400 
JOURNEY ACROSS THE 
[1813. 
more gratifying to our taste than the best Constantia, 
Champaign, or Madeira. We observed a rock near, 
about the size of an ordinary house, which, by some 
great swell of the river, had been driven from its place, 
and so inclined against another as to form a roof 
capable of protecting man or beast from the powerful 
rays of a vertical sun. This rock seemed to invite us 
to take shelter under it, which we did for at least half 
an hour. While sitting under it, delightfully cool, 
we could not but reflect upon the scripture which 
compares the Saviour to the shadow of a great rock 
in a weary land." From beneath the shade of this 
rock we came as cool and comfortable as when we set 
out in the morning. There not being a breath of 
wind, and the river gliding gently along, and the heat 
having silenced the feathered songsters, there was in 
the absence of human beings a stillness almost fearful. 
We found some difficulty in getting from the bed of 
the river, as it had many narrow streams and pools, 
lined with impenetrable woods of the mimosa and 
other trees. Having cleared one stream, we soon 
came to another, which had all invisibly run under the 
gravel at the place where we had entered the bed of 
the river. We had to search for passages through the 
thickets made by the wild beasts; at length after 
passing along many windings, we cleared the wood 
and reached our waggons about two o'clock, tired, 
thirsty, and hungry, in consequence of walking almost 
constantly for five hours over rugged rocks, and 
without effecting the object of our journey. But it is 
not surprising that this part of the river is so little 
