238 PROGRESS DOWN THE RIVER. 



CHAP. XIX. destitute of soil. It would have been almost impossible 

 AscentTo a ^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^" *''^^ smooth and hif^hly inclined sui-- 

 si-pulchral face, had not large crystals of felspar, which had resisted 

 '^"^^ decomposition, projected from the roc'k so as to present 



points of support. Scarcely had we reached the summit 

 of the mountain when we were struck with astonish- 

 ment at the extraordinary appearance of the surrounding 

 country : The foamy bed of tlie waters was filled with 

 an archipelago of islands covered with palms. Toward 

 Remarkable the west, on the left bank of the Orinoco, extended the 

 view. savannahs of the Meta and Casanare, like a sea of 



verdure, the misty horizon of which was illuminated 

 by the rays of the setting sun. The mighty orb, like a 

 globe of fire suspended over the plain, and the solitary 

 peak of Uniana, which appeared more lofty from being 

 wrapped in vapours that softened its outlines, contri- 

 buted to impress a character of sublimity upon the 

 scene. We looked down into a deep valley enclosed on 

 every side. Birds of prey and goatsuckers winged their 

 solitary way in this inaccessible circus. We found 

 I)leasure in following their fleeting shadows as they 

 glided slowly over the flanks of the rock, 

 Masses of " -^ narrow ridge led us towards a neighbouring 



granite. mountain, the rounded summit of which supported 

 enormous blocks of granite. These masses are more 

 than 40 or 50 feet in diameter, and present a form so 

 perfectly spherical, that, as they seem to touch the 

 ground only by a small number of points, it might be 

 supposed that the slightest shock of an earthquake 

 would roll them into the abyss. I do not remember to 

 have seen any where else a similar phenomenon amid 

 the decompositions of granitic deposites. If the balls 

 rested upon a rock of a different nature, as in the case 

 witli the blocks of Jura, it might be supposed that they 

 had been rounded by tlie action of water, or projected 

 by the force of an elastic fluid ; but their position, on 

 tlie summit of a hill of the same nature, renders it more 

 probable that they owe their origin to a gradual decom- 

 position of the rock. 



