( 380 ) 



Notice of Captain Alexander'' s Journey in America. In ex- 

 tracts of a Letter to Professor Jameson. 



On the 7th of April last I left the port of London for South 

 America, and after encountering the usual perils of the ocean, 

 arrived at Guiana. There I wandered " in the Bush," among 

 various Indian tribes, on the banks of the mighty Essequebo 

 River, the Mazeroony, and Pomeroon ; their fertilizing streams 

 descending from the Andes, and pouring through a rich, but 

 almost untrodden country, towards the Atlantic. Ypu are 

 well aware, that Guiana is not only rich in a productive soil, but 

 also in splendid objects of natural history. Forests of vast ex- 

 tent, composed of majestic trees, linked together, and anchored 

 to the ground by parasitical plants twining round their stems, 

 and hanging in festoons of flowers from their branches, first 

 arrest the attention of the traveller. Then each tree sup- 

 ports one immense colony : by means of the Bajna or wild vine, 

 the opossum and other quadrupeds who would be unable to as- 

 cend the smooth cylinder of the shrub, mount to the loftiest 

 branches, and drink from the cup of the wild pine the purest 

 water. The black nests of the comagen, or wood-louse, are at- 

 tached to the forked limbs of the tree, and from them proceed 

 their covered rings of clay to the ground. Humming birds, 

 with the metallic lustre of their plumage, glistening in the sun- 

 beams, sip the honey from the flowers ; and other birds, decked 

 in the gayest colours, hang like blossoms among the leaves. 

 The solitary cock of the rock, resplendent in a coat of orange, is 

 seen at rare intervals ; the Campanero or bell-bird is heard in 

 the deep recesses of the forest, sending forth its peculiarly ro- 

 mantic note. Then, on the top of " the towering and majestic 

 moro"" sits the king of the vultures, spreading out its wings, wet 

 with the night-dews, to dry in the noon-day sun ; and as the 

 shades of evening begin to close, screaming parrots, in pairs, are 

 seen hastening from their feeding grounds to their favourite 

 perches ; and the obscene vampire leaves his retreat, and flits 

 away up the shady banks of the deep river. 



The river bears on its bosom leaves, seeds, and nuts, from 

 the far off* wilderness, and is inhabited by numerous strange and 

 often hideous looking creatures. The Eldorado of Sir Walter 



