some days, but by an unaccountable negligence not
sent.

We did not get under sail till the 7th; and when we had passed the fort,
the pilot desired to be discharged. As soon as he was dismissed, we were
left by our guard-boat, which had hovered about us from the first hour
of our being in this place to the last: And Mr Banks, having been
prevented from going ashore at Rio de Janeiro, availed himself of her
departure to examine the neighbouring islands, where, particularly on
one in the mouth of the harbour called Raza, he gathered many species of
plants, and caught a variety of insects.

It is remarkable, that, during the last three or four days of our
staying in this harbour, the air was loaded with butterflies: They were
chiefly of one sort, but in such numbers that thousands were in view in
every direction, and the greatest part of them above our mast-head.

We lay here from the 14th of November to the 7th of December, something
more than three weeks, during which time Mr Monkhouse, our surgeon, was
on shore every day to buy our provisions; Dr Solander was on shore once;
I was several times on shore myself, and Mr Banks also found means to
get into the country, notwithstanding the watch that was set over us. I
shall, therefore, with the intelligence obtained from these gentlemen,
and my own observations, give some account of the town, and the country
adjacent.

Rio de Janeiro, or the river of Januarius, was probably so called from
its having been discovered on the feast-day of that saint; and the town,
which is the capital of the Portuguese dominions in America, derives its
name from the river, which indeed is rather an arm of the sea, for it
did not appear to receive any considerable stream of fresh water: It
stands on a plain, close to the shore, on the west side of the bay, at
the foot of several high mountains which rise behind it. It is neither
ill designed nor ill built; the houses, in general, are of stone, and
two stories high; every house having, after the manner of the
Portuguese, a little balcony before its windows, and a lattice of wood
before the balcony. I computed its circuit to be about three miles; for
it appears to be equal in size to the largest country towns in England,
Bristol and Liverpool not excepted; the streets are straight, and of a
convenient breadth, intersecting each other at right angles; the greater
part, however, lie in a line with the citadel called St Sebastian, which
stands on