SOUTH AMERICA. 



niosque arcus,' and spring guns, ' saevaque cir- ,OURNEV. 

 cuitu, curvantem brachia longo, Scorpio/ and 

 steel traps of uncommon size and shape." These 

 were nothing in the eyes of Phaeton; go he 

 would, so off he set, full speed, four in hand. 

 He had a tough drive of it ; and after doing 

 a prodigious deal of mischief, very luckily for the 

 world, he got thrown out of the box, and tumbled 

 into the river Po. 



Some of our modern bloods have been shallow 

 enough to try to ape this poor empty-headed 

 coachman, on a little scale, making London their 

 Zodiac. Well for them, if tradesmen's bills, and 

 other trivial perplexities, have not caused them 

 to be thrown into the King's Bench. 



The productions of the torrid zone are uncom- Torrid 



zone. 



monly grand. Its plains, its swamps, its savannas, 

 and forests, abound with the largest serpents 

 and wild beasts; and its trees are the habitation 

 of the most beautiful of the feathered race. 

 While the traveller in the old world is astonished 

 at the elephant, the tiger, the lion, and rhino- 

 ceros, he who wanders through the torrid regions 

 of the new, is lost in admiration at the cotingas, 

 the toucans, the humming-birds, and aras. 



The ocean, likewise, swarms with curiosities. F1 y m - fi8h - 

 Probably the flying -fish may be considered as 

 one of the most singular. This little scaled 

 inhabitant of water and air seems to have been 

 more favoured than the rest of its finny brethren. 



