"Ah who can tell
The looks men cast on famished men;
The thoughts that came up there."
In the morning watch of the twenty-sixth of February, we "crossed the line" in longitude 29° 56' 50'' west, with such light breezes, that at meridian we had logged but 30' south. We escaped the usual visit of old Neptune upon entering the threshold of his dominions,—and as it was early morning, suppose the "Old Salt" was calmly reposing in the arms of Amphitrite. Seriously, I consider this custom of performing practical jokes in the character of Neptune, as "one more honored in the breach than the observance," and that no officer should endanger the discipline of his ship by allowing such unmannerly pranks as we read of having been performed, and where the initiated have paid the penalty with broken bones, sometimes with life.
At 5. 45. A. M. of the same day, the island of Fernando Noronha was made from the mast head, and as it gradually loomed to the vision, from the deck, its remarkable peak began to assume various shapes, mostly resolving themselves into the semblance of a high tower. It is on the north side of the island, and is called "the Pyramid;" is said to elevate its rocky proportions from the midst of a beautiful grove to the height of about one thousand feet above the level of the sea. Near its summit there is a station, from which a lookout can have supervision over the entire island, and the sea for many leagues on every point surrounding it.
The island of Fernando Noronha we found in latitude 3° 51' 04'' south, and longitude 32° 27' 15'' west. It was at one time much resorted to by whalers for provisions and water, although the scarcity of the latter at certain seasons, does not render it at all times desirable for this purpose. It is about seven miles long, and from two to three in breadth.
Noronha was at one time used by the Brazilian government as a place of transportation for criminals, principally those exiled for treason, and offenders against the state, and is said to contain some beautiful scenery; also to produce magnificent fruit. But we were not to linger there, and soon its peak, becoming more and more indistinct, sinking slowly, lost its proportions beneath the horizon.
The first day of what would have been called spring in our own beautiful land, was ushered in by an alarm of fire. The officers and the different messes were nearly all at breakfast when the signal for such an accident was given, and were not slow in obeying its summons; in less than a minute every one was at his station, when the smoke was discovered issuing from the galley funnel forward, into which a lazy cook, whose duty it was to have it properly cleaned every morning, had inserted some straw for the purpose of performing his duty more expeditiously and effectually; and indeed he had nearly succeeded in getting rid of it altogether, had it not been for the promptness of a forecastle man, who seizing a bucket of water, opportunely standing near him on the topgallant forecastle, dashed it down the funnel, preventing the flames from communicating with the foresail, and thus probably saved the ship.
Of all the numerous accidents to which a man-of-war is so peculiarly liable, that of destruction by fire is most likely to occur, and requires the strictest discipline to guard against; for this are established certain hours for smoking, and a stated period at night for the extinguishing of all lights; so that after ten o'clock the peopled ship speeds on her way, over the dark bosom of the heaving billows, with only the light in the binnacle to show her course upon the illuminated card, and the well-secured lamp in the cabin, by which her commander, anxious and unsleeping, traces her track along the corrected chart.
Upon the tenth day of March, Sunday, at seven bells in the last dog watch, we came to anchor in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro, off the town known generally by the name of the river, but originally called San Sebastian. After forty days at sea, the exact time made by the first voyageur, Noah, we were as anxious as he might be supposed to have been, to escape from his menagerie; for take it as you will, you will find Emerson's "Experience" to agree with yours in this respect, however you may differ from him in others, when he states in his essay with that title (which essay, par parenthesis, I was compelled to swallow in hospital for want of better mental aliment), that, "Every ship is a romantic object, except the one you sail in,—embark, and the romance quits your vessel, and hangs on every other sail in the horizon."
After, as I have said, this period of probation, in a vessel crowded almost to the extent of Noah's, and whose crew bore some resemblance to his, if one might judge from the growls on board—the prospect of a trip to the shore, fresh provender and iced drinks was delicious, especially as the Hotel of Pharoux had been so repeatedly extolled during the passage as a horn of plenty, abounding in delicacies, and our mouths had been so often made to water upon many a "banyan day," by the luscious descriptions of those who had on former occasions the happiness to have indulged therein. But alas! for human hopes and expectations;