20 VIEWS OF NATURE. 



waters, the roar of the tiger-like jaguar, and the dull rain- 

 foreboding howl of the bearded ape (47). 



Where the shallower parts of the river disclose a sandbank, 

 the crocodile may be seen, with open jaws, and motionless as 

 a rock, its uncouth body often covered with birds (48) ; while 

 the chequered boa-constrictor, its tail lashed round the trunk 

 of a tree, lies coiled in ambush near the bank, ready to dart 

 with certain aim on its prey. Rapidly uncoiling, it stretches 

 forth its body to seize the young bull, or some feebler 

 prey, as it fords the stream, and moistening its victim with 

 a viscid secretion, laboriously forces it down its dilating 

 throat (49). 



In this grand and wild condition of nature dwell numerous 

 races of men. Separated by a remarkable diversity of lan- 

 guages, some are nomadic, unacquainted with agriculture, and 

 living on ants, gums, and earth, mere outcasts of humanity (50), 

 such as the Ottomaks and Jarures: others, for instance the 

 Maquiritares and Macos, have settled habitations, live on 

 fruits cultivated by themselves, are intelligent, and of gentler 

 manners. Extensive tracts between the Cassiquiare and 

 the Atabapo are inhabited solely by the Tapir and social 

 apes; not by man. Figures graven on the rocks (51) attest 

 that even these deserts were once the seat of a higher 

 civilization. They bear testimony, as do also the unequally 

 developed and varying languages (which are amongst the 

 oldest and most imperishable of the historical records of man), 

 to the changing destinies of nations. 



While on the Steppe tigers and crocodiles contend with 

 horses and cattle, so on the forest borders and in the 

 wilds of Guiana the hand of man is ever raised against his 

 fellow man. With revolting eagerness, some tribes drink 

 the flowing blood of their foes, whilst others, seemingly un- 

 armed, yet prepared for murder, deal certain death with a 

 poisoned thumb-nail (52). The feebler tribes, when they 

 tread the sandy shores, carefully efface with their hands the 

 traces of their trembling steps. 



