9th.—Passed near the islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul’s.
THE SOUTHERN CROSS.
10th.—Lat. S. 35° 54′, long. E. 79° 28′. I was called on deck at 10 P.M. to witness an extraordinary appearance at the rising of the moon: it was very dark,—a heavy black cloud spread along the horizon, in the midst of which the half-moon on the edge of the sea shone forth of an ominous dark red colour in the fog, and was reflected on the waves. One solitary bird alone broke the darkness of the sea. Above, in the deep blue sky, the Southern Cross shone in beauty; the Pointers in Centaurus were brilliant, and the black Magellan cloud was distinctly visible between the stars in the Cross, looking like a hollow in the sky. Alluding to the Cross of the South:—“Una croce maravigliosa, e di tanta bellezza,” says Andrea Corsali, a Florentine, writing to Giuliano Medicis, in 1515, “che non mi pare ad alcuno segno celeste doverla comparare. E sío non mi inganno credo che sia questo il crusero di che Dante parlò nel principio del Purgatorio con spirito profetico, dicendo,
“Io mi volsi a man destra, e posi mente
All’ altro polo, e vidi quattro stelle
Non viste mai, fuor ch’alla prima gente.
Goder pareva’l ciel di lor fiammelle.
O settentrïonal vedovo sito,
Poichè privato se’di mirar quelle!”
It is still sacred in the eyes of the Spaniards: “Un sentiment religieux les attache à une constellation dont la forme leur rapelle ce signe de la foi planté par leurs ancêstres dans les déserts du nouveau monde.”