842 THE BEA80N WHY. 



'The Lord is my light and my salvation ; whom shall I fear P the Lord is the 

 strength of my life ; of whom shall I be afraid ?" PSALM xxvn. 



side, an innumerable quantity of aquatics leave its course for the West Iiidrv 

 islands on the north, and the valley of the Amazton on the south, the increased 

 depth of the river, and the flooded state of the shores, depriving thcin of tho 

 usual supply of fish and insects. Upon the stream decreasing, and retiring 

 within its bed, the birds return. 



1331. A comparison between the quadrupeds of the Old and New Worlds i> i i 

 every point strikingly in favour of the former. Not only has the western 

 continent no animals of such giant bulk as those of the eastern, but no 

 examples of such high organisation, such power and courage, as the African lion 

 and the Asiatic tiger display. Buffon's remark must indeed be considerably 

 modified, respecting the cowardice of the American feline race; for the jaguar 

 of the woods about the Amazon, when attacked by man, will not hesitate to 

 accept his challenge, will even become the assailant, nor shrink from an 

 encounter against the greatest odds. The following passages from the writings 

 of Humboldt show that this transatlantic animal is not to be despised : 



" The night was gloomy ; the Devil's Wall and its denticulated rocks appeared 

 from time to time at a distance, illuminated by the burning of the savannahs, 

 or wrapped in ruddy smoke. At the spot where the bushes were the thickest, 

 our horses were frightened by the yell of an animal that seemed to follow us 

 closely. It was a large jaguar, that had roamed for three years among these 

 mountains. He had constantly escaped the pursuit of the boldest hunters, and 

 had carried off horses and mules from the midst of enclosures ; but, having no 

 want of food, had not yet attacked men. The negro who conducted us uttered 

 wild cries. He thought he should frighten the jaguar ; but these means were of 

 course without effect. The jaguar, like the wolf of Europe, follows travellers 

 even when he will not attack them: the wolf in the open fields and in 

 unsheltered places, the jaguar skirting the road, and appearing only at intervals 

 between the bushes." 



The same illustrious observer also remarks, 



" Near the Joval, nature assumes an awful and savage aspect "We there saw 

 the largest jaguar we had ever met with. The natives themselves were 

 astonished at its prodigious length, which surpassed that of all the tigers of 

 India I had seen in the collections of Europe." 



Still these were extraordinary specimens of the race, and leave the fact 

 undoubted, that the most formidable of the western Ferae has no pretensions to 

 an equality with his congener, the tyrant of the jungles of Bengal. 



1332. In vain also we look among the tribes of America for a rival in outward 

 appearance to the giraffe, so remarkable for its height, its swan-like neck, gentle 

 habits, and soft expressive eye; while of the animals most serviceable to mankind 

 the horse, the ox, the ass, the goat, and the hog not a living example of either 

 was known there before its occupancy by the Europeans. But, however inferior 

 the animal race of the New may be as compared to those of the Old world, the 

 balance between the two appears to have been pretty equal in remote ages ; 

 geological discovery has disproved the assertion of Buffon, that the creative 

 force in America in relation to quadrupeds never possessed great vigour, and 

 has established the fact, that it is only the more recent specimens of its energy 

 that are upon an inferior scale. The relics of the un wieldly magatherium, of 

 the gigantic sloth, and armadillo-like animals, discovered in great abundance 

 imbedded in its soil, prove that at a former period it swarmed with monsters of 

 equal bulk with those that now roam in the midst of Africa arid Asia. The 

 estuary deposit that forms the plains westward of Buenos Ayres, and covers the 

 gigantic rocks of the Bando Oriental, appears to be the grave of extinct gigantic 



