out; and he immediately proceeded to Baltimore, where it was thought much easier to meet with a vessel bound to the South Seas than in any other port. He had however to wait six weeks for the sailing of the Gulnare, of 300 tons, which happily proved to be a very strong ship and an excellent sailer. The description of long voyages, observes Dr. Poeppig, is an equally difficult and ungrateful task, especially in our times, when so great a number of them have been described, and some in a masterly manner. But with respect to the greater part of them the uniformity of a life at sea seems to have affected the style and the imagination of the writers, and to have rendered them dull and tedious. He therefore dwells but little on his naval adventures, and we shall follow his example, extracting only a few passages.

"Thus the evening gradually approaches, and is announced by a slight diminution of the current of air. It is in vain for language to attempt a description of the splendour of a sunset in these latitudes. It is the only time of day when the groups of singularly formed, yet light and transparent, clouds range themselves on the horizon. Their transient existence favours the changing play of colours, because the refraction of the more oblique rays of the sun produces the most extraordinary effects. Even after we have repeatedly beheld the rising or setting of the sun from the summit of the Alps, or indeed from the top of the Andes, we are constrained to give unconditional preference to the same scene as viewed on the tropical ocean. While one side of the ship is still illumined with the last uncertain rays of the setting sun, the sea on the other side, darkened by the broad shadow of the sails, begins to sparkle. One fiery point after another appears; indistinct rays of light shine from a greater depth; and, as darkness sets in, a new creation seems to be called into life. Luminous creatures glance in every direction through the dark expanse of water; now shooting up like sparksthen rising in globules of fire, or passing away with the rapidity of lightning-a great part are probably real nocturnal animals, which conceal themselves in the sea from the light of the sun."

"We were now within four English miles of the celebrated Cape Horn, which has a twofold interest, as being the terminating point of an immense continent, and the witness of many of those vast enterprizes by which the daring European has carried his empire and civilization to the remotest regions. This promontory is indeed worthy to mark the utmost limits of so vast a portion of the globe: from whatever side it is viewed, it appears an isolated majestic mass, boldly standing out in the stormy Pacific, and by its calm grandeur attesting the victory of the solid over the fluid. The large and solitary rock of which the Cape is formed is not, like that of Terra del Fuego and of Statenland, split into various groups; the land, rising from the north-east, unites in one rounded, unbroken promontory, and, after attaining its greatest elevation, sinks almost perpendicularly into the sea, towards the south. The enormous mass of black rock, unenlivened by the slightest trace of vegetation,

whose summit has never afforded habitation to man, and is inaccessible even to the savage boldly bids defiance to all the storms of the Antarctic. Even the countless flocks of sea-birds which swarm in these latitudes do not settle there, for they find more secure retreats in the lower islands, and among the prickly grasses and umbelliferous plants of the Antarctic Flora.

"It is pretty generally believed that, after reaching the western entrance of the Straits of Magellan, the doubling of Cape Horn may be considered as accomplished, and consequently all danger at an end. So far as it is scarcely possible for a ship to be driven back again to the meridian of that cape, or even to the eastward of it, the victory may be said to be achieved. But the navigation of the coast from Cape Horn to Chiloe is very dangerous; for this coast is in many places surrounded by undescribed rocks, and on the whole very imperfectly known. There is a very powerful current, at least periodically, in the direction of the Straits of Magellan to the land; and the many channels with which the archipelago of the coast is intersected, produce, in like manner, very irregular currents."

To the north of Cape Pilares a change in the temperature both of the atmosphere and of the sea became very sensible. Besides the usual attendants, albatrosses and other animals peculiar to those regions, the author says,

