140 PEKIODICAL INUNDATIONS. 



horse, originally natives of the cold and barren plains of 

 Upper Asia, follow man to the New World, return to the 

 wild state, and lead a restless and weary life in the 

 burning climates of the tropics. Pressed alternately by 

 excess of drought and of humidity, they sometimes seek a 

 pool in the midst of a bare and dusty plain, to quench their 

 thirst ; and at other times flee from water, and the over- 

 flowing rivers, as menaced by an enemy that threatens them 

 on all sides. Tormented during the day by gadflies and 

 mosquitos, the horses, mules, and cows find themselves 

 attacked at night by enormous bats, which fasten on their 

 backs, and cause wounds that become dangerous, because 

 fchey are filled with aearidae and other hurtful insects. In 

 the time of great drought the mules gnaw even the thorny 

 cactus* in order to imbibe its cooling juice, and draw it forth 

 as from a vegetable fountain. During the great inunda- 

 tions these same animals lead an amphibious life, surrounded 

 by crocodiles, water-serpents, and manatis. Yet, such are 

 the immutable laws of nature, that their races are preserved 

 in the struggle with the elements, and amid so many suffer- 

 ings and dangers. When the waters retire, and the rivers 

 return again into their beds, the savannah is overspread 

 with a beautiful scented grass ; and the animals of Europe 

 and Upper Asia seem to enjoy, as in their native climes, 

 the renewed vegetation of spring. 



During the time of great floods, the inhabitants of these 

 countries, to avoid the force of the currents, and the danger 

 arising from the trunks of trees which these currents bring 

 down, instead of ascending the beds of rivers in their boats, 

 cross the savannahs. To go from San Fernando to the 

 villages of San Juan de Payara, San Raphael de Atamaica, 

 or San Francisco de Capanaparo, they direct their course 

 due south, as if they were crossing a single river of twenty 

 leagues broad. The junctions of the Gruarico, the Apure, 

 the Cabullare, and the Arauca with the Orinoco, form, at a 

 hundred and sixty leagues from the coast of G-uiana, a kind 

 of interior Delta, of which hydrography furnishes few ex- 

 amples in the Old Woild. According to the height of the 



* The asses are particularly adroit in extracting the moisture con- 

 tained in the Cactus melocatus. They push aside the thorns with theit 

 hoofs ; but sometimes lame themselves in performing this feat. 



