172 CATARACTS OP THE ORINOCO. 



peculiar psychological interest. It teaches us anew that the creative 

 imagination of the poet exists in the Discoverer as in every form of 

 human greatness. 



In considering the quantity of water which the Orinoco bears to 

 the Atlantic, the question arises Which of the great South Ame- 

 rican Rivers the Orinoco, the Amazons, or the River Plate is 

 the largest ? The question, however, thus put is not a determinate 

 one, the idea of size, in this case, not being altogether definite. 

 The River Plate has the widest embouchure, being 92 geographical 

 miles across; but, like the British rivers, its length is comparatively 

 small. Even at Buenos Ayres its depth is already so inconsiderable 

 as to impede navigation. The Amazons is the longest of all rivers : 

 its course, from its origin in the Lake of Lauricocha to its mouth, 

 is 2880 geographical miles. But its breadth, in the province of 

 Jaen de Bracamoros, near the Cataract of Rentama, as measured 

 by me at the foot of the picturesque mountain of Patachuma, hardly 

 equals that of the Rhine at Mayence. 



The Orinoco is narrower at its mouth than either the River Plate 

 or the Amazons ; and its length, according to positions astronomically 

 determined by me, only amounts to 1120 geographical miles. But, 

 on the other hand, far in the interior of Guiana, 560 miles from its 

 mouth, I still found its breadth, when full, 16,200 Parisian (17,265 

 Eng.) feet. The periodical swelling of the river annually raises its 

 level, at this part of its course, from 30 to 36 feet above its lowest 

 level. Sufficient materials for an accurate comparison of the enor- 

 mous rivers which intersect the Continent of South America are still 

 wanting. For such a comparison it would be needful to know in 

 each case the profile of the river-bed, and the velocity of the water, 

 which differs very greatly in different parts of the same stream. 



If, in the Delta enclosed by its variously divided and still unex- 

 plored arms in the regularity of its periodical rise and fall and 

 in the number and size of its crocodiles the Orinoco shows points 

 of resemblance to the Nile, there is this further analogy between 

 the two rivers, that after long rushing rapidly through many wind- 

 ings between wood-fringed shores formed by granitic and syenitic 

 rocks and mountains, during the remainder of their course they 

 slowly roll their waters to the sea, between treeless banks, over an 



