[Ch. xlvi. 



drowned, 

 immense 



IMBEDDING OF OEGANIC KEMAINS 



Of the wild horses, for example, wliich graze in 

 troops in the savannahs, or level grassy plains 

 thousands are said to perish when the river Apure, a tributary 

 of the Orinoco, is swollen, before they have time to reach the 

 rising ground of the Llanos. The mares, during the season 

 of high water, may be seen, followed by their colts, swimming 

 about and feeding on the grass, of which the top alone waves 

 above the waters. In this state they are pursued by croco- 

 diles ; and their thighs frequently bear the prints of the 

 teeth of these carnivorous reptiles. ' Such is the pliability ' 



observes 



man 



cows, and other species of European origin, lead, for a time 



manatees. When 



roam 



hne odoriferous grass, and enjoy, as in their native climate, 

 the renewed vegetation of spring.'^ 



jfthe 



animals 



are drowned in seasons of drought in the tributaries of the 

 Plata, was before mentioned. Sir W. Parish states, that the 

 Parana flowing from the mountains of Brazil to the estuary 

 of the Plata, is liable to great floods, and during one of these, 

 in the year 1812, vast quantities of cattle were carried away' 

 ' and when the waters began to subside, and the islands 



atmosph 



became again visible, the whole 



innumerable carcasses of skunks, capybaras, tigers, and other 



/ 



t 



We 



those who describe the Ganges and Burrampooter, that these 

 rivers carry before them, during the flood season, not only 



t 



timber, but dead bodies of men 



Java, 1699. — I have already referred to the effects of a 

 flood which attended an earthquake in Java in 1699, when 

 the turbid waters of the Batavian river destroyed all the 



t Buenos Ayres and La Plata, p.l87. 



* Humboldt's Pers. Nar., vol. iv. 



p. 394. 



J Malte-Brun, Geog., vol. iii. p. 22. 



I 



[ 



/ 





} 



