged behind, from which the cotton wicks were kept constantly
+replenished, so that the flames continued unintermittently. Wherever the
+procession passed the by-standers stood with hands reverentially folded.
+Many had the thresholds of their houses gaily adorned with flags and
+illuminated with paper lamps, others let off sky-rockets. From time to
+time, the procession halted for a moment, the female dancers formed two
+rows, and some of their number went through a sort of dance, in which they
+performed a set of stereotyped motions with their hands, and chanted the
+praises of the god in a most monotonous chorus. Thousands upon thousands
+of Hindoos joined the procession, so that we could hardly make way through
+the crowds. The yelling, heat, odour of oil, and stink of sulphur were
+absolutely intolerable. As often as the procession paused, the noise was
+redoubled, the confusion became tenfold. Itinerant confectioners, who
+offered for sale all sorts of sweetmeats, prepared either from the kernel
+or milk of the cocoa-nut, drew back reluctantly when the eye of a stranger
+was directed towards their piled-up delicacies, through dread lest a mere
+glance from him should blight their stock in trade. On the other hand, we
+remarked some of these vendors pressing forward with eagerness to satisfy
+the curiosity of strangers by offering small samples of their eatables, so
+as the more easily to propitiate and get rid of these dangerous guests,
+and leave the poor Hindoo in peace and unharmed! As Christianity makes but
+slow progress among the Hindoos, and as the tendencies of the English
+residents in India do not point, as of yore among the Spaniards in
+America, towards the violent conversion of the heathen natives with the
+alternative of annihilation, but rather towards political and commercial
+influences, we find the British Government regarding with placid
+indifference the abominations of Hindoo worship, which, even to this hour,
+take the form of laceration of the flesh and self-immolation, rather than,
+by ruling with the strong hand, fan the religious fanaticism of the
+multitude, without the possibility of Christianity becoming a gainer.
+Among the thousands upon thousands who were celebrating the festival of
+Vishnu in such a heathenish fashion, there undoubtedly were many who are
+in the employ of Government, which has no scruples about appointing
+Hindoos of all sorts to the various posts in the public service. The
+English State Church which held that such appointments tended, not very
+indirectly, to support heathenism,[102] earnestly remonstrated against the
+practice, but the Government becoming daily more convinced that the
+doctrines and homilies of the Christian faith continued to be entirely a
+dead letter among the Hindoos, seems to hold fast to a policy of seeking
+gradually to introduce Christianity and European civilization among the
+Indian races, by means of equality of rights and assimilation of laws, by
+a system of well-organized national, trade, and industrial education, and,
+above all, by the influence of personal example. This, to be sure, is a
+very slow and arduous method of conversion, inasmuch as a life of
+religious observances is more deeply intertwined with the very foundations
+of the social system in India than in any other country of the globe, and
+fairly blocks the way against the expansiveness of European civilization.
+For as simple as the Hindoo religion appears in its primitive principles,
+the proper observance of its various rites is proportionately difficult,
+and full of subtle distinctions for the sincere Hindoo believer.
+
+[Footnote 102: The East India Company even undertook the maintenance of the
+Hindoo temples, and defrayed the receipts of the annual festival in honour
+of Vishnu out of the revenues. There exist in the Presidency of Madras
+alone 8292 Hindoo temples, with an annual revenue of about L100,000, all
+under the protection and control of the Company. (See "India, Ancient and
+Modern," by David O. Allen, Boston, 1856.)]
+
+The worship of Brahma, according to the doctrines enunciated by Brahma's
+own lips in the Vedas, or holy books, took its rise in the adoration paid
+to the powers of nature, regarded as so many divinities, especially in the
+exalted transcendentalism of their ideas respecting the sun, the moon, the
+stars, and the firmament. Thence was readily developed the belief in a
+sole, eternal, Almighty Creator and Ruler of the world, Brahma,
+represented as having four faces looking to the four quarters of the
+globe, and reposing on a swan. This simple monotheistic belief was
+gradually developed into the divine manifestation of Brahma as a Triune
+divinity, namely, as the Creating power (Brahma), the preserving power
+(Vishnu), and the destroying, and at the same time renewing, energy of
+nature (Siva).
+
+Although the revelation of Brahma has long since been completed, while
+Vishnu and Siva are still active agencies in the world as Supporter and
+Augmenter respectively, Brahma is assigned a very inferior rank in the
+worship of the masses, although, according to the lawgiver Menu, the Moses
+of India, he created the Brahmins out of the substance of his head, to
+guide and instruct man; from his arms the Chetriyas, to protect and defend
+him; from his trunk the Veisigas, to nourish and support him; and, lastly,
+from his feet the Sadras, to serve and be the property of all the other
+castes.
+
+To Brahma, the fulness of whose existence no earthly notions can embrace,
+there are no temples dedicated, these being rather erected in honour of
+Vishnu, the Intercessor and Supporter, who manifests himself in the
+atmosphere and in water, and Siva the destroyer and regenerator of the
+various races, as also to the other divinities whom the Hindoo religion
+numbers by millions, although the majority of these have several names,
+and the lower classes are simply Avatars, that is incarnations or
+manifestations, of the superior deities. This peculiarity of the Hindoo
+religion makes it impossible correctly to classify or define Indian
+mythology. The god Rama, for example, is frequently named for Krishna, and
+the latter again for Vishnu. Vishnu, on his part, sometimes figures as
+Rama, when he is to destroy Ravana, the tyrant of Ceylon, or as Buddha, in
+order to found Buddhism. Like the Proteus of Grecian fable, the Hindoo
+mythology assumes a thousand different shapes,--it is, in short, Pantheism
+in its most perfect development.
+
+A zealous Hindoo requires about four hours of each day to get through his
+religious ceremonies, these being performed at different periods, as he
+must bathe in the morning, at noon, and again at night, in a tank or pool
+before the temple, and recite certain prayers. For purposes of
+recognition, the two chief castes wear special marks, the worshippers of
+Vishnu having a trident painted on the forehead in either white or yellow,
+while those of Siva, on the other hand, sport three horizontal stripes, or
+one round spot marked with the ash of burnt sandal-wood. Many Hindoos
+write on their foreheads the distinguishing insignia of both Vishnu and
+Siva, and look thus the more strange and peculiar.
+
+After every ablution these marks are painted afresh, and with much care
+upon the forehead, so that paint and rouge-boxes play an important part in
+a native household. No Hindoo can partake of his exclusively vegetable
+nutriment, if cooked in a European kitchen, such being entirely contrary
+to the principles of his faith. Every servant, therefore, leaves his
+master regularly at noon, in order to partake of his simple meal of rice
+and vegetables, either with his family or in one of the numerous Hindoo
+cook-shops. The frequent holidays of the Hindoos, of which there are
+twenty-one within two months, seriously interfere with trade among the
+natives, and still more with the instruction of the young.
+
+Hindooism, however, appears to have lost much of its originality by
+constant contact with Europeans, and by the various political revolutions,
+and although many of these ceremonies are still kept up, and the bodies of
+their dead are still burned on pyres, yet the modern Hindoo has so far
+relaxed from his ascetic austerity, as to admit of his being employed in
+the various pursuits of active life. And it is not a little surprising to
+see these handsome, tall, brown figures, with their insignia of Vishnu or
+Siva marked on their foreheads, and dressed in their sweeping plaited
+togas of pure white, employed on the telegraph, the railway, the arsenal,
+and even the observatory, all which employments demand the utmost
+exactness and punctuality, and thus afford the most gratifying evidence of
+the adaptability of the Hindoo race to be impressed and to benefit by
+European civilization. With the exception of Major Jacob, the director of
+the astronomical and magnetic observatory, the whole of the _employes_ are
+natives, who are not indeed employed in making the actual observations,
+but are found perfectly competent to compute the various calculations, and
+make the requisite reductions. The institution itself is at present of but
+little importance as a place of scientific observation, in consequence of
+the small support it receives, but it is to be provided with a meridian
+circle, similar to that in the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope,
+when it must become an important station. Strange to say, here, as at the
+Cape, there are no observations made on the Sundays, which in the course
+of a year gives rise to lamentable deficiencies, especially when some
+natural phenomenon of rare occurrence happens to fall upon a Sunday.
+
+We were greatly surprised at the flourishing condition of the Central
+Museum, with which is united a Zoological Garden, both set on foot in
+1851. In the spacious rooms of this stately edifice are ranged costly
+Indian antiquities and sculptures, inscriptions in Sanscrit, in stone, or
+marble slabs, antique fragments of Indian monuments,[103] as also an
+instructive collection of technical and ethnographical subjects, models of
+fortresses, ships, agricultural implements, instruments, tools, machines,
+and native forts. The geological department of the Museum is the weakest
+and poorest department; and as spirits of wine and glass jars are
+expensive articles in India, the greatest number of the animals, even the
+fish and snakes, are simply stuffed. In the garden which surrounds the
+museum buildings are a considerable number of cages inclosing living
+animals, such as monkeys, panthers, bears, giraffes, stags, gazelles,
+cobras, Indian hens, pigeons, marsh-birds, and singing-birds. In addition
+there were _Aquaria_ with fishes arranged in groups at various spots all
+round the garden. Of objects of special interest there was a powerful
+baboon (_Pithecus Satyrus_), above 5 feet high, fastened to a chain in a
+large monkey-house, around whom were gambolling a number of smaller
+species, as also a number of cobras in a large box with glass sides, so
+that one could examine them at leisure on every side. Here we witnessed
+the uncomfortable spectacle of a native engaged in cleaning the panes
+inside the cage and directly beneath these formidable animals, which
+thronged around him in such numbers that he was continually compelled with
+one hand to resist their importunate caresses. Anyone not aware of the
+fact that these animals have been rendered harmless by the extraction of
+their poison-fangs, must experience a feeling of terror and astonishment
+at the sight of this brood of malign, stealthy-moving, hissing serpents,
+with a naked Hindoo in their midst!
+
+[Footnote 103: These important inscriptions are explained and described in
+the Selections from the Records of the Madras Government, Report on the
+Elliot Marbles (p. 191) by R. W. Taylor, Madras, 1857.]
