.2 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES r y/^ prym^m f-:. -M.: -rff ^':^ -Vi LIFE AND NATURE UXDEK THE TROPICS; OR, SKETCHES OF TRAA^ELS AMONG THE ANDES, AND ON THE ORINOCO, RIO NEGRO, AND AMAZONS. BY H. M. AND p. V. K MYERS. NEW YORK: D. APPLET ON AND COMPANY, 90, 92 & 9-1 GRAXD STREET. 1871. Ektered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, By D. APPLETON & COMPANY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. IZIL, SRLF VRJ. niu TO PROFESSOR ASA GRAY, M.D., LL.D., cohrebpondin'g member of the eoval bavarian academy, etc., WHOSE EMINENT LABORS HATE DONE SO MUCH TO ADVANCE AND RENDER POPULAR THAT DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL HISTORY TO WHICH HIS LIFE HAS BEEN DEVOTED, THIS VOLUME IS, BY PEESnSSION, MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE OF PROFOUND ADMIRATION AND GRATITUDE. '"Nowlicre docs Nature more deeply impress ns with a sense of her great- ness, nowhere does she speak to us more forcibly, than in the tropical world.''''— 3u?nboldL "It is a Roodly sight to see What Heaven has done for this delicious land 1 WTiat fraits of fragrance blush on every tree, What good prospects o'er the Mils expand : But raan would mar them with an impious hand." CniLDE IIakold. PREFACE. The following pages are a narrative of a scientific expedition from Williams College to tlie tropical re- gions of South America. The Lycemn of Natural History of this institution has sent out several expe- ditions to different localities that have presented them- selves as favorable fields for new and interesting re- search. The one whose history is given in this volume was sent out in the summer of 186 Y. Upon its first inception, Prof. A. Hopkins w^as intending to accom- pany the expedition ; but business and educational re- lations having rendered this impossible, an invitation was extended to Prof. James Orton, of Rochester Uni- versity, to take charge, and was accepted. Colonel P. Staunton, Yice-Chancellor of Ingham University, Leroy, IST. Y., accompanied the expedition as its artist ; the party was also joined by F. S. Wil- liams, Esq., of Albany, N. Y. ; Messrs. A. Bushnell, W. Gilbert, E. H. Forbes, and the authors, were the members from Williams College. The expedition was formed into two divisions: one, consisting of three members, Messrs, Gilbert, Forbes, and II. M, Myers, proceeding from Caracas, upon the northern coast, yi PREFACE. penetrated to the Amazons, by the courses of the Ori- noco and Rio jSTegro ; the other party crossed the con- tinent from the west, first ascending the Andes to Quito, then descending the slope of the Eastern Cor- dillera to the Eio jSTapo, and, by a canoe-voyage down that stream, reaching the Amazons, which was followed to its mouth. As the scientific results of the western branch have been given to the public by Prof. Orton, we have made brief the portion of our narrative referring to that division ; yet, while divesting it of details, we have made sufiicient notings of our experiences and observa- tions to give completeness to our history. Portions of the work have been taken, with but few incidental corrections, from articles written by us while upon our tour, or after our return, and which have appeared in dififerent papers and periodicals. ISTeither part is dis- tinctly that of either author; but in the preparation of the work we have freely interchanged notes and suggestions. "While giving, in our boyish way, mainly the results of our own observations, we have not failed to avail ourselves of the labors of others, and have carefully examined the few works within our reach relative to the regions traversed. In the first portion of our work we have been guided by the " Travels " of the eminent German naturalist, Humboldt, to whose observations we have made frequent allusions in the course of our narrative ; to the graphically-written work of Paez we are also indebted for many suggestions ; upon Ecuador, Ilassaurek's " Fo.ur Years among Spanish- Americans " has been almost our only guide. The greater portion of the volume is devoted to the Orinoco, Eio Kegro, PKEFACE. Vii and the Andes. We have given but two chapters on the Amazons, for the wonders of that river have been made known bj such writers as Agassiz, "Wallace, and Bates, and many earlier travellers, and to these writers we would refer those of our readers who may desire a better knowledge of the valley of the Great River. The desire of many that a complete narrative of the expedition from our college should be given in a per- manent form, and our own -wish that 'others miglit share with us the pleasure we experienced in viewing a tropical JSTature in those equatorial regions where she presents herself in forms so strange and grand, coupled with the fact that so little has been written upon those interesting portions of the continent to which sections our work is principally devoted, are the only considera- tions that could have led us to undertake the preparation of the present volume. We are conscious that our work has all the imperfections incident to a first effort, and that its kind reception can come only through the kindly indulgence of our readers. The illustrations which embellish tlie work are prin- cipally from our own sketch-book, and are, for the most part, representations of natural scenery. In this con- nection we would express our especial indebtedness to Miss F. A. Snyder, to whom our sketches were submit- ted to be prepared for the engraver. The expedition is under deep indebtedness to the Smithsonian Institution, which provided instruments for making meteorological observations, and secured transportation of collections, besides giving essential aid in other ways. We desire to express our kindest thanks to Dr. Asa Gray, for the identification of many of our plants ; to Vlll PEEFACE. Don Ramon Paez, of Veneznela, for valuable assistance rendered us in the preparation of our Avork ; to Seiior E. Staal, of Valencia, for mncli information kindly given us; to Mr. James Henderson, of Para, J, F. Keeve, Esq., of Guayaquil, and Dr. William Jameson, of Quito, for many favors. We Avould also express our deep obligations to Prof. A. Hopkins, for valuable snggestions and kind encouragement in our work; to Dr. J. Torrey, for the examination of plants submitted to him ; to R. II. Forbes, our fellow-traveller, for notes generously placed at our disposal ; to Albert Bushnell, also our friend and companion ; to C. P. Williams, Esq., of Albany ; to W. P. Palmer, Esq., and Cjanis W. Field, Esq., of Kew York ; and to R. B. Hall, Esq., of Ash- field, Mass, Nor would we forget to acknowledge our indebtedness to Captain Lee, of Guayaquil, to Captain Raygado, of the Peruvian steamer " Morona," to Com- mandante Cardozo, of the Brazilian steamer " Icami- aba," on the Amazons, and to the many other Mends that have aided ns, and wliose favors are gratefully re- membered. The Authoes. Williams Collegf, Kovemher, ISTO. COE'TEE'TS. CHAPTER I. FROM LA GUAIRA TO CARACAS. First View of the Tropics. — Silla — La Guaira. — Fortifications. — Custom- house " Eeasonableness." — Ascent of the Cordillera. — Picturesque Scenery. — Arrival at Caracas .... Page 1 CHAPTEK II, CARACAS. Valley of Caracas. — Site of the City. — Houses. — Cathedral. — Public Build- ings. — Pulperlas. — Earthquake of 1812.— People. — Dress. — Education. — ^Literature. — Eeligion. — Cemeteries .... 9 CHAPTER III. EXCURSIONS ABOUT CARACAS. Trip to the Cave of Encantado. — Railroad. — Thunder-storm. — Petare. — A Hopeful Student. — E.xperiencc at a Posada. — The Cave. — Pineapple- Plant. — Calabash-Tree. — Yuca-Shrub. — Death of jlr. Wilson. — La Valle.— Cerro de Avila ...... 20 CHAPTER IV. VALLEYS OF ARAGUA AND VALENCIA. Departure from Caracas. — Scenery of the Rio Guaira. — Beautiful View from Mount Higuerote. — The " Garden of Venezuela." — Victoria. — Spanish Extortion. — A "Word on Mules. — Venezuelian Coaches. — Mara- cai. — Castilian Etiquette. — Fast in a Stream. — Entrance into Valen- cia.— The City.— Lake Tacarigua .... 30 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. VALENCIA AND PCEUTO CADELLO. Ilucienda of ilr. Gluckler. — Coffee. — Cacao. — Tigcr-IIunt. — A Tropical Forest.— Lost on the Mountains. — A Cheerless Night. — Exit from the Wilds.— Eeturn to Valencia. — Descent to the Sea-coast. — Papaw- Tree. — " Cow-Tree." — Thermal Springs. — Discomforts of Life at a Hacienda. — Cocoa-Palm. — Mangroves. — Puerto Cabello Page 44 CHAPTER VI. OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS — AFLOAT IN THE FOREST. Water-system of South America. — Our Route. — Leave Puerto Cabello. — Last Visit to Valencia. — A South American Road. — Fording a River. — Wild Scenery. — Niglit at a Posada. — First View of Llanos. — Their Ex- tent and General Features. — Town of Pao. — Embarked for Baul. — Our Bongo. — "Very bad" to wash before Breakfast. — Palms. — Bam- boos. — Alligators. — Howling Monkeys. — Lost in the Forest. — Navigat- ing under Difficulties. — Shooting Rapids. — Night at a Llano Hut 58 CHAPTER Vn. BAUL AND SAN FKRNANDO. Over the Flooded Llanos. — Abundance of Animated Life. — ^^On the Rio Trinaco. — A Tropical Shower. — Sickness. — Arrival at Baul. — One of the Party Homeward bound. — Sad Reflections. — Stay at Baul. — Down the Portuguesa. — Arrival at San Fernando. — The Town. — Preparations for continuing our Voyage. — A Deliberate Crew . . 81 CHAPTER VHL AFLOAT UPON THE LLAXO.S. Aspect of the Inundated Plains. — Wild Horses and Cattle. — Crocodiles. — Anacondas. — Electric Eels. — Cannibal-Fish. — Experiences upon the Payara. — Myriads of Aquatic Birds. — A Breakfast and Cock-fight. — Manati, or "Sea-cow." — Upon the Arauca. — Over Flooded Savan- nas. — At Asaiba. — Niguas. — Jaguar. — Abnormal Butchering. — Em- barked for the Orinoco. — Navigating Submerged Forest. — Lost upon the Llanos. — An Uncomfortable Night. — Arrival upon the Orinoco. 93 CHAPTER IX. The Orinoco. — Preparations for entering Urbana. — Reception at the Town. — A Fiesta-Day. — Our Quarters. — Smoking out Bats. — Description of CONTENTS. XI Town. — Ascent of Cerro. — Picturesque View. — Harper's Weekly. — Insects and Birds. — Annoying Delays. — An-angeinents for Voyage up the Orinoco ...... Page 111 CHAPTEK X. UP THE ORIXOCO. Farewell to Urbana. — Strait of Baraguan. — Mirage. — Harvest of Turtles' Eggs. — Camp of Indians. — Santa Barbara. — Indian Simplicity and Be- liefs. — Features of the Kiver. — Castillo de los Espaiioles. — A Legend. — Piedra del Tigre. — Music in the Eocks. — Eaudal de Cariben. — Eio Meta. — A Wild Scene. — Bats and Other Annoyances . 123 CHAPTEE XI. THE GREAT CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. Grandeur of the Eapids of Aturos. — Passing the Cataracts. — Village of Atures. — Weapons of the Natives. — Suffering from Insects. — Cave of Ataruipe. — Beautiful Palms. — Arrive at the Eaudales de Maypures. — Magnificent View of the Cataracts. — Thanksgiving Dinner. — Village of Maypures. — Nature's Chronometer. — Farewell to the Orinoco. — At San Fernando de Atabapo . . . . . lil CHAPTEE XII. ATABAPO AND UPPER RIO NEGRO. Village of San Fernando. — Ship-building. — Voyage up the Atabapo. — Its Peculiar Features. — Arrival at Javita. — Portage to Pimichin. — Down the Pimichin. — Eio Negro.— Village of Mor6a. — Scarcity of Food. — Eepairing a Yankee Clock. — Arrangements for Voyage to the Ama- zons. — Leave Morua. — San Carlos. — Enter Brazil . . 158 CHAPTEE XIII. VOYAGE DOWN THE RIO NEGRO. First Glimpse of Portuguese Civilization. — Climate. — Cross the Equator. — Cataracts of San Gabriel. — Grand Sceneiy.— Desertion of Guide. — India-Euhber Manufacture. — Christmas on the Eio Negro. — Floating at Night. — Beauty of the Southern Firmament. — Lost on the Eiver. — Barcellos. — Geology of the Eio Negro. — Desolation of the Eiver. — Eeach Manaos. — Tidings from the Quitonian Party of our Expedition. — Farewell to the Eio Negro ..... 175 xii CONTENTS. CIIAPTEK XIV. FROM PANAMA TO BODEGAS. Aspinwall. — Across the Istlimus. — Tropical Vegetation. — Panama. — Upon tlie Pacific. — Paita. — Peruvian Coast. — Ancient Sea-Beaches. — Causes of Sterility and Low Temperature. — Keturn Northward. — Forest. — Guayaquil. — Preparations for Climbing the Andes. — Scenery of the Guayas. — First View of Cliiuiborazo. — Niglit-Seene upon the Eiver. Page 194 CllAPTEK XV. CROSSING THE ANDES. Bodegas.— Beneath the Forest. — Climbing the Cordillera. — Our Mules. — Above the Clouds. — Descending Trains. — Caraino Eeal. — Valley of Chimbo. — Guaranda. — Upon the Crest of the Andes. — Arenal. — The Snow-line. — Dreary Eide. — Zones of Vegetation. — Coloration of Flowers of High Altitudes. — Valley of Quito. — At the Foot of Chim- borazo. — Mocha. — A Posada-scene.— Spanish Curiosity. — Ambato. — Vespers among the Andes. — Indian Hospitality. — Latacunga. — Plain of Turubamba. — Glimpse of Quito .... £07 CHAPTER XVL QUITO. Situation of the Capital. — Delightful Climate. — History of the City. — Modern Quito. — Houses. — Plazas. — Traces of Earthquakes. — Popula- tion. — Results of Amalgamation. — No Progress. — Eeligion. — Future of the City.— Hacienda of Chillo .... 226 CHAPTER XVII. MOUNTAINS ABOUT THE VALLEY OF QUITO. Groups of Volcanoes. — Quitonian Peaks. — What gives them their Inter- est. — Chimborazo. — Its Summit gained by M. Eemy. — Sangai. — Coto- paxi. — Antisana. — Pichincha. — Our Ascent. — Wild Scene from its Summit. — Down its Crater.— A Thunder-storm within. — Climbing out. — Lost upon the Volcano. — Return to Quito . . 238 CHAPTER XVIII. OVER THE EASTERN CORDILLERA. Amazonian Forest. — Preparations for our Journey. — Our Artist's Grave. — Religious Intolerance. — Across the Valley. — Mimosas. — Hacienda of Itulcachi. — Tablon. — Sunset among the Andes. — The Home of the Incas. — Indigenous Civilizations. — Condors. — Over the Crest. — View CONTENTS. xiii of the Amazonian Valley. — First Waters of the Great Kiver. — Andean Eoad. — Keception at Papallacta. — Indian Bnrial. — Arrangements for our March to the Napo ..... Page 252 CIIAPTEK XIX. BKNEATII THE FOREST. Leave Papallacta. — Wretched Trail. — Torrents and Land-slides. — Our Camp. — Baeza. — Fording the Hondacln. — Separated from our Train. — Arehidona and Archidonians. — Photographing Indians. — A New Train. — Tropical Forest. — Scarcity of Animals. — Sight of the Kio Napo ........ 267 CHAPTER XX. CANOE-VOYAGE DOWN THE RIO NATO. Napo Valley. — An Island-liome.— Bees. — Indian Tribes. — Theii- Lan- guage. — Down the Eiver. — Shooting Eapids. — Santa Eosa. — An Indif- ferent Crew. — Coco Village. — Our " Zdparo." — Last View of the Andes. — Birds upon the Napo. — Toucans. — Hummers. — Turtles' Eggs. — Sancudos. — Camp upon a Playa. — Our Indians. — Trojiical Vegetation. — View of the Maraiion .... 278 CHAPTER XXI. THE UPPER AMAZONS. The Eiver. — Origin of its Name. — Pebas. — Marine Shells.— Geology of the Valley. — Glacial Phenomena. — Farewell to our " Zaparo." — Steam- ers upon the Amazons. — The " Morona." — Maucallacta. — Indians Alarmed. — Loreto. — Tabatinga. — The "Icamiaba." — Fonte Boa. — Teffe. — " Merry Christmas ! " — Arrival at Manaos . . 294 CHAPTER XXIL THE LOWER AMAZONS. Departure from Manaos — Our Steamer. — Monkeys. — Madeira Eiver. — Else and Fall of the Amazons. — Flooded Forest. — Igarapcs.— Victoria Eegia. — Villa Bella. — Mountain Scenery.— Straits of Obidos. — Tides. — Santarem. — Breaks in the Great Forest. — Oceanic Eiver. — Natural Canals. — Forest. — Para Estuary. — Para. — Commerce of the Amazons. — Settlement of the Valley. — A Pleasant Meeting. — Farewell to the Tropics ........ 308 mTEODUOTIOiN. SouTU Amekica is a part of the world about whicli little, comparatively, is known. Owing to the disturbed politi- cal state of the country, commerce has sought other chan- nels, and enterprise has looked elsewhere for its reward. A large capitalist said to the writer, many years ago, " Convince me that money can be made, and I will put a steamer upon the Magdalena at once." This was when General Mosquera had lately been elected President of Xew Granada, or, as it is now called, Colombia, and when religious toleration had just been secured in that I'epublic. At that time the prospects for Colombia, politically and religiously, seemed to be brightening, and the students of Williams, wakeful to " the signs of the times," pledged five hundred dollars to one of the oificers of the College to assist in the exploration of the country. The idea was, that feasible points should be selected — points that could be occupied as centres of a higher civilization and better type of Christianity. Some years later, one of the stu- dents, Frederick Hicks, j^roposed to realize this idea on his own responsibility. After looking the ground over, travelling somewhat extensively both in Colombia and Ecuador, he returned to Panama and built a commodious xvi INTRODUCTION. cliapel, regarding that as a point which was central, and from which an inflnence might be exerted northward a.s well as sonthward. Frequent communications from Mr. Ilicks have fanned the South- American spirit on this ground for a long time, and rendered the Lyceum of Natural History the more willing to imdertake an expe- dition in that direction ; so tliat, when Prof. Orton, with whom a correspondence had been opened by the Lyceum on the subject of an expedition, expressed a decided pref- erence for South America, the thing was at once agreed to. It is obvious that the expedition, by dividing as it did at New York, was able to secure far more important re- sults than could have accrued from a joint expedition. It is especially obvious that the branch of the expedition which struck the northern shore of the continent, explor- ing first the Orinoco, and then the Rio Negro at least eight hundred miles farther than Humboldt had done, has performed a very valuable service in the interest of geog- raphy, natural science, and ethnology. Prof. Orton lias published an interesting account of his observations in connection with the western branch of the expedition. The northern branch now gives its report to the world. Some independent observations made by a member of the western branch of the expedition will also accompany the pi*esent volume. We have no Royal Geographical, Geological, or Astro- nomical Societies in this country ; but no doubt many curious eyes will be eager to read, and many interested ears to listen, while our young friends tell the story of their explorations, and their adventures in a region purely tropical, where every thing in Nature and man differs so widely from any thing we see — a region, too, for the most part, until recently, almost unknown. A. Hopkins. Williams College, December, 1870. LIFE AND NATURE. CHAPTER I. FROM LA GUAIKA TO CARACAS, First View of tlie Tropics. — Silla — La Guaira. — Fortifications. — Custom- house " Eeasonableness." — Ascent of the Cordillera. — Picturesque Scenery. — Arrival at Caracas. It was on the afternoon of July 27th, after a voyage of twenty-five days from New York, that we caught our first glimpse of the tropics. Far to the southward could be seen what appeared to be a mass of clouds piled one upon another, which, to the unpractised eye, differed not from those that encircled the entire heavens. That dark pile, whose outline was so distinctly marked far up from the hoi'izon, was a branch of the Andes, that mighty range of mountains which traverses our sphere almost from pole to pole, and, although over sixty miles away, the irregular contour of its lofty summit could be distinctly traced upon the sky. We were not permitted to watch long the scene before us. Clouds soon gathered in around, and the darkness of approaching night veiled the land from our sight. By three o'clock, next morning, we were within five miles of La Guaira, where we were obliged to wait for 1 2 FEOM LA GUAIKA TO CARACAS. day and a favorable breeze to carry iis into port. The wind, as is nsual here in the early morning, blew but feebly, so that we entered with some difficulty. At length we gained the haven, and dropped anchor about three hundred yards from shore. Directly before us, rising abruptly out of the sea, looms up Silla, the highest peak of the northern Cordillera of the Andes. Its rocky and precipitous side, rising to the height of nearly nine thousand feet, looks as if one of those convulsions of Nature, which so often shake this unstable land, Avould overthrow the towering heights and bury forever in its ruins the town La Guaira, which lies closely nestled at its base. Clinging to its rugged slope, far up its side, is a scanty, scrubby growth of bushes, with here and there, in some ravine, a clump approaching somewhat to the magnitude of trees. Interspersed throughout this undei-- growth, and towering above it, are cactuses, some attain- ing the height of thirty feet, and resembling at a distance leafless and nearly branchless trees. Higher iip the mountain-side we see only Alpine grass, and this in turn gives place to ban-en rocks which crown the lofty summit. To heighten still more the grandeur of the scene, the morning is clear and beautiful, and the sun, as it rises from its ocean-bed, gilds the few fleecy clouds which float over the crest and along the flank of Silla, presenting a scene not often witnessed at this season, when clouds and storms prevail in the tropics. One of the first things which will attract the attention of the traveller, if he has never before visited the equatorial regions, will be the palms scattered along the coast, and which by their tall, straight trunks, thirty and forty feet in height, topped with a cluster of gigantic and elegantly-formed leaA^es, will impress him at once with the strangeness as well as beauty of vegetation within the tropics. The port, or, rather, roadstead of La Guaira, opens > (ill \§ M «> ^ lAiilllf LA GUAIKA. 3 directly into the sea, with nothing to break the force of the winds or waves. In the absence of a breakwater, which might easily be constructed, wharves are, of course, useless. Vessels are therefore obliged to anchor some distance from land, and unload their cargoes by means of lighters. The position of the town, wedged in between Mount Silla and the sea, on a strip of land scarcely three hundred yards in its greatest breadth, backed by an enormous rocky wall, reflecting the heat of the sun on the red-tiled roofs and stony pavements, renders it, according to Hum- boldt, the hottest place upon the earth. La Guaira has a population of about eight thousand. There are a theatre and two churches ; one of the latter, the temple of San Juan de Dios, is one of the most elegant edifices in Vene- zuela. As we wander through the long, narroAV streets of this antiquated city, we meet groups of every shade of complexion and in every variety of costume, from the gayly-dressed seiiora in her flounces and extended trail, with a black-laccd mantilla over the shoulders and a veil upon her head, to the negro boasting of pants and hat, and the urchin clad only in Nature's simple garb. Leaving the narrow and crowded streets, v.'e clamber to the fortifications which lift their battlements above the town. A few cannon frown defiantly through the embra- sures and over the parapets. Soldiers in almost as many different costumes as in number, w^ith " arms at will," are lazily guai-ding the works. From this stand-point, we have a fine view of the city and its environs ; but we can- not tarry long, for twilight is already deepening, and we are reminded that in the tropics darkness quickly suc- ceeds. We therefore hastily descend to our hotel, stop- ping for a moment to view the evening muster of the sol- diers within the fortifications that line the shore. Tliese works are quite formidable as well as those overlooking the town on the mountain-side, and if well manned would 4 FROM LA GUAIEA TO CAKAGAS. render tlie place impregnable to an approach from the sea, -which is the only side upon which an attack can well be made. We cared not to protract our stay on the hot_and arid coast of La Guaira. We were also admonished, by the death from yellow fever, the day before we arrived, of one of om* countrymen who had been for some years a resi- dent of the place, that it would not be well for us to remain long where that epidemic was raging. We there- fore determined to leave on the morrow for the more ge- nial and salubrious clime of the table-land of Caracas. That beautiful and fertile valley is situated directly over the mountain from La Guaira, at an elevation of some four thousand feet above the sea. There are two roads leading to it from the coast, the shorter but more precipi- tous of which is a mule-path, leading over the summit between the peak of Naiguanata and the Ccrro de Avila, the two forming what is called the Silla, or saddle, of Caracas. The other, and the one we preferred, is a car- riage-road which reaches the capital by a circuitous route of fourteen miles. The old road, which was in use at the time of Humboldt's visit to the country, was be- tween the two we have mentioned. Before allowed to take our departure for Caracas, we were what they termed subjected to the inspections and extortions of custom- liouse officials. Our arms, ammunition, and some other ar- ticles, which were pronounced subject to duty, they were willing, in consideration of the object for which we vis- ited their country, to allow to pass upon the payment of what they termed the reasonable amount of forty dollars, although they claimed that much more was rightly due them. Such " reasonableness " we hope it may be our good fortune not often to meet Avith. Our coach, with three abreast, at the appointed hour, is at the door of our Ijotcl, oiirselves and baggage stowed within, and all is ASCENT OF THE COKDILLEEA. 5 ready. It is two p. m. as wc take our departure. The rays of a tropical sun pour down without mercy, and arc reverberated by every stone and rock until the very air we breathe seems as if drawn from a heated furnace. We lay aside our outer garments and make ourselves as com- fortable as circumstances will permit. The road leads out of the town on the north, skirting the base of tlie mountains, between which and the sea there is for some distance scarcely room for the coach to pass ; then the space widens, and we find ourselves riding through the village of Marquitia with its beautiful cocoa-nut grove ; then turning up the mountain-slope, we wind along the eastern side of the Quebrada de Tipe, a large ravine, the aspect of the landscape varying at every tui-n. Here the maguey, a jDlant with agave leaves, finds its native home and adorns by its unsurpassed beauty tliese rugged wilds. Its lofty arboreal form, with its thousands of drooping liliaceous flowers, presents a sight of which the traveller never wearies. As we continue our journey, slowly vrinding up the zigzag road, we find ourselves rising into a purer atmos- phere. We breathe more freely, and no longer feel that languor and debility experienced while amid the burning- sands of the ferra calieyite, or hot land below. Reaching what is called the half-way station, we stop and change horses. There are two or three other wayside inns we have passed, and which afibrd resting-places to the traveller and trains of animals that daily pass over the road between La Guaira and Caracas. Our gai*ments, removed at the outset of our journey, we now gladly replace, for we have at- tained an altitude of nearly five thousand feet above the sea. Above us and along the summit heavy clouds are gath- ering, and, as they come sweeping down the mountain-side, threaten to soon envelop us in their gloom. From this point, the view, Avhich the traveller has spread out before 6 FEOM LA GUAIKA TO CAEACAS. him, is one of surpassing loveliness and grandeur. To his left and far below he beholds the terminus of the deep ravine of the Quebrada de Tipe, which running down the mountain-slope, spreads out at its base into a plain of exu- berant fertility, covered with beautiful estates of growing corn, bananas, and other productions, sustained by irriga- tion. The extension of this plain, or, rather, low ridge of land, into the sea, forms the promontory of Cabo Blanco, whose white, barren shores glisten in the distance. Farther to the right, and almost beneath his feet, lie the village of Marquitia and its grove of cocoa-nut trees, which so impresses the traveller as he approaches from the ocean, Lookinoj to the right and southward are seen vessels in the port, riding at their anchorage. And there is La Guaira, encircled by the sea on the one side, and by an amphithcatral wall of rock on the other, while beyond the ocean stretches to the horizon, striped by lines of billows which come I'olling in toward the shore. From the half-way station the ascent is much easier, owing to the sinuosities of the road, and the less precipi- tousness of the Cordillera as we approach its summit. The scenery also grows wilder and vegetation less luxu- riant as we ascend. The clouds through which we pass give forth a drizzling rain, and the increasing cold renders our overcoats necessary for comfort. Respecting the change of temperature experienced in passing from the tierra caliente to the tierra fr'io, as the high elevations are called, one is liable to form a wrong estimate : for it must be remembered that the traveller in his ascent passes in a few hours from the burning sands of the tropical coast to an altitude of some seven thousand feet, the highest point of the range over which the road passes. This elevation, although not great, has a temperature so cool, that, in entering it suddenly from an extreme of heat, there is ex- perienced a sensation that leads to an erroneous conclusion. PICTUEESQUE SCENEEY. 7 The same may be said m regard to the temperature of La Guaira, The thermometer seldom rises above ninety de- grees Fahrenheit ; yet, as the variation daring the twenty- four hours, and even from one season to another, is com- paratively slight, one can easily conceive that the quantity of heat received must be very great. The intense suiFering, therefore, in the tropics, results, as Humboldt observes, not from an excess of heat, but from its long continuance at a high temperature. The summit of the Cordillera is at length reached, and over it we ride rapidly, and commence the descent at a still greater pace. The first view of Caracas, which lies just at the base of the mountain where the road makes its descent into the valley, is obtained at no great distance. It is neai'ly dark as we enter tlie capital of Venezuela. Our lumbering, three-horse vehicle rattles over the rough, stony pavement of the streets, and stops in front of a po- sada, kept by Madame St. Amand, who welcomes us in English, and shows us at once to a fine suite of rooms, which, like all the apartments of Jhe house, open upon a court-yard in the centre, containing beautiful shrubbery and a maguey-plant in full bloom. Ul^on the evening of our arrival, we Avere met hj Mr. Wilson, the minister from our country, who gave xis a most cordial reception. We were also happy in making the acquaintance of Profs. Ernst and Gearing, two dis- tinguished German naturalists. The rich and varied flora of the tropics, comparatively but little known to the bota- nist, had enticed Mr. Ernst from Europe to this his adopted country. For three years he had been engaged in his favorite pursuit, confining his researches to the district of Caracas and vicinity. During that time he had collected and classified over three thousand species of plants, Avhich is more than twice the entire number described in the Natural History of New York. The result of his labors S FEOM LA GUAIEA TO CARACAS. will in due time be given to the public, and will consti- tute, if we except the published reports of Humboldt and Bonpland, with those of some minor travellers, the first botanical work that has ever been issued on that region. Mr. Gearing had been in the country about a year, and had succeeded in making a most valuable collection in the department of ornithology. The researches of these gen- tlemen in Northern Venezuela will add much to the cause of science, and increase largely the facilities for others who may desire to make investigations and collections in the natural history of this country. Often did we in the course of our travels have occasion to be grateful for in- formation imparted to us, as well as many valuable sug- gestions received from them during the short time we re- mained in the city. CHAPTER II CARACAS Valley of Caracas.— Site of the City.— Houses.— Cathedral.— Public Build- ings. — Pulperias. — Earthquake of 1812. — People. — Dress. — Education. — Literature. — Eeligion. — Cemeteries. Iisr the southern portion of Colombia,* the Andes, which sweep along the western coast of the continent, through Chili, Peru, and Ecuador, witli a breadth of sixty to four hundred miles, yet with a rigid jDreservatiou of their unity, divide into three distinct ranges. The most western of these branches runs close along the Pacific shore of Colom- bia, and enters the Isthmus of Panama ; the second trav- erses the centre of the republic, until it touches the shores of the Caribbean Sea ; the third takes a more easterly direction, and, xipon finding the ocean, skirts the northern shore of Venezuela, terminating at the delta of the Ori- noco. One of the most interesting features of this re- markable and unparalleled mountain-system, aside from its volcanoes, is its lofty table-lands and beautiful valleys, lying between its longitudinal ranges. Far to the south we find the Thibetan highlands of Bolivia, lying about the shores of Lake Titicaca ; under the equator the beauti- ful plains of Quito; and, advancing still farther north, we * Called New Granada, until September 20, 1861, when a new consti- tution was adopted, and the name changed to United States of Colombia. 10 CARACAS. find ourselves surrounded by the smiling vales and ver- dant plains of Bogota. If, from the tripartition cf the system in Colombia, we journey along the eastern branch until we reach the sea, then follow the range for one hun- dred miles, as it sweeps along the coast, bathing its feet in the waters of the Caribbean, we find ourselves in one of the most beautiful valleys that fancy could depict. Here, lying between two parallel ranges of the Cordil- lera, at an elevation of nearly three thousand feet (2,924) above the Atlantic, is the picturesque valley of Caracas. This plateau runs east and west, having a length of ten miles, and a breadth of six or seven. On the south is a range of hills which separates it from the valley of Tui, while on the north are the high mountains of Silla and Avila of the coast-chain. The Rio Guaira, taking its rise in the mountains of Higuerote on the west, flows through the valley, irrigating the soil, and maintaining a most luxuriant growth of vegetation. The climate is that of perpetual spring. What place can we conceive to be more delightful than that where the temperature of the day is never above eighty degrees, and at night seldom below sixty;* where vegetation is always green, flowers ever blooming, and fruit in the greatest abundance and variety at all seasons ? Here, growing side by side, are the banana, the cocoa-nut, pine-apple, orange, grape,' peach, Indian corn, and strawberry. There is no particu- lar season for seed-time or harvest. Fields of maize may be seen in every stage of growth, from the young and tender blade just shooting upward into light, to the full and ripened ear of harvest-time. From the same shrub or tree maybe enjoyed the fragrance of its flowers and the flavor of its fruit. Not less beautiful is Nature in her wildness than when under the controlling influence of domestic culture. * The average annual temperature is Yl°. Jill III 1 1 1 m# i^f iill'.'lil;; SITE OF CITY. 11 Trees of magnificent growth, festooned -with hanging moss and pendant vines, their trunks and giant limbs covered with parasitic plants of rich, brilliant hues, stand alone in their majestic grandeur, or, by their united crowns of fadeless green, bedecked with flowers of rare delicacy and beauty, form picturesque bowers and arcades. Tow- ering and crested palms, with their plumes wafted by the breezes, adorn alike the forest and the plain with their stately, graceful foi-ms. Giant vegetation, in that variety and beauty elsewhere imknown, springs up on every side, while amid and beneath all — " There spring the hving herbs, pi-ofusely wild, O'er all the deep-green earth, beyond the power Of botanists to number up their tribe." Enclosing this beautiful valley, are lofty, rugged, and barren mountain-cliffs, which break the sti'ength of the equinoctial winds, and shut out the burning atmosphere of the jDlain on the coast. The contrast presented by these barren ranges, and the stern, forbidding aspect of their chilling peaks which rise into the region of the clouds, only add to the loveliness of the valley which lies encircled within their embrace' Here the sweeping pesti- lence is seldom known, for those lofty Cordilleras, which serve as a barrier to the winds, also prevent an approach of those malignant diseases which are the scourges of southern ports. It seems scarcely possible that a spot within the equatorial regions, less than five miles in a di- rect line from where the earth is parched by the burning heat of a tropical sun, could ;gossess such a cool, salubri- ous climate, and the luxuries of both temperate and torrid zones. At the western extremity of the valley, situated upon a steep slope which inclines toward the southeast, is Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. At the base of this 12 CAEACAS. declivity, skirting the suburbs of the city, runs the Rio Guaira, while crowding the town on the west are rocky and sterile hills, which present a wild and gloomy aspect. Rising abruptly on the north, is the Cerro de Avila, down whose rugged slopes pour rushing torrents into the streets of the city, whenever a storm sweeps over the valley. Why Caracas was built in this wretched corner, when so large and beautiful a plain lies spread out before it, we cannot conceive. Could the town haA' e been placed farther to the southward amid the charming sce- nery of the valley, it would have occupied a site in every way far preferable to its present position. Caracas in its greatest length is about one and a half miles, and is of nearly an equal breadth. Its area, although small, has crowded within its limits a population of fifty thousand inhabitants. Intersecting the city are deep ravines, some of which are dry, others the channels of small rivers, the Catuche, Caroata, and Arauco, which descend from the mountains. The ghastly appearance of these immense gullies, with their unsightly weeds and bushes, impresses the traveller still more unfavorably with the situation of the town. From tlie Rio Catuche the city is supplied with water, which is brought from a reservoir about a mile up the stream on the slope of Avila, and furnished the inhabitants at public and private fountains. Caracas, like all Spanish- American towns, is regularly built, with narrow streets crossing each other at right angles. These are Avell paved, and slope toward the cen- ti"e, thus making a sort of canal, which dispenses with the need of gutters at the sides. The sidewalks, Avhich are found only on the jjrincipal streets, are flagged, and scarcely wide enough to allow two persons to pass. The houses enclose pleasant court-yards, are mostly one story in height, and solidly built, so as better to resist the shocks of earthquakes, which are frequent along this HOUSES. 