As we approached the coast the heat became stifling. A reddish mist covered the horizon. It was sunset but no sea breeze blew. We rested in the lonely farm called both Cambury and House of the Canarian (Casa del Isleìo). The hot-water river, along whose bank we traveled, became deeper. A 9-foot-long crocodile lay dead on the sand. We wanted to examine its teeth and the inside of its mouth, but having been exposed to the sun for weeks it stank so bad we had to climb back on to our horses.

The harbors of Ferrol and La Coruña both communicate with the samebay, so a ship driven by foul weather towards the coast may anchor ineither, according to the wind. Such an advantage is invaluable where thesea is almost always rough, as it is between Capes Ortegal and Finisterre, the promontories Trileucum and Artabrumof ancient geography. A narrow passage, flanked by perpendicular graniterocks, leads to the extensive bay of Ferrol. No port in Europe offers suchan extraordinary anchorage, from its very inland position. The narrow and tortuous passage by which vesselsenter this port has been opened, either by the pounding of waves or thereiterated shocks of very violent earthquakes. In the New World, on thecoasts of New Andalusia, the Lagunadel Obispo is formed exactly like the port of Ferrol. The most curiousgeological phenomena are often repeated at immense distances on the surfaceof different continents; and naturalists who have examined different partsof the globe are struck by the extreme resemblances observed in the fracturing of coasts, in the sinuositiesof the valleys, in the appearance of mountains, and in their distributionby groups. The accidental concurrence of the same causes must everywherehave produced the same effects; and amidst the variety of nature an analogy of structure and form is observedin the arrangement of inanimate matter, as well as in the internalorganization of plants and animals.

The missionary led us into several ordered and extremely clean Indian huts. It was painful to see how Carib mothers forced their children from the earliest age to enlarge the calves of their legs, as well as mould their flesh in stripes from the ankle to the top of the thigh. Bands of leather or cotton are tied tightly 2 inches apart and pulled hard so that the muscles in between swell out. Our swaddled children suffer far less than the Carib children, who are meant to be closer to nature. The monks, ignorant of Rousseau's works (132) and even of his name, are unable to prevent this ancient physical education; man from the jungle, whom we believed to be so simple in customs, is far from docile when it comes to his dress and ideas about beauty and well-being. I was also surprised to see that the torture imposed on these children in no way hindered their blood circulation or their muscular movements. There is no tribe that is stronger or runs faster than the Caribs.

Nothing can compare to the majestic tranquillity of the stars in the sky in this solitary place. At nightfall, when we stared at the point where the horizon meets the meadows on this gently rolling plain, it seemed, as later in the Orinoco steppes, as if we were seeing the surface of an ocean supporting the starry vault. The tree at whose feet we sat, the luminous insects dancing in the air, the shining constellations of the Southern hemisphere, everything reminded us that we were far from our homeland. And if, in the middle of this exotic nature, the sound of cow bells or the bellowing of a bull came from the small valleys, memories of our native land were suddenly awoken. It was as if we heard distant voices echoing across the ocean, magically carrying us from one hemisphere to another. How strangely mobile is man's imagination, eternal source of his joys and pains!

Both here and in the Río Negro the humidity and consequent quantity of insects make all agriculture impossible. Everywhere you see large ants, which march in packed columns and devour all cultivated plants that are soft and juicy, while in the jungle they can find only woody stalks. If a missionary wants to plant lettuce, or any other European vegetable, he has to hang his garden in the air. He fills an old canoe with good earth and hangs it 4 feet above the ground with rope made from chiquichiqui palm or, more commonly, rests it on some scaffolding.

We observed that fern trees are usually far rarer than palm trees. Nature has limited them to temperate, humid and shady places. They shun the direct rays of the sun and while the pumos, corypha of the steppes, and other American palms prefer the naked, burning plains these tree fern, which seen from afar look like palms, maintain the character and habits of cryptogams. They prefer solitary places, shade, humidity and damp. Sometimes you find them on the coast, but only when protected by thick shade.