IN South America the features of Nature are traced on a gigantic scale. Mountains, forests, rivers, plains, there appear in far more colossal dimensions than in our part of the world. Many a branch of the Amazon surpasses the Danube in size. In the boundless primitive forests of Guiana more than one Great Britain could find room. The Alps would seem but of moderate elevation if placed beside the towering Andes; and the plains of Northern Germany and Holland are utterly insignificant when compared with the llanos① of Venezuela and New Granada, which cover a surface of more than 250, 000 square miles.
Nothing can be more remarkable than the contrast which these immeasurable plains present at various seasons of the year-now parched by a long-continued drought, and now covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. When, day after day, the sun, rising and setting in a cloudless sky, pours his vertical rays upon the thirsty llanos, the calcined② grass-plains present the monotonous aspect of an interminable waste. Like the ocean, their limits melt in the hazy distance with those of the horizon; but here the resemblance ceases, for no refreshing breeze wafts coolness over the desert to comfort the drooping spirits of the wanderer.
In the wintry solitudes of Siberia③ the skin of the reindeeraffords protection to man against the extreme cold; but in these sultry plains there is no refuge from the burning sun above and the heat reflected from the glowing soil, save where, at vast intervals, small clumps of the Mauritia palm afford a scanty shade. The water-pools which nourished this beneficent tree have long since disappeared; and the marks of theprevious rainy season, still visible on the tall reeds that spring from the marshy ground, serve only to mock the thirst of the exhausted traveller.
Yet even now the parched savanna④ has some refreshment⑤to bestow, for the globular melon-cactus,which flourisheson the driest soil, and sometimes measures a foot in diameter, conceals a juicy pulp under its tough and prickly skin. Guided by an admirable instinct, the wary mule strikes off with his forefeet the long, sharp thorns of this remarkable plant, the emblem of good nature under a rough exterior, and then cautiously advances his lips to sip the refreshing juice.
As, in the Arctic regions, the intense cold during winter retards pulsation, or even suspends the operations of life, so in the llanos the long continuance of drought causes a similar stagnation in animated nature. The thinly scattered trees and shrubs do not, indeed, cast their foliage, but the grayish-yellow of their leaves announces that vegetation is suspended. Buried⑥in the clay of the dried-up pools, the alligatorand the water-boa⑦ lie plunged in a deep summer sleep, like the bear of theNorth in his long winter slumber; and many animals which, at other times, are found roaming over the llanos have left the parched plains and migrated to the forest or the river.
The large maneless puma, and the spotted jaguar, following their prey to less arid regions, are now no longer seen in their former hunting-grounds; and the Indian has also disappeared with the stag he pursued with his poisoned arrows. In Siberia, the reindeer and the migratory birds are scared away by cold; here, life is banished and suspended by an intolerable heat.
Sometimes the ravages of fire are added to complete the image of death on the parched savanna.
"We had not yet penetrated far into the plain," says Sir Robert Schomburgk, "when we saw to the south-east high columns of smoke ascending to the skies-the sure signs of a savanna fire; and at the same time the Indians anxiouslypressed us to speed on, as the burning torrent would most likely roll in our direction.
"We could already distinguish the flames of the advancing column, already hear the bursting and crackling of the reeds, when, fortunately, the sharp eye of the Indians discovered some small eminences before us, only sparingly covered with a low vegetation, and to these we now careered as if Death himself were behind us. Half a minute later and I should not have lived to relate our adventures. With beating hearts we saw the sea of fire rolling its devouring billows towards us: the suffocating smoke, beating on our faces, forced us to turn our backs upon the advancing conflagration, and to await the dreadful decision with the resignation of helpless despair.
"And now we were in the midst of the blaze. Two arms of fire encircled the base of the little hillock on which we stood, and united before us in a waving mass, which, rolling onwards, travelled further and further from our gaze. The flames had devoured the short grass of the hillock, but had not found sufficient nourishment for our destruction. Soon the deafening noise of the conflagration ceased, and the dense black clouds in the distance were the only signs that the fire was still proceeding on its devastating path over the wide wastes of the savanna."At length, after a long drought, when all nature seems about to expire from the want of moisture, various signs announce⑧the approach of the rainy season.
The sky, instead of its
brilliant blue, assumes a leaden tint, from the vapours which are beginning to condense. Like distant mountain-chains, banks of clouds begin to rise over the horizon, and, forming in masses of increasing density, ascend higher and higher, until at length the sudden lightnings flash from their dark bosom, and with the loud crash of thunder the first rains burst in torrents over the thirsty land.
Scarcely have the showers had time to moisten the earth,when the dormant powers of vegetation begin to awaken with an almost miraculous rapidity. The dull, tawny surface of the parched savanna changes, as if by magic, into a carpet of the most lively green, enamelled with thousands of flowers of every colour.