13 coast. Inside the court-yard, along the upper story, where such exists, runs an open gallery, while a corre- sponding veranda generally extends outside, along the front of the building. The roofs are tiled, and project far over the walls of the houses, shading the narrow streets, and afibrding protection to the pedestrian from the sun and rains. The windows, unglazed, and covered with an iron grating, protrude into the street, giving the house a gloomy, prison-like aspect. The only way of ingress and egress, the one used alike by man and beast, is through a large archway, Avhich leads into the court-yard. The massive folding-doors, with their clumsy iron hinges, bolts, and fastenings, seem as if made for a fortress. The house internally is as scantily and antiquely furnished as the exterior indicates. The parlor of the Venezuelian boasts no carpet upon its brick floor; the walls are scantily ornamented with a few small pictures; one or two cane-bottomed sofas, some plain chairs, and still plainer tables, complete the furniture, useful and ornamen- tal. The house has no chimney, the smoke and steam finding their exit from beneath the raised roof. On the east side of the Grand Plaza, or great square of the city, stands the new cathedral, the largest and finest architectural structure in Caracas. It was founded nearly three centuries ago, but has since been modernized, being completed and consecrated during our visit at the capital. It is two hundred and fifty-feet in length, by one hundred and fifty in breadth, and is supported by two lines of gigantic columns. The floor is a marble mosaic, while the walls are hung with tablets bearing Latin in- scrijjtions, and with paintings illustrative of Scriptural history, or of Roman Catholic mythology. This struct- ure, although the pride of Caraquenians, will compare but unfavorably with similar ecclesiastical efibrts in coun- tries where civilization has made greater progress; but 14 CARACAS. we must consider that it has been erected by a people struggling against all the evils which beset this unfortu- nate republic. The government-house, which stands on the side of the plaza opposite the cathedral, presents nothing attrac- tive. A Yenczuelian flag floating from a short staff", and a few soldiers guarding the front and entrance, alone indi- cate that it is the cai)itol of the republic. On the south of the plaza is a university, founded in 1'721, which ranks as the finest institution of learning in the country. The north side of the square is lined with dwellings and pul- perias^ or shops. A Venezuelian store is one of the curi- osities of the country. The low, narrow room has two doors, for the admission of persons and light. The stock of the pxdpero embraces, in kind, if not in quantity, sufli- cient to establish a country fair. A few pieces of calico and cotton cloth must occupy a prominent position upon his shelves. He must have groceries of CA^ery description, including haras, sardines, sausages, a few rounds of cas- sava^ the bread of the country we have yet to describe, butter brought from Europe, some strips of dried beef, a coil of native tobacco resembling tarred rope, some bot- tles of Madeira and German wines, and also aguardiente^ an intoxicating drink made from the fermented juice of the sugar-cane. Then there are articles of hardware, such as nails, knives, and machetes, a huge knife with a blade nearly two feet in length, the indispensable imple- ment of the Spaniard. A dozen stalks of sugar-canes, a few bundles of finely-split wood for fuel, and an armful of green corn, occupy the corners. These, with a thousand other articles, render the collection as unique as a college museum. There are scenes of a different nature that will interest the traveller as he wanders through the city. On every side will be seen traces of that tei-rible earthquake which EAETHQUAKE OF 1812. 15 destroyed the town in 1812, and buried in its ruins over ten thousand persons. Walls of buildings, overgrown with vines and parasitic plants, still stand as silent wit- nesses of that dreadful catastrophe. It is sad to reflect that this beautiful valley should ever have been the scene of such a fearful visitation, and a living sepulchre to thou- sands of its inhabitants. The frequent threatenings of these convulsions of Nature tend to keep the people in a constant state of alarm for their safety. Happy, indeed, is the man who is not distrustful of the soil upon which he lives. Among the few buildings which survived the general destruction of the city, were the government- house, the old cathedral, and the church of Altagracia, which is not far from the Grand Plaza. The last men- tioned, however, bears evidence of the powerful agency which desolated the place. Its massive walls withstood vminjured the violence of the shock, but its enormous tower, about one third of the distance from the top, was twisted and jutted over the lower part, where it will probably remain until another earthquake shall complete its downfall. The destruction of Caracas occurred upon the 26th of March, 1812, Ascension Day, or Holy Thursday of the Church. The country was engaged in a desperate strug- gle for its independence, and the ignorant and supersti- tious people, with their fears augmented by the priests, whose sympathies were with the mother-country, were led to regard the calamity as the vengeance of Heaven for their attempts to sever themselves from tlie crown of Spain. The day is represented as perfectly calm, with not a cloud in the heavens. Although at long intervals quite severe shocks had been felt at Caracas, an almost entire immunity from any of destructive force had in- spired a feeling of security, and led the people to believe that, in their elevated valley, they were safe from such 16 CARACAS. fearful visitations, as frequently laid in ruins the cities of other districts,* Xo one had any apprehension of danger. The festivities of Holy Thursday had filled the churches. Suddenly the earth ti'eniLlcs. The bells of the churches toll as though " rung by an invisible hand." . Caracas is doomed. For four seconds the ground quakes, then rocks with a sea-like movement, and in six seconds moi'e the city lies heaped in ruins. Heavy thunderings rolled be- neath the earth, and rocks were hurled from the sides of Silla. Of fifty thousand inhabitants, ten thousand were killed upon the first overthrow of the city, while thou- sands afterward perished from injuries, hunger, and ex- posure. Beneath the walls of San Carlos six hundred soldiers were mustering. The barracks, says a chronicler, hurled from their base, left not a man of the regiment. Terrible scenes has our earth afibrded; but none more fearful than Caracas presented when the clouds of dust, which at first veiled the ruins, lifted from the fated city. Tlie imagination alone can picture that scene of ghastly ruins, terror, and consternation. So great was the num- ber of victims, that, interment being impossible, for days the survivors were emjiloyed in collecting and burning the bodies u-pon vast funeral-pja-es. Humboldt, in his graphic account of the fearful calamity, alluding to the tolling of the bells by the short tremor which pi-eceded the final shock, pens the following thrilling sentence : " It was the hand of God, and not the hand of man, which rang that funeral-dirge." f This passage possesses a pecu- liar interest. While illustrating how powerfully Hum- boldt was impressed by tlie contemplation of this phe- * The earthquake of Caracas was the cuhnination of a series of con- vulsions during the years 1811-'13, felt through the West Indies and over a large portion of the Mississippi Valley. f "^s war Gottes, nicJd Mettschenhand^ die hier zitm Grabgeluule zwang. " PEOPLE. 27 nomenon, it also shows, as Agassiz, in an address given upon the hundredth anniversary of the great German naturalist, has remarked, that Humboldt was a believer in a personal, superintending Providence. This fact has been so often denied, and Humboldt ca^cu pronounced an atheist, that we feel the cause of truth justifies us in making this slight digression. Dr. Tschudi, in his " Travels in Peru, " uses the follow- ing language in illustrating the effects of an earthquake upon the residents of the country and upon travellers : " No familiarity with the phenomenon can blunt the feel- ings. The inhabitant of Lima, Avho from childhood has frequently witnessed these convulsions of Nature, is roused from his sleep by the shock, and rushes from his apart- ment with the cry of '■llisericordia ! ' The foreigner from the north of Eui'ope, who knows nothing of earthquakes but by description, waits with impatience to feel the movement of the earth, and longs to hear with his own ear the subterranean sounds which he has hitherto con- sidered fabulous. With levity he treats the apprehen- sion of a coming convulsion, and laughs at the fears of the natives ; but, as soon as his wish is gratified, he is terror-stricken, and is involuntarily prompted to seek safety in flight. " The inhabitants of Caracas, ethnologically and so- cially, present but few interesting features. The entire population of the city, as near as can be estimated, is fifty thousand ; while that of the whole republic, including In- dians, is one and a half millions. It consists of whites, mainly of Spanish extraction, negroes, and the various classes produced by the intermingling of these. The descendants of the foreign element, of whatever color, are denominated Creoles, The negroes were formerly kept in slavery ; but by virtue of a law which compelled the master to give free- 1 8 CARACAS. dom to a slave wlio should offer liim three hundred dol- lars ; by the voluntary bestowme'iit of liberty, which was common ; and by the proclamation of 1854, they have all become emancipated. The Indians we shall have occa- sion to speak of, when our journeyings lead us Avhere man as well as beast exists in a state of nature. In dress, the upper class follow the European styles ; the man of modest pretensions considers himself equipped when supplied with pants, camisa, which is worn outside of the former, wool or panama hat, and leather sandals. The children of the lower class are not inconvenienced by clothing, until they have attained the age of eight or ten years, when a camisa constitutes their outfit. Education, although provided for by law, is sadly neglected among all classes. Besides the university in Caracas, already referred to, there has also been founded a military academy. The need of books is much felt. None are printed in Venezuela, and the foreign supply is small and not of the highest order. It is, however, grati- fying to state that much has been done of late to meet this want of the people, and that no country has contrib- itted more to supply the deficiency than our own. School- books, as well as others, published in the Spanish lan- guage and sent out from the United States, have been widely circulated, and are now doing much toward the advancement of educational interests in Venezuela. There are in Caracas two printing-presses, each of which issues a daily newspaper on a single sheet. Much difficulty is experienced in preserving records, books, or papers, owing to the ravages of termites, or " white ants," as they are called, which possess an insatiable appetite for literature. This was more particularly bi'ought to our notice after- ward at Valencia, where we found it difficult to procure, for the use of our herbarium, any papers which had not been more or less damaged by these voracious insects. EELIGION— CEMETEKIES. 19 There are eighteen churches in Caracas and three con- vents ; the last are merely tolerated, as no monastic in- stitutiong are permitted by law in Yeneziiela. Here, as in every Roman Catholic country, the Sabbath is but little regarded. The services in the churches, the same as those for the other days of the week, continue for one hour, from five to six o'clock in the morning, when the religious exercises of the day are over. All places of amusement and public resort are then opened and thronged as they are at no other time. The card and billiard tables are fre- quented, but the cock-fights and bull-fights call together the greatest crowds. Sabbath afternoons are especially consecrated to the latter amusement. The cock-fight partakes more of a domestic character, and there is scarce- ly a family that has not its cockpit. All day long the shops are opened for trafiic, mules and donkeys laden with merchandise wend their way through the streets, soldiers parade the city, and, to destroy still more if pos- sible the quietness and sanctity of the Sabbath, the bells are in an eternal jingle. In the evening the theatre aiFords the closing entertainment of the day. Caracas has six Catholic cemeteries, the largest, which is said to be the finest in South America, is north of the city, upon the slope at the base of Cerro de Avila. It is enclosed by a high wall, on the inside of which are niches, or receptacles for the dead. Upon the payment of a cer- tain sum, cofiins are allowed to be placed within, where they may remain three years. At the expiration of that time they are taken, if not removed before by friends, and the bones cast in the camera^ or common sepulchre. Those who do not desii'e, or cannot afford for their deceased rela- tives, these funereal niches, bury at once within the en- closure of the cemetery. There are also two Protestant burial-grounds, German and English, situated south of the city. CHAPTER III EXCUESIOIS^S ABOUT CARACAS. Trip to the Cave of Encantado. — KaOroad. — Thunder-storm. — Petard. — A Hopeful Student. — Experience at a Posada. — The Cave. — Pineapple- Plant.— Calabash-Tree.— Yuca-Sl;rub.— Death of Mr. "Wilson.— La Valle. — Cerro do Avila. During our stay at Caracas "u^e made many excursions to places of interest in tlie valley ; the first of whicli was to the Cave of Encantado, four leagues east of the city. On the morning of our fourth day in the capital, we set out for this place. The sun had not risen, yet the streets of the city were already bustling with life — for the Spaniard is an early riser, the morning heing, more from necessity than choice, the business part of the day. Scores of water-carriers hastened along with their immense earth- en pots, balanced upon their heads — burdens are seldom carried in the hand ; while donkeys, so completely buried beneath their loads of maize, that they seemed like piles of herbage endowed with locomotion, pushed stubbornly through the street. Crossing the Arauca, the stream which forms the eastern boundary of the city, we passed at our left a line of railway. The track, which was overgrown with grass and weeds, terminated a short distance farther on. It had been purposed to carry it to Petare, but, like alt Venezue- lian enterprises, the affair had come to an untimely end. A THUNDEK-STOIvM. 21 At our right was a large cofiee-estate, the shrubs shaded by gigantic trees whose trunks and brawny arms were clothed with parasitic plants, and hung with long, tangled tufts of Tillandsite, that gvay moss which so ornaments our own Southern forests. On either side, the road was hedged with trees and bushes, thickly interlaced with vines and creeping plants. These at length gave place to rows of mango-trees, whose arching boughs, spread with dark- green foliage, formed a most beautiful arcade. The mango, which to us seemed possessed of no particular gustatory virtues, is considered by the natives as one of the finest of tropical fruits. About ten A. m., while enjoying our breakfast of oranges and bananas, we were forced by a sudden shower to seek shelter in a way-side pulperia. A thunder-storm in the tropics is an incredible exaggeration of a northern tempest. The rain does not spatter down in drops, but falls in almost unbroken sheets of water, which in a fev.- minutes completely flood the earth. The thunder and lightning which accompany these showers in the elevated regions of the country are generally " moderate in cfuan- tity but inferior in quality ; " yet on the llanos of the in- terior they are in good keeping with the terrific storms which sweep over those plains. Our A'isit to Caracas was during the rainy season, which commences about the last of Aj^ril, and continues until November. It must, however, not be supposed that even during this season the sky is continually overcast witli clouds which are incessantly discharging their contents upon the land. The showers generally last only a few minutes, seldom half an hour, when they cease as suddenly as they commence. The anniial fall of rain is about thirty- five inches ; the time of greatest heat is during the wet l^eriod. This regular alternation of the seasons in the val- leys of Caracas and Valencia is not, however, the same 22 EXCUKSIONS ABOUT CAKACAS. everywhere within the tropics, for in certain localities various causes tend to modify essentially the tropical sea- sons, which in sections often not far separated, but per- haps upon opposite sides of mountain-ranges, are frequently the reverse of each other. Late in the afternoon we reached Petare, a town of four or five thousand inhabitants ; and it being still a league farther to Encantado, over an unfrequented road, requiring a guide that could not be had until morning, we determined to spend the night here. After consider- able difficulty we at length found a house labelled "Po- sada," where accommodations were oifered us. While din- ner was preparing, which was promised luego (presently), we strolled about, making a general inspection of the establishment. In the largest apartment, and in real- ity the only respectable one, was a billiard-table, which seemed the centre of attraction to a crowd of men and boys, among whom was an Englishman, who was wander- ing about the world with apparently no fixed object, and had happened into this out-of-the-way place. He was not inclined to give much of his history, leaving us to draw our own inferences. There was also a young Span- iard of quite an intelligent and prepossessing appearance, who, learning we were Americans, brought us a copy of an old English book of poetry, and repeated from it long sections that he had memorized, but of the meaning of which he had not the vaguest conception. He informed us that he Avas desirous of acquiring the English lan- guage ; and for that purpose he v/as committing to memo- ry the contents of the volume. He said that he found the task an exceedingly difficult one, and that he had as yet made no very satisfactory jjrogress. We did not doubt the truth of his statement. He, however, seemed confi- dent of ultimate success, and expressed a desire to obtain from us other Englisli books, that he might prosecute his EXPEKIENCE AT A POSADA. 23 studies. A more hopeful student under such adverse cir- cumstances we have seldom met with. From the long time which had intervened since our order for dinner, we began to apprehend that, perhaps, our host had forgotten the wishes of his hungry guest ; but, upon inquiry, we were comforted with the assurance that it would be ready luego. Another hour of waiting, and again we seek the cause. " Paciencia, senores, luego ; " but that was long since exhausted. A traveller in this country will have abundant opportunity to exercise his paciencia^ for luego and 7nanana, presently and to-mor- row, are words in frequent requisition among the Span- iards, and are used in their broadest signification. Never punctual, never in a hurry, are prominent characteristics of this people. The meal was finally announced. In a small room, upon a small table, was the food, which had cost them so much labor and us so miich patience. We allow that the best had evidently been done to meet our wants, but confess that we formed no very high opinion of the ability displayed in the prej^aration of the meal. Early the following morning, having jjassed the night in unsuccessful efibrts to jirotect ourselves from the per- sistent attacks of fleas, we gave a consideration of throe dollars, for the annoyance and suffering we had endured, and, taking our guide, started for the Cave of Encantado. Our road was simply a narrow foot-path, which led around the base of densely-wooded hills, and then over a moun- tain-range, the summit of which we reached just as the sun was appearing over the top of Silla. We shall not soon forget that glorious prospect. Clouds, with their upper surface brilliant with the rising sun, filled the valleys beneath us, while, piercing this sea of mist, the cragged peaks of Silla rose majestically above the lower mountains, which here and there scarcely pushed their summits above the surface of the vapor-ocean. From the mountain we 24 EXCUKSIONS ABOUT CAEACAS. descended into a valley through which rushed a broad, rapid torrent, on whose opposite bank, directly in our front, rose a perpendicular wall of limestone, in tlie face of Avhich, fifteen feet from the base, was the entrance to the Cave of Encantado. Clambering up the cliff, we found our- selves within a large, irregular, arched chamber, adorned with beautiful stalactic formations. Diverging from this chamber, are dark, contracted passage-ways, leading to smaller apartments, the principal of which we entered, often obliged to crawl xxpon hands and knees to gain admittance. Swarms of bats, disturbed by our intrusion within their haunts, hovered around us, making the place hideoiis with their unearthly screechings. Shooting one of the creatures only tended to arouse the others the more, while the deaf- ening report of our gun, reverberating through the cavern, fell Avith stunning effect upon our ears. Having explored the cave, we dismissed our guide, purposing to remain through the night, and return to Caracas on the following day. We spent the night within the cave, where iipon our rocky beds, softened by wild-canes, we, undis- turbed by our companion bats and owls, enjoyed a rest, free from the fleas of Petare. Our visit to Encantado afforded us a most glorious harvest of plants, the first gathering for our tropical her- barium. Not a single species was familiar ; yet some were so closely allied to A'arieties in our own land as to pleasantly recall many a botanical ramble there. Our re- turn-trip also introduced us to several interesting prod- ucts of the mountain valley of Caracas, among which was the pineapple. There is, perhaps, no production of the tropics which is so generally and deservedly esteemed by the people of the North as this ; yet of none have they such vague ideas, as to manner of growth and propaga- tion. The pineapple-plant [Ananassa sativa) is indi- genous to tropical America, growing wild in the forests. PINEAPPLE-PLANT. 25 but cultivated largely in those regions, in the West Indies, and on the Eastern Continent. It has fifteen or more long, serrated, ridged, sharp-pointed leaves, springing from the root, and in its general aspect resembles the century-plant, but is much smaller. In the centre of this cluster of thick, succulent leaves, springs up a short stalk, bearing a spike of beautiful flowers, which in time produce a single pine- apple. On the summit of the fruit is a tuft of small leaves, capable of becoming a new plant, which, together with suckers, is the means by which it is propagated, as the cultivated fruit seldom produces seeds. It flourishes best in a moist and warm climate, but is able to survive a long drought and extreme heat. There are several varieties, difiering in their leaves being more or less spiny on their margins, and in the shape, size, and color of the fruit. Great care is requisite in its cultivation ; otherwise it Avill be coarse, fibrous, and deficient in saccharine matter. Nothing can surpass the rich and delicate flavor of a pine- apple which has been properly cultivated ; or of the wild fruit of the forests, which we always found equal, if not superior, to the domesticated ones. Of the ai'boreal productions of these plains, especially interesting is the calabash or crockery-tree {d^escentia citjete), which is seen growing by the side of every Venezuelian hut. In size and appearance it resembles an apple-tree, and yields a hard, roundish, ligneous- shelled fruit, from three to twelve inches in diameter, which suj^ply the natives with cups, dishes, and many useful utensils. They are sometimes fancifully carved, or highly polislied, and by the natives of the Ama- zons* are beautifully tinted with various colors, botli mineral and vegetable substances being employed for the purpose. But another more indispensable plant whicli * This name in Portuguese is Amazoiias, and wlien Anglicized the plural form should be retained, 2 20 EXCUESIONS ABOUT CAEACAS. we here found is the yuca,* or mandioca [Manihot utilis- sima), a shrub some ten to twelve feet in height, from the large tubers of which are made the cassava of the Vene- zuelian, and the farina of the Brazilian. The tubers are first grated upon a concave board, thickly set with sharp pieces of quartz gravel. The pulp is rendered still finer by grinding with stones, and the pulverized mass sub- jected to pressure for the purpose of removing, as far as possible, its poisonous jiiice, which contains hydrocyanic or prussic acid. The substance is then formed into round cakes, two feet in diameter, and a quarter of an inch in tliickness, and baked upon concave plates, over a brisk fire, which expels the remaining volatile juice. Farina, the same as the maiioca of the Kio Xegro and Upper Ori- noco, is made by roasting the root, grated, into a coarse flour-like substance. In these forms the yuca constitutes an excellent and nutritious food, which retains its sweet- ness for a long period. The mandioca, or yuca, is exten- sively cultivated throughout the continent of South America, and, with the plantain and banana, constitutes, in many sections, the principal support of the j^eople. Tapioca of commerce is the sediment, obtained from the expressed juice of the mandioca. This plant must not be confounded with the yuca dulce, or sweet yuca {3fanihot aipium), a species similar in appearance, but which con- tains none of the poisonous property of the first. The former is prefered for cassava and maiioca, as it is richer in fccula, while the latter is largely eaten as a vegetable. Our return from Encantado was followed by the death of Mr. Wilson, our minister, who contracted a fatal fever while attending diplomatic business at La Guaira, upon the coast. He was buried at Caracas, far away from home and those he loved. But a few weeks previous to his death, his family, who had been with him, returned to * Sometimes misspelt yncra^ a plant to which it is in nowise allied. LA VALLE. 27 their country, where he expected to join them soon. The tidings of his death and burial, carried by the departing steamer, were the only greeting for the waiting ones. Among the many places of interest in the vicinity of Caracas, that will repay a visit, is La Valle, half a league south of the capital. Leaving the city by the route which leads to the plains of Ocumare, the traveller crosses the Rio Guaira, and ascends a gentle slope, Vv'hich brings him to the summit of a low range of hills. This road passes over the ridge by a deep cut, made through the soft micaceous rock, rendering the ascent an easy one. Emerging from this gorge, there opens before the observer a most fertile plain, presenting a beautiful picture of waving grass and cultivated fields, dotted here and there with haciendas and hamlets, nestled beneath the shade of graceful palms. The posada and few houses which bear the name of La Valle lie just a little distant from where the traveller catches his first glimpse of the valley. Botanical and zoological attractions led us to make several excursions to this picturesque sj^ot, from which we always I'eturned richly laden with collections. The ascent of Silla promised excitement enough to awaken a strong desire in lis for a climb to its summit ; but the continuous rains which prevailed during our stay at Caracas, rendered impracticable the scaling of the steep, slipj^ery heights of the mountain. But the accessible slope directly under Cerro de Avila, clothed with magueys and cactuses, and traversed by the wooded ravine of the Catuche, was a most interesting spot, especially to the naturalist ; accordingly we planned a trip there. Follow- ing up the river, the ascent was easy to the Toma de Agua, a large reservoir from which the city receives its supply of water. From here the gorge was deeper, and more densely wooded, and we advanced with greater difficulty. Tlie trees attained no great size, yet some of the smaller 28 EXCURSIONS ABOUT CAEACAS. forms of vegetation were of gigantic proportions. We found a species of equisetum which was twelve feet in height, and we were assured by Mr. Ernst that it fre- quently attains a height of over thirty. Epipliytes, usu- ally called air-plants, so covered the limbs of the trees, that it was often difficult to determine whether what they concealed was alive, or in a state of decay. Some of the flowers of these orchidaceous plants are of exceeding beauty, resembling in shape, and surpassing in the bril- liancy of their colors, winged insects. The butterfly-flow- er ( OrchkUum 2)ajnllio) is one of the most beautiful, and is so similar in appearance to the insect whose name it bears, that it not unfrequently deceives persons unac- quainted with it. Others look like humming-birds, glit- tering with metallic lustre. Many animated objects of Nature are thus imitated by Flora's kingdom of the tropics. We followed the ravine until tlie steepness of the as- cent and the density of vegetation rendered farther ad- vance exceedingly laborious ; when we climbed the high banks that enclosed the gorge, and emerged \ipon the open slope. The contrast between the vegetation in the deep glen, and that of the sunburnt side of the moun- tain, was no less striking in the different degrees of luxu- riousness than in the specific peculiarity of distinct forms. In this rocky soil, which for several months during the year is not moistened by a single refreshing shower, thrive only plants that are capable of enduring a long season of drought, such as the maguey and cactus. The straight, cylindric, and spiny trunks of cerei rise thirty and forty feet in height amid straggling opuntias, whose grotesque forms lend such a peculiar physiognomy to this tropical landscape. A species of this consolidated form of vegetation, the prickly-pear cactus {Oj^untia tuna), is cultivated by the Venezuelians for the sake of its edible THE MAGUEY. 29 fruit, and is also employed for hedges, its spiny, branch- ing stems admirably adapting it to that purpose. There are two varieties of the maguey, differing in the leaves of one being serrated while those of the other are entire. The spreading panicle which shoots up from the cluster of fleshy, sharp- pointed leaves, five to eight feet in length, has straw-colored, liliaceous flowers pendulous from the branches. At a distance the giant flower-stalk resembles a tree in foliage, but on a nearer view the ar- borescent plant exhibits its true nature and beauty. We measured the stem of one, which was twenty inches in cir- cumference at the base and thirty-eight feet in height, a growth it had made in six or eight weeks. The maguey is not only admired for its beauty, but also valued for the uses to which it can be applied. From the fibres of its leaves are made twine, rope, cloth, and hammocks, while the thorn which arms their extremity, when removed with a bundle of the attached fibres, furnishes a needle and thread. The leaves furthermore yield an excellent deter- gent, that washes equally well with salt water or fresh. From the flower-stalk is obtained an excellent beverage, while the pith of the stem, which contains silica, makes excellent razor-strops. This plant, the Ticcca acauUs of Humboldt, and the Codonocrinum agavoides of later bota- nists, is often mistaken for the Agave Americana, or cen- tury-plant, which it resembles in its leaves, but from which it differs essentially in its flowers and inflorescence ; those of the latter terminating the branches in erect clusters, instead of being scattering and pendulous, as we have ob- served, in the former. "We did not see the Agave Ameri- cana in Venezuela, although it is said to grow in some districts of the littoral mountains. CHAPTER IV. VALLEYS OF AKAGUA AND VALENCIA. Departure from Caracas. — Scenery of tlie Eio Guaira. — Beautiful View from Mount Higuerote. — The " Garden of Venezuela." — Victoria. — Spanish Extortion. — A Word on Mules. — Venezuelian Coaches. — Mara- cai. — Castilian Etiquette. — East in a Stream. — Entrance into Valen- cia. — The City. — Lake Tacarigua. After two weeks sj^ent in the beautiful valley of Ca- racas, we left the capital for Valencia, the second city of Venezuela, situated a hundred miles to the westward, upon the shores of the picturesque lake whose name it bears. Unfortunately, we were in the midst of the rainy season, and the roads were now impassable by the stages which run between the two cities. Moreover, the country Avas sufferino: from one of its chronic revolutions, and rovine: bands of outlaws interrupted communication, respecting the persons or property of neither friend nor foe. How- ever, we determined to undertake tlie journey, arming ourselves well, in case of emergency. In lieu of stage- conveyance, we contracted for mules to Victoria, a town midway between Caracas and Valencia, paying ten pesos * for each, just one-tenth the value of the beast, and an equal amount for a muchacho, or muleteer, which proved near his whole valuation. * The peso is the Spanish dollar, whose value is eighty cents. SCENEKY OF THE RIO GUAIEA. 31 At three o'clock, upon tlie morning of tlie 15th of Au- gust, we were riding rapidly through the streets of the slumbering capital, scarcely able to keep pace with our i7iuchacho, who ran by the side of the baggage-animals. Our course led us along the Rio Guaira through a most charming valley, whose beauty was enhanced by the light of a full moon, which threw weird shadows doAvn the bro- ken slopes of the precipitous mountains that rose upon cither side. Just as we were falling into a poetical mood, we were aroused by the imperative demands of a toll-gate official, to whom we paid twenty-five cents for each mule, which exorbitant exaction destroyed our good-humor for the remainder of the day. The river, along which we journeyed was bordered with cana hrava^ a gramineous plant {Gynesium sacharoides), which attains a height of fifteen to twenty feet, and is much used in the construc- tion of fences and buildings. The declivities were cov- ered with magueys, the last we met with in the country. Often have we recalled the giant form of this arborescent plant, which lends so strange a beauty to the landscape of its mountain-home. At length we commenced the ascent of Iliguerote, still following the course of the Guaira, v/hich takes its rise among the elevated peaks of this mountain-range. In places the road led through deep ravines along the stream, then over rugged summits, and on the steep side of preci- pices, while far below we beheld the rushing torrent of the Guaira as it went plunging and foaming down the heights through rocky gorges worn by the incessant flow of waters for many ages. After an easy ascent, but one difficult and wearisome when made with a coach, we arrived at the summit, where we were greeted with one of Nature's finest pictures. Beneath us was one of the far-famed valleys of Aragua, bounded by wooded slopes, upon- which here and there a hut was nestled in some quiet nook amid growing 32 VALLEYS OF ARAGUA AND VALENCIA. corn and bananas, while far down in the lovely glen there flowed a rivulet, which added its waters to those of the larger stream that bears the name of the picturesque and luxuriant valley through which it passes. The extent of the prospect was not so great but that the whole could be embraced at a single glance, and every portion, even the most distant, was so distinctly seen that it appeared like a vast picture set in bold relief before our vision. Many were the glorious scenes we enjoyed in our tropical wan- derings, some wilder, more romantic, surpassing by far, in grandeur, any we ever beheld in our own land ; yet this view from Higuerote seemed to excel them all, and left an impression upon the memory which the lapse of time can never efface. Along the southern declivity of the mountain-range, bounding upon the north the valley we have described, is the road, cut from the soft micaceous rock, which leads by a gentle descent into the plain below. About half the distance down we halted at a wretched venta for rest and breakfast. With hunger half appeased by a scanty meal, we again mounted and were on our way. The mountain- side along which we were travelling received the full bene- fit of a tropical sun, and, as mid-day approached, the heat became most oppressive. We were often tempted within the cool retreat of some shaded glen, such as were fre- quently crossed as we zigzagged down the Cordillera into the valley beneath us. But our destination for the night was a long journey ahead, and we urged our animals for- ward. The descent was at length completed, when we entered the valley, which, narrow at first, gradually widened as we advanced, spreading out into a broad and beautiful plain, which is one of the great coffee-regions of the world. The valleys of Aragua have been fitly called the " Garden of Venezuela." Their elevation is nearly two thousand THE " GAEDEN OF VENEZUELA." 