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COMPOUND INTEREST.

(1) What will be the compound interest on £1,000 for 4 years at 5 per cent. per annum?

(2) What will £175 amount to in 3 years at 6 per cent. per annum, compound interest?

(3) What will be the compound interest on 1,000 guineas for 5 years at 4 per cent. per annum ?

(4) What sum must I invest to produce £964 10s. 74d. in 4 years at 6 per cent., compound interest?

(5) What must be paid for a debt of £128 0s. 111d., due 7 years hence, compound interest at the rate of 5 per cent. being calculated?

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IN South America the features of Nature are traced on a gigantic scale. Mountains, forests, rivers, plains, there appear in far more colossal dimensions than in our part of the world. Many a branch of the Maranon surpasses the Danube in size. In the boundless primitive forests of Guiana more than one Great Britain could find room. The Alps would seem but of moderate elevation if placed aside of the towering Andes; and the plains of Northern Germany and Holland are utterly insignificant when compared with the Llanos of Venezuela and New Grenada, which, stretching from the coast-chain of Caraccas to the forests of Guiana, and from the snow-crowned mountains of Merida to the Delta of the Orinoco, cover a surface of more than 250,000 square miles. Nothing can be more remarkable than the contrast which these immeasurable plains present at various seasons of the year, now parched by a long-continued drought, and now covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. When, day after day, the sun, rising and setting in a cloudless

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sky, pours his vertical rays upon the thirsty Llanos, the cal cined grass-plains present the monotonous aspect of an interminable waste. Like the ocean, their limits melt in the hazy distance with those of the horizon; but here the resemblance ceases, for no refreshing breeze wafts coolness over the desert, and comforts the drooping spirits of the wanderer.

In the wintry solitudes of Siberia the skin of the reindeer affords protection to man against the extreme cold; but in these sultry plains there is no refuge from the burning sun above, and the heat reflected from the glowing soil, save where, at vast intervals, small clumps of the Mauritia palm afford a scanty shade. The waterpools which nourished this beneficent tree have long since disappeared; and the marks of the previous rainy season, still visible on the tall reeds that spring from the marshy ground, serve only to mock the thirst of the exhausted traveller. The long-legged jabiru and the scarlet ibis have forsaken the dried-up swamp, which no longer affords them any subsistence, and only here and there a solitary Caracara falcon lingers on the spot, as if meditating on the vicissitudes of the season. Yet even now the parched savannah has some refreshment to bestow, as Nature-which in the East Indian forests fills the pitchers of the nepenthes with a grateful liquid, and in the waterless Kalakari causes many juicy roots to thrive under the surface of the desert-here also displays her bounty; for the globular melon-cactus, which flourishes on the driest soil, and not seldom measures a foot in diameter, conceals a juicy pulp under its tough and prickly skin. Guided by an admirable instinct, the wary mule strikes off with his fore-feet the long, sharp thorns of this remarkable plant, the emblem of good nature under a rough exterior, and then cautiously approaches his lips to sip the refreshing juice. Yet, drinking from these living sources is not unattended with danger, and mules are often met with that have been lamed by the formidable prickles of the cactus. The wild horse and ox of the savannah, not gifted with the same sagacity, roam about a prey to hunger and burning thirst, the latter hoarsely bellowing, the former snuffing up the air with outstretched neck, to discover by its moisture the neighbourhood of some pool that may have resisted the general drought.

Besides their interminable extent, the Llanos have several other points of resemblance to the sea. As here the waterspout, raised by contending air-currents, rises to the clouds and sweeps over the floods, thus also the dust of the savannah, set in motion by conflicting winds, ascends in mighty columns and glides over the desert plain. The glowing sand, suspended in the air, increases the sultriness of the atmosphere, and may even become dangerous to the traveller who cannot escape by

a timely flight; for, seizing him with irresistible violence, it carries him along in its embrace, and then hurls him senseless to the ground.

As if on a painted ocean,' the becalmed ship lies motionless on the glassy sea. No breath of air ruffles the surface of the waters. The pennant hangs lazily from the mast; the water- . casks are empty; the torments of thirst, aggravated by the heat of a vertical sun, become intolerable. But, suddenly, as if by magic, a beautiful island rises from the floods; waving palm trees seem to welcome the mariner; he fancies he hears the purling of the brook and the splashing of the waterfall. Yet still the vessel remains immovable like a rock, and soon the fading phantom that mocked his misery leaves him the victim of increased despair.

Similar delusions of the mirage, produced by the refraction of the light as it passes through atmospherical strata of unequal warmth, and consequently of unequal density, likewise take place over the surface of the Llanos, which then assume the semblance of a large sea, heaving and rocking in wave-like motion. In the Lybian desert, in the dread solitudes of the polar ocean, in every zone, we meet with the same phenomenon, produced by the same cause.

As in the arctic regions the intense cold during winter retards pulsation, or even suspends the operations of life, so in the Llanos the long continuance of drought causes a similar stagnation in animated nature. The thinly-scattered trees and shrubs do not indeed cast their foliage, but the greyish yellow of their leaves announces that vegetation is suspended. Buried in the clay of the dried-up pools, the alligator and the water boa lie plunged in a deep summer sleep, like the bear of the north in his long winter slumber; and many animals which, at other times, are found roaming over the Llanos-such as the graceful agutè, the hoggish peccary, and the timid deer of the savannah-have left the parched plains and migrated to the forest or the river. The large maneless puma, and the spotted jaguar, following their prey to less arid regions, are now no longer seen in their former hunting-grounds, and the Indian has also disappeared with the stag he pursued with his poisoned arrows. In Siberia, the reindeer and the migratory birds are scared away by winter; here life is banished and suspended by an intolerable heat.

