Ritter von Karl Scherzer

“ Frequently did we experience a glow of thankfulness to all-bounteous Nature, as often as some hospitable native handed to us for our refreshment, exhausted and thirsty as we were after our fatiguing wanderings, a green cocoa-nut, that vegetable spring of the tropical forest. ”

“ Delightful and striking is the first impression of Funchal, its luxuriant gardens smiling with gorgeous flowers, and its mountain sides cultivated almost to their summits; and although59 the grander and more gigantic forms of true tropical vegetation are wanting, and the landscape displays rather the character of an island off the shores of Italy than of the torrid zone—still Nature exhibits herself here with such varied charms that imagination can scarcely conceive a sweeter or lovelier scene. ”

“ The houses are usually one storey, very plain and unpretending but scrupulously clean. The stranger who wanders though Guillota, and becomes sensible of the filth and dust in the streets, and the entire absence of comfort within-doors, is apt to puzzle himself how the place came to be selected for a summer resort of the fashionable world, as indeed he may marvel how the Spanish navigators, to whom Valparaiso is indebted for its name, contrived to associate the idea of the Vale of Paradise with its sandy hills and glades bare of vegetation. ”

“ Close to the shore, among some scattered palm-trees, stood a few wretched huts, compared with which the bee-hive huts of the Nicobar Islanders appear like palaces. They consisted of a roofing woven of cocoa-nut palm-leaves, planted upon the naked soil which serves as a floor, and closed in front and rear with mats of similar texture. The interior was no less poverty-stricken than the exterior. ”

“ The dreary, uncomfortable feeling left by the city, gives way to most enjoyable impressions so soon as one emerges from the suburbs of Rio, and seeks compensation for the absence of the appliances of European civilization in the eternal grace and majesty of Nature. Walks may be taken in every direction, each opening up a fresh point of view, while, if the visitor take horse or mule, he may in the course of an hour or two transport himself into the very midst of the most extraordinary features of tropical vegetation. ”

“ The town of Panama (many fish) , built on low green hills amid the most magnificent forms of tropical vegetation, presents when viewed from seaward a most lovely, enchanting aspect, especially to the traveller coming from the sterile sandy shores of the west coast of South America. As soon, however, as he sets foot on the shore, and has entered the precincts of the city, his first pleasing impressions are rudely dispelled. The streets are everywhere narrow and filthy, the houses low and poverty-stricken in appearance; even upon their roofs the luxuriance of tropical vegetation bursts forth! ”

“ Every brook and river overflows its banks, covering with a tide of muddy brown water the alluvial soil wrested from the bed of ocean, while the frogs croak incessantly day and night, and the lizards and snakes emerge from their holes, and creep into every corner of the dwellings of every man; all through the hours of darkness is heard the loud thousand-voiced hum of insects, of myriads of mosquitoes, till it is hardly possible to find a dry place throughout the house. ”

“ At the culminating point of the latter pass, which surpasses even Paine's Kloef in height and width, one stands as upon the ruins of a lofty tower, from which the eye can range at will over the entire country beneath. South-east and eastward towers the Hauw-Hoek Pass, while southwards and westwards the charming Lowry's Vale, and far in the distance the smiling settlement of Somerset-West come into view, while all around, farther than the eye can reach, are luxuriant pasturages, that only wait to be settled and cultivated in order to produce magnificent returns. ”

“ We, your Maori children, are now sighing in sorrow together with you, even with a sorrow like to yours. All we can now do is to weep together with you. Oh, our good mother, who hast nourished us, your ignorant children of this island, even to this day!
We have just heard the crash of the huge-headed forest tree which has untimely fallen, ere it had attained its full growth of greatness.
Oh, good lady, pray look with favour on our love. Although we may have been perverse children, we have ever loved you.
This is our lament.507
Great is the pain which preys on me for the loss of my beloved. ”

“ The charms of beautiful walks, and a most enchanting neighbourhood, enhance the pleasantness of the climate of Funchal so much resorted to by invalids. In the interior of the town, not far from the sea-shore, splendid avenues of magnificent planes, large-flowered magnolias, and massive oaks, form delightful promenades, and afford repose and shade on numerous seats under the dense foliage of their wide-spreading branches. ”

