Til 



LLANOS IX THE DRY SEASON 



In the wintry solitudes of Siberia the skin of the reindeer 

 affords protection to man against the extreme cold ; but in these 

 sultry plains there is no refuge from the burning sun above 

 and the heat reflected from the glowing soil, save where, at 

 vast intervals, small clumps of the Mauritia palm afford a 

 scanty shade. The water-pools which nourished this beneficent 

 tree have long since disappeared ; and the marks of the previous 

 rainy season, still visible on the tall reeds that spring from the 

 marshy ground, serve only to mock the thirst of the exhausted 

 traveller. The long-legged jabiru and the scarlet ibis have 

 forsaken the dried-up swamp which no longer affords them any 

 subsistence, and only here and • there a solitary Caracara falcon 

 lingers on the spot, as if meditating on the vicissitudes of the 

 season. 



Yet even now the parched savannah has some refreshment 

 to bestow, as Nature — which in the East Indian forests fills 

 the pitchers of the Nepenthes with a 

 grateful li(juid, and in the waterless 

 Kalahari causes many juicy roots to 

 thrive under the surface of the desert 

 — here also displays her bounty; for 

 the globular melon-cactus, which 

 flourishes on the driest soil, and not 

 seldom measures a foot in diameter, 

 conceals a juicy pulp under its tough 

 and prickly skin. Guided by an 

 admirable instinct, the wary mule 

 strikes off with his fore-feet the long, 

 sharp thorns of this remarkable 

 plant, the emblem of good-nature 

 under a rough exterior, and then cautiously approaches his lips 

 to sip the refreshing juice. Yet, drinking from these living 

 sources is not unattended with danger, and mules are often met 

 with that have been lamed by the formidable prickles of the 

 cactus. The wild horse and ox of the savannah, not gifted with 

 the same sagacity, roam about a prey to hunger and burning- 

 thirst — the latter hoarsely bellowing, the former snuffing up the 

 air with outstretched neck to discover by its moisture the 

 neighbourhood of some pool that may have resisted the general 

 drought. 



Nepenthes. 



