623 



zales *, a young monk of the order of Saint 

 Francis. 



We withdrew in silence from the cavern of 

 Ataruipe. It was one of those calm and serene 

 nights, which are so common in the torrid zone. 

 The stars shone with a mild and planetary light. 

 Their scintillation was scarcely sensible at the 

 horizon^, which seemed illumined by the great 

 nebulae of the southern hemisphere. An innu- 

 merable multitude of insects spread a reddish 

 light on the ground, loaded with plants, and re- 

 splendent with these living and moving fires, as 

 if the stars of the firmament had sunk down on 

 the savannah. On quitting the cavern, we 

 stopped several times to admire the beauty of 

 this singular scene. The odoriferous vanilla, and 

 festoons of bignonia, decorated the entrance ; 

 and above, on the summit of the hill, the arrowy 

 branches of the palm-trees waved murmuring in 

 the air^. 



We descended toward the river, to take the 

 road to the mission, where we arrived late in the 

 night. Our imagination was struck by all we 

 had just seen. Occupied continually by the pre- 

 sent, in a country where the traveller is tempted 



* See vol. iii, chap. 11, p. 350. 

 t See chap, x and xiii, vol. iii, p. 314 and 538. 

 % See the third discourse delivered at one of the public 

 sittings of the Academy of Berlin. {Tableaux de la Nature, 

 traduites de VAllemand par M. Eyries, vol. ii, p. 231.) 