“ Our people is as much the friend of order and justice as of liberty and independence. To obey willingly it only desires from its governors honesty, activity, loyalty to institutions, patriotism, and respect for the ever moderate wishes of the country. The nation hates civil war, not alone from reason, but from instinct; it has not spontaneously sought the sad experience it has had of this terrible calamity; our strifes have not come from below; the incendiary torch fell from the seat of the chief Government. ”

“ The park with its fragrant shady aisles, its majestic leafy domes, impervious even to the rays of the tropical sun, its huge piles of rock round which clamber the immense roots of gigantic fig-trees, its deliciously cool atmosphere, its soft green velvet paths, its heaps of ruined walls, and its death-like quietness, seems as though destined for the asylum of an exiled poet, who, instead of lamenting his destiny like common men in sullen silence, felt 395his spirit roused amid this wonderful tropical beauty to fresh sublime efforts,—"Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme!" ”

“ However beautiful, however inspiring the prospect of our task; however inviting the magnificent ocean that lay extended under our eyes, magically lit up by the silvery beams of the bright moon shining from a starry sky, yet the painful sensations of parting with that old world, with which so many pleasing associations—so many cherished recollections were bound up, had a powerful influence, and gave rise to melancholy impressions, of which we were only relieved by the comforting hope that we should one day return to all so dear to us. ”

“ Although evening surprised us ere we returned to Santiago from Maipú, and a dense mist hung over the landscape quite precluding all views for the greatest part of the road, we were so fortunate, shortly before our arrival at the city, as to be favoured with a glimpse of the majestic range of the Cordillera, lit up by the declining rays of the sun, a spectacle resembling the sunset splendours of the Alps in Switzerland ”

“ Scarcely is it possible to conceive a richer landscape, recalling as it were the primeval days of earth in all the luxuriance of Nature in the flush of youth, than this forest of tree-ferns, enveloped in clouds of warm vapour, which rise from this volcanic spring, close alongside of a clear, cold mountain torrent, which just here leaps into the same chasm! ”

“ We passed the largest of the islands in the bay, the Ilha do Governador, which has a circumference of upwards of seven miles, and is inhabited by about a hundred persons chiefly employed in the chalk-kilns, sail-cloth and soap manufactories; and touched at some wild spots that promised a harvest for our naturalists. Here and there, from the deep blue waters, sprang up islands of the most luxuriant vegetation, like tropical idylls of rock and forest, such as the eye marvels to rest upon, but the pen refuses to describe. ”

“ Dense clouds of vapour filled the abyss below, from which at a considerable depth and in various directions issued the most appalling sounds, as though hundreds of steam engines were sobbing at work far beneath us, or like the broken sound of water falling in spray from a great height upon the rocks. Some dead trees standing on the brink of the abyss had a blackened appearance as though they had been charred, which we ascribed to the sulphureous vapours, that must be evolved with most destructive power when the crater is in full activity. ”

“ He who merely lands at a seaport such as Valparaiso, and wanders through its lengthy but elegant streets, carries away with him no just conception of Chile and the life of the country beyond the Andes. Everything about the town, houses, shops, and population, has quite a European aspect, so that the stranger walking through some of the streets with their lofty grey edifices, gay signs, and large and splendid magazines, abounding in everything that can minister to human luxury, might readily fancy himself transported to some northern European capital. ”

“ It is hardly possible to conceive any town occupying a more dreary dismal site, with the exception, perhaps, of some of the Peruvian settlements on the west coast of South America. While the eye, below this row of houses, beholds nothing but granite rocks thickly strewn with shells, the main street is overhung by steep sandstone rocks, which, despite the marvellous richness of the blooming flowers, that well repay the researches of the naturalist, have a naked gloomy aspect, viewed from a distance, and are environed right and left by waste patches of white sand. ”

“ The tones work like enchantment upon the people at whatever distance they may be audible, and for a few moments a profound silence succeeds to the noise and bustle. The labourer and the promenader, the ladies and gentlemen of the upper ranks in their elegant carriages, as well as the poor Tagale returning homeward from his hard day's work, and driving his laden mule before him, are for the space of an instant awed by the solemn sounds. ”

