ed describer of nature. It need hardly be
said that it is on these splendid pictures, more even than the
numerous and valuable additions he has made to the treasures of
science, that his reputation with the world in general is founded.

The rapids of the Orinoco--one of the most striking scenes in
America--are thus described by our author:[4]--

"When we arrived at the top of the Cliff of Marimi, the first
object which caught our eye was a sheet of foam, above a mile in
length and half a mile in breadth. Enormous masses of black rock,
of an iron hue, started up here and there out of its snowy
surface. Some resembled huge basaltic cliffs resting on each
other; many, castles in ruins, with detached towers and
fortalices, guarding their approach from a distance. Their sombre
colour formed a contrast with the dazzling whiteness of the foam.
Every rock, every island, was covered with flourishing trees, the
foliage of which is often united above the foaming gulf by
creepers hanging in festoons from their opposite branches. The
base of the rocks and islands, as far as the eye can reach, is
lost in the volumes of white smoke, which boil above the surface
of the river; but above these snowy clouds, noble palms, from
eighty to an hundred feet high, rise aloft, stretching their
summits of dazzling green towards the clear azure of heaven. With
the changes of the day these rocks and palm-trees are alternately
illuminated by the brightest sunshine, or projected in deep shadow
on the surrounding surge. Never does a breath of wind agitate the
foliage, never a cloud obscure the vault of heaven. A dazzling
light is ever shed through the air, over the earth enameled with
the loveliest flowers, over the foaming stream stretching as far
as the eye can reach; the spray, glittering in the sunbeams, forms
a thousand rainbows, ever changing, yet ever bright, beneath whose
arches, islands of flowers, rivalling the very hues of heaven,
flourish in perpetual bloom. There is nothing austere or sombre,
as in northern climates, even in this scene of elemental strife;
tranquillity and repose seem to sleep on the very edge of the
abyss of waters. Neither time, nor the sight of the Cordilleras,
nor a long abode in the charming valleys of Mexico, have been able
to efface from my recollection the impression made by these
catara