which I suppose prey on these small attendants and scavengers of the
water-fowl. The often repeated description of the stately palm and
other noble tropical plants, then birds, and lastly man, taking
possession of the coral islets as soon as formed, in the Pacific, is
probably not correct; I fear it destroys the poetry of this story, that
feather and dirt-feeding and parasitic insects and spiders should be
the first inhabitants of newly formed oceanic land.
The smallest rock in the tropical seas, by giving a foundation for the
growth of innumerable kinds of sea-weed and compound animals, supports
likewise a large number of fish. The sharks and the seamen in the boats
maintained a constant struggle which should secure the greater share of
the prey caught by the fishing-lines. I have heard that a rock near
the Bermudas, lying many miles out at sea, and at a considerable depth,
was first discovered by the circumstance of fish having been observed
in the neighbourhood.
FERNANDO NORONHA, Feb. 20th.--As far as I was enabled to observe,
during the few hours we stayed at this place, the constitution of the
island is volcanic, but probably not of a recent date. The most
remarkable feature is a conical hill, about one thousand feet high, the
upper part of which is exceedingly steep, and on one side overhangs its
base. The rock is phonolite, and is divided into irregular columns. On
viewing one of these isolated masses, at first one is inclined to
believe that it has been suddenly pushed up in a semi-fluid state. At
St. Helena, however, I ascertained that some pinnacles, of a nearly
similar figure and constitution, had been formed by the injection of
melted rock into yielding strata, which thus had formed the moulds for
these gigantic obelisks. The whole island is covered with wood; but
from the dryness of the climate there is no appearance of luxuriance.
Half-way up the mountain, some great masses of the columnar rock,
shaded by laurel-like trees, and ornamented by others covered with fine
pink flowers but without a single leaf, gave a pleasing effect to the
nearer parts of the scenery.
BAHIA, OR SAN SALVADOR. BRAZIL, Feb. 29th.--The day has passed
delightfully. Delight itself, however, is a weak term to express the
feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has wandered by
himself in a Brazilian forest. The elegance of the grasses, the
novelty of the parasitical plants, the beauty of the flowers, the
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