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26 the most distant perspective, convince you what endless beauties of nature there must be in the whole country.

Beautiful bays indented the harbour on both sides, between the mountains, some had rows of houses facing them with avenues of trees, each little bay looking some-thing like an English watering place. On the south, or left side ranges the city of Rio, with its 300,000 inhabitants, on its very irregular site; for it seems intersected almost everywhere with bays. Islands, and promontories stand forward into the harbour, with lofty tropical trees, ancient monastic buildings, nunneries, and mansions, overhanging the water and crowning their summits. I positively came away without sketching any one of the magnificent views that struck me, both from sea and land, from the ship; for while each one was worthy of being had in remembrance, the eye was lost in the multitude of their beauties.

The city extends by the water side about five miles, winding into the different indentations. The harbour is about twenty-five miles long, by from five to seven wide; and it is studded with islands. At its farther end the land rises in broken masses of grassy hills, terminating beyond them in the distant Organ mountains, which raise themselves to the clouds in a long and lofty outline. Some lofty rocky peaks rise in front of them, which are supposed to be like the pipes of an organ, from which the hills take their name. The most notable conical hills on the left, as you enter, are Tichuga, 3600 feet high, the Corcovada, 2400, and others of nearly the same height. The harbour has numerous flag ships stationed there, and vessels of all nations are congregated;