ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



933 



Lammer Geyer, or Alpine vulture 

 of Europe, its extreme length be- 

 ing only three feet and a half, and 

 its breadth across the wings nine 

 feet. Thecondor pursues the small 

 deer of the Andes, and commits 

 very considerable havoc among 

 sheep and heifers. It tears out the 

 eyes and the tongue, and leaves the 

 wretched animal to languish and 

 expire. Estimating from very pro- 

 bable data, this bird skims whole 

 hours at the height of four miles; 

 and its power of wing must be pro- 

 digious, and its pliancy of organs 

 most astonishing, since in an in- 

 stant it can dart from the chill re- 

 gion of mid-air to the sultry shores 

 of the ocean, 



"The condor is sometimes caught 

 alive, by means of a slip-cord; and 

 this chase, termed correr buitres, is, 

 next to a bull-fight, the most fa- 

 vourite diversion of the Spanish co- 

 lonists. The dead carcase of a cow 

 or horse soon attracts from a dis- 

 tance crowds of these birds, which 

 have a most acute scent. They fall 

 on with incredible voracity; de- 

 vour the eyes and the tongue of the 

 animal, and plunging through the 

 anus, gorge themselves with the 

 entrails. In this drowsy plight they 

 are approached by the Indians, who 

 easily throw a noose over them. 

 The condor, thus entangled, looks 

 shy and sullen ; it is most tena- 

 cious of life, and is therefore made 

 to suffer a variety of protracted 

 tortures." 



"In South America we find plains 

 of immense extent. The Llanos 

 (plains), or savannahs, extending 

 to a vast distance from the borders 

 of the Oronooko, resemble the 

 smooth surface of the ocean. Co- 



vered with a slight layer of earth, 

 moistened by dew, or inundated 

 with periodical rains, though des- 

 titute of trees and running water, 

 produce in abundance a species of 

 tallandspongy grass, that nourishes 

 immense herds of cattle, which, 

 since the conquest of America, have 

 become wild, and live in a state of 

 nature. The pampos of Buenos 

 Ayres are of the same description, 

 and still greater extent. Amidst 

 the tufted grass live a kind of dogs 

 that do not bark, that have become 

 wild and live in holes, from whence 

 they dart with fury on the weary 

 traveller. It is under the happy 

 climate of the meridional regions, 

 that nature has multiplied her ve- 

 getable productions with equal va- 

 riety and splendor ; here reigns a 

 perpetual spring, and fruits succeed 

 fruits, without interruption, on their 

 ever-green bark." 



An observation was made by 

 Humboldt, which will, no doubt, at- 

 tract the attention, and may, per- 

 haps, occasion some embarrassment 

 to geologists. What have been call- 

 led secondary Jormat ions are of im- 

 mense thickness, and are found at an 

 immense height. In the neighbour- 

 hood of Santa Fe we find beds of 

 coal at the height of 8,500 feet 

 above the level of the sea, and, 

 near Huanooko, in Peru, at the 

 height of 14,700. Fossils which 

 have never been discovered in the 

 Old World at a greater elevation 

 than that of the Pyrenees, that is, 

 11,700 feet, are found in Peru, at 

 12,800, and even 14,120 feet above 

 the level of the sea. The basaltes 

 of Pichincha is found at an elevation 

 of 15,500 feet, whilst its greatest 

 elevation in the Old World is 4,225 



feeU 



