506 



many voices proclaiming to us, that all nature 

 breathes ; and that, under a thousand different 

 forms, life is diffused throughout the cracked 

 and dusty soil, as well as in the bosom of the 

 waters, and in the air that circulates around us. 



The sensations, which I here recalled to mind, 

 are not unknown to those, who, without having 

 advanced to the equator, have visited Italy, 

 Spain, or Egypt. That contrast of motion and 

 silence, that aspect of nature at once calm and 

 animated, strikes the imagination of the travel- 

 ler, when he enters the basin of the Mediterra- 

 nean, within the zone of olives, dwarf palms, and 

 date-trees. 



We passed the night on the eastern bank of 

 the Oroonoko, at the foot of a granitic hill. 

 Near this desert spot was formerly seated the 

 mission of San Regis. We could have wished 

 to find a spring in the Baraguan. The water of 

 the river had a smell of musk, and a sweetish 

 taste extremely disagreeable. In the Oroonoko, 

 as well as in the Apure, we are struck with the 

 difference, that the various parts of the river ex- 

 hibit near the most barren shore. The water is 

 sometimes very potable, and sometimes seems to 

 be loaded with gelatinous matter. " It is the 

 bark" (the^coriaceous covering) " of the putrified 

 cayman, that is the cause," say the natives. 

 " The more aged the cayman, the more bitter 

 his bark." I have no doubt, that the carcasses 



