LIOCTH 4>F THE A.VtniX. 
174 
Chapteii XIX. 
Junction of the Apure and the Orinoco. — Mountains of Encaramada.— 
Uruana. — Baraguan. — Carichana. — Mouth of the Meta. — Island o* 
Panumana. 
Oh leaving the Iiio Apure we found ourselves in a coun- 
try presenting a totally different aspect. An immense plain 
of 1 water stretched before us like a lake, as far as we could 
see. White-topped waves rose to the height of several 
feet, from the conflict of the breeze and the current. The 
air resounded no longer with the piercing cries of herons, 
flamingos, and spoonbills, crossing in long files from one 
shore to the other. Our eyes sought in vain those water- 
fowls, the habits of which vary in each tribe. All nature 
appeared less animated. Scarcely could we discover in the 
hollows of the waves a few large crocodiles, cutting obliquely, 
by the help of their long tails, the surface of the agitated 
waters. The horizon was bounded by a zone of forests, 
which nowhere reached so far as the bed of the river. A 
vast beach, constantly parched by the heat of the sun, desert 
and bare as the shores of the sea, resembled at a distance, 
from the effect of the mirage, pools of stagnant water. 
These sandy shores, far from fixing the limits of the river, 
render them uncertain, by enlarging or contracting them 
alternately, according to the variable action of the sola'' 
rays. 
In these scattered features of the landscape, in this cha- 
racter of solitude and of greatness, we recognize the course 
of the Orinoco, one of the most majestic rivers of the Neff 
World. The water, like the land, displays everywhere a 
characteristic and peculiar aspect. The bed of the Orinoco 
resembles not the bed of the Meta, the Guaviare, the Bio 
Negro, or the Amazon. These differences do not depend 
altogether on the breadth or the velocity of the current; 
they are connected with a multitude of impressions which 
it is easier to perceive upon the spot than to define 
precision. Thus, the mere form of the waves, the tint 0» 
