SECOND JOURNEY. 127 



covered with trees along the coast quite to the Atlantic 

 wave, except where the plantations make a little 

 vacancy amongst the foliage. 



Though nearly in the centre of the torrid zone, the 

 sun's rays are not so intolerable as might be imagined, 

 on account of the perpetual verdure and refreshing 

 north-east breeze. See what numbers of broad and rapid 

 rivers intersect it in their journey to the ocean, and that 

 not a stone or a pebble is to be found on their banks, or 

 in any part of the country, till your eye catches the hills 

 in the interior. How beautiful and magnificent are the 

 lakes in the heart of the forests, and how charming the 

 forests themselves, for miles after miles on each side of 

 the rivers ! How extensive appear the savannas or 

 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 valleys, 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 

 stupendous pinnacles of the long-continued Cordilleras 

 de los Andes, which rise in towering majesty, and com- 

 mand all America. 



How fertile must the lowlands be, from the accumu- 

 lation of fallen leaves and trees for centuries ! How 

 propitious the swamps and slimy beds of the rivers, 