“ The villas and farms on either side of the road, or at the foot of the hills, buried in their splendid flower-gardens, formed a charming contrast with the ancient lava currents, stretching in every direction and over-grown with tree-ferns and dense coppice. Now and then horses were rolling about upon the velvet-like meadows, or herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were passed feeding and ruminating, and bearing ample testimony to the advanced stage of material progress so quickly attained by one of the youngest of English colonies. ”

“ We seemed as though driving through a park inhabited by thousands of men, and planted with cocoa-nut palms—amidst which occasionally the white dome of a Buddhist temple, or the minarets of a Mahometan mosque, shooting up above the summits of the palms, imparted an aspect of life to the landscape—while in the gay bazaars that fringed the road, the few necessaries of life required by the exceedingly frugal natives were exposed for sale, temptingly arranged on palm or plantain leaves. ”

“ Can we feel surprised that naked men, who do not inhabit the more favourably situated spots ventilated by regular winds, but live on the swampy coast, in the sandy bays that are fringed with a forest belt, where they can grow their cocoa-palms with the least labour to themselves, who leave their bodies exposed now to the violence of tropical rains, now to the fiery rays of a tropical sun, and whose food consists almost exclusively of cocoa-nuts and the fruit of the pandanus,—can we wonder that they should be in an especial degree subject to disease? ”

“ England has comprehended better than Germany how to utilize the energies of such of her children as emigrate to distant quarters of the globe, and to make them subservient to her own advancement as well; she evinced the most anxious solicitude for these pioneers of progress, extended her protection to them, flung the aegis of her own power over their adopted home, regarding each new settlement as but an extension of the limit of her empire, as an enlargement of the sources whence she drew the materials for her industrial handicrafts, as a new market for her manufactures! ”

“ As far as Caltura, where our amiable Father Miliani was in waiting for us with his neat single-horse equipage, to convey us to the beautiful parsonage of St. Sebastian Makùn, all went tolerably smoothly with us. We arrived, as had been concerted, to breakfast with this hospitable shepherd of souls. On our way to the parsonage, we noticed that great respect was paid to the worthy Father, by such of the Cingalese as met us. Their usual salutation was to bend themselves to the earth, veiling their eyes at the same time, and bending forward the outstretched head as though to implore a blessing. ”

“ Yet though we were rewarded with such poor sport, our stay among the splendid woods of the Keira range sufficiently repaid us. The most varied and luxuriant forms of vegetation, changing at every step, almost transcend the wanderer's power of description by their marvellous and enrapturing beauty. Some portions of the forest landscape, where splendid 38tree-ferns and gigantic gum trees, enveloped in the folds of the Liana, from which in its turn depended exquisite parasitic plants, reminded us of the brilliant profusion of the tropics. ”

“ We now followed up a narrow footpath, which led to a gently-sloping eminence behind the huts, and soon found ourselves surrounded by bread-fruit trees and banana, while from time to time a black basaltic rock cropped out from among the red, marl-like soil, and beautiful small lizards with sapphire-blue tails that shone with a metallic lustre, shot about with the velocity of an arrow among the stones. The prevailing formation, as in almost all the volcanic islands of the Pacific, is an amorphous basalt-lava, full of olivin and porphyry. ”

“ Andrea, near the shore, were thronged with spectators, and the fair and lovely picture of our native coast developed itself once more before our eyes, clad in all its charms of spring, as if to wish us a hearty farewell, an auspicious voyage, and a happy return!
At 8 o'clock a. m. we weighed anchor, and the steamer Sta. Lucia approached the Novara for the purpose of towing her from the Bay of Muggia into the roads of Trieste. She had all her colours displayed, and saluted the city of Trieste, Austria's chief and most important emporium, with 21 guns. ”