+
+Most astonishing and gratifying is the immense number of casual visitors
+that frequent this institution for advancing education. The book for
+inscribing names lying in the Museum, showed for a single month no less
+than 36,522 visitors, mostly natives, and this it seems has been about the
+average number since the foundation of the Museum. There is also a small,
+valuable library, which, by means of purchases, gifts, and exchanges, is
+being visibly added to with each year, and is accessible to visitors of
+all classes, the custodian and inspectors being all natives.
+
+The Madras Literary Society, an offshoot of the Royal Asiatic Society in
+London, and now reckoning but a small number of associates, publishes from
+time to time the most valuable information as to the latest achievements
+of science in India, and serves in a measure as a medium by which to
+compare the intellectual progress of Asia and Europe. To the members of
+this society the naturalists of the _Novara_ Expedition are specially
+beholden for their great attention during their stay in Madras, as also
+for their hearty participation in the objects of the Imperial Expedition
+as evidenced by their sending copies of their own various and useful
+publications.
+
+There are in Madras numerous institutes devoted to the diffusion of useful
+knowledge among the masses, part founded and maintained by Government,
+part by private enterprise, and this liberality is the more praiseworthy
+that the European community of Madras does not comprise much more than
+1600 persons, of whom only a very few settle any length of time. The
+Europeans resident here are chiefly military men and merchants, who leave
+the country after remaining five or ten years, as almost every one regards
+his stay in this hot, sandy capital of the desert Coromandel coast, as
+purely provisional, and views it as a stepping-stone towards attaining
+some better post, or becoming suddenly wealthy by some favourable
+conjuncture of circumstances. That the majority of these institutions have
+more practical objects in view admits of ready proof, and is but one
+instance the more of the moulding power of surrounding circumstances. In
+the school of arts for instance, under Dr. Hunter's superintendence, there
+are 20 pupils, mostly Hindoos, who are receiving instruction in drawing,
+sculpture, lithography, woodcutting, etching, and photography. But in
+order to reduce, as far as possible, the expenses of this institution,
+there is also included a manufacture of earthenware, the proceeds arising
+from the sale of which are applied to the support of the school.
+
+Another eminently useful institution, the Medical College, which, as well
+as most of the other professional foundations, we visited in the company
+with our hospitable and influential friend, Dr. Kelly, possesses one
+division, in which such of the natives as purpose to set up as
+apothecaries, are at the same time so far educated as to be able, in case
+of necessity, to perform a few of the minor surgical operations. Of the
+hundred of an auditory who at the period of our visit were attending a
+lecture on chemistry, the majority were half-blooded Indians, dressed in
+the European fashion, with a sprinkling of barely 9 or 10 Hindoos in their
+white robes, and with the Vishnu or Siva marks on their forehead. We
+frequently heard the professors, among whom are several gentlemen of high
+scientific attainments, such, for instance, as Messrs. Evans, Lorimer,
+Mudge, Montgomery, Mayr, &c., express their regret at the severe check
+which the development of science sustained by the outbreak of the late
+revolt. Plans for a new university, a hospital, and a medical school to
+correspond are all ready, and but for that ruinous catastrophe would have
+been by this time in working order.
+
+In other respects the present Infirmary is an ugly and unsuitable
+building, making up about 100 beds for patients. Several of these were
+occupied by soldiers, who had been severely wounded under Havelock at the
+storming of Delhi. The introduction of punkahs, or wind-fans, into the
+wards has proved so salutary, that there is an intention to have them
+worked without intermission day and night, by means of water power,
+instead of by manual labour as hitherto. In order to be able to estimate
+the boon conferred by such an improvement upon the condition of the poor
+invalids, we must call to mind that the average annual temperature of
+Madras is about 94 deg. Fahr., which is slightly in excess of the average
+temperature at the equator, although Madras is 10 degrees north of the
+line. Under such climatic conditions, it is no wonder that the
+invigorating wholesome breeze is known at Madras as "The Doctor."
+
+Among the benevolent institutions visited by us, we found the twin asylums
+for male and female orphans of soldiers well worthy of notice in many
+particulars. These are for the most part the offspring of European
+soldiers married to native women, and are known as "half-castes," or
+"Mestizoes." In the Military Female Asylum, there were at this time 216
+girls, who were brought up to all manner of female work, as well as taught
+reading, writing, and arithmetic, and remained in the institution until
+suitably provided for in marriage. The marriage outfit, as also a small
+wedding present of Rs. 50 (L5), for each girl is provided by Government,
+and the entire working expenses, which amount to about Rs. 30,000 (L3000)
+annually, are defrayed by a Government grant of Rs. 1000 (L100) a month,
+together with the interest of the funded capital, upon which Government
+pays 8 per cent. interest.
+
+The Military Male Orphan Asylum was founded in 1788 by means of voluntary
+contributions, supplemented by a Government Subvention, and possesses a
+special historical interest from the circumstance that it was here that
+Dr. Bell, who held the post of Head-Master in the establishment, first
+projected and put into execution the method of imparting elementary
+instruction, afterwards so widely renowned as the Lancastrian method of
+teaching, which since that period has traversed the globe, and has been
+introduced into every capital in Europe. The course of instruction of the
+institution includes writing, reading, arithmetic, grammar, geography,
+history, English, Tamil, and music. The capital of the institution is
+vested by Government in the 4 per cent. stocks, paying 8 per cent.
+interest, which, with the large amount realized within the establishment
+itself, is sufficient to defray all expenses without any further
+assistance. The number of boys is about 242. The head teacher, who
+obligingly conducted us over the whole establishment, which is very
+handsome, called a dozen boys forward just as we were leaving, who played
+a few simple pieces on wind instruments, on which they performed a variety
+of national airs with great precision. The music master was a German.
+
+Among its casual attractions, Madras has occasionally flower shows, and
+exhibitions of industry, and it is exceedingly gratifying to observe how
+European science is even here called in to elicit the treasures of nature,
+and administer to the necessities of mankind. The catalogue of the
+industrial exhibition of 1857 shows, _inter alia_, 17 sorts of spices, 20
+varieties of resin, 64 plants suitable for the distillation of oil, and 41
+different drugs, and Dr. Kirkpatrick, a physician in Mysore, has taken the
+trouble to enumerate, by their botanical and Indian names, 240 native
+drugs, which had been sent to the Madras exhibition, as also their market
+value, and at the same time has subjoined the modes in which the natives
+use them.
+
+Among the most remarkable private museums which have been formed at
+Madras for the illustration of the history and monuments of the southern
+provinces of the Deccan, must undoubtedly be included the collection of
+native inscriptions and manuscripts of the well-known Colonel Mackenzie,
+which first attracted the attention of all friends of Oriental science, as
+also the British Government, through a memoir[104] of Alexander Johnston,
+Esq. It is a magnificent testimony to the conservative spirit of the
+British resident among heathen nations, as compared with the barbarous
+spirit of destruction that characterized the Spanish colonists. From an
+erroneous idea that they were in so doing promoting the interests of
+Christianity, these Romanist conquerors destroyed all sculptures and
+monuments of the pagan Indian races, and, by this fanatical Vandalism, at
+the same time prevented the hand of science from unfolding, as it might
+have done from these important vestiges, the history of these very
+remarkable races from the most remote ages.
+
+[Footnote 104: On Colonel Mackenzie's Collection, in the Journal of the
+Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain. London, 1835, p. 4, vol. ii.]
+
+In the immense old palace, surrounded by adjacent edifices and gardens,
+once occupied by the King of the Coromandel coast, the renowned nabob of
+the Carnatic, the offices of the English Government _employes_ are at
+present located. The last of these sovereigns died a few years since, and
+his former minister receives from the British Government a pension of Rs.
+1300 (L130) a month. Great men who have fallen do not ordinarily like to
+be sought out or gazed at. There is, however, on the contrary, no
+difficulty in obtaining access to the last minister of the last monarch of
+the Coromandel coast, who seems to feel flattered by a visit from
+strangers. On our entering, the venerable old gentleman rose from a rich
+thick carpet, on which he was sitting cross-legged, held out his hand in
+the most affable manner, and did us the honour of accompanying us through
+the palace. He had a long white beard, and wore a white turban on his
+head, while his person was enveloped in white linen. A splendid staircase
+conducted to a council-room, adorned with a portrait of the late nabob,
+life-size, executed in London. A second room has a likeness of George
+Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, dedicated to his friend,
+Omadal-Omrah, nabob of the Carnatic, 1st January, 1797, and of Lord
+Cornwallis, arm in arm with a nabob, the former represented as walking
+among pines, the latter among palms. In the harness-room and coach-house
+adjoining, our obliging attendant revealed to us an endless array of
+golden howdah trappings, gilt with cunning hand, which seemed to have
+formerly borne the mighty nabob, when riding on his elephant. As we
+emerged from this lumber room, filled with dust and mud, we perceived in
+the square before us an immense dust-cloud, which approached nearer and
+nearer in its gyrations, and gradually assumed the shape of an elephant.
+It was a gigantic and magnificent specimen, and proved to be the favourite
+elephant of the last nabob, which, like the minister himself, was reduced
+to eat the bread of charity. His enormous tusks were sawn half off, for
+which his attendant assigned the singular reason that the tusks of an
+elephant must be cut, just as we pair our nails! This pensioner-elephant,
+however, seemed to find himself in very good quarters, and was a
+carefully-tended gentle creature, who carried about his chain with his
+proboscis, and knelt down at the word of command.
+
+Among the other spacious apartments of this deserted palace was the
+banquetting hall, as it is called, which was represented by various
+writers as one of the largest rooms in the world, which, however, is a
+transparent fallacy. It is hard to believe that above a thousand persons
+could find room in it. At the period of our visit this apartment was used
+as a barrack for the English troops, in consequence of which the splendid
+full-length pictures already mentioned were carefully covered. One of the
+soldiers, anxious to show them to us, tore away the covering of one before
+we could interfere, when we found it to be a splendid likeness, painted in
+London, of Sir Thomas Monroe, a former governor of Madras.