33 feet above the sea, one-half that of the table-lands of Ca- racas, and the average temperature during the day is 70° to 75° Fahr., falling at night to about 60°. The soil is most fertile, and every j^roduct of the tropics, with many of northern latitudes, flourishes luxuriantly. CoSee is, how- ever, the great stai)le of these regions. As we approached Victoria, we passed extensive estates of this shrub, shaded by gigantic trees to prevent the rapid absorption of moist- ure from the soil, and to protect the ripening berry from the burning heat of the sun. Great care in cultivation is bestowed on these coffee-groves, and the harvest yielded is proportionally fine ; the berry being of a superior qual- ity, and the quantity greater than in most other places where the shrub is cultivated. Wheat Avas formerly raised, and produced, according to Humboldt, nearly sixteenfold ; but, notwithstanding this large return, the greater profit from the culture of coffee, cacao, and cotton, has caused the cultivation of wheat to be wholly neglected, and the demand for it is now supplied from the States. We saw none of this cereal growing in the country, but were informed that in the provinces of Merida and Trujillo there is sufticient raised to sxipply the demands of these districts. It was nearly dark when we entered Victoria and reined our jaded animals up in front of quite a respect- able-appearing posada. Weary and sore from our journey of sixteen leagues over a rough mountain-road, we gladly alighted from our saddles. A call for dinner was answered by eight o'clock, when we sat down to our meal, which we enjoyed with a keen relish, notwithstanding the successful efforts of the cooks in destroying the natural flavor of every dish with the inevitable garlics. In our wearied condition we were not, j^erhaps, in the best humor to spare the feelings of our precious tnucliaclio — we recalled our paying ten pesos for his invaluable scr- 34 VALLEYS OF ARAGUA AND VALENCIA. vices — who had lost by the way one of our herbariums, filled with choice plants. The loss was an irreparable one ; for many of the species were known only to the high table- land and mountains of Caracas, where they had been col- lected, and consequently could not now be replaced. The imposition again practised upon us in making ar- rangements for the prosecution of our journey was the next thing to destroy our equanimity, and to persuade us, if not already convinced, that Yenezuelian officials and posaderos possess the fewest virtues of any mortals Ave were ever privileged to meet. Our mules, which had been engaged only to Victoria, were not allowed to go farther, and others could not be obtained. We therefore made a trial of coaches, which our post, who monopolized this business in Victoria, furnished us for the moderate sum of sixty jiesos. This was the price of a single day's ride in one of the miserable, wheeled arrangements of the country. Nor did this include the keeping of the driver and horses by the way. Such is Venezuelian extortion to which the traveller in these fair lands is subject. We will here add, for the benefit of any who may fol- low us over this route through Northern Venezuela, that complete arrangements should be made for the entire journey at Caracas or Valencia, whichever place may be the starting-point. If you are not familiar with the Spanish language, procure an interpreter, who can al- ways be had, to make the bargain for you, being particu- lar to mention every thing, and have all agreed upon, even to the feed for your animals, and also the toll which may be extorted by the way. An occasional cigar and glass of aguardiente will also be expected by your mule- teer. The journey is most easily performed by mules. Be contented with allowing the beast to choose his own time for accomplishing the distance. Like his counter- part, his master, he is a subtle animal ; if not deceitful SPANISH EXTOETION. 35 above all things, at least desperately wicked. With a lit- tle experience, however, you will soon learn to manage the creatures, so that no difficulty need be apprehended. You cannot change his wily nature ; but do not call it forth by placing yourself in violent opposition to his will. Punctuality is not one of the virtues of Venezuelians ; we were, therefore, not surprised that it was fully an hour late in the morning when the wretched conveyance, in which we were to be dragged to Valencia, was ready for us. The prospect of a discomforting journey in no way allayed our feelings of indignation which we entertained for Venezuelian swindlers in general and our Victoria po- sadero in particular. The coach in question was a sham- bling affiiir, drawn by three horses abreast, which were from the roaming herds of the plains, and, before our journey's end was reached, gave evidojicethat their wild and fractious nature had not been wholly subdued. Stow- ing ourselves and baggage as best we could inside of the concern, the driver cracked his long raw-hide whip, shouted at his fiery steeds, and away we dashed over the stony pavement of the streets with noise sufficient for a train of artillery. Victoria is an unattractive town of seven or eight thousand inhabitants, and of but little commercial importance, although situated in the midst of the rich.growing valleys of Aragua, and upon one of the great thoroughfares of the republic. The valley here is a league in breadth, but widens as it approaches the Lake of Valencia, until, embracing that beautiful sheet of water, it expands into the broad plain bearing the same name. The villages of San Mateo and Zurmero were passed, when we came in sight of the Saman de Guere, an enor- mous tree of the mimosa family, whose large hemispheri- cal top looks more like a forest-crowned peak than the summit of a single tree. The height of this giant of the vegetable kingdom is only about sixty feet, with the cir- 36 VALLEYS OF AEAGUA AND VALENCIA. cumference of its trunk thirty, dimensions less tlian those of other trees of the siimc kind growing in the vicinity. But its beauty and attraction consist in the extension of its branches, which spread out on every side to the dis- tance of nearly a hundred feet, making a spherical sum- mit of about six hundred feet in circumference. Its small, l^innated leaves form a most delicate foliage, which con- trasts curiously with the gigantic size of the tree, and add greatly to its beauty. The age of the Saman de Guere must be very great, for tradition only tells of its anti- quity. It was held in great veneration by the natives at the time of the Spanish Conquest, and is now carefully preserved by the government. Humboldt makes mention of it, as seen by him during his visit to the country in 1800, when it was, he says, in the same state of preserva- tion in which the first conquerors found it. It has since been observed with increased interest and attention by travellers, and no change has been noticed in its appear- ance during the half century or more that has followed. But there it stands, green and vigorous, as in the days when first the aborigines of the country reclined in the shade of its forest-top, even then rocked by the blasts of many ages. It is more than probable that it Avill with- stand for centuries yet to come the fury of tropical tem- pests, an object of wonder and reverence to the traveller v/ho shall journey through the valley of Aragua. Four leagues westward of Turmero, and six from Vic- toria, is Maracai. a town of some eight thousand inhabit- ants, where we stopped for breakfast. For the first and only time while in the country we saw a woman seat her- self at the table in company with men. Among the bet- ter class of Venezuelians it is customary for ladies to take their meals in their rooms, having them brought by ser- vants ; while among the middle and lower classes the women wait until their lords have eaten, when they take FAST IN A STKEAM. 37 possession of the table with what may be loft, or, as is more commonly the case, they crouch with the children upon the ground in the corner, where from the iron pots they take their food. The wife of our host, disregarding this custom of Spanish etiquette, placed herself with us at the festive board, and together we enjoyed a pleasant repast. After our mid-day siesta we left Mai*acai, and soon after caught a glimpse of Lake Valencia, or Tacarigua, its In- dian name. The road thus far had been tolerably good, but now became outrageously bad, so that our progress was slow and laborious. Swollen streams rushing from the mountain-sides crossed our path, occasioning us often- times no little difficulty in fording. To add to the perplex- ities of the situation, our horses were weary, and began to exhibit signs which forboded evil. We were making our way over the plain which borders the lake upon the north, at times riding quite briskly over a smooth patch of road, and then floundering through mud hub-deep, when sud- denly we came to a halt. Putting our heads out of the open sides of the coach to learn the cause of our stopping, we discovered ourselves in the middle of a broad stream ; the horses standing composedly in the water with a mali- cious look of self-satisfaction at our ludicrous position. Yes, there we were, and no amount of coaxing or lashing could induce the obstinate brutes to budge. To the re- peated blows of the driver, they responded with kicks, throwing mud and water in a most spiteful manner in every direction, until one at length threw himself com- pletely out of the harness. Seeing that our present mode of procedure was not likely to avail us much but kicks and a liberal sprinkling with the contents of the stream, we concluded to alight, in hopes that the rebellious crea- tures might then, perhaps, be induced to extricate the concern. This was no sooner done than their ugliness took a new direction, and, with a spring, they started SS VALLEYS OF AKAGUA AND VALENCIA. forward, purposing no doubt to leave us to our reflections, which, just at that crisis of affairs, were in no very solemn strain. Our driver, however, being on the alert, the crea- tures were checked in their career until we could regain our seats, when the lines and the whip were both given, and away we dashed wildly over the plain. At five p. M. we reached the small village of San Joaquin, distant from Valencia six leagues. We had been so detained by the badness of the roads, and the re- fractory performances of our steeds, that we concluded to pass the night at this place. At the early hour of three in the morning we were served bread and coffee by our pompous host, who, to lessen the trouble of dressing, had wa'apped himself in his blanket. We w^ere soon on our way, riding rapidly over the bed of an ancient lake, which formerly covered the entire plains of Aragua and Valen- cia. Leaving the rich and beautiful regions of Aragua and Maracai, "we entered upon a broader plain, formed by the receeding of the hills to a greater distance from the lake. Bushes and stunted trees, alternating with belts of grass-growing land, were the features which the land- scape now presented. We drove for miles, meeting with only an occasional hut on a cultivated plot. Within half a mile of Valencia we passed to our right the Mono, a rocky and precipitous semi-isolated hill, from whose sum- mit can be obtained one of the finest views of the plain and lake. It was eight a. m. when the rumblino: of our coach through the streets of Valencia announced to its inhab- itants an arrival, which is not an every-day occurrence, but an event to be signalled by a general cessation of business, and a simultaneous appearance of a multitude of heads from windows, doors, and balconies. Crossing the Rio de Valencia, a stream which flows through the city, we passed up the principal street amid staring ENTEANCE INTO VALENCIA. 39 crowds, and stopped at the posada of La Bella Alaza, on the eastern side of the Gran Plaza. Immediately the posadero, guests, porters, cooks, and a whole retinue of attendants, came rushing out, and besieged us on every side, so that with difficulty we forced an entrance to the apartment we were to occupy. Our baggage was seized by three times the number needed to carry it, and was followed by as many more, who came thronging into our room, which they so filled that we were scarcely able to move. Their curiosity becoming somewhat satisfied when they had seen and examined every thing it was possible to get hold of, they gradually withdrew, until we were at length left to ourselves. The city of Valencia is situated in the midst of a most salubrious and fertile valley, which, including the basin of Aragua upon the east, and the grassy plains stretching out upon the west, is about twenty-five leagues in length and five in its greatest breadth. It is difficult to conceive why Caracas, which is farther from the geographical cen- tre of the republic, and so difficult of access from the coast, with only an open roadstead for a port, should have been preferred as the capital of Venezuela to the more accessible and in every respect more desirable place of Valencia, which is only fourteen leagues, by a splendid road, from one of the finest harbors in the world. Valen- cia has been a favored city ; it has never been sacked by an invading army, never thrown down by an earthquake. It was even spared by the tyrant Lopez de Aguirre, whose name spread such terror throughout the republic ; and the wild Carib tribe, which came up in hordes from the Orinoco to lay waste the place, were turned back before they had crossed the borders of the plain. Contending parties in the political convulsions of later times have also chosen other places in which to shed each othei-'s blood. Not- withstanding, Valencia has advanced but slowly in growth 40 VALLEYS OF AEAGUA AND VALENCIA, and prosperity. Its population of ten thousand, three- quarters of a century ago, has scarcely doubled. The most prominent part of the place, as of every Spanish towTi, is the Gran Plaza, upon the north side of which stands the catliedral, built more than two centuries ago. On the south is the government-house of Carabobo, of which state Valencia is the capital ; the remaining sides of tlie square are occupied by hotels, shops, and private residences. The city has four churches, and two others in process of erection, but which it is more than probable will never be completed. There is one regular newspaper, but in times of revolution, which is the normal condition of the country, two or tliree'are issued. Our first visit from Valencia was to the beautiful Lake of Tacarigua, which, when the city was founded, in 1555, was one-half league to the eastward, but, by the rapid desiccation of that body of water, it is now distant over tAvo and a half leagues. Leaving the city by the road which leads to Victoria, we soon reached Guias, a little village one and a half league from Valencia ; and here, abandoning the main highway, we followed a crooked trail, which took us through a forest tract, then across flourishing plantations of maize, bananas, and groves of cocoa-nut trees, bi-oken by stifling jungles of reeds and bushes. It was noon when we reached the western shores of the lake ; when, oppressed by the heat of mid-day, we threw ourselves beneath the grateful shade of trees at the base of a wooded hill, which was at one time an island of the lake, and enjoyed a view that has but few rivals in beauty or interest upon either continent. Formerly, the shores of the lake were the mountains which now form the boundaries of the valleys of Aragua and Valencia; the geological formations of the mountain-slopes, and their fresh-water fossils (amjniUaria and j^^anorbis), embracing species now inhabiting the lake, are unmistakable evidence THE CITY. 41 of the extent of its ancient borders.* How rapid the change of level was previous to the nineteenth century, we have no exact means of estimating; but, judging from the increase in the rapidity of its shrinking since that date, we infer that its rate of diminution formerly Avas much slower than at present. The historian Oviedo states that when Valencia was founded, in 1555, it was one-half league distant from the western shore of the lake, and Humboldt asserts that, according to his own measure- ment, in 1800, the town was a little more than twice that distance from its borders, and that the lake was ten leagues long, and nowhere over two or three leagues broad. The last accurate observer also makes mention of there being, at the time of his visit, fifteen islands, and also adds that many formerly such had become, by the retreating of the waters, attached to the main-land, forming promontories. The lake at present is about eight leagues in length, with its v/idth proportionally contracted. Within the last three-quarters of a century, no islands have become at- tached to the shore, by the lowering of the waters ; but, instead, seven new ones have appeared. The height of the lake above the sea is nearly twelve hundred feet. The water has a temperature of Y5° to 80° Fahrenheit, and is perfectly fresh, although stated by Eastwick as being brackish. We used it exclusively during our stay upon its borders. Humboldt found that the water upon evap- oration left only a small residuum of carbonate of lime, and a little nitrate of potash. The desiccation of this great basin of Valencia has excited general interest, and is a matter of no small im- portance to the inhabitants of those regions. During the last half-century the process has been going forward with * These fossils we found in strata often several feet in thickness ; in the vicinity of the lake, the soil, in places, is largely composed of them. 42 VALLEYS OF AEAGUA AND VALENCIA. increasing rapidity, and immense tracts of land, which were formerly inundated, are now fertile and ciiltivated plains ; as the country bordering the lake is so low and level, that the lowering of a few inches in the surface of the water lays dry a wide belt of land. The same nature of the circumambient 2>lain also causes considerable por- tions to be submerged during the rainy period of the year, preventing the planting of maize at that season. There are twenty-two streams, some of them of con- siderable size, that flow into the lake, but, as it has no dis- coverable outlet, the waters must be removed wholly by evaporation. Of the quantity of water which empties into the basin of Valencia, some idea may be formed from the calculations of Cordozzi, in his Res'Cimen de la Geograf'ta de Venezuela, published in 1841. This writer gives the size of the lake as twenty-two squai-e leagues, and the area of the valleys of Caribobo and Aragua, which, from their configuration, give their waters to the basin of Va- lencia, as eighty-six square leagues. This, united to the twenty-two of the lake, gives a surface of one hundred and eight square leagues, over which it is said there year- ly fall seventy-two inches of rain. This estimate will en- able us to conceive how rapidly evaporation goes on in the dry and heated atmosphere of the troj^ics. Certain local causes have tended to greatly accelerate the desicca- tion of the lake. The mountains which enclose the basin were formerly covered with forest, which retained the moisture of the earth, and produced copious springs that fed the streams. This natural protection to the soil has been removed, the land has become parched, streams dried up, the heat of the valley augmented, and evapora- tion has consequently become more rapid. The Pao, which was the largest river that flowed into the lake, was, at the close of the seventeenth century, diverted from its original channel for the purpose of irrigating the country LAKE TACAKIGUA. 43 to the southward, and its waters allowed to escape in the Llanos. The low depression of the hills at the passage of Bucarito was the outlet of the ancient lake ; a rise of the water forty feet above its j^resent level Avould cause it to discharge as hei-etofore. In less than a century, at the present accelerated rate with which its shores are re- ceding, desiccated plains, covered with growing crops and luxuriant verdure, will mark the spot the lake now oc- cupies. CHAPTER Y. VALENCIA AND PUERTO C^\J3ELLO. Hacienda of Mr. Glockler. — Coffee. — Cacao. — Tiger-Huut. — A Tropical Forest. — Lost on tlie Mountains. — A Cheerless Niglit. — Exit from the Wilds.— Eeturn to Valencia. — Descent to the Sea-coast. — Papaw- Tree. — " Cow-Tree." — Thermal Springs. — Discomforts of Life at a Hacienda. — Cocoa-Palm. — Mangroves. — Puerto Cabello. While at Valencia, we made the acquaintance of Mr. Glockler, the German consul from Hamburg. Mr. Glock- ler was the owner of a large estate about two leagues from the city, and thither he invited us for the purpose of a tiger*-hunt among the mountains. The pleasing diver- sion which such an excursion promised, besides the oppor- tunity presented of making valuable collections from the high altitudes of the Cordilleras, toward whose lofty sum- mits we had often cast a wistful eye during our abode upon the plains, induced us to accept the proposal. Leaving Valencia upon the road which leads to Puerto Cabello, we soon abandoned it, and, turning to our left, crossed a ridge of hills -which brought us into a finely-cul- tivated, lateral valley, opening upon the larger plain of the lake. It was noon when we alighted at the hacienda,\ one of the largest and finest we saw in the country, wliere * The Fells onra of naturalists ; generally known as the jaguar, or American tiger. f Hacienda is a term used to designate alike landed estate and the usually large dwelling situated upon the same. COFFEE. 45 we were kindly received and hospitably entertained. The house, a low two-story structure, occupied one side of a large court-yard of about half an acre in extent, which was enclosed on the remaining sides by high walls, and the small dwellings of the laborers of the hacienda. Outside of the enclosure were cocoa-nut, orange, banana, and lemon trees, loaded with fruit in every stage of per- fection. Of the last mentioned there are two species cul- tivated in Venezuela; one [Citrus lemonium), the 'kind so well known in commerce, the other [Citrus lumia) a svreet lemon, in which the acidity that belongs to the other is entirely wanting. The estate, which stretched far up the mountain ac- clivity, was devoted principally to cofFee-raising. How much might be written of coffee — its growth, uses, and the influence which it exerts commercially, socially, and physically ! The temperate valleys of Valencia and Ara- gua seem peculiarly adapted to its cultivation, the yield being large, and the berry of a superior quality. The site for a coffee-plantation must be such that it can be ir- rigated during the dry season ; and the shrubs need to be shaded by large trees, to protect them from the scorch- ing rays of the sun. If grown from the slip, they will produce theit* first crop the second year ; but usually not much is expected until the third. The average annual yield is one and a half or two pounds from each bush, although sometimes as many as fifteen pounds are gath- ered from a single i>lant. The berries grow in fascicles, or clusters, at the end of the branches, and, when ripe, re- semble an oblong cranberry. Another product of these temperate valleys, one which thrives most luxuriantly and forms one of the chief exports of Venezuela, is cacao [Theohroma cacao), the chocolate- tree. The cacao is a native of Central and South America, and was unknown to the inhabitants of the Old World, 46 VALENCIA AND PUEKTO CABELLO. xxntil introduced after the discovery of the 'New. Among the ancient Aztecs and Incas it was used as a medium of exchange, besides affording them a most delicious bever- age and nutritions food. Bananas and the erythrina are planted at the same time with the cacao ; the former, which is a very rapidly-growing plant, protects the cacao during the tirst stages of its growth, being removed as soon as the latter tree attains sufficient size to afford the requisite shade. The cacao-jjlant seldom rises liigher than twenty feet, and commences to bear at the age of six or seven years, yielding two crops annually for an indefinite number of years. The manner in which the fruit grows, attached to the trunks and large limbs of the trees, Avill strike one as a little curious. It resembles a short, thick cucumber, four or five inches long, and two and a half or three inches in diameter, and contains thirty or forty large, flat beans of a dark-brown color, enveloped in a sweet pulp. One or one and a half pound is the average annual yield of a single tree. Notwithstanding this small return, it is an exceedingly lucrative branch of culture, as a plantation, when once established, requires but little attention beyond the harvesting of the crop. Toward evening of the same day of our arrival at the estate of the consul, we climbed the mountain to an lapper hacienda, also owned by him. On the way Ave were shown some hieroglyphics, sculptured upon the rocks, the work of a civilization prior to the conquest. The designs were those of animals and various other objects in nature, rudely executed and still in a good state of preseiwation, notwithstanding the rocks upon which tliey are carved have been for centuries subjected to the destroying agen- cies of a tropical climate. On the old road over the njoun- tains from Valencia to Puerto Cabello, and near the latter place, are upon the rocks similar engravings, which must be referred to the same origin and antiquity. A TIGER- HUNT. 47 Spending the night at the upper hacienda, at early- dawn we were preparing for the excursion of the day — a tiger-hunt among the mountains. Hastily taking our coffee, we mounted our saddles, and were on our way up the Cordillera, attended by two natives and the hospitable German who had charge of the hacienda. From time to time in the ascent we caught a momentary glimpse of the country below through openings in the white fleecy clouds, but, as the highest point of observation was reached, the mist was dispelled, and we had before us a picture that we shall long remember. As we cast our eyes downward, almost beneath our feet we beheld the charming valley we had left, and beyond, separated by a range of wooded hills which appeared scarcely elevated above the sur- rounding level, was the fertile plain of Valencia, and still farther on the Golden Valleys of Aragua. There was the city of Valencia, and beyond, in the midst of forest and cultivated grounds, was that gem of lakes whose waters glistened under the light of the morning sun. To oiar left and far distant rose semi-isolated mountains with barren slopes and sharp summits, while to the southward wei-e the siex-ras of Nirgua and Guique, and beyond, range after range piled itself against the sky. Rarely, indeed, does the eye behold a more glorious prospect than is gained from the lofty mountains of Valencia. Leaving the animals in charge of one of the natives, with instructions to wait until our return, and taking the other with us for a guide, we plunged into the dense for- est. He who is acquainted only with northern woods can have but a faint conception of the primeval forest of the tropics. Gigantic trees rise to a height unknown in tem- perate regions, displaying the greatest variety in the form and aspect of their foliage. Towering and crested palms shoot upward straight as an arrow, waving their pinion- Uke leaves in the breezes. Arborescent ferns and grasses. 48 VALENCIA AND PUERTO CABELLO, thirty and forty feet in height, add their colossal forms to the greater monarchs of the forest. Parasitic plants cover the huge trunks and limbs of the trees, and vines interlace their wide-spreading branches, forming a thick, tangled mass of verdure through which no ray of the sun ever penetrates. Beneath, constituting what might be called the lower stratum of vegetation, are bushes, ferns, and creeping plants, which are so thickly interwoven as to make a net-work that is almost impenetrable. The earth is densely carpeted with leaves, mosses, and lichens, and strewn in the greatest profusion with thousands of fallen flowers. Such was the forest into which we had entered. Our guide preceded us. opening a way with his machete, and the party followed in single file. We had not pene- trated far in these deep solitudes before we discovered the fresh tracks of a huge tiger deeply embedded in the soft earth. After several hours of fruitless travel in these tan- gled wilds, finding pursuit with any prospect of success im- possible, we abandoned the attempt, and determined upon our return, taking a different course from the one we had come. But this soon brought us into difliculty, for our circuitous mode of travelling bewildered the guide, and, although he endeavored to keep the fact from us, we were not long in making the rather lanpleasant discovery that, for aught we knew, we were plunging deeper and deeper into a boundless wilderness. We would descend one mountain-ridge but to mount laboriously another. We ascended the highest peaks, and climbed to the tops of the tallest trees, only to be rewarded by the same cheerless, interminable line of waving forest. Once were we glad- dened by a view of the distant Lake of Tacarigua, but in our wanderings in the inextricable labyrinth of woods our direction was again lost. Nearly every step of our prog- ress had to be cleared with the machete. Slowly we toiled along, dragging our aching bodies wearily up pre- A CIIEEELESS NIGHT. 49 cipitous cliffs, and, bruised and exhausted, would land at the base of the opposite slope. Under these severe exer- tions one of the party gave out completely, and another was bitten on the hand by a tnapanase^ a venomoiis ser- pent, the effects of which caused a frightful swelling of the v/ounded member, but was prevented from proving fatal by the application of liquid ammonia, an antidote we al- ways took the precaution to be provided with.* Ex- cepting coffee, early in the morning, we had taken nothing since the day previous, and we had brought nothing with us ; all our outer garments were left behind, and those we wore were not the better after our experiences of the day. Darkness at last terminated our wanderings, when we threw ourselves down upon the stony bank of a moun- tain-torrent Avhich came thundering down from the granitic rocks that were piled above, with a roar that made the surrounding hills tremble. Our scanty clothing protected us but poorly against the chilling atmosphere of the moun- tains, so that we suffered severely from the cold. The spray from the stream rendered more chilly the air, and a heavy storm, whose rising was indicated by a deeper darkness and stronger gusts of wind through the forest, threatened, for a time, to add to our discomfort ; but for- tunately it swept over with only a slight dash of rain. Morning at length came. One of the party during the night had unconsciously crawled to the edge of a preci- pice, and there stretched himself upon some bushes and tangled vines, where a single incautious move or an open- * This specific is employed with success by the natives for the bite of all venomous serpents. It is also useful for the stings of poisonous in- sects, and no traveller to the tropics should be unprovided with this sim- ple means of security against the evil effects of venomous creatures which inhabit those regions. Dr. Fayrer, of Calcutta, has, however, in a very interesting series of experiments, shown that ammonia cannot coun- teract the virulent poison of the cobra. 50 VALENCIA AND PUERTO CABELLO. ing of the treacherous couch would have let him into the gulf below. Picking up our rusty guns and ourselves, wet and stiff from the rain and cold, we followed down the bed of the torrent, climbing over the huge bowlders of granite which blockaded the naiTOw gorge, forming cascades and rajjids, as the waters went leaping down in their haste to reach the deep valley beneath. Whetlier the stream flowed into the plain of Valencia or the Atlan- tic, Ave knew not, but were certain that it must be in one, and, in either event, by following its course, we would ex- tricate ourselves from the forest. About the middle of the forenoon we reached Trinchara, a hamlet about mid- way on the road from Valencia to Puerto Cabello. The stream which had been our guide, descending the Cor- dillera to the northward, emptied its waters into the ocean. Trinchara was seven or eight leagues from our hacienda by the main road, but by the trail OA'er the mountains the distance was much shorter. The hope of gaining time led us to choose the latter course, which for a while was well defined, but at length became lost in a tangled thicket. We cut our way through dense jungles of reeds and mat- ted woods, climbed precipices, and crossed range after range, until we reached a hut buried in the wilderness. Learning from the occupants the nearest exit from the forest, without further difliculty, save a long and weari- some march, we reached, toward the close of the second day of our setting out, the hacienda of the consul. The native left with our mules had returned with them on the previous night, bringing the tidings of our mysterious ab- sence, which caused no little anxiety to our friends. Our wearied condition induced us to accej^t proffered hospi- tality and pass the night at the hacienda, dispatching a servant for our baggage which we had left upon the moun- tain. On the following morning we returned to the city, DESCENT TO THE SEA-COAST. 5X and thus ended our unsuccessful and long-to-be-remem- bered tiger-hunt in the mountains of Valencia. Our excursions having now embraced most places of interest upon the elevated table-lands of Caracas and the valleys of Aragua and Valencia, we commenced prepara- tions for our journey to the Xilanos of the interior. "We determined, however, before starting, to visit once more the tierra caliente of the coast, in order to acquaint our- selves more fully with its botany and zoology, and that we might also forward to the States the results of our labors thus far, together with the unnecessary baggage, which would prove an encumbrance to us in our long journey to the Amazons. Accordingly, upon the morning of the 7th of September, we left Valencia for Puerto Ca- bello, reaching the summit of the Cordillera, over which the road passes, just in time to witness a glorious sunrise. Leaving the crest, we commenced the descent toward the sea through a deep and at first narrow ravine, the road at times running along the steep slope, overlooking deep gorges, and then descending and following the stream below. The sides of the sierras were clothed with a dense and heavy forest. The trees were hung in drapery of long, gray moss, and decked with garlands of convolvulus, pas- sion-flowers, and an endless variety of parasitic plants. Stately monarchs of the forest, stripped of their branches, and covered fi-om base to summit with climbing verdure, rose like huge green columns in the surrounding woods. Palm-trees, of all tropical vegetation the most majestic and beautiful, lifted high toward the heavens their clusters of rich, rustling verdure. Conspicuous in the midst of the eternal green were seen the white trunks of cecropias, and the branchless stems of the papaw-tree, crowned with its immense leaves and gourd-like fruit. The milky juice of the tree is said to have the efiicacy of making meat tender when boiled in it for a few minutes; and even animals and 52 VALENCIA AND PUEETO CABELLO. fowls, when fed upon the leaves, will have tender flesh, howevei' tough it might have been otherwise. We could not refrain from wishing that this tree, upon the strength of the reputation of its lacteal fluid, might he widely in- troduced in countries outside of the tropics. But the most interesting form of vegetation which flourishes in the greatest abundance through these rugged movmtain-wilds is the famous palo de vaca, or " cow-tree," from which is obtained, when incisions are made in the trunk, a milky juice, sweet and agreeable to the taste, and which is considerably used by the natives, to whom it fur- nishes an exceedingly nutritious food. The tree attains a great height ; the coriaceous leaves are from six to ten inches in length. The wood is red, very hard and durable. Mr. Wallace, in enumerating the various uses to which the fluid is put at Para upon the Amazons, where it grows in great abundance, says that, applied fresh from the tree as a glue, it is more durable than that used by carpenters ; it also makes good custard. " Amid the great number of curious phenomena," says Humboldt, " which I have ob- served in the course of my travels, I confess there are few that have made so powerful an impression on me as the aspect of the cow-tree." There is, indeed, something pecu- liarly impressive in this remarkable tree, which will not be obliterated from the mind of the traveller by the many other wonders of tlie equatorial regions that may come under his observation. That there should be a tree mys- teriously elaborating a substance devoid of all acidity, bitterness, and the deleterious qualities usually belonging to lactescent plants, and which is, moreover, a delicious and wholesome aliment, is no less a remarkable fact than a beneficent pi-ovision for the inhabitants of a country who rely mainly upon the natural resources of the land for the supplying of their wants. At eight A. M. we reached Trinchera, the place of our CAMBUKE. 