ENTRANCE OF THE LLANOS. 189 
All around, the plains seemed to ascend into the 
sky. The horizon in some parts was clear and dis- 
tinct, while in others it seemed undulating or blend- 
ed with the atmosphere. The trunks of palm-trees, 
stripped of their foliage, and seen from afar through 
the haze, resembled the masts of ships discovered on 
the verge of the ocean. 
In order to give some interest to the narrative of 
a journey across a tract of so monotonous an aspect, 
Humboldt presents a general view of the plains of 
America, contrasted with the deserts of Africa, and 
the fertile steppes of Asia, of which, however, the 
most striking points alone can be here taken. There 
is something awful and melancholy, he says, in the 
uniform aspect of these savannahs, where every thing 
seems motionless, and where the shadow of a cloud 
hardly ever falls for months. He even doubts whether 
the first sight of the Andes or of the Llanos excites 
most astonishment; for as mountainous countries 
have a similarity of appearance, whatever may be 
the elevation of their summits, the view of a very 
elevated range is perhaps not so striking as that of 
a boundless plain, spread out like an ocean, and 
on all sides mixing with the sky. 
It has been said that Europe has its heaths, 
Asia its steppes, Africa its deserts, and America its 
savannahs ; and these great divisions of the globe 
have been characterized. by these circumstances. 
But as the term heath always supposes the existence 
of plants of that name, and as all the plains of Eu- 
rope are not heathy, the description is incorrect. Nor 
are the steppes of Asia always covered. with saline 
plants, some of them being real deserts ; neither are 
the American Llanos always grassy. Instead of de- 
. 
