On the tenth of June, 1837, I arrived in Rio from the Organ Mountains, and during the remainder of that month, July, August, and the early part of September, occupied myself in arranging and packing the collections brought down with me, and in making a few excursions in the neighbourhood. Having at length despatched everything for England, I took a passage for Pernambuco in H.M. Packet Opossum, being now desirous to explore the northern provinces. We sailed from Rio on the fifteenth of September and after a passage of thirteen days, during which we had much bad weather and contrary winds, reached Bahia. At three o’clock P.M., on the twenty-eighth, we came to an anchor in the bay opposite the city, and about a mile distant from it. As the land along this part of the coast rises only a few hundred feet above the level of the sea, it is not seen at so great a distance as the high lands are at Rio. In sailing up the bay, we kept pretty close to the shore, and I could not help remarking the great luxuriance of the vegetation. Cocoa-nut trees and other large palms are very abundant, and the mango trees are both larger and more numerous than those about Rio. The city of Bahia, when first seen, has a very imposing appearance, the greater part of it being built on the face of a hill, which rises about 500 feet above the sea, and the houses, most of which are of several stories, are all white-washed externally. The effect is much heightened by the great number of banana, orange, and cocoa-nut trees which are intermingled with the houses, the dark green leaves contrasting well with the white, and affording a pleasant relief to the eye. The Packet being allowed to remain here forty-eight hours, for the preparation of the mails for Pernambuco and England, I went on shore shortly after our arrival, with some of the other passengers.