漫步巴西森林

February 29th, 1832

1832年2月29日

The day has past delightfully. Delight itself, however, is a weak term to express the feelings of a naturalist who, for the first time, has been wandering by himself in a Brazilian forest. Among the multitude of striking objects, the general luxuriance of the vegetation bears away the victory. The elegance of the grasses, the novelty of the parasitical plants, the beauty of the flowers, the glossy green of the foliage, all tend to this end. A most paradoxical mixture of sound and silence pervades the shady parts of the wood. The noise from the insects is so loud, that it may be heard even in a vessel anchored several hundred yards from the shore; yet within the recesses of the forest a universal silence appears to reign. To a person fond of natural history, such a day as this, brings with it a deeper pleasure than he ever can hope again to experience. After wandering about for some hours, I returned to the landing-place; but, before reaching it. I was overtaken by a tropical storm. 1 tried to find shelter under a tree which was so thick that it would never have been penetrated by common English rain; but here, in a couple of minutes, a little torrent flowed down the trunk. It is to this violence of the rain we must attribute the verdure at the bottom of the thickest woods: if the showers were like those of a colder climate, the greater part would be absorbed or evaporated before it reached the ground. I will not at present attempt to describe the gaudy scenery of this noble bay, because, in our homeward voyage, we called here a second time, and I shall then have occasion to remark on it.

這一天過得很愉快。然而，愉快這個詞還不足以表達一個博物學家首次獨自漫步巴西森林的感受。在眾多惹人注目的事物中，植被的繁茂最為引人入勝。草木優(yōu)雅，寄生植物新奇，百花艷麗，樹葉翠綠欲滴，所有的一切使得這里的植被拔得頭籌。林蔭間彌漫著喧囂和寂靜這對十分矛盾的組合。昆蟲的叫聲如此響亮，即使是在離岸兒百碼外停泊的船只上也能聽到，而森林深處卻似乎完全為沉寂所籠罩。對于一個深愛著博物學的人來說，這樣的一天帶來的無比歡樂是他以后很難再期望重新經(jīng)歷的。漫步數(shù)小時后，我準備返回登陸的地方。但是在回去之前，我遇上了一場熱帶暴雨。我試著在一棵樹下避雨，這棵大樹非常茂盛。英國的雨水是絕不會穿透它茂密的枝葉的?？墒牵谶@里，不到幾分鐘工夫，一條小小的瀑布便沿著樹干順流而下。然而，正因為雨水的猛烈才使得繁茂森林的最低處也如此郁郁蔥蔥，如果陣雨像寒冷氣候中的那樣，人部分水分在達到地面之前就被吸收或蒸發(fā)了。因為在返回的途中，我們還會再次造訪這里，我現(xiàn)在暫時不打算描繪這個瑰麗海灣的絢麗景色了，到那時我會有機會對它進行評說的。

The geology of the surrounding country possesses little interest. Throughout the coast of Brazil, and certainly for a considerable space inland from the Rio Plata to Cape St. Roque, lat. 5° S., a distance of more than 2000 geographical miles, wherever solid rock occurs, it belongs to a granitic formation. The circumstance of this enormous area being thus constituted of materials, which almost every geologist believes have been crystallized by the action of heat under pressure, gives rise to many curious reflections. Was this effect produced beneath the depths of a profound ocean? Or did a covering of strata formerly extend over it, which has since been removed? Can we believe that any power, action for a time short of infinity, could have denuded the granite over so many thousand square leagues?

周圍地區(qū)的地質(zhì)情祝沒有什么特別之處。巴西整個海岸，當然還有內(nèi)陸很大一片區(qū)域，即從拉普拉塔到南緯5度的圣羅克海角2000多英里的地理范圍內(nèi)，只要是有堅固巖石的地方，都屬于花崗巖地層。為此幾乎每一位地質(zhì)學家都認為這片廣袤區(qū)域的組成物質(zhì)是在壓力作用下受熱結(jié)晶形成的，但這樣的地質(zhì)狀況本身引起了許多好奇者的思考。這個作用過程是在海洋深處發(fā)生的嗎?以前它上面是還覆蓋著一層底層，而后被移開了嗎?我們是否可以相信有種力量經(jīng)過漫長時期的作用，能夠?qū)⑷绱藥浊椒焦锓秶幕◢弾r侵蝕掉呢?