| OCR Text |
Show STEPPE A D DE ERT . 37 with cold, o here, under the influence of the parching drought, the crocodile and the boa become motionles and fa.ll asleep, deeply buried in the dry mud. Everywhere the death-threatening drought prevail , and yet, by the play of the refracted rays of light producing the phenomenon of the mirage, the tbir ty traveller is everywhere pursued by the illusive image of a cool, rippling, watery mirror. (86) The distant palm bush, apparently rai ed by the influence of the contact of unequally heated, and therefore unequally dense, strata of air, hovers above the ground, from which it is separated by a narrow, intervening margin. Half concealed by the dark clouds of dust, re tle with the p:rin of thirst and hunger, the horses and cattle roam around, the cattle lowing dismally, and the horses stretching out their long necks and snuffing the wind, if haply a moister cun-ent may betray the neighborhood of a not wholly dried up pool. More agaciou and cunning, the mule seeks a different mode of alleviating his thirst. The ribbed a,nd spherical melon-cactus (37) conceals under its prickly envelope a watery pith. The mule first strikes the prickles aside with his fore feet, and then ventures warily to approach his lips to the plant and drink the cool juice. But resort to this vegetable fountain is not always without danger, and one sees many animals that have been lamed by the prickles of the cactus. When the burning heat of the day is followed by the coolness of the night, which in these latitudes is always of the same length, even then the horses and cattle cannot enjoy repose. Enormous bats suck their blood like vampires during their sleep, or attach themselves to their backs, causing festering wounds, in which musquitoes, hippobosces, and a host of stinging insects, niche themselves. Thus the animals lead a painful life during the season when, under the fierce glow of the sun, the soil is deprived of its moisture. At length, after the long drought, the welcome season of the rain arrives; and then how suddenly is the scene changed! (38) The deep blue of the hitherto perpetually cloudless sky becomes lighter; at night the dark space in the constellation of the Southern Cross is hardly distinguishable; the soft, phosphorescent light of the Magellanic clouds fades away; even the stars in Aquila and Ophiucus in the zenith shine with a trembling and less planetary light. A single cloud appears in the south, like a distant mountain, rising perpendicularly 4 |
