128 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



heated "by a downward sun, to the amazing growth of 

 alligators, serpents, and innumerable insects ! How 

 inviting the forests to the feathered tribes, where you 

 see buds, blossoms, green and ripe fruit, full-grown and 

 fading leaves, all on the same tree ! How secure the 

 wild beasts may rove in endless mazes ! Perhaps those 

 mountains too, which appear so bleak and naked, as if 

 quite neglected, are, like Potosi, full of precious metals. 



Let us now return the pinions we bor- 



Conclusion. 



rowed irom icarus^ and prepare to bid 

 farewell to the wilds. The time allotted to these wander- 

 ings is drawing fast to a close. Every day for the last 

 six months has been employed in paying close attention 

 to natural history in the forests of Demerara. Above 

 two hundred specimens of the finest birds have been 

 collected, and a pretty just knowledge formed of their 

 haunts and economy. Prom the time of leaving Eng- 

 land, in March 1816, to the present day, nothing has 

 intervened to arrest a fine flow of health, saving a 

 quartan ague, which did not tarry, but fled as suddenly 

 as it appeared. 



And now I take leave of thee, kind and gentle reader. 

 The new mode of preserving birds, heretofore promised 

 thee, shall not be forgotten. The plan is already formed 

 in imagination, and can be penned down during the 

 passage across the Atlantic. If the few remarks in 

 these wanderings shall have any weight in inciting thee 

 to sally forth, and explore the vast and well-stored 

 regions of Demerara, I have gained my end. Adieu ! 



Charles Waterton. 



April 6th, 1817. 



