SOUTH AMERICA. 



87 



of uncommon size and shape." These were nothing in the Second 



Journey. 



eyes of Phaeton — go he would — so off he set — full speed, 



four in hand. He had a tough drive of it; and after 

 doing a prodigious deal of mischief, very luckily for the 

 world, he got thrown out of the box, and tumbled into 

 the river Po. 



Some of our moder?i bloods have been shallow enough 

 to try to ape this poor empty-headed coachman, on a little 

 scale, making London their Zodiac. Well for them, if 

 tradesmen's bills, and other trivial perplexities, have not 

 caused them to be thrown into the King's Bench. 



The productions of the torrid zone are uncommonly Torrid zone, 

 grand. Its plains, its swamps, its savannas, and forests, 

 abound with the largest serpents and wild beasts ; and its 

 trees are the habitation of the most beautiful of the 

 feathered race. While the traveller in the old world is 

 astonished at the elephant, the tiger, the lion, and rhino- 

 ceros, he who wanders through the torrid regions of the 

 new, is lost in admiration at the Cotingas, the Toucans, 

 the Humming-birds, and Aras. 



The ocean, likewise, SAvarms with curiosities. Proba- Fiying-fish. 

 bly the Flying- fish may be considered as one of the most 

 singular. This little scaled inhabitant of Avater and air, 

 seems to have been more favoured than the rest of its 

 finny brethren. It can rise out of the waves, and on 

 wing visit the domain of the birds. 



After flying two or three hundred yards, the intense 



