THE CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. 



IN the preceding section, which was made the subject of an aca- 

 demical lecture, I sought to depict those boundless plains which, 

 according to the varying modification of their natural characters 

 induced by climatic relations, appear to us sometimes as Deserts 

 devoid of vegetation, and sometimes as Steppes, or widely-extended 

 grassy plains or Prairies. In so doing, I contrasted the Llanos of 

 the southern part of the New Continent with the dreadful seas of 

 sand which form the African Deserts; and these again with the 

 Steppes of Central Asia, the habitation of world-assailing pastoral 

 nations, who, at a former period, when pressed hitherward from the 

 East, spread barbarism and devastation over the earth. 



If on that occasion (in 1806), I ventured to combine widely dis- 

 tributed portions of the earth's surface in a single picture of nature, 

 and to entertain a public assembly with images whose coloring was 

 in unison with the mournful disposition of our minds at that epoch, 

 I will now, limiting myself to a narrower circle of phenomena, sketch 

 the more cheerful picture of river scenery, composed of foaming 

 rapids and rich, luxuriant vegetation. I propose to describe in par- 

 ticular two scenes of nature in the wilderness of Guiana the cele- 

 brated Cataracts of the Orinoco, Atures and Maypures which, 

 previous to my visit, few Europeans had ever seen. 



The impression left on our minds by the aspect of nature is fre- 

 quently determined, less even by the peculiar character of the strictly 

 terrestrial portion of the scene, than by the light thrown on mount- 

 ain or plain, either by a sky of azure purity, or by one veiled by 

 lowering clouds; and in the same manner descriptions of nature act 

 upon us more powerfully or more feebly, according as they are more 

 15 



