JOURNEY TO GUATEMALA. 



47 



About midnight the moon rose, and the effect of her 

 pale silvery light on the trees and the water was beautiful 

 beyond description. I could now see objects more dis- 

 tinctly, and felt satisfied that if there is anything pictu- 

 resque, beautiful, and sublime in nature, it must be the 

 entrance to this river. The banks rise to a height of from 

 two to three hundred feet, and are clothed with a rich and 

 impenetrable foliage, the branches of the trees spreading 

 several yards over the water. In some places this foliage 

 suddenly disappears, and a vast naked rock, smooth and 

 flat, and perfectly perpendicular, rises like a stupendous 

 wall, at the foot of which the depth of water admits of a 

 vessel, brushing the very face of the precipice without 

 danger. Here and there may be seen a rill of water, as 

 clear as crystal, coursing from top to bottom of this natu- 

 ral wall, or gushing out from a fissure in its side. At 

 other places, a group of rocks assumes the appearance of 

 an old castle or ruinous fortification. The stream varies 

 in width from a hundred and fifty to three hundred feet, 

 and is in many places thirty fathoms deep. It is dotted at 

 intervals with little islands covered with reeds; and the 

 sharp turnings it makes, give continual interest and vari- 

 ety to the scenery. 



As we proceeded, the noise of the water thrown up by 

 the paddles startled the tenants of this beautiful wilder- 

 ness ; and every now and then we heard a plunge, like 

 that of an alligator, or an otter, seeking the deepest re- 

 cesses of the river, or the scream of an aquatic bird flying 

 across the stream: the only sounds that disturbed the 

 silence of this solitary scene. 



In the course of the night the boat stopped at a little 

 fort called San Felipe, to take in fuel. During this deten- 

 tion I allowed myself a little rest, but was up again the 

 next morning by daylight, when I found that the boat was 

 not yet ready to start. The scene around, illuminated by 

 the first rays of the sun, appeared to me even more striking 

 and beautiful than when I had beheld it by moonlight. 



