NOON IN TUB TEOPIC8. 199 



interior of the group, but in general these mountains, of so 

 wild an aspect, have not the elevation that is assigned to 

 them by the missionaries. 



We looked in vain for plants in the clefts of the rocks, 

 which are as steep as walls, and furnish some traces of 

 stratification. We found only an old trunk of aubletia,* 

 with large apple-shaped fruit, and a new species of the 

 family of the apocyneaB.t All the stones were covered with 

 :tn innumerable quantity of iguanas and geckos with spread- 

 ing and membranous fingers. These lizards, motionless, 

 with heads raised, and mouths open, seemed to suck in the 

 heated air. The thermometer placed against the rock rose 

 to 5O2. The soil appeared to undulate, from the effect of 

 mirage, without a breath of wind being felt. The sun was 

 near the zenith, and its dazzling light, reflected from the sur- 

 face of the river, contrasted with the reddish vapours that 

 enveloped every surrounding object. How vivid la *he im- 

 pression produced by the calm of nature, at noon, in these 

 burning climates ! The beasts of the forests retire to the 

 thickets ; the birds hide themselves beneath the foliage of 

 the trees, or in the crevices of the rocks. Yet, amidst tliis 

 apparent silence, when we lend an attentive ear to the most 

 feeble sounds transmitted through the air, we hear a dull 

 vibration, a continual murmur, a hum of insects, filling, if 

 we may use the expression, all the lower strata of the air. 

 Nothing is better fitted to make man feel the extent and 

 power of organic life. Myriads of insects creep upon the 

 soil, and nutter round the plants parched by the heat of the 

 sun. A confused noise issues from every bush, from the 

 decayed trunks of trees, from the clefts of the rocks, and 

 from the ground undermined by lizards, millepedes, and 

 cecilias. These are so many voices proclaiming to us that 

 all nature breathes; and that, under a thousand different 

 forms, life is diffused throughout the cracked and dusty soil, 

 as well as in the bosom of the waters, and in the air that 

 circulates around us. 



The sensation* which I here recall to mind are not 



unknown to those who, without having advanced to the 



enuator, have visited Italy, Spain, or Egypt. That contrast 



ot motion and silence, that aspect of nature at once cabn ana 



Aabletia tiburba. f Allamanda 