+
+In the first few days of our stay in Madras, we made an excursion to the
+fort of Vellore, distant about 80 miles (English) from Madras, formerly a
+renowned native fort, which is now reached in a few hours by rail. This
+line passes through a flat uninteresting country, which is barely relieved
+here and there by a couple of solitary palms or a Hindoo temple, and
+altogether presents a strongly African character in its scenery. Only at
+those points, at which there are tanks, or artificial basins, either
+excavated or formed by damming the water, does there occur a luxuriant
+green vegetation covering the parched, brown, dusty soil. These tanks are
+filled in the rainy season, and during the dry season, which continues for
+months, supply the rice-fields with water for irrigation, the culture of
+that plant requiring an unusually large supply of water.
+
+If English railroads are proverbially comfortable in the mother-country,
+they certainly fall off lamentably in that particular in the cars used in
+India. This deficiency is the more provoking and remarkable, considering
+the various other appliances for comfort which are to be found in this
+country. The conductor, as well as the other servants of the Company, was
+a Hindoo. On the entire line we saw but five or six white men employed.
+The fares are pretty moderate, that for the entire distance, 80 miles,
+being Rupees 7-1/2 (15_s._), for first-class, and Rupees 3 (6_s._), second
+(about 2-1/4_d._ and 1_d._ per mile, respectively). The line is to be
+extended from Bejapoor, so as to unite the eastern and western coasts of
+the peninsula. There are also lines projected from Madras to Bombay by
+Poonah and Bellary, and from Madras to Calcutta. The Governor, who (the
+evening previous to our departure, as we were being entertained at his
+summer residence, Guindy Park,) had been apprized of our intention to
+visit Vellore, was so attentive as to order the commandant to be informed
+by telegraph of our projected excursion at a late hour of the evening,
+and when we reached Vellore at 11 A.M., Captain Stevens was awaiting us at
+the station, to greet the voyagers by the _Novara_ in the name of the
+commandant of the fort, and convey them to the fort, three miles off, in a
+waggon drawn by oxen, as is the custom of the country. The waggon was
+about as large as an ordinary sized sitting-room, and contained several
+arm-chairs and cane stools, the position of which could be altered at
+pleasure.
+
+Vellore was once one of the strongest fortresses in India, the wells of
+which were formerly rendered inaccessible by numerous colonies of
+alligators. These Hindoo fortifications have, however, lost their military
+importance for Europeans, as they are on all sides "overcrowed," as
+Rittmeister Dugald Dalgetty would say, by eminences, from which they could
+easily be cannonaded. Within the fort itself are several extraordinary
+buildings, once pagodas and houses of entertainment for priests and
+pilgrims (_choultries_). The former sanctuary, now used as an arsenal, is
+a _chef-d'[oe]uvre_ of architectural skill, with splendid _relievos_ and
+figures sculptured in granite blocks. Most of the divinities have four
+arms, symbolical of the universality of their power. The various edifices
+seem to have been once an abode of Brahmins, a sort of Hindoo monastery in
+which, in addition to the pagoda, there were ranged all round, a temple,
+colonnades, and halls for the residence of the priests. In some of the
+smaller apartments there still are openings for windows, with a finely
+carved grating hewn out of the solid granite, the workmanship of which
+even the stone-cutters of our own days might feel proud of. Captain
+Mitchell, an English officer stationed at Madras, had hit upon the idea of
+photographing the most interesting of these monuments.
+
+The fortress of Vellore has been fortified for about 1000 years! Captured
+by the English at the close of the last century, the then Nabob, a
+Mussulman, was taken prisoner, and his descendants have ever since
+inhabited the fort as State prisoners, without ever being permitted to
+leave it. We inquired of the officer who accompanied us, whether the Nabob
+was permitted at least to make use of the space within the fortress for
+exercise in the open air. "The Mussulmen," replied the cautious
+Englishman, "do not care to show themselves in public; they prefer taking
+their exercise in the court in front of their residence, or in the
+garden." Accordingly, the aged prince is rarely known even to take an
+airing in a palanquin. The town of Vellore itself is, in a great measure,
+another place altogether, whose inhabitants are Mahometans, about 80,000
+in number, chiefly engaged in rice culture.
+
+We originally intended to return the same day to Madras, the length of the
+journey, as well as the distance of the fort from the railway station,
+having been represented to us as much shorter than was actually the case.
+Accordingly, we telegraphed to the Austrian Consul, M. Campbell, Esq., an
+exceedingly courteous gentleman, that we should not return till the
+following morning. How great was our astonishment to find that the
+telegraph _employes_ at Vellore, both in the transcribing department, and
+in the management of the apparatus, which was on Morse's system, were
+Hindoos, with their curious marks upon their foreheads, and their
+old-fashioned costume! They went, however, through the duties connected
+with this modern invention with great adroitness. The telegraph is already
+in operation to Bombay, and in this direction has two separate lines.
+There are, moreover, other lines in course of construction,--along the
+coast to Calcutta,--along the coast to Pondicherry by Adam's Bridge,[105]
+from Madras to Point de Galle, and from Madras to Hyderabad, Bangalore,
+and Bellary.
+
+[Footnote 105: Adam's Bridge--called by the Hindoos Rama's Bridge,--is a
+bank extending between Ceylon and the mainland of Hindostan, by the
+islands of Manaar and Ramisseram. It is about 30 miles in length, running
+in a N.W. by W. direction, about a quarter of a mile in breadth, and
+principally composed of shelving sand, through which are three main
+openings or channels, that admit the passage of boats of very light
+draught.]
+
+In proceeding from the fort to the town of Vellore, which is charmingly
+situated and regularly laid out, and is inhabited by numerous pensioners
+of the East India Company, we must cross the river Palaar (or Peliar),
+which, during the rainy season, is a headlong dangerous torrent, while in
+the dry season its bed, 1000 feet wide, is but a bare expanse of sand. It
+is only by dint of strenuous exertions that the traveller is able to pass
+this sand waste in a waggon, as it sinks at some points above the hubs of
+the wheels. We had four buffalo oxen yoked, and even then had to be
+propelled at certain points by the assistance of some 30 coolies or Indian
+porters besides. This serious inconvenience was shortly after our visit to
+be remedied by the erection of a splendid bridge of solid masonry, which
+was to span the river by 42 arches, and will reduce the time of transit
+from the station from 1-1/4 hour to 20 minutes. Hereabouts oxen are
+usually employed for draught, which are of the same humped species as
+those we had previously seen in Ceylon. These animals trot with uncommon
+swiftness, so that the rapidity of transport may stand comparison with
+that where horses are employed.
+
+A few miles distant from Vellore, and visible from the hills around, lies
+Arcot (Arucati), the residence of the nominal nabob of the Carnatic, who
+has long been a pensioner of the British. The population of Arcot are
+mostly Mahometans, who speak a dialect of Hindustani, and drive a very
+active trade.
+
+At Vellore we resided in the house of the hospitable Lieut.-Colonel
+McCally, who, in the absence of the Commandant, did the honours of the
+Fort to the members of the _Novara_ Expedition. Here we experienced a most
+cordial reception, and passed a few most delightful hours in the domestic
+circle of his amiable family. In the evening we made out an excursion to
+an adjoining eminence, 1400 feet above sea-level, 300 above Vellore, from
+which there is a commanding view over the town and neighbourhood. Seen
+from this point, the Fort looked charming, presenting itself to us,
+surrounded as it is by moats and watercourses, like an island in the
+foreground. On the top of this hill is the bungalow or country-seat of the
+collector of revenue, W. A. Sulivan, Esq., where we revelled in the
+enjoyment of the exquisite natural scenery, and partook of refreshment.
+
+In the evening a number of officers, with their wives, met us at dinner at
+Lieut.-Colonel McCally's house. The gaieties were prolonged till far in
+the evening, music and songs alternating with round games and dancing, so
+that we had hardly composed ourselves to sleep ere we were awakened by the
+servants, in order to avoid missing the train, which leaves Vellore for
+Madras at 6.30 A.M. By 11 A.M., we were once more in the chief city of the
+Carnatic.
+
+The same afternoon the officers of the _Novara_, and the naturalists of
+the Expedition, were invited to an Indian fete, which Lord Harris gave
+every year at this season in his palace at Guindy Park, and to which it
+was customary to invite the majority of the European residents at Madras,
+together with their families,--military, civil service, and mercantile
+community, all being honoured with cards. This festival originated in a
+children's entertainment, which the governor had been in the habit of
+giving on the birthday of his son; the latter had long since gone to an
+English University, but the custom had survived, and the day was equally
+carefully observed this year also, having been looked forward to for
+months before by the "white" young folks of Madras. The entertainment
+still retains the character of a children's party, inasmuch as on the
+present occasion there were assembled above 250 children of both sexes,
+varying from 5 to 12 years of age. The total number of guests who, in
+addition to these, shared in the festivities was probably more than a
+thousand. The fete began with the performances of some 30 Indian jugglers
+and acrobats, on a large lawn in the park. These, as may be conceived, had
+been selected from among the most athletic and skilful. They presented a
+singularly-picturesque appearance, from the diversities of age, agile
+boys, athletic young men, slender voluptuous-looking _Bayaderes_, old
+grey-headed men, and marvellous-looking old hags, with streaming white
+hair, and dark, piercing, gleaming eyes, recalling in their manners and
+appearance our own gipsies. All played at once, and performed with the
+most astonishing precision a succession of breakneck feats, that set the
+spectator's hair on end. It was a spectacle entirely _sui generis_,
+thoroughly Indian in short, to behold these wild-looking brown figures,
+unawed by the presence they were in, going through their various
+performances and feats of agility. In front of us knelt an old man who
+played with a dozen knives, which he kept circling around him with wild
+yells, apparently without looking at them, till he finally turned them in
+such a manner that it seemed as though the sharp points of the knives had
+transfixed his hand. Next youthful acrobats sprang through paper balloons
+set on fire,--girls in boys' dresses climbed up bamboo poles 100 feet
+high, in the midst of continual yells,--boys executed on the damp meadow
+ground the most extraordinary feats of agility and contortions of the
+limbs, while one old fellow, to the intense astonishment of the assembled
+children, swallowed swords, as also tow and other combustible matter,
+whereupon flames presently seemed to issue from his month. These, indeed,
+are feats of conjuring which have been performed in Europe, _usque ad
+nauseam_, but here all was done with such precision and dexterity (each
+man especially playing entirely _con amore_, evidently not to impress the
+spectators, but because he felt a pleasure in it himself), that the whole
+exhibition left quite a different impression from anything of the sort
+elsewhere.
