150 WANDERINGS IN 



Second country, till your eye catches the hills in the interior. 



Journey. 



How beautiful and magnificent are the lakes in the heart 



of the forests, and how charming the forests themselves, 

 for miles after miles on each side of the rivers ! How ex- 

 tensive appear the savannas or natural meadows, teeming 

 with innumerable herds of cattle, where the Portuguese 

 and Spaniards are settled, but desert as Saara, where the 

 English and Dutch claim dominion ! How gradually the 

 face of the country rises! See the sand-hills all clothed 

 in wood first emerging from the level, then hills a little 

 higher, rugged with bold and craggy rocks, peeping out 

 from amongst the most luxuriant timber. Then come 

 plains, and dells, and far-extending vallies, arrayed in 

 richest foliage ; and beyond them, mountains piled on 

 mountains, some bearing prodigious forests, others of 

 bleak and barren aspect. Thus your eye wanders on, 

 over scenes of varied loveliness and grandeur, till it rests 

 on the stupendous pinnacles of the long-continued Cor- 

 dilleras de los Andes, which rise in towering majesty, and 

 command all America. 



How fertile must the low-lands be, from the accumulation 

 of fallen leaves and trees for centuries ! How propitious 

 the swamps and slimy beds of the rivers, heated by a 

 downward sun, to the amazing growth of alligators, ser- 

 pents, and innumerable insects ! How inviting the forests 

 to the feathered tribes, where you see buds, blossoms, 

 green and ripe fruit, fnll grown and fading leaves, all on 