“ About 11 P.M. the same night we were off the insignificant little harbour of Huasco, and about nine next morning ran into Caldera, a dreary-looking little place of some 2000 inhabitants, built upon one of a succession of sand-slopes. There is not a trace of vegetation; no foliage, no shrubs, no patches of grass,—all around as far as the eye could reach was a cheerless waste of sand. Only extraordinary opportunities for money-making could have induced the inhabitants to settle in this desolate wilderness, deficient in the very first necessity of life—fresh water. ”

“ How out of place, accordingly, does social or intellectual life appear in such countries, as compared with the colonies settled in temperate climates, in North America, at the Cape, in Australia, in New Zealand, in all of which the immigrant population is of a fixed character, building up for themselves a second home, and clinging with love and gratitude to the soil that gives them sustenance, and on which their sons will grow up, under the invigorating influences of free institutions, into free, prosperous, self-relying men! ”

“ At our feet lay stretched out the city itself, with the beautiful valleys of Larangeiras, Engenho Velho, and Catumbý Grande. On the other side of the bay, just opposite Rio, is Praya Grande, the capital of the province, and in the background the lofty, spectre-like mountain-chain of the Organos—so called from the rocky peaks projecting like so many organ-pipes. What a wondrous prospect! It is scarcely possible to have, from a single point of view, a grander or more varied natural picture. ”

“ The state of affairs in Bolivia affords a marked example of how closely the development of a country is connected with the fact of its possessing more or less of sea-coast. How great is the commerce, the. prosperity, and the civilization of Chile, a proportionally small strip of not over-fertile soil, but the entire extent of which is sea-coast, compared with the poverty and barbarism of the interior state of Bolivia, so admirably fitted by nature for raising all manner of valuable produce, but whose sole means of communication with the rest of the world is through one insignificant harbour! ”

“ The trees, instead of stretching out their brown limbs to the air and light above, left them to droop sullenly to the ground, turning themselves, as though in pain, away from the rude wind which swept through their branches, and, as it were, seeking for warmth and sustenance from mother Earth alone. ”

“ Slaves also are treated here with more humanity and less prejudice than in any other country visited by me, on which the curse of slavery yet rests; yet it must be confessed, without hesitation, that slavery, as beheld in Brazil, seems even a greater misfortune to the white population than to the black; for neither agriculture nor industry can thrive in a country where labour is not considered, as in free States, an honourable occupation—but rather as a disgrace—in consequence of its being performed by slaves. ”

“ Insatiable as sharks, greedy as a set of silk-worms upon a mulberry tree, the more you get the more you want. Even our most trifling profit you have taken to yourselves. Now, however, the cup is full, Heaven in its wrath has decreed your destruction,—our people shall cut you off with divine weapons of fire. Hearken now, O people, to the four following rules for the extermination of the barbarians: All barbarians must be beheaded, that our reproach may be removed, and our Middle Kingdom be no longer insulted. ”

“ Even the traveller fresh from the voluptuous loveliness of the tropics, finds ever new beauties in the manifold variety of nature. The more the student of Nature walks with her and finds in her his chief pleasures, the more receptive does his soul become for all that is marvellous and beautiful, as from day to day they present themselves in new and unexpected phases. ”

“ It may, however, be permitted to observe, that a sunrise at sea, notwithstanding its various charms, is by far less imposing than the same scene on a lofty mountain, where the veil of night seems to vanish as if by magic, and luxuriant nature lies at our feet like a smiling infant awaking from a lovely dream. ”

“ All the splendid territories from Peru to Mexico have, after three centuries of Spanish rule, sunk into a state of demoralization and degeneracy, owing to the listless, labour-hating, sluggish mestizo races that inhabit it, such as only the immigration of one of the hardy northern races can ever adequately remedy. In a previous visit to Central America, I have wandered through its rich scenery, clad in the hues of perpetual summer, and smiling in exuberance of fertility, and everywhere the same impression was made upon me. ”

“ Hardly any spot, indeed, can be named more suitable for thus expiating crime than this remote island, where the white man, face to face with nature in a new and unwonted aspect, and at the mercy of a savage people, often deprived for months of the consolations and support of civilization, finds in his solitude ample opportunity to reflect upon the enormity of his guilt, and to mourn over his own evil fortune. ”