The South-East trade reached us on the 8th of August, latitude 3 degrees 30 minutes North longitude 17 degrees 40 minutes West, and on the morning of the 10th we crossed the Equator in longitude 22 degrees 0 minutes West:  when sundry of our crew and passengers underwent the usual ceremonies in honour of old Father Neptune.  A close and careful search within the limits specified in our instructions justified us in certifying the non-existence of the rocks therein alluded to:  but before we presume to pass any censure upon those who preceded us in the honours of maritime discovery, and the labours of maritime survey, it will be proper to bear in mind the ceaseless changes to which the earth’s surface is subject, and that, though our knowledge is but limited of the phenomena connected with subterranean and volcanic agency, still, in the sudden upheaval and subsidence of Sabrina and Graham Islands, we have sufficient evidence of their vast disturbing power, to warrant the supposition that such might have been the case with the rocks for which our search proved fruitless.  Nor are these the only causes that may be assigned to reconcile the conflicting testimonies of various Navigators upon the existence of such dangers; the origin of which may be ascribed to drift timber—­reflected light discolouring the sea, and causing the appearance of broken water—­or to the floating carcass of a whale, by which I have myself been more than once deceived.

Arrival at San Salvador.

A succession of winds between South-South-East and South-East, with the aid of a strong westerly current, soon brought us near the Brazils.  We made the land on the morning of the 17th, about 15 miles to the north-east of Bahia, and in the afternoon anchored off the town of San Salvador.

Though this was neither my first nor second visit to Bahia, I was still not indifferent to the magnificent or rather luxuriant tropical scenery which it presents.  A bank of such verdure as these sun-lit climes alone supply, rose precipitously from the dark blue water, dotted with the white and gleaming walls of houses and convents half hidden in woods of every tint of green; while here and there the lofty spires of some Christian temple pointed to a yet fairer world, invisible to mortal eye, and suggested even to the least thoughtful, that glorious as is this lower earth, framed by Heaven’s beneficence for man’s enjoyment, still it is not that home to which the hand of revelation directs the aspirations of our frail humanity.

State of the country at Bahia.