Sometimes the ravages of fire are added to complete the image of death on the parched savannah.

'We had not yet penetrated far into the plain,' says Schomburgh, when we saw to the south-east high columns of smoke ascending to the skies, the sure signs of a savannah fire, and at the same time the Indians anxiously pressed us to speed on, as

the burning torrent would most likely roll in our direction. Although at first we were inclined to consider their fears exaggerated, yet the next half-hour served to convince us of the extreme peril of our situation. In whatever direction we gazed, we nowhere saw a darker patch in the grass-plain announcing 'the refuge of a water-pool; we could already distinguish the flames of the advancing column, already hear the bursting and crackling of the reeds, when fortunately the sharp eye of the Indians discovered some small eminences before us, only sparingly covered with a low vegetation, and to these we now careered as if Death himself was behind us. Half a minute later, and I should never have lived to relate our adventures. With beating hearts we saw the sea of fire rolling its devouring billows towards us; the suffocating smoke, striking in our faces, forced us to turn our backs upon the advancing conflagration, and to await the dreadful decision with the resignation of helpless despair.

'And now we were in the midst of the blaze. Two arms of fire encircled the base of the little hillock on which we stood, and united before us in a waving mass, which, rolling onwards, receded farther and farther from our gaze. The flames had devoured the short grass of the hillock, but had not found sufficient nourishment for our destruction. Whole swarms of voracious vultures followed in circling flight the fiery column, like so many hungry jackals, and pounced upon the snakes and lizards which the blaze had stifled and half-calcined in its murderous embrace. When, with the rapidity of lightning, they darted upon their prey and disappeared in the clouds of smoke, it almost seemed as if they were voluntarily devoting themselves to a fiery death. Soon the deafening noise of the conflagration ceased, and the dense black clouds in the distance were the only signs that the fire was still proceeding on its devastating path over the wide wastes of the savannah."

At length, after a long drought, when all Nature seems about to expire under the want of moisture, various signs announce the approach of the rainy season. The sky, instead of its brilliant blue, assumes a leaden tint, from the vapours which are beginning to condense. The black spot of the 'Southern Cross,' that most beautiful of constellations, in which, as the Indians poetically fancy, the Spirit of the savannah resides, becomes more indistinct as the transparency of the atmosphere diminishes. The fixed stars, which shine with a quiet planetary light, now twinkle even in the zenith. Like distant mountain-chains, banks of clouds begin to rise over the horizon, and forming in masses of increasing density, to ascend higher and higher, until at length the sudden lightnings flash from their dark bosom, and with the loud crash of thunder, the

first rains burst in torrents over the thirsty land. Scarcely have the showers had time to moisten the earth, when the dormant powers of vegetation begin to awaken with an almost miraculous rapidity. The dull, tawny surface of the parched savannah changes as if by magic into a carpet of the most lively green, enamelled with thousands of flowers of every colour. Stimulated by the light of early day, the mimosas expand their delicate foliage, and the fronds of the beautiful mauritias sprout forth with all the luxuriance of youthful energy.

And now, also, the animal life of the savannah awakens to the full enjoyment of existence. The horse and ox rejoice in the grasses, under whose covert the jaguar frequently lurks to pounce upon them with his fatal spring. On the border of the swamps, the moist clay, slowly heaving, bursts asunder, and from the tomb in which he lay embedded rises a gigantic water snake or huge crocodile. The new-formed pools and lakes swarm with life, and a host of water-fowl,-ibises, cranes, flamingoes, mycterias,-make their appearance to regale on the prodigal banquet. A new creation of insects and other unbidden guests now seek the wretched hovels of the Indians, which are sparingly scattered over the higher parts of the savannah. Countless multitudes of ants, sandflies, and mosquitoes; rattlesnakes, expelled by the cold and moisture from the lower grounds; repulsive glekos, which, with incredible rapidity, run along the overhanging rafters; nauseous toads, which, concealing themselves by day in the dark corners of the huts, crawl forth in the evening in quest of prey; lizards, scorpions, centipedes; in a word, worms and vermin of all names and forms,-emerge from the inundated plains, for the tropical rains have gradually converted the savannah, which erewhile exhibited a waste as dreary as that of the Sahara, into a boundless lake. The swollen rivers of the steppe-the Apure, the Arachuma, the Pajara, the Arauca,—pour in mighty streams over the plains, and boats are now able to sail for miles across the land, from one river bed into another.

On the same spot where, but a short time ago, the thirsty horse anxiously snuffed the air to discover by its moisture the presence of some pool, the animal is now obliged to lead an amphibious life. The mares retreat with their foals to the higher banks, which rise like islands above the waters, and as from day to day the land contracts within narrower limits, the want of forage obliges them to swim about in quest of the grasses that raise their heads above the fermenting waters. Many foals are drowned; many are surprised by the crocodiles, that strike them down with their jagged tails, and then crush them between their jaws. Horses and oxen are not seldom met

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