cts. When I read the description of similar scenes in the
East, my mind sees again in clear vision the sea of foam, the
islands of flowers, the palm-trees surmounting the snowy vapours.
Such recollections, like the memory of the sublimest works of
poetry and the arts, leave an impression which is never to be
effaced, and which, through the whole of life, is associated with
every sentiment of the grand and the beautiful."--(Vol. vii.
171-172.)

Such is a specimen of the descriptive powers of the great German
natural philosopher, geographer, botanist, and traveller. When our
senior wranglers from Cambridge, our high-honoured men from Oxford, or
lady travellers from London, produce a parallel to it, we shall hope
that England is about to compete with the continental nations in the
race of illustrious travellers--but not till then.

As a contrast to this, we cannot resist the pleasure of laying before
our readers the following striking description of night on the
Orinoco, in the placid part of its course, amidst the vast forests of
the tropical regions:--

"The night was calm and serene, and a beautiful moon shed a
radiance over the scene. The crocodiles lay extended on the sand;
placed in such a manner that they could watch our fire, from which
they never turned aside their eyes. Its dazzling evidently
attracted them, as it does fish, crabs, and the other inhabitants
of the waters. The Indians pointed out to us in the sand the
recent marks of the feet of three tigers, a mother and two young,
which had crossed the open space between the forest and the water.
Finding no tree upon the shore, we sank the end of our oars into
the sand, in order to form poles for our tents. Every thing
remained quiet till eleven at night, when suddenly there arose, in
the neighbouring forest, a noise so frightful that it became
impossible to shut our eyes. Amidst the voice of so many savage
animals, which all roared or cried at once, our Indians could only
distinguish the howling of the jaguar, the yell of the tiger, the
roar of the cougar, or American lion, and the screams of some
birds of prey. When the jaguars approached near to the edge of the
forest, our dogs, which to that moment had never ceased to bark,
suddenly housed; and, crouching, sought refuge under the shelter
of our hammocks. Sometimes, after an interval of silence, the