On the 22d of May, we discovered, at a distance, Cape Frio, a discovery which always fills with joy the breasts of those making a voyage to this part of the world. And no wonder. For having launched out upon the wide immeasurable ocean, where uncertainty and dangers always accompany him, man, at this refreshing sight, feels reassured of his safety, and obtains a promise of the eventual success of his voyage. Besides, he experiences a rich glow of mind at viewing the natural element of his support and existence, and a feeling of deep interest on beholding, if for the first time, a new portion of the world. From this promontory, the coast swells in a north-east direction to Cape St. Roque, forming the most easterly portion of territory in South America. Rio de Janeiro lies exactly west from, and in the same latitude with, Cape Frio, at a distance of about eighty miles. The coast betwixt them presents a continued appearance of rugged mountains, and through every aperture they are seen undulating in accumulated alpines far back into the interior of this vast continent. Tremendous precipices, at every opening of the nearer mountains, strike the imagination with wonder, snowy clouds occasionally obscuring the contracted valleys at their feet, and resting in detached and airy vapours upon their sides, whilst their summits and other parts are brightened by the purest atmosphere and sunshine. This scene conveys to the European traveller a grand idea and foretaste of the peculiar magnificence of size and aspect, with which nature has displayed herself in the new continent. After proceeding about forty miles along this shore, a view is commanded from Cape Frio to Gavea, or the Parrot’s Beak, a distance of near one hundred miles. The entrance, through a narrow inlet amongst the mountains, to the bay of Rio de Janeiro, is pointed out by one of a singular shape, resembling a sugar-loaf, the strata of which it is composed appearing to run perpendicularly. Here is presented one of the most picturesque and beautiful scenes that can well be imagined. Abrupt and towering precipices of wild and fanciful shapes, universally robed in verdant shrubs of various kinds, surround this fine bay, containing nearly one hundred islands, to the circumference of which the eye cannot extend. The bases of these mountains, consisting of granite, are beautified with numerous sweeping crescents of more perfect cultivation, edged with white cottages and houses, from whence narrow valleys, adorned with orange trees, are seen winding amongst the mountains. The clear, sunny, and smiling face of nature; the verdant islands, which look in their loveliness as if they were intended for the abode of beings more refined in intellect and more pure in heart than weak and erring man; the shipping dispersed about the bay, the city seen at a distance, combined with an airy and elegant aqueduct, which conveys from the mountains water for the supply of the town, all impressing the idea of