indignant wind, and who had brought me here healthy and happy. Something was going on inside me that felt good but I had no words for; May Almighty God, during my pilgrimage to this new fatherland of mine, keep me as happy as I was when I took my first steps into it. After speaking with His Excellency, we went up to the town, to which the path leads through a sparse forest. We soon discovered two misconceptions that are common in Germany, namely that the flowers here don't smell and the magnificent birds shouldn't sing. Our noses and ears now convinced us of the opposite. When you look at the trees you notice

1) the umbrella-like crown,
2) the thin foliage, similar ( 045 ) to the foliage of our willows,
3) the bare, branchless trunk, but thick branches are not at all rare, but these form a trunk on their own and without small branches, except at the very tip,
4) the gradual peeling and renewal of the bark, similar to that of our plane trees(55).

There are no bushes or low undergrowth as far as I have come; that makes the New Holland forests light and bare; The grass is very thin, in small round bushes, around which the bare ground is visible. Of flowers we find only a few species that were small and close to the ground. There is absolutely no need to expect the paradise that the southern latitude of the country should lead you to expect and that which travelers would like to pretend to be. The lush growth of America with its enormously large and rich foliage, such as palm trees, bananas and the like, cannot be found here at all. Those who have been here for a long time console us by saying that there was no rain this year, which has made nature so poor.

After we had covered the 1 1/2 German miles from the shore to the city, we were hungry and thirsty. After we had eaten, we looked around a little and noticed the pretty little stone church with its tower, clock and bell. It is indeed a credit to English piety that they have provided a comfortable place of worship while the people themselves live in small huts. Not far from the church we saw for the first time a group of three natives, a man with two wives, then one of four, a man with two wives and a child. I spoke to both of them and found that the men were less inclined to be spoken to than the women. They are of medium height, the men have strong limbs, especially a high chest. Their hair is straight and severe black, hanging down in strong, somewhat long curls in the men, not infrequently smeared with a red ocher color to keep out the ( 046 ) heat. The women wear their hair the same as the men, a hand's breadth long and loose, only the curls and the ocher color are missing. The skin color is not nearly as black as that of Negroes, but rather brown; Their facial features are often very beautiful, the only feature that is ugly for European tastes is their smooth, broad nose. The women are not nearly as beautiful as the men; her face is not as long as that of men, her forehead is not as free, her chin is unadorned with the noble beard of men, but her cheeks are covered with thin, straight hair, contrary to all notions of feminine beauty.