53 exit from the mountains when npon our memorable tiger- hunt. Here we halted for coffee, and visited the thermal springs which have given such a world-wide celebrity to this place. They are situated a short distance from the road, in a deep hollow, through which flows a rivulet, from whose surface rose hot vapors, giving forth a strong odor of sulphuretted hydrogen. The springs, wl^cli issue from a coarse-grained granite, possess a temperature of 196° Fahrenheit, and, according to Humboldt, are, next to the fountain of Urijino in Japan, the hottest in the world. The vapor of the water deposits carbonate of lime, which forms incrustations upon the plants and stones in the vicinity of the stream. If exposed in an open vessel until the gas has escaped, it becomes in a short time as pure as distilled water. It was not a little surprising to behold how luxuriant was the vegetation along this hot-water river. Giant trees reared high their heads, and stretched their sjjread- ing branches over this Stygian stream, as if delighting in the hot, sulphurous exhalations that rose from the surface, while other plants sprung up in the very midst of the rivulet and flourished where we could not for a moment endure to hold our hand. It is also a singular phenom- enon that, at less than fifteen yards from the thermal springs, there gush others from the granitic rock, whose waters are perfectly pure and cold. Resuming our journey from Trinchera, in four leagues more, accomplished in as many hours, we came to the wretched little village of Cambure, comprising about thirty huts situated in a pestilential swamp. Having rested a couple of hours, we proceeded on our way, the valley widening as we neared the coast, and the stream called Hio Agiia Caliente, Hot-water lliver, that flowed at the bottom of the ravine, swelling into a considerable tor- rent. At 4 p. M., at a sudden turn in the road, we were 54 VALENCIA AND TUEKTO CABELLO. broiiglit in full view of the ocean. We recalled the time when, from the heights of Silla, we took our farewell look of the Atlantic, but little expecting to see it again nntil we should behold it three thousand miles away, npon the eastern shore of the continent. At the point where the road reaches the coast and turns eastward is Palito, a settlement of a dozen hovels, a wretched posada for travellers, and three or four j^ulperias. Reaching here before sunset, we enjoyed a refreshing bath in the sea, which breaks upon this unprotected coast in heavy surges. We then sauntered through the tOAvn and along the line of railway which is building from Puerto Cabello to San Feliiie, fifty miles to the westward. This heathenish place of Palito is to be the first station, and also the junction with a branch road that is to diverge over the mountains to Valencia. But it is extremely doubtful whether the lines will ever be completed ; opera- tions upon them have been suspended, owing to the inability of the government to fulfil its contract with the company. Sabbath was spent at Palito, and Monday morning, long before day, we left for Puerto Cabello, following the line of tlie coast to the eastward over a sandy plain a league in breadth. We forded the Pio Caliente and a number of other streams, which, by their overflow, form stagnant, malarious pools, and sedgy, serpent-abounding jungles — real Stygian marshes. As Ave approached the city, the plain became more fertile and cultivated, and we passed broad fields of maize, plantations of the broad-leaved banana, and extensive groves of cocoa-nut palms. With- in two miles of Puerto Cabello we stopped at a hacienda, where we spent a few days. At night we swung our ham- mocks in the front corridor ; and here we slept — no, con- tended with sancudos (mosquitoes) and fleas, and chafed under the exciting efiects of poison-ivy, aggravated by an almost unendurable heat. The plant referred to is the COCOA-PALM. 55 Hhus toxicodendron^ so well known with us ; it is the banc of these lowlands of the coast. In such abundance does it grow that it is almost impossible to avoid com- ing in contact with it, and suffering thereby the usual penalty. We here discovered also another of our north- ern shrubs, Samhucus Canadensis, or common elder. This last we found upon the high table-lands and also far in the interior of the country. These were the only famil- iar indigenous plants that we met with in our rambles in South America ; so different is equatorial vegetation from our northern. One of the marked features of this hot coast is the groves of cocoa-nut j^alms which here find a genial home. Xot often does Nature produce a tree that is so variously useful to man. The leaves are employed for thatching, their fibres for manufacturing many articles, while their ashes produce potash in abundance. The fruit is eaten raw, and in many ways prepared for food ; the nut yields an oil which is an important article of commerce; the hard, woody shell answers for cups ; the milk of the fruit is a cooling beverage ; the saccharine juice of the tree also affords an excellent drink, either before or after fer- mentation ; while from the young stems is obtained a fari- naceous substance similar to that of the sago, or bread- palm.* In the cocoa-nut palm, and the same can be said of palm-trees generally, Nature admirably unites the use- ful and ornamental. There is no other tree which contrib- utes so largely to supply the wants of the inliabitants of * The bread-palm must uot be confounded with the bread-fruit tree ( Carolinea princeps), which is not indigenous to Venezuela, although com- mon in the country. The last is a majestic exogenous tree with im mense, shining leaves two and a half feet in length and two in breadth. The fruit is as large as a cocoa-nut, and contains many chestnut-like seeds, which, cooked, have a taste somewhat resembling that of the po- tato. 56 VALENCIA AND PUEKTO CABELLO. the tropics. It is one of the numerous causes which in southern climes tend to encourage the careless indolence of the people. We can imagine but few more beautiful sights, or a more inviting reti*eat upon a sultry day, than that of a grove of cocoa-nut jjalms, and, as we recall the many hours of " luxurious ease " spent beneath their cool- ing shades, we cannot but exclaim with the poet *. " Oh stretched amid these orchards of the sun, Give me to drain the cocoa's milky bowl, And from the palm to draw refreshing wine ! " Distant from our hacienda not over half a mile was the sea, whither we frequently resorted. Fringing the shore was a belt of mangrove-trees, whose aerial roots in- terlacing form an impenetrable thicket, that is submerged at every rise of the tide. This submarme lattice-work is covered witli shell-fish, clinging to its branches, and with sea-weeds, drifted thither by the waves, while crabs and mollusks in infinite numbers here shelter themselves from the violence of an open sea. Thus mangrove-forests, by deposits from the waves among their tangled net-work of roots, cause a gradual encroachment of the land upon the ocean ; but this increase of territory results in tlieir own destruction ; for, as tlie shore recedes, and their roots are no longer washed by the tides, the trees perish, and mark by their partially-buried trunks the ancients limits of the ocean. The deleterious properties possessed by this sub- marine vegetation, accompanied with the noxious exhala- tions that usually arise from marshy ground covered with forest, esj^ecially in a heated climate, render these regions along the coast exceedingly unhealthy. The stifling heat of these arid j^laius seemed to us almost insupportable, after having enjoyed the cool and delightful atmosphere of the valleys among the Cordilleras. The amount of rain that falls annually is much less than at Valencia, PUERTO CABELLO. 57 and irrigation is necessary to preserve verdure and pro- mote fertility. At the expiration of a week spent uj^on this burning and pestilential plain, we took up our abode in Puerto Cabello, the j^ort of entry to Valencia. Affording good commercial facilities, it has become a town of considera- ble importance, containing a population of ten thousand, among which are many foreigners, in whose hands is much of the business of the place. We see here more in- dications of thrift and enterprise than we have observed elsewhere in the country. The trade is chiefly in exports, of which coffee, cacao, cotton, hides, and indigo, form the greater part. The harbor, unlike the roadstead of La Guaira, is well sheltered, there being but a narrow en- trance upon the west, which is also jjrotected by islands, and by the natural curvature of the main-land ; so that vessels can ride at anchor within, secure from tlie sea which breaks so heavily upon the outer coast. The bay swarms with voracious sharks, so that only at the peril of life can the water be entered ; while at La Guaira these cetaceous monsters are harmless creatures, and there the sea is continually filled with bathers, and with natives en- gaged in transferring freight from shipboard to land. The defences of the town are a battery, which guards the entrance to the harbor; another that stands to the east of the city ; with a castle which crowns a rocky eminence five hundred feet high, overlooking the place. There is, how- ever, but little danger to be apprehended from foreign invasion, the security of the city being threatened only by the political convulsions to which this country is sub- ject. Our stay at Puerto Cabello, Avhich was necessarily short, now drew to a close, and with it terminated our rambles in Nortliern Venezuela. CHAPTER VI OYER, THE MOUIfTAI]srS TO THE LLANOS. AFLOAT IX THE FOKEST, "Water-system of South America. — Our Route. — Leave Puerto Cabello. — Last Visit to Valencia. — A Soutli American Eoad. — Fording a EiVer. — Wild Scenery. — Niglit at a Posada. — First View of Llanos. — Their E.^- tout and General Features. — Town of Pao. — Embarked for Baul. — Our Bongo. — "Very bad" to wash before Breakfast. — Palms. — Bam- boos. — Alligators. — Howling Monkeys. — Lost in the Forest. — Navigat- ing under Difficulties. — Shooting Kapids. — Xight at a Llano Hut. The water-system of South America is a remarkable one, not only in the vastness of its majestic rivers, but also in the curious anastomosing of its great streams. The Orinoco, Rio Negro, and Amazons, with their extended and vmited arms, reach around and island the northeastern portion of the continent, embracing Guiana, with a large part of Venezuela, and a considerable portion of Brazil. You might circumnavigate this tract with a canoe. No continent affords better commercial facilities. Steamers may pass up the Amazons, by its Peruvian waters, to the foot of the Andes. The continent is thus not only traversable its entire breadth, but also length, by means of its w^ater-courses. A canoe starting in at the delta of the Orinoco can be paddled lengthwise of the continent to the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, the paddling being exchanged for short towages around the rapids of the Upper Orinoco and Madeira Rivers. OUR ROUTE. 59 But WO must forego these general remai'ks, and, an- ticij^ating the expectations of our readers, I'ecount some of the experiences and incidents which make up the his- tory of our voyages upon these rivers. Let ns first briefly designate the route pursued across the continent. From Puerto Cabello, Ave made the passage of the Cordilleras to the head-w^aters of the Pao, a tributary of the Apure, and passed down that river to its confluence with the latter, and then down the Apure to the Orinoco. Then we ascended that river, dragging our canoes around the cataracts en- countered near its middle waters, and ci'ossed by a portage of ten miles to the Rio Negro.* Down the black waters of the Rio Negro we floated to the Amazons, and then, ex- changing our little craft for a steamer, passed down that majestic river to the sea. The distance traversed was over three thousand miles, with obstacles to overcome that can only be conceived of by those who have pene- trated into the trackless wilds of these almost unfrequent- ed regions. Much of the journey was performed by canoe across inundated plains, where the sun is the only guide to the traveller ; through flooded forest, penetrable only as a path is opened with the axe ; and upon impetuous and rock-obstructed rivers. Our bed at night was often the bank of some stream, or in the deep gloom of the for- est, with the roaring of crocodiles, the plaintive cry of monkeys, and the howl of tigers to lull us to sleep. More- over, the climate of the interior was exceedingly hot and malarious, and means of transportation were so limited that scarcely sufiicient could be carried to meet our most urgent necessities during our protracted voyage of four months. Our first care was to dispatch to the States every thing excepting what would be absolutely indisj^ensable to us * This portage might have been avoided by following the Cassiquiare, a circuitous water-channel, which unites the waters of the two rivers. 60 OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. upon our journey. For the sake of the curious, we will incidentally remark that, aside from the suit worn, which was woollen throughout, the extra clothing of each, to which were added a few other necessary articles, Avas packed in an ordinary army haversack. Each one was fur- thermore supplied with a cobija, or poncho, and hammock, and a gun with its accompanying paraphernalia. A few simple instruments that were also added to our stock, with a botanical box and press, completed our outfit, the en- tire weight of which did not exceed one hundred and twenty-live pounds, or an average of about forty pounds to a man. Preparations for our journey being completed, we left Puerto Cabello upon the afternoon of the 1 7th of Septem- ber, reaching Valencia upon the evening of the following day, where we spent one day in concluding arrangements for the journey of eighteen leagues over the Cordilleras to Pao — the head of canoe-navigation upon Pao River. A donkey, which we afterward gave away, was purchased for ten pesos, for the transportation of our baggage, and by 5 p. M. we were ready for starting. It was not with- out many misgivings that we left the genial and salubri- ous climate of the mountain valleys for the submerged and malarious regions of the Llanos, and the wild, unex- plored forests of the Orinoco. We parted, too, with many regrets from the friends formed during our brief stay at Valencia, whose kindness will not soon be forgot- ten. Especially are we indebted to SeSor E. Staal, a let- ter of introduction from whom to a gentleman in Pao was the commencement of a series which extended from place to place across the continent, and which proved of invalu- able service to us. After many a hearty shake of the hand, accompanied with endless '■^huenas viajes,'''' and " Bios guardes^'' we separated, turning our faces toward the sierras of Nigua, with its long lines of shadowy hills A SOUTH AMERICAN EOAD. qi stretcliing away in the distance. As we Avended our Avay through the narrow streets, every window, door, and ve- randa, was filled with heads, some drawn thither from idle curiosity to see " Los Americanos," others to give us a parting adios. The sun was lingering above the western hills when we made our exit from the city, shedding its golden beams over mountains, plains, and forests, as if to give us one more glorious view of this lovely valley. We shall not soon forget either the beauties of that sunset eve, or the many scenes and associations of Valencia. It was after dark when we halted for the night at the same miserable posada which had sheltered us upon a pi'evious occasion, when overtaken by night, and lost upon the plains. In a small room, shared with a man and boy, benches, tables, boxes, saddles, boards, poles, hoes, water- jars, barrels, green cornstalks, sancudos, and fleas, we managed to pass the night. It Avas scarcely dawn when we were again on our journey, our road leading across a grassy plain toward the range of hills which separates the valley of Valencia from the Llanos beyond. One who has travelled only over the finely-built high- ways of our country, can have but a faint conception of what is analogous to such in the tropics. A road here means simply a beaten path, with branches diverging in every direction, to the utter bewilderment of the traveller. Some of the roads consist of a number of parallel paths, worn by the tread of animals into deep gullies, which, upon the mountain-slopes, in the season of rains, consti- tute water-channels, through which torrents flow down, rendering travelling not only exceedingly difficult but dangerous. ISTo biidges span the streams, which must be crossed by fording or swimming, while exposed to vora- cious caimans, or alligators, and other dangerous pests of these tropical waters. 62 OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. It was along one of these trails that we were now di- recting our course. We found the streams greatly swol- len, and the road nearly impassable, for the rainy season had not yet drawn to a close ; but we met with no serious obstacle until some three leagues on our journey, when a riyer, larger than any we had yet encountered, threw it- self across our path. AYe sat down vipon the bank of the swollen torrent to discuss the probabilities of a safe tran- sit, and to Avatch a party of natives who were making the passage. The animals were forced to swim, while their cargoes were carried over upon the heads of the men. We watched the novel spectacle until sufficiently ac- quainted with the modus ojyerandi, when we commenced the crossing, taking our joackages upon our heads, d la Creole. We reached the opposite shore safely; but our little donkey, unable to stem the current, was swept down the stream; but, fortunately, the precaution had been taken to attach a long rope to his neck, and by this poor huri'O was drasfged to land. After some time consumed in these ferrying operations, we continued on over the plain a league failher, when we commenced the gradual ascent of the mountains, and, toward the close of the day, we stood upon the summit of the first range of the Cor- dillera crossed in going to Pao fi'om Valencia, where we enjoyed a wide sweep of wild mountain scenery. South- ward rugged and barren ranges were piled one upon an- other, and at their bases lay picturesque valleys, slightly wooded, and sprinkled over with little huts, surrounded with patches of maize and bananas, which presented charming spots in the midst of the mountain ruggedness. Wending our way down along the edge of a precipitous cliff into one of the beautiful glens stretched out beneath us, we stopped for the night at a mud posada, a way-side inn, glorying in total darkness within. The sun had not yet risen when we were again mak- NIGHT AT A POSADA. 63 ing our way over a wild, barren region, either winding through rugged defiles, or mounting by circuitous paths the ranges of the Cordilleras. The trail at one time would lead down abrupt descents into deep and almost inextricable ravines, not unfrequently between cliifs near- ly closing above us, over ranges, furrowed deeply by torrents, and so precipitous and slippery that our animal could mount them only as he was lifted almost bodily up the heights. After a day of wearisome climbing we reached by 5 r. m. a posada, whose inviting apj^earance, added to the uncertainty of finding another stopping- place Avithin a convenient distance, induced us to make this the terminus of our day's journey. Dinner being im- mediately called for, was promised ^:)ro7i^o (quickly), which meant any time before next morning. A familiar cry, heard soon alter, prognosticating evil to a feathered gamester, was suggestive of good things coming. For three mortal hours, however, we waited for further de- velopments, when at length came the summons, Venga d coiner. Turning to the farther corner of the apartment, where we had been reclining in our hammocks, the faint glimmering of a light from a bit of rag burning in a cup of fat revealed to us, upon a table spread with a dirty cloth, the disjointed members of a half-cooked fowl, which, judging from its toughness, must have enjoyed the walks of life for a much longer period of years than usually falls to the lot of his race. In addition, there were three calabashes of soup to be eaten by means of pieces of broken crockery used as spoons. In the morning, after the customary calabash of coffee, we resumed our journey, winding along giddy heights, where a traveller's sense of insecurity is not lessened by the momentary prospect of meeting, at any turn of his path, scarcely wide enough for his beast to tread, loaded animals going in the opposite direction, which, rushing 04 OVEK THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. down, threaten to liurl every opposing obstacle over the frightful cliff. Trains of animals crossino- the Cordilleras have a bell attached to the neck of the leader, or are pre- ceded by a drover with a conch-shell that is blown to give notice of the approaching line, but which does not al- ways prevent a collision that sometimes results most disas- trously. We frequently encountered troops of pack-mules and donkeys going to Valencia ; but, being always on the qui vive, we were spared any of these unpleasant episodes. We at length descended into a heavily-timbered valley, and, rising from this to the summit of the last range of the Cordillera, we beheld for the first time the Llanos of Venezuela. One can scarcely imagine the pleasure af- forded us, as, after travelling amid the wildest of moun- tain scenery, we looked down upon this great sea of ver- dure which, joined with the sylvas of Brazil and the pampas of Buenos Ayres, stretched far away thousands of miles into the regions of southern frost. The Llanos of Venezuela are separated from the great forest of the Amazons by the mountains of Guiana, or, as sometimes termed, the sierras of Parima, and bounded upon the north by the littoral range of the coast, bearing different local names, as the mountains of Puerto Cabello, Caracas, and Cumana. The plains thus have a width of about four hundred miles, while in length they stretch from the great delta of the Orinoco more than a thousand miles westvv^ard to the Andes of Colombia. By far the greater portion of this immense plain is covered with luxuriant grass, but often broken by tracts of forest, and belted by the heavily-wooded courses of the many rivers. Draining these savannas is the Orinoco, the second river in size of South America, which is swollen by the thou- sand streams from the mountains of Guiana upon the south, and from the Andes of Colombia, and the coast-chain of Venezuela, upon the west and north. The swelling of THE LLANOS, G5 these rivers during the season of rains causes the inun- dation of large portions of the country, so that it can be traversed only by canoes. When the waters subside, the grass, which has been parched under the cloudless sky of the dry season preceding the overflow, quickly springs up, and in a short time the earth is again clothed with beautiful verdure. That part of the Llanos situated north of the Orinoco and Apui'e is divided into tracts known as the "plains of Matvirin, Barcelona, and Guarico, while the more southern portions are known as the savan- nas of the Apure, Meta, and Guaviare. The general slope of the Llanos is toward the northeast ; or, rather, they describe a quadrant, the upper portion of the basin slop- ing toward the north, the lower toward the east, which gives direction to the waters of the Orinoco. The slight elevation of these great plains, as well as that of the basin of the Amazons, is one of the striking features in their physical aspect. " If, " says Humboldt, " fi'om the effects of some peculiar attraction, the waters of the At- lantic were to rise fifty toises * at the mouth of the Ori- noco, and two hundred toises at the mouth of the Amazons, the floods would submerge more than the half of South America. The entire eastern declivity, or the foot of the Andes, now six hundred leagues distant from the coast of Brazil, would become a shore beaten by the waves. " One of the most significant of the streams that flow into the basin of the Llanos of Venezuela from the north- ern Cordilleras is the Rio Pao, which, taking its rise among the mountains of the littoral chain, winds over the plains in a southerly direction, assuming the name of Portuguesa before its confluence with the Apure. Distant one and a half leagues from the summit of the sierras, where we first came in view of the Llanos, is situated the town of Pao, upon the bank of the stream whose name it bears. * A toise is a Frencli measure, containing about 6.4 English feet. 66 OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. It was after sunset wlicn we entered the place, which comprises about five thousand inhabitants. Through the assistance of Mr. E. Rodriguez, a German resident, we secured a canoe and crew for our journey to Baul, the first town reached in descending the Pao, and about half the distance to San Fernando de Apure. Sup- plies for a week's voyage were requisite, and these we set about procuring. First was fresh beef, brought to us in leathery strips and gristly sheets, which* after it was thoroughly salted, we dried, and then, with the Venezue- lians, called it came seca. To our meat were added cas- sava, goats' cheese, salt, papelon, or the consolidated sugar of the cou.ntry, bottles of manteca, or butter, with a lib- eral quantity of green plantains. Then there were culi- nary utensils — two iron pots, one for cofiee, the other for general purposes — and the indispensable machete, which answered for axe and carving-knife. The morning of the 25th of October, after three days' delay at El Pao, we were ready to embark upon our voyage. Our craft was long — to uneducated American minds, like ours, too long — but was not at all successful as to width, but then it is in canoes as little as in mortals to command success in every particular, and we can say for our boat that length covered a multitude of sins as Avell as feet. For a picture of it, scoop out forty feet of a tree, with the largest diameter less than two feet, and the average hardly more than one, build a thatch, or carroza, over the middle half, just filling out the original contour of the log, tie a rough steei'ing-oar to the stern, and call the whole a hongo, and you have it complete. As at that time we were modest and unpretending, our crew was small. First, Viviano, generalissimo of the palanca., armed Avith a long pole, occupied the bow. His duty was to walk toward the stern as far as the carroza would permit, leaning heavily on his palanca, placed on the bottom of EilBAEKED FOE BAUL. G7 the river, or any neighboring rock or limb, as was most convenient, then, nsing his pole as a balancer, to walk, d la JBlondin, up the inclined plane formed by the rise in the bow, and repeat the operation. From his head to his knees, Viviano diftered not essentially from the gener- ality of mortals, but below that was somewhat unique. At his knees his legs dispersed, choosing jjaths of life as diverging as possible. Whether Nature intended Viviano for a palancasist, par excelknce, is doubtful, but his form was vmdoubtedly of great advantage to him, for, where more commonplace men would walk with fear and uncer- tainty, he, his feet just fitting nicely to the sides of the . bongo, walked with imconcern. Ever himgry and ever eating, Viviano was yet the leanest of men ; but that fact was easily accounted for from his always talking when compatible Avith eating. Our ^j»a?;'0?i, Alvino by name, who handled the clumsy steering-oai', Avas an old man of eighty-two summers, if it is possible to say " summers " in reference to that country, and was the father of Viviano and the small boy, who Avas perched on " airy nothing," behind his father. To the words of the patron, liis sons and every one whom we met paid the greatest deference, and indeed the respect paid always to old age was very marked ; rarely did a young person salute an old man without kneeling. El Patron's knowledge of geography was not extensive, but at least j^atriotic ; his enumeration of the countries of the world ended with Venezuela, ut- tered triumphantly as the incontrovertible acme of gran- deur. Under the carroza were stowed our supplies, uten- sils, arms, and baggage ; and there was also, as Alvino gravely informed us, to be our place of refuge from the storms, although it was difficult for iis to conceive how, when every thing Avas in, there Avould be space left for more than one at either end, and for only half the length of the body at that. C8 OVEE THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. At length we were under way, floating down the swift- rolling waters of the Pao, adding the strength of the pa- lanca to the progressive force of the current. Picture to yourself a narrow, many-folded river — to which Tiber in its turbidest was, undoubtedly, as a clear and sparkling fountain — a stream so opaque that the idea suggested itself to one of the party that perhaps " Afric's sunny fountain " had got lost, and by mistake had " rolled down its golden sand " into El Dorado, which was successful in damping it a little. However, so long as our gallant craft was floated, we could not complain, and, as for drink, it went further and gave us meat which, if not as nutritious, was at least not tougher than the strips of toro which orna- mented our carroza. The wooded banks were low, but a few feet above high water, with now and then a hut, just visible through the thick foliage of banana-leaves. Our first day's voyage was short, as the hour was late when we started, and nearly three hours were consumed in obtaining a meal, which an untimely rain greatly im- peded in preparation. The extended acquaintance of our patron, and the respect his whitened head everywhere com- manded, readily gained us admission for the night at the house of a friend, the occupants retiring to a neighbor's hut, giving us entire possession. Aroused by the patron at the first appearance of day, we reembarked, and were soon shooting swiftly down the current beneath the shad- ows of the dark forest which rose from either bank. From the dej^ths of those solitudes no sound was heard, and naught broke the death-like stillness of the early morning save the stroke of the oar as it cleaved the waves, and the plunge of the alligator, as, startled from his rest, he glided off" the slimy bank, and disappeared in the turbid waters. Reaching, soon after sunrise, the base of a low, rocky hill, we drew ashore for breakfast. At once we betook ourselves to our morning ablutions, when the chiding voice "VEEY BAD" TO WASH BEFOEE BKEAKPAST. qq of Alvino, our ever-watclifiil guardian, was heard, as- suring us it was " niui/ malo " (very bad) to wash before breakfast, as it brought on the calenture, or fever. This superstitious notion we found very prevalent among the people of the Llanos ; but, notwithstanding tlie warning of our patron, who was evidently neither a Pharisee nor a holder of their traditions, we went on with our bath. Unfortunately for our side of the question, two of the party eventually were prostrated with the calenture^ when the old sage shook his hoary head in confirmed conviction of the fulfilment of his predictions. Generally we landed but once during the day for a meal, and that for break- fast, about nine or ten o'clock ; our dinner — if the hour v/ill allow the name — being taken when we bivouacked for the night. Upon the morning referred to above, we delayed several hours, while our boatmen gathered smooth, silicious stones of an oval shape, and large blocks of sandstone. The latter, when hollowed upon one side, together with one of the smaller stones, form primitive mills, such as are seen in every Venezuelian hut. Upon the Llanos, where nothing more compact than sand can be obtained, these stones command a good price ; the larger size, in weight about fifteen pounds, bringing from two to three pesos each, and the smaller ones, of two pounds, twenty- five cents apiece. As the remuneration received from us by our patron was not large, we Avillingly acceded to his wish to collect the stones ; and, after our arrival at Baul, we had the satisfaction of knowing that he realized a good compensation for his labors. With our extra ballast we again got under vv'ay, gliding down through the forest channel, now no longer silent, but awakened by Nature's gay-plumaged vocalists, loquacious parrots and paroquets. Aquatic birds covered the water and stalked the shore ; vtdiile alligators, with 70 OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. opened jaws, lay basking in the bi-iglit sun upon the shelving borders of the stream. Xot more strange and varied were the forms of animated life than Avere the beauty. and exuberance of vegetation, which rose above us in walls of eternal green, variegated with flowers that decked richly the trees, and filled the air with their fi-a. grance. The small, slender, and delicately-pinnated foli- age of mimosas and tamarinds contrasted pleasingly with the many large, coriaceous-leaved species that filled the forest. The arum, that giant of aerial plants, trumpet- llowered bignonias, banisterias, and passion-flowers, with thousands of orchidaceous plants of exquisite beauty, covered the branches and embowered the trees. Palms rose in forms and numbers unknown in the higher altitudes of the Cordilleras. Here was the pahna de cobija {Cory- pha tectoriim) or roofing palm, its palmate leaves few in number, with the lower ones withered and drooping, giving the tree a gloomy and mournful asj)ect. The stem, twenty to thirty feet in height, like that of the palmetto so abun- dant along our Southern seaboard, is remarkable for main- taining a constant diameter of eight or ten inches in all individuals of the species. The wood" is hard and durable, making excellent building-timber where exposure to the weather is necessary, nor is it subject to the ravages of ants, which are such wood-destroyers in the tropics. The leaves ai-e employed by the natives of the Llanos for covering roofs. But a far more beautiful palm growing here than the one just described, and one more generally useful, is the Moriche {Mauritia Jlexuosa), or what is known as the sago or bread-tree of the country. It resembles the above in the form of its leaves, which are folded like a fan ; but these are much larger than are those of the former species, as is also the trunk, which attains a height of fifty and even eio-htv feet. It is a tree of wide distribution and PALMS. "71 very abundant, and with it is intimately connected the existence of the Warauns, a tribe of Indians who inhabit the delta, or submerged lands of tlie mouth of the Orino- co. Their habitations are hung between the trees, above the reach of wild beast and inundating floods. The fari- naceous pith of the stem, its fruit, and saccharine juice, supply the dwellers of these aerial homes with food and drink, while from the fibres of the leaves they weave for themselves mats and hammocks. " It is curious to ob- serve," says Humboldt, " in the lowest degree of human civilization, the existence of a whole tribe depending on one single species of palm-tree, similar to those insects which feed on one and the same flower, or on one and the same part of a plant." This veritable "Tree of Life," with its large, shining leaves, preserves a beautiful verdure through the season of greatest drought, and rises above the summer-parched and barren soil of the Llanos, a guide to the traveller and a grateful shelter from the heat of the noonday sun. The tree thrives only in moist ground, and at its base may generally be found a foun- tain of refreshing water; or such can be obtained by a slight excavation. The fact that this palm-tree is always found in the vicinity of water has given rise to the belief, among the natives, that the tree attracts moisture from the earth ; but in this, as well as in many other cases, they have confounded cause and eSect. The sweet and grateful juice of the Moriche palm, either fresh or ferment- ed ; tlie unexpanded young leaves, or what is called cab- bag,e, a most excellent vegetable ; the sago, from the fari- naceous pith of the trunk ; the fruit, which, like the plan- tain, can be eaten raw when mature, or prepared by cook- ing in an almost endless variety of ways ; the spathe of the fruit, resembling coarsely-woven cloth, and useful for bags, mats, and the scanty apparel sometimes worn by tlie native, the value of the leaves for thatching, and their '72 OVEE THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. fibres for cordage, bowstrings, fish-nets, lines, sails, baskets, cloth, and liammocks — all these from a single tree, supply- ing the people in abundance with all the necessaries of existence, is only another instance of the wonderful pro- fuseness and adaptation of Nature, in this rude and uncul- tivated land, for suppljdng the wants of its inhabitants. But of the many and varied forms of vegetation that shoot up in such rich luxuriance along the banks of the Pao, and adorn the forests and the plains of this humid clime, forming such a distinctive feature in the landscape, none, perhaps, impresses the traveller from northern lati- tudes more than the group of grasses. Among these the gudua or bamboo [Bamhusa gudud) is by far the most majestic and picturesque. It is also a most useful plant to the natives, furnishing them material for building, their hollow stems serving for posts and rafters ; and, when split and laid open, they form boards for enclosing their huts; and their joints, which are filled with a refreshing drink for the thirsty traveller, answer for cups, vessels, and various other puri^oses. This arborescent grass loves a humid soil, and is found abundant along the borders of streams, where the stems shoot up in thick clumps to the height of forty and even fifty feet, with a diameter of from four to six inches.* Masses of long, slender leaves crown the summit of these pliant trunks, bending them downward by their weight into graceful curves, which, by tlieir union over streams that they line, form long, beauti- ful arcades of evergreen verdure, through which the voya- ger floats in his canoe, his pathway gleaming with myri- ads of insects, that rival in the brilliancy of their color- ing the richest gems. "Their slender forms are suscepti- ble to the slightest breeze, and, when the gale of the hurri- * Fletcher makes mention of this giant grass being found, on the Organ Mountains of Brazil, from eighty to one hundred feet in height and eighteen inches in diameter. A NIGHT ON THE BEACH. 