where the wood-cutter has erected himself a dwelling and cleared a few
acres for pasturage. Sometimes you see level ground on each side of you for
two or three hours at a stretch; at other times a gently sloping hill
presents itself; and often, on turning a point, the eye is pleased with the
contrast of an almost perpendicular height jutting into the water. The
trees put you in mind of an eternal spring, with summer and autumn kindly
blended into it.

Here you may see a sloping extent of noble trees whose foliage displays a
charming variety of every shade, from the lightest to the darkest green and
purple. The tops of some are crowned with bloom of the loveliest hue, while
the boughs of others bend with a profusion of seeds and fruits.

Those whose heads have been bared by time or blasted by the thunderstorm
strike the eye, as a mournful sound does the ear in music, and seem to
beckon to the sentimental traveller to stop a moment or two and see that
the forests which surround him, like men and kingdoms, have their periods
of misfortune and decay.

The first rocks of any considerable size that are observed on the side of
the river are at a place called Saba, from the Indian word which means a
stone. They appear sloping down to the water's edge, not shelvy, but
smooth, and their exuberances rounded off and, in some places, deeply
furrowed, as though they had been worn with continual floods of water.

There are patches of soil up and down, and the huge stones amongst them
produce a pleasing and novel effect. You see a few coffee-trees of a fine
luxuriant growth, and nearly on the top of Saba stands the house of the
post-holder.