The Women Dress In The Same Manner; And, When They Are Very Young, Take Great Delight In Delineating Figures On Their Necks, Breasts, And Arms, With The Point Of A Hot Needle, Which Are Never Obliterated, And Which Resemble The Flowers And Ornaments Which Are Wrought On Silk Handkerchiefs.

The country is excessively hot, and the heat increases as we go to the south; besides which, we found it much hotter up the river than at sea, owing to the immense number of trees with which the country everywhere abounds.

Some of these trees are of very great dimensions. Near a spring where our sailors were in use to fill our water casks, not far from the banks of the river, there grew an exceedingly large tree, but its height was by no means proportional to its thickness; for, though it measured seventeen cubits in girth near the ground, its height, by estimation, was only twenty paces. This tree was hollow, but the branches were very large, avid extended to a great distance, forming a thick and ample shade. But there were many other trees much larger than this, by which the richness and fertility of the soil may be easily conceived; and the country is intersected by numerous streams.

There are many elephants in this country, but the natives are ignorant of the art of taming these animals, as is practised in other countries. One day, while we lay at anchor in the middle of the river, we observed three elephants come out from the wood and walk by the river side, on which we sent our boat with some of the people towards them, but they immediately returned into the wood.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 383 of 812
Words from 105691 to 105973 of 224388