204 MAJESTIC SCENERY. 



CHAPXVIL On the 12th they set off at four in the morning. The 

 . Indians ro\YcJ 12 liours and a half without intermission, 



TOwei" during wliicli time they took no otlier nourishment 



than cassava and plantains. The bed of the river, to 

 the length of 1280 yards, was full of granite rocks, the 

 channels between which were often very narrow, inso- 

 much that the canoe was sometimes jammed in between 

 two blocks. When the current was too strong the 

 sailors leaped out and warped the boat along. The rocks 

 were of all dimensions, rounded, very dark, glossy like 

 lead, and destitute of vegetation. No crocodiles were 

 seen in these rapids. The left bank of the Orinoco, 

 from Cabruto to the mouth of the Rio Serianico, a 

 distance of nearly two degrees of latitude, is entirely 

 uninhabited ; but to the westward of these rapids an 



Indian enterprising individual, Don Felix Relinchon,had formed 



village. a village of Jaruro and Otomac Indians. At nine in the 

 morniiig they arrived at the mouth of the Meta, whicli, 

 next to the Guaviare, is the largest river that joins the 

 Orinoco. At the union of these streams the scenery is 

 of a very impressive character. Solitary peaks rise on 

 the eastern side, appearing in the distance like ruined 

 castles, while vast sandy shores intervene between the 

 bank and the forests. They passed two hours on a 

 large rock in the middle of the Orinoco, upon whicli 

 Humboldt succeeded in fixing his instruments, and in 



in all their f^lory on every point and peak of the snowy heifjhts," 

 had some share " in vibrating;' these mountain-chords." — A''- M. 



Alag. XXX. 341 The granite statue of Memnon is well known to 



have emitted sounds when the morninjj beams darted upon it ; and 

 iNIM. Jomard. Jolloi=, and Deviiliers, Tieard a noise resemblinfj that 

 ot the breakiufi; of a strinjr, wliich proceeded at sunrise from a 

 monument of f^ranite situated near the centre of the spot on which 

 stands the p;ilace j)f (Jarnac. Sinfrular sounds have been heard 

 from the interior of a mountain near Tor, in Arabia Petraea. They 

 are familiar to the natives, who ascribe them to a convent of monks 

 miraculously preserved under t;round, and were heard by M. Seet- 

 zen and Mr Gray, the only iMiropean travellers who have visited 

 the place. For an acrount of these curious phenomena, the reader 

 may be referred to I)r IJrewster's Letters on Natural Ma>^ic, form 

 injr No XXX 111. of the Family Library. 



