ON THE CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO, 



Near A hires and May pur es. 



In the preceding section, which I made the subject of an 

 Academical Lecture, I have delineated those boundless plains, 

 whose natural character is so variously modified by climatic 

 relations, that what in one region appear as barren treeless 

 wastes or deserts, in another are Steppes or far-stretching 

 Prairies. With the Llanos of the southern portion of the 

 New Continent, may be contrasted the fearful sandy deserts 

 in the interior of Africa ; and these again with the Steppes of 

 Central Asia, the habitation of those world- storming herds- 

 men, who, once pouring forth from the east, spread barbarism 

 and devastation over the face of the earth. 



While on that occasion (1806), I ventured to combine 

 many massive features in one grand picture of nature, and 

 endeavoured to entertain a public assembly with subjects, 

 somewhat in accordance with the gloomy condition of our 

 minds at that period, I will now, confining myself to a more 

 limited circle of phenomena, pourtray in brighter tints the 

 cheerful picture of a luxuriant vegetation, and fluvial valleys 

 with their foaming mountain torrents. I will describe two 

 scenes of Nature from the wild regions of Guiana, — Attires 

 and Maypures, the far-famed Cataracts of the Orinoco, 

 — which, previously to my own travels, had been visited by 

 few Europeans. 



The impression which is left on the mind by the aspect of 

 natural scenery is less determined by the peculiar character 

 of the region, than by the varied nature of the light through 



