STEPPES AND DESERTS. 17 



animals, which, during the first half of the year, were perishing 

 with thirst on the waterless and dusty plain. A part of the 

 steppe now presents the appearance of a vast inland sea (40). 

 The mares retreat with their foals to the higher banks, which 

 project, like islands, above the spreading waters. Day by 

 day the dry surface diminishes in extent. The cattle, crowded 

 together, and deprived of pasturage, swim for hours about 

 the inundated plain, seeking a scanty nourishment from the 

 flowering panicles of the grasses which rise above the lurid 

 and bubbling waters. Many foals are drowned, many are 

 seized by crocodiles, crushed by their serrated tails, and 

 devoured. Horses and oxen may not unfrequently be seen 

 which have escaped from the fury of this bloodthirsty and 

 gigantic lizard, bearing on their legs the marks of its pointed 

 teeth. 



This spectacle involuntarily reminds the contemplative ob- 

 server of the adaptability granted by an all-provident nature 

 to certain animals and plants. Like the farinaceous fruits of 

 Ceres, the ox and horse have followed man over the whole 

 surface of the earth from the Ganges to the Eio de la Plata, 

 and from the sea -coast of Africa to the mountainous plain of 

 Antisana, which lies higher than the Peak of Teneriffe (41). 

 ^n the one region the northern birch, in the other the date- 

 palm, protects the wearied ox from the noonday sun. The 

 same species of animal which contends in eastern Europe with 

 bears and wolves, is exposed, in a different latitude, to the 

 attacks of tigers and crocodiles ! 



The crocodile and the jaguar are not, however, the only 

 enemies that threaten the South American horse; for even 

 among the fishes it has a dangerous foe. The marshy waters 

 of Bera and Rastro (42) are filled with innumerable electric 

 eels, who can at pleasure discharge from every part of their 

 slimy, yellow- speckled bodies a deadening shock. This species 

 of gymnotus is about five or six feet in length. It is power- 

 ful enough to kill the largest animals when it discharges 



c 