+
+After this introductory amusement, the children invited were regaled with
+a refection under an enormous tent. This was for the grown-up guests
+another source of great amusement. More than 300 children took their seats
+at a long well-covered table, while their fathers, mothers, governesses,
+&c., stood behind the benches, and took special care to supply the little
+watering mouths with a sufficient supply of the many delicacies before
+them.
+
+A distribution of souvenirs to the various children present succeeded the
+repast, the various articles being fastened to a gigantic tree under a
+tent. The tree was profusely hung with elegant paper lamps, and although
+there were no pine-branches, only palm leaves, the "_tout ensemble_," bore
+a strong resemblance to a genuine Christmas tree. Fathers and mothers
+expressed to us their own feelings of pleasure at beholding the glee of
+their children, and, indeed, seemed to think this the most entertaining
+part of the fete. The distribution lasted a considerable time, and many of
+the children affected to coquette disparagingly with the presents of
+their neighbours, which these latter held fast with both hands, till at
+length the whole joyous train were dismissed homewards, thoroughly pleased
+with the day's proceedings.
+
+After this interlude there were fireworks on the lawn for the grown-up
+children, which seemed intended to serve merely as a stop-gap to while
+away the time between the distribution of the presents to the children and
+the supper, which was laid out in the brilliantly-illuminated dining-room
+of the palace. The fine band, which a few days previously had so pleased
+us by its performances during dinner at Guindy Park, drew up on the large
+lawn fronting the ball-room, and during this interval played a few select
+pieces with admirable precision. At last, supper was announced by a
+flourish of trumpets. Despite the spacious proportions of the apartment,
+the company was too numerous to admit of all sitting down at once. We
+calculated the number of guests still remaining at at least 500. The
+ladies supped first, and afterwards the gentlemen--the Governor, Lord
+Harris, doing the honours in person, in the most courteous and kindly
+manner. After supper the party proceeded in couples to a splendid
+ball-room, where dancing speedily began, while over their heads an
+omnipresent punkah, of rich tapestry-paper, and elegantly adorned with
+beautiful arabesques, swung to and fro, and kept the half-breathless
+dancers continually fanned by its currents of air.[106] In spite, however,
+of this artificial ventilating machine overhead, one must have had an
+extraordinary love for the dance to find pleasure in a polka or galop at a
+temperature of 86 deg. of Fahrenheit.
+
+[Footnote 106: In many English families in India there prevails a sort of
+punkah mania, so that there is a regular hurricane incessantly blowing
+over their heads. Undoubtedly these artificial gales are particularly
+agreeable in apartments where, a large number of persons being assembled,
+the atmosphere becomes intolerable--as, for instance, courts of justice,
+churches, hotels, and hospitals. Under such circumstances, they are,
+indeed, a most valuable contrivance. But their application is entirely
+overdone; and there are persons who, even while they are sleeping, have a
+Hindoo servant continually working the punkah, which, under such
+circumstances, is usually worked from an adjoining room by means of silken
+cords, so that the motive power is not visible from the apartment, but
+only the effect felt. Strangers at first find these artificial currents
+very apt to superinduce headache, until continued residence makes him
+regard the punkah as a most necessary article of furniture.]
+
+Lord Harris had taken measures for ensuring our proceeding direct from his
+residence in Guindy Park upon the favourite excursion from Madras--that,
+namely, to the Seven Pagodas. We had accordingly provided ourselves with
+only what was indispensable in the way of luggage; and towards 1 A.M., we
+left the ball-room, and proceeded on our way to the renowned Hindoo
+Temples to the south of Madras. A waggon conveyed us to the Adyar bridge,
+where a Government boat was in waiting for us, together with some Hindoo
+servants of the Governor, who were to be our guides to the Seven Pagodas.
+One of these _peons_, as they are called in India, named Iritschapa,
+presented us with a document, in which he was commissioned to place
+himself at our disposal during the whole period we were absent, and
+anticipate all our requirements without further authorization, to the best
+of his ability, so as to ensure our comfort and assist the objects we had
+in view. The Government boat was supplied with everything that could
+minister to our comfort, a second boat following us exclusively for the
+conveyance of our heavy baggage, personal effects, tents, and provisions.
+Towards 2 A.M., we embarked on the Eastern Coast Canal, which goes as far
+as Sadras, and by which we reached the Seven Pagodas, called also
+Mahamalaipuram, the city of the Great or Holy Mountain, at 9 A.M.
+
+[Illustration: THE HOLY MOUNTAIN.]
+
+These singular and majestic specimens of architecture are about 3 miles
+from Sadras, being situated on the coast northwards, and about 500 paces
+from the canal. They consist of temples, grottoes, bas-reliefs, cisterns,
+stone-benches, and thousands of sculptures in long ranges of bas-reliefs,
+which afford an abundant store of antiquarian research. They go by the
+name of the Seven Pagodas (from _Baghavati_--Holy House, whence the
+European corruption, Pagoda), from the circumstance, that there are, upon
+the very brink of the ocean, seven temples hewn out of one piece of rock.
+The Brahminical legends speak of an entire city having existed here, of
+which only the fragments are now washed by the sea. But, according to
+Babington's and Heber's minute researches in this neighbourhood,[107] there
+seems no doubt that there never existed any large city here, but that the
+whole was a mere myth of the Brahmins, who procured a royal gift, an
+Agrabaram in this neighbourhood, and with subtle forethought left here a
+caste of stone-cutters, who from time to time, under the guidance of their
+priests, executed these sculptures for the adornment of their sanctuary,
+which are justly the objects of wonder to their descendants. To this day,
+even, there dwell here certain families of stone-cutters, who work these
+singular rocks as granite quarries, and make money by the trade. The Seven
+Pagodas, specially so-called, are monolith temples, hewn on the spot out
+of massive blocks of rock. The mountain itself, a huge block of granite,
+to which the entire locality owes its reputation as a site of works of
+art, is covered, behind as well as in the front slope, with innumerable
+figures.
+
+[Footnote 107: Benjamin Guy Babington. An Account of the Sculptures and
+Inscriptions of Mahamalaipuram, illustrated by Plates I.-XVIII., in the
+Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, London, 1819,
+p. 258. Bishop Heber's Narrative, London, 1828, Vol. III., p. 216.]
+
+After our arrival, we made a hasty circuit through the place, so as first
+of all to be able to identify them, and be in a position to recognize the
+various sculptures and bas-reliefs cut out in the solid granite rock. The
+greater number of the sculptures represent either the one or the other
+descriptions of the Avatars (the incarnations or transfigurations) of
+Vishnu, to whom the larger proportion of the temples is dedicated. In one
+of these temples, we perceived the god Vishnu in the fifth, or Dwarf
+Incarnation, in the course of which he had, under the guise of a
+Brahminical dwarf, begged of King Balitscha-Kravathi--who, by his piety,
+had acquired so much power over the gods, that they had to transfer to him
+the dominion of sea and land, and had in consequence waxed arrogant--as
+much soil as he could traverse in three steps! The wealthy Rajah made no
+objection to complying with the apparently moderate request of the pigmy
+being before him. On the opposite wall of the temple we now see, in a
+large admirably executed bas-relief, how Vishnu, represented on this
+occasion with eight arms, at once embraced heaven and earth with his left
+foot, and as there was thus no more room left for the next step, Vishnu
+released the haughty Rajah from his promise, on condition that he should
+descend to the infernal regions. From this feat, Vishnu bears the name of
+Triwikrama and Tripadas (thrice-stepper).
+
+In the next rock grotto we came to, we beheld the Life of Krishna, the
+shepherd-god, represented, first as tending his sheep, surrounded by cows,
+goats frisking about, &c. Walter Elliot names this representation
+"Krischna's Choultry," or the abode of the priests. The temple has a
+frontage of 50 feet, is from 30 to 40 feet in depth, and has about twenty
+figures.
+
+From this spot, our guide, a Brahmin, brought us to what is called the
+Ganeza Temple, a monolith Pagoda. When we expressed a wish to touch the
+face of Ganeza (a son of Siva), cut in stone and plentifully besmeared
+with oil and lard, one of the Hindoo attendants hurried forwards to
+prevent us from being guilty of insult to this much-beloved divinity. The
+inscription to the right, in front of the niche in which Ganeza, hewn out
+of a single block of granite, is represented in a sitting posture,
+consists of verses and prayers to Siva, written in Sanscrit.
+
+[Illustration: THE GOD GANEZA.]
+
+We also remarked, on our way to the village, an ellipsoidal block of rock,
+68 feet in circumference, by 25 in height, which, from its very peculiar
+position, seems to shift every moment, and presents a very extraordinary
+appearance.
+
+As we were proceeding to the beach, we came upon the Pagoda of
+Kovulgobrom, which is at present in use (first constructed in the days of
+Rajah Apatsch, 400 or 500 years since), situated on a large oblong plot of
+ground, which is surrounded by a wall from 6 to 8 feet high. We were not
+permitted to cross the threshold of the pagoda, the door of which always
+stands wide open, and the minor apartments of which, so far as we could
+discern at a little distance away, were quite empty. We could just descry
+a few sculptures on the walls.
+
+The whole village contains at present about 400 inhabitants,[108] who
+reside in eighty small dwellings. Of these, three, built of bricks and
+with tiled roofs, belong to the caste of Brahmins, thirty to the Pariahs,
+five to families occupied in fishing, and two mere hovels of palm-wood to
+the Willis, the lowest and most wretched caste of all. The families of
+stone-cutters reside outside the village. One remarks here that the walls
+of the houses are hidden by heaps of cow and horse-dung, which the
+inhabitants, as in Egypt, use for fuel, and which they pile up to dry
+against those of the walls which are most exposed to the sun. The _peon_
+of the settlement, by name Randghajaneik, a sort of overseer, gave us a
+drawing of the various groups of houses, their inhabitants, and also the
+names of the various castes in Tamil, engraved as usual with an iron tool
+upon palm-leaves, and very elegantly rolled up in a small envelope. Among
+the customs and fashions of the inhabitants which attracted our notice, we
+were informed that they always burn their dead from four to five hours
+after life has departed--usually four hours and forty minutes--alleging
+that the released soul takes that length of time to reach heaven! The
+bones are collected and thrown into the sea. Widows are no longer
+required, on the death of their husbands, to ascend the pyre with them.
