SOUTH AMERICA. 
139 
natural meadows, teeming with innumerable herds 
of cattle where the Portuguese and Spaniards are 
settled, but desert as Saara, where the English and 
Dutch claim dominion! How gradually the face 
of the country rises ! See the sand-hills all clothed 
in wood first emerging from the level, then hills a 
little higher, rugged with bold and craggy rocks, 
peeping out from amongst the most luxuriant timber. 
Then come plains, and dells, and far-extending val¬ 
leys, arrayed in richest foliage ; and beyond them, 
mountains piled on mountains, some bearing pro¬ 
digious forests, others of bleak and barren aspect. 
Thus your eye wanders on, over scenes of varied 
loveliness and grandeur, till it rests on the stupendous 
pinnacles of the long-continued Cordilleras de los 
Andes, which rise in towering majesty, and command 
all America. 
How fertile must the low-lands be, from the ac¬ 
cumulation of fallen leaves and trees for centuries ! 
How propitious the swamps and slimy beds of the 
rivers, heated by a downward sun, to the amazing 
growth of alligators, serpents, and innumerable in¬ 
sects ! How inviting the forests to the feathered 
tribes, where you see buds, blossoms, green and ripe 
fruit, full grown and fading leaves, all on the same 
tree! How secure the wild beasts may rove in 
endless mazes! Perhaps those mountains too, which 
appear so bleak and naked, as if quite neglected, are, 
like Potosi, full of precious metals. 
Let us now return the pinions we borrowed from 
Icarus, and prepare to bid farewell to the wilds. 
SECOND 
JOURNEY. 
Conclu¬ 
sion. 
