140 
PKjtlOMCAL IXL'.'vDATIONS. 
horse, originally natives of the cold and barren plains of 
Tipper Asia, follow man to the New World, return _ to the 
wild state, and lead a restless and weary life in the 
burning climates of the tropics. Pressed alternately by 
excess of drought and of humidity, they sometimes seek a 
oool in the midst of a bare and dusty plain, to quench their 
thirst ; and at other times flee from water, and the over- 
flowing rivers, as menaced by an enemy that threatens them 
on all sides. Tormented during the day by gadflies and 
mosquitos, the horses, mules, and cows find themselves 
attacked at night by enormous bats, which fasten on their 
backs, and cause wounds that become dangerous, because 
they are filled with acaridse and other hurtlul insects. In 
the time of great drought the nudes gnaw even the thorny 
cactus* in order to imbibe its cooling juice, and draw it iorth 
as from a vegetable fountain. During the great inunda- 
tions these same animals lead an amphibious life, surrounded 
by crocodiles, water-serpents, and manatis. Yet, such are 
the immutable laws of nature, that their races are preserved 
in the struggle with the elements, and amid so many suffer- 
ings and dangers. When the waters retire, and the rivers 
return agaiu into their beds, the savannah is overspread 
with a beautiful scented grass ; and the animals of Europe 
and Upper Asia seem to enjoy, as in their .native climes, 
the renewed vegetation of spring. 
During the time of great floods, the inhabitants of these 
countries, to avoid the force of the currents, and the danger 
arising from the trunks of trees which these currents bring 
down, instead of ascending the beds of rivers in their boats, 
cross the savannahs. To go from San Fernando to the 
villages of San Juan de Paynra, San Raphael de Atamaica, 
or San Francisco de Capanaparo, they direct their course 
due south, as if they were crossing a. single river of twenty 
leagues broad. The junctions of the Gmarico, the Apure, 
the° Cabullare, and the Arauca with the Orinoco, form, at a 
hundred and sixty leagues from the coast of Guiana, a kind 
of interior Delta, of which hydrography furnishes few ex- 
amples in the Old World. According to the height of the 
* The asses are partici'jarly adroit in extracting the moisture con- 
tained in the Cactus mdocatus. They push aside the thorns with then 
hoot's : but sometimes lame themselves in performing this feat. 