+Accordingly, the mortality upon this score is small enough in
+Mahamalaipuram. All seem hale and hearty, although for the most part they
+live upon rice and fruits, tasting flesh but seldom, as it is never used
+by the Brahmin caste. The Brahmins will not even eat eggs, because they
+are the produce of hens; nor drink milk because it is procured from cows!
+The girls generally marry at thirteen. They are, however, usually
+betrothed from the time they are two or three years of age, the
+bridegroom-elect taking the bride-elect to reside with himself.
+
+[Footnote 108: Of these inhabitants 50 belong to the Brahmin caste, 250 to
+the Malabar, Sentu, and Siva castes, and 100 are Pariahs.]
+
+All the natives whom we fell in with could read and write, but the
+Sanscrit inscriptions on the rock-temples were quite unintelligible to
+them, as they only spoke Tamil, Telugu, and Malabar. The greater number
+had their foreheads painted according to the caste they belonged to. Those
+worshipping Siva wore, suspended by a cord round the neck, small silver
+amulets, called Lingams, which have images of Siva enclosed. The adherents
+of Brahma, as already mentioned, wear no distinguishing mark upon the
+forehead, except that those that are married wear a five-ply cord
+(_panul_), tied obliquely across the upper part of the body. One must not,
+however, attach too much faith to these varieties of external markings,
+since many tattoo their foreheads with red, or yellow, or ashen-gray
+punctures, which usually have no special signification, but simply imply
+that on account of the pressure of business requiring frequent absence,
+they have neither time nor opportunity to have the distinguishing insignia
+of their caste properly designed. According to the natives, the yellow
+colour is procured from the crushed, yellow-tinted root of the _Curcuma
+longa_, (a species of spice), the red from the Cardomum (_Amomum repens_),
+citron-juice, and red rice; while the white is prepared from common chalk.
+
+[Illustration: BIVOUAC AT MAHAMALAIPURAN.]
+
+Lord Harris had, with true Indian hospitality, made the most admirable
+arrangements for our accommodation while at the Seven Pagodas. When, after
+our first survey of the locality, we came down to the beach, we found two
+large and two small tents ready pitched, and a number of men collected
+round a fire preparing our breakfast. But how great was our astonishment,
+on entering the first tent, to find it spread with carpets, with an
+elegant sleeping-apartment with two large commodious bedsteads, and fitted
+up with all the usual necessaries for the toilette; while, in the passage
+which ran between the inner and outer walls of the tent, stood two immense
+baths ready filled with soft water to reinvigorate our exhausted frames!
+Ere we had recovered from our surprise, we were advised of the voice of
+the Government Peon, apprising us that breakfast was served in the second
+tent. This was used exclusively as a dining and reception room, and was
+also furnished with every conceivable appliance to promote our comfort.
+His lordship was even so attentive as to send his own travelling canteen
+for our use on the excursion. This tent, likewise, had double walls, with
+a passage between; the exterior wall being lined with blue, by means of
+which the glare of the sun and of the blinding white sand was rendered
+less painful and more tolerable to the eye. A number of coolies were
+employed in sprinkling water from time to time upon the fine-grained sand,
+which produced a most refreshing coolness all around. The Government Peon,
+as also the chief of police of the district, wore their best uniforms of
+white, with bran new bandoliers over their shoulders, of broad deep-red
+scarves, with gold-lace edgings, and, in the centre, a gilt plate, with
+the words, "Government Peon" engraved on it. A number of men and children
+ran hither and thither,--in a word, the whole village seemed in an uproar
+to see the strange gentlemen, and supply them with flowers, in the hope of
+receiving some trifling present. At 12.30 P.M., the thermometer suspended
+within the tent marked 84 deg. Fahr., although a gentle breeze was blowing
+from seaward through the fragrant luxuriant grass (_Kus-kus_, or
+_Vetiveyr_), which hung like a curtain over both entrances. It is an
+exceedingly happy idea to use this fragrant _Kus-kus_, (_Andropogon
+muricatum_) in the manufacture of mats, which are intended to be suspended
+in the entrance-halls of houses, and to be sprinkled with water, whereupon
+the penetrating, hot, parching wind is passed through the fine damp
+texture, which thus at once tempers the heat, and fills the air with
+perfume.
+
+Towards 5 P.M., the heat having somewhat abated, we strolled to the Five
+Pagodas, distant about one English mile from our encampment. The prevalent
+tree in this locality is the _Palmyra_ palm, which, though it does not
+boast the majestic proportions of the _Oreodoxia Regia_, or the cocoa-nut
+palm, presents, nevertheless, a very imposing appearance. Generally
+speaking, however, the district is quite bare and destitute of trees; and,
+in short, like all the rest of this coast, has very much the appearance of
+the flat coasts of Africa.
+
+Of the five monolith temples, four were dedicated to the brothers of
+Vishnu, Dharma Rajah, Bimen, Nagulan, and Sawadewen, the fifth being
+excavated in honour of Dubrotis, the consort of Dharma Rajah. The legend
+relates that the four brothers lived in a state of Polyandry, or plurality
+of husbands, and had but one wife in common, who was a species of Amazon.
+All these temples are tolerably sculptured, which, indeed, constitutes
+their chief claim to attention; but they are far from showing the artistic
+finish of the bas-reliefs and sculptures, at what is known as the Holy
+Mount.
+
+Rhanganatha Swami, for instance, is the finest, though not the most
+important of these artificial grottoes. The sculptures here are
+incontestably the most highly-finished. The upper portion, to which access
+is obtained by some steps cut in the rock, rises above the huge granite
+block, known as Jamapuram; the lower portion is a temple hewn out of one
+piece of rock, and with the most marvellously-executed allegories.
+
+Among the reliefs on the north wall is perceived Donga, Siva's wife,
+riding on a lion (according to the natives, on a tiger), and bending her
+bow in conflict with Mahishasura, a giant with the head of a buffalo, who
+brandishes a club. According to Elliot's interesting interpretation, this
+represents the contest between the matronly Amazon and heroine, Donga, the
+representative of active virtue, and the bull-headed Mahishasura, the
+personification of brute strength and animal passion. Over the head of
+either figure, a parasol, such as is used by the natives, is outspread,
+giving a most grotesque appearance to the group.
+
+[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF ON ONE OF THE MONOLITH TEMPLES.]
+
+The relief on the southern wall represents a sleeping Vishnu
+(Rhanganatha), 9-1/2 feet high, apparently representing the idea of the
+Creation, as the serpent, Sescha, with its five heads, encircles his head.
+At his feet one perceives two rajahs or princes, and one female figure, in
+a praying attitude, with uplifted hands, only the bust being represented.
+In one of the niches at Swami are two busts, life-size, of Siva, and his
+wife Paravathi, the latter holding an infant at the breast, his offspring
+Supramanion. Above this representation, and, like them, only showing from
+the shoulder upwards, are represented on the right Brahma, on the left
+Vishnu, each with four arms, symbolical of their power and dominion.
+
+The superstructure of these rock sculptures is a sort of platform of loose
+stones accurately fitted to each other without mortar, so as to make an
+ornamental whole. The interior is adorned with much more highly-finished
+specimens of art, to view which, a large number of Hindoos, doing penance,
+annually climb, with great difficulty, into this part of the building, and
+make their way into the unfinished interior apartments. While we were
+giving free scope to our surprise at all we saw, we were greatly annoyed
+in our contemplations by the natives, who offered us bouquets of flowers,
+wreaths, and fruit. Also, a couple of flute-players (_Pulanpolen_) who
+were passing, made their appearance to give us a specimen of their musical
+skill. One old man, of whom we procured a curious figure of Vishnu, neatly
+carved in wood, as also several manuscripts, remarked that there was in
+the neighbourhood, written upon Palmyra leaves, a manuscript, known as the
+_Istalam-puranam_ which gave the history of the Seven Pagodas, written in
+Tamil.
+
+The late president of the Madras Society, the learned Walter Elliot, who
+formed an extensive collection of the various valuable Hindoo manuscripts
+and inscriptions of Mahamalaipuram, and has partly published a
+translation of them,[109] told us afterwards, that this renowned Tamil
+Manuscript consisted of nothing but fables, and did not give one single
+reliable particular as to the history of the Seven Pagodas.
+
+[Footnote 109: Journal of the Madras Literary Society, 1846, Nos. 30 and
+31.]
+
+In Varaha Swami, one of the pagodas at present in use, and surrounded by a
+modern walled cemetery, there is visible, on the exterior of the Temple,
+an inscription in Tamil, which is, however, utterly unintelligible to the
+natives. This inscription, deciphered latterly by Babington, refers to a
+donation to the pagoda by a sincere Hindoo believer, and gives the most
+complete detail, together with signature of the donor. The name
+Mahamalaipur,[110] the "City of the Sacred Hill," occurs frequently in it.
+
+[Footnote 110: Dr. Elliot writes Mamallaipuram; the natives call the place
+Mahawalipuram, obviously a mere corruption of the customary mode of
+spelling.]
+
+In the course of conversation with some of our Hindoo followers, we
+remarked that they made no difference between a "kovuel" or praying-house,
+in which the divinities are never produced, but are guarded under lock and
+key, and a pagoda, which is a residence of the gods, from which they can
+be carried forth and afterwards brought back. Hence it is that a pagoda is
+more readily accessible than a kovuel, the sanctity of which it is
+forbidden him to violate.
+
+In 1845, Mr. Elliot, by a private arrangement with the Brahmins, was
+permitted, on payment of Rs. 30 (L3), to break away the partition which
+divided the inscriptions into two portions, in order to prepare three
+copies, and have them translated by three Tamil scholars. One of these
+translators was the learned Tandavaraya Mudaliar, of Chingleput. The
+inscription contains the history of two donations, on the enlargement and
+laying the foundation-stone of the temple, accomplished by the "Kanattan"
+of the village, and, lastly, a gift of 90 goats by the Siva Brahmin
+Paramesvara-Mahavara, on the stipulation that a lamp should be kept
+constantly burning in the temple: the whole dating from the year 1073. It
+results from this interpretation that the inscription was put up towards
+the end of the 11th century, thus supplying some clue to the age of this
+rock temple, which, according to Mr. Elliot's researches, does not exceed
+a thousand years.
