WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 67 



on, till the intervening of the western hills, higher 

 and steeper still, and crowned with trees of the 

 loveliest shades, closes the enchanting scene. 



At the base of this hill stretches an immense 

 plain, which appears to the eye, on this elevated 

 spot, as level as a bowling-green. The mountains 

 on the other side are piled one upon the other in 

 romantic forms, and gradually retire, till they are 

 undiscernible from the clouds in which they are 

 involved. To the south-south-west this far-ex- 

 tending plain is lost in the horizon. The trees on 

 it, which look like islands on the ocean, add greatly 

 to the beauty of the landscape ; while the rivulet's 

 course is marked out by the ^ta-trees which fol- 

 low its meanders. 



Not being able to pursue the direct course from 

 hence to the next Indian habitation on account of 

 the floods of water that fall at this time of the 

 3^ear, you take a circuit westerly along the moun- 

 tain's foot. 



At last a large and deep creek stops your 

 progress : it is wide and rapid, and its banks very 

 steep. There is neither curial nor canoe, nor pur- 

 ]^le-heart tree in the neighbourhood to make a 

 Wood-skin to carry you over, so that you are ob- 

 liged to swim across; and by the time you have 

 formed a kind of raft, composed of boughs of 

 trees and coarse grass, to ferry over your bag- 

 gage, the day will be too far spent to think of pro- 

 ceeding. You must be very cautious before you 

 venture to swim across this creek, for the alliga- 

 tors are numerous, and near twenty feet long. On 

 the present occasion the Indians took uncommon 

 precautions lest they should be devoured by this 



