SOUTH AMERICA. 



39 



a few bushes and single trees, scattered up and down by First 



Journey. 



the hand of nature. The ground is neither hilly nor 



level, but diversified with moderate rises and falls, so 

 gently running into one another, that the eye cannot dis- 

 tinguish Avhere they begin, nor where they end; while the 

 distant black rocks have the appearance of a herd at rest. 

 Nearly in the middle there is an eminence, which falls off ' 

 gradually on every side ; and on this the Indians have 

 erected their huts. 



To the northward of them the forest forms a circle, as 

 though it had been done by art ; to the eastward it hangs 

 in festoons ; and to the south and west it rushes in 

 abruptly, disclosing a new scene behind it at every step 

 as you advance along. 



This beautiful park of nature is quite surrounded by 

 lofty hills, all arrayed in superbest garb of trees ; some in 

 the form of pyramids, others like sugar-loaves, towering 

 one above the other, some rounded olf, and others 

 as though they had lost their apex. Here two hills rise 

 up in spiral summits, and the wooded line of communi- 

 cation betwixt them sinks so gradually, that it forms a 

 crescent ; and there the ridges of others resemble the 

 waves of an agitated sea. Beyond these appear others, 

 and others past them ; and others still farther on, till 

 they can scarcely be distinguished from the clouds. 



There are no Sand-flies, nor Bete-rouge, nor Mosquitos 

 in this pretty spot. The Fire-flies, during the night, vie 



