SOUTH AMERICA. 
3 
purple. The tops of some are crowned with bloom 
of the loveliest hue; while the boughs of others bend 
with a profusion of seeds and fruits. 
Those whose heads have been bared by time, or 
blasted by the thunder-storm, strike the eye, as a 
mournful sound does the ear in music; and seem to 
beckon to the sentimental traveller to stop a moment 
or two, and see that the forests which surround him, 
like men and kingdoms, have their periods of mis¬ 
fortune and decay. 
The first rocks of any considerable size, that are 
observed on the side of the river, are at a place 
called Saba, from the Indian word, which means a 
stone. They appear sloping down to the water’s 
edge, not shelvy, but smooth, and their exuberances 
rounded off, and, in some places, deeply furrowed, 
as though they had been worn with continual floods 
of water. 
There are patches of soil up and down, and the 
huge stones amongst them produce a pleasing and 
novel effect. You see a few coffee-trees of a fine 
luxuriant growth; and nearly on the top of Saba, 
stands the house of the postholder. 
He is appointed by government to give in his 
report to the protector of the Indians, of what is 
going on amongst them ; and to prevent suspicious 
people from passing up the river. 
When the Indians assemble here, the stranger 
may have an opportunity of seeing the Aborigines, 
dancing to the sound of their country music, and 
painted in their native style. They will shoot their 
B 2 
FIRST 
JOURNEY. 
Rucks. 
Rest* 
dence of 
the post* 
holder. 