+
+[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO ONE OF THE TEMPLES.]
+
+To this Vahara Swami, which seems to contain their whole history, the
+natives wander regularly every morning, and sometimes two or three times
+during the day, to offer flowers, cocoa-nuts, and other fruits. A flight
+of steps cut in the rock leads to the highest platform, whence there is an
+excellent view over these monumental edifices.
+
+That fancy has been called in to invest these unique unfinished sculptures
+with the character of pleasure-grottoes, baths, &c., &c., of historical
+personages, is readily intelligible. Thus, for example, the guide does not
+fail to point out to the stranger a sort of stone cistern hewn out of the
+solid rock, traditionally reported to have been once the plunge-bath of
+Dubrotis. This colossal basin has about 2-1/2 feet water during the rainy
+season, which gradually evaporates, or is drawn off for use. The water,
+tinged with the yellow colour of the soil, leaves a mark behind on the
+stone sides, which naturally becomes very visible during the dry season.
+This the natives maintain marks the height of the water as often as
+Dubrotis, (Dharma Rajah's consort), bathed herself in it. Another similar
+block of gneiss was transformed into a stone couch, and is called Dharma
+Rajah's bed, at the upper end of which, near the head, a tiger is crouched
+to guard it. This gigantic ellipsoidal block of rock, which seems as
+though balanced on a sharp point, could neither be displaced nor made to
+oscillate by continued leaping. Some masses of rock piled up above the
+grottoes were once Siva's kitchen, and so forth. All these spots, however,
+have in reality not the slightest historic significance; it is only the
+present generation that have tacked on to them legends, traditions, and
+interpretations, which assuredly never were in the intention of the
+constructors.
+
+On a slope on one side of the mountain are a number of sculptures of
+remarkable beauty, representing the history of Tapasa, or the deep
+penitence of Ardschuna. On the right hand, close to the figure of the
+penitent Ardschuna, one perceives a multitude of people, two elephants as
+large as life and wonderfully finished, a tiger, and a figure, half woman
+half serpent. This relief, one of the finest we have seen, is a huge
+sculpture on the rock, 20 feet long by 30 in height, comprising hundreds
+of figures, with an idol in the centre, to which from all sides
+worshipping deities, men, and beasts, bow the knee in supplicatory
+attitudes; along the edge are elephants, life size, with their young. The
+colour of the rock, somewhat resembling that of the animal, tends still
+more to deceive the eye, and make the beholder doubt whether he is looking
+upon sculptures or upon living elephants. Elliot and others who have
+described these rock temples, assign to them, as already mentioned, a
+comparatively small antiquity. They are representations borrowed from the
+poem of Mahabharata, in the Hindoo mythology. The five roundish temples to
+the south of the village are beyond all question the oldest of these
+monuments. They are pagodas that have never been completed; solid, and
+here and there showing marks of work, but only adorned externally, the
+interiors being masses of unhewn granite; each of these temples is 30 feet
+in length by 20 in breadth and height. Thus far, the inscriptions have
+been ascertained to be in threefold characters, of which two are as yet
+undecipherable. Babington was the first to attempt to decipher them, or at
+all events to find the key by which to decipher them. The most important
+has been copied and interpreted. But neither the inscriptions nor the
+various representations give the slightest historical clue as to the
+object of these monuments. Taylor's researches seem to establish the fact,
+that in the 17th century this district was inhabited by the Corumbas, a
+half-civilized race of the Dschaina religion. About this period, or a
+little later, in the reign of Abondai, one of the princes, whose capitals
+were Conjeveran and Tripetty, the Brahmins were introduced to this
+neighbourhood. The extent of these works, however, their nature, and the
+immense expense incurred, all point to a long-continued influence of the
+Brahmins. Most of these temples seem to have been first erected in the
+17th century, under Prince Sinhamanayadu, and Elliot assigns to several
+even a much later date.
+
+As for the report of a smaller pagoda, of which only an old pyramidal
+pagoda-stone is visible on the very edge of the sea, peering up from amid
+the furious foaming surf, it seems to be altogether a myth, so that such
+enquirers as Ellis, Mackenzie, and Heber, making allowance for what Hindoo
+traditions are known to be, will no longer take the trouble of searching
+for any traces of the sunk pagoda, or of seeking to recover the ruins of
+the submerged city. Several writers, indeed, are of opinion, that the sea
+on the Cormandel coast is retiring; but this appears to be a mistake, for
+here the sea seems encroaching rapidly, as is the case at Fort St. George,
+which 80 years ago was at some distance from the sea-shore, whereas its
+walls are at present washed by the tremendous surf.
+
+But the inroads of the sea could hardly have been so sudden and extensive
+as to have swallowed up an entire city, without leaving any traces. Not
+one of the natives to whom we spoke in the place could say for certain,
+that the sea had materially gained upon the land within the memory of man.
+Nowhere are there any traces visible of the ruins of a city. One can
+safely assert that there never existed such a city at Mahamalaipuram, but
+that it has always been a mere abode of priests, with temples,
+sanctuaries, &c., without any more extensive settlement, similar to Copan,
+Quirigua, or Peten, in Central America, but altogether larger and more
+artistic, and evidencing a far higher culture on the part of the artist.
+The supposed antiquity of the sculptures at Mahamalaipuram is too low, to
+admit of our supposing that since their erection the greater part had been
+swallowed up in the sea. None of the sculptures that we saw belonged to
+any period (before the flood extended so far), whereas they are all
+susceptible of explanation out of the modern Hindoo mythology, with the
+aid of the Epic poems of Mahabharata, all referring to Vishnu and his
+world of deities.
+
+While some of the _Novara_ expedition were visiting Mahamalaipuram, others
+made out a trip to the Pulicat Lake, near the shore, northwards from
+Madras. About 40 or 50 miles on the road thither, the Neilgherries (or
+Blue Hills), with their jagged outline, came into view on the gray horizon
+to the N.W., the height of which may be about 1,500 to 2000 feet. A narrow
+bulwark or quay of unequal breadth, varying from 20 feet to 5 miles,
+separates this salt lake from the ocean, the fierce surf of which, at some
+narrow places, actually breaks over, and mingles its waters. The lake
+varies in breadth, from 5 to 10 miles, and is about 60 to 70 miles long.
+The level of its bed is so remarkably regular, never exceeding from 3 to 5
+feet, that when the wind fails, the boats that navigate the lake can be
+pushed along with poles, and one everywhere sees the naked inhabitants of
+the coast standing in the very middle of the water, with their landing or
+drag-nets, or busily occupied with rod and line! Being but a few hours
+distant from Madras, the lake is connected with the city by an artificial
+canal, along both sides of which are a number of outlets, carefully faced
+with masonry, so as to convert the adjoining land into lagoons, in which
+during the rainy seasons the strongly brackish water enters, and is used
+to make sea-salt.
+
+In the canal there is considerable trade, as well by fishing-boats, as by
+those laden with wood and fruit, which they convey to the city for
+disposal. Most especially remarkable is the enormous number of fen-birds,
+which frequent its shores and all around it. At several places where the
+shores, for a width of about a mile, are mere swamps with barely a foot of
+water, they are literally covered with myriads of curlews, which fly
+about in flights of incredible numbers, and stretch out like clouds. Long
+rows of flamingoes stand, their bodies half bent to the earth, seeking
+their food in the mud; far as the eye can reach, one saw whole ranks of
+these birds blending with storks, perched upon scattered stumps; while in
+the water itself, vast flocks of sea-mews swam about, and the
+sea-swallows, in pursuit of their prey, flew to and fro in the air. As
+evening came on, the naturalists of the _Novara_ were sailing as though in
+a sea of fire. Hundreds of fish, as they sprang out of the water, left a
+fiery wake behind them, like a rocket, while a flame-coloured
+ever-widening circle marked the spot at which they struck the water again.
+Hundreds of various notes of birds, above, near, and round the boat,
+united with the singular melancholy cry of the jackal, which resounded
+from the shore, while overhead flights of birds flew restlessly about in
+the air, whirring in the ear like the rustling of disembodied spirits.
+
+From the lake, a short excursion was made to one of the artificial canals,
+which unite this basin of water at various points and in different
+directions with the surrounding country, so as to get to the Strihoricotta
+Forest, which supplies Madras with fuel. This consists of a sort of
+underwood or brush, which grows again within the extraordinary short space
+of ten to twelve years. _Sisyphus vulgaris_ (_Rhamnea_), _Gardenia Ficus_,
+tamarinds, and several species of Mimosa, form the principal part of the
+forest, which is thickly grown with immense quantities of climbers. The
+wood is cut by the natives, who have constructed huts in the jungle, into
+pieces of about 2 feet in length, which are transported in ox-carts to the
+shore, whence they are forwarded by boat to Madras.
+
+When the members of the _Novara_ Expedition had returned, greatly pleased,
+from their various excursions, the Madras Club gave a grand banquet in
+honour of the captain and staff, to which the _elite_ of Madras society
+were invited. Immediately on our arrival the managing committee of the
+club had the courtesy to place the officers and scientific members of the
+Expedition upon the free list of the club during the ship's stay. The
+Madras Club-house, though not so luxurious or magnificent as the Clubs of
+London, fairly surpasses them in extent and commodiousness. It is, in
+fact, a small portion of the city in itself, in which one finds assembled
+all that can conduce to a comfortable, agreeable mode of existence;
+parlours, with wide arm-chairs and American rocking-chairs; reading-rooms,
+in which are all the best journals and an excellent assortment of the best
+and newest literature; dining apartments, in which one can dine in either
+the English or French style; billiard-rooms, shower and plunge-baths, and
+a large swimming-bath. Members from the country, or strangers, can be
+accommodated with lodging as well.
