178 FAREWELL TO RIO. sink into a state of humiliation and misery; every man thinks himself privileged to dictate to them, and to meddle with their affairs; the wretched condition of the slavemother who has nourished them at her breast, clings to them for ever. And look at the countenances of the children who are the fruits of these connexions; the majestic nobility of the human countenance is nowhere to be traced on their low mean foreheads; their feeble deformed limbs approach those of animals in form, and their instinct is as depraved as their minds and bodies; and, now, I will bid you adieu. Will you remember what I have said to you ?" And thereupon the old priest departed, leaving me in perfect bewilderment, caused by his vehement and impassioned language. On returning home I took great pains to write down his speech as correctly as possible, and this adventure is the last I have to recount of my sojourn in Brazil. I forgot to observe that the priest had eyes of a peculiar blue-such as Esquirol tells us are most often found among those individuals who are afflicted with strange mental delusions. CHAPTER V. THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. WE left Rio de Janeiro with our imaginations filled with the various wonders we had met with during our stay in Brazil; its exuberant and fertile soil, its large rivers overshadowed with gigantic trees, its beautiful cascades, and the numerous half-savage scenes to which we had been witnesses, returned with double force upon our minds; and as we watched the foaming track of the Syren with a dreamy listless air, we could not help bestowing a few regrets upon the rich and bounteous soil we were leaving behind us: thus is it always with man; he is ever delighted with that of which he has seen little, or of which he has had but a glimpse; though it is true that bitter experience does not always permit him to regret that he has not seen more of the object which pleased his fancy. The cloudless sky of Rio seemed at first to follow us during the early part of our voyage from this country to the Cape of Good Hope; a gentle breeze filled our sails, and the calm sea offered no resistance to the progress of our noble ship, the tranquil and majestic air of which was in perfect harmony with the unclouded sky which shone above our heads, and the blue ocean which cradled us on its bosom. But when we began to approach the African coast, the large noisy billows dashed rudely on our ship, 180 THE TABLE MOUNTAIN. while the wind howled round the mast; and the day before our arrival at the Cape we were enveloped by a thick mist, which hid from our view the coasts we were just beginning to perceive, and several other objects of which we had obtained a glimpse, while even the sails of the Victorious were rendered almost invisible ; indeed, the night became so very dark that both the vessels were compelled to beat a drum and sound bells on board to enable each other to judge of the distance between them by means of sound, and thus prevent a rencounter which might have been rather disastrous in its consequences. In general, the silence which reigns on board ship at night is seldom broken except by the voice of the officer on duty, or that of the sentinel on guard; as may be imagined these unusual and discordant noises produced anything but a lively impression on the crew; however, the night passed without any accident, and on the following morning, at sunrise, we could distinctly see the Table mountain, the summit of which was still enveloped in a light floating mist, which was fast disappearing before the gentle action of the breeze. There is something original and peculiar in the form of the Table mountain which gives a kind of character to the first sight of this coast; the most ordinary artist in the world might take a sketch in this pretty country, which would be neither common nor ordinary, and in that respect would differ greatly from those generally met with in keepsakes and albums all over the world: as its name implies, this mountain presents an immense surface of regular strata, reposing upon two gigantic blocks of marble, which are called the Head and Croup of the Lion from the situation we occupied we had an excel : |