73 cane comes, these groves of bamboo exchange an aspect of beauty for that of grandeur. They are heaved and tossed like the billows of tlie sea, and their rich foliage, driven in every direction, appears like surges breaking on the rocks." * We can convey to our readers but a faint concep- tion of the richness and exuberance of the vegetation which forms a belt of varying width along the banks of the Llanos. So interested had we been in the coimt- less objects of attraction which were continually coming before us as we moved down the stream, that we were scarcely conscious of the flight of time. Tlie sun had al- ready disapjjeared behind the deep-green wall of verdure before we hauled up our canoe upon a stony beach for the night. A fire was soon blazing from the drift-wood which lined the shore, and the odor of stewing beef and plan- tains foretold the evening meal. The impenetrability of the matted woods obliged us to sleep upon the rocky bank of the stream, where we spread our blankets as far as possible from the water, that we might lessen the chances of our furnishing a banquet to the various cai- mans which filled the river, and at night sought the shore. Truly not a comforting reflection to haunt our dreams, that we were momentarily liable to be aroused from our slumbers just in time to find ourselves within the capacious jaws of one of these cannibalistic monsters, the next mo- ment to be crushed out of existence. The scaly saurians must have bent their steps that night in quest of other game, for were mained undisturbed by them, but fell a prey to a not much less dreaded enemy — sancudos — which swarmed the river-banks. Responding to the call of our patron at the earliest dav/n, we reembarked. So, floating down, the half-wake- * " Adventures in Soutii and Centi'il Aiaei-Ica." Paez, 4 74 OVER THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. fulness, half-sleep of the dusky morning, hushing even Vi- viano, we left our camp beliind. Now and then we would pass beneath rustling, sighing banana-groves, which, wav- ing like great fields of corn at evening, brought to our half-sleeping minds blended pictures of home and south- ern scenes. To one who has never seen tropical forests, no word-painting can convey any idea how grand and weird and graceful they are — they stand so unutterably mysterious and dark, as if— a race chained ages ago by a conquering will — they, grown old and hoary, are wait- ing a release to being. By the time that we were fairly awake, we reached a spot where the banks, breaking, extended a muddy flat on the left side. Here we landed for breakfast, and, while this was preparing, we wandered into the forest with our rifles, proceeding in the direction whence was heard the plaintive cry of araguatoes, apparently near at hand. But we were as yet imenlightened as to how de- ceiving is the distance these howling monkeys can be heard, and so were enticed farther and farther into the tangled jungle. At length we came to the object of our search — a group of large monkeys, walking leisurely along the branches of a tree, casting down suspicious glances upon the intruders on their realms. Selecting the finest-looking fellow, he was brought wounded to the ground; when the whole band, that had ceased their noise at our approach, set up again a most terrific howl- ing. As we stood a little exultant over the bleeding ani- mal, he turned up his large eyes, filled with tears, and, casting upon us a look that we shall ever remember, ut- tered a mournful cry, which was answered by the wails of his companions in the trees. The araguatoes, which are the largest monkeys of the New World, are represented by several species. Accord- ing to measurement, we found one of these animals {JSIyce- ^v|i|iriiiirii,M„i„i^ HOWLING MONKEYS. 15 tes ursmus) four feet from tip to tip, or about three feet when in an erect posture. This species is tlie most com- mon, has thick fur of a reddish-brown color, and a long, prehensile tail, which answers as a third hand. The feat- ures of its face have a grave and melancholy expression ; its beard is long, and its movements like the slow and measured gait of an old man. It generally seems perfect- ly indifferent as to what is transpiring about it ; but, when aroused, its whole aspect changes, and it Avill perform evo- lutions through the trees with surprising agility. As Humboldt observes, " monkeys are melancholy in propor- tion as they have more resemblance to man. Their sprightlincss diminishes as their intellectual faculties ap- pear to increase." In disposition the araguato is mis- chievous and savage, and Avill, when wounded, attack man in a most ferocious manner. It cannot be tamed, and shows none of that affection for human beino-s which some of the smaller species of the monkey-tribe exhibit. It is gregarious in its habits, and delights in the solitary forest, feeding upon nuts and fruits. One peculiarity that distinguishes the howlers from other members of the monkey group is, the remarkable development of the larynx, by which it is enabled to produce those tremen- dous noises-that are heard at so great a distance. When the causes were favorable for the propagation of sounds, we heard the yelling of these creatures over half a league. Frequently during the darkness of the night they break forth with their terrible howls, such as deeply imjoress the traveller who hears them for the first time, and "leads him to suppose," as trutlifully observes Waterton, " that half the wild beasts of the forest were collecting for the work of carnage : now it is the tremendous roar of the jaguar, as he springs on his prey ; now it changes to liis deep-toned growlings, as he is pressed on all sides by su- 76 OVEE TIJE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. perior force ; and now you liear his last dying moan be- neath a mortal wound." There is, perhaps, no animal that possesses a greater interest than the monkey. It has been the subject of countless nursery-tales, and a fruitless source of fiction, arising from that inherent propensity so characteristic of human nature for making what is marvellous appear still more so. The oft-repeated story, familiar to every boy, and which finds credence among so many, of monkeys crossing sti*eams on aerial bridges, constructed from their own bodies, exists only in fancy. Travellers to South America have often referred to it as one of the astonish- ing feats of these animals. In the course of our travels in the tropics, during which we saw multitudes of these creatures, our observations convinced us that there was no foundation for the truth of the tale of the bridge-build- ing monkeys ; and in this belief we were, moreover, fur- ther confirmed by the statement of the natives, who tes- tified to their having never witnessed such a novel per- formance. Humboldt also says that five years' observa- tions of these animals led him to place no confidence in the statements respecting these monkey-bridges. Returning to our canoe from our ramble in the forest, we found in waiting a smoking breakfast of saficocho, the national dish of the Venezuelian — a concoction of beef, yuca, bananas, peppers, garlics, and annatto * for a color- ing principle. Our energetic Viviano had also been on a foraging expedition with Angel, the small boy, to a house upon the opposite bank, and returned with plenty of milk, * Annatto is the product of a shrub {Bixa ordlana) ten or twelve feet in height, with a foliage resembling our common lilac. The bu«h bears a prickly bur, like the chestnut, only smaller, that contains the seeds from which the coloring substance is obtained. It grows wild throughout Venezuela, and is extensively cultivated in Brazil, constitut- ing one of the exports from that country. DIFFICULT NAVIGATION. 77 enabling ns to enjoy the luxury of cafe, con lecJie. "Wc were amused to see our patron pound the tough, leathery, jerked meat between two stones ; but it was not long be- fore we learned to follow his example, and even then, with our full quota of molars, experienced no slight difficulty, and much hard work, in making an impression on the nearest approach to leather that ever went by the honor- able name of meat. On again, all the morning, till toward noon the banks began to sink, and finally were not to be distinguished from the river, save by the lines of forest that marked tlieir limits. Then we knew that we had reached the delta country of El Pao, and, coming to an igarap'e^ or canoe-path, we turned in and deserted a river that soon would have deserted us. But our igarape soon lost all individuality, and we floated in a flooded, tangled forest, with no path but what we might cut ourselves. The dif- ficulty of this can only be apparent to those who have undergone a like experience. Our bongo, long beyond all ])roportion, and as cranky as is natural to a log, could make no short turns, and continually suggested the possi- bility of our becoming food for the caimans. Then the matted and snake-like curtains of vines, aerial roots and branches, hard as southern wood only can be, presented an obstacle almost insurmountable, had it continued long. Often, after having cut a way in one direction, we would be brought to a stand-still by a fallen tree, or the neces- sity of a short turn, and be obliged to back out and try again. Occasionally Viviano would utter a low hush, and, gathering himself into the smallest possible compass, push silently back. That meant, usually, an immense nest of bees, or perhaps a long, green, velvet spotted snake stretched out along the branches. Sometimes the water would be shallow, and we would float on a slimy mass of black mud, requiring all of Viviano's strength and skill to 78 OVEE THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. continiTG our journey and keep us right side up. On one of these occasions, wlien the mixture was a little denser than usual, Viviano, bracing his palanca against a tree, bent all his might to cleave the flood, but unfortunately his pole slipped, and, his very form aiding the catastrophe, by holding his feet firmly in the boat, he disappeared head- long into the chocolate-colored paste. Both El Patron and Angel screamed out simultaneously, " Look out for the caiman ! " but Viviano needed no warning to hasten his return to the boat, and so great was his nervous hurry that, had it not been for a friendly tree to steady us, we should have upset. The Avrath in the face of our mucha- cho warned us not to laugh, but his mud-lorn features were too much for us ; and we were forced to grin audibly. As a consequence, Viviano was grandly silent the rest of the day. Providentially for us, the forest along the river- banks never extends very far back from the stream, and late in the afternoon we emerged from our toiling labyrinth into the wide Llanos. But Llanos no longer — rather a great sea, illimitable in extent, but very limitable in depth ; lacking the ceaseless motion of the ocean, it was ten times more lonely and waste. Silence does not necessarily en- hance loneliness. The forest through which we passed was at mid-day as silent as the grave ; the few birds flitted abo\tt noiselessly without a note of song, yet the forest even then w^as as a company of friends, compared to the loneliness of the Llanos, which, however, were flooded with a multitude of noises. Numberless f/uacharacas, wdiose name itself means ever-moaning, myriads of ducks, geese, and Avater-birds of every kind, filled the air with strange cries, till finally, as the sun went down, they disap- peared and left lis still. For a short distance out from the forest stood isolated trunks of trees, which, covered deep under luxuriant masses of vines, were shaped into many graceful and often grotesque forms. Sometimes in the LOST IN THE FOKEST. 79 rapidly-gathering dusk we woiild seem to see a tliatclied hut rise uj) friendly before us, but, on approaching it, some disturbed bird would fly out with a scream and dis- pel the illusion. For some time before Ave reached the open water, we perceived that our crew were in doubt as to the direction, and just as the sun went down we were brought to a stand-still on a little spot of land rising out of the water, with no idea where to turn. El Patron and Yiviano left the boat to have a reconnoitre and consultation, while we waited for them in a dubious frame of mind. "Angel, we are lost, are we not ? " " Yes, sir." A pleasant idea, that of spending the night in the boat, no possibility of lying down, the air full of the deadliest miasma, while the low humming song from millions of tiny pipers, gradually growing louder and louder, told us of a night of torture worse than the mere loss of sleep. But our journey for the day was not yet at an end. As we sat meditating in the dark, there came to us faintly a roar as of distant water. " El caiion," said our patron, and we immediately started in the direction of the sound. Soon we entered a little narrow stream, barely wide enough for our canoe, but running with considerable swiftness, which rajjidly increased, till we were hurrying along like a race-horse. Viviano stood up in the bow, using his palanca like a madman, now on one side, now on the other, to keep us free from the banks, but suddenly his pole was torn from his grasp, scraping along the car- roza to the imminent danger of our heads, while at the same moment, the river making a quick bend, our bongo far too long to turn, stuck fast in the bend, keeling over till the water rushed in at the lower side. Disembarking with our available crew, we righted our craft and then dug away the bank till there was room enough for us to turn. Galloping on, the stream grew wider, and the current 80 OVEE THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LLANOS. suddenly so swift, that we endeavored to fasten to tbc "bank, but it was too late; we could no more stop our courser than the stream itself, and as we turned a bend "we were greeted by a roar that sent our hearts into our mouths. But a moment longer, and we Avere swept into a seething, boiling raiidal* nothing visible but the leap- ing, white foam on which our log was tossed like a feather. Yiviano dropped down helpless with a stifled caramha, while we speculated on the chances of the rapid ending in a fall. El Patron clung to his steering-oar like a hero, and kept the bongo head on, which was our only chance. By the rocks we dashed like lightning, for what seemed an interminable length of time. But the caimans were cheated of their prey for once. We escaped the rocks, with no more damage than a large amount cf water shipped, and floated quietly on deep water once again. Our zest for adventure for that day, however, Avas gone, and the sooner we were on dry land again the better. Our patron now know^ing his whereabouts, we travelled on, sleepy and tired, till the faint glimmer of a light ahead re- vived us, and soon we were Avatching our supper cooking OA^er the fire, and slinging our hammock within the walls of a Llano farm-house. Great slabs of leathery meat dis- a})peared like snow in summer, Avashed doAvn by nixmber- less calabashes of cofiee and milk, before we desisted, and then Ave turned into our hammocks, while El Patron, in a low, monotonous tone which came from a cloud of tobacco- smoke, like the A'oice of some ancient bard, sang the day's story, till the song, blended vrith a hum of mosquito-music, turned a lullaby, and the day was finished. * A rapid. CHAPTER VII. BAUL AND SAN FERNANDO. Over the Flooded Llanos. — Abundance of Animated Life. — On tlie Kio Trinaco. — A Tropical Shower. — Sickness. — Arrival at Baul. — One of the Party Homeward bound. — Sad Eeflections. — Stay at Baul. — Down the Portuguesa. — Arrival at San Fernando. — The Town. — Preparations for continuing our Voyage. — A Deliberate Crew. The sun was many degrees in the heavens "when a voice summoned us from blissful slumber to partake of the good fare so bountifully provided by the kind people of the Llanos. The fragrant cafe, the hot com-cake, came frita, or fried beef, with the oft-replenished calabash of delicious milk, vrere luxuries fully appreciated. Depart- ing from our hospitable friends and their island-like home, lifted above the spreading waters, we jDushed on over the inundated country — through tangled forest, thick jungles, and open reaches, the abodes of millions of aquatic birds, which displayed the greatest variety of species. Great Avhite herons, some as tall as a man, were perched aloft on the leafless branches of giant trees, standing erect in couples upon their nest, like ghostly sentinels, guarding the watery realms. Files of ducks stood stretched along outspreading boughs,* and thousands more rustling up * Many species of ducks on the Llanos, contrary to the habit of those birds with us, the wood-duck {Anas sponsa) excepted, perch with apparent ease upon trees, which we have often seen loaded with them. 82 BAUL AND SAN FERNANDO. from the turbid element, floated in clouds over our heads. Guacharacas, parrots, paroquets, and guacamayas, filled the heavens with their piercing cries, mingled with the wild notes of countless numbers of flamingoes and spoon-bills, while bright-colored birds of untold species winged their way over the waters. Monstrous caimans floated in the slimy floods, groups of chattering and yelling monkeys gam- bolled through the forest, and iguanas, alligators in minia- ture, lay basking upon every fallen tnink, and darkened the trees with their ugly forms, occasionally drojjping from their aerial perches into the water with a startling plunge. These repulsive saurians, from three to six feet in length, answer well to the descri^^tion given by one who probably was not particularly charmed with their beauty of form, as being " very ugly snakes, which Natui-e, after forming the head and tail, had neglected, until too late, to roll into shape, giving them afterward four legs, by way of compensation for her oversight. " These large lizards are of a variety of species and color, with a comb-like crest running along the back, which the animal elevates when frightened, giving it a most hideous aspect. They pass a great part of their existence in trees, and may be seen clinging to the branches which project over the streams, into which they let themselves drop, upon the approach of danger. Their flesh is esteemed a great delicacy and is eagerly sought by the inhabitants. Finding no land whereon to build a fire, that we might cook some of the game which strewed the bottom of our canoe, we hauled up at mid-day beneath the shade of a tree, and relieved our hunger with cassava and guarepo, a favorite beverage of the natives, taken both hot and cold, made by dissolving papelon in Avater. Again we floated on, the banks beginning to rise, and the waters to collect themselves in a single channel, until, at length, they were once more united in a large and impetuous stream, which A TKOPICAL SnOWEK. 83 carried us rapidly down its course. Large patches of grass, sometimes acres in extent, torn from the banks, or brought from the flooded plains, were borne along like floating meadows. Our bivouac for the night w^as in a low, pestilential jungle, where an untimely rain cut short our evening meal, and sancudos disturbed our slumbers. We quitted the inhospitable place at early light, and commit- ted ourselves once more to the swift current of the Tri- naco, as the lower Pao is called. The scenery was less varied than upon the previous days of our voyage, and a stillness pervaded the forest that now fringed the banks, that was profound as compared with the confused din of the inundated plain. Here and there a hut was seen through the woods, surrounded with plantains and yucas — feeble exponents of civilization in this strange land. At 3 p. M. we encountered one of those severe storms which the traveller so often experiences in the tropics. The heavens opened, and the floods came in torrents that threatened shipwreck to our frail bark. In vain we en- deavored to protect ourselves from the fury of the storm. There was only room for one at either end of the carroza ; and here two forlorn beings might have been seen, with their heads stowed away among the kettles and provisions, and with their legs protruding, as convenient conductors to convey the water which the projecting members might collect, trickling down the back toward the head, wdien- ever the canoe gave a favorable lurch ; and, at an adverse plunge of the unstable craft, coursing back into their boots at the opposite extremity. The strength of the tempest was at length exhausted, wdien, dripping with wet, and shivering from cold, we drew up to the shore, where a small hut told of food and shelter. Our ever-loquacious Alvino, revived by hot cofiee and sandcoche to an un- common flow of eloquence, rehearsed the tale of our jour- ney and adventures, drawing forth the frequent exclama- S4 BAUL AND SAN FERNANDO. tion '■'■ Caramha ! '''' from his admiring listeners. IJeclining in our hammocks, closely wrapped in our blankets as a protection against sancudos, we dropped into sweet ob- livion, with the tongue of Alvino still " flowing rapidly. " How long it may have continued we cannot say. From the time of leaving Pao, one of the party, Mr. Gilbert, had shown symptoms of the dreaded calenture which is so prevalent at this season, upon these submerged and malarious regions. We at first supposed it only a slight attack, which need occasion no apprehension, but the discomforts and exposures of the voyage caused the fever to assume a more malignant form. We were in no condition to do much for our companion, and could only hasten forward to Baul, where was j^romise of medical attention and better accommodations. On the afternoon of the following day, the sixth from our embarkation at Pao, we reached Baul. In a fcAV days Mr. Gilbert became convalescent; but it was, however, too evident tliat the fever still lurked in a latent state, and only waited for favorable circumstances to again develop itself. For him to remain longer upon these pestilential plains, could not be done with impunity, and a return to the north seemed imperatively demanded. It was with feelings of regret that we contemplated separating from a mem- ber of our small party, just as we were starting upon our long, overland journey. But there seemed no alterna- tive, and accordingly preparations were made by Avhich he accompanied our boatmen back to Pao ; from there he made his way across the Cordilleras to Puerto Cabello, whence he sailed for home. Two days after this event, the time fixed for our depart- ure from Baul, the calenture again invaded the party and prostrated my only remaining companion. For three days we watched, with no little anxiety, the j^i'ogress of the fever, as it continued to increase in severity. These BAUL. 85 were, indeed, dark days to us. We recalled the admoni- tion so frequently given us not to venture upon the mias- matic rivers, and lowlands of the interior, especially at this season. We were even now persistently urged to turn back. But a brighter day soon dawned, and hope began to take the place of momentary despair. The fever having spent its strength, the patient rapidly recovered ; and we again sought opportunity to resume our journey. We may here state that, notwithstanding predictions, which were far from_ being comforting to us, this was our only detention from sickness during our four months' voyage upon the rivers of the interior, although we were continually meeting with natives, oftentimes entire fami- lies, who were sufferers from the intermittent fever of the country. Our delay of two weeks at Baul gave us an opportuni- ty to become acquainted with the place and its environs. There was, however, not mucli that had special interest either to the naturalist or casual visitor. Baul stands at the junction of the Trinaco and Cojede Rivers, stretching mostly along the latter, between its right bank and the hills which rise directly back of the town upon the south. These isolated hills were the last elevations we saw, until reaching the Orinoco. The town claims ten thousand in- habitants, but probably has less than two-thirds that es- timate. The botany of this region is not extensive, and the zoology still less varied, but it has some fine repre- sentative species ; tigers, pumas, deer, and several species of monkeys, abound upon the savannas and in the forest tracts. Morning and evening we heard from the corridor of our posada the howls of the araguato ; while deer would frequently be seen taking their lookout from the brow of the hills in rear of the town. Our protracted stay at Baul was at length terminated. Tlirough the assistance of Dr. E. Landaeta, a gentleman 86 BAUL AND SAN FEKXANDO. who had been a warm friend to us through all our sick- ness, we procured passage to San Fernando de Apure in a bongo which was bound tliithcr Avith a cargo of maize and fruits. The 14tli of October liad been agreed upon for our departure; but, as it was late in the day before the captain, or patron, could complete preparations, it was determined by him to defer sailing until the second day following, although ready to go upon the moi'row, but that was Tuesday, the " unlucky day " of the Spaniard. The matter was, however, finally readjusted: we were to go that day a short distance down the river, when we would draw up for the night, thus commencing our jour- ney ; then the following morning we could proceed, with- out being subject to the evils which would befall us for starting upon such an unpropitious day as Tuesday. Our feelings of pleasure, in being able to resume our journey, were mingled with those of regret at parting from friends who had been so attentive to our wants, and who, upon our departure, gave us kind tokens of remembrance, and comforts for our voyage. We could see the tears glisten in the eyes of the good old lady, our hostess, as she gave the farcAvell shake of the hand, saying, " Cuiclado que los sancudos ne se le coma " (take care that the sancu- dos do not eat you up). How much there was to heed in this injunction will appear hereafter. Our resting-place for the night was, as we have inti- mated, but a short distance below the town, where we were tendered the hospitalities of a hut in the midst of a banana-grove ; some swinging their hammocks inside the dwelling, others under the trees, both places alike so in- fested with sancudos that self-preservation v/as our only thought.* "SVere we so soon to realize the import of the last * There are several species of culices, or sancudos, in South America ; the one most common on the Portuguesa and Apure being of a blue color, with a bite more irritating than that of our northern mosquito. DOWN THE PO.KTUGUESA. 87 words from our hostess at Banl ? Was this the region of insect torments of which we had so often heard ? Poor in- nocents, we little knew the caj)abilities of Venezuela, or dread would have possessed our souls. This was but a paradise to where our journeyings were yet to lead us. Vie battled with sancudos until the hour of midnight, when the moon, appearing above the forest level, sug- gested the practicability of navigating by its light ; and, as any thing was preferable to remaining in such an infested place, we reembarked, and, pushing out into the middle of the stream, floated slowly down the dark waters, the dull thud of our heavy oars alone breaking the silence, so pro- foimd as to be almost painful. We were now less annoyed by insects, the few there were being swept astern by the gentle breeze produced by the motion of the boat. Our four days' journey down the Portuguesa, from Baul to San Fernando, was not a very stirrmg or eventful one. The scenery was the most monotonous we had witnessed, not even a hill, or the slightest elevation, rising upon the view for a relief; but we were shut in by forests that lined the shores, with no escape for the eye except as it gazed heavenward, toward a dazzling, burning sun. Ow- ing to the sancudos Avhich so densely populated the river- banks, ovir voyage was interrupted at night only by a short rest, we leaving our bivouac as soon as the moon arose, and dispelled the darkness that settled in the forest channel. Rains were frequent ; and when they came we sometimes sought the shelter of our carroza, which, in this bongo, was sufficiently high to admit of a sitting pos- ture; but, as it was a perfect paradise for sancudos, besides being as hot as an oven, we often preferred a wet- ting to remaining in such a place of torture. At noon of our third day from Baul, we came to the small town of San Jaime upon the right bank, and by dark we arrived at Camaguan, a town upon the left bank 88 BAUL AND SAN FEPwNANDO. of the Portuguesa, of some three or four tliousand in- habitants, the most considerable place iijDon the river between Baul and San Fernando. In the morning, having discharged a portion of the cargo from the bongo, we de- parted. There was the same monotonous aspect of the scenery as had characterized the landscape from Baul; the banks, nowhere of any considerable elevation above the river, were generally covered with forest varying in width from a hundred yards to upward of a mile, with the plain beyond, an open savanna, submerged by the water. The Portuguesa is quite a formidable river, and of sufficient depth to float the largest vessels up to Baul. Since our return from Venezuela, we have been gratified to know that there has been established, by an American company, a line of steamers which pass uj) the Orinoco and Apure to San Fernando, thus opening up a vast and important region to the commerce of the world. A simi- lar line was in operation some years ago, but political dissensions occasioned its discontinuance. We hope for better success to the new enterj^rise.* The morning of the fifth day of our voyage from Baul had not fully dawned, when our canoe, gliding into the waters of the Apure, brought us soon in sight of San Fer- nando. Having had our imaginations highly wrought by exaggerated reports — a prevailing weakness characteristic of this people — it was a feeling of disappointment that accompanied our first view of the narrow town with its long row of low, white buildings, stretched along the scarcely-elevated margin of the river, and backed by a monotonous forest. What most attracted our attention * Since writing the above, we learn that steamers have ceased rxin- ning up the Apure, going only as far as Ciudad Bolivar, or Angostura, as more commonly called by Yenezuelians, a town about three hundred miles up the Orinoco. SAN FEKNANDO. 89 was a small steamer, that had come i;p from Angostura, ■with a party of Venezuelian officials, and was lying at anchor in the river. A shrill whistle from the craft as we approached, breaking the stillness of the morning, as it resounded through the half-wakeful town and the deep forest, was a strange sound to hear in these wild regions of the Llanos. The position of San Fernando, at the junction of two great rivers, whose tributaries, taking their rise in the littoi'al chain wpon the north, and among the snowy peaks of Colombia upon the west, traverse so large a territory, and its easy communication Avith the coast by a water-course that is navigable for the largest vessels, aflbrd to the town imusual commercial facilities. San Fernando, far removed from the centre of volcanic action, has rested secure from the devastating shock of convulsive ISTature, but has witnessed other scenes scarcely less dreadful than those of the earthquake. During the season of 1855-56 it was visited by that terrible scourge, cholera, which, confining its ravages almost exclusivel}^ to those whose mode of life and sanitary habits are so con- ducive to contagious diseases everywhere, swept off nearly all the lower and laboring portion of the inhabitants. Buildings stood partially erected ; the forge was aban- doned ; shops were closed ; and work of all kind ceased on account of an unanswered call for labor. Sewinsr- machines were introduced, and even then it was with the greatest difficulty that the people could be su2)plied with clothing. Although more than a decade of years has since j^assed, still the equilibrium of the labor and capital elements has not yet been restored. The population is, however, slowly increasing, and at present is estimated at about four thousand. In 1859, during one of the politi- cal convulsions we have so often had occasion to refer to, the town agam suflered a serious calamity, in being sacked and one-half of it being destroyed by fire. It has again 90 BAUL AND SAN FERNANDO. been rebuilt in a more substantial niannei-. The introduc- tion of brick a few years since, for architectural purposes, is one stride forward in Venezuelian reform — the clay of the Llanos furnishing the requisite material for their manufacture. During the season of greatest floods, the country around San Fernando is submerged, thus islanding the town, when the canoe is the only means of maintaining communication with other places. The heat throughout the year is excessive, attaining its maximum in July and August, the months of heaviest rains, when it reaches a height of about 100° in the shade. In the dry season the temperature is about ten degrees lower. In October, the time of our visit at San Fernando, the rainy period of the year was rapidly closing ; but the Llanos were, for the most part, still inundated. The svibsiding of tlie waters marks the time when intermittent fevers rage the worst, and insects swarm the thickest. The fearful accounts we had received of sancudos upon the Apure, and our own experience with them upon the Portuguesa, led us to pro- cure netting of fine cloth, which we made into mosquiteros of such form and dimensions that they would cover our hammocks entire when suspended. Beneath this protec- tion, we could lie secure, and smile at sancudos as they hovered in clouds without. Through our letter of introduction, we made the ac- quaintance of Seuor L. Diaz, an intelligent and gentle- manly physician, highly esteemed in San Fernando, who cordially invited us to partake of the hospitalities of his house. The doctor was a great lover of pets, and lived surrounded by a perfect menagerie of the inhabitants of the savannas and forest. Birds, large and small, of singu- lar species and beautiful plumage, filled his house and court-yard ; among them a great noisy guacamaya, which had the run of the premises, and was as loquacious and as PKEPAEATIONS TO EESUME OUK JOUENEY. 91 great a gormandizer as Viviano, our Pao boatman ; for he was, seemingly, never happy unless calling for " El doc- tor," who would comply with his peremptory demands for bread, fruits, and the long list of edibles, which he would roll off in Spanish, like some old veteran in the lan- guage. Among his larger fondlings was a young jaguar, or tiger, which, although quite large, evinced none of the unpleasant traits ascribed to that species. This animal the doctor desii-ed us to accept and take to our country ; but lack of transportation privileges, with the thought of a jaguar in the same bongo with ourselves, for a voyage of two thousand miles, led us reluctantly to decline the prof- fered gift. What contributed still more to the pleasure of our visit in San Fernando, was our further acquaintance with General E. Este, who was unremitting in his atten- tions, and who could, withal, converse in our native tongue, a treat we always richly enjoyed, and which was not again afforded us until we reached the Amazons. Three days had been spent at San Fernando, when, an opportunity presenting itself whereby we could proceed on our journey to the Orinoco, we determined to embrace it. Two large bongos,, freighted with maize, papelon, and aguardiente, and accompanied by a small canoe, were on their return down the Apure, and were ready to start within two hours from the time we first received intima- tion of their intended departure. As the large boats were heavily loaded, the little craft was to convey us to Asaiba, a hacienda upon Rio Clarito, where we could exchange for one of the bongos, which, with a reduced cargo, from that place was destined for Urbana on the Orinoco. Having been promised letters of recommendation from the presi- dent of the province of Apure, we sought the chief execu- tive at his private residence. Reaching the house designa- ted to us, rather an inferior one even for San Fernando, we passed through the open arcade, and, crossing the court- 92 BAUL AND SAN FERNANDO. yard, came to a low, dirty room, black with soot and blind- ing with smoke, where we beheld a lai-ge, swarthy negro, with coat off and sleeves rolled up, engaged in the culi- nary operations of the kitchen. To this gentleman we were introduced as the official in qiiestion. He proved eminently successful in inditing a grandiloquent recom- mendation. Having hastily secured our supplies for the voyage, we were at the landing by 5 p. m., the hour designated for starting, and found the two bongos just pushing off; but our own crew were nowhere to be found. Waiting until dark, without any signs of their appearing, vre started upon a hunt for them through the town, returning, after an liour or more of fruitless search, to find one of the rascals, the best part of whom was Indian, sitting with great complacency upon his haunches, on the beach, smoking his evening regalia. In course of another hour the patron, a great shambling son of Afric, made his ap- pearance, and, doubling his lower extremities under him, also squatted very coolly upon the ground to discuss " the situation." We brought the conference to a hasty close^ when they vei-y deliberately collected the provisions, kettles, and luggage, into the canoe, and stationing them- selves, one in the stern to steer, and the other at the bow to paddle, we were finally moving along, more by the force of the current than by any exertions of our boatmen. CHAPTER VIII. AFLOAT UPOX THE LLANOS. Aspect of tae Inundated Plains. — Wild Horses and Cattle. — Crocodiles. — Anacondas. — Electric Eels. — Cannibal-Fish. — Experiences upon the Payara. — Myriads of Aquatic Birds. — A Breakfast and Cock-light. — Manati, or "Sea-cow." — Upon the Arauca.