The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1875-01-15
Seas of Grass.

Our western prairies, stretching as fa
as the eye can reach, and covered will
tall grass moving with waye-like mo
tion in the wind, have often been com
pared to seas. But cur prairies do no
deserve the name of seas of grass a,
we'll as do the great llanos, or grass
plains, OF South America. sft4 ~
The llanos of VenezuIa occupy al
area which Humboldt estimated at 353,
600 square miles-a space equal to ,that
occupied by the state of Maine, New
Hampshire. Vermont, Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Yorh
and Pennsylvania. These immense
plains are as flat as the surface of O. ses
IN calm, and the whole weary level ID
covered with tall, rank grass.
We are told that one might travel
over this dead plain for over eleven
hundred miles, from the delta of the
Orinoco river to the foot of the Andes
Of Paste, and not encounter an emf
nence one foot in height. Yet there
really is one slight inequality. This is
called mesa, and is gentle knoll
swelling very gradually to an elevate. n
of afew yards. This slight elevation,
rising SO gradually that the eye does
not perceive it, is the water r-shed which
divides the water that falls during the
rainy season, sending part to the
southeast to feed the Orinoco, and q
part to the northwest to feed the
streams flowing to the north.
During the rainy season, from April
to the end Of October, the great seas of
grass become seas of shallow water.
The tropical rains pour down in torrents,
and the swollen rivers overflow their
low banks, sending their foods over
hundreds of square miles of the vast
plain. Great numbers of horses and
cattle, which have not been able to es-
cape TO the slight elevation of the mesa
or watershed, are drowned. When the
waters subside, leaving behind o rich,
fertilizing sediment, the great plains
become beautiful with the tall, flower
ing grasses of the South American
plains, while in the neighborhoodof the
rivers few fan-palm trees wave their
broad leaves, and delicate mimosas, or
plants, skirt the river shores.
This is the period during which the |
Ilanos deserve their name of seas of |
grass. Later in the season, when the
thirsty earth and heated air have sue
oeeded in drinking up the last remains
Of the overflow of water, the llanos
might be called the seas of dust, for
;he grass has been burnt to powder by |
he intense dry heat, and the air is
illed with dust raised, says Mangim, in
lis Desert World, by currents caused
oy local differences of temperature,
sVen when there is no wind. The dust
husmoyed in sitting waves is sometimes
till farther agitated by opposing winds.
When these meet, the dust and sand are
'aught up into enormous pillars, with
'road tops spreading out like inverted
pyramids, which whir1 through the hot
ir like the sand-spouts of the Saharan
Desert, or the water-spouts of the
Icean.
The poor animals, which during the
Amy season were insuch peril of drown
ng, are now, after short period Of hap
'iness, exposed to equal danger and
7orse pain, from the dry waves OF dust
nd an agonizing thirst. How eagerly,
hen. they listen for the distant thnder,
the welcome, life-restoring
ain It comes and for awhile, before
be floods reach their height, the vast
laine, covered with verdure and fur
ishing food for thousands of happy
become again the gentle way-
lg seas OF grass.