208 CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. 



Maypures, which, previous to my visit, few Europeans 

 had ever seen. 



The impression left on our minds by the aspect of nature 

 is frequently determined, less even by the peculiar character 

 of the strictly terrestrial portion of the scene, than by the 

 light thrown on mountain or plain, either by a sky of azure 

 purity, or by one veiled by lowering clouds; and in the 

 same manner descriptions of nature act upon us more 

 powerfully or more feebly, according as they are more or 

 less in harmony with the requirements of our feelings. For 

 it is the inward mirror of the sensitive mind which reflects 

 the true and living image of the natural world. All that 

 determines the character of a landscape, the outline of the 

 mountains, which, in the far-vanishing distance, bound the 

 horizon, the dark shade of the pine forests, the sylvan 

 torrent rushing between overhanging cliffs to its fall, all 

 are in antecedent mysterious communion with the inner 

 feelings and life of man. 



On this communion rests the nobler portion of the 

 enjoyment which nature affords. Nowhere does she pene- 

 trate us more deeply with the feeling of her grandeur, 

 nowhere does she speak to us with a more powerful voice, 

 than in the tropical world, under the " Indian sky," as, in 

 the early middle ages, the climate of the torrid zone was 

 called. If, therefore, I venture again to occupy this 

 Assembly with a description of those regions, I do so in 

 the hope that the peculiar charm which belongs to them 

 will not be unfelt. The remembrance of a distant richly 

 endowed land, the aspect of a free and vigorous vege- 