— Over Flooded Savan- nas. — At Asaiba. — Niguas. — Jaguar. — Abnormal Butchering. — Em- barked for the Orinoco. — Navigating Submerged Forest. — Lost upon 'the Llauos. — An Uncomfortable Night. — Arrival upon the Orinoco. Our first experiences upon tlie Apuro were terminated at a late hour, by our hauling up in the immediate vicinity of a sugar-mill in operation, v,'here all night long the tramp of animals, as they turned the rude grinding-ma- chine, kept time to the hum of sancudos that filled the air. The next morning, early, we recommenced our voyage. The banks became lower as we proceeded, until they final- ly sank beneath the floods, when we pushed out of the river-channel over the inundated savannas. During the season of rains, the Apure, Arauca, Conaviche, and Ca- panaparo Rivers, with their labyrinth of branches, by their overflow submerge a vast territory, which presents the as- pect of an inland sea. The hamlets and huts which are scattered here and there over the savannas scarcely rise above the surfiice of the water. Crocodiles and anacon- das, with other reptilian monsters, which lie buried in the dry mud of the Llanos during the months of drought. 94 AFLOAT UPON THE LLANOS. now hold bigli carnival in their flooded realms. The wild horses and cattle, which feed in such immense numbers upon the plains, seek the mountains and elevated lands until the waters subside, and the rencAved verdure of spring invites them again to their favorite haunts. Thou- sands are oftentimes overtaken by the periodical deluge, and perish by drowning, or fall prey to crocodiles, water- serpents, and other inhabitants of the element. When we reflect upon the many influences that are continually at work for the diminution of these animals, it is not a little surprising that they should maintain their races against the great devastation which would seem to threaten almost their annihilation. Those that escape the perils of the water are continuallj^ in danger from the wild beasts which are crowded with them vipon the up- lands of the savannas. Pestilential diseases often sweep them away by thousands, while man is ever waging against them a war of destruction. Xor are they free from annoying insects, which torment them by day and night, and bats that drain their blood, while lulling them with the breath of their noiseless wings, leaving wounds that become dreadful by reason of poisonous flies which infest them. The wild cattle are far more numerous than the horses, and are mostly owned by herdsmen, whose mark they bear. At certain seasons a grand hunt is or- ganized, the cattle are gathered, and all unmarked ones branded, when those not wanted are released to again roam at freedom upon the savannas. The Uanero is as little able to tell tlie number of his cattle, as he is to bound the limits of his vast possessions. Humboldt esti- mated that 1,200,000 cattle and 180,000 horses graze upon the plains of Venezuela ; while there exist upon the Pampas of Buenos Ayres 12,000,000 cattle and 3,000,000 horses. There are several species of scaly saurians, to v/hicli wo CKOCODILES. 95 have alluded, that inhabit the waters of the Llanos. The largest is the true crocodile, like those of the Nile and Ganges. It differs from the alligator, also common here, and which resembles the species of that name found in our Southern States, in having a longer and narrower head, as well as in dentition. The alligator and crocodile, espe- cially the latter, are the most crafty and dangerous pests of all the lagoons and rivers of the Llanos. Both species are known to the natives by tlie name of caiman. They are oviparous animals, laying eggs, small in proportion to their size, with a hard, rough shelh Their laterally com- pressed tail is the great instrument of progression when in water, and possesses such strength that a crocodile can easily overthrow with it the canoe of the Indians, when the hapless voyagers fall an easy prey to the voracious monster. The wearied traveller, sleeping at night upon the bank of the stream, is liable to a stroke from this pow- erful appendage, which will send him reeling into the water — and into the jaws of waiting crocodiles. They seem to have an antipathy to attacking any thing upon land, but in the water they are masters of the situation. They delight in basking upon the shelving bank of the stream, where they lie with gaping jaws, and motionless as a log, as disgusting and horrible looking objects as can well be imagined. Like the colossal anaconda, and most of the' serpent-tribe of tlie Llanos, the caiman buries itself in the mud, when the falling waters leave bare the savannas, and spends the long, dry season in a state of hibernal lethargy. LTpon the return of rains, the mois- tened soil gives up its living dead, and the plains again swarm with reptilian life. The Llanero hut, which has been deserted by its occupants during the months of inunda- tion, is sometimes said to become the hibernal quarters of these inhabitants of the deluge, which, bursting their 2)rison v^'alls with tlie vivifying showers of spring, come 96 • AFLOAT UPON THE LLAXOS. forth to tlie astonishment and horror of the inmates of the dwelling. In the equinoctial zone it is the increase of humidity that recalls these animals to life, while, in tem- perate latitudes, it is the increase of heat that rouses them from their lethargy. " It is a curious physiological phe- nomenon, " remarks Himiboldt, in his " Travels," " to ob- serve the alligators of Xorth America jDlunged into a winter- sleep by excess of cold, at the same period when the croco- diles of the Llanos begin their siesta or summer-sleep. If it were probable that these animals of the same family had heretofore inhabited the same northern country, we might suppose that, in advancing toward the equator, they feel the want of repose after having exercised their muscles for seven or eight months, and that they retain under a new sky the habits which appear to be essentially linked with their organization. " We have referred to the ophidian moustei's which tenant these submerged regions, and are such a terror to tlie animal kingdom over which they hold universal sway ; even the large and fierce jaguar yielding superiority to these reptilian monsters. The species most common upon the Llanos of Venezuela is the anaconda {Ennectes tnvri- mts), called by the natives culehra de agua, a larger and more voracious serpent than the boa-constrictor, and less terrestrial in its habits. The anaconda is from twenty to thirty feet in length, and instances are not uncommon of its attaining the enormous length of forty feet. Its capa- bility of swallowing prey so many times its own bulk is truly astonishing; not even the pride of the herd, the llano bull, says Paez, escaping its deadly embrace. It does not attempt to swallow the honis of stags, but, as is asserted by the writer above quoted, these indigestible append- ages are left protruding from its mouth, until time removes them by the natural process of decay. The anaconda is able to survive a long period without food, even when not ELECTEIC EELS. 97 gorged ; and vre bare seen them decline a live creature, introduced into their cage, when they had been confined for months -^-ithout any thing to sustain life. The skin is converted into leather for straps, which are remarkable for their toughness and durability. This, together with the thick hide of the caiman, which makes excellent saddles, furnishes the native with .his outfit for travel and the chase. The caiman and serpents are not the only terrors of these Stygian floods. The lagoons and marshy waters are inhabited by innumerable gymnoti, or electric eels, which are able to communicate an electrical shock sufliciently strong to overpower a man, and paralyze for hours the limb that comes in immediate contact. In experimenting with some of these " animal electrical machines, " which had been secured by the Indians, we received discharges that caused, for some time afterward, a most painful sen- sation in the member with which we grasped them. Hum- boldt, in his " Views of Nature," gives the following graphic description of the mode of capturing the gymnotus by the natives : " A number of mules and horses are driven mto a swamp, which is closely surrounded by Indians, un- til the unusual noise excites the daring fish to venture on an attack. Serpent-like they are seen swimming along the surface of the water, striving cunningly to glide under the bellies of the horses. By the force of their invisible blows numbers of the poor animals are suddenly prostrat- ed; others, snorting and panting, their manes erect, their eyes wildly flasliing with terror, rush madly from the raging storm ; but the Indians, armed with long bamboo staves, drive them back into the midst of the pool. Bv degrees the fury of this unequal contest begins to slacken. Like clouds that have discharged their electricity, the wearied eels disperse. They require long rest and nourish- ing food to repair the galvanic force which they have so lavishly expended. Their shocks gradually become weaker 98 AFLOAT UPON THE LLANOS. and weaker. Terrified by the noise of the trampling horses, they timidly approach the brink of the morass, where they are wounded by harpoons, and drawn on shore by non-conducting poles of dry wood." But what is dreaded even more than the jaws of the crocodile, the coils of the anaconda, or the powerful bat- tery of the electrical eel, is the caribe, or cannibal-fish, which literally swarms the rivers of the Llanos, rendering it exceedingly dangerous to enter the water. The ferocity of this bold and ravenous little pest is terrible ; and at the scent of blood they are attracted in such myriads, that the largest animal will quickly be consumed by them. The largest caribe is four or five inches in length, with fierce eyes, large, mouth, and teeth so exceedingly sharp as to be able to sever ordinary hooks as if they were but slender threads. The Waraun Indians, alluded to in a preceding chapter, who inhabit the submerged lands at the mouth of the Orinoco, and live in trees, without even a spot of ground in which to dejDosit their mortal remains, avail themselves of the ravenous proclivities of the caribe- fish to dispose of the flesh of their deceased relatives. " For this purpose they tie the corpse with a strong rope, and plunge it into the water, securing the other end of the rope to one of the pillars wpon which their dwellings rest ; in less than twenty-four hours the skeleton is hauled out of the water perfectly clean, for the teeth of the caribe have stripped it of flesh, arteries, tendons, etc. Now all that the mourners have to do is, to separate the bones, which they arrange with much care and nicety in baskets made for the purpose, gaudily ornamented with beads of various colors ; and so Avell have they calculated beforehand the space the bones will occupy in the funereal urn, that the skull, tightly adjusted against the sides of the basket ?,t the top, comes to be the lid of it." "• * Paez, " Adventures in South and Central America." EXPERIENCES UPON THE PAYAEA. 90 But, to return from this zoological digression. In the season of inundation, the native who wishes to cross the Llanos, instead of following the sinuosities of the rivers, whose boundaries are generally marked by wooded banks, themselves often submerged, turns his canoe in the direction of his destination, and, by known land-iiiarks that rise above the spreading waters, or, when these are wanting, by the sun in the heavens, guides his bark across the country. While distance is thus generally saved, dilliculties are not unfrequently encountered — sliallow water and tangled thickets, which impede the progress of the voyager. The traveller from San Fernando to Urbana, by traversing the flooded lands of the Apure and Arauca, escapes stem- ming some twenty leagues of the strong current of the Orinoco. Although the waters had considerably subsided, our natives chose the shorter route, as it would lead them more direct to their llano home. Over this wide expanse of water we now pushed ; at times following the channel of a stream, again threading our way across broad plains, covered with grasses, the tops just rising above the sur- face of the floods. The aspect of the country was dreary in the extreme ; a flat, monotonous v>\aste upon every side, sweeping to the horizon ; the eye finding relief only now and then as it rested upon a clump of palms, lifting them- selves above the waters, or a line of trees, marking the course of some river. Vast herds of wild cattle were seen, which, at our approach, would go plunging and swim- ming through the w^ater. The amphibious life these ani- mals lead at the season of inundation is a remarkable feature in their existence. The flora of this region j^re- sentcd nothing striking, and but few species of flow^ering plants wvre found. This is characteristic of the Llanos, v.'hich produce little, aside from sedges and grasses, upon their level expanse. Toward the close of our first day's adventures upon 100 AFLOAT UPON THE LLANOS. tlie flooded plains constituting the great delta of the Apure, we emerged from a creek, that we had for some little time been following, into the Payara, one of the large branches of this net-work of rivers, Discovei-ing upon its elevated banks a habitation, half-concealed in a banana-grove, we pulled up for the night. For want of room within the dirty, gloomy hovel, we sti:etched our hammocks between banana-trunks — herbs of a year's growth, eight and ten inches in diameter, and ten to twelve feet in height. We were not yet initiated in the use of mosquiteros, and niany sancudos secured admis- sion at the same time with ourselves, much to our discom- fort. Turning and shaking our nets, we made another trial for solitary comjDanionship, which proved even more unsuccessful than our first. Again and again, the revers- ing and shaking process was repeated, but after each operation the number of sancudos within multiplied, until they seemed to be more numerous within than without. As a last resort we rolled ourselves in our blankets, from head to foot ; but the stifling heat soon rendered this unsupportable, when, in despair, we abandoned our ham- mocks, and passed the long hours of the night in walk- ing to and fro along the river-bank, crouching occasionally, when wearied in batting with our unseen foe, in the smoke of our smouldering fire. Morning came, when we wreaked vengeance on our persecutors, by gathering up our nets, and crushing by wholesale the imprisoned sancudos. Our bongos, having gone some distance to an estate to discharge a portion of their cargo, wei-e detained through the day, and, having with them the supplies for the entire party, we were forced to wait for their return, and pass another night in this infested place, to which Egypt, in the days of its plagues, must have been a perfect paradise. Of all the annoyances to which the traveller on these rivers is subjected, the insects are the most to be dreaded. MYKIADS OF AQUATIC BIPwDS. IQI For supper we obtained a fine iclithyological specimen from the river, and invited the sole occupant of the hut to share with us, which act we had ample occasion to seriously re- gret. That, like ourselves, he had. eaten little or nothing since the day previous was more than probable, although a banana-grove stood at his door, loaded with fruit, and a stream filled with fish flowed by his hut. His mud hovel, where, in his hammock, he spent the greater part of his existence, was a den of filth and darkness. At intervals, when the stings of sancudos were no longer endurable, he would gather an armful of vreeds and sticks with which to build a smudge for expelling the insects from his hut, which being secured, he would remove the heap of burning rubbish just outside the entrance, and place a stifl" ox-hide against the only aperture to render the exclusion of the pest doubly efiectual, and then settle himself back into his hammock for another siesta. After another wretched night among the sancudos of Fayara, we were joined by our bongos and gladly pushed on our journey. The banks again gradually lowering, we once more found entrance upon the submerged land. In some places the waters were collected into channels of great depth, in others they spread out over the plain, re- peating again the scenes of the Pao. The air was literally filled with dense flocks of cranes, herons, flamingoes, spoonbills, and other aquatic birds, while thousands more whitened the half-submerged plain. Where the banks were visible they were lined with caimans, alongside which stalked with martial air great soldados* while toninas, fresh-water porpoises, sported in the water, spouting jets of water, like the larger cetaceans of the ocean, and, fre- quently rising near the boat, would salute us with a start- * The soldado, or soldier-bird, is a species of heron ; one we secured measured eight feet and seven inches between the tips of its wings, and stood about five feet in heijrht. 102 AFLOAT UPON THE LLANOS. ling explosion. At 11 a. m. we drew np to an clevnted island-spot for breakfast, where we shot a wild-boar, such as wander in herds over the savannas. Removing the head, and dividing the body lengthwise into halves, the hair was singed, and the meat sufficiently roasted over a huge fu'e to preserve it until vre should bivouac for the night. The wild-hog of the Llanos is the common species, escaped from domestication, and, like the wild liorses and cattle which feed upon the plains in such numbers, is not indigenous, but was introduced by Europeans upon the first settlement of the country. Having spent the night upon a wooded bank, at three o'clock the following morning all things were again towed on board, and we were once more in motion up the Ata- maica. At 10 a. m, we stopped for breakfast and a cock- fight. A feathered gamester constitutes an essential ac- companiment of the Llanero voyager, and, on every oppor- tunity that presented itself, our patron trotted out his bird for a contest. We saw here the manati, or vaca marina (sea-cow), called by the Brazilians pdxeboi, or cow-fish, which had been captured by the natives. This seal-like mammal be- longs to the cetaceous family, is from eight to fifteen feet in length, and sometimes exceeds one thousand pounds in weight. The head is small, with thick, fleshy lips and a large mouth. Its eyes and auricular organs are very small, yet the senses of both these organs are exceedingly acute. The body is covered with a smooth, thick skin ; the flesh, something between pork and beef, is held in high estimation by the inhabitants. The fat of the animal, called manteca de manati, manati-butter, is void of that odor peculiar to cetaceous oil generally, and is used for illumination and cooking; while the strong skin, cut into strips, supplies the natives with cords and ropes. This herbaceous cetacea inhabits the waters of the Lower Orino- UPON THE AKAUCA. 103 CO and most of its tributaries below tbc Great Cataracts, being especially abundant in the lagoons and marshes of the Llanos, where prodigious numbers arc annually caught. One mode of capturing it is by building stockades across the outlets of fords and lakes, iip which the animals have passed during the time of high water, and when the floods subside they are easily taken. Another method is by har- pooning them when they rise to the surface to breathe, which they are frequently obliged to do. When exhausted by its mad flight, dragging after it in wild speed the canoe to which it is attached by a long cord, fastened to the missile that has penetrated its body, it at length yields itself a victim, and its body floats upon the water. It is then dispatched by its pursuers, who, springing overboard, immerse the canoe and slip it under the huge monster. They then bale out the water, and, seating themselves upon their captive, row" to land with their cargo. Before noon avc entered upon the broad, muddy cur- rent of the Arauca. The banks were elevated and heavily wooded; and groups of monkeys (araguatos and monos), gambolled through the branches and upon the thick cordage of lianas, that embraced the giant trunks, and interlaced their boughs. Conspicuous amid this luxuriant growth of vegetation was the saman, that species of mimosa whicli attains to such magnificent proportions in the valley of Aragua. Its umbrella-shaped crown of delicate, feathery leaves, with each tree almost a forest in itself, presents one of the striking features in the vegetation of the Llanos of the Apure. The Bombax ceiba, or wild cotton-tree, is also abundant here, and is one of the most useful, as it is one of the most imposing, of the forest monarchs. The immense size of its trunk, and the softness of its wood, render it extremely valuable for large canoes. Our two bongos were hollowed out from this tree, and would meas- ure forty feet in length and over six between the sides, 104 AFLOAT UPON THE LLANOS. with scarcely any perceptible dilFerence in size between the two extremities. The ceiba produces a pod, contain- ing a fine, silky cotton, which is used by the Indians for the Jlechetes, or light arrows, of their blow-guns, besides being iiseful for a variety of purposes where the ordinary cotton would be too coarse and heavy. We occasionally got sight of a 'perro de agua, or water-dog ; but their ex- treme shyness seldom aiforded us an opportunity for a close acqxiaintance with these somewhat singular animals. They resemble in their general aspect a beaver, are three and four feet in length, and have a very fine fur. An- other strange denizen of these rivers, which we frequently saw, is the ehiguire^^' or water-hog, but in no way is it allied to the land-quadruped of that name. It is the largest known rodent, measuring at least tliree feet in length, is exceedingly bulky, and without a tail. It is found in great numbers in the districts of the Apure and Orinoco, roaming over land and water for its subsistence, delighting particularly in the sweet stalks of the siigai*- cane. It possesses a most offensive odor, v>'ith a fishy flavor to its flesh ; notwithstanding, the jaguars feed rav- enously upon them, while the Indians regard them as ex- cellent eating. After several unsuccessful attempts to reach the sub- merged plain which stretched out to the southward, by passing through breaks in the low banks of the Arauca, we at last succeeded. Tlse water was nowhere of any great depth, and often our lieavily-laden bongos ran aground ; when the natives, jumping overboard and apply- ing their shoulders to the crafts, would push them along to where the water was of sufficient depth to again float them. We soon entered a lagoon, the source of the Rio Clarito, but its boundaries it was impossible to deter- mine, as the banks were nowhere visible above the water * Hydrochsevus capybara. AT ASAIBA. 105 whicli inundated the country in every direction to the horizon. Garsons, and the many species of white aquatic birds "wliich had become so familiar to us, had left these domains almost exclusively to ducks and geese, which were here in thousands, and filled the air with their cries. Now and then was seen a brace of noisy gnacamayas, or a flock of parrots, winging their way over the watery waste toward more promising realms. Unable to find dry land upon which we could bivouac, we contented our- selves with some bits of cassava we had remaining on board, and continued our voyage, reaching, by 10 p. m,, Asaiba, the island estate of the commander of our log fleet. Here we had oui- first experience with jiggers, or niguas {Pidex penetrans), which, as we discovered in the morning, filled the sand beneath our hamm^ocks. Yv^e had heard much, and seen not a little, of the eflfects resulting from the burrowing of these minute insects beneath the skin, but had never ourselves before been made the object of their attentions. This microscopic insect generally buries itself in some part of the feet, but no portion of the body is exempted from them. Having found for itself a home, it deposits a cluster of eggs, enclosed in a sack, which, upon developing, colonize the limb in which they are established. The first indication of the presence of the insect is a peculiar itching sensation, which is followed in a few days, if the removal of the nigua be neglected, by swelling, that in time becomes exceedingly painful. It is not uncommon to see among the natives jiggered feet dis- tended to frightful proportions ; the aflccted member re- taining permanently its unnatural size. Not unfrequently they render amputation necessary, and sometimes occasion death. Foreigners are especially subject to their attacks ; and the eflects resulting therefrom upon such are also worse than upon the natives of the country. For mothers to search the feet of their children for niguas, is as much 106 AFLOAT UPON THE LLANOS. a pnrt of their daily task as to furnish the household with food ; Avhile their own extremities are to them a source of ceaseless care. We were shown at this hacienda a huge jaguar, or tiger, as it is called by the natives, which had been shot upon the day previous. This animal, the Felis onpa of naturalists, is abundant in the Llanos, as well as in most parts of South America. It is nearly equal in size to the royal tiger of the East, and possesses much of the ferocity and daring of that animal, but differs from it in the marking of its skin, which, instead of being striped, is mottled. Another characteristic peculiar to the jaguar is, unlike the Bengal tiger, its ability to clknb trees with ease, however smooth the trunk. It moves with the greatest agility among the branches, making birds and sometimes mon- keys its prey. It is a frequent visitor, at night, to the encampment of the traveller, but is kept at a respectful distance by a fire. Turtles, with their impenetrable cover- ing, often fall a prey to the jaguar, which secures the flesh, asserts Humboldt, by first tui-ning them upon their backs, when, insinuating his paw between the shells, he empties them of their contents. He is also a good fishei*, confining his operations to the margins of streams, hurling his prey upon the land with his paw. Allied to the jaguar is the puma, or South American lion [JPelts concolor), the same as our panther, but much larger, and more predaceous in its habits. It is of a tawny and nearly uniform color, pos- sessing most of the traits of its spotted congener. It is frequently met in the mountains of Venezuela, and is not uncommon upon the lowlands of the interior. Besides the jaguar and jiuma, there is a black tiger, which is larger and jnore ferocious than either of the others, but is not common upon the Llanos, the forests of the Orinoco and Amazons being its more favorite haunts. We delayed half a day at Asaiba to procure supplies ABNOEMAL EUTCHEEING. 107 for the remainder of our voyage to the Orinoco. An ox was slaughtered, and the meat rolled in salt and thrown upon the hide which covered the cargo of the boat, there to bake in the hot sun. The manner of killing a beef on the Llanos is not one of the least novel sights beheld by the traveller in that country. If the herd be in a corral, the animal is easily captured, but, if upon the savanna, the lassoing and bringing of a victim to the place of execution generally afford an exciting time. The bullock being secured, the matador cautiously approaches with a knife, and, by a dexterous thrust just back of the horns, brings the animal to the ground. The flesh is stripped from the carcass, without any special regard to anatomy, or the " cuts " of the butcher, leaving the skeleton whole as if picked by vultures. Sitting in a circle around the slaugh- tered beast are a dozen or more half-starved, wolfish dogs, while the trees about are dark with zamuros, or black vultures,* waiting for their portion of the sjsoils. Almost before the way is clear, there is a general rushing, tearing, and pulling, and not always does the best harmony prevail among the hairy and feathered scavengers. The gristly sheets of meat are salted and hung over poles out of the reach of birds and dogs, to cure and toughen. The more flies, dirt, and smoke that can get to it, the better ; for thereby is secured that odor so peculiar to South American jerked beef By noon we were ready to embark. One of the large bongoSj freighted with maize and papelon for Urbana market, together with supplies for our voyage thither, received us aboard. Our crew consisted of two rowers, and a patron, Celestino Gomez, who bore the title of cap- tain, from having served in that capacity in one of the political wars of the republic. Our craft was uncovered, thus exposing us to the excessive heat of the sun. Upon * Cathartes atratus. 108 AFLOAT UPON THE LLANOS. the savannas of the Apurc, the temperature of the clay, as we have before stated, often rises above 100° Fahr., and this is but little lessened by the shades of night. When the sun was obscured by clouds which overcast the heav- ens, thus impeding radiation from the earth, the heat became even more oppressive. The Rio Clarito, down whose course we vrere floating, has its waters, as the name of the river signifies, beauti- fully clear ; yet the stream appears of an inky color, re- flecting light so admirably that we could see our image as in a mirror, Notwithstanding the presence of a coloring principle, imparted to the waters by percolation through the thick masses of vegetable matter which cover the earth, these aguas negras, or black waters, as they are called, had to us an agreeable, although a peculiar, taste, and were preferable to the white, muddy mixtures of the Pao, Apure, and Orinoco, such as we were compelled to use for so long a time. It must be borne in mind that springs in the interior are of rare occurrence; we travelled from Valencia to Para, a distance of over three thousand miles, without as much as once quenching our thirst with a more refreshing beverage than the impure and tepid water ob- tained from the rivers we navigated. It is a remarkable phenomenon that the same district of country should give rise to streams, some of whose waters are white and thick with sediment, while others are black, yet admirably clear. The explanation must, doubtless, be sought in. the difierent nature of the soil over which the rivers flow, and the varied tinctorial qualities of the vegetation along the courses of the streams. Two hours of steady rowing from Asaiba brought us to Rio Claro, also a black-water river, where the banks a^ain disappeared, and the stream lost itself in the Za- guna de los Indies, a section of coimtry partially covered with forest, in places so intricate as to make navigation NAVIGATING SUBMEKGED FORESTS. 109 exceedingly difficult and laborious. No longer guided in this trackless maze by a regular channel, tv'C frequently would be brought to a stand by an impenetrable thicket, and obliged to retrace our course, and try another, with, perhaps, like success. Our bongo was forced through dense bushes, oftentimes grounding, then floating high among the trees, which barely lifted their spreading sum- mits above the waters. Our toilsome windings at length terminated in our becoming entangled in the labyrinth of forests and waters, from which there seemed no escape. The thought of going supperless was by no means a com- forting reflection, but that was easily to be foregone, com- pared with the torture of sancudos, the busy hum of whose marshalling legions was already heard. Night came on apace, and settled round us black and cheerless ; when, un- able to proceed in the thick darkness, we moored to a tree which rose above the black waters, to wait for the morn- ing. "Weary and hopeless, we threw ourselves in the bot- tom of the boat and tried to sleep ; but myriads of insects swarmed the air, with which we contested until conquered, and then in despair yielded ourselves their prey. The long-wished-for dajdight brought us relief, when, casting- loose from our aerial anchorage, we resumed our efibrts to extricate ovirselves from the flooded forests. Pressed by hunger, we devised means of relief by taking the larger of our two iron kettles, and, with the simple modification of putting the fire inside instead of out, the fuel for which was dry branches j^rocured from trees, we soon had coffee made in our reserved pot, and this, with meat roasted on spits, furnished us a meal to which our appetites were prepared to do ample justice. Again pushing on, rowing where the depth of water and absence of forest allowed, elsewhere poling or hauling ourselves along by the branches of "the trees, we slowly made way through the gloomy labyrinth, from which the 110 AFLOAT UPON THE LLANOS. compass furnished the only clew by which to extricate our- selves. After many hours of wearisome efforts, we emerged into the Arauca ; only known to be a river by the forest walls which formed a narrow channel. So floating down, we came, by 2 p. m., where dry land appeared, and here we disembarked for food and rest After a couple of hours spent upon the slightly-elevated bank, we continued our voyage, shut in by interminable lines of verdure which bordered the stream. Just before night shrouded all, a sudden turn in the river revealed to our view in the distance the hills of Guiana, beyond the Orinoco. After our long voyage over an inundated country, where not the slightest elevation breaks the sameness of the land- scape, it was with a feeling of relief, mingled with inex- pressible joy, at the near prospect of a more propitious land, that we beheld the range of hills, which stretched in distinct outline against the rich background of the even- ing sky. It Avas after dark Avhen we floated into the waters of the Orinoco, and moored our canoe upon the western shore of that majestic river, Avhose floods, gatheredbytlie count- less tributaries which drain the vast regions of Venezuela, together with much of Colombia, bringing down the melt- ing snows from the Andean su7nmits, rolled onward in one mighty, impetuous tori*ent until lost in the Atlantic. No river in the world possesses such grand and sublime scenery, varied by such picturesque mountains, plains, rapids, lovely islands, forests, and life in so many thousand and attrac- tive forms. This was the stream upon which we were now to sail, and these the scenes that were to delight us. Upon the sandy bank of the river we threw ourselves for the night, with the mountain glimpses calling to our dreams the hills of our own distant home. CHAPTER IX. UKBAXA. The Orinoco. — Preparatious for entering Urbana. — Keception at the Town. — A Fiesta-Day.— Our Quarters. — Smoking out Bats. — Deseription of Town. — Ascent of CeiTO. — Picturesque View. — Harper's Weekly. — Insects and Birds. — Annoying Delays. — Arrangements for Voyage up the Orinoco. Eaelt on tlic morning of the 2Sth of October, we crossed the Oi-inoco — which, at this point, is a league in breadth — to Urbana, located directly opposite the mouth of the Arauca. The river had fallen to its medium height, from the annual rise, which lifts the Orinoco, at Urbana, from thirty to thirty-five feet above its lowest water-mark ; a change of level much less than occurs higher up, where the stream is forced through narrow passes, as at the Straits of Baraguan and the Great Cataracts. Landing a short distance above the town, beneath the shelter of a projecting promontory of granitic rocks, we proceeded to make ourselves look as respectable as circumstances would permit, before encountering civilization. A small wooden trunk was hauled out from the bongo, and Celestino, our patron, soon underwent a transformation tliat gave him a decidedly picturesque appearance. His habiliment, the usual dress suit of the llanero, consisted of a pair of light- brown pants extending to the knees, whence each leg was prolonged into two points, reaching to the feet. Beneath 112 UKBANA. these flo-\ving appendages "were fastened separate pieces of white linen, serving for extensions of the abbreviated trousers. A blue-flannel camisa, ornamented with white trimmings, was worn outside of his pantaloons in lieu of a coat. Two hats, the inner wool, the outer straw, consti- tuted his head-gear, supplemented at the other end by white stockings and shining patent-leather shoes. Our boatmen were less grotesquely but neatly attired, being barefooted, and encumbered with only one hat each. We confess that " Los Nortes," when " fixed " in their best, did not loom np very liigh in their own estimation ; and, we apprehend, did not cut very impressive figures in the eyes of their natives. The probabilities that we should be taken by the XJrbanians as attendants of our crew were rather mortifying. But what could we further do to im- prove our appearance ? Our soiled and rusty garments had been whipped and our panamas washed ; our coarse flannel shirts, with collars of the same, were as clean as muddy water would make them, and as smooth as they could be stretched; neck-ties, which were reserved ibr special occasions like the present, had been drawn from our overloaded pockets, and now graced our sunburnt necks. A glance around upon the motley-arrayed group told that all were ready, when vamos was given, and we Avere off for the town. Reaching Urbana, we were met iipon the beach by the president of the village and other officials, with many of the citizens, who received us with the hearty welcome so characteristic of the Spaniard, and which was extended us wherever we went. We had arrived upon one of their numerous fiesta-days, and the people were luxuriating in the festivities of the occasion. A grand banquet was to be given to all the celebrities of the town at the casa, or house of the chief executive, and to this we accepted an invitation. At 10 A. M., the designated hour, we made A FIESTA-DAY. 113 our ^v:vy to the president's dwelling, where, in his main apartment, we found a cockfight in full blast as a prelude to the dinner. One of the gamesters belonged to the chief executive, who, with much gusto, was personally attending upon his feathered representative in the contest. This affair at length terminated, the bloody arena was cleared, and the crowd for a while dispersed. Assembling again at tlie expiration of another hour, the guests, about thirty in number, at the announcement of dinner, with a rush like a ]Dack of half-famished wolves, surrounded the festive board. Had it been desirable to seat the guests, the table would not have accommodated over a third of the number present. Such inconveniences as chairs were therefore dispensed with, excepting a couple which were provided for Xios Americanos. The dishes displayed were many in number, but seemed, for the most part, to have originated from one individual of the swine species. The head of the victim was upon one platter, its ribs upon another, the legs projected over a third, while the other portions, fried, roasted, boiled, and hashed, had been served up for the occasion. There were, furthermore, a single bowl of soup, and another of boiled beans, of which only those could partake who were favored with plates and spoons ; while piles of broken cassava lay scattered in every direction. Coffee was not wanting, neither claret, nor aguardiente, of which latter many were tempted to imbibe too freely. Every man was his own waiter ; filling his fist with a great piece of meat, and then falling back from the table to give another the opportunity to secure a poi'tion. Toasts and vivas followed each other in quick alternation from the feasting guests. Finally, with vivas for " LosEstados Unidos," and " Los Americanos del Norte," they betook themselves to the street, where a procession was formed, at the head of which was borne, by two girls dressed in white, the Venezuelan flag and our own star-spangled 114 URBANA. banner side by side. Music and dancing in the evening closed the celebration and festivities of the day. We now turned toward our temporary home, the best that the place afforded, an abandoned pulperia, and, upon opening the doors, were greeted by a swarm of hideous, screeching bats, as they made their exit from the building. A war of extermination was at once inaugurated ; but we soon discovered our enemy had the better of the game ; for, when we made an attack with jDoles, they clustered uj) be- neath tlie high palm-leaf roof, whose loose meshes seemed to be fairly alive with the creatures, and whence they poiired out re enforcements unlimited. Smoking was then resorted to, Avhich, we inferred, would bring them to a realizing sense of the undesirableness of their presence; but they very quietly secreted themselves in the thatched roof during the operation, while we were compelled to seek refuge without. Failing to expel the creatures, we in desjDair composed ourselves in our hammocks. We cannot say that the bats proved themselves such undesir- able night-companions as our imaginations had pictured them to be, for the oppressive heat of our ill-ventilated room was greatly mitigated by their winging their way to and fro, fanning the air to a constant breeze. Urbana, Avhich has a Spanish population of about five hundred, comprises a church, three pulperias, and about sixty dwellings, Avhich are mostly on two streets parallel to the river. A portion of the houses are made of mud ; while the others are constructed wholly of palm-leaves that are twenty-five to thirty feet in length, a dozen making an ordinary load for a yoke of oxen to drag in from the plains where they are procured. For convenience in building, the houses are made the length of a leaf, which is fastened on with lianas, or vines. Aside from a small patch of maize, we saw nothing growing in this district of country for the support of the people. They depend for subsist- SITUATION OF UliBANA. 