+
+At the splendid banquet in honour of the Expedition, at which above 200
+persons sat down, the chair was taken by the Chief Justice Sir Christopher
+Rawlinson--next to the Governor, the most influential person in the
+community. The extremely friendly disposition manifested on that occasion
+found its expression in toasts on all sides, which in few, but appropriate
+words, welcomed the foreign guests; while, on the other side, they gave
+unmistakable evidence of the admiration and sympathy which the voyagers by
+the _Novara_ carried away with them from the hospitable shores of
+Madras.[111]
+
+[Footnote 111: After the customary official toasts had been proposed by the
+chairman, and thanks returned by the Commander-in-chief of the Expedition,
+the health was also proposed of the scientific staff, on which occasion
+one of the naturalists present expressed his thanks for this honour, in
+his name and that of his colleagues, in the following speech, which may be
+permitted to find a place here, as best showing with what impression the
+members of the Expedition left Madras.
+
+"Gentlemen,--It is not without some feeling of anxiety that I am rising,
+for I have so many things to say, and yet it is but the thousandth part of
+what I, of what my fellow travellers all feel! Surely, it is always
+flattering to a man to be distinguished by his fellow-men; but such a
+distinction becomes the more honouring if those who concur to distinguish
+him are--as this is the case with you--a most estimable part of the
+_British_ nation! Of a nation, which has done more than any other on the
+globe for the propagation of Christianity, the diffusion of knowledge, the
+advancement of science, for the progress of civilization, industry, and
+commerce. I do not intend, gentlemen, to return with the shiny currency of
+flattery the many proofs of attention and kindness which all the members
+of the Expedition have witnessed during our short, but most pleasant,
+ever-remembered stay in this city, the birth-place of hospitality! What I
+say is but truth! Every page in modern history certifies my words! Which
+nation has done more for the propagation of Christianity among savage
+tribes all over the world? Some years ago, when I was rambling in British
+America, and along the north shores of Lake Superior, I often found
+villages of 300 or 400 Indians, and but one single white man amongst them.
+And who was that white man, who voluntarily shared their misery, their
+wants, and their privations? He was an _English missionary_!
+
+"And again! Which nation has made greater and more serious efforts to
+suppress the slave trade, and to abolish slavery in all countries where it
+still exists, a shame to the nineteenth century?--Slavery! that hideous
+leprosy on the limb of the gigantic body, called the United States! Who is
+even now anxiously engaged to open, with the heartblood of its noblest
+sons, a vast empire--the Chinese kingdom--to civilization, to
+Christianity, to the traffic of all seafaring nations of the globe!
+
+"And is not this very city, Madras, where we have been so heartily
+welcomed, the best proof of the energy and perseverance of the political
+and commercial greatness of the British nation? Nothing but English
+steadiness and English perseverance could succeed to build on this barren,
+inhospitable, and even most perilous coast, a vast, flourishing city,
+rivalling in size and the number of inhabitants the largest capitals in
+Europe! And what is still more pleasing and satisfactory, is the
+intellectual and physical condition in which one finds the Indians,
+especially if compared with the condition of the natives in North and
+Central America, &c. There he meets a population, rapidly dying away, in
+proportion as the axe of civilization is resounding from the backwoods.
+One may almost determinate the day when the last of the red men will have
+disappeared from the North American Continent, the land of his ancestors!
+Here in India, on the contrary, the traveller meets with a thriving,
+industrious population. Who can see Hindoos, Malabar, Sentus, &c., occupy
+most important employments at the observatory, at the telegraph offices,
+at the railroad, in any branch almost of the public service, and still
+believe the Hindoo race like the Indians of North America to be a _doomed_
+people--to be a people that has no future? No, it HAS a future, and, under
+the wise and humane government of the British Crown, I am sure the
+coloured race of India will even have a most _glorious_ future!
+
+"These are the impressions and feelings, gentlemen, with which we part
+from Madras, with which I and my scientific colleagues bid you all a most
+sincere and heartfelt farewell."]
+
+As a number of our new-found friends expressed a wish, notwithstanding the
+difficulties of getting out to, and back from the roads, to visit our
+ship, the commodore invited some forty guests, shortly before our
+departure, to a "tiffin" on board. Although the frigate rolled pretty
+heavily, yet we, nevertheless, had the pleasure of the company of some
+twenty gentlemen and ten ladies. After "tiffin," which was served on the
+poop, under a tent improvised with flags for the occasion, all felt
+sufficiently comfortable to try a dance on the quarter-deck, our band of
+music being called into requisition for quadrilles, polkas, and waltzes;
+and, indeed, our guests paid so little attention to the approach of
+night, that their return was postponed till it was absolutely dark, of
+which opportunity we gladly availed ourselves to light our pleasant guests
+homewards with Bengal lights.
+
+[Illustration: PLATE VII.--TRACK FROM MADRAS TO THE NICOBAR ISLANDS.]
+
+At length, on 10th February, shortly after noon, we set sail. As the
+frigate was perceived, from Fort George to weigh anchor, a thundering
+salute was fired of 21 guns--an extraordinary honour and mark of
+attention, to which we responded by a similar salute. In consequence of
+calms and light winds, we were 48 hours ere losing sight of land; and it
+was not till the 12th February we could proceed on our voyage. For several
+evenings after, that magnificent, and as yet unexplained, phenomenon, the
+Zodiacal light, which is conjectured by the greatest physicist of our age,
+to be the beams radiated from a vapour-like, flattened ring, revolving in
+the space between the orbits of Mercury and Venus, was visible with much
+regularity. What was afterwards observed, however, of this remarkable zone
+of light, during the course of our voyage, will be found detailed in the
+meteorological portion of the scientific volumes. Unbroken fine weather
+accompanied us during our entire voyage to the Nicobar Islands, our next
+station. But although, as was rendered necessary by the climate so near
+the Equator, we were clothed entirely in summer apparel, and there was
+nothing to remind us of its being winter and carnival at home, our sailors
+did not let Shrove Tuesday pass over without celebrating that day, to be
+marked with a white stone, by masking and dancing according to ancient
+custom. Jack has an especially good memory for the return of such
+junketings, and is by no means prone to letting the sensible vicinity of
+the Equator put him out of his reckoning; so he danced near the line also,
+not because he had any pleasure therein, but because it has always been
+his custom to do so at carnival-time!
+
+The state of health of the ship's company was excellent, there being but
+eight on the sick list, of whom only two were seriously ill.
+
+On the 22nd February towards 10 A.M. the Island of Kar-Nicobar hove in
+sight, and towards afternoon we found ourselves but a few miles distant.
+The land seemed for the most part level, only a low eminence thickly
+covered with frost rising towards the centre. The coast was overgrown with
+cocoa-nut-palm. In the N.W. and S.E. we could see three Malay boats at
+anchor. On the beach were some huts of beehive-like shape, in and out of
+which naked brown figures were seen moving; while, as night fell, numerous
+lights glimmered from the shore.
+
+The following morning, Tuesday 23rd February, 1858, we anchored off the
+N.W. side of the island, in 14-1/2 fathoms coral sand, about 2 miles
+distant from the shore, and just between the two villages of Mosse and
+Saui, each consisting of a few huts. One can approach within 3 or 4
+cable-lengths of the shore, where there are still 10 fathoms, with clay
+bottom. Several natives, some naked, some with their bodies covered in the
+most ludicrous fashion with cast-off European clothes, approached the
+frigate while she was being secured, in small but elegant canoes, and
+called out anxiously when within hailing distance, in an inquisitive tone
+and a broken English, "No fear? good friend?" which we interpreted into an
+inquiry as to whether they had anything to fear, and whether we were
+disposed to be friendly. When, however, we did not immediately throw them
+a rope to make fast their little canoes, and they got sight of our
+numerous guns, they speedily turned tail and hurried away.
+
+[Illustration: ARRIVAL AT KAR-NICOBAR.]
+
+                            END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+                            APPENDIX A.
+
+
+           LIST OF THE OFFICERS OF THE "NOVARA" EXPEDITION.
+
+          Commodore--B. v. Wuellerstorf-Urbair, Commander-in-Chief.
+          Captain--Frederick Baron Poeck.
+          First Lieutenant--Bela Saal de Gyula.
+          Lieutenants--Maurice Monfroni de Montfort.
+              "     "   Alexander Count Kielmansegge.
+              "     "   William Lund.
+              "     "   Robert Mueller.
+              "     "   Ernest Jacoby.
+              "     "   Eugen Kronowetter.
+              "     "   Gustavus Battlogg.
+          Purser--Antonio Basso.
+          Principal Surgeon--Dr. Francis Seligmann.
+          Assistant Surgeons--Dr. Ave Robert Lallemant.
+                 "       "      Dr. Edward Schwarz.
+                 "       "      Charles Ruziczka.
+          Chaplain--Edward de Marocchini.
+          Midshipmen--Henry Fayenz.
+            "    "    Joseph Natty.
+            "    "    Gustavus v. Semsey.
+            "    "    Richard Baron Walterskirchen.
+            "    "    Louis Meder.
+            "    "    Alexander Kalmar.
+            "    "    Augustus Baron Skribanek.
+            "    "    Andreas Count Borelli.
+            "    "    Francis Baron Cordon.
+            "    "    Frederick Baron Haan.
+            "    "    Edward Latzina.
+            "    "    Michal de Mariassi.
+            "    "    Eugen Prince Wrede.
+            "    "    Joseph Berthold.
+          Engineer--Wenceslas Lehmann.
+
+
+                           _Naturalists._
+
+               Geology--Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter.
+               Botany--Dr. Edward Schwarz.
+                  "    Mr. Anthony Tellinek, horticulturist.
+               Zoology--Mr. George Frauenfeld.
+                  "     Mr. John Zelebor.
+               Ethnography--Dr. Charles Scherzer.
+               Artist--Mr. Joseph Selleny.
+
+The entire crew, including sailors, marines, gunners, servants, and the
+ship's band, amounted to 352 men.
+
+
+
+
+                             APPENDIX B.
