154 WANDERINGS IN 



SECOND rivers ! How extensive appear the savannas or 



JOURNEY. 



natural meadows, teeming with innumerable herds 



of cattle, where the Portuguese and Spaniards 

 are settled, but desert as Saara, where the English 

 and Dutch claim dominion! How gradually 

 the face of the country rises ! See the sand- 

 hills all clothed in wood first emerging from 

 the level, then hills a little higher, rugged with 

 bold and craggy rocks, peeping out from amongst 

 the most luxuriant timber. Then come plains, 

 and dells, and far-extending vallies, arrayed in 

 richest foliage ; and beyond them, mountains 

 piled on mountains, some bearing prodigious 

 forests, others of bleak and barren aspect. Thus 

 your eye wanders on, over scenes of varied 

 loveliness and grandeur, till it rests on the stu- 

 pendous pinnacles of the long-continued Cor- 

 dilleras de los Andes, which rise in towering 

 majesty, and command all America. 



How fertile must the low-lands be, from the 

 accumulation of fallen leaves and trees for cen- 

 turies! How propitious the swamps and slimy 

 beds of the rivers, heated by a downward sun, 

 to the amazing growth of alligators, serpents, 

 and innumerable insects ! How inviting the 

 forests to the feathered tribes, where you see 

 buds, blossoms, green and ripe fruit, full grown 

 and fading leaves, all on the same tree ! How 

 secure the wild beasts may rove in endless mazes ! 

 Perhaps those mountains too, which appear so 