"We met with a very elegant porpoise, streaked black and pure white (Delphinus Leucoramphus), and that in numbers which seemed to border on the incredible; for the end of the shoal, which was pretty broad, was frequently indiscernible from the topmast. . . . . . . We were surrounded by them for several days. The observation that they were going in a south-westerly direction makes it difficult to divine the reason of their emigration, because the Antarctic winter must in a few weeks commence, in the seas lying in that quarter. But another phenomenon soon excited our attention in a much greater degree. On the 12th of March, precisely at noon, we were not a little alarmed by a considerable noise upon deck, and by the order immediately to lie to. The dirty red colour of the sea had produced the very reasonable suspicion that we were upon a shoal. However, upon sounding, there was no bottom with one hundred and thirty fathoms. From the topmast, the sea appeared, as far as the eye could reach, of a dark red colour, and this in a streak, the breadth of which was estimated at six English miles, and which here and there spread into short side branches. As we sailed slowly along, we found that the colour changed into brilliant purple, so that even the foam, which is always seen at the stern of a ship under sail, was of a rose colour. The sight was very striking, because this purple stream was marked by a very distinct line from the blue waters of the sea, a circumstance which we the more easily observed, because our course lay directly through the midst of this streak, which extended from south-east to north-west. The water, taken up in a bucket, appeared indeed quite transparent; but a faint purple tinge was visible when a few drops were placed upon a piece of white china and moved rapidly backwards and

forwards in the sunshine. A moderate magnifying glass proved that those little red dots, which with great attention could be perceived with the naked eye, consisted of infusoria, which were of a spherical form, entirely destitute of all external organs of motion. Their very lively motions were only upward and downward, and always in spiral lines, The want of a powerful microscope precluded a more minute examination; and all attempts to preserve some of the animals, by drying a drop of water on paper, failed, as they seemed to dissolve into nothing. They were extremely sensible to the effect of nitric acid; for a single drop, mixed in a glass of this animated water, put an end almost instantaneously to the life of the millions that it contained. We sailed for four hours, at a mean rate of six English miles an hour, through this streak. which was seven miles broad, before we reached the end of it; and its superficies must therefore have been about 168 English square miles. If we add that these animals may have been equally distributed in the upper stratum of the water to the depth of six feet, we must confess that their numbers infinitely surpassed the conception of the human understanding."

On the 15th of March, before daybreak, the coast of Chili was descried from the deck, and all waited in profound silence till the first beam of the morning should enable them to gain a view of the land, which was about fifteen miles distant. The weather being extremely favourable, the scene, when the sun rose above the highest summits of the Andes, was wonderfully striking and magnificent, and the author describes it in glowing colours. But when they approached the land, near the insignificant fishing village of San Antonio, so that they could examine it in detail, they were mortified to find that even their telescopes did not enable them to discover any of those objects which are most welcome to the eye of the navigator after a long voyage. Nowhere could they see any trace of man or his labours. The coast of Chili appeared nearly to resemble the desolate region of Terra del Fuego. Even the peculiar smell was wanting, which is usually perceived on approaching the coasts of countries between the tropics; and of which even animals are so sensible, that they become restless, appearing to have a presentiment of the termination of their long confinement, and often boldly leap overboard to reach the shore, which they suppose to be close at hand. On this passage the author says in a note,—

"Whoever has made a voyage to the tropical countries of South Ame rica, or the West Indies, will always remember with pleasure the sensation which he experienced on approaching the land. Perhaps no sense is then so strongly affected as the smell; especially if you approach the coast in the early hours of a fine summer's morning. On the coast of Cuba, the first land I saw in America, on the 30th of June, 1822, all on board were struck with the very strong smell, like that of violets, which, as the day grew more warm, either ceased, or was lost amidst a variety of

others, which were perceptible as we drew nearer the coast. During a long stay in the interior of the island, I became acquainted with the plant which emits such an intense perfume as to be perceived at the distance of two or three miles. It is of the species Tetracera, and remarkable for bearing leaves so hard that they are used by the native cabinet-makers, and other mechanics, for various kinds of work. It is a climbing plant, which reaches the tops of the loftiest trees of the forest, then spreads far around, and in the rainy season is covered with innumerable bunches of sweet-smelling flowers, which, however, dispense their perfume during the night only, and are almost without scent in the daytime."

The voyagers, after a passage of 110 days, entered the harbour of Valparaiso, where they cast anchor for the first time since leaving the Chesapeake, a voyage of 6000 miles.

