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has something in it strange and sad. To this 

 we reconcile ourselves with difficulty on the 

 ocean, and amid the sands of Africa ; though in 

 these scenes, where nothing recalls to mind our 

 fields, our woods, and our streams, we are less 

 astonished at the vast solitude through which 

 we pass. Here, in a fertile country adorned 

 with eternal verdure, we seek in vain the traces 

 of the power of man ; we seem to be transported 

 into a world different from that which gave us 

 birth. These impressions are so much the more 

 powerful, in proportion as they are of longer 

 duration. A soldier, who had spent his whole 

 life in the missions of the Upper Oroonoko, slept 

 with us on the bank of the river. He was an 

 intelligent man, who, during a calm and serene 

 night, pressed me with questions on the magni- 

 tude of the stars, on the inhabitants of the 

 Moon, on a thousand subjects of which I was as 

 ignorant as himself. Being unable by my an- 

 swers to satisfy his curiosity, he said to me in a 

 firm tone ; " with respect to men, I believe 

 there are no more above, than you would have 

 found, if you had gone by land from Javita to 

 Cassiquiare. I think I see in the stars, as here, 

 a plain covered with grass, and a forest (mucho 

 monte) traversed by a river." In citing these 

 words, I paint the impression produced by the 

 monotonous aspect of those solitary regions. 

 May this monotony not be found to extend itself 



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