WHIRLWINDS OF SAND. 281 



lowered towards the earth ; the horizon, too, which 

 looked at such an immeasurable distance, appears to 

 approach, and the idea that fixes upon the mind of 

 the traveller is that of being circumscribed within a 

 narrowing boundary. The heat is then exceedingly 

 great, and the east wind comes loaded with sand 

 still further to bewilder him. 



During the dry season great inconvenience is 

 experienced in many parts of the Llanos from want 

 of water. The streams dry up, and as in the North 

 animals become torpid from excess of cold, here a 

 similar effect is produced by heat, and the alligators 

 and large serpents remain buried in the dried mud. 

 Here also the deceitful mirage mocks the thirsty 

 traveller, and both men and cattle aie seen pressing 

 forwards with breathless haste to quench their thirst 

 in the supposed stream. Bitter is the disappoint- 

 ment ; and even when upon the brink, it is scarcely 

 possible to dispossess the mind of the illusion; 

 while the poor harassed animals, unable to bear 

 the tormenting thirst with which they are consumed, 

 and bewildered by the clouds of sand, run bellow- 

 ing with outstretched necks, and snuffing at the 

 hot wind, as if they hoped to detect the scent of 

 water from some distant pool. Night is even more 

 intolerable than the day, for if the heat diminishes, 

 still the suffering creation can scarcely enjoy the 

 respite. Enormous bats attack those who fall 

 asleep, and the punctures which they make are 

 quickly resorted to by innumerable insects, who 

 endeavour to deposit their eggs within them. 

 While the earth is thus replete with suffering, the 

 heavens are glorious, and blaze with the most 



