IN SOUTH AMERICA. 24c 



fiiock, xvhich is faid at times to be fo powerful, as to lay one proftrate. Of this laft 

 aflerted fa6t I had no ocular proof. M. de Reaumur has unfolded the myftery of the 

 fecret fpring which occafions this wonderful effeQ: in the torpido. 



The turtles of the Amazons are much in efteem at Cayenne, being reckoned the 

 mofl delicious that are known. So numerous are they on this river, of different fpe- 

 cies and of various fize, that they alone with their eggs would yield ample nourifhment 

 to the inhabitants of its banks. Tortoifes or land turtle likewife abound, called, in the 

 Brazilian tongue, Tabutis ; thefe, at Para, are preferred to the other or river turtle. 

 Either, but efpecially the latter, will live for months together out of the water, and 

 without any vifible nourifhment. 



Indulgent nature feems, by her prodigality, to favour the general idlenefs of the 

 Americans, and anticipate all their wants : the lakes and marfhes which occur at every 

 ftep on the banks of the Amazons, and, occafionally, at confiderable diflance inland, 

 are filled with fifli of every kind at the time of the annual inundations ; and when the 

 waters fall, they remain in thefe as in fo many natural refervoirs, where they are caught 

 with the utmofl eafe. 



In the province of Quito, in the different countries traverfed by the Amazons, at 

 Para, and in Cayenne, a variety of plants are found, which differ from all known in 

 Europe ; the leaves or roots of which, thrown into the water, have the faculty of in- 

 toxicating fifli. While thus torpified, they float on the water, and are taken with the 

 hand ; by means of thefe plants, and by weirs, which they place at the mouth of fmall 

 flreams, the Americans catch as many fifh as they pleafe : to preferve thefe, they fmoke 

 them in riddles very rarely, ufmg fait for this purpofe ; the inhabitants of the mifTion 

 of Maynas, however, obtain rock-falt from a mountain in the neighbourhood of the 

 Gullaga ; and thofe fubjed: to Portugal, from Para, whither it is brought from 

 Europe. 



Crocodiles are very common through the whole courfe of the Amazons, and even 

 in mofl of its tributaries. They are fometimes twenty feet in length, and poffibly more. 

 In the river of Guyaquil, I faw many before I embarked on the Amazons. They 

 remain for hours and days together flretched on the mud, expofed to the fun, and 

 motionlefs, and refemble trunks of trees or long pieces of timber covered with rough 

 and dry bark. As thofe of the banks of the Amazons are lefs purfued, they are con- 

 fequently lefs fearful of man. During the floods, they fometimes enter the cabins of 

 the Americans, and more than one example has occurred, of this ferocious animal 

 having borne away a man from his canoe in fight of his companions, and devoured him 

 without the poffibility of refcue. 



The moft dangerous adverfary of the crocodile, and, perhaps, the only one that 

 dares encounter it, is the tiger. A combat between thefe two animals mufl prefent a 

 fmgular fpedacle, but fuch a fight mufl neceffarily be the refult of hazard, and very 

 uncommon. The Americans give this account of it. When the tiger approaches the 

 river's brink to quench its thirfl, the crocodile raifes its head to feize him, as on fimi- 

 lar occafions it attacks fleers, horfes, mules, and whatever animal prefents itfelf ; the 

 tiger then flrikes its talons into the eyes of the crocodile, the only undefended part ; 

 but this diving into the water carries the tiger with it, i^hich fuffers rather to be drowned 

 than forego its prey. The tigers, an animal common to all hot countries covered with 

 wood, which I faw in America, differ neither in fize nor beauty from thofe of Africa. 

 Of them there is a one fpecies with a brown fkin without ilripes. The Americans are 

 very ejcpert in combating the tiger with a fpontoon or half-pike, their common travel- 

 ling weapon. 



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