Pleasures of Travel, 615 



CHAPTEE XLV. 



A New Eoute for Tourists : Up the Amazons and over the Andes. 



Without disputing the pleasure and profit of a Euro- 

 pean trip, I desire to have it Ivuown that a fresh field for 

 travel and adventure has recently been opened in the New 

 World. I refer to the equatorial portion of South America. 



The route does not bristle with hoary castles, " the lin- 

 gering romance of the Middle Ages ;" it is not classic with 

 ancient memories and legendary tales, "the land of lost 

 gods and godlike men ;" no treasures of art nor architectu- 

 ral piles arrest the eye of the traveler. Instead of fabled 

 sprites and mermaids, there are bona-fide alligators and 

 anacondas; for vine-clad hills are rough sierras in pri- 

 meval wildness ; graceful palms and sculptured mountains 

 take the place of cathedrals; while volcanic fires and 

 earthquakes offset the avalanches and glaciers of the Alps. 

 But I am not willing to allow that the pure nature as ex- 

 hibited on the Andes and the Amazons is a whit behind 

 the combined art and nature of Europe in its power to 

 please, inform, and elevate the mind, and " to fill the thirst 

 of the human heart for the beauty of God's working." 

 Of course, this remark is true only of those who can com- 

 mune with Nature (for she hath a soul as well as fea- 

 tures) ; in whom, to quote John Foster, a creation infinite- 

 ly rich with grand and beautiful objects, imparting some- 

 thing more than images to the mind, inspires an exquisite 

 sentiment that seems like the emanation of a spirit. In- 

 deed, travel any where was not invented for those who, 

 having eyes, see not, and, having hearts, feel not. 



