WOODS OF THE ORINOCO AND AMAZON. 



forests ; and further still, between the Orinoco and 

 the Amazon, extend those gloomy woods filled with 

 aged trees, which seem coeval with the era of the 

 deluge. There huge masses of primeval granite rise 

 on either side of majestic rivers, and narrow their 

 foaming waters, which rush beneath them with 

 terrible impetuosity, now dark with shadow, and now 

 raging and sparkling, as if indignant at restraint, and 

 impatient to flow on in a wider channel. He who 

 remains during the night in their vicinity, when 

 every sound is heightened, and even the rustling of 

 the wind among the trees resembles the deep dull 

 roar of a distant torrent, listens with dread to the 

 growl of the tiger as he springs upon his prey, and 

 the answering howl of innumerable monkeys. Goat- 

 suckers, too, utter their mournful voices, and the 

 plaintive cries of such birds as love the night seem 

 like the unquiet wailings of restless and discon- 

 tented spirits. Alligators are then in motion, and 

 at intervals their noise can be readily distinguished 

 amid those of the jaguar and the owls, the goat- 

 sucker and the frogs. It is a singular and awful 

 sound, so loud as to be heard at the distance of a 

 mile. It is described as resembling a suppressed 

 sigh, bursting forth on a sudden, as if no longer 

 capable of being withheld; as if it told forth 

 the long concealed misery of some giant breast; 

 and when one thus utters the startling sound, 

 another immediately rejoins. Then all is still 

 again, and silent as midnight. Strange contrast to 

 the clear calm heavens, sparkling with glorious con- 

 stellations, and the beautiful moon travelling in her 

 brightness through the immensity of space. 



T 



