CATARACTS OP THE ORINOCO. 231 



but the skeleton (together with a large part of our natural 

 history collections, especially the entomological) was lost 

 in a shipwreck on the coast of Africa, in which our friend 

 and former travelling companion, the young Franciscan monk 

 Juan Gonzalez, perished. 



As if with a presentiment of this painful loss, we turned 

 our steps in a thoughtful and melancholy mood from this 

 burying -place of a race deceased. It was one of those clear 

 and cool nights so frequent in the tropics. The moon, 

 encircled with coloured rings, stood high in the zenith illu- 

 minating the margin of the mist which lay with well-defined 

 cloud -like outlines on the surface of the foaming river. 

 Countless insects poured their red phosphoric light on the 

 herb-covered ground, which glowed with living fire as if the 

 starry canopy of heaven had sunk down upon the turf. 

 Climbing Bignonias, fragrant Vanillas, and yellow- flowering 

 Banisterias, adorned the entrance of the cave; and the 

 summits of the palms rustled above the graves. 



Thus perish the generations of men ! Thus do the name 

 and the traces of nations fade and disappear ! Yet when each 

 blossom of man's intellect withers, when in the storms of 

 time the memorials of his art moulder and decay, an ever 

 new life springs forth from the bosom of the earth ; maternal 

 Nature unfolds unceasingly her germs, her flowers, and her 

 fruits ; regardless though man with his passions and his 

 crimes treads under foot her ripening harvest. 



