47 



in an island of the Indian Ocean, the inimitable 

 author of Paul and Virginia has sketched the 

 vast picture of the landscape of the tropics. 

 He knew how to paint nature, not because he 

 had studied it scientifically, but because he felt 

 it in all it's harmonious analogies of forms, co- 

 lours, and interior powers. 



East of the Atures, near these rounded moun- 

 tains crowned by two superimposed forests of 

 the laurels and palms, other mountains rise of 

 a very different aspect. Their ridge is bristled 

 with pointed rocks, that rise like pillars above 

 the summits of the trees and shrubs. These 

 effects are common to all granitic table-lands, 

 at the Harz, in the metalliferous mountains of 

 Bohemia, in Gallicia, on the limit of the two 

 Castiles*, or wherever a granite of new forma- 

 tion appears above the ground. The rocks, 

 placed at distances from each other, are com- 

 posed of blocks piled together, or divided into 

 regular and horizontal beds. When they are 

 situate near the Oroonoko, the flamingoes, sol- 

 dadoes\ y and other fishing birds, perch on their 

 summits, and appear like men posted as senti- 

 nels. The resemblance is sometimes so great, 

 that, as several ocular witnesses tell us, the in- 

 habitants of Angostura, soon after the founda- 



* From four hundred to six hundred toises above the level 

 of the ocean. 



f A large species of heron. 



