CATARACTS, AND INUNDATIONS. 4Q 



dred miles from the mouth of the river, and where its breath is con- 

 siderably diminished, we sailed a complete day before we discovered 

 the land on the opposite bank of the river ; and when we were in 

 the middle of the channel, we could not discern land on either side, 

 and saw nothing but the sky and water, as if we had been in some 

 great ocean. Indeed, we should have taken it to be sea, if the fresh, 

 ness of its water, which was turbid like the Po, had not satisfied us 

 that it was a river. Moreover, at Buenos Ayres, another hundred 

 miles up the river, and where it is still much narrower, it is not only 

 impossible to discern the opposite coast, which is indeed very low 

 and flat ; but one cannot perceive the houses, or the tops of the 

 steeples, in the Portugueze settlement at Colonia, on the other side 

 of the river." 



The number of the different sorts of fish in the rivers of South 

 America is so extraordinary, as to merit particular notice. " In the 

 Maragnon," says P. Acugna, " they are so plentiful, that, without any 

 art, one may take them with the hands.*' " In the Orinoco," says 

 P. Gumilla, " beside an infinite variety of other fishes, tortoise or 

 turtle abound in such numbers, that I cannot find words to express 

 them. I doubt not then that such as read my account will accuse 

 me of exaggeration : but I can affirm, that it is as difficult to count 

 them, as to count the sands on the banks of that river. One may 

 judge of theirmultitude by the amazing consumption of them ; for all 

 the nations contiguous to the river, and even many who are at a dis- 

 tance, flock thither at the season of breeding, and not only find sus- 

 tenance during that time, but carry off great numbers both of the 

 turtles and of their eggs, &c." 



It has been asserted, that most of the rivers in Peru and Chili 

 have scarce any motion by night, while upon the appearance of the 

 morning sun, they resume their former rapidity : this proceeds from 

 the mountain snows, which melting with the heat, increase the 

 stream, and continue to drive on the current, whilst the sun con- 

 tinues to dissolve them. These wonderful masses of water have been 

 thus ably and elegantly described by the poet of the Seasons : 



Nor less thy world, Columbus, drinks refresh'd 

 The lavish moisture of the melting year. 

 Wide o'er his isles, the branching Oronoque 

 Rolls a brown deluge ; and the native drives 



VOL. III. 12 



