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CASSIQUIARE.
it would have b e e n overset b y any person rising i m p r u dently from his seat, without warning the rowers. We had suffered severely from t h e sting of insects, b u t w e had withstood the insalubrity o f the c l i m a t e ; we had passed without accident t h e great n u m b e r of waterfalls and bars, which impede the navigation o f the rivers, and often render it more dangerous than l o n g voyages b y sea. A f t e r all w e had e n d u r e d , it m a y b e c o n c e i v e d that w e felt no little satisfaction in having reached the tributary streams o f t h e A m a z o n , having passed the isthmus that separates t w o great systems o f rivers, and in b e i n g sure o f having fulfilled t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t o b j e c t o f o u r j o u r n e y , namely, t o d e t e r m i n e astronomically t h e course o f that arm o f t h e O r i n o c o which falls into the Rio N e g r o , and o f which t h e e x i s t e n c e has been alternately proved and denied d a r i n g half a c e n In p r o p o r t i o n as w e draw near to an object w e have tury. long had in view, its interest seems to a u g m e n t . T h e uninhabited banks o f the Cassiquiare, covered with forests, without memorials of t i m e s p a s t , then o c c u p i e d m y imagination, as do now the banks of the Euphrates, o r the O x u s , in that i n celebrated in t h e annals of civilized nations. terior part o f t h e New Continent o n e may almost a c c u s t o m o n e self to regard men as not being essential to the o r d e r o f nature. T h e earth is loaded with plants, and nothing impedes their free d e v e l o p m e n t . An immense layer o f mould manifests the uninterrupted action o f organic powers. C r o c o d i l e s and boas are masters of t h e r i v e r ; t h e jaguar, the p e c c a r y , t h e dante, and t h e m o n k e y s traverse the forest without fear and without d a n g e r ; there they dwell as in an ancient inheritance. T h i s aspect o f animated nature, in winch man is nothing, has s o m e t h i n g in it strange and sad. T o this we reconcile ourselves, with difficulty on the ocean, and amid the sands o f A f r i c a ; t h o u g h in scenes where nothing recalls t o mind our fields, o u r w o o d s , and o u r streams, w e are less astonished at the vast solitude t h r o u g h which we pass. H e r e , in a fertile c o u n t r y , adorned with eternal verdure, we seek in vain the traces o f t h e p o w e r o f m a n ; we seem to be transported into a world different from that which gave u s b i r t h . These impressions are the more powerful in p r o p o r t i o n as they are of l o n g duration. A soldier, w h o had s p e n t his w h o l e
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