SOUTH AMERICA. 43 

 an open space, with a few huts on it ; then wood again, First 



Journey. 



and then an open space ; and so on ; till the intervening 



of the western hills, higher and steeper still, and crowded 

 with trees of the loveliest shades, closes the enchanting 

 scene. 



At the base of this hill stretches an immense plam, immense 



plain. 



which appears to the eye, on this elevated spot, as level 

 as a bowling-green. The mountains on the other side 

 are piled one upon the other in romantic forms, and gra- 

 dually retire, till they are undiscernible from the clouds 

 in which they are involved. To the south-south-west this 

 far-extending plain is lost in the horizon. The trees on 

 it, which look like islands on the ocean, add greatly to 

 the beauty of the landscape ; while the rivulet's course is 

 marked out by the iEta trees which follow its meanders. 



Not being able to pursue the direct course from hence 

 to the next Indian habitation, on account of the floods of 

 water which fall at this time of the year, you take a 

 circuit westerly along the mountain's foot. 



At last a large and deep creek stops your progress : it 

 is wide and rapid, and its banks very steep. There is 

 neither curial nor canoe, nor purple -heart tree in the 

 neighbourhood to make a wood skin to carry you over, 

 so that you are obliged to SAvim across ; and by the time 

 you have formed a kind of raft, composed of boughs of 

 trees and coarse grass, to ferry over your baggage, the 

 day will be too far spent to think of proceeding. You 



G 2 



