18 ASPECTS OF TROPICAL NATURE 



fire encircled the base of the little hillock on which we stood, 

 and united before us in a waving mass, which, rolling onwards, 

 receded farther and farther from our gaze. The flames had 

 devoured the short grass of the hillock, but had not found suf- 

 ficient nourishment for our destruction. Whole swarms of 

 voracious vultures followed in circling flight the fiery column, 

 like so many hungry jackals, and pounced upon the snakes and 

 lizards which the blaze had stifled and half-calcined in its mur- 

 derous embrace. When, with the rapidity of lightning, they 

 darted upon their prey and disappeared in the clouds of smoke, 

 it almost seemed as if they were voluntarily devoting them- 

 selves to a fiery death. Soon the deafening noise of the con- 

 flagration ceased, and the dense black clouds in the distance 

 were the only signs that the fire was still proceeding on its 

 devastating path over the wide wastes of the savannah." 



At length, after a long drought, when all Nature seems about 

 to expire under the want of moisture, various signs announce 

 the approach of the rainy season. The sky, instead of its bril- 

 liant blue, assumes a leaden tint, from the vapours which are 

 beginning to condense. The black spot of the " Southern 

 Cross," that most beautiful of constellations, in which, a& the 

 Indians poetically fancy, the Spirit of the savannah resides, 

 becomes more indistinct as the transparency of the atmosphere 

 diminishes. The mild phosphoric gleam of the Magellanic 

 clouds expires. The fixed stars, which shone with a quiet 

 planetary light, now twinkle even in the zenith. Like distant 

 mountain-chains, banks of clouds begin to rise over the horizon, 

 and, forming in masses of increasing density, to ascend higher 

 and higher, until at length the sudden lightnings flash from 

 their dark bosom, and, with the loud crash of thunder, the first 

 rains burst in torrents over the thirsty land. Scarcely have the 

 showers had time to moisten the earth, when the dormant 

 powers of vegetation begin to awaken with an almost miraculous 

 rapidity. The dull, tawny surface of the parched savannah 

 changes as if by magic into a carpet of the most lively green, 

 enamelled with thousands of flowers of every colour. Stimulated 

 ])y the light of early day, the mimosas expand their delicate 

 fi)liage, and the fronds of the beautiful mauritias sprout forth 

 with all the luxuriance of youthful energy. 



Au'i now, also, the animal life of the savannah awakens to 