Valparaiso itself, like the coast of the country, wofully disappointed the expectations which they had formed of it. In the course of their long voyage they had amused themselves with reading the books that have been written concerning Chili. Almost all of them represent it as the ever-verdant garden of America, as another Sicily, which they describe in the most glowing colours. The fancy readily yields to such pleasing illusions, and we may easily imagine that, in the dull uniformity of the dark blue ocean, on the dreary coast of Terra del Fuego, and amidst the sufferings and dangers of the Antarctic storms, they would fondly look forward to the promised land, as a new Cythera, rising in youthful beauty from the bosom of the deep.

"The first place at which we anchored was in the mouth of the bay, between the fine English ship of the line, the Warspite, and the Mexican ship Asia, of sixty-four guns. Before us, in close tiers, lay more than eighty ships of all sizes, whose crews were engaged in the various occupations which always make the interior of a port an agreeable scene of human activity. The cloudless blue sky was spread over us, and the powerful beams of the sun were tempered by a cool breeze from the mountains. But this foreground was the only agreeable part of the picture. . . . . . . The novice from northern climes is usually struck, on his first arrival in a tropical country, with all the wonderful objects which surround him, now that he is far remote from his native home. But this is not the case in Valparaiso. We saunter down the only street in the city, towards the inconsiderable market-place. On both sides are shops filled with the productions of European industry, in some cases displayed with all the elegance of our large towns. They alternate with the spacious stores of the English merchants of the higher class, and with the taverns for the sailors, from which proceed sounds such as we hear only in London and Hamburg. Except at the sultry hours of noon, this busy mercantilo strect is thronged with people, the greater part of whom, however, are foreigners, and the language of England is almost more prevalent than the sonorous tones of the Spanish Peninsula. The

picturesque national costume is lost in the unmeaning fashions of the north of Europe, and even the booths of the peasants present nothing to remind us of the coasts of the Pacific. The market-place contains only such objects as we have seen from our youth up, growing in our own country, or which are at least common to all the southern parts of Europe. However excellent the grapes and oranges of the country may be, they want the attraction of novelty-even the expectation of finding some new productions in the neighbouring ravines (quebradas) is painfully disappointed. The few trees that grow on this rocky soil, which is covered with a very scanty layer of earth, are those of our hemisphere. No spreading tamarind, no lofty palm, no mango richly laden with fruit, remind us that we have traversed the wide expanse of the oceanscarcely a few grey olives bespeak the mildness of the climate. Even the few ornamental plants are European, and the garden rue (ruta hortensia) has found this so congenial a soil, that it has spread far and near, over the arid mountains and lands, to remind us still more forcibly of the shores of the Mediterranean."

Though there was so little to tempt the botanist in this dreary spot, yet the approach of the winter season, when he was assured that travelling in the interior would be equally difficult and unprofitable, induced him to stop for some months in Valparaiso. By the friendly intervention of some of his countrymen he obtained a small house in the suburb of Almendral, which had long been untenanted, and where he was soon settled, but suffered much from the incredible swarms of fleas, which are the plague of this country.

On the same day that he arrived in Valparaiso the Russian corvette Moller, Captain Stanikowich, came into the harbour, on her way to the Russian settlements on the north-west coast of America. The officers of this ship, most of them young men of the first families, well informed and full of enthusiasm, accompanied him in his first excursions in the environs. A few days later arrived another Russian corvette, the Siniavin, which had been in company with the Moller, but was separated from her in a storm off Cape Horn.

"I was not a little surprised to find in the naturalist of this ship not only a German, but an acquaintance. D. Mertens, son of the celebrated German botanist, accompanied the expedition as physician and botanist; and Baron Frederick von Kittlitz was on board as zoologist. There was a striking difference between the commanders of the two ships. The captain of the Moller, a native Russian, was anxious only for the immediate business of his voyage, and having taken in a supply of fresh provisions, soon put to sea. Captain Lütke, of the Siniavin, a very amiable and accomplished man, resolved, to the great joy of his officers and naturalists, to make a longer stay. A large house was hired in the suburb of Almendral, which the activity of the crew soon put in order, from the observatory to the kitchen, not forgetting