421 



till they disappeared in the forest, which they 

 entered by one of the narrow passes left here 

 and there between the bushes. I confess that 

 these scenes, which were often repeated, had 

 ever for me a peculiar attraction. The pleasure 

 they excite is not owing solely to the interest, 

 which the naturalist takes in the objects of his 

 study ; it is connected with a feeling- common 

 to all men, who have been brought up in the 

 habits of civilization. You find yourself in a 

 new world, in the midst of untamed and savage 

 nature. Now it is the jaguar, the beautiful 

 panther of America, that appears upon the 

 shore ; and now the hocco * with it's black 

 plumage and it's tufted head, that moves slowly 

 along the sausoes. Animals of the most differ- 

 ent classes succeed each other. u Esse como 

 en el Paraiso said our pilot, an old Indian of 

 the missions. Every thing indeed here recalls 

 to mind that state of the primitive world, the in- 

 nocence and felicity of which ancient and vener- 

 able traditions have transmitted to all nations : 

 but, in carefully observing the manners of ani- 

 mals between themselves, we see that they mu- 

 tually avoid and fear each other. The golden 

 age has ceased ; and in this Paradise of the 

 American forests, as well as every where else, 



* Crax alector, the peacock pheasant ; c. pauxi, the cashew 

 bird. 



i " It is just as it was in Paradise." m 