+
+ _List of the various Provisions and Stores furnished to the Frigate
+           "Novara" before her departure from Trieste._
+
+
+ Coals--23 tons (at 260 pounds daily consumption)           for 198 days
+ Water--86 tons (the daily consumption was
+   furnished by the distilling apparatus)
+ Biscuit--50,965 pounds (Vienna weight)                      "  145  "
+ Wine--(light red Istrian wine), 8777 mass (= 3510 gallons)  "   50  "
+ Rum--7913 mass (= 3165 gallons)                             "  226  "
+ Salt Beef--17,800 pounds            for 105 days \ Meat
+ Preserved Meat (in tins)                122   "  | (boned)  "  264  "
+ Pork--5760 pounds weight                87    "  /
+ Rice--6850 pounds                       77    "  \ (for
+ Essence--3184 pounds                    58    "  /  Soup)   "  135  "
+ Melanges d'Equipage, 40,000 rations    114  days \
+ Sour-crout, 16,000 rations              46    "  | Vege-
+ Cabbage, 16,000 rations                 46    "  | tables   "  298  "
+ Potatoes, 32,000 rations                92    "  /
+ Cocoa--10,290 pounds (Vienna weight)                        "  610  "
+ Sugar--3494     "                                           "  156  "
+ Salt--1000      "                                           "  100  "
+ Vinegar--831 mass (= 332-1/5 gallons)                       "   95  "
+
+
+
+
+                             APPENDIX C.
+
+                        SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURE
+
+        DURING THE VOYAGE OF THE AUSTRIAN IMPERIAL FRIGATE "NOVARA."
+
+
+ KEY:
+ A - Pay of Commodore, in Austrian currency.
+ B - Pay of Staff.
+ C - Pay of Naturalists, and incidental Expenses of this department.
+ D - Pay of Crew, including extras.
+ E - Victuals for Crew and Hospital (Sick).
+ F - For Sundries, Repairs, and Ship's Material.
+ G - Purchase of Books, Instruments, and Medicines.
+ H - Pilots and Tug Steamers.
+ I - Pay of Servants, including extras.
+ J - Boat-hire, Postages, Travelling Expenses of the Staff, &c.
+ K - Totals.
+
+ ----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---
+       Period of       |         |          |         |          |
+      Expenditure.     |    A    |    B     |    C    |    D     |
+ ----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---
+                       | Florins.| Florins. | Florins.| Florins. |
+                       |  Kr.    |   Kr.    |   Kr.   |   Kr.    |
+ April to June, 1857   | 2,112 ..|  5,413 51| 1,744 53|  7,522 52|
+ III. Quarter    "     | 2,327 10|  8,214 10| 3,302 40| 10,562 37|
+ IV.   ditto     "     | 3,261 20|  9,604 50| 4,816 57| 10,560 50|
+ I.    ditto    1858   | 3,118 ..|  9,377 ..| 4,073 ..| 10,557 49|
+ II.   ditto     "     | 3,212 ..| 10,542 30| 4,358  5| 10,755 39|
+ III.  ditto     "     | 5,102 30|  9,638 30| 5,421 17| 10,245 24|
+ IV.   ditto     "     | 2,217 10|  6,931 50| 5,272 56| 10,020  6|
+ I.    ditto    1859   | 4,914 20| 16,958 20| 9,578 23| 10,840 43|
+ II.   ditto     "     | 3,227 16| 11,008 ..| 4,090 20| 11,151 56|
+ III.  ditto     "     | 3,117  7| 10,911 41| 3,857 14| 11,009 29|
+ IV.   ditto (not full)|   984 18|  2,564  5| 1,990  5|  3,314 16|
+ ----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---
+     Grand Total       |33,593 11|101,164 47|48,505 50|106,541 41|
+ ----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---
+
+ ----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---
+       Period of       |          |         |        |        |
+      Expenditure.     |    E     |    F    |   G    |   H    |
+ ----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---
+                       | Florins. | Florins.|Florins.|Florins.|
+                       |   Kr.    |   Kr.   |  Kr.   |  Kr.   |
+ April to June, 1857   |    133 55|   146  7|   37 10|  ... ..|
+ III. Quarter    "     |  2,316 40|   362 47|   16 28|   28 ..|
+ IV.   ditto     "     | 27,344 29| 2,839  3|  644 49|  356 26|
+ I.    ditto    1858   |  2,099 39|   646 10|   36 34|   85 53|
+ II.   ditto     "     | 21,514 37| 2,170 53|  349 54|  ... ..|
+ III.  ditto     "     | 17,443 32| 5,925 48|  338 14|  645 50|
+ IV.   ditto     "     |  5,762 30|   ... ..|  212 34|2,197 55|
+ I.    ditto    1859   | 30,715 17|18,185 34|2,286 40|  647 54|
+ II.   ditto     "     |  3,179 24|   767  4|   23  2|   94 23|
+ III.  ditto     "     | 11,444 ..| 7,551 15|  306 24|  ... ..|
+ IV.   ditto (not full)|  2,163 40|   ... ..|   33 30|  ... ..|
+ ----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---
+     Grand Total       |124,009 43|38,594 41|4,285 19|4,056 21|
+ ----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---
+
+ ----------------------+--------+---------+----------+
+       Period of       |        |         |          |
+      Expenditure.     |   I    |    J    |    K     |
+ ----------------------+--------+---------+----------+
+                       |Florins.| Florins.| Florins. |
+                       |  Kr.   |   Kr.   |   Kr.    |
+ April to June, 1857   |  811 34| 5,277 59| 23,200 21|
+ III. Quarter    "     |  363 53|   186 18| 27,680 43|
+ IV.   ditto     "     |  435  9| 2,027 31| 61,891 24|
+ I.    ditto    1858   |  397 28|    96 22| 30,487 55|
+ II.   ditto     "     |1,144 43|   814 25| 54,764 46|
+ III.  ditto     "     |  566  8| 1,351 46| 56,678 59|
+ IV.   ditto     "     |   29 24|   651 59| 33,296 24|
+ I.    ditto    1859   |1,592 30| 1,258 51| 96,978 32|
+ II.   ditto     "     |  200  5| 1,258 32| 35,000 2 |
+ III.  ditto     "     |1,910 ..|   793 ..| 50,900 10|
+ IV.   ditto (not full)|  269 46|     5 ..| 11,324 40|
+ ----------------------+--------+---------+----------+
+     Grand Total       |7,720 40|13,721 43|482,193 56|
+ ----------------------+--------+---------+----------+
+
+Thus the Expenditure, during the voyage, amounting to 483,193 florins 56
+kreuzer, Austrian currency, which, calculated at the rate of 10 florins to
+a pound sterling at par, is equal to about L48,219 sterling. To this sum
+must be added the outfit and armament of the frigate for the purposes of
+the voyage, amounting to about L6000 sterling, and the expenses for four
+months' provisions, taken in at Trieste before our departure, and
+estimated at about L4500 sterling, so that the entire Expenditure of the
+Expedition, from the time of starting till its return, amounted to about
+L58,000 sterling.
+
+
+
+
+                              LONDON:
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+                MESSRS. SAUNDERS, OTLEY, AND CO.'S
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+[Transcriber's Note: Changes to the original document: Footnotes and
+illustrations may have been moved. Minor punctuation inconsistencies or
+errors have been corrected. To the table of illustrations have been added
+entries for the preceding illustrations. The publisher's corrections
+listed at the end of Volume III have been applied. The following
+additional changes were made:
+
+ analagous[analogous] to the mountain chains
+ to be reaped from European emigation[emigration]
+ Namely: 9159 Portuguese[Two footnotes were improperly swapped]
+ we were still able vividly to recal[recall]
+ If any one desires [to] see a veritable
+ towards the end of the rainy reason[season],
+ their bite produces on the the[del 2nd the] hand
+ that such soundings are only succesful[successful] when
+ they cannot recal[recall] having perceived,
+ Terrestrial Magnetism, Liuteenant[Lieutenant] Robert Muellar;
+ of New Bedford, Massachussets[Massachusetts],
+ pendant les annes[annees] 1791-94
+ there there[del 2nd there] is nothing resembling a beach
+ custom that seems to recal[recall] the frightful
+ This time, morever,[moreover]
+ and chaunted[chanted] the praises
+ all to be able to indentify[identify] them,
+ thirty to the Parias[Pariahs],
+ Ry[By] T. LEWIS FARLEY, Esq.,
+ effected. Every other descripion[description]
+
+Also, the publisher on one occasion confused the degrees Reaumur and
+Fahrenheit used in measuring temperature with degrees and minutes used to
+determine lattitude and longitude:
+
+Between the Gulfs of Guayaquil and Panama, north-east of the cold current,
+the temperature of the sea during the month of April rose as high as 24 deg.
+5', (87 deg. 12' Fahr.). Within the range of the current, Mr. Dirckinck had
+carried on his observations in compliance with my instructions, by means
+of thermometers that had been compared by Arago. Everywhere in the
+current, in December 1824, he found from 16 deg. to 18 deg. (68 deg. to 72 deg.5 Fahr.);
+between Quilca and Callao, in January, 1825, from 18 deg. to 19 deg. (72 deg. 5' to
+74 deg. 75' Fahr.); between Chorillos, near Lima (Lat. 12 deg. 39' S.) and
+Valparaiso, in August, 1825, from 13 deg. 8' to 10 deg. 5' (63 deg.05 to 5 deg. 62'
+Fahr.); between Chorillos and San Carlos de Chiloe, in June, 1825, from
+18 deg. 8' to 9 deg. 2' (74 deg. 3' to 52 deg. 7').
+
+The corrected paragraph is as follows:
+
+Between the Gulfs of Guayaquil and Panama, north-east of the cold current,
+the temperature of the sea during the month of April rose as high as
+24 deg.5, (87 deg.12 Fahr.). Within the range of the current, Mr. Dirckinck had
+carried on his observations in compliance with my instructions, by means
+of thermometers that had been compared by Arago. Everywhere in the
+current, in December 1824, he found from 16 deg. to 18 deg. (68 deg. to 72 deg.5 Fahr.);
+between Quilca and Callao, in January, 1825, from 18 deg. to 19 deg. (72 deg.5 to
+74 deg.75 Fahr.); between Chorillos, near Lima (Lat. 12 deg. 39' S.) and
+Valparaiso, in August, 1825, from 13 deg.8 to 10 deg.5 (63 deg.05 to 55 deg.62 Fahr.);
+between Chorillos and San Carlos de Chiloe, in June, 1825, from 18 deg.8 to
+9 deg.2 (74 deg.3 to 52 deg.7).]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Narrative of the Circumnavigation of
+the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume I, by Karl Ritter von Scherzer
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUSTRIAN FRIGATE NOVARA, VOL I ***
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