gs of Christiana and
Mercy, and the sufferings of the shipwrecked mariner, true in the right
sense of the word truth? True as the lofty creations of Milton, and the
embodied visions of Michael Angelo; because they have their basis and
their home in the heart, and soul, and understanding of man.

But we are once more upon the ocean, and our young people are again
observing the stars, and measuring the distances of the planets. I
grieve that one of the most promising of them is now an inmate in my
cabin, in a very delicate state of health.

_12th._--Yesterday we found soundings, which indicated the neighbourhood
of the Abrolhos, and lay-to all night, that we might ascertain the exact
position of those dangerous shoals; which, at the distance of three
leagues, bearing N. W. by W., appeared like one long ragged island to
the westward, and two smaller very low to the east.

The banks extend very far out to the eastward. There is a deep passage
between them and the mainland. With a little attention, a most
profitable fishery might be established here.

_Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, December 15th, 1821_.--Nothing that I have
ever seen is comparable in beauty to this bay. Naples, the Firth of
Forth, Bombay harbour, and Trincomalee, each of which I thought perfect
in their beauty, all must yield to this, which surpasses each in its
different way. Lofty mountains, rocks of clustered columns, luxuriant
wood, bright flowery islands, green banks, all mixed with white
buildings; each little eminence crowned with its church or fort; ships
at anchor or in motion; and innumerable boats flitting about in such a
delicious climate,--combine to render Rio de Janeiro the most enchanting
scene that imagination can conceive. We anchored first close to a small
island, called Villegagnon, about two miles from the entrance of the
harbour. That island, however small, was the site of the first colony
founded by the Frenchman Villegagnon, under the patronage of Coligny,
whom he betrayed. The admiral had intended it as a refuge for the
persecuted Hugonots; but when Villegagnon had, by his means, formed the
settlement, he began to persecute them also: the colony fell into decay,
and became an easy conquest to Mem de Sa, the Portuguese captain-general
of Brazil.[77]

[Note 77: See Introduction, p. 15.]

We moved from this station to one more commodious nearer the town, and
higher up the harbour, towards the afternoon, which soon became so
rainy, th