IN SOUTH AMERICA.

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fhock, which is faid at times to be fo powerful, as to lay one proflrate. Of this laftafferted fa£t I had no ocular proof. M. de Reaumur has unfolded the myftery of thefecret fpring which occafions this wonderful effect in the torpido.

The turtles of the Amazons are much in efteem at Cayenne, being reckoned themoll delicious that are known. So numerous are they on this river, of different fpe-cies and of various fize, that they alone with their eggs would yield ample nourifhmentto the inhabitants of its banks. Tortoifes or land turtle likewife abound, called, in theBrazilian tongue, Tabutis ; thefe, at Para, are preferred to the other or river turtle.Either, but efpecially the latter, will live for months together out of the water, andwithout any vifible nourifhment.

Indulgent nature feems, by her prodigality, to favour the general idlenefs of theAmericans, and anticipate all their wants: the lakes and marfhes which occur at everyftep on the banks of the Amazons, " and, occafionally, at confiderable diftance inland,are filled with fifh of every kind at the time of the annual inundations ; and when thewaters fall, they remain in thefe as in fo many natural refervoirs, where they are caughtwith the utmolt eafe.

In the province of Quito, in the different countries traverfed by the Amazons , atPara, and in Cayenne, a variety of plants are found, which differ from all known inEurope ; the leaves or roots of which, thrown into the water, have the faculty of in-toxicating fill. While thus torpified, they float on the water, and are taken with thehand ; by means of thefe plants, and by weirs, which they place at the mouth of fmallftreams, the Americans catch as many fifh as they pleafe: to preferve thefe, they fmokethem in riddles very rarely, ufng fait for this purpofe ; the inhabitants of the mifflonof Maynas, however, obtain rock-fait from a mountain in the neighbourhood of theGullaga; and thofe fubjecl to Portugal , from Para, whither it is brought fromEurope .

Crocodiles are very common through the whole courfe of the Amazons , and evenin moll of its tributaries. They are fometimes twenty feet in length, and poffibly more.In the river of Guyaquil, 1 faw many before I embarked on the Amazons . Theyremain for hours and days together ftretched on the mud, expofed to the fun, andmotionlefs, and referable trunks of trees or long pieces of timber covered with roughand dr.y bark. As thofe of the banks of the Amazons are lefs purfued, they are con-fequently lefs fearful of man. During the floods, they fometimes enter the cabins ofthe Americans, and more than one example has occurred, of this ferocious animalhaving borne away a man from his canoe in fight of his companions, and devoured him'without the poflibility of relcue.

The moil dangerous adverfary of the crocodile, and, perhaps, the only one thatdares encounter it, is the tiger. A combat between thefe two animals muff prefent aAngular fpedtacle, but fuch a fight mull neceflarily be the refult of hazard, and veryuncommon. The Americans give this account of it. When the tiger approaches theriver’s brink to quench its thirft, the crocodile raifes its head to feize him, as on fimi-lar occafions it attacks fleers, horfes, mules, and whatever animal prefents itfelf; thetiger then ftrikes its talons into the eyes of the crocodile, the only undefended part;but this diving into the water carries the tiger with it, which fuffers rather to be drownedthan forego its prey. The tigers, an animal common to all hot countries covered withtvood, which I faw in America, differ neither in fize nor beauty from thofe of Africa .Of them there is a one fpecies with a brown fkin without ftripes. The Americans arevery expert in combating the tiger with a fpontoon or half-pike, their common travel-ling weapon.

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