115 ence upon the fish and turtles of the river, cassava and maize from the Apurc and other sections, and upon their lierds, which find abundant pasturage on the savannas amone: the broken sierras of Guiana. Other necessaries of life are brought up from Angostura ; with which town there is carried on a considerable trade in hides, large numbers of which are exported annually from Urbana. The A'illage of Urbana is beautifully situated at the foot of semi-isolated hills, whose granitic rocks, under the effects of decomposition, exhibit upon their summit gro- tesque columns which appear like the remains of ancient ruins. "We were desirous of visiting these curious forma- tions of Nature ; so one morning, accompanied by some natives, we made the ascent of the cerros. Their sides are exceedingly precipitous, and covered with matted woods, which were difficult to penetrate. At length, after an hour's hard climbing, we stood upon the rocky crest, and clambered up to the cross that had been planted by devotees of the Catholic faith, upon the top of the natural tower which rises high above the forest. From here wo had a most lovely view of savannas, mountains, and the broad expanse of the Orinoco, Avhich here spreads out like a vast lake. The little village of Ui-bana lay quietly nes- tled at our feet, and beyond, across the broad river, a boundless forest of eternal green, while in other directions rose range after range of the broken sierras of Guiana. We saw few landscapes in the tropics so varied and ex- tended. These hills seemed to be a perfect den for casca- bels, or rattlesnakes. Of no other section, visited in our equatorial wanderings, could we more truthfully speak as being a place , " Where at each step the stranger fears to wake The rattlmg terrors of the vengeful snake." Occasionally they found their way into the town. Seated 116 UEBANA. one evening with some natives npon the ground in front of a dwelling, the head of one of these serpents, Avliich had lain concealed m the grass, suddenly appeared in our midst, causing a hasty dispersion of our group. At this village we came across some stray books and papers that had found their way up from Angostura, among which were several numbers of llarper''s WeeJc- li/, and a copy of " Smith's Primary Geography" in Span- ish print, but with the same illustrations that adorn the English edition of that Avork, It is doubtful if ever, in our school-boy days, we thumbed over Avith greater inter- est this little volume for the sake of its pictures, than Ave leaved it for a similar purpose upon this occasion. Any thing that awakens in the memory of the traA^eller in dis- tant lands thoughts of home and country, seems to possess a peculiar charm, Avhicli, under other circumstances, might be passed unnoticed. Our rambles about Urbana Avere productive of much that Avas new and interesting. Among the many beau- tiful insects were the blue Monphos, those giants of the insect-world, which Avere abundant in the fox*est of the sierras. There was also a species of white butterfly, with black-tipped Avings, the same as we have observed in the tropical clime of southern Florida, But Avhat especially interested us Avere the wonders of the formicaria?, or ant family, many species of which abound here ; some build- ing in hollow trees, others suspending their nests from the branches, Avhile still others construct their homes under- ground. A large black species, an inch or more in length, is the most numerous, as it is also the most A'oracious and destructiA'e to vegetation^ stripping the foliage from trees with a rapidity truly astonishing. DiA^erging in every direction through the forest and across the saAannas, are their broad and AV'cll-beaten trails, resembling sheep-paths. We haA'e often, in our rambles, followed for lonsr distances ANTS. ii>j deserted ant-roads, as affording an easy path to travel. Branches of these caminos reales, or royal roads, may be traced to favorite species of trees, along M'hose trunks will be found two dark lines of these industrious w^orkers ; in one they are ascending, in tlie other descending, each ant in the latter line hid beneath a piece of leaf, which he car- ries vertically, as he hurries onward to his home. It is evident that they perform their journey, not by sight, but by the sense of smell ; for we have often broken their lines by sweeping away the surface of the earth, when they would become confused, until in their wild ramblings the connection was discovered, when they would rush on again in heaA^y phalanx. When they wish to cross a stream, they seek a fallen trunk which spans the same, or ascend a tree whose boiighs form a union with others iipon the opposite side. To test their instinct we have removed their bridges, taking the precaution to place ourselves out of harm's way. Satisfying themselves that their connec- tion with the opposite bank was severed, they sought a crossing above or below, whicli being found, they made good their lines, and business went on as before. Some Indian tribes esteem certain species of these large ants as excellent food. Humboldt informs us that he saw, upon the headwaters of the Orinoco and Rio Negro, natives who subsisted during a portion of the year mainly upon these insects, which, being dried and smoked, were mixed as seasoning into a sort of paste. At Quito, in Ecuador, we have ourselves observed the Indians to eat a species of coleoptera collected in quantities and roasted. With less preparation, the natives pick certain hemipterous insects from one another's heads and eat them with peculiar satis- faction. So'infestel are some districts with ants, and so great their destructive proclivities, that it is almost impossible to secure the growth of tender and siicculent plants, which 118 UKBANA. are almost sure to be attacked by them. Upon the Ori- noco and Kio Negro Ave frequently observed tlie hanging gardens of the natives, wlio, when they wish to cultivate a few vegetables, sus2")end from the trees, or lift upon poles, a canoe filled with earth, and in this plant their seed with some hopes of a harvest. Should some formic forager discover this aerial garden, immediately it is filled with voracious insects, and, before the jilanter is aware of their jiresence, his little crop has vanished. We found them exceedingly annoying, depredating upon every thing within their reach — and nothing can be placed beyond it. Especially did they seem to delight in feasting upon the insects collected by us with so great labor. We mention these facts to show some of the obstacles that entomolo- gists in the tropics have to contend with, and how the very superabundance of insects renders it extremely diffi- cult to secure any for the purposes of science. We see, furthermore, what a strife for existence man, in these tropi- cal regions, has to maintain. The soil is unsurpassed in fertility, yet devastating insects prevent him from re- ceiving therefrom his food, while others inflict upon him venomous stings, or, burrowing themselves in his flesh, cause festering limbs. Even the elements combine in making life one unwearied struggle for prolongation. Driven by sv/elling rivers which submerge the land, he is forced, like the wild beasts, to seek refuge in the moun- tains and on the island-like elevations, or even compelled to fix his habitation in the trees, there to subsist upon the ])roducts of his arboreal home. The ornithology of this district is not remarkable ; troupials, parrots, and a species allied to our common meadow-lark, being among the most noticeable birds. The first-mentioned suspends its nests in colonies from branches of the trees ; many stately nionarchs on the skirts of the forest, or vipon the open savannas — for THE GOLD-EEGIO^"S. Ug these birds seem to love the sunshine — hang with hun- dreds of their long, sack-like homes, with flocks of the brilliant-colored inhabitants hovering about them, present- ing a beautiful sight. Among the many peculiar sounds of animated Nature we recognized tlie familiar one " Wliip- poor-will," recalling pleasant memories of our northern home. Although Urbana is situated three hundred miles from the gold-regions of Venezuelian Guiana — the veritable " El Dorado," whose fabulous wealth is just being made known to the world — still the Urbanians were suilerino- from the " gold-fever," so prevalent throughout Venezuela. The story of the " Gilded King," which inflamed such a spirit of wild adventure among the conquistadores, had, indeed, a more substantial foundation than we may have thought — it was not wholly chimerical, but had such a basis in facts that we can easily excuse the introduction of the gold-bespangled monarch. The gold-regions em- brace the broken mountain-ranges lying about one hundred miles south of the Orinoco, in the eastern portion of Ven- ezuela, between the rivers Essequibo and Caroni. The auriferous quartz is found not only in immense veins, but also in ledges or mountain-like masses, all of a richness which is said to far exceed the gold-bearing c[uartz of California. These gold-districts are easily accessible from the coast, being situated inland scarcely two hundred miles. Thus far the greater portion of the gold obtained from these rich fields has been the result of unsystema- tized labor, but already several companies are formed in England, Germany, France, and the States, for the open- ing of mines and the scientific working of the auriferous quartz. The limits of our owm w^ork will not enable us to speak at length iipon the wonderful developments that have been made in this incredibly rich yet (until recently) comparatively unexplored field ; but we must refer our ] 20 UEBANA. readers to the excellent work, " Adventures in South and Central America," by Don Ramon Paez, where will be found, in the chapter, " The Laud of El Dorado," a full account of these regions. The temperature of Urbana, although hot, is not so oppressive as that which we experienced elsewhere. This lower temperature is due to the trade-winds, which are constant from east to west, but are felt with diminishing foi'ce as you ascend the Orinoco, until reaching the Great Cataracts, beyond which no breeze is ever felt. The winds generally rise at 8 or 9 a, m., continuing until abovit 4 p. m., and then are felt again from 10 p. ji. till three o'clock in the morning. These imiform winds are of great service to vessels navigating the Lower Orinoco. The largest craft that are employed on the river above Angostura are lanchas, which consist of a canoe for the hull, its ca- pacity being increased by planks raised upon the sides, with a carroza covering about half its length. To ascend the rapids of the river, smaller boats are necessary. Our stay at Urbana had been protracted much beyond our first intentions, and we now watched the earliest oppor- tunity to continue our journey. The padre and gobierno of San Fernando de Atabapo, a town above the cataracts of the Orinoco, were daily expected upon their return from Angostura, whither they had gone, and we determined to accompany them up the river. One day the village was thrown into a state of the greatest excitement by a sail heaving in sight, which was supposed to be the governor's. The artillery of Urbana, which consisted of a single brass piece that a boy could easily have carried, was dragged from the arsenal — some back kitchen — and salute after salute pealed forth over the water to greet the approach- ing vessel, the enthusiasm of the crowd increasing as it neared the land. At Icngtli, amid deafening vivas, the ARRANGEMENTS FOE VOYAGE. 121 boat pushed to its anchorage, when, much to the chagrin of the inhabitants and our disappointment, it proved only a loaded lancha bound for the Rio Meta. But, what was still more depressing to us was, the intelligence that neither the governor nor the padre would leave Angos- tura for several weeks yet to come. Urbana seemed des- tined to be the highest point upon the Orinoco we were likely to reach. Neither craft nor crew could be secured, nor a single guide be found to accompany us who was ac- quainted with the passage of the Great Cataracts. While thus despairingly discussing the probabilities of " going through," our Apure boatmen, who had returned to Asaiba, again appeared at Ui'bana with a huco, or small lancha, which seemed just the thing for ascending the rapids. Negotiations were at once opened with Celes- tino, the patron, which resulted in liis agreeing to take us to San Fernando de Atabapo, for tlic sum of eighty pesos ; he furnishing the crew and supplies for the voyage. A guide alone was all that was lacking. At this juncture of affairs an Indian fortunately vrandered into the town, Avho, with the bribe of a cotton camisa, which we thought his advent into civilization rendered desirable, was induced to accompany us in the capacity of pilot to San Fernando, a distance which it would require nearly a month to accom- plish. Our craft measured thirty feet in length, with its greatest breadth about six, and was furnished with a sail that could be hoisted when the wind was favorable. In front of the carroza, Avhich covered about eight feet of the middle of the boat, and was sufficiently high to admit of a sitting posture, were seats for tlie rowers, while the patron, as steersman, occupied the stern. A stock of pro- visions sufficient for the long voyage, excepting meat, of which we were able to obtain but little, was put aboard. The wanting substantial we expected to be able to sup- 6 123 UEBANA, ply ourselves with by the way. In addition to our staples, cassava, eoftee, papelon, and salt, we added a few bunches of green plantains, with several armfuls of sugar-canes to eat when our appetites inclined. Thus we were prepared for our voyage up the Orinoco. CHAPTER X UP THE ORINOCO Farewell to Urbana. — Strait of Baraguan. — Mirage. — Harvest of Turtles' Eggs. — Camp of Indians. — Santa Barbara. — Indian Simplicity and Be- liefs. — Features of the Elver. — Castillo de los Espanoles. — A Legend. — Fiedra del Tigre. — Music iu the Eocks. — Eaudal de Cariben. — Eio Meta. — A Wild Scene. — Bats and Other Annoyances. IJpoisr the afternoon of the 9th of November, with sails set and flag floating, wc took our departure from Urhana, amid the vivas of the inhabitants who lined the shore, and were borne swiftly along by the breeze which swept up the river. To avoid the strong current and catch the wind, we hugged the southern bank, drawing up at sun- set to a, plar/a, or sandy beach, some two hundred yards in breadth, left dry by the falling of the waters. Here we spread our blankets and stretched our mosquiteros over us, by fastening them to the palancas of the boat, stuck in the ground ; but this jirecaution was unnecessary, for all insectile pests are swept by the winds fi*om these barren sand-stretches. Wild ducks and geese stalked the playa, casting suspicious glances toward our encampment; but they were shy, and we were unsuccessful in our attempts to secure some for breakfast. It was scarcely light when we were again breasting the strong current, propelled by the paddles of our swarthy trio. At 9 A. M., the wind rising, the sail was hoisted, and the men rested upon their benches. About noon v/e 124 UP THE OEINOCO, entered the Strait of Baraguan, where the Orinoco nar- rows to a mile in width, with a current so strong that we were compelled to land and pull up by towage. Having made the passage, we halted at the base of the picturesque granitic hills of Baraguan, which stretch along the eastern shore, and give their name to the strait. The huge masses of rocks, often disposed in columnar form, seemed as if piled up by art ; but only the agencies of Nature have here been at work. By tlie process of decomposition, al- ways rapid in the tropics, the softer parts of the rock are removed, vvdiile the harder portions, worn away more slow- ly, are left standing above the general rock-surface. Upon the Upper Orinoco we frequently observed stones, nicely poised one upon another, forming tall pillars like some ancient ruins, which have been produced in the manner above described. On the mountain-slope at Atures we saw a stone wall — the remains of a dike — over three feet in height and two in thickness, which, left bare by the crumbling and removal of the softer rock by which it was enclosed, appeared as if erected by the hand of man. Upon the western side of the river, opposite the moun- tains of Baraguan, was a large playa, upon which was an Indian encampment, to which we crossed. It consisted of a dozen iimbrella-shaped huts, about four feet high, con- structed from poles stuck in the sand in a circle some eight feet in diameter, with the upper ends brought to- gether, and the whole covered with a few palm-leaves, scarcely sufficient to ward off the sun, and offering no pro- tection against the rains : but, as there was nothing to get wet, aside from iron pots and calabashes, with their own naked persons, we imagined that a shower on this hot shore could be considered no special inconvenience. . Un- like the Guaicas and Guainarcs of the Upper Orinoco, who are remarkable for their diminutive size, these Ottomac Indians were large, tlicir skin of a brownish-red color, thciv DIRT-EATEES. 125 hair thick and long, hanging over their shoulders, but cut square olT just above the eyebrows, giving them a very- grotesque appearance. They were unpainted, and without clothing or ornaments of any kind ; excepting some of the women, who had their lower lips jjunctured, and sticks two inches long inserted. Upon inquiry for the gohierno of the settlement, who was a Spaniard, we were directed to one of the conti'acted habitations, where we found that dignitary seated iipon the ground, outside of his apology for a dwelling. Ilis wife was squatted inside, a sufficient reason why he must remain excluded. Two or three royal offspring lay rolling naked in the sand. Where the camp were to get their next meal was difficult to tell, as they possessed not a morsel of food among them. Perhaps they v/ere intending to make a very satisfactory one of the clay of the river banks ; for these Ottomacs were the veritable dirt-eating Indians mentioned by Humboldt. There is always a great scarcity of food in the wet season, and during that period these Indians eat incredible quanti- ties of clay, taking at the same time only an extremely small amount of other aliment. Humboldt has spoken at some length of this strange habit of dirt-eating, so com- mon among many of the natives of tropical regions. He failed to find, upon analysis, any nutritious elements in the clay, and refers its tendency to appease the sensation of himger to the secretion of the gastric fluids of the stomach, excited to powerful action by the presence of the earthy substance. The same authority also refers the remarkable preservation of health and strength during protracted periods, when earth constitutes the princii^al aliment taken by the Indians, to habit, prolonged through successive generations. " Man can accustom himself to an extraor- dinary abstinence, and find it but little painful, if he em- ploy tonic or stimulating substances (various drugs, small quantities of opium, betel, tobacco, or leaves of coca) ; or 126 UP THE OrjNOCO. if he supply his stomach, from time to time, Avith earthy insipid substances, that are not in themselves fit for nutri- tion." * This habit of eating dirt is prevalent among the Indians of Brazil, and vre learned from foreign residents upon the Marauon that their children evinced a morbid appetite for earths, that they sought gratification in swal- lowing large lumps of innutritions clay. Departing from this Indian encampment, we poled to the upper end of the playa, Avhich was a league in length, and one-third that in width, and there encamped. The heat of the sun was most intense, and the plain was undu- lating, like the surface of disturbed water, from the eftects of mirage, and every object about us appeared to be ele- A'ated and dancing in the air. This singular atmospheric phenomenon, occasioned by the refraction and reflection of light in traversing the strata of rarefied air next the sur- face of the earth, is common upon the arid j^layas of the Orinoco. AYe sometimes saw the long line of barren coast apparently in greater agitation than the river upon which we were sailing ; but, approaching, instead of floating into rougher water, we would land upon a sandy, burning shore. We roamed the playa in search of turtles' eggs, but found only a few, which were those of the terecai ; it unfor- tunately not being the season for the great harvest of eggs, which occurs in the months of April and May. From the natives, however, we gathered many interesting facts re- specting the " egg -harvest," and by them were made acquainted with the habits of this reptile, which is found in such prodigious numbers upon the Orinoco, between the cataracts and the mouth of the Apure. To Paez, and other traA'ellers on the Orinoco, we are also indebted for much valuable information concerning this animal. The great turtle, called by the Spaniards tortuga, and by the * " Humboldt's Travels," vol. ii., p. 502. IIAEVEST OF TUKTLES' EGGS. 127 Indians arraxi^ tlie lar2:est and by fai* the most abundant of the tortoises inhabiting the Orinoco, is about two feet in length, and weighs fifty pounds. It commences to deposit its eggs in the month of February, when the river has fallen to its lowest level, leaving dry the playas, or sand-bars. Nights are selected for the laying, when the tortuga crawls upon the beach, excavating with its hind- flappers a hole in which from sixty to one hundred and fifty eggs are deposited. It then refills the pit with sand, and smooths it over so as to obliterate all traces of its work. The parent then retires to the water, leaving her eijijs to the fostering: influence of the sun. During the height of the laying season, the gathering of turtles is so great, says Father Gumilla, " that the multitudes already out prevent the passage of still greater numbers, which, with heads above water, are waiting a chance to pass on." Scarcely has the laying com.menced before the Indians begin their preparations for gathering the eggs. To de- termine the limits of a stratum of eggs, or to discover scattering nests in the playas, the Indian uses a pole, on thrusting which into the sand, a sudden yielding denotes the presence of the sough t-for treasure. Where the tortugas have frequented the most, the beach is one vast layer of eggs ; for the turtles, in their zeal to make their deposits, are regardless of the rights of others, one destroying the nest of another, and scattering its contents in every direc- tion, until the sand becomes literally filled with eggs to the average depth, according to Humboldt, of three feet. The eggs are sjiheiucal, about one and a quarter inch in diameter, with a calcareous shell, that is soft and coria- ceous. The yolk floats in oil instead of in albumen, which gives the eggs their value. The manner of procuring the oil is to place the eggs in canoes or large wooden trouglis, where they are broken by sticks, or trodden by children, when water is added, and the wdiole left exposed to the 128 UP THE OKINOCO. sun. The oleaginous portion, rising to the surface, is removed and clarified by boiling, forming the article so well known in the country as manteca de tortuga, or turtle- butter. Angostura is the principal market for this animal product, and traders are upon the ground at the season of the harvest, to pui'chase from the Indians the results of their labors. It is not easy to conceive how great is the destruction of these useful creatures by their various enemies. Even thousands of those that hatch are destroyed before reach- ing tlieir natural element, falling a prey to vultures and other carnivorous birds, jaguars, and the Indians, who es- teem them a delicious morsel, eating them shell and all. N"or are they free from capture when they have entered the water ; for caimans and ravenous fishes there await them ; still, they perpetuate their race in such untold thousands, that, as Father Gumilla has observed, " it would be as difticult to count the sands of the extensive banks of the Orinoco as to compute the immense number of turtles which it harbors on its borders, and in the depths of its current. . . . Notwithstanding the size of the Ori- noco River, it is the opinion of the experts of that coun- try that, were it not for this extraordinary consumption of turtles and their eggs, the increase of these animals in the river would be such as to render it unnavigable ; for boats would find it impossible to make way through the immense number of turtles which would ajspear, were all these eggs to be hatched." What is also an astonishing fact in connection with these reptiles is, the number of years' eggs each contains. There are the eggs fully formed for deposit, then those still smaller for the next year, and so on, diminishing in size for each succeeding issue ; and, says the pious Father Gumilla, " God only knows for how many years these creatures are endowed with similar re- ceptacles of life in embryo." CAMP OF INDIANS. 129 Besides the tortuga, there are several other species of tortoises inhabiting the Orinoco and its tributaries, the largest of which is the terecai, weighing about twenty-five pounds. Gobesonas, galapagos, and the little chipiries^ scarcely five pounds in weight, also abound, especially in the upper waters of the Orinoco and Rio Negro. The large tortuga is not found above the cataracts of those rivers ; not that these would be barriers to its ascent, but probably because of the absence of extensive beaches, the favorite and essential haunts for the deposit of its eggs. Turtles are, ecclesiastically, classed the same as fishes, being cold-blooded animals, and their flesh is allowed to be eaten during Lent and on other fast-days of the Church. The second night from Urbana, spent upon a playa, we experienced a severe storm, which nearly caused us the loss of our buco. It shipped the water to such a degree, that we were obliged to land every thing from the boat. The tempest subsiding, about three o'clock in the morning, we reembarked, that we might have the benefit of the fa- vorable breeze then blowing. As daylight came, the wind died away, and the men took to their paddles. During the forenoon we passed upon our right Sinaruco, a stream of considerable dimensions ; and the outlets of Suapure and Caripo to our left. To avoid the strong current we kept close in to shore, which afforded us frequent views of groups of audacious monkeys that sat among the branches of the trees, seemingly indifferent to our passing. It was late in the evening when we stopped at a playa upon which was a camp of Indians similar to those before mentioned. The women were huddled in the small, Hot- tentot huts, with their heads and feet protruding from all sides, while their naked lords lay stretched in the sand without. Their language, like that of Indian tribes gener- ally, we found to be exceedingly simple and curious, con- sisting more in signs than verbal utterances. "We observed 130 UP THE OKINOCO. that iu convoi'sation, even among themselves, they desig- nated the time of day at which any event would occur by simply pointing toward the heavens ; to denote noon, the linger Avas directed toward the zenith ; to express three o'clock in the afternoon, the hand would be inclined tow- ard the Avest at an angle of forty-five degrees. The dis- persion of gathered clouds threatening rain Avas indicated by a broad sweep of the hand from the mouth outward, the movement being accompanied with an expulsion of the breath. From this was to be understood that a wind would arise, the force of which was to be inferred from the strength of the breath ; and the direction in Avhich the clouds would be driven was shown by the movement of the arm. In the morning, some time before day, we departed from these children of the forest, envying them not their simple and untoilsome life. Toward noon we came upon another small company of the same tribe, who were roast- ing whole, with simply the entrails removed, two large chiquires, or water-hogs, the stench of which kept us at a respectful distance. The Lidians Avere armed with bows and arrows, and the faces of their naked persons were painted red with the coloring matter extracted from the crushed seeds of annotto [Bixa orellana). Bargaining Avith them for tortugas, which were to be brought lis at Santa Barbara, Avliere we proposed remaining a fcAV days, Ave hastened from the spot, glad to escape from the odor of their savory chiquires. At 1 p. M. Ave reached the above-mentioned tOAvn, where, upon the beach, we partook of our first meal for the day ; regaling ourseU'^es on monkey-steak, Avhich we had secured with our guns by the Avay. This Spanish pueblo^ or town, Avas a collection of a dozen houses scat- tered along the river for three-quarters of a mile. A strip of land, fifty yards in breadth, had been cleared from the SANTA BAEBAEA. 131 virgin forest, and was waving with banana* trees — the most useful plant to the inhabitants of the tropics. Like the cereals of northern latitudes, it has accompanied man at every step of his progress in these southern climes, and every cottage rests beneath the shade of its banana-trees. It is a herbaceous plant, growing almost spontaneously, with a stem that attains a height of ten to twelve feet, crowned by a cluster of silky, shining leaves, six to eight feet long, and a foot in width. These are extremely deli- cate and easily torn transversely by the winds, so as to hang in narrow strips from the midvein, resembling pinnate leaves. The plant, which comes to maturity in about twelve months, produces a single cluster of fiiiit, when the stem dies and new shoots start from its base, several of which are allowed to grow, so that banana-trees are generally in clusters, upon some of which fruit may always be found. No other plant yields so great an amount of nutriment from the same extent of soil, producing, accord- ing to the estimate of Humboldt, twenty times as much as corn, forty-four that of potatoes, and one hundred and thirty-three times more than wheat. At Santa Barbara we received our first introduction to gnats {simulium), which were afterward such a source of annoyance as we ascended the cataracts of the Orinoco. They are known to the Spaniards by the name of mosqui- toes (diminutive flies), while our insects of that name {ctclex) are called by them sancudos, signifying long- legged. The sting of these minute insects is painful, and leaves a dark spot, caused by the coagulation of blood be- neath the skin where the proboscis pierces. These marks are exceedingly lasting : we retained traces of them for * We use the word banana popularly as a generic term including several species : the plantain {Musa paradisiasa), dorainico (J/, regia)^ caraburi (J/, rosacea), are the species most generally cultivated. 132 UP THE OKINOCO. montlis after wc had left the regions infested by these in- sects. On our second day at this pneblo, the Indians we had met down the river, accompanied by many others of their tribe, arrived, bringing with them the promised turtles. Their chief, who was among the number, and who was distinguished by no outer adornment, observing us for a while very intently, as we were engaged in removing, for preservation, the beautiful plumage of a guacamaya, inno- cently asked for the long red tail, which seemed particu- larly to have taken his fancy. Without doubt it would have afforded him no little gratification to have possessed it for his pow-wow embellishments ; but, as its removal was incompatible with the object for which we desired the specimen, we felt compelled to refuse the request, as harsh as it might seem to the old chief, who turned away like a disappointed child denied some cherished plaything. There is something impressive in the infantine expression and primitive simj)licity of the wild Indians of the Ori- noco and Amazons. Their lives are passed with no higher aim than simply maintaining an existence. They seem to entertain no system of belief that can be called religion, and appear to have no knowledge of a Supreme Being. Most of the tribes are tractable, peaceful, and quietly disposed ; and, where civilization, so called, has made no encroachments among them, instances of gross vice and immorality are unfrequent. After three days' delay at Santa Barbara, we resumed our voyage. Some tAvo hixndred j^ounds of jerked beef, which we had the good fortune to secure, had been added to our supplies, and lay piled in a heap in the bow of the boat, covered with banana-leaves to keep off the sun, and the feet of the natives, who were continually treading over it. Our crew had also been strengthened by two additional men for ascending the cataracts. To our left FEATUKES OF THE RIVER. 133 were-brokcn ranges, which in places approached the river, and in others receded to a distance ; they were not Avholly lost sight of until we passed the upper rapids of May- jjures ; the vrestern shore was bordered with forest no- where of any great depth, beyond which spread out tlie grass-covered plains of the Rio Meta. Occasionally we landed to jirocure some beautiful bird we saw through the branches of the trees, or to secure game for our commis- sary department ; but it was not good hunting-ground, at least, so we thought, after having crossed the plains of Apure swarming with animated life. Evidences of deer were to be seen in the piles of horns around every hut. They were abundant on the savannas, but lack of time prevented our making any extended expedition for them. We missed our noisy friends, the guacamayas ; and the shrill cries of herons, flamingoes, and other water-birds, wei'e seldom heard. Pheasants and wild-turkeys were more abundant, but difficult to obtain, from their extreme shyness. The height of the trees rendered our shot-guns useless, and only with the rifle-ball could an object be reached in the top of the forest giants. At mid-day we landed at a deserted hut, where a sugar- cane grove had fallen beneath the tread of ravenous chi- quires and prowling jaguars ; but from banana-trees, which had been undisturbed, we gathered some fine bunches of fruit to cai-ry with us. Opposite us, upon the eastern shore of the river, rose a granitic mountain, whose naked declivity descended to the water's edge. Upon its bald top a fort was erected by the Jesuits, and occupied by them as a military post ; during the war for independence it served as a fortress to the Spaniards, who were com- pelled to evacuate it, after a siege of four days, by the Venezuelian forces. The place, although nothing is now seen but the rock, still bears the name, " El Castillo de los Espaiioles " — the castle of the Spaniards. In the face of 134 tJP THE OEINOCO. an adjoining cliff, near its summit, we had pointed out to us the entrance of a dark cavern ; its height up the rocky "wall renders it inaccessible, but, according to a legend, as given us by our patron, a passage to it was discovered by a padre, who was accustomed to resort thither. He died without divulging the mystic way to the gloomy re- cess ; and it is said that his spirit now frequents the place. The forbidding aspect of the jagged cliff and its wild sur- roundings make it appear as though it might, indeed, be a favorite haunt for wandering spirits. Not far from here a violent tempest struck our vessel, and produced a heavy sea that nearly shipwrecked us be- fore we could gain the shore, which being reached, we hastily unloaded our stores, for our buco seemed destined to be dashed to pieces, tlie high bank preventing us from drawing it upon land. The peaks of the granitic hills were wrapped in one vivid sheet of flame, while peals of thunder, of a nature well calculated to disturb the rest of the good jjadre, rattled along the cliffs. Upon the following day we passed without difficulty the Maudal de Marimara. Here upon the east bank rises a solid mountain of granite, called Pledra de 3farimara, its river-front abrupt and without a trace of soil. Sepa- rated from this huge rock by a beautiful little inlet upon the south is another granitic pile, which bears the name of La Piedra del Zamuro, the rock of the zamuro.