The national character, however, can scarcely be considered as fully formed; the Brazilians have been too recently emancipated from the thraldom of a modified despotism to have made, as yet, any very great progress in developing the elements of national prosperity and greatness which the vast empire of Brazil so abundantly possesses, and the foul blot of slavery, with its debasing influence, still remains untouched.
CROSS THE SOUTH ATLANTIC.
On February 2nd we sailed from Rio for the Cape of Good Hope.

The morning being calm, we were towed out by the boats of the squadron until a light air, the precursor of the seabreeze, set in.

While hove-to outside the entrance, a haul of the dredge brought up the rare Terebratula rosea, and a small shell of a new genus, allied to Rissoa.

The remainder of the day and part of the succeeding one were spent in a fruitless search for a shoal said to exist in the neighbourhood, to which Captain Stanley's attention had been drawn by Captain Broughton, of H.M.S.

Curacao.
At one P.M.of each day, when the weather was favourable, the ship was hove-to for the purpose of obtaining observations on the temperature of the water at considerable depths, under the superintendence of Lieutenant Dayman.