NOCTUBNAL LIFE OF ANIMALS. 196 



together; and even in small spaces, plants of the same species 

 are rarely associated. Every day, and with every change 

 of place, new forms present themselves to the traveller's 

 attention ; often flowers, beyond his reach, although the shape 

 of the leaf and the ramifications of the plant excite his 

 curiosity. 



The rivers, with their innumerable branches, are the only 

 means of traversing the country. Astronomical observations, 

 or in the absence of these, determinations by compass of the 

 bends of the rivers, between the Orinoco, the Cassiquiare, 

 and the Rio Negro, have shewn that two lonely mission- 

 stations might be situated only a few miles apart, and yet 

 the monks thereof, in visiting each other would require a 

 day and a half to make the passage in their hollow- tree 

 canoes, along the windings of small streams. The most 

 striking evidence of the impenetrability of some portions of 

 these forests, is afforded by a trait in the habits of the 

 American tiger, or panther-like Jaguar. While the intro- 

 duction of European horned cattle, horses, and mules, has 

 yielded so abundant a supply of food to the beasts of prey in 

 the extensive grassy and treeless plains of Varinas, Meta, and 

 Buenos Ayres; that these animals, (owing to the unequal 

 contest between them and their prey,) have considerably 

 increased since the discovery of America; other individuals 

 of the same species lead a toilsome life in the dense forests 

 contiguous to the sources of the Orinoco. The distressing 

 loss of a large mastiff, the faithful companion of our travels, 

 while we were bivouacking near the junction of the Cassiquiare 

 with the Orinoco, induced us on our return from the insect- 

 swarming Esmeralda, to pass another night on the same spot 

 (uncertain whether he was devoured by a tiger) where we 

 had already long sought him in vain. We again heard in the 

 immediate neighbourhood the cries of the Jaguar, probably 

 the very same animal to which we owed our loss. As the 

 cloudy state of the sky rendered it impossible to conduct 



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