to which even the pencil of a Salvator Rosa and
a Claude cannot do justice....

Except at noon, when all living creatures in the torrid zone seek
shade and repose, and when a solemn silence is diffused over the
scene, illumined by the dazzling beams of the sun, every hour of
the day calls into action another race of animals.... When the
sun goes down, most of the animals retire to rest ... myriads of
luminous beetles now begin to fly about like _ignes fatui_, and
the blood-sucking bats hover like phantoms in the profound
darkness of the night.... The traveller does not here meet with
the impressions of those sublime and rugged high Alps of Europe,
nor, on the other hand, those of a meaner nature; but the
character of these landscapes combines grandeur with simplicity
and softness....

He who has not personally experienced the enchantment of tranquil
moonlight nights in these happy latitudes can never be inspired,
even by the most faithful description, with those feelings which
scenes of such wondrous beauty excite in the mind of the
beholder.

A delicate transparent mist hangs over the country, the moon
shines brightly amid heavy and singularly grouped clouds, the
outlines of the objects illuminated by it are clear and well
defined, while a magic twilight seems to remove from the eye
those which are in shade. Scarce a breath of air is stirring, and
the neighbouring mimosas, that have folded up their leaves to
sleep, stand motionless beside the dark crowns of the manga, the
jaca, and the ethereal jambos; or sometimes a sudden wind arises
and the juiceless leaves of the acaju rustle, the richly flowered
grumijama and pitanga let drop a fragrant shower of snow-white
blossoms; the crowns of the majestic palms wave slowly over the
silent roof which they overshade, like a symbol of peace and
tranquillity.

Shrill cries of the cicada, the grasshopper, and tree frog make
an incessant hum, and produce by their monotony a pleasing
melancholy.... Every half-hour different balsamic odours fill the
air, and other flowers alternately unfold their leaves to the
night.... While the silent vegetable world, illuminated by scores
of fireflies as by a thousand moving stars, charms the night by
its delicate effluvia, brilliant lightnings play incessantly on
the horizon, and elevat