SOUTH AMERICA. 3 



FIRST 

 JOURNEY. 



hill presents itself; and often, on turning a point, 

 the eye is pleased with the contrast of an almost 

 perpendicular height jutting into the water. The 

 trees put you in mind of an eternal spring, with 

 summer and autumn kindly blended into it. 



Here you may see a sloping extent of noble 

 trees, whose foliage displays a charming variety 

 of every shade, from the lightest to the darkest 

 green and purple. The tops of some are crowned 

 with bloom of the loveliest hue ; while the boughs 

 of others bend with a profusion of seeds and 

 fruits. 



Those whose heads have been bared by time, or 

 blasted by the thunder-storm, strike the eye, as a 

 mournful sound does the ear in music; and seem 

 to beckon to the sentimental traveller to stop a 

 moment or two, and see that the forests which 

 surround him, like men and kingdoms, have their 

 periods of misfortune and decay. 



The first rocks of any considerable size, that are Rocks- 

 observed on the side of the river, are at a place 

 called Saba, from the Indian word, which means a 

 stone. They appear sloping down to the water's 

 edge, not shelvy, but smooth, and their exuberances 

 rounded off, and, in some places, deeply furrowed, 

 as though they had been worn with continual 

 floods of water. 



There are patches of soil up and down, and the 

 huge stones amongst them produce a pleasing 

 and novel effect. You see a few coffee-trees of a 



B 2 