* Upon its walls we could distinctly trace the high-water marks, showing that the river had fallen sixteen feet, about half its usual rise. Upon the oj^jDosite side of the river was the immense rock, Piedra del Tlgre, which, sloping up gradually from the stream, jiresented a favorable place for refection and rest, and accordingly we drew to shore. There is a singular phenomenon connected with these rocks of Piedra del Tlgre^ which is also peculiar to others upon * Cathartes atratus. THE EAUDAL DE CARIBEN. 135 the Middle Orinoco, By putting our ears close to their surface we were able to detect low, musical tones, which our guides observed were more audible in the early morn- ing. The granite is split with deep crevices, that seem to give emission to these mysterious sounds. Humboldt says that he never himself heard these musical tones, but, re- lying i;pon trustwoi'thy information as to the reality of this phenomenon, gives the following explanation of the cause : " It may easily be conceived that the difference of temj^erature between the subterranean and external air attains its maximum about sunrise, or at that moment which is at the same time farthest from the period of the maximum of the heat of the preceding day. May not these organ-like sounds, which are heard when a person lays his ear in contact with the stone, be the effect of a current of air that issues out through the crevices? Does not the impulse of the air, against the elastic spangles of mica that intercept the crevices, contribute to modify the sounds ? " By noon of the 18th we reached the liaiidal de Cariben, where we encountered cataracts that could not be passed Avith the paddle. The river was blocked with gi-eat masses of granite, while huge bowlders strewed the shore, some resting far back from the stream, and often nicely poised one upon another. Traces of ancient water-levels high up on the walls, which in places enclose the river, point unmistakably to the time when the Orinoco was a mighty stream, rolling its volume across the continent like an ocean, but now reduced to the comparatively little rivulet that courses through the bed of the former channel. In those periods of greater floods these bowlder-like masses, now at a distance from the river, were separated by de- stroying forces from the rock upon which they rest, and by the erosive agency of the waters were worn and left in their present isolated and often strange positions. In 136 UP THE ORINOCO. the stream and along its borders, which are submerged during the annual swelling of the river, we often saw what might be termed the progressive formation of these gra- nitic bowlders. The upper stratum, several feet in thick- ness, of a flat rock, would be separated into huge frag- ments by decomposition. Frequently the blocks would be ai-ranged in a row, longitudinally with the stream, with the upper one, fi-om being most exposed to the action of the curi-ent, worn into a perfect bowlder ; the next in order exhibiting not so much the eflects of the erosive element ; the third still less ; and so on diminishing until, before the last was reached, no change was perceptible, the rock being simply divided into sections. Should all but the first be removed, it would scarcely be conceived that the isolated bowlder was hewn from the rock upon which it stands, but rather that it had been deposited there by some external force. We p,scended the Randal de Carihen by towing ; the current making with violence through the narrow channels found by the rocks that filled the bed of the stream. A mile or more to the west of the river, across a treeless and sunburnt plain, is the little village which bears the name of the rapids. At 5 p. m. we were in front of the mouth of the Rio Meta, next to the Guaviare, the lai-gest tribu- tary of the Orinoco. Canoes and lanchas ascend this stream, penetrating as far as the base of the Andes, and by an overland journey of about twenty leagues the trav- eller reaches Bogota, the capital of Colombia. Its banks are infested with the Guahibos, a warlike race of savages, who are a constant source of terror to the voyager on those waters. They also inhabit the west bank of the Orinoco as far as the Great Cataracts. Unlike most of the Indian tribes of the Orinoco, who are peaceably in- clined, and follow the tillage of the soil, cultivating the banana, yuca, and sugar-cane, the Guahibos lead a no- A WILD SCENE. I37 madic life, deriving their means of subsistence from the chase and depredatory excursions upon the neighboring agricultural tribes. Opposite the mouth of the Meta, and near the eastern shore of the Orinoco, rises a large rock called Piedra de la Paciencia, the stone of patience, from the difficulty boats experience in making its passage. The height and steep- ness of the cliffs, upon either side of the channel that must be made, prevent towing, and render it necessary to stem the powerful current with the paddles. We found occasion to call into requisition an ixnusual amount of " paciencia," but, after a severe pull, being swept back each moment almost as much as we ascended, we at length moored safely above. We spent the night upon the rocks, spread- ing our blankets beneath us, which relieved in a degree their hardness, but not their heat, Avhich they receive during the day and retain with apparently little loss through a large portion of the night. Three hours before daylight we embarked, in order to pass the Paudalde Tabaja before night. The wind rising by 9 A. M., we were enabled to use our sail for the first time in many days. At noon we halted lapon the right bank, where a narrow belt of woodland bordered the river. The coun- try to the eastward presented a rocky and desert waste, filled with jungles — fit haunts for jaguars and venomous serpents. A wilder scene we found noAvhere in oiir wan- derings ; and with no little apprehension we roamed over the place in search of the few plants which clung to the jagged cliffs, or sprang up in the deep morasses. We observed with interest the melo cactus, which found a genial home upon these burning rocks. It is of a globular shape, from eight to twelve inches in diameter, and covered with thorns that make it dangerous to disturb. The juice contained within its prickly shell tempts the thirsty animal of the sun-parched plains, which, it is said, carefully pene- 138 UP THE OKINOCO. trates with his hoof to the hidden beverage. Thus Xatiire in times of rain stores \ip within this humble plant the nourishment it needs for itself durhig the long period of drought, and which also serves to quench the thirst of the herds that roam the savannas. A short distance farther on and we came to the licmdal de Atabaja, Avhere, half an hour was consumed in the pas- sage, when we turned into a small creek to seek shelter from the heat of the mid-day sun. Our boat had scarcely- touched the bank before the ominous cry of " El tigre ! el tigre ! " rose from our natives, who were rushing fran- tically about. With our rifles we hastened upon the shore, but looked in vain for some huge jaguar among the tree- tops, whither our attention was directed. The creature responsible for the disturbance proved to be a venomous serpent whose long, slim body was as sj^otted as the animal whose name it bore. The night of the 19tli was jiassed upon a rock, where bats took the place of sancudos in disturbing our slumbers. These filled the crevices and lay in scores beneath every bowlder. As soon as darkness invited them from their hiding-places, they poured out in hundreds, and made night hideous with their screeching. We had scarcely composed ourselves, before a cry from our Indian guide told that he had been made a victim by one of these creatures, which h.ad taken a large mouthful at the expense of one of the poor fellow's toes. Presently another, and soon a third one of our natives received similar visits, when we deemed it advisable to protect our own pedal appendages, which w^ere exposed, as w'e had other use for them than feeding ugly bats. The nose seems also to oiler them particular attractions ; but we, being especially opposed to molesta- tion at that point, rolled ourselves in our blankets cap-a- 2)ie / but the heat of the atmosphere, and the still hotter rocks beneath, led us to abandon the experiment, and very EATS AND OTHER ANNOYANCES. 139 resignedly to offer ourselves as their prey. But, while exhibiting a strong predilection for our natives, they left us unmolested. These carnivorous and sanguineous crea- tures seem to show a great partiality for some persons, paying them their nightly respects, while others are en- tirely free from their molestations. With the great vam- pire-bat, which has been so often referred to by travellers in the tropics as such a formidable enemy, we never had any personal experience. They, however, abound, to the terror of both man and beast. Differing from some of the smaller species we have mentioned, they are contented with simply taking the blood of their victim, which they extract in such profuse quantities that it is hazardous to sleep in the open air where one is exposed to their attacks. The danger to be aj)prehended from tliese winged demons is the greater, because they inflict so little pain in their operations that the person or animal is not aroused from slumber. Making a minute puncture, they drain by suc- tion the blood from their victim, while lulling him into sounder repose with the noiseless fanning of their wings. It is a disputed point as to the manner in which the bat makes the incision ; whether with its tongue, with the shai*p nail of its thumb, or by boring with one of its long canine teeth by flying around in a circle. The wound, although exceedingly small, bleeds profusely; and the person, upon awakening, will find himself covered with the flowing blood. Above the Raudal de Atabaja, the river, which below is contracted and encumbered with rocks, again broadens, and is filled with sandy shoals and picturesque islands. The wooded banks, the lowest we had seen on the Ori- noco, were often overflowed, leaving dry immense playas, which, when connected with the shore, obliged us to go far out into the stream. Not unfrequently our buco ran aground, when our natives, springing into the water, would 140 UP THE ORINOCO. push us oft' into deeper sailing ; often they towed the boat along for miles over the shallow places, as a relief to con- stant rowing. The heat was most intense, and the mos- quitoes increased as we neared the Great Cataracts. We tried covering our hands and faces with gloves and veils, but the heat was insupportable. Expelling, by means of smoke, the torments from beneath our carroza, and spread- ing a blanket over the entrance, we could enjoy a few minutes' repose ; but the vertical rays of the sun upon our palm-leaf thatch would soon drive us to the external air. The little caribe fish that filled the river, and huge caimans which showed their scaly backs everywhere above the sur- face of the water, prohibited bathing, that would have af- forded so refreshing a relief. The night of the 20th Avas passed upon an island plaia in the middle of the river, whither we cai*ried wood in our boat for a fire. Roving bands of Guahibos had been seen during the day along the western shore, and jaguars were also unpleasantly abundant on this portion of the Orinoco. Having no particular desire to encounter either, we se- lected a camping-ground where surprise by them would be more diflicult than upon the main-land. The following night we passed upon a rock, and early upon the morning of the 22d of November we arrived at the far-famed cata- racts of the Atures. ''rliilif l!r!:!l,!^^ ^^ # \ ' ■■' i'ss^illiiiil'':!!^^ CHAPTER XI. THE GREAT CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. Grandeur of the Kaiaids of Atures. — Passing the Cataracts.— Village of Atures. — Weapons of the Natives. — Sutfering from Insects. — Cave of Ataruipe. — Beautiful Palms. — Arrive at the Eaudales de Maypures. — Magnificent View of the Cataracts. — Thanksgiving Dinner. — Village of Maypures. — Nature's Chronometer. — Farewell to the Orinoco. — At San Fernando de Atabapo. The Orinoco, eight hiuidred miles from the sea, forcing its way through a granitic range of the Guiana Mountains, forms the cataracts of Atures. To obtain a view of these rapids, let the traveller place himself on the summit of overlooking hills which rise just to the east of the river, and he has before him a scene that is stupendously grand. Other landscapes may be viewed and forgotten ; but the majestic ajipearance of the rapids of the Atures leaves an impression that will never fade from the memory. For more than a league the river is broken by rajiids and filled with huge granitic masses, piled on one another in endless confusion ; while islands, clothed with crested palm-trees and beautiful vegetation, rise above the whitened waters. The river is divided by these enchanting islets into numer- ous channels, through which the waters, lashed into foam, tumble with frightful violence, breaking with deafening roar upon the rocks. At the season of the greatest rise of the Orinoco, when these stones and crags which fill the 142 THE GREAT CATARACTS OF TtlE ORINOCO. bed of the cliannel are submerged by the floods that pour their impetuous vohimes down this inclined plain, the as- pect of the river must be grand in the extreme. The mountains upon the west of the cataracts are rugged and barren, and closely follow the river; while in the distance the lofty peak of Uniana, three thousand feet in height, rises like a huge column in the midst of the plain. East of the Atures the hills are Avooded, and bound a plain a league or more in breadth, strewed with great bowlders, sometimes heaped in huge, irregular masses, with here and there a verdant ravine and clump of trees that meet the eye as it wanders over this wild and desolate tract. Upon the isolated peak, from whose crest v/e take our view of the rapids, are the remains of a dike, referred to in a previ- ous chapter, which runs like a wall up the steep slope of the sierra. The summit of the hill is also mounted by huge bowlders of granite, twenty to thirty feet in diameter, some of them so nicely poised and i-esting upon each other tAVO and three in height, that it seems as though they might easily be pushed down into the river-channel. In the afternoon we started with our natives for the village of Atures, to procure a inactico to aid us in passing the cataracts. A league over the rocky and burning plain brought us to tlie river Cataniapo, which we were unable to cross ; but our Indian guide, swimming the stream, suc- ceeded in reaching the settlement, returning soon with the promise of assistance on the morrow. Retracing our steps, we observed fresh tracks of tigers, which are exceedingly numerous in the wild districts about the Cataracts of the Orinoco, That we were unarmed, with the prospect of darkness overtaking us before we could reach camp, was by no means a comforting reflection. In the morning, foot- prints of tigers, within a few yards of where we had slept in our hammocks under the trees, gave evidence of theif visits daring the night, our tires having been suffered to expire. VILLAGE OF ATUKES. 143 Our practico, or pilot, arriving from the village by sunrise, we commenced the passage of the rapids. The river, a third of a mile in breadth, emerged from the first line of obstructions in two main channels, along each of which rolled a tremendous flood over the stony blocks that filled their beds, while between these were numerous small openings in the islands and rocks, througli which the Avaters poured in whirling eddies and dangerous whirl- pools, Lanchas, or large canoes, descending in time of high water — for at no other season can they descend the rapids — choose the large channel upon the west ; but no craft can ever ascend against the powerful current and heavy breakers of this river-torrent. Plunging into the swift stream, we pulled over to one of the small channels, and then upon an island landed our stores, which were carried over a short portage to where, if successful, we would again embark. Noav, entering the rapids, we clam- ber over the huge granitic bowlders, springing from rock to rock, pulling our boat along through the whirling waters : sometimes a pi'ojecting point must be reached ; when, with rope in hand, a native plunges into the river, but often the bold adventurer is borne down by the im- petuous torrent. At length, after several unsuccessful attempts, the crag is reached; he is joined by others, and the boat is hauled up past the obstruction. But now another obstacle, perhaps more difficult and dangerous slill, presents itself. Some climb the rocks, while others swim the breakers, and thus from crag to crag, with push- ing, pulling, and poling, we slowly make our way up the cataracts. At length a cliff lifts its bold front directly in our pathway, beneath whose stony masses the roaring waters flow in subterranean caverns. Over the granitic pile we with difficulty drag our canoe, when the first line of barriers is overcome, and we float into smoother water. Reloading our craft, wc pull up, through verdant and pic- 144 THE GEE AT CATARACTS OF THE OEINOCO. turesque islands, to the second rocky dike that spans the river. Our baggage and supplies are to be carried from here over a portage of a league to the upper limit of the rapids, and the boat to be dragged up through the rocky obstructions. The village of Atures, whither we now directed our course, is two miles distant upon the plain, or one below the upper terminus of the portage. The heat of the at- mosphere, augmented by reflection from the stony soil and granitic masses, was excessive in the extreme. Upon arriving at the village, our Indian guide, who had carried our papelon in a banana-leaf basket upon his head, pre- sented a unique appearance. His head had perforated the mass, which, under the influence of the hot sun, flowed in streams down his naked person. The village consisted of six inhabited mud huts, a little chapel, now used as a dor- mitory for cows, and two abandoned, dilapidated hovels, in one of which we established ourselves for the time we might remain at the Atures. Here we saw, for the first time, that curious weapon, the cerhatana, or blow-gun, in the use of which the natives of the country are so skilful. It is made of a light, hol- low reed, which grows in abundance in the forests of the Upper Orinoco. As these are slender, two, and sometimes throe, of difterent sizes are taken, so that they can be in- serted one into the ether.* These are then wound with smooth, black, shining bark, which gives it a tasteful ap- pearance. At one end is fitted a mouth-piece of horn, and a short distance from it a projection of the same for a sight. The whole, when completed, is ten or twelve feet long. The arrow, generally made from the leaf of a palm, *" The blow-gun of the Upper Amazonian Indians is constructed of tv.'o pieces of hard wood, generally clionta-palm, each of which is hol- lowed out, then the tv.'0 united, wound with bark, and coated with a resinous substance. WEAPONS OF THE NATIVES. 115 is the size of a common straw, and a foot in length. One end is nicely wound with the light cotton of the ceiba-tree so as to fill exactly the tube of the gun, and the other ex- tremity is pointed and dipped in curare^ a poison distilled from a vine of the forest. So powerful is this venomous juice that it will kill a bird almost instantly, and the large jaguar succumbs to its effects in a space of ten or fifteen minutes. The flechetes, as the little missiles are called, can be propelled, with a single puif of breath, through the cerbatana one hundred or one hundred and fifty feet with' the greatest accuracy. The quiver is twelve or fourteen inches long, beautifully woven from fibres of the palm- leaf, the lower part coated with a resinaceous substance obtained from a forest-tree. Equipped with his cerbatana and quiver of poisoned arrows, the Indian goes in quest of game. " Silent as midnight," quaintly writes Waterton, "he steals under them, and so cautiously does he tread the ground, that the fallen leaves rustle not beneath his feet. His ears are open to the least sound, while his eye, keen as that of the lynx, is employed in finding out the game in the thickest shade. Often he imitates their cry, and decoys them from tree to tree, till they are within range of his tube. Then taking a poison arrow from his quiver, he puts it in the blow-pipe, and collects his breath for the fatal pufT. Silent and swift the arrow flies, and seldom fails to pierce the object at which it is sent." The flesh of game thus shot is in no wise injured for eating, as the poison can be taken internally with impunity. In its preparation the Indians test its strength by tasting ; but care must be observed that the skin of the lijis or mouth be not fractured so as to bring the substance into contact with the blood. Salt is an antidote for the poison, and, if timely employed, will neutralize its deleterious efiects. When the Indian desires to capture a monkey or bird alive, he uses a flechete 7 146 THE GREAT CATAEACTS OF THE OEINOCO. anointed with diluted curare, and instantly ifpon the fall of his prize fills its mouth with salt, which soon restores the animal unharmed. The manufacture of curare is known to hut compara- tively few, the Indians of the Cassiquiare and Upper Rio Negro being the principal producers for all the neigh- boring regions. The virulent principle it contains is ex- tracted from the bark of henjuco de mavacure {Strychnos toxifera), a vine abundant in the forests of the districts where the curare is made. When prepared, it has the color and consistence of tar, and is sold in small cala- bashes at an exorbitant price. It is an interesting fact that this concentrated juice of the mavacure, which is so deadly when introduced into the circulation, has been found to be a specific for that other powerful poison, strychnine, whose pernicious effects are so difficult to counteract. The other weapons of the natives, besides the cerba- tana, are bows and arrows, in the construction of which they exhibit no little taste and ingenuity. The bow is generally from five to six feet long, and made from a hard, black, elastic wood, with a string woven from the fibres of the palm-leaf. The arrows, from five to seven feet in length, consist of a light reed, in one extremity of which is inserted a head about a foot long, made of hard wood, with the point dipped in curare ; the other extremity is winged with feathers arranged spirally so as to produce a rotary motion, thus exhibiting an acquaintance with prin- ciples applied among civilized nations. The question is naturally suggested. Is this contrivance, for giving direct- ness and effectiveness to missiles, an invention of civiliza- tion, or must it be recorded as an achievement of barba- rism, developed and impi'oved by modern genius ? The arrow employed for the capture of turtles, during the season when they do not appear upon the playas, differs SUFFEEINGS FEOM INSECTS. 147 from the above-described in Iiaving a barbed iron point fitting loosely in the shaft, to which it is attached by a long cord. The smooth, hard shell of the turtle, if struck obliquely, would ward off the arrow ; the hunter, there- fore, calculates his distance, and, with an unerring aim, sends his missile into the air, when, describing a parabola, it descends with force and pierces the back of the victim Immediately the animal dives, carrying with him the iron point fastened in his coat of mail, imreeving the string that connects it to the shaft, which floats upon the water, and enables the Indian to regain the cord and secure the turtle. We have often been astonished in observing at how great a distance the keen eye of the Indian will de- tect an object, and the precision with which he will send an arrow, apparently drawn at a venture. Kowhere as at Atures had we suffered so severely from insects, and yet we were told that the climax would not be reached until we arrived at the Maypures. At early dawn the mosquitoes made their appearance, nor did they disappear till the shades of evening invited forth the larger insects, the sancudos, which fortunately are not so abundant in this season at Atures as they are during the rainy months, when they swarm in clouds. The mos- quitoes seem to be constant throughout the year, filling the atmosphere in numbers sufficient to dim the vision, "We could not breathe or speak, without taking in these noxious insects ; they gathered in our eyes, and pierced every exposed part of our persons. Humboldt, in speak- ing of these districts, says : " The lower strata of air, from the surface of the ground to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, are absolutely filled with venomous insects. If, in an obscure spot, for instance in the grottoes of the cataracts formed by superincumbent blocks of granite, you direct your eyes toward the opening enlightened by the Bun, you see clouds of m.osquitocs more or less thick. At 148 THE GREAT CAT AE ACTS OF THE OEINOCO. the mission of San Borja, the suffering from mosquitoes is greater than at Caricliana ; but in the Raudales, at Atures, and, above all, at Maypures, this suffering may be said to attain its maximum. I doubt whether there be a country upon earth where man is exposed to more ci-uol torments in the rainy season." On oxir second evening at the village of Atures, we Avalked to the river to see how our boat advanced up the cataracts. Nine men had been employed in the Avork, and had succeeded in bringing it through the rapids to where it became necessary to drag it some distance overland, by putting it upon rollers, as at this point obstructions completely filled the eastern channel of the river — the one we were ascending. The rocks exhibited those peculiar erosions, called " pot-holes," twenty or more feet in depth, and from three to five feet in diameter ; while at their bottom were small stones and quartz-gravel, which, given a revolving motion by the action of the water, had slowly drilled themselves tlirough the solid rock. The primitive rock of the Great Cataracts is a coarse-grained granite, often containing hornblende ; yet it does not constitute true syenite. We observed traces of black coating upon the stones wherever they are washed by the water, such as excited the interest of Humboldt ; yet they did not exhibit that glistening, metallic appearance which that traveller mentions as giving such a singular aspect to this wild river-scenery. North of the village of Atures, and nearly two leagues distant, is a settlement of a few houses, called Pueblo Viejo, the old town, which, like the one upon the line of portage, was at one time quite a flourishing village ; but the plague of insects, with the insalubrity of the climate in these misty and heated districts, caused its depopulation, and it has fallen nearly into decay. It is surprising that any persons should so persistently remain ; but the attach- CAVE OF ATAEUIPE. I49 ment which inhabitants of frozen regions entertain for their homes, amid inhospitable snows, seems to possess these people of the burning, j^estilential plains of the Ori- noco, fraught with so many causes of annoyances and death. On the morning of the 26th of November, after over three days spent in making the passage of the cataracts of Atures, we renewed our voyage, leaving behind one of our natives, sick with the calenture, so prevalent in the malarious districts of the Great Cataracts. The Orinoco, at this point where it enters the Haudales, is two-thirds of a mile in width, or twice that Avhere it issues from the rapids below. Of the several channels into which the stream divides, the western is the largest, and, as we have remarked, the one through which vessels pass in making the descent of the falls. The other channels are, for the most part, beds of granitic rocks, which are covered only during the annual swelling of the river. Black bands and erosions upon the stones indicated that the waters had already fallen twenty feet below their highest level. To our left, at a short distance from the river, were the moun- tains which contain the cave of Ataruipe, the sepulchre of the destroyed nation of the Atures. We regretted that we were unable to visit this cemetery of a departed race, which Humboldt saw and describes as a place of so great interest. That traveller counted nearly six hundred skeletons within the cave, all well preserved, each being placed in a basket wrought of palm-leaves. " A tradition circulates among the Guahibos, that the warlike Atures, pursued by the Caribs, escaped to the rocks that rise in the middle of the Great Cataracts ; and there that nation, heretofore so numerous, became gradually extinct, as well as its language. The last families of the Atures still ex- isted in 1*767, in the time of the missionary Gili. At the period of our voyage an old parrot was shown at May- 150 THE GEEAT CATARACTS OF THE OKINOCO. pures, of which tlie inhabitants said, and the fact is worthy of observation, that ' they did not understand what it said, because it spoke the language of the Atures.' " * At noon we arrived at the Raudal de Garcita, which M'e passed by towing. To the southeast, in the distance, we beheld the truncated peak of Calitamini, nearly four thousand feet high, towering far above the surrounding hills. Its peculiar outline and lofty height attract from afar the attention of the traveller on the Upper Orinoco. The vegetation along the river displayed that luxuriance, beauty of form, and freshness of color, peculiar to the rich and humid regions of the tropics. The white trunks of Yagrumas, or Cecropias {^Cecropia peltatci)^ the home of the sloth, with their large palmate leaves, were abundantly intermingled with statelier trees, which towered up to a height we had seen nowhere surpassed, while vines hung in beautiful festoons from the borders of the forest. Palm- trees were especially a striking feature in this tropical landscape ; the fan-leaved Mauritia, the lofty Cucurito, and spiny-trunked Macanella, rose in marked conspicuoiis- ncss amid the endless variety of arboreal forms. The Jagua, the most majestic of palms, whose stately trunk attains a height of seventy to eighty feet, especially in- vites the attention of the traveller. Its immense plume- like leaves, twenty-five to thirty feet in length, and nearly vertical, with their extremities gently curving, form a coronal of verdure of exceeding grandeur. Of the many and varied forms of vegetation we beheld under the tropics, none impressed us more with its beauty and gracefulness than the Jagua-palm. The Jagua of the Orinoco must not be confounded with the jd«/«?« de Yagua of other parts of Venezuela, the vernacular name of which is the Corozo Colorado, from which the inhabitants obtain their supply of palm-oil, in the same manner as the African * " Humboldt's Travels," vol. ii., p. 484. PIAKO INDIANS. 151 negroes obtain theirs from an allied species, viz., by boil- ing the fruit in water, and crushing it in a wooden mortar, until the sarcocarp is separated from the seed, and the oil floats on the surface of tlie liquid mass thus produced. Discovering smoke curling upward from the trees of a forest-island, we landed and found a large palm-hut, in- habited by several families of Piaroas, who were living in a patriarchal community. Hearing us disembark, the naked inmates came swarming out from their wretched dAvelling. The women were unornamented ; but the men, imitating Nature, who adorns the male in the gayest robes, were decorated in a most fantastic manner. A neck- lace of tiger or crocodile teeth was worn around the neck, with bands of the same on the wrists. Upon the head was a wreath, made by weaving in a circular band the variegated plumage of the bright-colored macaw ; while down the back hung a bunch of feathers, tails of animals, beautiful humming-birds, and trinkets of various kinds. We were to them objects of the greatest curiosity ; they examining our persons, clothes, and things, with the ut- most delight and childish admiration. Our watches es- pecially excited their attention ; but their utility, besides subserving the purpose of ornamentation, they could not comprehend. From these Indians we supplied ourselves with a number of candalas, or torches, which consisted of a strip of bark a yard long, rolled into a tube three inches in diameter, filled with a resinous substance, which in burning gives out more smoke than light. The natives of the Orinoco often make use of phosphorescent insects {^pyrophorus noctilucus), as a substitute for artificial light. A number of these natural lamps placed in a calabash, and shaken when wanted for use, Avill emit light sufficient to make visible all objects within the hut. Late in the afternoon of the 27th, gathering clouds indicating a heavy storm, we hastened to a large rock and 152 THE GKEAT CATARACTS OF THE OEINOCO. made fast. Our natives, undressing, tucked their clothes aAvay in the boat under shelter, and then sat quietly down upon the bank to await the coming rain, while we crept beneath our carroza. Soon the heavens opened, and the floods came. Darkness also coming before the tempest was over, we were obliged to remain here during the night, sleeping upon our arms from fear of jaguars and Guahibos. Leaving our anchorage early in the morning, we soon came to the liaudal de los Guahibos, which is a single ledoe of rocks stretching across the river. Our natives plunged into the water, and, by swimming from rock to rock, they managed, after much difficulty and danger, to j)ull the boat through the rapids. A league farther, and npon a sudden turn in the river, we came dii*ectly in front of the Rcmdales de May pur es. We gazed with emotions of strange awe lap the long vista of water, as, lashed into foam, it came plunging down over the rock-masses and through palm-covered islands that studded the river. We landed in a cove npon the west bank, at the lower termi- nus of the portage, near the confluence of the Orinoco and Guahibo Rivers. Here we took our Thanksgiving-dinner. Kindling a fire, we bailed some strips of tough beef and a few remaining bananas, which, together with cassava and guarapo, constituted our meal. Pacing backward and for- ward along the hot beach, our feet burning from contact with the heated earth, with food in one hand, and the other in rapid motion with a large leaf to disperse the thick clouds of mosquitoes which darkened the air, we succeeded in taking our dinner — we trust, with thankful hearts. Skirting the rapids npon the west is a Ioav, granitic ridge, partly wooded, from v/hose summit may be viewed the great cataracts. We wish that we covild picture the majestic scenery that we from those heights beheld. For over a mile the river is filled with great blocks of granite, CASCADE OF MANIMI. I53 and islands with ledges of rocks stretching betT^-een them, or reaching from shore to shore. Through the narrow channels, over the huge bowlders, and long dikes, the wa- ters wildly plunged as if they would whirl the very rocks from their foundations, and sweep them down the rapids. The islands and larger rocks were covered with alluvial deposits, supporting a growth of beautiful palm-trees and tropical vegetation, which rose in luxuriant masses of most vivid green through the vapory clouds which hovered over the waters. The river at the foot of the cataracts is contracted to less than five hundred yards in breadth, opening a shoi't distance below to twice that width. Thei'c are three grand dikes, or falls, which form the striking features in the rcnidales of the Maypures. The most re- markable of these is the one terminating the cataracts. Above this is the Cascade of Manimi, formed by the con- tinuation across the river of the granitic ridge upon the Avest, before alluded to. The most southern, a mile above the base of the raudales, is divided by a huge and nearly naked rock some three hundred feet in height, which rises like an immense tower out of the midst of the whitened waters. Above this, the river gradually widens to two miles in breadth, and for nearly a league is filled with rocks and shoals, which render it diflicult of navigation. East of the cataracts is a chain of hills, connected upon the south with the lofty mountains of Cunavami, and the truncated peak of Calitamini. The Suniapo River, taking its rise among these ranges, flows into the Orinoco just above the lowest cascade of the rapids. Upon the west are tlie hills of Manimi, with isolated clifis, rocks, and island-like formations, scattered over the partially-wooded plain vrhich stretches out to the horizon. Some distance to the westward of where the Orinoco at present flows is a valley, which indicates itself as having been the ancient bed of an arm of that majestic river. The land between 154 THE GREAT CATARACTS OF THE ORINOCO. it and the present channel also gives evidence of having been overflowed ; so that the rocks and wooded peaks which now rise in this dry tract were formerly islands in the great cnrrent that anciently rolled its floods across the continent. It was the opinion of Humboldt — and we see nothin