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Through the dry fog, and strata of vapour, the 

 trunks of palm-trees were seen from afar. 

 Stripped of their foliage, and their verdant sum- 

 mits, these trunks appeared like the masts of a 

 ship discovered at the horizon. 



There is something awful, but sad and 

 gloomy, in the uniform aspect of these Steppes. 

 Every thing seems motionless ; scarcely does a 

 small cloud, as it passes across the zenith, and 

 announces the approach of the rainy season, 

 sometimes cast it's shadow on the savannah. 

 I know not whether the first aspect of the Llanos 

 excite less astonishment than that of the chain 

 of the Andes. Mountainous countries, whatever 

 maybe the absolute elevation of the highest sum- 

 mits, have an analogous physiognomy; but we 

 accustom out-selves with difficulty to the view of 

 the Llanos of Venezuela and Casanare, to that 

 of the Pampas of Buenos-Ayres and of Chaco, 

 which recall to mind incessantly, and during 

 journeys of twenty or thirty days, the smooth 

 surface of the ocean. I had seen the plains or 

 Llanos of La Mancha in Spain, and the heaths 

 ( ericeta j that extend from the extremity of Jut- 

 land through Luneburg and Westphalia *, to 

 Belgium. These last are real Steppes, of which 

 man during several ages has been able to sub- 



* The smoothest parts of these heaths (HeidelandJ are 

 found between Oldenbourg and Qsnabruck, near Frisoyde. 



